4442. 'And Hamor, Shechem's father, went out to Jacob to speak to him' means consultation regarding the truth of that Church. This is clear from the representation of 'Hamor, Shechem's father' as the truth known to the Ancients, dealt with in 4430, 4431; from the representation of 'Jacob' as the external Ancient Church, dealt with just above in 4439; and from the meaning of 'speaking to him' as consultation. Consequently these words mean consultation regarding the truth of that Church. Anyone who does not know that names in the Word mean spiritual entities will be amazed to learn that these words 'Hamor, Shechem's father, went out to Jacob to speak to him' mean consultation by the truth of the Church among the Ancients with the truth which was suited to the Ancient Church that was to be established among Jacob's descendants. But no one who knows what the internal sense of the Word is like will be amazed; nor indeed will those who from books by the Ancients have acquainted themselves with the literary style customary among them. For the Ancients commonly presented entities as if conversing with one another, such as wisdom, intelligence, knowledge, and the like. They also commonly gave these entities names by which such things were meant. The gods and demigods of the people of old were nothing other, and neither were the personalities whom they invented to link those entities together into a historical tale.

[2] The philosophers of old received this customary style from the Ancient Church which had been spread throughout much of the Asiatic world, 1238, 2385; for those who belonged to the Ancient Church linked together entities that were holy by means of representatives and meaningful signs. The Ancient Church however received the same by word of mouth from the most ancient people who lived before the Flood, 920, 1409, 1977, 2896, 2897; and these people received it from heaven since they had communication with heaven, 784, 1114-1125. For such representatives and meaningful signs occur in the first heaven, which is the lowest of the three heavens. This explains why the Word was written in that kind of style. But in contrast to the writings of the men of old the Word has this peculiar feature, that the separate entities in a continuous chain represent the celestial and spiritual things of the Lord's kingdom, and in the highest sense the Lord Himself; that the actual historical details are also such; and what is more, that they are real correspondences, these being continuous, extending through the three heavens from the Lord.

1409. That the historical events as described are representative, but every word carries a spiritual meaning, becomes clear from what has been stated and shown already about representatives and about things that carry a spiritual meaning in 665, 920, 1361. Since representatives begin at this point, let a further brief explanation be given. The Most Ancient Church, which was celestial, regarded all earthly and worldly things, and also bodily things, which were in any way the objects of their senses, as nothing else than things that were dead. But because every single thing in the world presents some idea of the Lord's kingdom and therefore of celestial and spiritual things, they did not think about those objects whenever they saw them or became aware of them with some sensory power, but about celestial and spiritual things. And indeed they did not think from those worldly objects but by means of them. In this way things with them that were dead became living.

[2] Those things that carried a spiritual meaning were gathered from the lips of those people by their descendants, and these turned them into doctrinal teachings which constituted the Word of the Ancient Church after the Flood. These doctrinal teachings in the Ancient Church were things that carried a spiritual meaning, for through them they came to know internal things, and from them thought about spiritual and celestial things. But after this knowledge began to perish, so that they ceased to know that such things were meant and they started to regard those earthly and worldly things as holy and to worship them without any thought as to their spiritual meaning, those same things at that point became representative. From this arose the representative Church which began in Abram and was subsequently established among the descendants of Jacob. From this it may be known that representatives had their origin in the things in the Ancient Church which carried a spiritual meaning, and that these had their origin in the heavenly ideas present in the Most Ancient Church.

[3] The nature of representatives becomes clear from the historical parts of the Word, where all the acts of those forefathers, that is to say, the acts of Abram, Isaac, and Jacob, and later on of Moses, the judges, and the kings of Judah and Israel, are nothing other than representatives. As has been stated, 'Abram' in the Word represents the Lord, and because he represents the Lord, he also represents the celestial man. 'Isaac' too represents the Lord, and from that the spiritual man, while 'Jacob' likewise represents the Lord, and from that the natural man corresponding to the spiritual.

[4] But the nature of representatives is such that no attention at all is paid to the character of the representative person, only to the thing which he represents. For all the kings of Judah and Israel, no matter what kind of men they were, represented the Lord's Royalty, and all the priests, no matter what kind of men these were, His Priesthood. Thus bad men as well as good were able to represent the Lord, and the celestial and spiritual things of His kingdom, for, as stated and shown already, representatives were entirely separate from the person involved. So then all the historical narratives of the Word are representative, and as this is so it follows that all the words of the Word carry a spiritual meaning, that is, they mean something different in the internal sense from what they do in the sense of the letter.