9193. 'Shall be utterly destroyed' means being cast out. This is clear from the meaning of 'being utterly destroyed', when it refers to people whose worship is that of falsities arising from evil, as being cast out, that is to say, cast out of the Church. The fact that casting such falsities out of the Church, and so rooting them out, is meant by their being 'utterly destroyed', is evident in Moses,

If men of belial ¹ have gone out of your midst, and have urged the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, whom you have not known - if it is true and certain, ² that [this] abomination has been committed in the midst of you - you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword. You shall utterly destroy it and everyone who is in it, and also the beasts in it, with the edge of the sword. You shall bring together all the spoil from it into the middle of the street, and shall burn the city with fire, and all the spoil from it, the whole of it, to Jehovah your God, so that it may be a heap forever and not be built ever again. Do it so thoroughly that nothing of what is given to utter destruction sticks in your hand. Deuteronomy 13:13-17.

[2] The fact that falsity arising from evil is what 'that which is given to utter destruction' means is evident from the details of these verses in the internal sense. 'Cities' which were to be utterly destroyed are religious teachings, in this instance false teachings, 2712, 2943, 3216. 'The edge of the sword' with which they were to strike man and beast is truth fighting against and destroying falsity that arises from evil, 2799, 4499, 7102, 8294. 'The street' into the middle of which the spoil was to be brought is truth presented by religious teachings and in the contrary sense falsity presented by them, 2336. 'Fire' with which the spoil was to be burned along with the city is the evil of self-love, 1297, 2446, 5071, 5215, 6314, 6832, 7324. From all this it is evident that 'utter destruction' means being cast out of the Church and being rooted out. Therefore also it was commanded that the nations in the land of Canaan should be utterly destroyed, Deuteronomy 7:2, 24-26. For the nations had originally constituted the Church in that land, which also was why they had altars and in addition offered sacrifices, 3686, 4447, 4516, 4517, 5136, 6306, 6516, 8054. But when they turned representative worship - the worship of the Ancient Church - into idolatrous worship, and in so doing falsified truths and adulterated forms of good, 8317, the command came for them to be given to utter destruction, not only people but also cities and what was in them.

[3] The command came because everything there represented falsities arising from evil. The cities represented the actual teachings presenting falsity; the beasts represented evil affections; the gold and silver of those people represented evils and falsities; and so on with everything else. The worship of the Ancient Church had consisted first and foremost in worshipping God in human form, that is, in worshipping the Lord. But then they turned aside from good to evil and began to worship the actual objects that had served to represent Him, such as the sun, moon, and stars, also groves and pillars, and God in the form of various kinds of idols. Thus they worshipped external objects separated from anything of an internal nature; and this is brought about when the internal man has been closed. What closes the internal man is a life of evil; for good is that through which the Lord flows in and opens the internal man, and therefore evil is that which closes this. Once the internal man has been closed truths are turned into falsities; and when they remain they serve solely the evils of self-love and love of the world. Internal worship consists first and foremost in acknowledging the Lord, the one and only God, and in acknowledging that He is the source of everything good and true. People in the Church who do not acknowledge Him cannot be governed by good, nor thus by truth; and the ones to acknowledge Him are those who possess faith and at the same time lead a good life, but not those who lead a bad life, 8878. Acknowledging and worshipping the Lord consists in living according to His commandments, that is, leading the life of faith and of charity, see 8252-8257. The life of faith lies in doing His commandments in a spirit of obedience, and the life of charity lies in doing them out of love.

脚注:

2149. 'Behold, three men standing over him' means the Divine itself, the Divine Human, and the Holy proceeding. This becomes clear without explanation, for everyone knows that a Trinity exists, and that this Trinity is a Unity. That it is a Unity is quite evident in this chapter, as in verse 3 that follows where it is said, 'He said, My Lord, if now I have found grace in your eyes, do not now pass from over your servant', ¹ words that were addressed to the three men. In addition to this it is said -

In verse 10, And He said, 'I will certainly return to you.

In verse 13, And Jehovah said to Abraham.

In verse 15, He said, 'No, but you did laugh'.

In verse 17, And Jehovah said, 'Shall I hide from Abraham that which I am going to do?'

In verse 19, 'For I know him'.

In verse 20, And Jehovah said.

In verse 21, 'I will go down and I will see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it which has come up to Me; and if not, I will know'.

In verse 23, Abraham said, 'Will You also destroy the righteous with the wicked?' In verse 25, 'Far be it from You to do such a thing, far be it from You'.

In verse 26, And Jehovah said, 'If I find fifty righteous persons, I will spare the whole place for their sakes'.

In verse 27, 'I have undertaken to speak to my Lord'.

In verse 28, 'Will You for five destroy the whole city?' And He said, 'I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there'.

In verse 29, He spoke to Him yet again. He said, 'I will not do it for the sake of the forty,.

In verse 30, 'Let not my Lord be incensed'. He said, 'I will not do it if I find thirty there'.

In verse 31, 'I have undertaken to speak to my Lord'. He said, 'I will not destroy it for the sake of the twenty'.

In verse 32, 'Let not now my Lord be incensed. And He said, 'I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten'.

In verse 33, And Jehovah departed, when He had finished speaking to Abraham.

From all these places it becomes clear that the three men who appeared to Abraham meant the Divine itself, the Divine Human, and the Holy proceeding, and that in itself the Trinity is a Unity. The subject at this point in the internal sense is Jehovah's appearing to the Lord and the Lord's perceiving this, though not by means of an appearing such as was made to Abraham, for the event of the three men seen by Abraham is historically true, but it represents Divine perception or a perception received from the Divine which the Lord had when He was in the human. This perception is dealt with in what follows.

脚注: