Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 10510

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10510. 'And Jehovah struck the people' means the ruination of truth and good among the Israelite nation. This is clear from the meaning of 'striking' as destroying, as in 6761, and 'destroying' in the spiritual sense means depriving someone of the truths and forms of the good of faith and love, which in the Word is called desolating and laying waste. The reason why ruination is meant here by 'striking' is that the present chapter has dealt with the shutting off of the internal among the Israelite nation, and the shutting off of the internal constitutes ruination so far as truth and good are concerned.


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