Verse 10. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. "The beginning of his kingdom," signifies that thus such worship began; "Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar," signify that there were such worships in that region; and at the same time they signify the worships themselves, the externals of which appear holy, but the interiors are profane.
AC 1181
. The beginning of his kingdom. That this signifies that thus such worship began, is evident from the signification of "Babel in the land of Shinar," of which hereafter.
AC 1182
. Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. That these signify that such worships were in that region, and that at the same time they signify the worships themselves, the externals of which appear holy while the interiors are profane, is evident from the signification of "Babel," and of "the land of Shinar." Babel is much treated of in the Word, and everywhere such worship is signified by it, that is to say that the externals appear holy while the interiors are profane. But as the following chapter treats of Babel, it will be shown there that such things are signified by Babel; and that in the beginning such worship was not so profane as it became afterwards. For the quality of external worship is precisely in accordance with the interiors; the more innocent the interiors are, the more innocent is the external worship; but the more foul the interiors are, the more foul is the external worship; and the more profane the interiors are, the more profane is the external worship. In a word, the more of the love of the world and of self there is in a man who is in this external worship, the less there is that is living and holy in his worship; the more hatred toward the neighbor there is in his love of himself and of the world, the more profanity there is in his worship; the more malice in his hatred, the more still of profanity there is in his worship; and the more deceit in his malice, the more profanity yet is there in his worship. Those loves and these evils are the interiors of the external worship which is signified by "Babel," concerning which in the following chapter.
AC 1183
. What is signified in particular by "Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar," cannot so well be seen, because they are not mentioned in other parts of the Word, except Calneh in (Amos 6:2) but they are varieties of such worship. But as regards the land of Shinar in which these worships were, that external worship wherein is what is profane is signified by it in the Word is evident from its signification in the following chapter (Apoc. 11:2; Zechariah 5:11), and especially in Daniel, where these words occur:--
The Lord gave Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babel, with part of the vessels of the house of God, and he carried them into the land of Shinar, into the house of his god and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god (Daniel 1:2),
by which is signified that holy things were profaned: "the vessels of the house of God," are holy things; "the house of the god of Babel, in the land of Shinar," is profane things, into which the holy things were brought. Although these incidents are historical, yet they involve these arcana, as do all the historical facts of the Word. The same is further evident from the profanation of the same vessels (Dan. 5:3-5). If sacred things had not been represented by them, no such events would have taken place.