9320. For destroying thou shalt destroy them. That this signifies that evils must be wholly removed, is evident from the signification of “destroying,” when said of the evils and falsities which are signified by the nations of the land of Canaan and by their gods, as being to remove. That “to destroy” denotes to remove, is because those who are in good and truth never destroy those who are in evil and falsity, but only remove them; for the reason that they act from good, and not from evil; and good is from the Lord, who never destroys anyone. But those who are in evil and from it in falsity endeavor to destroy, and as far as they are able do destroy, those who are in good, for the reason that they act from evil. But because they then run counter to the good which is from the Lord, thus counter to the Divine, they destroy themselves, that is, they cast themselves headlong into damnation and into hell. Such is the law of order, as may be seen above (n. 4299, 7643, 7679, 7710, 7926, 7989, 8137, 8146, 8265, 8945, 8946).

[2] That the Israelites and the Jews destroyed the nations of the land of Canaan, was because the former represented spiritual and heavenly things, and the nations infernal and diabolical things, which cannot possibly be together; for they are opposites. The reason why the Israelites were permitted to destroy the nations, was that there was no church among the Israelites, but only the representative of a church, and consequently the Lord was not present with them except representatively (n. 4307); for they were in external things without anything internal; that is, they were in a worship representative of good and truth, but not in good and truth. Such people are permitted to destroy, to kill, to exterminate, and to devote to destruction; but this is not permitted to those who are in external things and at the same time in internal things, because these people must act from good, and good is from the Lord.

[3] That the Jews and Israelites were of such a character is openly declared by Moses:

Speak not thou in thine heart, after that Jehovah thy God hath thrust the nations out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness Jehovah hath brought me in to possess this land. Not for thy righteousness, and for the uprightness of thine heart; for thou art a stiffnecked people (Deuteronomy 9:4-6).

They are a nation ruined in counsels, neither is there any understanding in them. Their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of gall; their clusters of bitterness; their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel gall of asps. Is not this hidden away with Me, sealed up in My treasuries (Deuteronomy 32:28, 32-34);

in the internal sense “a vine” signifies the church (n. 1069, 5113, 6375, 6376, 9277); “grapes,” and “clusters,” signify the internal and external goods of that church (n. 1071, 5117, 6378); and “wine” signifies the internal truth of that church (n. 1071, 1798, 6377). From this it is plain what is signified by “their vine being of the vine of Sodom and of the fields of Gomorrah,” “their grapes, grapes of gall, and their clusters of bitterness,” and “their wine the poison of dragons and the cruel gall of asps.” That these things are known to Jehovah, that is, to the Lord, is signified by its being “hidden away with Him, and sealed up in His treasuries.”

[4] In John:

Jesus said to the Jews, Ye are of your father the devil, and the desire of your father ye will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning (John 8:44).

Consequently they are called “a depraved and adulterous generation” (Matthew 12:39); and also “an offspring of vipers” (Matthew 3:7; 12:34; 23:33; Luke 3:7). That such was their nature was also described by the Lord in parables (Matthew 21:33-45; Mark 12:1-9; Luke 14:16-24; 20:9-19). (That that nation was the worst of all; that when in worship they were in external things without any internal; that there was no church among them, but only the representative of a church; and that nevertheless they could represent the internal things of the church, see n. 3398, 3479, 3480, 3732, 3881, 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)

8944. It is believed in the world that a man is able to know from the light of nature, thus without revelation, many things that belong to religion; as that there is a God, that He is to be worshipped, and also that He is to be loved, likewise that man will live after death, and many other things that depend upon these; and yet these things being such as are from self-intelligence. But I have been instructed by much experience that of himself, and without revelation, man knows nothing whatever about Divine things, and about the things that belong to heavenly and spiritual life. For man is born into the evils of the love of self and of the world, which are of such a nature that they shut out the influx from the heavens, and open influx from the hells; thus such as make man blind, and incline him to deny that there is a Divine, that there is a heaven and a hell, and that there is a life after death. This is very manifest from the learned in the world, who by means of knowledges have carried the light of their nature above the light of others; for it is known that these deny the Divine, and acknowledge nature in place of the Divine, more than others; and also that when they speak from the heart, and not from doctrine, they deny the life after death, likewise heaven and hell, consequently all things of faith, which they call bonds for the common people. From this it is plain what is the quality of the light of nature without revelation. It has also been shown that many who have written upon natural theology, and from the light of their nature have skillfully confirmed those things which belonged to the doctrine of their church, in the other life at heart deny these same things more than others do; and also deny the Word itself, which they attempt utterly to destroy; for in the other life hearts speak. It has also been shown that the same can receive nothing of influx out of heaven, but only from the hells. Hence it was plain what is the quality of the light of nature without revelation; consequently what is the quality of that which comes from man’s own intelligence.

[2] But two considerations have arisen which bring the mind into doubt upon this subject: first, that the ancients who were Gentiles nevertheless knew that there is a Divine, that this is to be worshiped, and that man as to the soul is immortal; second, that these things are known also to many nations at this day, with whom there is no revelation. But as regards the ancients, they did not know these things from the light of their own nature, but from revelation, which had spread from the church even unto them; for the Lord’s church had been in the land of Canaan from the most ancient times (see n. 3686, 4447, 4454, 4516, 4517, 5136, 6516). From this source such things as pertained to Divine worship spread to the nations round about, and likewise to the neighboring Greeks, and from these to the Italians or Romans. From this source both Greeks and Romans had knowledges about the Supreme Deity, and the immortality of the soul, of which their learned men wrote.

[3] As regards the nations at this day who also know that there is a Divine, and that there is a life after death, these have not had this knowledge from the light of their own nature, but from a religiosity derived by them from ancient times, which had been founded on such things as had spread in various ways from the church, which had revelation. This was of the Lord’s Divine Providence. Moreover, those of them who from their religiosity acknowledge a Divine over all things, and from their religiosity perform the duties of charity to their neighbor, when instructed in the other life receive the truths of faith, and are saved (see n. 2589-2604).