Arcana Coelestia # 4503
4503. 'The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and plundered the city' means that all his descendants destroyed that doctrine. This is clear from the meaning of 'the sons of Jacob' as descendants from Jacob, dealt with above; from the meaning of 'plundering' as destroying; and from the meaning of 'the city' as the doctrine of the Church, dealt with above in 4500. Simeon and Levi's going away after they had killed every male in the city as well as Hamor and Shechem, and then Jacob's sons' coming upon the slain and plundering the city, involves an arcanum, the meaning of which is not evident except from the internal sense.
[2] That arcanum is this: After the truth and good of the Church which are represented by 'Simeon and Levi' were wiped out and falsity and evil took their place, further falsities and evils were added, which are meant in the contrary sense by the rest of Jacob's sons. Each son of Jacob represented some general aspect of faith and charity, as has been shown in 2129, 3858, 3913, 3926, 3939, 4060.
Which aspect is represented by each, see the following:
Judah, 3881;
Dan, 3921-3923;
These general aspects of faith and charity which those sons represented become falsities and evils of that kind once the truth and good of the Church have been wiped out and those further falsities and evils have been added to them; for falsities and evils are constantly on the increase within the Church once it has been perverted and wiped out. It is these added falsities and evils that are meant by the reference to Jacob's sons coming upon the slain and plundering the city after Simeon and Levi had killed every male in the city as well as Hamor and Shechem, and had taken Dinah and gone away.
[3] That 'the slain' in the Word means truths and goods which have been wiped out may be seen from the following places: In Isaiah,
You are cast out from your sepulchre like an abominable branch, a garment of the killed - slain with the sword - who go down to the stones of the pit like a dead body trodden underfoot. Isaiah 14:19.
This refers to Babel. 'Those slain with the sword' stands for those who have profaned the truths of the Church. In the same prophet,
So that their slain are cast out and the stench of their dead bodies rises up. Isaiah 34:3.
This refers to the falsities and evils which infest the Church, 'the slain' standing for these.
[4] In Ezekiel,
The violent of the nations will draw the sword against the beauty of your wisdom, and they will profane your loveliness. They will bring you down into the pit and you will die the deaths of those slain in the midst of the seas. Ezekiel 28:7-8.
This refers to the prince of Tyre who means the leading cognitions of truth and good. 'Dying the deaths of those slain in the midst of the seas' stands for those who use facts to hatch falsities and in consequence defile the truths of the Church.
[5] In the same prophet,
They also will go down with them into hell, to those slain with the sword. You will be made to go down with the trees of Eden into the nether world, in the midst of the uncircumcised you will lie with those slain with the sword. Ezekiel 31:17-18.
In the same prophet,
Go down and lie with the uncircumcised; they will fall in the midst of those slain with the sword; the chief of the powerful ones will speak to him in the midst of hell. Ezekiel 32:19-21.
This refers to Pharaoh and Egypt. 'Those slain with the sword' stands for those who by their use of knowledge become insane; by their use of it they destroy all belief in the truth known to the Church.
[6] In David,
I have been reckoned with them going down to the pit; I have become as a man with no strength, neglected among the dead, like the slain lying in the sepulchre whom you remember no more and who have been cut off by your hand.
'The slain' in hell - those in the pit and 'in the sepulchre' - stands for those who have destroyed the truths and goods residing with them by means of falsities and evils. Anyone can recognize that these are not in hell merely because they have been slain with the sword.
[7] In Isaiah,
A city of tumults, an exultant city, [your slain] have not been slain with the sword, and they have not been killed in war. All who have been found in you have been bound together in chains. They have fled from far away. Isaiah 22:2-3.
This refers to the illusions resulting from the evidence of the senses which do not enable the truths of the Church to be seen. It refers therefore to people subject to negative doubt, and these are called 'slain but not with the sword'.
[8] In Ezekiel,
I am bringing a sword upon you and destroying your high places; and your altars will be destroyed, and your statues will be broken; and I will cause your slain to lie before your idols. When the slain have fallen in the midst of you, you will know that I am Jehovah. Then you will acknowledge, when the slain are in the midst of their idols, around their altar. Ezekiel 6:3-4, 7, 13.
'The slain' stands for those who are governed by falsities of doctrine.
[9] In the same prophet,
Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain. They went forth and smote in the city. Ezekiel 9:7.
This is a prophetic vision. 'Defiling the house and filling the courts with the slain' stands for profaning goods and truths. In the same prophet,
You have multiplied your slain in this city, and have filled its streets with the slain. Therefore said the Lord Jehovih, Your slain whom you have placed in the midst of it, they are the flesh, and that is the pot; and he will lead you out from the midst of it. Ezekiel 11:6-7.
[10] Because 'the slain' meant those who have annihilated the truths of the Church by means of falsities and evils, therefore also in the representative Church those who touched one who had been slain were unclean. Such persons are referred to in Moses as follows,
Everyone who has touched on the surface of the field one slain with the sword, or one dead, or a human bone, or a sepulchre will be unclean for seven days. Numbers 19:16, 18.
Inquiry was therefore made and atonement effected by means of a heifer. In the same author,
If one is found slain, lying in the field, and it is not known who smote him, then the elders of the city and the judges shall come out and they shall measure [the distance] to the cities which are around the one slain. It shall be, that in the city nearest to the one slain the elders of that city shall take a heifer by means of which no work has been done, which has not pulled in the yoke, and they shall bring it down to the river or valley, and there they shall break the heifer's neck. And they shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck has been broken and shall say, Our hands have not shed blood, and our eyes have not seen it. Expiate Your people Israel, O Jehovah, and do not set innocent blood in the midst of Your people; and the blood shall be expiated for them. Deuteronomy 21:1-8.
[11] These laws were laid down because one who has been slain means the perversion, destruction, and profanation of the truth of the Church by means of falsity and evil, as is evident from each detail in the internal sense. The expression 'one slain, lying in the field' is used because 'the field' means the Church, see 2971, 3310, 3766. 'A heifer by means of which no work has been done' means the innocence of the external man which is present within ignorance. Without a clear knowledge of these things meant in the internal sense everyone will be surprised that a procedure such as this for making expiation should ever have been ordained.
Zechariah 14
1
Behold, a day of Yahweh comes, when your spoil will be divided in your midst.
2
For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city will be taken, the houses rifled, and the women ravished. Half of the city will go out into captivity, and the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city.
3
Then Yahweh will go out and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4
His feet will stand in that day on the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in two, from east to west, making a very great valley. Half of the mountain will move toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
5
You shall flee by the valley of my mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azel; yes, you shall flee, just like you fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Yahweh my God will come, and all the holy ones with you.
6
It will happen in that day, that there will not be light, cold, or frost.
7
It will be a unique day which is known to Yahweh; not day, and not night; but it will come to pass, that at evening time there will be light.
8
It will happen in that day, that living waters will go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the western sea; in summer and in winter will it be.
9
Yahweh will be King over all the earth. In that day Yahweh will be one, and his name one.
10
All the land will be made like the Arabah, from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; and she will be lifted up, and will dwell in her place, from Benjamin's gate to the place of the first gate, to the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananel to the king's winepresses.
11
Men will dwell therein, and there will be no more curse; but Jerusalem will dwell safely.
12
This will be the plague with which Yahweh will strike all the peoples who have warred against Jerusalem: their flesh will consume away while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will consume away in their sockets, and their tongue will consume away in their mouth.
13
It will happen in that day, that a great panic from Yahweh will be among them; and they will lay hold everyone on the hand of his neighbor, and his hand will rise up against the hand of his neighbor.
14
Judah also will fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered together: gold, and silver, and clothing, in great abundance.
15
So will be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the donkey, and of all the animals that will be in those camps, as that plague.
16
It will happen that everyone who is left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, Yahweh of Armies, and to keep the feast of tents.
17
It will be, that whoever of all the families of the earth doesn't go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, Yahweh of Armies, on them there will be no rain.
18
If the family of Egypt doesn't go up, and doesn't come, neither will it rain on them. This will be the plague with which Yahweh will strike the nations that don't go up to keep the feast of tents.
19
This will be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations that don't go up to keep the feast of tents.
20
In that day there will be on the bells of the horses, "HOLY TO YAHWEH;" and the pots in YAHWEH's house will be like the bowls before the altar.
21
Yes, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to Yahweh of Armies; and all those who sacrifice will come and take of them, and cook in them. In that day there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of Yahweh of Armies.
