10112. 'And a stranger shall not eat them' means no making of good their own by those who do not acknowledge the Lord. This is clear from the meaning of 'a stranger' or a foreigner as one who is outside the Church, dealt with in 2049, 2115, 7996, and they are said to be outside the Church who do not acknowledge the Lord (among the Jewish nation those who did not acknowledge Jehovah as their God or allow themselves to receive instruction in the ritual observances of the Church [were called 'outsiders']; those who did acknowledge Him and allow themselves to receive instruction were called 'sojourners', who had the same rights as natives, see 8007, 8013, 9196); and from the meaning of 'eating' as making good one's own, dealt with in 10109. The reason why good is not made their own by people who do not acknowledge the Lord is that acknowledging one's God is the starting point of religion, and among Christians acknowledging the Lord is the starting point of the Church; for without acknowledgement of Him there can be no transmission of anything from Him, nor consequently any faith, nor thus any love. So it is that the chief thing the Christian Church teaches is that without the Lord there is no salvation. For whatever a person calls true and believes and whatever he calls good and loves cannot be said to be true or good unless it comes from the Divine, and so unless it comes from the Lord. For no one left to himself is able to believe what is true or do what is good; rather, as is also well known, everything true and everything good comes from above. From this it is plainly evident that people within the Church who do not acknowledge the Lord cannot possess faith, nor thus any love to God, and therefore cannot be saved. This was represented among the Israelite nation by their acknowledgement of Jehovah as their God, by the acceptance of their worship and its being called holy, and by their being sanctified then, regardless of what they were like inwardly. For things of a representative nature were no more than outward forms, and with that nation an interest in these alone was sufficient, see the places referred to in 9320(end). Those of them therefore who did not acknowledge Jehovah but some other God, however much they offered the same kinds of sacrifice and worshipped in the same kinds of ways, were nevertheless banished from the Church, such as those who honoured baal and other gods. From this it may be recognized what kind of fate in the next life awaits those who have been born within the Church and yet at heart fail to accept the Lord, whatever the ways in which they have behaved towards others. Much experience as well has led me to see that they cannot be saved, as also the Lord teaches explicitly in John,

He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not believe in the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God rests upon him. John 3:36.

As regards nations outside the Church however, those who, true to their religion, have led lives in which some kind of charity towards their neighbour has figured, and some kind of love to God the Creator of the universe in a human form, are accepted in the next life by the Lord and saved. For after receiving instruction from angels they acknowledge the Lord, believe in Him, and love Him, see 2589-2604.

9320. 'For you shall utterly destroy them' means that evils must be completely removed. This is clear from the meaning of 'destroying' - when it has reference to evils and falsities, meant by the nations of the land of Canaan and their gods - as removing. The reason why 'destroying' means removing is that those governed by goodness and truth never destroy those ruled by evil and falsity, but merely move them away. This they do because good, not evil, governs their actions, and good comes from the Lord, who never destroys anyone. Those ruled by evil however and consequently by falsity try to destroy, and so far as they can they do destroy those governed by good. This they do because evil rules their actions. But since, when they try to do so, they make their attack on good which comes from the Lord, thus on what is of God, they destroy themselves, that is, they hurl themselves into damnation and into hell. Such is the law of order. And why it is such, see 4299, 7643, 7679, 7710, 7926, 7989, 8137, 8146, 8265, 8945, 8946.

[2] The reason why the Israelites and Jews were to destroy the nations of the land of Canaan was that they themselves represented spiritual and heavenly realities, while the nations represented hellish and devilish things, which can never exist together with those realities since they are opposites. The reason why they were allowed to destroy the nations was that no Church existed among them, only a representative of the Church, so that the Lord was not present among them either except through things of a representative nature, 4307. For they were interested in outward forms but not their inner substances, that is, in the worship that represented goodness and truth but not goodness and truth themselves. People like this are allowed to destroy, kill, and consign to slaughter and complete destruction. But people who are interested in outward forms and at the same time in their inner substance are not allowed to do those things, since their actions must be governed by good, and good comes from the Lord.

[3] The fact that the Jews and Israelites were such is declared explicitly by Moses,

Do not say in your heart, when Jehovah your God has thrust out the nations before you, Because of my righteousness Jehovah has brought me in to possess this land. It is not because of your righteousness and because of the uprightness of your heart; for you are a stiff-necked people. Deuteronomy 9:4-6.

And elsewhere,

They are a nation from whom counsel has perished, nor is there intelligence in them. From the vine of Sodom comes their vine, and from the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of poison, they have clusters of bitterness. The poison of snakes (draco) is their wine, and the cruel poison of asps. Is not this hidden away with Me, sealed up in My treasuries? Deuteronomy 32:28, 32-34.

'The vine' in the internal sense means the Church, 1069, 5113, 6375, 6376, 9277; 'grapes' and 'clusters' mean the internal forms and the external forms of that Church's good, 1071, 5117, 6378; and 'wine' means that Church's internal truth, 1071, 1798, 6377. From this one may see what is meant by the assertions that their vine comes from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah, that their grapes are grapes of poison and clusters of bitterness, and that their wine is the poison of snakes and the cruel poison of asps. The fact that all this was known to Jehovah, that is, to the Lord, is meant by the remarks about its being hidden away with Him and sealed up in His treasuries.

[4] In John,

Jesus said to the Jews, You are from your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has not stood in the truth. John 8:44.

This is why they are called a wicked and adulterous generation, Matthew 12:39, as well as a brood of vipers, Matthew 3:7; 12:34; 23:33; Luke 3:7. That they were like this is also described by the Lord in His parables in Matthew 21:33-45; Mark 12:1-9; Luke 14:16-24; 20:9ff.

Regarding that nation, that it was the worst nation; that in their worship they were interested in outward forms but not their inner substance; that no Church existed among them, only a representative of the Church; but that nevertheless they were able to represent the internal realities of the Church, see 3398, 3479, 3480, 3732 (end), 3881 (end), 4208, 4281, 4288-4290, 4293, 4307, 4314, 4316, 4317, 4429, 4433, 4444, 4500, 4503, 4680, 4815, 4818, 4820, 4825, 4832, 4837, 4844, 4847, 4865, 4868, 4874, 4899, 4903, 4911-4913, 5057, 5998, 6304, 6832, 6877, 7048, 7051, 7248, 7401, 7439, 8301, 8588, 8788, 8806, 8814, 8819, 8871, 8882, 9284.