4502. 'And they took Dinah from Shechem's house, and went away' means that they took away the affection for truth. This is clear from the representation of 'Dinah' as the affection for truth, dealt with above in 4498. The meaning according to the internal proximate sense is that they took away the affection for truth from those who were part of the remnants of the Most Ancient Church, for the phrase 'from Shechem's house' is used and by 'Shechem's house' is meant the good of truth of that Church. But as the subject here is the utter destruction of truth and good among those descended from Jacob, who are meant here by Jacob's sons, and as every detail mentioned has a specific application to the particular subject that is under discussion, 'Shechem's house' therefore means here simply the good of truth, like that which had existed with the member of the Most Ancient Church. Thus the meaning is that this good was wiped out among the nation descended from Jacob. For in the internal sense of the Word every expression or name means some aspect of the subject to which it belongs. At the same time the extinction of good and truth among Hamor and Shechem and his family is meant, because they accepted external usages, as shown in 4493.

[2] The truth of what has been explained so far regarding Simeon and Levi becomes clear from the prophetical utterances of Jacob before he died, where the following occurs,

Simeon and Levi are brothers; instruments of violence are their swords. Into their secret place let my soul not come; in their congregation let not my glory be united; for in their anger they killed a man, in their pleasure they hamstrung an ox. Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their fury, for it is severe. I will divide them in Jacob, and will scatter them in Israel. Genesis 49:5-7.

'Simeon and Levi' means the truth of faith which among the descendants of Jacob was turned into falsity, and the good of charity into evil, as above in 4499, 4500. They are called 'brothers' because good is the brother of truth, or charity is the brother of faith, 4498. 'Instruments of violence are their swords' means that falsities and evils did violence to truths and goods, 4499. 'Into their secret place let my soul not come, in their congregation let not my glory be united' means severance as regards life and doctrine, for in the Word 'soul' is used to refer to life, 1000, 1040, 1742, 3299, and 'glory' to doctrine. 'For in their anger they killed a man, in their pleasure they hamstrung an ox' means that with evil intent they annihilated the truth of the Church and the good of the Church, 'a man' meaning the truth of the Church, 3134, and 'an ox' its good, 2180, 2566, 2781. 'Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their fury, for it is severe' means the punishment incurred for turning away from truth and good - 'cursing' meaning turning oneself away and also being punished on that account, 245, 379, 1423, 3530, 3584, while anger means the departure from good, and 'fury' the departure from truth, 357, 3614. 'I will divide them in Jacob, and will scatter them in Israel' means that goods and truths will exist no longer within either the external or the internal aspect of their Church - 'dividing' and 'scattering' meaning separating and completely removing from them, 4424, 'Jacob' being the external aspect of the Church and 'Israel' the internal, 4286.

[3] These things are said about Simeon and Levi in this prophetical utterance because those two mean in general the truth and good of the Church, and when these cease to exist, and more so when falsities and evils take their place, the Church has been wiped out. Nothing other than this is contained in these prophetical words, as may be seen from the fact that neither the tribe of Simeon nor the tribe of Levi was cursed more than any other tribe. For the tribe of Levi was selected for the priesthood, and the tribe of Simeon existed as one of the rest of the tribes of Israel.

3134. 'Who said, Thus the man spoke to me' means the leanings of truth in the natural man. This likewise is clear from the affection that occurs here, and also from what the man, or Abraham's servant, said to Rebekah, from which it is evident that the leanings of truth are meant; and from the meaning of 'the man' as truth, dealt with in 265, 749, 1007, here truth within the natural man and coming from the Divine, as he is Abraham's oldest servant, who means the natural man, see 3019. In the prophetical part of the Word especially 'man' (vir) is a word that occurs often - in the expressions 'man and wife', 'man and woman', 'man and inhabitant', and also 'man and human being' (vir et homo). In those expressions 'man' in the internal sense means that which belongs to the understanding, which is truth, while 'wife', 'woman', 'inhabitant', and 'human being' mean that which belongs to the will, which is good. As in Isaiah,

I look, and there is no man, and from these there is no counsellor. Isaiah 41:28.

'No man' stands for no one having intelligence, and so for no truth.

[2] In the same prophet,

I came, and there was no man; I called and no one answered. Isaiah 50:2.

Here the meaning is the same. In the same prophet,

Truth has stumbled in the street, and uprightness has been unable to come in, and truth has been removed, and he who retreats from evil is insane. Jehovah saw, and it was evil in His eyes that there was no judgement. And He saw, and there was no man, and wondered. Isaiah 59:14-16.

'No man' clearly stands for no one having intelligence, and so in the universal sense for no truth. These verses in Isaiah refer to the final period of the Church when no truth at all exists any longer. Hence the statement 'truth has stumbled in the street, uprightness cannot come in, and truth has been removed'. 'The street' too has reference to truth, see 2336, as does 'judgement', 2235. In Jeremiah,

Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem and see now, and take note, and search in its broad places, if you find a man, if anyone is executing judgement and seeking truth. Jeremiah 5:1.

Here also 'a man' clearly stands for one having intelligence, and for truth. In Zephaniah,

I will make their streets desolate with none passing through; their cities will be devastated, with not a man and not an inhabitant there. Zephaniah 3:6.

'Not a man' stands for no truth, 'not an inhabitant' for no good, 2268, 2451, 2712. The same occurs in many other places besides these.