4750. 'And Judah said to his brothers' means the corrupt within the Church who are opposed to all good whatever. This is clear from the representation of 'Judah' in the good sense as the good of celestial love, dealt with in 3654, 3881, but in the contrary sense as an opposition to all good whatever, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'his brothers' as those in the Church who are adherents to faith separated from charity. The reason 'Judah' here represents those who are opposed to all good whatever is that in the good sense 'Judah' in the Word represents those who are governed by the good of celestial love. Celestial love consists in love to the Lord and from this in love towards the neighbour. Those governed by this love are the ones who are the most closely joined to the Lord and therefore they live in the inmost heaven, and in a state of innocence there. This being so, they are seen by all others as small children, and entirely as visual forms of love. No one else can go near them, and therefore when they are sent to others they are surrounded by other angels, through whom the sphere of love emanating from them is moderated. If not moderated this sphere would cause those to whom they have been sent to faint, for the sphere of their love penetrates even to one's marrow.

[2] Since this love, that is, this form of the good of love, which is called celestial, is represented in the good sense by 'Judah', he therefore represents in the contrary sense the kind of thing that is the opposite of celestial good, and so is opposed to any good whatever. Most things in the Word have two meanings - a good one, and another contrary to this. The good meaning they have enables one to see the nature of their contrary one, for things in the contrary sense are the direct opposite of whatever are meant in the good sense.

[3] Each form of the good of love falls in general into one of two categories - the good of celestial love and the good of spiritual love. The opposite of the good of celestial love is in the contrary sense the evil of self-love, and the opposite of the good of spiritual love is in the contrary sense the evil of love of the world. Those governed by the evil of self-love are opposed to all good whatever, but those governed by the evil of love of the world less so. In the Word 'Judah' in the contrary sense represents those who are governed by self-love, while 'Israel' in the contrary sense represents those who are governed by love of the world, the reason being that 'Judah' represented the Lord's celestial kingdom, and 'Israel' His spiritual kingdom.

[4] The hells too are distinguished in accordance with those two loves. Spirits governed by self-love, being opposed to all good whatever, are in the deepest and consequently the most dreadful hells, whereas those governed by love of the world, being less opposed to all good whatever, are in hells not quite so deep and consequently less dreadful ones.

[5] The evil of self-love is not, as people commonly regard it, the display of superiority which is called arrogance; rather, it is hatred against the neighbour and a resulting burning desire for revenge and a delight in cruelty. These are the more internal features of self-love. Its more external features are contempt for others in comparison with oneself and an aversion to those in whom spiritual good is present. These more external features of it are sometimes accompanied by a manifest display of superiority or arrogance, sometimes they are not. For anyone who hates his neighbour in that fashion loves solely himself inwardly, and only any others whom he regards to be at unity with him, so that they are part of him and he is part of them, solely for the sake of his own selfish ends.

[6] This is what those people are like whom 'Judah' represents in the contrary sense. The Jewish nation was governed by that kind of love right from the start, for it regarded all people throughout the world as the basest slaves, of no value at all compared with themselves, and it also hated them. What is more, when self-love and love of the world did not hold them together they persecuted even their companions and brethren with similar hatred. This disposition remains with that nation even now, but because they have to seek asylum in lands not their own they conceal it.

10648. 'And they go whoring after their gods' means from which falsities of evil arise. This is clear from the meaning of 'whoring after the gods of the nations' as being linked to falsities of evil; for being linked together unlawfully is meant by 'whoring', and falsities of evil by 'the gods of the nations'. For the meaning of 'gods' as falsities, see 4402(end), 4544, 7873, 8867, and for that of 'nations' as evils, above in 10638. The expression 'from which falsities of evil arise' is used because from evil all kinds of falsity come forth. Falsities however which do not arise from evil are indeed falsities in the outward form they take, but they are not inwardly so. For falsities can exist with someone who leads a good life; but they have good interiorly present in them which causes the evil of the falsity to be removed. Consequently that falsity does not appear before angels as falsity but as a sort of truth; for angels look at the inner features of faith, not the outward aspects of it. This is why everyone, whatever their religion, even gentiles who possess no truths from the Word, can be saved, provided that they have regarded leading a good life as their end in view, and the religious teachings they have received as the means to that end, see 2589-2604.

[2] 'Whoring' is spoken of frequently in the Word. An unlawful joining to truth is meant by this, and an unlawful joining to good by 'committing adultery', so that 'whoring' means the falsification of truth, and 'committing adultery' the adulteration of good. The falsification of truth takes place in the following three ways,

1. If a person leads an evil life while acknowledging truths received through religious teachings, for the truths then have evil inside them, and evil falsifies truth. It does so because evil dispels from truths what is heavenly and Divine, and introduces what is hellish, as a consequence of which falsification takes place.

[3] 2. If a person first accepts the truths in religious teachings and afterwards assents to the falsity of another set of teachings, which happens solely in the case of those who lead an evil life, because evil has an appetite for falsity and freely takes hold of it as the truth.

3. If a person who is leading an evil life and adopting falsities as his religious teachings takes hold of truths belonging to another set of teachings, he too falsifies truths, because he does not acknowledge truths for their own sake, only for the sake of earning some gain, important position, or reputation.

[4] In the Word all these kinds of falsification are called acts of whoredom and prostitution, because a lawful joining together, which is that of goodness and truth, is meant by a marriage, see 2727-2759, so that instances of an unlawful joining together are meant by acts of whoredom. The truth of this may be recognized from a large number of places in the Word, of which let just these two be brought forward here:

In Ezekiel,

O Jerusalem, you committed whoredom because of your renown, and poured out your acts of whoredom on every passer-by. You took some of your garments and made for yourself high places variously coloured, and on them committed whoredom. For your adornment you took vessels made of My gold and of My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself figures of the male, and committed whoredom with them. You took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to Me, and sacrificed them to them. Were your acts of whoredom a small matter? You committed whoredom with the sons of Egypt, your neighbours, great in flesh, and multiplied your whoredom to provoke Me to anger. You committed whoredom with the sons of Asshur, and you committed whoredom with them and were not satisfied. And you multiplied your whoredom, even as far as the trading land of Chaldea. Ezekiel 16:15-17, 20, 26, 28-29ff.

And in the same prophet,

Two women, the daughters of one mother, committed whoredom in Egypt. In their youth they committed whoredom. Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem. Oholah committed whoredom under Me and doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours. She bestowed her acts of whoredom on them. Her acts of whoredom brought from Egypt she did not give up, for they had lain with her in her youth. Oholibah corrupted her love more than she, and multiplied her acts of whoredom above her sister's acts of whoredom; she doted on the sons of Asshur. She added to her acts of whoredom and saw the images of the Chaldeans. As soon as her eyes saw them she desired them. The sons of Babel came to her, into her love-bed. Ezekiel 23:2-5, 7-8, 11-12, 14, 16ff.

Further examples of the same thing occur in many other places, which may be seen, together with explanations of them as well as of the two quoted here, in 2466, 8904.