CHAPTER XXII. 1. IF in digging a thief be caught, and smitten, and he die, bloods shall not be [shed] for him. 2. If the sun shall be risen upon him, bloods [shall be shed] for him; repaying he shall repay; if he hath nothing, he shall be sold for his theft. 3. If in finding the theft be found in his hand, from an ox even to an ass, even to cattle, living, he shall repay twofold. 4. When a man [vi] shall desolate a field or a vineyard, and shall send in his beast of burden, and shall desolate in the field of another, of the best of his own field, and of the best of his own vineyard, he shall repay. 5. When fire shall go forth, and shall catch hold of thorns, and a heap be consumed, or standing corn, or a field, he that kindled the kindling, repaying shall repay. 6. When a man [vir] shall give to his companion silver or vessels to keep, and by theft it be taken away out of the house of the man, if the thief be caught, he shall repay twofold. 7. If the thief be not caught, the lord of the house shall be brought to GOD, whether or no he hath put his hand into the work of his companion. 8. Upon every word of transgression, upon an ox, upon an ass, upon cattle, upon a garment, upon every thing that is destroyed, which he shall say that this is it; even to GoD shall come the word of them both, [and] whom GoD shall condemn, he shall repay twofold to his companion. 9. When a man [vir] shall give to his companion an ass, or an ox, or cattle, and every beast to keep, and it die or be broken, or be led away captive, no one seeing, 10. An oath of JEHOVAH shall be between them both, whether or no he hath put his hand into the work of his companion, and the lord thereof hath taken, and he shall not repay. 11. And if by thieving theft it hath been taken away from him, he shall repay to the lord thereof. 12. If by tearing it hath been torn in pieces, he shall bring a witness for it, he shall not repay what hath been torn in pieces. 13. And when a man [vir] shall borrow from a companion, and it be broken or die, the lord thereof not being with it, repaying he shall repay. 14. If the lord thereof be with it, he shall not repay; if he be a hireling, he shall come in his hire. 15. And when a man [vir] shall persuade a virgin, who was not betrothed and shall lie with her, endowing he shall endow her to himself for a woman. 16. If her father in refusing shall refuse to give her to him, he shall pay silver according to the dower of virgins. 18. Every one that lieth with a beast, dying shall die. 19. He that sacrificeth to gods shall be devoted; except to 20. And a sojourner thou shalt not afflict, and shalt not op- press, because ye were sojourners in the land of Egypt. 21. Any widow and orphan ye shall not afflict. 22. If in afflicting thou shalt afflict him, so that crying he cry to me, hearing I will hear his cry. 23. And my anger shall burn, and I will slay you with the sword; and your women shall become widows, and your sons 24. If thou shalt lend silver to my needy people with thee, thou shalt not be to him as an usurer; ye shall not put upon 25. If in taking a pledge, thou shalt take to pledge the gar- ment of thy companion, even at the entering in of the sun thou 26. Because it is his only covering; it is his raiment for his skin, in which he may sleep; and it shall be, when he shall cry to me, I will hear, because I am merciful. 27. Thou shalt not curse GOD, and the prince in thy people 28. The first fruits of thy corn, and the first fruits of thy wine, thou shalt not delay; the first-begotten of thy sons thou shalt 29. So shalt thou do to thine ox, to thy flock, seven days it shall be with its mother; on the eighth day thou shalt give it 30. And ye shall be men [viri] of holiness to me; and flesh torn to pieces in a field ye shall not eat, ye shall cast it to a dog. 9123. THE subject treated of, in the internal sense, in this chapter, is concerning injuries by various methods occasioned to the truth of faith and to the good of charity, and concerning their amendment and restitution; also concerning the bringing of aid, if they are extinguished. The subject afterward treated of is concerning instruction in the truths of faith; and lastly concerning the state of the life of man when he is in the good THE INTERNAL SENSE. 9124. Verses 1, 2, 3. If in digging a thief be caught, and smitten, and he die, bloods shall not be [shed] for him. If the sun shall be risen upon him, bloods [shall be shed] for him; repaying he shall repay; if he hath nothing, he shall be sold for his theft. If in finding the theft be found in his hand, from an or even to an ass, even to cattle, living, he shall repay twofold. If in digging a thief be caught, signifies if it does not appear that good or truth is taken away. And smitten, and he die, signifies if in such case it be affected with injury even so as to be extinguished. Bloods shall not be [shed] for him, sig-` nifies that he is not guilty of the violence offered. If the sun shall be risen upon him, signifies if he sees it clearly from an interior [principle]. Bloods [shall be shed] for him, signifies that he is guilty. Repaying he shall repay, signifies the amendment and restitution of the truth and good taken away. If he hath nothing, signifies if no overplus remains. He shall be sold for his theft, signifies alienation. If in finding the theft be found in his hand, signifies if there be an overplus of truth and good by which it can be restored. From an ox even to an ass, signifies if of exterior good or truth. Even to cattle, signifies if of interior truth and good. Living, signifies in which there is spiritual life. He shall repay twofold, signifies restitution to the full. 9125. "If in digging a thief be caught "-that hereby is signified if it does not appear that good or truth is taken away, is manifest from the signification of digging, as denoting the perpetration of evil in what is hidden; and when it is said of a thief, as denoting the taking away of good or truth by the false derived from evil so that it does not appear, of which we shall speak presently; and from the signification of a thief, as denoting one who takes away good and truth, see n. 5135, 8906, 9018, 9020; and in the abstract sense the truth or good taken away. It is said in the abstract sense, because the angels, who are in the internal sense of the Word, think abstractedly from persons, see n. 5225, 5287, 5434, 8343, 8985, 9007; the Word also in that sense has things for objects, without determination to persons and to places. That digging denotes the perpetration of evil in what is hidden, and when it is said of a thief, that it denotes the taking away of good or truth by the false derived from evil so that it does not appear, is evident from this consideration, that a distinction is here made between theft, which is perpetrated by digging, and theft which is perpetrated when the sun is risen, which is treated of in the following verse. That digging has this signification, is also manifest from the passages in the Word where it is mentioned; as in Jeremiah, "Also in thy wings was found the blood of the souls of poor innocents; I have not found those things in digging, but they were upon all," ii. 34; speaking of defiled loves and the evils thence derived. I have not found those things in digging, denotes not by investigation in what is hidden, wherefore it is said they are upon all, that is, that they everywhere appear. And in Ezekiel, "He introduced me to the door of the court, where I saw, and behold one hole in the wall. He said to me, come, dig through the wall; wherefore I dug through the wall, when behold one door," viii. 7, 8; speaking of the abomina tions of the house of Israel which they did in secret; to dig through the wall is to enter-in in secret, and to see what they do. And in Amos, "If they should dig through into hell, thence shall my hand receive them; or they shall ascend into heaven, thence will I cast them down," ix. 2. To dig through into hell denotes to hide themselves there, thus in falses derived from evil, for hell is the false derived from evil, because it reigns there; the falses there are called darkness, within which they hide themselves from the light of heaven, for they shun the light of heaven, which is the Divine Truth from the Lord. And in Job, "The eye of the adulterer observes the twilight, saying, no eye shall see me, and he puts a vail on the face, he digs through houses in darkness, in the day time they mark for themselves, they do not acknowledge the light; in like manner the morning to them is the shadow of death, because they acknowledge the terrors of the shadow of death," xxiv. 15, 16, 17; where to dig through houses manifestly denotes to plunder the goods of another in secret; for it is said, he digs through houses in darkness, he observes the twilight, lest the eye should see him, he puts a vail over the face, he does not acknowledge the light, also the morning is to them the shadow of death. That digging through a house denotes to take away the good of another in secret, derives its origin from representatives in another life. In that life, when the angels are discoursing concerning the false destroying good in secret, it is represented below, where angelic discourse is exhibited to the sight, by the digging through a wall; and on the other hand, when the angels discourse concerning truth acceding to good and conjoining itself to it, it is represented by an open door, through which there is entrance. Hence it is that the Lord, who spake according to representatives in heaven, and according to correspondences, because from the Divine [being or principle], says in Jolin, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not in by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber; but he who entereth in by the door, is the shepherd of the sheep," x. 1, 2. And in Luke, "This know ye, that if the father of the family had known in what hour the thief would have come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be dug through," xii. 39; in this passage also a thief denotes one who by falses destroys the goods of faith. To dig through a house denotes doing it in secret, because it is done when the father of the family does not watch. Hence also it is that to come as a thief denotes to come incognito, because not through the door but some other way; as in the Apocalypse. "Unless thou watchest, I will come upon thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know in what hour I will come upon thee," iii. 3. And again, "Behold I come as a thief, blessed is he who watcheth," xvi. 15: where to come as a thief is to come incognito and unexpectedly. The reason why it is so said concerning the Lord is, because thereby is meant that the door is closed with man by the false of evil. 9126. "And he be smitten and die "-that hereby is signified if in such case it be affected with injury even so as to be extinguished, appears from the signification of being smitten, when said concerning truth and good, as denoting to be hurt or affected with injury, see n. 9034, 9058; and from the signification of dying, as denoting to be extinguished. The reason why truth and good are here meant is, because by a thief or theft is signified that which is taken away, thus good and truth, as also in what follows, "If finding the theft be found in his hand, from an ox even to an ass, even to cattle living," verse 3; where an ox, an ass, and cattle, signify goods and truths exterior and interior, and are called theft, because they are in the hand of a thief; in like manner "silver and vessels," verse 6, which also denote truths interior and exterior. The like is signified by a thief as by theft, because a thief in the sense abstracted from person is theft, that is, truth and good taken away, see just above, n. 9125. 9127. "Blood shall not be [shed] for him"-that hereby is signified not guilty of violence offered, appears from the sig nification of blood, as denoting, in the supreme sense, the Divine Truth proceeding from the Divine Good of the Lord, and in the internal sense thence derived, the truth of good, see n. 4735, 4978, 6378, 7317, 7326, 7846, 7850, 7877; wherefore by shedding blood is signified to offer violence to Truth Divine, or to the truth of good, and also to good itself; for he who offers violence to truth, offers violence likewise to good, inasmuch as truth is so conjoined with good that one is of the other, wherefore if violence be offered to one, it is offered also to the other. From these considerations it is evident, that by bloods not being shed for him, is signified that he is not guilty of violence offered to truth and good. He who is altogether unacquainted with the internal sense of the Word, knows no other than that by bloods in the Word are signified bloods, and that by shedding blood is only signified to kill a man; but in |