79. There are many passages in the prophets about our understanding of the Word, passages about the church, where it tells us that the church exists only where the Word is properly understood, and that the quality of a church depends on the quality of the understanding of the Word among its members. There are also many passages in the prophets that describe the church among the Israelite and Jewish people, a church that was utterly destroyed and annihilated by the distortion of the Word’s meaning or message, for this is exactly what destroys a church.

[2] The name Ephraim in the prophets, especially in Hosea, symbolizes both true and false understandings of the Word, because Ephraim in the Word means the understanding of the Word in the church. It is because the understanding of the Word makes a church that Ephraim is called “a precious child, and one born of delights” (Jeremiah 31:20), “the firstborn” (Jeremiah 31:9), “the strength of Jehovah’s head” (Psalms 60:7; 108:8), “powerful” (Zechariah 10:7), and “filled with a bow” (Zechariah 9:13); and the children of Ephraim are called “armed” and “bow-shooters” (Psalms 78:9). The bow means a body of teaching from the Word fighting against what is false.

So too, Ephraim was transferred to the right of Israel and blessed, and accepted in place of Reuben (Genesis 48:5, 11, and following; [1 Chronicles 5:1]). And therefore Ephraim, together with his brother Manasseh, was exalted over all by Moses in his blessing of the children of Israel in the name of their father Joseph (Deuteronomy 33:13-17).

[3] The prophets, especially Hosea, also use “Ephraim” to describe what the church is like when its understanding of the Word has been lost, as we can see from the following:

Israel and Ephraim will stumble. Ephraim will be desolate. Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment. I will be like a lion to Ephraim: I will tear them and leave; I will carry them off and no one will rescue them. (Hosea 5:5, 9, 11, 14)

What shall I do to you, Ephraim? Your holiness goes away like a cloud at dawn and like the morning dew that falls. (Hosea 6:4)

[4] They will not dwell in the land of Jehovah: Ephraim will go back to Egypt and will eat what is unclean in Assyria. (Hosea 9:3)

The land of Jehovah is the church, Egypt is the preoccupation of the earthly self with mere facts, and Assyria is rationalizing based on those facts; all of which lead to distortion of the Word in regard to the way it is understood. That is why it says that Ephraim will go back to Egypt and will eat what is unclean in Assyria.

[5] Ephraim feeds on the wind and chases the east wind. Every day he increases lies and devastation. He makes a covenant with Assyria, and oil is carried down into Egypt. (Hosea 12:1)

To feed on the wind, chase the east wind, and increase lies and devastation is to distort what is true and in this way destroy the church.

[6] Much the same is also meant by Ephraim’s whoredom, since whoredom means distortion of the way the Word is understood - that is, distortion of its genuine truth. See the following passages:

I know Ephraim; he has committed whoredom in every way and Israel has been defiled. (Hosea 5:3)

I have seen something foul in the house of Israel: Ephraim has committed whoredom there, and Israel has been defiled. (Hosea 6:10)

Israel is the church itself and Ephraim is the understanding of the Word that is the source of the church and that determines its quality, so it says that Ephraim has committed whoredom and Israel has been defiled.

[7] Since the church among Jews had been completely destroyed because of its distortions, it says of Ephraim,

Am I to give you up, Ephraim? Am I to hand you over, Israel? Like Admah? Shall I make you like Zeboiim? (Hosea 11:8)

Since the book of the prophet Hosea, from the first chapter to the last, is about the distortion of the Word and the consequent destruction of the church, and since whoredom means the distortion of truth in the church, the prophet was commanded to represent that state of the church by taking a whore as his wife and fathering children by her (chapter 1); and also by forming a relationship with a woman who was committing adultery (chapter 3).

[8] These instances have been presented so that readers may know and be assured from the Word that the quality of a church depends on the quality of the understanding of the Word in it - outstanding and priceless if its understanding comes from genuine truths from the Word, but in ruins, actually filthy, if it comes from distortions.

For further evidence that Ephraim means the understanding of the Word, and in its opposite sense a distorted understanding leading to the destruction of the church, you may check some other passages that deal with Ephraim: Hosea 4:17-18; 7:1, 11; 8:9, 11; 9:11-13, 16; 10:11; 11:3; 12:1, 8, 14; 13:1, 8, 14; Isaiah 17:3; 28:1; Jeremiah 4:15; 31:6, 18; 50:19; Ezekiel 37:16; 48:5; Obadiah verse 19; Zechariah 9:10.

9127. 'There shall be no bloodguilt for him' means that he is not guilty of the violence done. This is clear from the meaning of 'blood' in the highest sense as Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good, and in the internal sense springing from this as the truth of good, dealt with in 4735, 6378, 6978, 7317, 7326, 7846, 7850, 7877. Consequently 'shedding blood' means doing violence to God's truth or the truth of good, and also to good itself. For anyone who does violence to truth does it also to good, since truth is wedded so closely to good that one is never without the other. Therefore if violence is done to one it is also done to the other. From all this it is evident that 'there shall be no bloodguilt for him' means not being guilty of the violence done to truth or to good.

[2] A person who has no knowledge of the internal sense of the Word can only think that 'blood' in the Word means blood, and that 'shedding blood' simply means killing someone. But the internal sense does not deal with the life of a person's body, only with that of his soul, that is, with his spiritual life, which will go on living forever. This life is described in the Word, in the sense of the letter, by means of such things as constitute the life of the body, namely flesh and blood. And since a person's spiritual life springs from and is maintained by the good that belongs to charity and the truth that belongs to faith, the good belonging to charity is meant in the internal sense of the Word by 'flesh' and the truth belonging to faith by 'blood'. In an even more internal sense the good belonging to love to the Lord is meant by 'flesh' and the good belonging to love towards the neighbour by 'blood'. In the highest sense however, in which solely the Lord is the subject, 'flesh' is the Lord's Divine Good, thus the Lord Himself in respect of Divine Good, while 'blood' is Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, thus the Lord in respect of Divine Truth. These things are understood in heaven by flesh and blood when a person reads the Word. And the same things are understood when the person attends the Holy Supper, though in this the bread is the flesh and the wine is the blood; for 'the bread' has exactly the same meaning as flesh and 'the wine' exactly the same meaning as blood.

[3] But those who think only on the level of the senses, as most people in the world do at the present day, do not understand any of this. Therefore let them keep to the faith they have, so long as they believe that the Holy Supper and the Word have a holiness within them because they come from God. Maybe they do not know where that holiness lies; even so, let those who are endowed with some inner degree of perception, that is, who can think on a level above the senses, consider whether 'blood' is used to mean blood and 'flesh' to mean flesh in Ezekiel,

Son of man, thus said the Lord Jehovih, Say to every bird of the air, to every wild animal of the field, Assemble and come, gather yourselves from all around to My sacrifice which I am sacrificing for you, a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, so that you may eat flesh and drink blood. You will eat the flesh of the mighty, and [drink] the blood of the princes of the earth. And you will drink blood till you are drunk, from My sacrifice which I will sacrifice for you. You will be glutted at My table with horse and chariot, and with the mighty, and with every man of war. Thus will I set My glory among the nations. Ezekiel 39:17-21.

Also in John, in Revelation,

I saw an angel standing in the sun, who called out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds flying in the middle of heaven, Gather yourselves together to the supper of the great God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses and those seated on them, and the flesh of all, free men and slaves, small and great. Revelation 19:17-18.

It is obvious that in these places 'flesh' is not used to mean flesh or 'blood' to mean blood.

The same applies then to the Lord's 'flesh' and 'blood' in John,

The bread which I shall give is My flesh. Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood you will have no life in you. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is truly food, and My blood is truly drink. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. This is the bread which came down from heaven. John 6:50-58.

The Lord's flesh is the Divine Good of His Divine Love, and His blood is Divine Truth emanating from His Divine Good. This may be recognized from the consideration that they are the food which nourishes a person's spiritual life.

[4] This explains why He goes on to say, 'My flesh is truly food, and My blood is truly drink', and also, 'This is the bread which came down from heaven'. And since a person is joined to the Lord through love and faith, He also says, 'He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him'. But as stated above, this matter can be understood only by those who are able to think on a level above the bodily senses, in particular by those who believe in and love the Lord, because the Lord raises them from the life of their bodily senses up to the life of their spirit. That is, He raises them from the light of the world into the light of heaven, the light in which conceptions of things that are material, that is, impressions in the mind that are acquired by the body fade from view.

[5] Anyone therefore who knows that 'blood' means God's truth coming from the Lord can also see that 'shedding blood' in the Word does not mean killing or taking a person's physical life but killing or taking the life of his soul, that is, destroying his spiritual life, which consists of faith in and love to the Lord. When 'blood' is used to refer to blood shed unlawfully it means God's truth destroyed by falsities arising from evil, as is evident in the following places: In Isaiah,

When the Lord will have washed the excrement of the daughters of Zion and washed away the blood ¹ of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgement and by a spirit of purging ... Isaiah 4:4.

In the same prophet,

Your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity. Their feet run to evil, and they hasten to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity. Isaiah 59:3, 7.

In Jeremiah,

Yes, in your skirts the blood of poor innocent souls is found. Jeremiah 2:34.

In the same prophet,

... for the sins of the prophets, the iniquities of the priests who shed in the midst of Jerusalem the blood of the righteous. They went astray blind in the streets, they are defiled with blood. Things which have no power they touch with their garments. Lamentations 4:13-14.

In Ezekiel,

I passed by you and saw you weltering in your blood, ¹ and I said, Live in your blood; ¹ I indeed said to you, Live in your blood. ¹ I washed you with water and washed away your blood ¹ from upon you, and anointed you with oil. Ezekiel 16:6, 9.

In the same prophet,

You, son of man, will you dispute with the city of blood? ¹ Declare to her all her abominations. By your blood which you have shed you have become guilty, and by the idols which you have made you are defiled. Behold, the princes of Israel, each according to his power, ² have been among you and have shed blood. Men of intrigue have been among you, [ready] to shed blood, and among you have eaten on the mountains. Ezekiel 22:2-4, 6, 9.

In Joel,

I will give portents in heaven and on earth, blood and fire, and a column of smoke. The sun will be turned into thick darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day [of Jehovah] comes. Joel 2:30-31.

And in John,

The sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the full moon became like blood. Revelation 6:12.

In the same book,

The second angel sounded, and so to speak a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and a third part of the sea became blood. Revelation 8:8.

In the same book,

The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became like the blood of one dead, from which every living soul died in the sea. The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and into the fountains of water, and blood was made. Revelation 16:3-4.

[6] In these places 'blood' is not used to mean the life-blood of the human body when it has been shed, but the blood of spiritual life, which is God's truth, when violence has been done to it by falsity arising from evil. 'Blood' has a similar meaning in Matthew,

On you will come the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel even to the blood of Zechariah, whom you killed between the temple and the altar. Matthew 23:35.

These words mean that from earliest times down to the present the Jews had been doing violence to the truths of the Word, to such an extent that they were unwilling to accept any inner, heavenly truth at all. Therefore they did not accept the Lord either. The shedding of His blood by them was a sign of their total rejection of God's truth; for the Lord was Divine Truth itself, which is the Word made flesh, John 1:1, 14. Their total rejection of God's truth that came from the Lord and was the Lord is meant by the following in Matthew,

Pilate washed his hands before the people, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this righteous person; you yourselves see [to it]. And answering, all the people said, His blood be on us and on our children. Matthew 27:24-25.

This accounts for the following incident described in John,

One of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. He who has seen has testified, and the testimony is true; and he knows that he is saying things that are true, so that you may believe. John 19:34-35.

The reason why water also came out is that 'water' means God's truth in its outward form, the kind of truth that the letter consists of. For the meaning of 'water' as truth, see 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, 5668, 8568.

[7] All this also shows what is meant by being made pure by the Lord's blood, namely accepting the truth of faith from Him, 7918, 9088. Thus it also shows what is meant by the following in John, in Revelation,

They conquered the dragon by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their ³ testimony. Revelation 12:11.

'The blood of the Lamb' is Divine Truth that comes from the Lord, as also is 'the word of their testimony'. 'The blood of the lamb' is innocent blood, for 'a lamb' means innocence, 3519, 3994, 7840. God's truth emanating from the Lord in heaven has innocence at the centre of it; for none other than those possessing innocence have any feeling for it, 2526, 2780, 3111, 3183, 3495, 3994, 4797, 6013, 6107, 6765, 7836 (end), 7840, 7877, 7902.

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