LEVITICUS 20
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Leviticus Chapter 20

Summary of the Spiritual Sense

1. On the profanation of the truth by selfish love; and its consequences to those who are guilty of it and to those who excuse it, vers. 1-5.
2. The danger of unlawful exchange with spirits, ver. 6.
3. The necessity of a holy life, internally and externally, and the consequences of aversion from Divine Good and Divine Truth, vers. 7-9.
4. The consequences of the profanation of good and truth in various ways, vers. 10-21.
5. The necessity of obedience, and the danger of disobedience to the spiritual laws of Divine Order, vers. 22-24.
6. Also man must carefully distinguish between pure and impure affections and thoughts; he must be holy and pure, because he has been separated from evils and falsities; and he must remember that those who pervert good and truth by the abuse of the laws of order, internally or externally, totally vastate themselves, vers. 25-27.

1.  This is evident, because by Jehovah is denoted the Divine Being as to His love, 2001; by speaking is denoted influx, 2951; by Moses is represented Divine Truth or the Word, 7010, 6752; and by saying is denoted perception, 1791, 1822.

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2.  Saying to the children of Israel denotes instruction to be given to the man of the Spiritual Church, 7304, 3654; the children of Israel and the sojourners denote respectively those of the internal and external church, 7908; those who give their seed to Molech denote such as profane the truth by devoting it to selfish love, 1610, 934, 2468¹⁶; being put to death denotes utter vastation, 2908; and being stoned with stones by the people denotes to be deprived of all truth and at the same time to suffer the punishment which evil and falsity carry with them, 1259, 7456.

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3.  The Lord setting His face against that man denotes that such persons deprive themselves of all conjunction with Divine Good, 222, 223; his being cut off from his people denotes the losing of all knowledge of the truth, 5302, 1259; because he has given his seed to Molech denotes because of the profanation of the truth of the church through selfish love, 1610, 934, 2468¹⁶; defiling the Lord's sanctuary denotes the corruption of holy good from the Lord, 10130, 3210; and profaning the Lord's holy name, denotes the corruption of holy truth which is the expression of good, 8882.

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4.  By the people of the land is denoted the man of the church, 2928, 2950; any ways hiding their eyes from that man denotes in any way excusing such enormity, because it means having eyes and not seeing, 2701⁴; by giving seed to Molech is denoted the profanation of the truth of the church through selfish love, 1610, 934, 2468¹⁶; and by not putting to death is denoted not utterly rejecting such profanation, 2908, 7456.

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5.  By the Lord setting His face against that man is denoted that persons who thus excuse evil will themselves lose the perception of heavenly love from the Lord, 222, 223; against himself and against his family denotes in particular and generally, 9807, 1424; by being cut off is denoted to be separated from the church, 5302; by giving seed to Molech is denoted falsifying and profaning the truth through selfish love, 1610, 934, 2468¹⁶; and by "from among their people" is denoted that such a person will be no longer able to perceive truths, 1259.

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6.  By any one turning to them that have familiar spirits and to wizards, is denoted the man who, by the abuse of order, endeavours through unlawful exchange with the wicked in the spiritual world to make evil look like good, and falsity appear as truth, 7297, 9188; by going a whoring after them is denoted the falsification of the truth, 6348; by the Lord setting his face against that soul is denoted that he will lose all perception of good, 222, 223; and by cutting him off from among his people is denoted that he will be unable any longer to understand the truth, 5302, 1259.

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7.  Sanctifying yourselves therefore, and being holy, denotes that the spiritual man must be on his guard and live a pure and holy life, 8042, and " I am the Lord your God," that only thus can he have conjunction with the Lord, Who is the source of all good conjoined with truth, 2001.

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8.  Keeping the Lord's statutes and doing them denotes that the spiritual man must do this not only internally, but externally, in understanding and will, 8357, 683; and " I am the Lord, which sanctify you, denotes that the external man can only be conjoined with the internal by good from the Lord, or by love to the Lord and charity to the neighbour, 2001, 8042.

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9.  Cursing father or mother denotes being averted from Divine Good and Divine Truth, 379, 8897; being put to death denotes total vastation, 2908; cursing father and mother repeated, denotes the deliberate rejection of both good and truth, 379, 8897, 683; and his blood being upon him denotes that he abides in his own falsity, 4735¹².

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10.  Committing adultery with another man's wife even with his neighbour's wife, denotes adulterating the good of the church either externally or internally, 6348; and the adulterer and adulteress being surely put to death denotes full vastation as to the knowledge of good and the perception of truth, 2908, chap 18:20.

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11.  The man that lies with his father's wife denotes him who, in addition, profanes good by contaminating it with selfish love, 6348, 3703²⁰, 210; uncovering his father's nakedness denotes such contamination, chap 18:7, 8; both of them being surely put to death denotes the destruction of good and truth in himself because he mixes good and evil, 2908; and their blood being upon them denotes that they abide in their own falsity, 4735¹².

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12.  A man lying with his daughter in law denotes him who profanes good by contamination with the falsity conjoined with his own evil, 4843, 10490, chap 18:15; both of them surely being put to death denotes that vastation as to good and truth is certainly the result, 2908; their having worked confusion denotes that again good and evil are mixed, 1326; and their blood being upon them denotes that such must abide in their own falsity, 4735¹².

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13.  A man lying with mankind as with womankind, denotes the man of the external church who profanes the truth by conjoining it with falsity from sensual love, 725, 6348, 2056, chap 18:22; an abomination denotes the same spiritually, 6052; being surely put to death denotes entire vastation, 2908; and their blood being upon them, denotes that they must abide in their own falsity, 4735¹².

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14.  By a wife in relation to her mother is denoted the external in relation to the internal church, 37032, 3703²⁰, and hence, in this case, taking a wife and her mother denotes to profane by adulterating the truth of the church adjoined to its good by contamination with falsity adjoined to its evil, 4843⁴, 10490; "it is wickedness, or enormity," denotes that it is intense profanation, 9264; being burned with fire, he and they, denotes that such persons are, consequently, consumed by selfish love, 934; and "that there be no wickedness among you," denotes, evidently, that the church may become pure and holy by the separation of evil from good, 6571.

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15.  A man lying with a beast denotes the conjoining of truth with the evils of the merely natural man, 46, 725; and both being surely put to death denotes vastation, or the complete separation of truth and good, 2908, chap 18:23.

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16.  A woman approaching to any beast to lie down thereto denotes that if good in the natural man be profaned by contamination with falsity, 46, 725; killing the woman and the beast denotes that vastation follows in the same way, 2908; their being surely put to death denotes vastation as to will and understanding, or as to the internal and external man, 683; and their blood being upon them denotes that they must abide in their own falsity, 4735¹², chap 18:23.

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17.  A man taking his sister, his father's daughter or his mother's daughter, and seeing her nakedness, and she seeing his nakedness, denotes the profanation of the truth by contamination with falsity derived either from the will or the understanding, and the reciprocal aversion of truth and falsity, 568, 1815, 1895, 6348, 6047; it being a shameful thing clearly denotes that such profanation is abominable; being cut off in the sight of the children of their people denotes inevitable separation from the church, 5302, 1259; uncovering his sister's nakedness denotes the profanation of truth, chap 18:9; and bearing iniquity denotes confirmation in evil, 9937¹¹.

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18.  A man lying with a woman having her sickness and uncovering her nakedness denotes the corruption either of good or truth by contaminating them with falsified truths which is profanation, 6348, chap 18:19; making naked her fountain denotes interior falsification and profanation, 4861; she uncovering the fountain of her blood denotes what is reciprocal, 6047; and being cut off from among their people denotes that such profanation causes separation from the church entirely, 5302, 1259.

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19.  Not uncovering the nakedness of your mother's sister or your father's sister, denotes that it is not lawful to corrupt the truth by conjoining it with falsity in the understanding either external or internal, 6348, 3703²⁰, 1475, 1815, 1895, chap 18:12, 13; near of kin denotes falsity adjoined to selfish love, 3703²; and bearing iniquity denotes confirmation in falsity, 9937¹¹.

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20.  A man lying with his uncle's wife, and uncovering his uncle's nakedness, denotes corrupting the good of the church by conjoining it with the evil of collateral good, which is profanation, 6348, 3612, 1369, chap 18:14; bearing their sin denotes confirmation in evil, 9937¹¹, 9156; and dying childless denotes no increase of good and truth, 489, 2908.

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21.  A man taking his brother's wife denotes the corruption of the good of the natural man by conjoining it with the falsity of evil there, which is profanation, 3612, 1369, 6348, chap 18:16, 10130; uncovering his brother's nakedness denotes revealing the outward form of that evil, 9960¹⁸, 3049, 5337, 9474; and being childless, denotes no increase of good and truth, 489.

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22.  Keeping all the Lord's statutes and judgements, and doing them, denotes that the spiritual man must be holy both outwardly and inwardly, 8357, 5755; and "that the land whither I bring you vomit you not out," denotes so that the church may not be subject to profanation, 3705, 9507. See also AR 205.

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23.  Not walking in the customs of the nations which were before you denotes not living according to the evils of the corrupted church, 1205, 2657; and their doing all these things and being abhorred denotes that this church profaned the truth, and thus separated itself from the Lord, 1205, 693, 696.

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24.  "But I have said to you, You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess it," denotes that Divine Good desires that the spiritual man may be safe by the reception of the heavenly life both internally and externally, 2001, 3705, 2658; a land flowing with milk and honey denotes abundance of truth conjoined with good, and natural delight, 5620; "I am the Lord your God" denotes that through these the Lord is truly worshiped, 2001; and separation from the peoples denotes that those of the church are distinguished from others, 6653.

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25.  Separating between the clean beast and the unclean and between the unclean bird and the clean, denotes that a careful distinction is to be made between what is pure and impure both as to the will and understanding, 46, 745, 4545, 10130; and not making your souls abominable by beast or by bird, or by anything with which the ground teems, or creeps, which I have separated from you as unclean, denotes that the man of the church ought not to corrupt himself with any evil or falsity or any sensual delight which is distinct from good and truth and impure, 40.

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26.  The children of Israel being holy to the Lord, because He is holy and separated them from the peoples that they might be His, denotes that the spiritual man must be pure and holy, because the Lord is purity and holiness itself, and only the Lord can deliver man from the evils and falsities of the corrupted church, and regenerate him, 3654, 2190, 3210, 6653, 2405.

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27.  A man or a woman that has a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, denotes those who pervert good and truth, by the abuse of order, internally and externally, 7297, 9188; being surely put to death denotes that such totally vastate themselves, 2908; being stoned with stones denotes that they are deprived of all truths, 8799; and their blood being upon them denotes being given up to their own falsities, 4735.

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The particular kind of profanation spoken of in the beginning of this account differs from other kinds in being the destruction of truth and goodness by the most degraded selfish loves, for we read: "To give seed to Molech signifies to destroy the truth of the Word, and thus of the doctrine of the church therefrom by application to the vile loves of the body, as to murders, hatreds, revenges, adulteries and similar things, which leads to the acceptance of infernal falsities instead of Divine things; such falsities are signified by the seed given to Molech. Molech was the god of the sons of Ammon (1 Kings 11:7) and was set up in the valley of Hinnom, which was called Topheth, where they burnt their sons and daughters in the fire " (AE 768²⁵). And to this may be added that Molech means a king, and therefore denotes a governing falsity from selfish love signified by fire, 1682, 934; that a valley denotes a low or degraded state, 1292; that Hinnom means their riches, and in this case therefore signifies the knowledge of the truth perverted, 1694; and that Topheth means a place of burning, or spitting, or of detestation, 66696, 4835⁴, 1608. And from all these correspondences, the nature of the wickedness denoted by giving seed to pass through the fire to Molech may be more fully understood. But observe also the connection of consulting familiar spirits and its signification, with this idolatry, namely, that the one denotes a state of the depraved affections and the other the corruption of the understanding in consequence. In fact, they may be taken as two general statements regarding profanations, the particulars of which follow, but in a different order from that adopted in a previous chapter. Now this change of order is certainly intended to indicate some spiritual truth, although we may not be able to discover what it is, or see the reason for it. But the general subject of the chapter, in the internal sense, is the punishment for the various kinds of profanation, or in other words, the consequences of indulgence in them. These are the punishment of death by stoning, by burning, and generally; being cut off or separated from their people; bearing their iniquity; bearing their sin; and dying childless, all of them being understood in their spiritual sense. It may be worth while therefore to reflect a little on each of these.

Let us, however, to begin with, remember that although there are arbitrary punishments in this world, under certain circumstances, so far as man's real spiritual life is concerned there are not any, all so-called punishment being the natural result of the violation of the Divine laws of order. The Lord punishes no one; evil brings with it its own punishment; and no punishment is ever permitted but for some good and useful purpose. Nor is it necessary to believe that there is such a thing as "eternal punishment" (Matt 25:46). But there is in relation to evil spirits, that which is eternal in this connection; and we ought to know what it is. It cannot surely be eternal suffering; for how can we imagine that what the Lord permits for the sake of some use, 696, is unending pain or suffering? Of what use would it be, for example, that any living being should be condemned to remain in everlasting fire? We see, therefore, that we must look for some other solution of such expressions; and the law of correspondences supplies us with it. Fire in the best sense signifies love, because it corresponds to love; and this love is the love of the Lord and the neighbour. But fire in the opposite sense signifies the love of self and the world simply for their own sakes, and these are the loves which constitute an evil spirit. Still, all love, whether good or evil, is delightful to him who is in it; and hence the ruling love even of an evil spirit cannot be to him what is called eternal punishment, although it is, properly, an unquenchable fire. See HH 480. What then is meant by the punishment which is eternal? It is a state of eternal restraint arising from the fear of punishment (HH 543). For the Greek word, which in our versions is rendered punishment, really means restraint as well, and this more correctly describes the permanent condition of the infernals so far as their government is concerned. They are for ever restrained by the fear of suffering, and this fear at length becomes so strong that they dare not violate the laws in their own sphere, or on their own plane of life. And so long, at any time, or in any state, as they are obedient they are not in any punishment. With these general remarks on the subject before us we will now consider the specific punishments mentioned in this chapter.

By the punishment of death in general is meant a state of evil and falsity separated from a state of goodness and truth, for we read: '"The reason why heaven generally, and eternal happiness specifically, are called life is, that in heaven there are the wisdom of good, and the understanding of truth, and in the wisdom of good and the understanding of truth there is life from the Lord, from Whom is all life. But in hell there are the contraries, namely, instead of good, evil, and instead of truth, falsity, and thereby spiritual life is extinct; therefore in hell there is respectively death; for spiritual death is evil and falsity, and with man it is to will what is evil, and thence to think what is false. Evil genii and spirits are unwilling to hear it said of them that they do not live, or that they are dead; for they say that they have life because they can will and think; but they are told that since there is life in good and truth there cannot be any life in evil and falsity, for they are contraries," 5407. But death by stoning, as we have seen, signifies to be vastated, or deprived, of all truths, and death by burning signifies to be vastated or deprived of all good; or what is the same thing, it is to be consumed by selfish love. By being cut off from their people, or in the sight of the children of their people, is denoted inevitable separation from the church, and thus losing the knowledge of the truth; and we see here that total vastation is not implied; for a person may, by wicked actions, be thus separated, and yet there may be left the opportunity for salvation by sincere repentance. But now notice also the difference between bearing iniquity and bearing sin as occurring respectively in different cases, and as denoting confirmation in falsity and confirmation in evil. And lastly, by dying childless is signified no increase of good and truth; and from all these instances we surely learn that the results of indulging in various forms of evil and falsity are also various, and hence that every kind of wickedness has its appropriate punishment which can only be avoided by the rejection, outwardly and inwardly, of the particular evil or falsity from which it comes.

There is, however, one expression in this account, which is several times mentioned, and therefore we ought not to forget the consideration of it. It is said of the man who curses his father or his mother, not only that he shall be put to death, but also that his blood shall be upon him. Now in the literal sense this clearly means that he has brought the punishment upon himself; and of course the same thing is meant in all the other instances. But spiritually by this expression is signified that, generally, evil brings upon itself its own punishment, and consequently must abide in its own falsity; for he who rejects Divine Good and Divine Truth, which is signified by cursing his father and his mother, must necessarily do this, since the conjunction of good and truth is that in which regeneration essentially consists, and, on the other hand, the conjunction of evil and falsity is that in which the life of him who will not allow himself to be regenerated consists. Every one, we may be sure, has the opportunity of being regenerated, for if this were not so the Lord's work of Redemption was in vain, and some would suffer unjustly; and therefore it is clear also that all who are condemned choose to be so, notwithstanding all the warnings they receive; and thus we see the full force of the repeated statement "their blood shall be upon them," both in the literal and spiritual senses, and also the terrible nature of the exclamation of the people who said concerning the Lord, "His blood be upon us and upon our children," as denoting at once the rejection of all Divine Truth, and the adoption of falsities from evil by the corrupted Jewish Church (Matt 27:25; 9127⁶).

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