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.

3040. 'And you shall take a wife for my son from there' means that the affection for truth came indeed from there, yet from a new source. This is clear from the meaning of 'a wife' as the affection for truth, dealt with above. For 'Rebekah' who is referred to in this present chapter represents Divine Truth that was to be joined to the Divine Good of the Rational, which is Isaac. That the affection for truth comes from there, that is to say, from the things meant by 'father's house' and 'land of nativity', yet from a new source, cannot as yet be fully explained, though the matter is dealt with extensively in what follows. Let just a brief explanation be given here. Every affection for truth in the natural man comes into being through an influx from the affection for good from the rational, that is, from the Divine by way of the rational. The affection for truth which through that influx comes into being in the natural man is at first not an affection for genuine truth, for genuine truth arrives gradually. It gradually takes the place of those things previously there which were not truths in themselves, but only means leading on to genuine truth. This brief explanation shows what is meant by the statement that the affection for truth comes indeed from there, yet from a new source.