2435. 'That I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken' means that this being so he would not perish, that is to say, the person with whom the truth which has good within it is present. This is clear from the meaning of 'a city' as truth, dealt with in 402, 2268, 2428. From most ancient times men have argued about which is the firstborn of the Church, whether charity or faith. The reason is that man is regenerated and made a Church by means of the truths of faith. But people who have given preference to faith and made it the firstborn have all sunk into heresies and falsities, and at length have annihilated charity altogether. One reads of Cain, for example, by whom a faith such as this is meant, that he at length killed Abel his brother, who means charity. One reads after this of Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, by whom also faith is meant; but he defiled his father's couch, Genesis 35:22; 49:4, as a result of which he was disgraced and the birthright passed to Joseph, Genesis 48:15; 1 Chronicles 5:1.

[2] This was the origin in the Word of all the disputes, and also the laws concerning the birthright. The reason for this controversy was that people did not know, even as it is not known today, that the amount of faith a person has depends on the amount of charity there is in him, and while a person is being regenerated charity offers itself to faith, or what amounts to the same, good offers itself to truth, and implants and accommodates itself in every part of it, and also in so doing causes faith to be faith. This being so, charity is really the firstborn of the Church, though to man it seems to be otherwise; see also 352, 367. But because these matters are the subject in many places after this, more in the Lord's Divine mercy will be said when those places are reached.

2269. 'And He said, I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there' means that mankind would not perish if [goods and truths] could be joined together. This is clear from the meaning of the number 'forty-five' as a joining together. It has been shown already that simple numbers retain their own meaning even when they are multiplied; and so larger numbers have a similar meaning to smaller. So it is with 'forty-five', a number which is the product of five times nine; and because it is the product of five times nine it has the same meaning as five and nine. 'Five' means that which is small, as has been shown already in 649, and 'nine' means conjunction or that which is joined together, 2075; so that the meaning here is, If goods have in some measure been joined to truths. That numbers in the Word mean real things or else states is clear from what has been stated above in 2252 about 'fifty', and also from what has been shown already concerning numbers, in 482, 487, 575, 647, 648, 755, 813, 1963, 1988.

[2] It is because 'five' means that which is small, and 'forty-five' a joining together, that those numbers are used in the way they are in this verse. That is to say, first it is said, 'Perhaps the fifty righteous persons will lack five', which means, If it were something less. Then it is said, 'Will You for five destroy the whole city?' which means, Will they perish for the small amount that is lacking? But after that, because five means a small amount, the number five is not used again but it is said, 'I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there', which means that they would not perish if [goods and truths] could be joined together. And a further reason why the expression 'forty-five' is used, and not 'if the fifty are lacking five', is that 'five' not only means that which is small, as shown in 649, but also severance, as has also been shown in Volume One, in 1686. Consequently so that a joining together might be meant and not a severance, this number, that is to say, forty-five is used, for forty-five means some joining together, as stated above. Thus in a very beautiful way every detail follows in its particular sequence in the internal sense.

[3] As regards good and truth when joined together, this is an arcanum that cannot be described in such a way that the ordinary mind is able to grasp it. Let merely a brief explanation be given here. The more genuine and pure truth is, the better is good from the Lord able to be accommodated to it as the recipient vessel; but the less genuine and pure truth is, the less is good from the Lord able to be accommodated. For they must each answer to the other; and to the extent that they do, they are joined together. Goods cannot possibly be received into falsities, nor evils into truths as their recipient vessels, for they are by nature and disposition contrary. The one rejects the other as its very enemy; indeed if they tried to join together, each of them would throw up - good would throw up evil as though it were poison, and evil would throw up good as though it were something that induces vomiting. Such enmity between evil and good has been provided by the Lord to prevent the possibility of their being mixed together, for if they were so mixed a person would perish. Those who are deceivers and hypocrites come near to having the two joined together in them; yet even in their case the Lord takes care to prevent them becoming joined together. This is the reason why in the next life deceivers and hypocrites suffer more dreadfully than all others.