6022 – 7326 – The Lord's New Church

7326 AC (Elliott) n. 6022 6022. ‘And all his seed’ means every integral part of faith and charity. This is clear from the meaning of ‘seed’ as faith springing from charity, as above in 6019, thus both faith and charity, for where one exists so does the other.

AC (Elliott) n. 6023 6023. ‘He brought with him to Egypt’ means that they were gathered into the Church’s factual knowledge. This is clear from the meaning of ‘coming (or going down) into Egypt’ as introducing and gathering truths into the Church’s factual knowledge, dealt with above in 6004, 6018; and the same thing is meant by ‘bringing with him to Egypt’, see 5373, 6004. They are introduced and gathered into it when factual knowledge is ruled by truths, and it is ruled by truths when truth is acknowledged because it is what the Lord has said in the Word; after that, factual knowledge which endorses it can be accepted, and that which refutes it can be banished. In this way truth becomes master of the facts that endorse it, while those that do not are cast aside. When this is the situation a person is not carried away into falsities when he bases his thought on factual knowledge, as happens when truths are not contained in that knowledge. For in themselves facts are not truths; they are such only by virtue of the truths they hold within them. And according to the nature of the truths they hold within them, so is the nature of the truth in general which presents itself as factual knowledge. For factual knowledge is merely a vessel, 1469, 1496, which can receive either truths or falsities, and in vastly differing ways.

[2] Take for example the Church’s knowledge that the neighbour is every person. A vast quantity of truths can be introduced and gathered into this known fact, such as the truth that every person is indeed the neighbour, but that any one individual is so in a different way from another; also that in a supreme sense the neighbour is someone who is governed by good, but again in a different way from others, according to the essential nature of that good. Then there is the truth that neighbourship has its origin in the Lord Himself, so that the nearer people are to Him, that is, the more they are governed by good, the more they are the neighbour; and the further away they are from Him, the less they are the neighbour. Besides these there is the truth that a community is the neighbour more than an individual person, and one’s country as a whole more than a community, though one’s country comes before other kingdoms; and that the Church is more the neighbour than one’s country, and the Lord’s kingdom even more than that. Then there is the further truth that the neighbour is loved when a person discharges his duties correctly for the good of other people, or of his country, or of the Church, and so on. From this one can see how numerous are the truths that can be gathered into that one fact known to the Church. Indeed they are so numerous that it is difficult to divide them into separate categories, assigning specific truths to each category in such a way that one can distinguish and recognize it. This was something that people in the Ancient Churches were keen to do.

[3] The same known fact can also be filled with a vast quantity of falsities, as may also be recognized when people turn those truths upside down by saying that everyone is neighbour to himself, and that each person should trace the origin of the neighbour back to himself; and by saying that therefore he is especially your neighbour who shows you the greatest favour, identifies himself with you, and thereby presents himself in you as a reflection of you. Indeed people say that your country is not your neighbour either, apart from what you can get out of it for yourself. And there are countless other truths turned upside down by them besides these. Yet the known fact is still the same, which is that every person is the neighbour; but it is filled by one person with truths, by another with falsities. The same is so with all other factual knowledge.

AC (Elliott) n. 6024 6024. Verses 8-27 And these are the names of the sons of Israel who were coming to Egypt – of Jacob and his sons: Jacob’s firstborn was Reuben. And the sons of Reuben were Enoch,* and Pallu, and Hezron, and Carmi. And the sons of Simeon were Jemuel and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman. And the sons of Levi were Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari. And the sons of Judah were Er and Onan, and Shelah, and Perez, and Zerah; and Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. And the sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul. And the sons of Issachar were Tola and Puvah, and Job and Shimron. And the sons of Zebulun were Sered, and Elon, and Jahleel. These were the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan Aram, and Dinah his daughter. All the souls of his sons and his daughters were thirty-three. And the sons of Gad were Ziphion, and Haggi, Shuni and Ezbon, Eri and Arodi, and Areli. And the sons of Asher were Jimnah, and Jishvah, and Jishvi, and Beriah, and Serah their sister. And the sons of Beriah were Heber and Malchiel. These were the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter; and these she bore to Jacob. They were sixteen souls. The sons of Rachel, Jacob’s wife, were Joseph and Benjamin. And born to Joseph in the land of Egypt were those whom Asenath the daughter of Potiphera the priest of On bore to him, Manasseh and Ephraim. And the sons of Benjamin were Bela and Becher, and Ashbel, Gera and Naaman, Ehi and Rosh, Muppim and Huppim, and Ard. These were the sons of Rachel, who were born to Jacob; all the souls were fourteen. And the sons of Dan were Hushim. And the sons of Naphtali were Jahzeel, and Cuni, and Jezer and Shillem. These were the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to Rachel his daughter; and these she bore to Jacob. All the souls were seven. Every soul coming with Jacob to Egypt – those who came out of his thigh, not counting Jacob’s sons’ wives – all the souls were sixty-six. And Joseph’s sons who were born to him in Egypt were two souls; all the souls belonging to the house of Jacob who was coming to Egypt were seventy.

[2] ‘And these are the names of the sons of Israel who were coming to Egypt’ means the essential nature of the truths from the spiritual in their order, which were gathered into the Church’s factual knowledge. ‘Jacob and his sons’ means the truth of the natural in general and the truths of the natural in particular. ‘Jacob’s firstborn was Reuben’ means faith in the understanding, which seemingly occupies first place. ‘And the sons of Reuben were Enoch, and Pallu, and Hezron, and Carmi’ means teachings regarding faith in general. ‘And the sons of Simeon were Jemuel and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar’ means faith in the will, and teachings regarding it in general. ‘And Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman’ means a teaching that did not spring from a genuine source. ‘And the sons of Levi were Gershon and Kohath and Merari’ means spiritual love, and teachings regarding it in general.

[3] ‘And the sons of Judah were Er and Onan and Shelah, and Perez and Zerah’ means celestial love, and teachings regarding it. ‘And Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan’ means that falsity and evil were wiped out. ‘And the sons of Perez were Hezron, and Hamul’ means the truths of that good, which are forms of the good of charity. ‘And the sons of Issachar were Tola, and Puvah, and Job, and Shimron’ means heavenly conjugial love, and teachings regarding it. ‘And the sons of Zebulun were Sered, and Elon and Jahleel’ means the heavenly marriage, and teachings regarding it. ‘These were the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan Aram’ means that those things sprang from a spiritual affection in the natural through cognitions of goodness and truth. ‘And Dinah his daughter’ means the Church. ‘Every soul of his sons and his daughters were thirty-three’ means the state in which spiritual life existed, and the essential nature of it.

[4] ‘And the sons of Gad were Ziphion and Haggi, Shuni and Ezbon, Eri and Arodi and Areli’ means the good of faith and the deeds that are a product of it, and teachings regarding them. ‘And the sons of Asher were Jimnah and Jishvah, and Jishvi, and Beriah, and Serah their sister. And the sons of Beriah were Heber and Malchiel’ means the happiness of eternal life and the delight supplied by affections, and teachings regarding them. ‘These were the sons of Zilpah’ means that these things belong to the external Church. ‘Whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter’ means received from the affection for external good. ‘And these she bore to Jacob’ means that they were begotten by the natural. ‘They were sixteen souls’ means their state and essential nature.

[5] ‘The sons of Rachel, Jacob’s wife’ means things that are born from a heavenly affection. ‘Joseph and Benjamin’ means the internal aspect of the Church, ‘Joseph’ its good, ‘Benjamin’ truth from that good. ‘And born to Joseph in the land of Egypt’ means infernal celestial and spiritual entities within the natural. ‘Were those whom Asenath the daughter of Potiphera the priest of On bore to him’ means born from the marriage of good wedded to truth and truth to good. ‘Manasseh and Ephraim’ means a new area of will and a new associated area of understanding, which the Church possesses. ‘And the sons of Benjamin were Bela and Becher and Ashbel, Gera and Naaman, Ehi and Rosh, Muppim and Huppim and Ard’ means the spiritual internal, and teachings regarding it. ‘These were the sons of Rachel, who were born to Jacob’ means that those things were born from a celestial affection. ‘All the souls were fourteen’ means their state and essential nature. ‘And the sons of Dan were Hushim’ means the holiness of faith and the good of life, and teaching regarding them. ‘And the sons of Naphtali were Jahzeel, and Guni, and Jezer, and Shillem’ means temptations in which victory was won, and teachings regarding them. ‘These were the sons of Bilhah’ means that they belong to the internal Church. ‘Whom Laban gave to Rachel his daughter’ means received from the affection for internal good. ‘All the souls were seven’ means their state and essential nature.

[6] ‘Every soul coming with Jacob to Egypt’ means all the truths and forms of good that were introduced into the Church’s factual knowledge. ‘Who came out of his thigh’ means which were born of the marriage. ‘Not counting Jacob’s sons’ wives’ means quite apart from the affections for things not born of the marriage. ‘All the souls were sixty-six’ means their state and essential nature. ‘And the sons of Joseph who were born to him in Egypt’ means celestial and spiritual entities within the natural. ‘Were two souls’ means the resulting new areas of will and understanding, which the Church possesses. ‘All the souls belonging to the house of Jacob who was coming to Egypt were seventy’ means the entire number in their proper order.
* In most English versions this name appears as Hanoch, but in the Latin, as in the original Hebrew, the spelling is the same as that of the one mentioned in Gen. 4:17, 18; 5:18-24. Cp Gen. 25:4.

AC (Elliott) n. 6025 6025. Further explanation of these verses can be dispensed with since they are mere names. What those names mean may be seen from the general explanation given immediately above in 6024; and what Jacob’s actual sons mean may be seen in the explanation where their births are dealt with. But the following observation is worth making, that no son was born to Jacob’s sons in Egypt when they came there, though they were still young men; all their sons were born in the land of Canaan. They themselves, apart from Benjamin, were born in Paddan Aram; and this was for a particular reason that the Lord in His Divine Providence had in view, which was that aspects of the Church might be represented by them from when they were born. Their being born in Paddan Aram represented the fact that a member of the Church must be born anew or regenerated through knowledge or cognitions of goodness and truth, for Paddan Aram means that knowledge, 3664, 3680, 4107, while their actual birth represented the new birth effected through faith and charity, 4668, 5160, 5598, and so at the initial stage through knowledge of them. But the birth of all Jacob’s sons’ sons in the land of Canaan represented the fact that the kinds of things that constitute the Church spring from that knowledge, for ‘the land of Canaan’ is the Church, 3705, 3686, 4447, 4454, 4517, 5136, 5757. The birth of Joseph’s sons took place in Egypt however so as to represent the dominion of the internal man within the external, especially the dominion of the celestial of the spiritual within the natural. ‘Manasseh’ is the new area of will within the natural, and ‘Ephraim’ the new area of understanding there, which the Church possesses.

AC (Elliott) n. 6026 6026. Verses 28-30 And he sent Judah before him to Joseph, to show [the way] before him to Goshen; and they came to the land of Goshen. And Joseph harnessed his chariot, and went up to meet Israel his father, to Goshen; and he was seen towards him,* and fell on his neck,** and wept on his neck’ a long while. And Israel said to Joseph, Now let me die,*** after I have seen your face, that you are still alive.

‘And he sent Judah before him to Joseph’ means a communication of the good of the Church with the internal celestial. ‘To show [the way] before him to Goshen means regarding the middle of the natural. ‘And they came to the land of Goshen’ means the situation in life there. ‘And Joseph harnessed his chariot’ means doctrinal teaching from the internal. ‘And went up to meet Israel his father’ means an inflowing. ‘To Goshen’ means in the middle of the natural. ‘And was seen towards him’ means perception. ‘And fell on his neck’ means a joining together. ‘And wept on his neck a long while’ means mercy. ‘And Israel said to Joseph’ means the perception by spiritual good. ‘Now let me die’ means new life. ‘After I have seen your face’ means after the mercy has been discerned. ‘That you are still alive’ means a perception of the subsequent life in himself.
* i.e. Joseph presented himself to his father
** lit. necks
*** lit. Let me die this once

AC (Elliott) n. 6027 6027. ‘And he sent Judah before him to Joseph’ means a communication of the good of the Church with the internal celestial. This is clear from the representation of ‘Judah’ as the good of the Church, dealt with in 5583, 5603, 5782, 5794, 5837; and from the representation of’ Joseph’ as the internal celestial, dealt with in 5869, 5877. And ‘sending before him’, it is self-evident, means communicating. The reason why Judah and not anyone else was sent was so that a direct communication of good with good might be denoted, that is, a direct communication of external good, which ‘Judah’ represents, with internal good, which ‘Joseph’ represents. For good that is the good of love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour flows in from Him by way of the internal into the external, the amount of good in the external determining how much is received there. But if merely the truth of faith and no good is present in a person’s external, the inflow of good from the Lord by way of the internal cannot be received in the external. For no direct communication with truth can exist there, only an indirect one through good. This is why Judah and not anyone else was sent from Jacob to Joseph.

AC (Elliott) n. 6028 6028. ‘To show [the way] before him to Goshen’ means regarding the middle of the natural, that is to say, a communication regarding it. This is clear from the meaning of ‘Goshen’ as the middle, that is, the inmost part of the natural, dealt with in 5910. By the middle or inmost part of the natural is meant the best part there; for the best good exists in the middle, that is, in the centre or inmost part. Then surrounding it in every direction lie other grades of good, which follow a heavenly pattern and are positioned near to or further away from the best part in the middle in keeping with their degree of goodness. This is how different degrees of good are arranged into order with a regenerate person. But with the evil the grossest evils exist in the middle and all good is banished to the outermost parts, where it is constantly being pushed right outside. This pattern exists with evil persons in particular and in the hells in general, and is accordingly the hellish pattern. From what has now been said about the existence of the best part in the middle and other grades of good in order outside it one may see what is meant by a communication of the good of the Church with the internal celestial regarding the middle of the natural.

AC (Elliott) n. 6029 6029. ‘And Joseph harnessed his chariot’ means doctrinal teaching from the internal. This is clear from the representation of ‘Joseph’ as the internal, dealt with often; and from the meaning of ‘a chariot’ as doctrinal teaching, dealt with in 5721.

AC (Elliott) n. 6030 6030. ‘And went up to meet Israel his father’ means an inflowing – from the internal celestial into spiritual good from the natural. This is clear from the representation of Joseph, the one who ‘went up’, as the internal celestial, dealt with in 5869, 5877; and from the representation of ‘Israel’ as spiritual good, dealt with in 5801, 5803, 5806, 5812, 5817, 5819, 5826, 5833. From this it follows that an inflowing is meant by ‘going up to meet him’, for ‘going up to meet’ here implies setting out and coming towards him.

AC (Elliott) n. 6031 6031. ‘To Goshen’ means the middle of the natural. This is clear from what has been stated about Goshen just above in 6028.

AC (Elliott) n. 6032 6032. ‘And was seen towards him’ means perception. This is clear from the meaning of ‘seeing’ as understanding and discerning, dealt with in 2150, 3764, 4567, 4723, 5400, and as having faith, 1315, 1807, 3863, 3869, 4403-4421, 5400. As regards the meaning of ‘seeing’ as understanding and therefore perceiving, and also as having faith, it should be recognized that a person has two components constituting his life – SPIRITUAL LIGHT and SPIRITUAL HEAT. Spiritual light constitutes the life of his understanding, and spiritual heat the life of his will. By virtue of its very own origin spiritual light is Divine Truth flowing from the Lord’s Divine Good and is therefore the truth of faith flowing from the good of charity, while spiritual heat by virtue of its very own origin is the Divine Good of the Lord’s Divine Love and is therefore the good of celestial love or love to the Lord and the good of spiritual love or love towards the neighbour. As has been stated, these two constitute the entire life in a person.

[2] As regards spiritual light, this is related to a person’s understanding in the way that natural light is related to his external sight. That is to say, so that the eye can function, light must exist which enables it to do so. When it exists the eye beholds in that light everything all round outside itself. The same is true of the intellectual power of the mind, which is a person’s inner eye. So that this eye can function the light of heaven flowing from the Lord must exist, enabling it to do so. And when this eye functions with the aid of that light it too beholds things all round outside itself. But the objects it sees are spiritual ones – facts and truths. When however it does not have the aid of that light, a person’s intellectual power of the mind or inner eye is like his external or physical eye when this is in darkness and cannot see anything. That is, it does not from factual knowledge behold any truth, or from truth behold any good. The light which enables the intellectual power of the mind to function is light indeed, a kind of light which is a thousand times brighter than midday light in the world, as I can testify since I have beheld it. In that light all the angels in heaven see things all round outside themselves, and in that same light they also behold and perceive the truths of faith and the essential nature of them. This now explains why in the spiritual sense ‘seeing’ means not only the understanding but also any of its activities, such as cogitation, reflection, observation, circumspection, and many others, as well as meaning not only faith but also anything constituting faith, such as truth, teaching drawn from the Word, and the like.

[3] As regards spiritual heat however, this is related to a person’s will in the way natural heat is related to his body, in that the one imparts life to the other. But by virtue of its very origin – an origin that can be traced back to the Lord – spiritual heat is nothing other than Divine Love towards the entire human race and the reciprocation of that love by man, to Him and also towards the neighbour. And that heat is heat indeed; it blesses angels’ bodies with warmth and at the same time blesses their inmost beings with love. This is the reason why ‘heat’, ‘flame’, and ‘fire’, when used in the genuine sense in the Word, mean things connected with love, such as affections for goodness and truth, and also goodness itself.

AC (Elliott) n. 6033 6033. ‘And fell on his neck’ means a joining together. This is clear from the meaning of ‘falling on the neck’ as a close and intimate joining together, dealt with in 5926. The reason ‘falling on the neck’ means a joining together is that the neck joins together the head and the body; and since ‘the head’ means interior things, and ‘the body’ exterior ones, ‘the neck’ means a joining together of interior and exterior things, see 3542, 5320, 5328. From this arises a communication of interior things with exterior ones, as well as of celestial things with spiritual ones, see those same paragraphs. A communication such as this resulting from a joining together is meant in addition by the same words, for ‘Joseph’ is the internal, and ‘Israel’ considered in relation to it is the external.

AC (Elliott) n. 6034 6034. ‘And wept on his neck a long while’ means mercy. This is clear from the meaning of ‘weeping’ as mercy, dealt with in 5480, 5873, 5927. The expression ‘on his neck for a long while’ is used because the beginning as well as the continuance of the joining together consists in mercy, the mercy of the Lord, who in the highest sense is ‘Joseph’.

AC (Elliott) n. 6035 6035. ‘And Israel said to Joseph’ means the perception by spiritual good – a perception received from the internal celestial. This is clear from the meaning of ‘saying’ in the historical narratives of the Word as perception; from the representation of ‘Israel’, upon whose neck Joseph wept, as spiritual good; and from the representation of ‘Joseph’ as the internal celestial, which have all been dealt with often before.

AC (Elliott) n. 6036 6036. ‘Now let me die’ means new life. This is clear from the meaning of ‘dying’ as resurrection into life, thus new life, dealt with in 3326, 3498, 3505, 4618, 4621, 6008. The reason why ‘dying’ means a new phase of life has also been shown in those paragraphs, and it is this: Because a person instantly begins a new phase of his life when he dies, he is awakened into life as soon as he has cast aside the material body which had served him for use in the world. New life is meant here by ‘dying’ because that life comes through an inflowing from the internal, an inflowing that is meant by Joseph’s going up to meet his father, 6030, and through the joining together meant by Joseph’s falling on Israel’s neck, 6033.

AC (Elliott) n. 6037 6037. ‘After I have seen your face’ means after the mercy has been discerned. This is clear from the meaning of ‘seeing’ as discerning, dealt with above in 6032; and from the meaning of ‘face’, when used in reference to the Lord, as mercy, dealt with in 222, 223, 5585, 5816.

AC (Elliott) n. 6038 6038. ‘That you are still alive’ means a perception of the subsequent life in himself. This is clear from the meaning of ‘being alive’ in the internal sense as spiritual life, 5890. A perception that this life was present within himself follows from what has gone before (new life came to him from the inflowing and the joining together, 6036) and from the feeling of joy at seeing him, which feeling gave him the perception of the presence of life within himself.

AC (Elliott) n. 6039 6039. Verses 31-34 And Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s house, I will go up and tell Pharaoh, and say to him, My brothers and my father’s house, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me. And the men are shepherds of the flock, for they are keepers* of livestock, and their flocks and their herds, and all that they have, they have made to come. And it may be, that Pharaoh may call you and say, What are your works?** And you are to say, Your servants have been keepers* of livestock from our*** boyhoods and right up to now, both we and our fathers – so that you may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd of the flock is an abomination to the Egyptians.

‘And Joseph said to his brothers’ means a perception by the truths in the natural. ‘And to his father’s house’ means by the forms of good there. ‘I will go up and tell Pharaoh’ means a communication with the natural, where the Church’s factual knowledge resides. ‘And say to him, My brothers and my father’s house, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me’ means that the truths and forms of good which the Church possesses are to be introduced [into that knowledge]. ‘And the men are shepherds of the flock’ means that they lead to good. ‘For they are keepers of livestock’ means that they possess good deriving from truths. ‘And their flocks and their herds, and all that they have, they have made to come’ means that interior good and exterior good, and whatever is dependent on them, are present. ‘And it may be, that Pharaoh may call you’ means if the natural in which the Church’s factual knowledge resides wishes to be joined to you. ‘And says, What are your works?’ means and to know your forms of good. ‘And you are to say, Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our boyhoods and right up to now’ means that the truths which lead to good have been present from the beginning and are present still. ‘Both we and our fathers’ means that this was so from when the earliest forms of good existed. ‘So that you may dwell in the land of Goshen’ means that your position will for that reason be in the middle of the natural where the Church’s factual knowledge resides. ‘For every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians’ means thereby a separation from perverted factual knowledge which is opposed to the Church’s factual knowledge.
* lit. men
** i.e.. What is your occupation?
*** The Latin means their, but the Hebrew means our.

AC (Elliott) n. 6040 6040. ‘And Joseph said to his brothers’ means a perception by the truths in the natural. This is clear from the meaning of ‘saying’ as perception, dealt with often; from the representation of ‘the sons of Israel’ as spiritual truths within the natural, dealt with in 5414, 5879; and from the representation of ‘Joseph’ as the internal celestial, dealt with in 5869, 5877. From this it is evident that ‘Joseph said to his brothers’ means a perception by the truths in the natural which was received from the internal celestial. The reason ‘Joseph said’ does not mean a perception by him is that Joseph is the internal and all perception flows by way of the internal into the external or natural. By itself the natural does not perceive anything whatever but receives its perceptions from what is prior to itself. Yet what is prior does not perceive by itself but from what is yet prior to it, so that finally perception is received from the Lord, who has uncreated Being. Such is the nature of influx and consequently of perception. The situation with influx is like coming into being and remaining in being. Nothing comes into being by itself but from what is prior to itself, so that finally everything comes from Him who is First, that is, whose Being (Esse) and Manifestation (Existere) are uncreated. Everything is also kept in being by Him who is First, for the same applies to remaining in being as to coming into being, since remaining in being is constant coming into being.

[2] The reason why the expression ‘a perception by the truths in the natural’ is used and not a perception by people in possession of those truths is that spiritual language employs that kind of expression. For such a usage draws the ideas composing one’s thought away from persons and fixes them on spiritual realities; and those realities, which are truths and forms of good, are what possess life in a person and cause him to have life. For those realities are derived from the Lord, the Source of life in its entirety. That kind of usage also leads one’s mind away from ascribing truths and forms of good to a person. Such spiritual language also enables one to form an overall idea that extends further and wider than when the idea of a person is tied up with it. If for example one speaks of perception by people in possession of truths in the natural one’s ideas become fixed at the same time on people like that – a common occurrence – and so one’s ideas are drawn away from the overall idea, with the result that the light of truth is diminished. Furthermore, in the next life thought about persons disturbs such persons, for in that life all thought is communicated. These are the reasons why impersonal expressions like the one here – ‘a perception by the truths in the natural’ are used.

AC (Elliott) n. 6041 6041. ‘And to his father’s house’ means by the forms of good there, that is to say, a perception by them. This is clear from the meaning of ‘house’ as good, dealt with in 3128, 3652, 3720, 4982; and from the meaning of ‘father’ likewise as good, dealt with in 2803, 3703, 3704, 5581, 5902.

AC (Elliott) n. 6042 6042. ‘I will go up and tell Pharaoh’ means a communication with the natural where the Church’s factual knowledge resides. This is clear from the meaning of ‘telling’ or ‘pointing out’ as a communication, dealt with in 4856; and from the representation of ‘Pharaoh’ as the natural where the Church’s factual knowledge resides, dealt with in 5799, 6015.

AC (Elliott) n. 6043 6043. ‘And say to him, My brothers and my father’s house, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me’ means that the truths and forms of good which the Church possesses are to be introduced [into that knowledge]. This is clear from the representation of the sons of Israel, to whom his ‘brothers’ refers here, as spiritual truths within the natural, dealt with just above in 6040; from the meaning of ‘father’s house’ as the forms of good there, also dealt with just above, in 6041; from the meaning of ‘the land of Canaan’ as the Church, dealt with in 3686, 3705, 4447, 4517, 5136; and from the meaning of ‘coming’ to Joseph, or to Egypt where Joseph was, as being introduced into the Church’s factual knowledge, dealt with above in 6004, 6018. Regarding the introduction of the truths the Church possesses into the factual knowledge present in the natural, see above in 6023, and regarding the joining together of them, below in 6047.

AC (Elliott) n. 6044 6044. ‘And the men are shepherds of the flock’ means that they lead to good. This is clear from the meaning of ‘shepherds of the flock’ as those who lead to good, dealt with in 343, 3795, 5201; for a shepherd or pastor is one who teaches and leads, and the flock one who is taught or led; but in the internal sense truths that lead to good are meant since the sons of Israel, to whom ‘the men are shepherds of the flock’ refers here, represent spiritual truths, 6040, and also since truths present with those who teach are what do the leading. It has been shown previously that truths, which are the essence of faith, lead to good, which is the essence of charity. This is also evident from the consideration that every single thing is related to an end and has that end in view, and that things which do not have an end in view cannot remain in being. For the Lord has never created anything for any other reason than its end in view. So true is this that one may speak of the end as the all in all created things. And created things exist within this state of order: Even as the end looks from Him who is the First through means to what is last, so the end within what is last looks to the end in Him who is the First. This is the way things link together. By virtue of its very own origin the end itself is nothing else than the Divine Good of Divine Love, thus the Lord Himself, which also is why in the Word He is called the First and the Last, the Alpha and the Omega, Isa. 41:4; 44:6; 48:12; Rev. 1:8, 11, 17; 2:8; 21:6, 22:13.

[2] This being so, every single aspect of the life a person has looks to an end and has that end in view. Anyone who is at all rational can see that the factual knowledge a person has looks to truths as its end in view, and that truths look to forms of good as their end in view, and that forms of good look to the Lord as their last and first ends in view, their last when motivated by truths, their first when motivated by good. This is how it is with the truths the Church possesses, in that they lead to good, meant by ‘the men are shepherds of the flock’ and by ‘they are keepers of livestock’, as in what follows below.

AC (Elliott) n. 6045 6045. ‘For they are keepers of livestock’ means that they possess good deriving from truths. This is clear from the meaning of ‘livestock’ as the good of truth, which is good deriving from truths, dealt with in 6016. The description here has reference to the sons of Israel, by whom spiritual truths within the natural are represented, 5414, 5879, and so has reference to truths, here to the fact that they lead to good, regarding which see immediately above in 6044.

AC (Elliott) n. 6046 6046. ‘And their flocks and their herds, and all that they have, they have made to come’ means that interior good and exterior good, and whatever is dependent on them, are present. This is clear from the meaning of ‘flock’ as interior good, and from the meaning of ‘herd’ as exterior good, both dealt with in 5913; from the meaning of ‘all that they have’ as whatever is dependent on them, as in 5914; and from the meaning of ‘they have made to come’ as being present.

AC (Elliott) n. 6047 6047. ‘And it may be, that Pharaoh may call you’ means if the natural in which the Church’s factual knowledge resides wishes to be joined to you. This is clear from the meaning of ‘calling to oneself’ as wishing to be joined to, for the call to them, made with affection, to live in his land and become a single nation together with his subjects is the expression of a wish to be joined to them; and from the representation of ‘Pharaoh’ as the natural in which the Church’s factual knowledge resides, as above in 6042. Pharaoh’s call to them means the response made to the introduction and joining together, that is to say, the joining of the Church’s factual knowledge to truths and forms of good in the natural. For every joining together requires such a response and therefore agreement on both sides.

[2] The subject here is the joining together of the Church’s truths and its factual knowledge; but one needs to know in what way they should become joined. The joining together must not start with factual knowledge which is then used to look into the truths of faith; for a person’s factual knowledge comes from sensory impressions, thus from the world, the source of countless illusions. It must start with the truths of faith; that is to say, one should proceed in the following way. First of all one should get to know what the Church teaches; then one should discover from the Word whether such teaching is the truth. For things are true not because they are what leaders of the Church have so declared and their followers uphold. If that were so one would have to say that the teachings of any Church or religion were the truth simply because they are those of a person’s native soil and are those into which he was born. Thus not only the teachings of Papists or Quakers would be true but also those of Jews and of Mohammedans too since their Church leaders have so declared and their followers uphold it. From all this it is evident that one should search the Word and there see whether what the Church teaches is the truth. When an affection for truth motivates the search a person receives light from the Lord so that he may discern, though unaware of the source of his enlightenment, what the truth is and may be assured of it in the measure that he is governed by good. But if the truths discerned by him are at variance with the teachings of the Church, let him beware of creating a disturbance in the Church.

[3] Once he has become assured and so affirms from the Word that the Church’s teachings are truths of faith, let him then employ any fact he knows, whatever the name or nature of it, to corroborate them. For now that he is thoroughly affirmative in his attitude towards the truth he welcomes facts that accord with them and casts away those which because of the misconceptions present within them do not accord. The facts are used in support of his faith. No one therefore should be forbidden to search the Scriptures if motivated by a desire to know whether the teachings of the Church in which he was born are true; for in no other way can he ever become enlightened. Nor should he be forbidden after that to use factual knowledge to support his beliefs; but let him not do so before that. This and no other is the way in which the truths of faith should be joined to factual knowledge – not only the facts known to the Church but also any other kinds of facts. But very few at the present day proceed in this way, for the majority of people who read the Word are not motivated by a desire for truth when they read it but by a desire to endorse the teachings of the Church in which they were born, no matter what those teachings may be like.

[4] The Word contains a description of the Lord’s kingdom in which the spiritual domain, the domain of reason, and the domain of factual knowledge exist joined together; but in that description names that serve to mean those domains are used – Israel, Asshur, and Egypt. ‘Israel’ describes the spiritual domain, ‘Asshur’ the domain of reason, and ‘Egypt’ that of factual knowledge, in the following words in Isaiah,

On that day there will be an altar to Jehovah in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to Jehovah at its border; and it will be for a sign and a witness to Jehovah Zebaoth in the land of Egypt, for they will cry out to Jehovah because of the oppressors, and He will send a saviour and prince to them, and he will deliver them. And Jehovah will make Himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know Jehovah on that day and will offer sacrifice and minchah, and will make a vow to Jehovah and perform it. On that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Asshur, and Asshur will come into Egypt, and Egypt into Asshur, and Egypt will serve Asshur.* On that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Asshur, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom Jehovah Zebaoth will bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt My people, and Asshur the work of My hands, and Israel My heritage. Isa. 19:18-25.

[5] Anyone may see that in this quotation the country Egypt is not meant, or Asshur, or even Israel, but that some other thing is meant by each of them. ‘Israel’ is used to mean the spiritual domain of the Church, see 3654, 5801, 5803, 5806, 5812, 5817, 5819, 5826, 5837; ‘Asshur’ to mean the domain of reason, 119, 1186; and ‘Egypt’ to mean the domain of factual knowledge, 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462, 4749, 4964, 4966, 5700, 6004, 6015. The existence of the three joined together in the member of the Church is described in the prophet by the words ‘there will be a highway from Egypt to Asshur, and Asshur will come into Egypt, and Egypt into Asshur, and Egypt will serve Asshur. On that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Asshur, a blessing in the midst of the earth’. For to be a member of the Church a person must of necessity be a spiritual person, and also a rational one whom factual knowledge will serve. From all this it may now be evident that factual knowledge should not on any account be cast aside from the truths of faith but should be joined to them. But one should go the primary way, that is, the way that begins with faith, not the secondary way, that is, the one that begins with factual knowledge. See also what has been shown in 128-130, 195, 196, 232, 233, 1226, 1911, 2568, 2588, 4156, 4760, 5510, 5700.
* The Hebrew of this text in Isaiah may be read in two different ways – serve Asshur or serve with Asshur. Most English versions of Isaiah prefer the second of these .

AC (Elliott) n. 6048 6048. ‘And says, What are your works?’ means and to know your forms of good. This is clear from meaning of ‘works’ as forms of good. The reason why ‘works’ means forms of good is that works originate in the will, and what originates in the will is a form of good or a form of evil, whereas what originates in the understanding, such as spoken words, is a form of truth or a form of falsity. The ‘works’ done by Jacob’s sons, and also by their forefathers, consisted in tending livestock, thus in acting as shepherds; and by these ‘works’ too forms of good are meant, in particular forms of the good of truth. This meaning has its origin in correspondences, for lambs, sheep, kids, and she-goats, which are members of the flock, correspond to forms of the good of charity; and so do young bulls and oxen, which are members of the herd. The fact that these animals have this correspondence is clear from the consideration that when angels, moved by a heavenly affection, talk to one another about forms of the good of charity, flocks and herds are seen in some places in the world of spirits and also in the first or lowest heaven. Flocks are seen when they talk about interior forms of the good of charity, but herds when they talk about exterior forms, see 3218-3220. This explains why in the Word such deeds are meant by ‘flocks and herds’.

[2] In general it should be recognized that every spiritual meaning contained in the Word has its origin in representatives in the next life, and those representatives in correspondences. The reason for this is that the natural world derives its existence from the spiritual world in the way an effect does from its cause, to the end that the spiritual world may flow into the natural world and act as the causes behind things there. In this way everything there is maintained in its proper path and order. For the whole natural creation is a theatre representative of the Lord’s kingdom, that is, of the spiritual and celestial realities there, see 2758, 2987-3002, 4939, 5116.

AC (Elliott) n. 6049 6049. ‘And you are to say, Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our boyhoods and right up to now’ means that the truths which lead to good have been present from the beginning and are present still. This is clear from the meaning of ‘keepers of livestock’ as truths that lead to good, dealt with in 6016, 6045; and from the meaning of ‘from our boyhoods and right up to now’ as from the beginning and remaining so still. Regarding the meaning of ‘livestock’ as truths that lead to good, it should be recognized that livestock includes all draught animals, large and small – both those in the flock and those in the herd, and in addition camels, horses, mules, and asses. The latter mean things connected with truths, whereas the former – members of the herd and of the flock – mean things connected with good. This then is why all these draught-animals in general, which are ‘livestock’, mean truths that lead to good. In the original language ‘livestock’ is derived from a word which also means acquisition, and ‘acquisition’ in the spiritual sense also means truth that leads to good, for the reason that good is acquired by means of truth. But the smaller animals mean interior forms of good since they are members of the flock, such as lambs, sheep, kids, she-goats, and rams.

[2] ‘Livestock’ also means truths that lead to good in other places in the Word, as in Isaiah,

Then He will give rain for your seed with which you will sow the land, and bread the produce [of the land]; and there will be fatness and wealthiness. On that day they will feed your livestock in a broad grassland. Isa. 30:23.

‘Feeding’ stands for receiving instruction in truths and forms of good, 5201, while ‘a broad grassland’ stands for the doctrine of truth, the expression ‘broad’ being used because ‘breadth’ means truth, 3433, 3434, 4482. From this it is evident that ‘livestock’ means truths that lead to good. In Ezekiel,

To bring back your hand upon the inhabited waste places and upon the people that were gathered out of the nations, that are working with livestock and a possession – dwellers upon the navel of the earth. Ezek. 38:11, 12.

‘Livestock’ in a similar way stands for truths leading to good, ‘a possession ‘for good.

AC (Elliott) n. 6050 6050. ‘Both we and our fathers’ means that this was so from when the earliest forms of good existed. This is clear from the meaning of ‘fathers’ as forms of good, dealt with in 2803, 3703, 3704, 5581, 5902. Consequently the fact that they were keepers of livestock as their fathers had been means from when the earliest forms of good existed. There are in addition many other places in the Word where ‘fathers’ is not used in the internal sense to mean Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but members of the Ancient Church, who were governed by good.

AC (Elliott) n. 6051 6051. ‘So that you may dwell in the land of Goshen’ means your place will for that reason be in the middle of the natural where the Church’s factual knowledge resides. This is clear from the meaning of ‘dwelling’ as life and so the place where it is situated, 1293, 3384, 4451; and from the meaning of ‘Goshen’ as the middle or inmost part of the natural, dealt with in 5910, 6028. The residence there of the Church’s factual knowledge, which is meant by ‘Egypt’, is self-evident; for Goshen was the best land in Egypt.

AC (Elliott) n. 6052 6052. ‘For every shepherd of the flock is an abomination to the Egyptians’ means thereby a separation from perverted factual knowledge which is opposed to the Church’s factual knowledge. This is clear from the meaning of ‘an abomination to the Egyptians’ as a separation of factual knowledge, for things that are an abomination are separated, and the reason why something is an abomination is that it is contrary and so opposed to ideas that have been adopted and to loves that are present (here it is opposed to perverted factual knowledge, meant by ‘the Egyptians’, since it says ‘every shepherd of the flock is an abomination to them’); and from the meaning of ‘a shepherd of the flock’ as one who leads to good, dealt with in 6044. Factual knowledge that supports good is what perverted factual knowledge is opposed to. And perverted factual knowledge is what destroys the truth of faith and the good of charity, as well as being what turns order upside down, as magical practices in Egypt did. For there are many things in accord with order that were misused by the magicians of Egypt, such as correspondences and representatives, which existed as factual knowledge more highly developed among them than any other people. This knowledge conforms to order even when the evil make use of it; and when they make use of it to control other people and do harm to other people, that knowledge is perverted because it involves magic. As regards the separation of factual knowledge under consideration here, it is effected by a rearranging; when good accompanied by truths comes to be in the middle or inmost part meant by ‘Goshen’, perverted factual knowledge that is opposed to it is cast out.

[2] Up to now the subject has been the joining of truths to factual knowledge. Regarding this joining together one should go on to recognize that a joining of the internal or spiritual man to the external or natural man cannot be effected at all unless truths are introduced into factual knowledge. For factual knowledge together with the delights that belong to natural affections constitutes the external or natural man, and therefore unless a joining to factual knowledge is effected, none at all is effected. But if a person is to become regenerated his internal and external must exist joined together. If they do not, then all good flowing in from the Lord by way of the internal man into the external or natural man is either perverted, smothered, or cast aside, in which case there is also a closing of the internal. The method by which that joining together is effected is what the present chapter has described, the execution of which method involves the introduction of truths into factual knowledge.

AC (Elliott) n. 6053 6053. INFLUX AND THE INTERACTION OF THE SOUL WITH THE BODY

No one can have any knowledge at all or even be able to think about the influx of the soul into the body, or about the interaction of them, unless he knows what the soul is and also something about the nature of the soul. If nothing is known about what the soul is, nothing at all can be said about its inflow and interaction; for how can anyone think about two parts communicating with each other when there is complete lack of knowledge about the nature of one of them? The lack of knowledge, particularly in the learned world, about the whole nature of the soul may be seen from the fact that some people think it is something ethereal, others something flame-like or fiery, others something existing purely on the level of thought, others a general life-force, and others some natural force. Still greater lack of knowledge about what the soul may be is demonstrated by the varying places in the body to which people assign it. Some assign it to the heart, others to the brain – some to its fibres, others to the corpora striata, others to its ventricles, and others to its tiny glands. Others assign it to every part of the body, but these people’s conception is of a vitality like that common to everything that has life in it. From this it is evident that people know nothing at all about the soul. This is the reason why the ideas they have peddled around regarding the soul are all guesswork. And since for this reason they cannot have any idea of what the soul is, very many cannot do other than suppose that it is no more than vitality that is dissipated when the body dies. This now explains why the learned have less belief than the simple in a life after death; and because they have no belief in it they cannot have any belief in anything belonging to that life, that is, in the celestial and spiritual realities constituting faith and love. This is also evident from the Lord’s words in Matthew,

You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to young children. Matt. 11:15.

And again,

Those who see do not see, and those who hear do not hear, nor do they understand. Matt. 13:13.

For the simple do not think at all about the soul in the way that the learned do but believe that they will be alive after death. Concealed within their simple faith, though they are not conscious of it, is the belief that they will live there as people, seeing the angels, talking to them, and being filled with joy.

AC (Elliott) n. 6054 6054. As regards the soul, which – it is said – goes on living after death, it is nothing else than the actual person living in the body. That is, the soul is the person’s inner self acting in the world by means of the body and imparting life to the body. When his inner self is released from the body the person is called a spirit and then appears in a completely human form. Yet he cannot be seen at all by the eyes of the body, only by those of the spirit, to which he has the same appearance as Someone in the world. He has the senses – touch, smell, hearing, and sight – which are far keener than when he was in the world. He has appetites, longings, desires, affections, and loves that are like those he had in the world yet far superior. He also engages in thought as he did in the world, but in a more perfect way, and he holds conversations with others. In short his life there is as it was in the world, so much so that if he does not stop to reflect on the fact that he is in the next life, he knows no other than that he is in the world, as I have frequently heard spirits say. For life after death is a continuation of life in the world. This then is a person’s soul which is alive after death.

[2] But in order that people may not lose all idea of what the word ‘soul’ means because of the guessing and speculation about what the soul may be, it is better to speak of a person’s spirit or, if you prefer, his inner self. For his spirit, seen there, appears just like a person possessing all the members and organs that a person has; indeed it is the actual person In a body. The truth of this may also be recognized from the angels seen by people and described in the Word; all appeared in human form. Every angel in heaven possesses the human form, for the Lord, who was seen so many times after His resurrection as a person, has that form. The reason why an angel as well as a person’s spirit is human in outward form is that the whole of heaven receives from the Lord the disposition to combine into a human form, which is why the whole of heaven has been called the Grand Man. (The subject of the Grand Man and the correspondence with it of all the parts of a human being have been dealt with at the ends of many chapters.) Also because the Lord lives within each inhabitant of heaven, and through what flows in from the Lord the whole of heaven exerts an influence on each inhabitant, every angel is an image of heaven, that is, he possesses a form most perfectly human. So too does a person after death.

[3] However many the spirits I have seen, thousands upon thousands, they have all looked to me exactly like men and women. Some have declared that they are people just as they were in the world, and have added that during their lifetime they had not believed anything of the sort. Many have felt sad that the human race lives in such ignorance regarding their state after death and that they think about the soul in such a senseless and futile way, and that most of those who have thought more seriously about the soul have visualized it as something like a thin column of air, which has inevitably led to the crazy error that the soul is dissipated after death.

AC (Elliott) n. 6055 6055. Anyone who has no knowledge of the more internal aspects of the human being cannot know about the inflowing of the soul into the body or its interaction with it; for that interaction and inflowing takes place through those more internal aspects. To know about these more internal aspects of the human being one should know about the existence of the internal man and of the external man, and that the internal man exists in the spiritual world and the external in the natural world, so that the former dwells in the light of heaven, the latter in the light of the world. One also needs to know that the internal man is so distinct and separate from the external that, being prior and more internal, it can remain in being without the external, but that the external man, being posterior and more external, cannot remain in being without the internal. In addition one should know that the internal man is the one who is called intellectual or rational, using those terms in their proper sense, since that man dwells in the light of heaven, a light which holds reason and understanding within it. But the external man is one who must be called, strictly speaking, a knowledge-receiver since known facts reside in him, which knowledge derives its light for the most part from things belonging to the inferior light of the world that is brightened and so made living by means of the light of heaven.

AC (Elliott) n. 6056 6056. It has just been said that being prior the internal man can remain in being without the external, but not the external man, being posterior, without the internal. For it is a universal law that nothing can remain in being by itself, only from and through another, consequently that nothing can be maintained within the form it possesses except from and through another, as every single thing in the natural order goes to prove. The same is true of the human being. So far as his external man is concerned, he cannot remain in being except from and through the internal. But the internal man cannot remain in being except from and through heaven; nor yet can heaven do so from itself, only from and through the Lord, who alone is Self-existent. What makes all coming into and remaining in being is influx, for influx is the means by which all things are kept in being. But it will be shown in a later section that through influx the Lord keeps every single thing in being, not only indirectly through the spiritual world but also directly both in intermediate causes and in ultimate effects.

AC (Elliott) n. 6057 6057. Before anything can be said about the influx and operation of the soul into the body, a proper knowledge is required of the truth that the internal man has been created so as to conform to an image of heaven, and the external man to an image of the world, so much so that the internal man is the smallest form heaven can take, and the external man is the smallest the world can take and is thus the microcosm. The fact that the external man is an image of the world can be seen from his external or physical senses. The ear has been made to conform to the whole nature of the modification of air, and the lungs to the whole nature of air-pressure. So too with the surface-areas of the body, which are held in shape by the pressure of air all around them. The eye has been made to conform to the whole nature of the ether and light; the tongue to the perception of particles dissolved and suspended in fluids, and at the same time along with the lungs, trachea, larynx, glottis, jaws, and lips to conform to the power of using air in varying ways to produce articulated sounds or words, and musical sounds too. The nostrils have been made to conform to the perception of particles suspended in the atmosphere, and touch, a sense which is distributed over the whole of the body, to the perception of changes in the condition of the air, that is to say, whether it is cold or hot, as well as the perception of the nature of fluids and the weights of objects. (The internal organs, which the air surrounding the body cannot enter, are held together and kept in shape by a purer kind of air, called ether.) This is not to mention all the deeply hidden aspects of the natural world that have been inscribed on and apply themselves to the body, such as all the secrets of mechanics, physics, chemistry, and optics. All this goes to prove that the entire natural order was drawn on so that the external side of the human being might be created in conformity with it, which was why the ancients named the human being the microcosm.

[2] Now just as the external man has been created so as to conform to an image of everything in the world, so the internal man has been created so as to conform to an image of everything in heaven, that is, an image of the celestial and spiritual qualities that come from the Lord, from which heaven is formed and in which it consists. The celestial qualities there are all the aspects of love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour, and the spiritual qualities are all the aspects of faith. They are intrinsically so great and of such a nature that no tongue can possibly declare even a millionth of them. The truth that the internal man has been made so as to conform to an image of all those qualities is plain to see in the angels. When they appear before a person’s internal sight, as they have appeared before mine, their presence alone stirs feelings to the depths of his being. For love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour pour out of them and into the onlooker; and what is radiated by that love and charity, namely rays of faith, shines out of them and stirs one’s affections. This has served to show, as well as other proofs, that because the internal man has been created to be an angel, the internal man is the smallest form heaven can take.

[3] From all this it now becomes clear that within the human being the spiritual world has been joined to the natural world. As a result, in the case of the human being, the spiritual world flows into the natural world in so vital a way that a person can discern it if he merely stops to pay attention to it. This also shows what the interaction of the soul with the body is, that strictly speaking it is a communication of the spiritual realities of heaven with the natural things of the world, a communication which is effected by one flowing into the other, yet depends on the way the two have been joined together. This communication effected through an inflowing which depends on the way the two have been joined together is unknown at the present day, for the reason that every single thing is attributed to natural forces and there is no knowledge of what is spiritual, which at the present day is so remote that when people give it any thought it seems to be non-existent.

AC (Elliott) n. 6058 6058. But the nature of the inflowing is such that it begins in the Lord’s Divine Being and passes into every angel, every spirit, and every man, and in this way the Lord governs everyone not only in an overall sense but also in the smallest details. He does so both directly from Himself and indirectly through the spiritual world. So that the existence of this inflowing may be known much has been stated already regarding the correspondence of the parts of the human being with the Grand Man, that is, with heaven, and at the same time regarding the representation of spiritual realities with natural things. These matters were dealt with at the ends of Chapters 23-43. After that the subject, the angels and spirits present with a person, was dealt with at the ends of Chapters 44 and 45. It now follows that the specific matters of influx and the interaction of the soul and the body should be dealt with. But they are matters that need to have the light of experience thrown on them, otherwise a subject about which people are so ignorant and which they place in the dark by conjecturing about it cannot be brought out into the light. Experiences that throw light on these matters will be related at the ends of several chapters following this. What has been stated so far may serve instead of an introduction to those experiences.

47

GENESIS 47

1 And Joseph came and told Pharaoh, and said, My father and my brothers, and their flocks and their herds, and all that they have, have come from the land of Canaan, and behold, they are in the land of Goshen.

2 And from his brothers’ party he took five men, and placed them before Pharaoh.

3 And Pharaoh said to his brothers, What are your works?* And they said to Pharaoh, Shepherds of the flock are your servants, both we and our fathers.

4 And they said to Pharaoh, We have come to sojourn in the land, for there is no pasture for the flock which belongs to your servants, for the famine is serious in the land of Canaan; and now let your servants, we beg you, dwell in the land of Goshen.

5 And Pharaoh said to Joseph – he said, Your fathers and your brothers have come to you.

6 The land of Egypt is before you; in the best of the land cause your father and your brothers to dwell; let them dwell in the land of Goshen. And if you know that there are among them men of energy, then set them as the chief men over the livestock belonging to me.

7 And Joseph caused Jacob his father to come and placed him before Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.

8 And Pharaoh said to Jacob, How many are the days of the years of your life?

9 And Jacob said to Pharaoh, The days of the years of my sojournings are a hundred and thirty years; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers, in the days of their sojournings.

10 And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh.

11 And Joseph caused his father and his brothers to dwell, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.

12 And Joseph sustained his father, and his brothers, and all his father’s household with bread, according to the mouth of a young child.**

13 And there was no bread in all the land, for the famine was extremely serious; and the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished from the presence of the famine.

14 And Joseph gathered up all the silver found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, for the corn which they were buying; and Joseph caused the silver to come to Pharaoh’s house.

15 And when the silver was used up in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all Egypt came to Joseph, saying, Give us bread; and why should we die near by you because the silver is lacking?

16 And Joseph said, Give your livestock, and I will give you [bread] in exchange for your livestock, if the silver is lacking.

17 And they caused their livestock to come to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for horses, and for livestock of the flock, and for livestock of the herd, and for asses; and he provided them with bread in exchange for all their live stock that year.

18 And that year ended, and they came to him in the second year, and said to him, We will not hide from [my] lord, that since the silver has been used up and the livestock of the beasts has passed to [my] lord, nothing is left before [my] lord apart from our bodies and our ground.

19 Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our ground? Buy us and our ground for bread, and we will live, and our ground, as Pharaoh’s slaves; and give us seed so that we may live and not die, and the ground may not become a waste.

20 And Joseph bought all the ground of Egypt for Pharaoh, for the Egyptians sold, each one his field, because the famine overwhelmed them; and the land was Pharaoh’s.

21 And the people, he transferred them to the cities from one end of the border of Egypt to the other end of it.

22 Only the ground of the priests he did not buy, for the priests had a fixed portion from Pharaoh and ate their fixed portion which Pharaoh had given them; therefore they did not sell their ground.

23 And Joseph said to the people, Behold, I have bought you today, and your ground, for Pharaoh; look, here is seed for you, and you may sow the ground.

24 And so it will be at in gatherings,*** that you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four portions shall be yours, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for those in your households, and children.

25 And they said, You have bestowed life on us; let us find favour in the eyes of [my] lord, and we shall be Pharaoh’s slaves.

26 And Joseph made it a statute even to this day regarding the ground of Egypt, that a fifth went to Pharaoh. Only the ground of the priests, theirs alone, did not belong to Pharaoh.

27 And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen; and they had a possession in it, and were fruitful, and multiplied exceedingly.

28 And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years; and the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were a hundred and forty-seven years.

29 And Israel’s days drew near when he must die; and he called his son Joseph, and said to him, If now I have found favour in your eyes, put now your hand under my thigh, and show me mercy and truth;**** do not, I beg you, bury me in Egypt.

30 And let me lie with my fathers, and you are to carry me out of Egypt, and to bury me in their sepulchre And he said, I will do according to your word.

31 And he said, Swear to me. And he swore to him. And Israel bowed
himself over the head of the bed.
* i.e. What is your occupation?
** i.e. according to the number of young mouths they had to feed
*** lit. comings forth
**** lit. make with me mercy and truth

AC (Elliott) n. 6059 6059. CONTENTS

After the joining of spiritual good from the natural, which is ‘Israel’, to the internal celestial, which is ‘Joseph’, has been effected, which was the subject in the previous chapter, the present chapter deals in the internal sense with the introduction of the Church’s truths within the natural into factual knowledge. The Church’s truths in the natural are ‘the sons of Jacob’; truth itself as a whole there is ‘Jacob’; and the factual knowledge into which those truths are introduced is ‘Pharaoh’.

AC (Elliott) n. 6060 6060. After that the subject is the order into which known facts have been arranged by the internal celestial, which is ‘Joseph’. Factual knowledge with truth in it comes first, then the truths of good and the goods of truth, and lastly the entire natural in respect of factual knowledge, subject to the general whole to which they belong.

AC (Elliott) n. 6061 6061. Finally the subject is the regeneration of spiritual good from the natural, which is ‘Israel’.

AC (Elliott) n. 6062 6062. THE INTERNAL SENSE

Verse 1 And Joseph came and told Pharaoh, and said, My father and my brothers, and their flocks and their herds, and all that they have, have come from the land of Canaan, and behold, they are in the land of Goshen.

‘And Joseph came and told Pharaoh, and said’ means the presence of the internal celestial within the natural where factual knowledge resides, and the consequent influx and perception. ‘My father and my brothers’ means spiritual good within the natural and the truths of the Church there. ‘Their flocks and their herds’ means forms of the good of truth, interior and exterior ones. ‘And all that they have’ means whatever is dependent on them. ‘Have come from the land of Canaan’ means that they originate in the Church. ‘And behold, they are in the land of Goshen’ means that they are in the middle of the natural where factual knowledge resides.

AC (Elliott) n. 6063 6063. ‘And Joseph came and told Pharaoh, and said’ means the presence of the internal celestial within the natural where factual knowledge resides, and the consequent influx and perception. This is clear from the meaning of ‘coming to someone’ as presence, as in 5934; from the representation of ‘Joseph’ as the internal celestial, dealt with in 5869, 5877; from the meaning of ‘telling as an influx, dealt with in 5966; from the representation of ‘Pharaoh’ as the natural and therefore factual knowledge in general, dealt with in 5799, 6015; and from the meaning of ‘saying’ in historical narratives of the Word as perception, dealt with in 1791, 1815, 1819, 1822, 1898, 1919, 2080, 2619, 2862, 3509, 5687. From all this it is evident that ‘Joseph came and told Pharaoh, and said’ means the presence of the internal celestial within the natural where factual knowledge resides, and the consequent influx and perception.

[2] Reference has been made many times before this to the flowing of the internal into the natural or external, and to perception in the natural. It has been shown that the natural is kept in being and receives its life from an influx from the internal, that is, from the Lord through the internal. For without the influx from that source the natural does not have any life, since it exists on the natural level of creation and derives all that it is from there, and the natural level of creation is totally devoid of life. This being so, if a person’s natural is to have life there must be an influx from the Lord. It must come not only directly from Him but also indirectly through the spiritual world, consequently into a person’s internal, since this exists in the spiritual world, and from there into the natural so that it may have life. The human natural has been formed so that it may receive life thereby. This then is what is meant by a flowing of the internal celestial into the natural where factual knowledge resides. As a result of this influx from the internal, perception takes place in the external or natural, which ‘Pharaoh’ represents; for influx and perception answer to each other, 5743.

AC (Elliott) n. 6064 6064. ‘My father and my brothers’ means spiritual good within the natural and the truths of the Church there. This is clear from the representation of Israel, to whom ‘father’ refers here, as spiritual good within the natural, as in 5801, 5803, 5806, 5812 from the representation of ‘the sons of Israel’ as the truths of the Church within the natural, dealt with in 5414, 5879, 5951. The influx and perception spoken of immediately above in 6063 have regard to these – to spiritual good and to the truths of the Church within the natural.

AC (Elliott) n. 6065 6065. ‘Their flocks and their herds’ means forms of the good of truth, interior and exterior ones. This is clear from the meaning of ‘flocks’ as interior forms of good, and of ‘herds’ as exterior forms of good, both dealt with in 5913, 6048. The reason forms of the good of truth are what is meant is that spiritual good, which is represented by ‘Israel’, is the good of truth, 4598. Forms of good as they exist in heaven or with man have two different origins; that is to say, they originate in the will or in the understanding. Good that originated in the will existed among the most ancient people who belonged to the celestial Church, whereas good that originated in the understanding existed among the ancients who belonged to the spiritual Church. The first kind of good exists with those in the inmost or third heaven, the second kind with those in the middle or second heaven. What the difference is between them, and the nature of that difference, has been stated many times in explanations. Good that has its origin in the will is good from which truth is derived, whereas good that has its origin in the understanding is good which is a product of truth, that is, it is the good of truth. Essentially this good is nothing else than truth put into practice.

AC (Elliott) n. 6066 6066. ‘And all that they have’ means whatever is dependent on them, as above in 6046.

AC (Elliott) n. 6067 6067. ‘Have come from the land of Canaan’ means that they originate in the Church. This is clear from the meaning of ‘coming from some land or other’ as originating there; and from the meaning of ‘the land of Canaan’ as the Lord’s kingdom in heaven and the Lord’s kingdom on earth, which is the Church, dealt with in 1607, 3038, 3481, 3686, 3705, 4447, 4454, 5136.

AC (Elliott) n. 6068 6068. ‘And behold, they are in the land of Goshen’ means that they are in the middle of the natural where factual knowledge resides. This is clear from the meaning of ‘Goshen’ as the middle or inmost part of the natural, dealt with in 5910, 6028, 6031. What is meant by their being in the middle of the natural is this: Once the Church’s forms of good and its truths – that is, those which it has received from the Lord’s Word – have been acknowledged and with faith accepted in the natural, they occupy the middle there. For things that are immediate objects of attention are in the middle, and those that are not immediate objects of attention are to the sides; consequently the ones in the middle are seen clearly, those to the sides vaguely.

[2] It is the same as it is with the sight of the eye. The objects on which the eye is directly focused are in the middle, that is, in the centre and are seen clearly; but those on which it is not directly focused are to the sides, away from the middle, and are seen vaguely. For the inner eye, which is the intellectual power of the mind and which depends for its vision on the light of heaven, sees things outside itself in the natural, which are known facts, just as the physical eye sees objects or a whole range of objects outside itself. Inward sight is directed towards the things that give the greatest delight and are close to the heart, and it fixes its attention directly on them, in the same way as outward sight focuses on things similarly delightful in whole ranges of objects. Inward sight accordingly focuses on those known facts that are in close agreement with the truth and good that govern a person. These facts are then, for that person, in the middle. The reason why inward sight sees factual knowledge is that such sight is spiritual and therefore directs its attention towards spiritual matters, thus towards known facts, for these are the appropriate objects of spiritual attention.

AC (Elliott) n. 6069 6069. Verses 2-6 And from his brothers’ party he took five men, and placed them before Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said to his brothers, What are your works?* And they said to Pharaoh, Shepherds of the flock are your servants, both we and our fathers. And they said to Pharaoh, We have come to sojourn in the land, for there is no pasture for the flock which belongs to your servants, for the famine is serious in the land of Canaan; and now let your servants, we beg you, dwell in the land of Goshen. And Pharaoh said to Joseph – he said, Your father and your brothers have come to you. The land of Egypt is before you; in the best of the land cause your father and your brothers to dwell; let them dwell in the land of Goshen. And if you know that there are among them men with energy, then set them as the chief men over the livestock belonging to me.

‘And from his brothers’ party he took five men’ means some of the truths of the Church. ‘And placed them before Pharaoh’ means an introduction into factual knowledge. ‘And Pharaoh said to his brothers’ means perception regarding the truths of the Church within the natural. ‘What are your works?’ means regarding duties and useful services. ‘And they said to Pharaoh, Shepherds of the flock are your servants’ means that they lead to good. ‘Both we and our fathers’ means that this was so since the time of the ancients. ‘And they said to Pharaoh’ means a continuation of the perception. ‘We have come to sojourn in the land’ means a seeking to live in factual knowledge. ‘For there is no pasture for the flock which belongs to your servants’ means that factual knowledge holding forms of the good of truth is wanting. ‘For the famine is serious in the land of Canaan’ means that there is a lack of such forms in the Church. ‘And now let your servants, we beg you, dwell in the land of Goshen’ means so that they may live in the middle of them. ‘And Pharaoh said to Joseph – he said’ means perception in the natural where factual knowledge resides. ‘Your father and your brothers have come to you’ means regarding the influx of the internal celestial into spiritual good from the natural and into the truths of the Church there. ‘The land of Egypt is before you means that factual knowledge in the natural mind is subject to the guidance of the internal celestial. ‘In the best of the land cause your father and your brothers to dwell’ means that they may live in the inmost part of it. ‘Let them dwell in the land of Goshen’ means where the middle is. ‘And if you know that there are among them men with energy’ means the more outstanding contents of doctrine. ‘Then set them as the chief men over the livestock belonging to me’ means that they are the first and foremost among known facts.
* i.e. What is your occupation?

AC (Elliott) n. 6070 6070. ‘And from his brothers’ party he took five men’ means some of the truths of the Church. This is clear from the representation of Jacob’s sons, to whom ‘brothers’ refers here, as the truths of the Church, dealt with in 5403, 5419, 5427, 5458, 5512; and from the meaning of ‘five’ as some, dealt with in 4638, 5291.

AC (Elliott) n. 6071 6071. ‘And placed them before Pharaoh’ means an introduction into factual knowledge. This is clear from the representation of ‘Pharaoh’ as factual knowledge in general, dealt with in 5799, 6015. An introduction is meant by ‘placing before him’, for the intention behind his presentation of them was so that he might introduce them, that is, the truths of the Church, since these are meant by ‘the sons of Jacob’. Regarding the need for the truths known to the Church to be introduced into the Church’s factual knowledge, see 6004, 6023, 6052; but as this is a subject that is not known about at the present day, let some more light be shed on it.

[2] The facts known to the Church are at the present day the things stated in the literal sense of the Word. Unless truths from the internal sense are introduced into those facts the mind can be misled into all kinds of heresy; but once truths have been introduced into them the mind cannot be misled into heresies. For example the person who has learned from the literal sense of the Word statements that God can be angry, punish, lead into temptations, cast into hell, and do evil can be misled into false ideas about God. He may be led to think that Goodness itself, which is what God is, can be the source even of evil, thus the opposite of what He is, when in fact good comes from good, and evil from evil. But this fact [which he knows from the literal sense] takes on a different appearance if interior truths are introduced into it, such as the truth that evil in a person is what creates anger in him, leads into temptations, punishes, casts into hell, and constantly brings forth further evils. There is also the truth that the situation with these woes is like the laws that countries have; the laws come from the monarch, but the miseries that come with punishment are not attributable to the monarch but to those who commit evils.

[3] Then there is the truth that the hells are the source of all evil and are allowed to be the source of it because on man’s account it cannot be otherwise. For he is sunk in evil and his life arises out of it, and therefore unless he is left in evil he cannot be in freedom, or thus be reformed. Even so, nothing but good comes from God, for to the extent a person allows, God turns that evil towards what is good.

[4] There is too the truth that the very general outlines of belief must come first, after which they must be filled out with individual truths. This is so with the general piece of knowledge that all things which happen come without exception from God, including the miseries that punishment brings. In what way those miseries come from Him has to be learned subsequently, as also do the nature and source of what happens by permission.

[5] There is likewise the truth that all worship of God inevitably has its beginning in holy fear, which holds within it the belief that God rewards good people and punishes the bad. Simple people and young children must believe this because they have no understanding as yet of permission; and their belief is in keeping with the Lord’s words,

Rather, fear Him who is able to destroy both body and soul in Gehenna. Matt. 10:28.

So although to begin with it is out of fear that they do not dare to do evil, love accompanied by good is gradually introduced, and then they start to know and perceive that nothing but good comes from God, and that evil comes from themselves; then at length that all evil comes from hell.

[6] Furthermore those in heaven perceive that nothing but good comes from God; but those in hell say that everything evil comes from God because He permits it and does not take it away. But in reply to this those of them who are in the world of spirits are told that if evil were taken away from them they would not possess any life; and neither would anyone in the world who is engrossed in evil. They are also told that the evil within them punishes itself in accordance with the law, and that the miseries that punishment brings eventually causes them to refrain from the doing of evils, also that the punishment of evil persons is the protection of the good.

[7] Added to all this is the consideration that people engrossed in evil, also those whose worship is external devoid of anything internal, as that of the Jews was, must live altogether in fear of God and in a belief that He is the one who punishes; for their fear of God can lead them to do what is good, but love never can. When these and many other truths are introduced into that known fact [drawn from the literal sense of the Word] it takes on a completely different appearance. It becomes like a transparent vase containing truths which shine through and make the vase look like nothing else than a single and general body of truth.

AC (Elliott) n. 6072 6072. ‘And Pharaoh said to his brothers’ means perception regarding the truths of the Church within the natural. This is clear from the meaning of ‘saying’ as perception, dealt with above in 6063; from the representation of ‘Pharaoh’ as the natural, and factual knowledge in general, also dealt with above in 6063; and from the representation of the sons of Jacob, to whom ‘brothers’ refers here, as the truths of the Church within the natural, dealt with above in 6064. From all this it is evident that ‘Pharaoh said to his brothers’ means the perception of the natural regarding the truths of the Church there.

AC (Elliott) n. 6073 6073. ‘What are your works?’ means regarding duties and services. This is clear from the meaning of ‘works’ as forms of good, dealt with in 6048, thus useful services and duties, for these are forms of good. Every good that is called a good of charity consists in nothing other than useful service, and useful services are nothing other than works done for one’s neighbour, country, Church, and the Lord’s kingdom. Regarded essentially charity does not actually become charity until it passes into action and becomes a work; for loving someone but not doing anything good for him when the possibility exists is not really loving him. Doing good for him when the possibility exists, and doing it with all one’s heart, is loving him; for then the actual deed or work contains all that constitutes charity towards him. For works embrace every aspect of charity and faith present with a person and are called forms of spiritual good, made such through the exercise of charity, that is, through useful services.

[2] Because the angels in heaven are governed by good received from the Lord, they have no greater desire than to perform useful services. These are the very delights of their life, and in the measure that they perform useful services they enjoy blessing and happiness, 453, 696, 997, 3645. This is also the Lord’s teaching in Matthew,

The Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father together with His angels, and at that time He will repay everyone according to his works. Matt. 16:17.

‘Works’ is not used here to mean works such as they are in outward appearance but such as they appear inwardly – that is to say, what kind of charity they hold within them. Angels do not look on works in any other way.

[3] Furthermore, since works are a combination of every aspect of charity and faith present with a person, and since life causes charity to be charity and faith to be faith, and so to be good, John was loved more than the other disciples by the Lord and leaned on His breast at the Last Supper, John 21:20. For that disciple represented the good deeds or works of charity, see the Prefaces to Genesis 18 and 22. For the same reason the Lord said to him Follow Me; He did not say it to Peter,* who represented faith, see those same Prefaces, and this led faith, which is Peter, to be indignant and say,

Lord, but what about this man? Jesus said to Him, If I will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You, follow Me. John 21:19, 11-23.

This was also a prediction that faith would come to despise works, even though the Lord associates Himself with them, as may also be seen quite clearly from the Lord’s words addressed to the sheep and the goats at Matthew 25, where nothing else than works are listed in verses 34-46. The fact that faith would disown the Lord is evident from the representation by Peter in his denial of Him three times, [Matt. 26:34.] His denial ‘at night’ means the final period of the Church when no charity would exist any longer, 6000; his denial ‘three times’ means that at that point the final period would be complete, 1825, 2788, 4495, 5159; and ‘before the cock crowed’ means before a new phase of the Church had arrived, for twilight and morning which follow night mean the first phase of a Church, 2405, 5962.
* The words Follow Me at John 21:22 were clearly addressed to Peter. What Sw. intended to say is not clear to the translator.

AC (Elliott) n. 6074 6074. ‘And they said to Pharaoh, Shepherds of the flock are your servants’ means that they lead to good. This is clear from the meaning of ‘shepherds of the flock’ as those who lead to good, dealt with in 6044, here truths that lead to good since the truths of the Church are represented by ‘the sons of Jacob’.

AC (Elliott) n. 6075 6075. ‘Both we and our fathers’ means that this was so since the time of the ancients. This is clear from the meaning of ‘fathers’ as those who belonged to the ancient Churches, dealt with in 6050. In the Word there are many places referring to the Jews and Israelites in which their fathers are spoken of in a praiseworthy manner. People who confine themselves to the sense of the letter do not take ‘fathers in those places to mean anybody other than Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and also the sons of Jacob. But in the internal sense ‘fathers’, in a good sense, is used to mean not them but those who belonged to the Most Ancient Church which existed before the Flood and those who belonged to the Ancient Church which existed after the Flood. Members of both were called ‘fathers’ because the Church came down from them and things of the Church were derived from them.

[2] ‘Fathers’ is used in Moses to mean those belonging to the Ancient Churches,

Your fathers Jehovah delighted to love, and He chose their seed after them. Deut. 10:15.

And in the same author,

Remember the days of old, understand the Years of generation after generation. When the Most High gave to the nations an inheritance, when He separated the sons of man, He fixed the boundaries of the peoples, according to the number of the sons of Israel. But when Jeshurun became fat he forsook God. They sacrifice to demons, to gods [whom they do not know, to new ones] that have come from near by and that your fathers did not fear.* Deut. 32:7, 8, 15, 17.

These words appear in the prophetical Song of Moses, in which verses 7-15 refer to the Ancient Church and verses 15-44 to the descendants of Jacob. The state of the Most Ancient Church which existed before the Flood is meant by ‘the days of old’, and the state of the Ancient Church which existed after the Flood by ‘the years of generation after generation’. Their state of good is meant by ‘an inheritance which the Most High gave to the nations’, and their state of truth by ‘the Most High separated the sons of man, He fixed the boundaries of the peoples, according to the number of the sons of Israel’, which ‘number’, being ‘twelve’, means all the truths of faith in their entirety, see 577, 2089, 2129 (end), 2130 (end), 3272, 3858, 3913. From this it is evident that ‘fathers’ means those who belonged to the ancient Churches. A similar meaning exists in the following places: In Isaiah,

Our holy house, and our splendour, where our fathers praised You, has been made into a blaze of fire. Isa. 64:11.

In Jeremiah,

Did not your father eat and drink, yet execute judgement and righteousness? Then all went well for him. Jer. 22:15.

In the same prophet,

They have sinned against Jehovah, the habitation of righteousness and the hope of their fathers. Jer. 50:7.

In David,

O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us the work You worked in their days, in the days of old. Ps. 44:1.

‘Fathers’ is used in the same way in Daniel 11:14, 37, 38. The fact that those who belonged to the ancient Churches are meant in these places by ‘fathers’ is not apparent in the sense of the letter; it is seen only from the internal sense in which the Church, its forms of good, and its truths are the subject. Furthermore the Church itself – being the heavenly marriage, that is, the marriage of goodness and truth – is called ‘father’ in the Word in respect to goodness and ‘mother’ in respect to truth, 3707, 5581.
* The Latin means know but the Hebrew means fear.

AC (Elliott) n. 6076 6076. ‘And they said to Pharaoh’ means a continuation of the perception. This is clear from the meaning of ‘saying’ as perception, dealt with above in 6063; and from the representation of ‘Pharaoh’ as the natural in general, dealt with previously. The reason a continuation of the perception by the natural is meant is that the phrase ‘they said to Pharaoh’ was used just previously, 6074, and now occurs again.

AC (Elliott) n. 6077 6077. ‘We have come to sojourn in the land’ means a seeking to live in factual knowledge. This is clear from the meaning of ‘sojourning’ as receiving instruction, and also living, dealt with in 1467, 2025, so that ‘coming to sojourn’ means a seeking to live; and from the meaning of ‘the land’, in this case the land of Egypt, as the place where factual knowledge exists, and so as factual knowledge itself (it has been shown quite a number of times that ‘Egypt’ means factual knowledge). As to the idea that the life of truth exists within factual knowledge or that truths seek to live in factual knowledge, it should be recognized that all things in the spiritual world, and consequently all those in the natural world, seek something beyond themselves in which they can exist, acting as the cause within the effect, to the end that they may be producing something constantly. That something beyond them is so to speak the body, and what seeks to exist within it is so to speak the soul. This endeavour comes to an end only in the lowest aspects of the natural order in which inert substances occur. In the natural world this can be seen in specific examples; and it can also be seen in the spiritual world, in that there good seeks to live in truths, truths seek to live in factual knowledge, factual knowledge to live in sensory impressions, and sensory impressions in the world.

[2] As regards the specific matter of the presence of truths within factual knowledge, it should be recognized that interior truths can indeed be introduced into factual knowledge; but those truths do not have life until good exists within them. Good has life in it, but truths receive theirs from good; thus factual knowledge receives its life from good through truths. Good is in that case a kind of soul for truths, and through truths for factual knowledge, which is a kind of body. In short, charity towards the neighbour gives faith its life and soul, and through faith gives them to factual knowledge belonging to the natural mind.

[3] At the present day there are few who know that truths are distinct and separate from factual knowledge. The reason for this is that truths of faith which are rooted in charity exist with only few, and truths of faith that have no charity in them are no more than factual knowledge since they exist in the memory, no different from anything else there. But when truths of faith are rooted in charity, that is, have charity within them, they make themselves clearly distinct and separate from factual knowledge. Sometimes they lift themselves above it, in which case they look down on factual knowledge below them. This may be seen primarily from a person’s state after death. In that state he can think and speak in a rational manner about the truths and goods of faith, and in a far more clear-sighted way than during his lifetime; yet he cannot draw out any factual knowledge from his memory. That knowledge exists with him as things that lie forgotten and removed from sight, even though he retains it all, see 2475-2477, 2479, 2480-2486. From this it may be seen that the truths of faith, which are essentially spiritual, are distinct and separate from factual knowledge, which is essentially natural, and that the truths of faith are lifted up from factual knowledge towards heaven by means of an affection for the good of charity.

AC (Elliott) n. 6078 6078. ‘For there is no pasture for the flock which belongs to your servants’ means that factual knowledge holding forms of the good of truth is wanting. This is clear from the meaning of ‘pasture for the flock’ as factual knowledge holding forms of the good of truth, so that ‘no pasture’ means factual knowledge that does not hold any forms of the good of truth. In the internal sense ‘pasture’ is that which supports spiritual life; in particular it is truth contained in factual knowledge, for the human soul desires such truth just as the body desires food. Nourishment is derived from it, and for that reason ‘feeding’ means receiving instruction, 5201. That factual knowledge and truths sustain the human soul is quite evident from a person’s desire for knowledge, as well as from the correspondence of food with factual knowledge, 1480, 3114, 4792, 5147, 5193, 5340, 5342, 5576, 5579, 5915. This correspondence also manifests itself when a person is eating food. If he eats it while talking and listening the vessels that receive the chyle are opened, and he is nourished more fully than if he is alone. Spiritual truths and instruction in them would have the same kind of effect on people if they were to have an affection for what is good. The fact that truths nourish spiritual life is revealed primarily among good spirits and among angels in heaven. Those spirits and angels have a constant desire to acquire knowledge and wisdom; and when they lack this spiritual food they feel desolate, listless, and famished. Nor are they refreshed and raised into the bliss of their life until their desires are satisfied. But if that factual knowledge is to yield the soul wholesome nourishment, that knowledge must contain life received from forms of the good of truth. If it does not contain life received from them factual knowledge still sustains a person’s inner life, but his natural life, not his spiritual life.

[2] The meaning of ‘pasture’ in the internal sense as that which sustains a person’s spiritual life is also evident from other places in the Word, as in Isaiah,

I have given you as a covenant to the people, to restore the land; to say to the bound, Go out, to those who are in darkness, Reveal yourselves. They will feed along the ways, and on all slopes will their pasture be. Isa. 49:8, 9.

‘Feeding along the ways’ stands for receiving instruction in truths, ‘the ways’ being truths, see 627, 2333, and ‘feeding’ receiving instruction, 5201. ‘On all slopes will their pasture be’ stands for being sustained with good, for ‘slopes’, like ‘mountains’ are forms of the good of love, 795, 796, 1430, 2722, 4210.

[3] In Jeremiah,

Woe to the shepherds destroying and scattering the flock of My pasture. Jer. 23:1.

‘Pasture’ stands for the kinds of things that sustain spiritual life. In the same prophet,

The princes of Zion have become like deer, they have not found pasture. Lam. 1:6.

‘They have not found pasture’ stands for no truth of good.

[4] In Ezekiel,

I, even I will look for My sheep. I will feed them in a good pasture, and their fold will be on the mountains of the loftiness of Israel; there* they will lie down in a good fold, and on fat pasture they will feed upon the mountains of Israel. Ezek. 34:11, 14.

‘A good and fat pasture upon the mountains of Israel’ stands for forms of the good of truth. In the same prophet,

Is it a small thing to you? You feed off the good pasture but tread down with your feet the rest of your pastures. Ezek. 34:18.

Here the meaning is similar. In Hosea,

I knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought. When [they had] their pasture, they were filled; they were filled and their heart was exalted. Hosea 13:5, 6.

In Joel,

The beasts groan, the herds of cattle are perplexed because they have no pasture, even the flocks of sheep** are made desolate. Joel 1:18.

In David,

Jehovah is my Shepherd; He will make me lie down in green pasture;*** He will lead me away to still waters; He will restore My soul. Ps. 23:1-3.

In the same author,

Jehovah made us and not we ourselves, His people and the flock of His pasture; therefore we are His, His people, and the flock of His pasture.**** Ps. 100:3.

[5] ‘Pasture’ in these quotations stands for the truths in which a person receives instruction, here the kinds of things which have regard to spiritual life. For the nature of spiritual life is such that if it lacks that pasture it languishes and so to speak fades away, like the body when it lacks food. The fact that ‘pasture’ is the goodness and truth that refresh and sustain a person’s soul or spirit is plain from the Lord’s words in John,

I am the door. If anyone enters through Me he will be saved, and will go in and out, and find pasture. John 10:9.

‘Pasture’ stands for the forms of good and the truths which those people have who acknowledge the Lord and seek life from Him alone.
* Reading there (ibi) for thus (ita)
** lit. small cattle or livestock
*** lit. pasture of the plant
**** The first and second halves of this sentence are in fact alternative ways of understanding the original Hebrew.

AC (Elliott) n. 6079 6079. ‘For the famine is serious in the land of Canaan’ means that there is a lack of such forms in the Church. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the famine’ as a lack of good, dealt with in 5893; and from the meaning of ‘the land of Canaan’ as the Church, also dealt with above, in 6067.

AC (Elliott) n. 6080 6080. ‘And now let your servants, we beg you, dwell in the land of Goshen’ means so that they may live in the middle of them. This is clear from the meaning of ‘dwelling’ as living, dealt with in 1293, 3384, 3613, 4451, 6051; and from the meaning of ‘the land of Goshen’ as the middle or inmost part of the natural, dealt with in 5910, 6028, 6031, 6068.

AC (Elliott) n. 6081 6081. ‘And Pharaoh said to Joseph – he said’ means perception in the natural where factual knowledge resides. This is clear from the meaning of ‘saying’ as perception, dealt with often; from the representation of ‘Pharaoh’ as the natural where factual knowledge resides, dealt with in 5799, 6015, 6063; and from the representation of ‘Joseph’ as the internal, the source of perception in the natural, dealt with in 5469.

AC (Elliott) n. 6082 6082. ‘Your father and your brothers have come to you’ means regarding the influx of the internal celestial into spiritual good from the natural and into the truths of the Church there. This is clear from the representation of Israel, to whom ‘father’ refers here, as spiritual good from the natural, dealt with in 5801, 5807, 5806, 5812, 5817, 5819, 5826, 5833; and from the representation of his sons, to whom ‘brothers’ refers here, as the truths of the Church in the natural, dealt with in 5414, 5879, 5951. The reason it is an influx of the internal celestial is that the words were addressed to Joseph, who represents the internal celestial, 5869, 5877, and an influx into the natural or external comes from the internal.

AC (Elliott) n. 6083 6083. ‘The land of Egypt is before you’ means that factual knowledge in the natural mind is subject to the guidance of the internal celestial. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the land of Egypt’ as the natural mind where factual knowledge resides, dealt with in 5276, 5278, 5280, 5288, 5301; and from the meaning of ‘before you’ as being subject to the guidance of the internal celestial, which is ‘Joseph’, 5869, 5877.

AC (Elliott) n. 6084 6084. ‘In the best of the land cause your father and your brothers to dwell’ means that they may live in the inmost part of it, that is to say, of factual knowledge. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the best of the land’ as the inmost part of the natural mind where factual knowledge resides, dealt with below, for ‘the land of Egypt’ is the natural mind, as immediately above in 6083; from the meaning of ‘dwelling’ as living, dealt with in 1293, 3384, 3613, 4451, 6051; and from the representation of Israel and his sons, to whom ‘father’ and ‘brothers’ who are to live there refer here, as spiritual good from the natural and the truths of the Church there, dealt with above in 6082.

[2] ‘The best’ means the inmost part since the best is that which is kept immediately beneath one’s gaze. The eye is always directed towards that for which it feels the greatest affection and delight; and that which is kept immediately beneath its gaze is also the inmost part because it is in the centre and as a consequence exists before the eyes in greatest light. All else lies round about in peripheral positions and as a consequence is less clear, till at the edges it is obscure because it arouses less delight and affection. This is the situation with factual knowledge beheld by inward sight. The objects of that sight are nothing else than known facts and truths. The delight and goodness present in those objects are what direct that sight towards them. It should be recognized however that truths and factual knowledge agreeing with those truths come directly under its gaze, that is, they reside in the inmost part, if people take a delight in and feel an affection for spiritual and celestial truths since they are for those people ‘the best’. But falsities and factual knowledge agreeing with those falsities come directly under the gaze of inner sight, that is, they reside in the inmost part, if people feel an affection for and take delight in the evils that belong to self-love and love of the world. See also what has been stated in 6068.

AC (Elliott) n. 6085 6085. ‘Let them dwell in the land of Goshen’ means where the middle is. This is clear from the meaning of ‘dwelling’ as living, as immediately above in 6084; and from the meaning of ‘the land of Goshen’ as the middle or inmost part of the natural, dealt with in 5910, 6028, 6031, 6068.

AC (Elliott) n. 6086 6086. ‘And if you know that there are among them men with energy’ means the more outstanding contents of doctrine. This is clear from the meaning of ‘men with energy’ a, the more outstanding contents of doctrine. For ‘man’ means one who has intelligence and also means truth, 158, 265, 749, 1007, 3174, 4823, and as a consequence means doctrine, while ‘energetic’ means what is outstanding In the original language ‘energy’ is expressed by a word that also means strength and power, which in the internal sense means those things that prevail and so are more outstanding.

AC (Elliott) n. 6087 6087. ‘Then set them as the chief men over the livestock belonging to me’ means that they are the first and foremost among known facts. This is clear from the meaning of ‘chief men’ or princes as features that are first and foremost, dealt with in 1482, 2089, 5044; and from the meaning of ‘the livestock’ as truths from which good springs, dealt with in 6016, 6045, 6048, at this point factual knowledge that has those truths within it, since the expression used is ‘over the livestock belonging to me’, that is, to Pharaoh, who does not represent truths that have good within them but factual knowledge that has truths within it.

AC (Elliott) n. 6088 6088. Verses 7-10 And Joseph caused Jacob his father to come and placed him before Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said to Jacob, How many are the days of the years of your life? And Jacob said to Pharaoh, The days of the years of my sojournings are a hundred and thirty years; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers, in the days of their sojournings. And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh.

‘And Joseph caused Jacob his father to come means the presence of general truth from the internal. ‘And placed him before Pharaoh’ means an introduction into factual knowledge as a general whole. ‘And Jacob blessed Pharaoh’ means a heartfelt desire for a joining together and resulting fruitfulness. ‘And Pharaoh said to Jacob’ means perception in the natural where factual knowledge resides, regarding the Church’s truth in general. ‘How many are the days of the years of your life?’ means regarding the state of life of the natural from the spiritual. ‘And Jacob said to Pharaoh’ means the reply. ‘The days of the years of my hundred and thirty years’ means its state and essential nature. ‘[Few] and evil have been the days of the years of my life’ means that the state of life of the natural has been full of temptations. ‘And they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers’ means that it did not come means up to the state of life of those that went before. ‘In the days of their sojournings’ means so far as their state of life was concerned. ‘And Jacob blessed Pharaoh’ means, as before, a heartfelt desire for a joining together and resulting fruitfulness. ‘And went out from before Pharaoh’ means a temporary separation.

AC (Elliott) n. 6089 6089. ‘And Joseph caused Jacob his father to come’ means the presence of general truth coming from the internal. This is clear from the meaning of ‘causing to come., or bringing to, as causing to be present, and ‘coming to someone’ as presence, 5934, 6063; and from the representation of ‘Jacob’ as the doctrine of natural truth, and also natural truth itself, dealt with in 3305, 3509, 3525, 3546, 4538, at this point truth in general since his sons represent particular truths. The reason why it comes from the internal is that ‘Joseph’ is the internal, from which truth in the natural comes. General truth is called ‘Joseph’s father’ because a person first of all is introduced into general truth. After that it is enriched with particular truths, and in the end there comes an insight into those truths from the internal, which is reason and understanding. This is plain to see in a person, for the power of judgement develops in him from young childhood onwards. Something similar happens with spiritual truths and forms of good when a person is being born anew or regenerated. But after the internal has come into being from general truth in the natural the state is turned around; the internal no longer acknowledges truth in the natural as its father but as a servant. That it is then a servant is made clear by Joseph’s dream regarding his father, in which he says that the sun and moon, and the eleven stars were bowing down to him, which led his father to say,

What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall we indeed come – I and your mother, and your brothers – to bow down to you to the earth? Gen. 37:9, 10.

This explains why, in Joseph’s presence, the other sons call his father so many times his servant, Gen. 43:28; 44:24, 27, 30, 31, besides which Joseph was lord in the whole land of Egypt, thus even over his father.

AC (Elliott) n. 6090 6090. ‘And placed him before Pharaoh’ means an introduction into factual knowledge as a general whole. This is clear from the explanation above in 6071.

AC (Elliott) n. 6091 6091. ‘And Jacob blessed Pharaoh’ means a heartfelt desire for a joining together and resulting fruitfulness. This is clear from the meaning of ‘blessing’ here as a heartfelt desire for a joining together – for a joining of truth to factual knowledge in the natural since that is the subject here. ‘Blessing has many meanings; in the spiritual sense it includes all things that are good and also those that are blissful. It therefore means being endowed with the good of love and charity, 3185, 4981, also a joining together or conjunction, 3504, 3514, 3530, 3565, 3584, as well as fruitfulness by virtue of the affection for truth, 2846, and a heartfelt desire for someone’s happiness, 3185. Here therefore a heartfelt desire for that which is the subject here is meant, namely a desire for a joining together and thus fruitfulness. Fruitfulness follows as a result of the joining together, because once the joining together has been effected good grows and truth multiplies; for the marriage of goodness and truth is then the producer of that fruitfulness. It cannot come about prior to that except as a result so to speak of fornication, the good from which union is spurious, as is the truth. Good from that union is full of self-regard, and truth likewise has the same flavour.

AC (Elliott) n. 6092 6092. ‘And Pharaoh said to Jacob’ means perception in the natural, where factual knowledge resides, regarding the Church’s truth in general. This is clear from the meaning of ‘saying’ as perception, dealt with above in 6063; from the representation of ‘Pharaoh’ as the natural, where factual knowledge resides, dealt with in 5799, 6015; and from the representation of ‘Jacob’ as the Church’s truth in general, dealt with above in 6089.

AC (Elliott) n. 6093 6093. ‘How many are the days of the years of your life?’ means regarding the state of life of the natural from the spiritual. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the days’, also ‘the years’, as states, dealt with in 23, 487, 488, 493, 893, 2788, 3462, 3785, 4850; and from the meaning of ‘life’ as spiritual life, dealt with in 5407, 5890, in this case spiritual life in the natural, which is the natural from the spiritual.

AC (Elliott) n. 6094 6094. ‘And Jacob said to Pharaoh’ means the reply. This is clear without explanation.

AC (Elliott) n. 6095 6095. ‘The days of the years of my sojournings’ means regarding the succeeding stages of life. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the days’ and ‘the years’ as states, dealt with just above in 6093; and from the meaning of ‘sojournings’ as life and instruction, dealt with in 1463, 2025, 3672, thus the succeeding states of life.

AC (Elliott) n. 6096 6096. ‘A hundred and thirty years’ means its state and essential nature. This is clear from the fact that all numbers in the Word mean spiritual realities, see 575, 647, 648, 755, 813, 1963, 2075, 2252, 3252, 4264, 4495, 4670, 5265, thus the state and essential nature of the reality under consideration. The specific number used here therefore means the state and essential nature of Jacob’s life up to that point, that is, the state and essential nature of the spiritual life which the natural from the spiritual possessed at that point.

AC (Elliott) n. 6097 6097. ‘[Few] and evil have been the days of the years of my life’ means that the state of life of the natural has been full of temptations. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the days’ and ‘the years’ as states, as above in 6093, 6095; and from the meaning of ‘Jacob’s life’ as spiritual life in the natural, also as above in 6093. Temptations in that state are meant by the statement that the days had been ‘evil’. All temptations appear to be evil because they are inner feelings of anxiety and distress, and of seeming damnation. For at such times a person is thrown into a state involving his own evils, as a consequence of which he is in the midst of evil spirits who make accusations and thereby torment his conscience. But the angels still protect him, that is, the Lord does so through the angels. The Lord preserves in him a sense of hope and trust, which are fighting strengths from within that enable him to offer resistance. The natural is particularly subjected to temptations when it is to receive the spiritual, for in it reside evils of life and falsities of doctrine. That is the reason why Jacob says what he does about himself, for here he represents the natural in respect of truth.

AC (Elliott) n. 6098 6098. ‘And they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers’ means that it did not come up to their state of life.* This is clear from the meaning of ‘attaining to’ here as coming up to, dealt with below; and from the meaning of ‘the days’ and ‘the years of life’ as states of spiritual life, as above in 6093, 6095, 6097. The reason ‘attaining to’ here means coming up to is that his fathers Isaac and Abraham represented higher, that is, more internal, things than he. ‘Abraham’ in the highest sense represented the Lord’s Divine itself, ‘Isaac’ the Lord’s Divine Rational, and ‘Jacob’ His Divine Natural. For the representation of ‘Abraham’ as the Lord’s Divine itself, see 1965, 1989, 2011, 7245, 7251, 3305 (end), 3439, 3703, 4615; for the representation of ‘Isaac’ as the Divine Rational, 1893, 2066, 2072, 2083, 2630, 2774, 3012, 3194, 3210, 4615; and for the representation of ‘Jacob’ as the Divine Natural in respect of truth and in respect of good, 3305, 3509, 3525, 3546, 3576, 3599, 4286, 4538, 4570, 4615. That being so, ‘Abraham’ also represents the celestial degree with man, ‘Isaac’ the spiritual degree, and ‘Jacob’ the natural, for the reason that the regeneration of man is an image of the Glorification of the Lord, 3138, 3212, 3296, 3490, 4402, 5688. From all this one may now see that ‘they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers’ means that it did not come up to their state of life.
* cf what appears in 6088.

AC (Elliott) n. 6099 6099. ‘And Jacob blessed Pharaoh’ means a heartfelt desire for a joining together and resulting fruitfulness, as above in 6091.

AC (Elliott) n. 6100 6100. ‘And went out from before Pharaoh’ means a temporary separation. This is clear from the meaning of ‘going out’ as becoming separated, in this case separated for a time from the natural, where factual knowledge represented by ‘Pharaoh’ resides. The situation with the meaning of ‘going out’ as becoming separated is this: Previous sections have dealt with the joining of spiritual good from the natural, which is ‘Israel’, and also of the Church’s truths in the natural, which are ‘his sons’, to the internal celestial, which is ‘Joseph’. But the actual joining to the natural has not yet been effected, only an introduction into it. What will now follow below, at verses 17-27, deals with that actual joining together – see Contents, 6059, 6060. Thus it is that ‘Jacob went out from before Pharaoh’ means a temporary separation.

AC (Elliott) n. 6101 6101. Verses 11, 12 And Joseph caused his father and his brothers to dwell, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Ramases, as Pharaoh had commanded. And Joseph sustained his father, and his brothers, and all his father’s household with bread, according to the mouth of a young child.*

‘And Joseph caused his father and his brothers to dwell’ means the life which spiritual good and the Church’s truths received from the internal celestial. ‘And gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land’ means in the inmost part of the natural mind where factual knowledge resides. ‘In the land of Rameses’ means the inmost part of the mind and the essential nature of it. ‘As Pharaoh had commanded’ means with the acquiescence of the natural, where factual knowledge resides. ‘And Joseph sustained his father, and his brothers, and all his father’s household with bread’ means that from the internal celestial there was a constant influx of good into spiritual good and the Church’s truths in the natural, which gave them their life. ‘According to the mouth of a young child’ means each one in keeping with the essential nature of the good of innocence.
* i.e. according to the number of young mouths they had to feed

AC (Elliott) n. 6102 6102. ‘And Joseph caused his father and his brothers to dwell’ means the life which spiritual good and the Church’s truths received from the internal celestial. This is clear from the meaning of ‘dwelling’ as life, dealt with in 1293, 3384, 3613, 4451, 6051; from the representation of Israel, to whom ‘father’ refers here, as spiritual good from the natural, dealt with in 5801, 5803, 5806, 5812, 5817, 5819, 5826, 5833; from the representation of his sons, to whom ‘brothers’ refers here, as the Church’s truths in the natural, dealt with in 5414, 5879, 5951; and from the representation of ‘Joseph’ as the internal celestial, dealt with in 5869, 5877. From all this it is evident that ‘Joseph caused his father and his brothers to dwell’ means the life which spiritual good and the Church’s truths received from the internal celestial.

AC (Elliott) n. 6103 6103. ‘And gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land’ means in the inmost part of the natural mind where factual knowledge resides. This is clear from the meaning of ‘a possession’ as the position spiritual life occupies, dealt with in 2658; from the meaning of ‘the land of Egypt’ as the natural mind where factual knowledge resides, dealt with in 5276, 5278, 5280, 5288, 5301; and from the meaning of ‘the best of the land’ as the inmost part, dealt with above in 6084. From this it is evident that ‘gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land’ means the position occupied by spiritual life in the inmost part of the natural mind where factual knowledge resides.

AC (Elliott) n. 6104 6104. ‘In the land of Rameses’ means the inmost part of the mind and the essential nature of it. This is clear from the consideration that all names in the Word, both of persons and of places, mean spiritual entities, 1888, 3412, 4298, 4442, 5095, 5215. And since ‘the land of Goshen’ is the inmost part of the natural mind, 5910, 6018, 6031, 6068, ‘Rameses’, which was the best region in the land of Goshen, is the inmost part of the spiritual within the natural mind. But the essential nature of this inmost part can hardly be comprehended by man since it contains countless and also indescribable features which can be seen only in the light of heaven, and so only by angels. The same applies to the essential nature meant by all other names both of places and of persons that occur in the Word.

AC (Elliott) n. 6105 6105. ‘As Pharaoh had commanded’ means with the acquiescence of the natural, where factual knowledge resides. This is clear from the meaning of ‘commanding’ as influx, dealt with in 5486, 5732; but in this case acquiescence is meant, for the natural, which ‘Pharaoh’ represents, owes its whole existence to the internal flowing into it. Consequently what the natural commands does indeed appear to be a direction coming from there, but in fact it comes from the internal; thus it is an acquiescence. The relationship of a person’s natural to his internal is virtually the same as that of a person’s speech to his thought. It seems as though a person’s speech gives a command or issues a direction; but in fact thought does so.

AC (Elliott) n. 6106 6106. ‘And Joseph sustained his father, and his brothers, and all his father’s household with bread’ means that from the internal celestial there was a constant influx of good into spiritual good and the Church’s truths in the natural, which gave them their life. This is clear from the meaning of ‘sustaining with bread’ as an influx of good, for ‘sustaining’ here is a constant inflowing, which gives a person spiritual life, while ‘bread’ is the good of love, 276, 680, 2165, 2177, 3464, 3478, 3735, 3813, 4211, 4217, 4735, 4976, 5915; from the representation of ‘Joseph’ as the internal celestial, dealt with in 5869, 5877; from the representation of Israel, to whom ‘father’ refers here, as spiritual good from the natural, and from the representation of his sons, to whom ‘brothers’ refers here, as the Church’s truths in the natural, both dealt with in 6101; and from the meaning of ‘all his father’s household’ as everything in its entirety which belongs to spiritual good and is derived from that good. From all this it is evident that ‘Joseph sustained his father, and his brothers, and all his father’s household with bread’ means that there was a constant influx of the good of love from the internal celestial into spiritual good and the Church’s truths in the natural, and into everything belonging to spiritual good and derived from it.

AC (Elliott) n. 6107 6107. ‘According to the mouth of a young child’ means each one in keeping with the essential nature of the good of innocence. This is clear from the meaning of ‘according to the mouth’ as each one and in keeping with the essential nature; and from the meaning of ‘a young child’ as the good of innocence, dealt with in 430, 2126, 3183, 5608. What the description ‘influx from the internal celestial into spiritual good and the Church’s truths within the natural in keeping with the essential nature of the good of innocence’ really means is this: Innocence is what gives all the good of charity and love its essential nature from deep within. For the Lord flows by means of innocence into charity; and the amount of innocence present determines the amount of charity received, since innocence is the very essence of charity, 2780, 3111, 3183, 3994, 4797, 6013.

[2] What innocence is like is mirrored by young children. That is to say, one can see what it is like in the way they love their parents and trust only them, also in their lack of all concern except to please their parents, so that food and clothing are to them not only something they need but also a source of delight. Because they love their parents they do with affection and delight whatever their parents approve of, thus not only what their parents command but also what they think they wish to command. In addition they have no regard for themselves, besides having many other characteristics. But it should be recognized that the innocence of young children is not really innocence, only a semblance of it. Real innocence resides solely in wisdom, see 2305, 2306, 3494, 4797; and wisdom consists in behaving towards the Lord in the ways, as have just been described, that young children do towards their parents, yet with the good of love and faith as the motivation.

AC (Elliott) n. 6108 6108. Verses 13-26 And there was no bread in all the land, for the famine was extremely serious; and the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished from the presence of the famine. And Joseph gathered up all the silver found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, for the corn which they were buying; and Joseph caused the silver to come to Pharaoh’s house. And when the silver was used up in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all Egypt came to Joseph, saying, Give us bread; and why should we die near by you because the silver is lacking? And Joseph said, Give your livestock, and I will give you [bread] in exchange for your livestock, if the silver is lacking. And they caused their livestock to come to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for horses, and for livestock of the flock, and for livestock of the herd, and for asses; and he provided them with bread in exchange for all their livestock that year. And that year ended, and they came to him in the second year, and said to him, We will not hide from [my] lord, that since the silver has been used up and the livestock of the beasts has passed to [my] lord, nothing is left before [my] lord apart from our bodies and our ground. Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our ground? Buy us and our ground for bread, and we will live, and our ground, as Pharaoh’s slaves; and give us seed so that we may live and not die, and the ground may not become a waste. And Joseph bought all the ground of Egypt for Pharaoh, for the Egyptians sold, each one his field, because the famine overwhelmed them; and the land was Pharaoh’s. And the people, he transferred them to the cities from one end of the border of Egypt to the other end of it. Only the ground of the priests he did not buy, for the priests had a fixed portion from Pharaoh and ate their fixed portion which Pharaoh had given them; therefore they did not sell their ground. And Joseph said to the people, Behold, I have bought you today, and your ground, for Pharaoh; look, here is seed for you, and you may sow the ground. And so it will be at ingatherings,* that you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four portions shall be yours, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for those in your households, and for food for your young children. And they said, You have bestowed life on us; let us find favour in the eyes of [my] lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s slaves. And Joseph made it a statute even to this day regarding the ground of Egypt, that a fifth went to Pharaoh. Only the ground of the priests, theirs alone, did not belong to Pharaoh.

‘And there was no bread in all the land’ means that good was not apparent any longer. ‘For the famine was extremely serious’ means desolation. ‘And the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished from the presence of the famine’ means that this was so in the natural [where factual knowledge resides], and within the Church. ‘And Joseph gathered up all the silver’ means all factual knowledge that held truth in it and was appropriate. ‘Found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan’ means that was present in the natural and in the Church. ‘For the corn which they were buying’ means that they were to be sustained by this. ‘And Joseph caused the silver to come to Pharaoh’s house’ means that factual knowledge was brought into association with the general whole within the natural. ‘And when the silver was used up in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan’ means that factual knowledge that held truth in it and was appropriate could be seen no longer in the natural or within the Church on account of the desolation. ‘And all Egypt came to Joseph’ means a turning to the internal. ‘Saying, Give us bread’ means a plea for the sustainment of spiritual life. ‘And why should we die near by you because the silver is lacking?’ means that otherwise spiritual death takes place because of the lack of truth. ‘And Joseph said’ means the internal from which the response came. ‘Give your livestock, and I will give you [bread] in exchange for your livestock’ means that they were to offer forms of the good of truth and would be sustained. ‘If the silver is lacking’ means if truth could no longer be seen by them. ‘And they caused their livestock to come to Joseph’ means that forms of the good of truth were offered. ‘And Joseph gave them bread’ means the sustainment of spiritual life. ‘In exchange for horses’ means factual knowledge supplied from the understanding. ‘And for livestock of the flock and for livestock of the herd’ means forms of the good of truth, interior and exterior ones. ‘And for asses’ means things of a subservient nature. ‘And he provided them with bread in exchange for all their livestock’ means the sustainment by means of an influx of good from the internal. ‘That year’ means the period covered by that state. ‘And that year ended’ means the desolation that followed the period covered by this state. ‘And they came to him in the second year’ means the beginning of the next state. ‘And said to him, We will not hide from [my] lord’ means a perception that it is well known to the internal. ‘Since the silver has been used up’ means that truth can be seen no longer because of the desolation. ‘And the livestock of the beasts has passed to [my] lord’ means similarly the good of truth. ‘Nothing is left before [my] lord apart from our bodies and our ground’ means that the receptacles of goodness and truth have been made completely desolate. ‘Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our ground?’ means that if they have been made desolate there is no longer any spiritual life beneath the internal. ‘Buy us and our ground for bread’ means it should make both its own so that they may be sustained with good. ‘And we will live, and our ground, as Pharaoh’s slaves’ means total submission. ‘And give us seed’ means an influx, as a result of this, of the good of charity and the truth of faith. ‘So that we may live and not die’ means spiritual life from them, and the fear no longer of damnation. ‘And the ground may not become a waste’ means that the mind must be cultivated with the facts known to the Church. ‘And Joseph bought all the ground of Egypt for Pharaoh’ means that the internal made the entire natural mind where factual knowledge resides its own and placed it under its overall control. ‘And the Egyptians sold, each one his field’ means a renunciation and surrender of everything of service to the Church. ‘Because the famine overwhelmed them’ means because the desolation reached the point of despair. ‘And the land was Pharaoh’s’ means that all things were made subject to the natural, which was under the control of the internal. ‘And the people, he transferred them to the cities’ means that facts holding truths within them were assigned to different areas of doctrine. ‘From one end of the border of Egypt to the other end of it’ means a spread throughout the whole natural where factual knowledge resides. ‘Only the ground of the priests he did not buy’ means that the internal obtained for itself from the natural every capacity to receive good, because every such capacity came from itself. ‘For the priests had a fixed portion from Pharaoh’ means that this had (therefore] been decreed by the natural, which was under the control of the internal. ‘And ate their fixed portion which Pharaoh had given them’ means that they did not make any forms of good their own beyond what had been decreed. ‘Therefore they did not sell their ground’ means that for this reason they had no need to renounce those things or surrender them. ‘And Joseph said to the people’ means an influx of the internal into the facts that have truths within them. ‘Behold, I have bought you today, and your ground, for Pharaoh’ means that it had obtained those things for itself and had made them subject to the general whole in the natural, which was under the control of the internal. ‘Look, here is seed for you, and you may sow the ground’ means the good of charity and the truth of faith that are to be implanted. ‘And so it will be at ingatherings’ means the fruits from this. ‘That you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh’ means that remnants are to be assigned to the general whole, which is under the control of the internal. ‘And four portions shall be yours’ means those things which have not yet become remnants. ‘For seed of the field’ means for mental nourishment. ‘And for your food, and for those in your households’ means so that the good of truth may therefore be present within every single part. ‘And for food for your young children’ means in those things that are forms of innocence. ‘And they said, You have bestowed life on us’ means spiritual life, in no other way and from no other source. ‘Let us find favour in the eyes of [my] lord’ means a willingness to be made subject in this way, and self-abasement. ‘And we will be Pharaoh’s slaves’ means that they should renounce what is properly their own and become submissive to the natural, which is under the control of the internal. ‘And Joseph made it a statute’ means a conclusion based on consent. ‘Even to this day’ means lasting for ever. ‘Regarding the ground of Egypt, that a fifth went to Pharaoh’ means remnants, as previously. ‘Only the ground of the priests, theirs alone, did not belong to Pharaoh’ means every capacity to receive good came directly from the internal.
* lit. comings forth

AC (Elliott) n. 6109 6109. ‘And there was no bread in all the land’ means that good was not apparent any longer. This is clear from the meaning of ‘bread’ as the good of love and charity, dealt with just above in 6106; and from the meaning of ‘none in all the land’ as the fact that none was apparent any longer. The subject in what follows below is the internal celestial, how it brought everything in the natural into order beneath the general whole, to the end that factual knowledge might become joined to the Church’s truths, and through those truths to spiritual good, and through this good to the internal celestial. But since factual knowledge cannot be brought into order beneath the general whole except through stages when good is laid waste and truth is made desolate, and then by stages of sustainment, both the latter and the former stages are dealt with in the internal sense of what follows next. These things rarely happen to a person while he lives in the world, for a number of reasons; but in the next life they happen to all who are being regenerated. And since they do not happen to a person while he is in the world it is not surprising if they appear to him as things unknown and strike him as deep secrets about which no one has heard before.

AC (Elliott) n. 6110 6110. ‘For the famine was extremely serious’ means desolation. This is clear from the meaning of ‘famine’ as an absence of good and of cognitions, dealt with in 1460, 3364, 5277, 5279, 5281, 5300, 5579, 5893, so that ‘the famine was extremely serious’ is desolation, 5360, 5376, 5415, 5576. As regards desolation, it should be recognized that truths and forms of good, together with cognitions of them, compose the spiritual life of those who are in heaven. They are the celestial and spiritual foods that nourish them; and these foods are given them every day by the Lord. When it is morning with them forms of good are supplied, and when it is midday truths are supplied; but when evening comes they lack them, and continue to lack them until it is twilight and then morning again. Their yearning when they lack them remains so strong that their desire for them is greater than starving people’s desire for food on earth. This state is meant by ‘the famine’ and it is a kind of desolation, though not the kind experienced by those on the lower earth, 698, 699, 1106-1113.

[2] Scarcely anyone in the world can believe that the angelic heaven can have so great a yearning for truths and forms of good, and for cognitions of them. For people whose minds are set on nothing else than gain and glory, and who are given up to worldly pleasures, will be amazed to learn that those things constitute angelic life. ‘What use they will say ‘are cognitions of goodness and truth to me? What life can they give me? The things that bring me life and my life’s delight are wealth, position, and worldly pleasures!’ But let those who speak like this know that the life these things bring is that of the body, not that of the soul, and that the former kind of life perishes along with the body, whereas the latter kind remains for ever. Let them also know that people are ill-advised if while in the world they do not give any thought to spiritual life.

[3] Further as regards desolation, it exists on account of the yearning; for forms of good and truth are accepted in the measure that they are yearned for, and when the desires created by the yearning are fulfilled they produce feelings of happiness and bliss. In the next life therefore those who pass through desolation are refreshed immediately afterwards and realize their desires; everyone there is made more perfect by means of such alternating experiences. It is a fact worthy of note that the changing times of day in the natural world – morning, midday, evening, night, and morning again – are wholly representative of the changes that take place in the spiritual world, yet with one difference. The changes that occur in the spiritual world have an effect on the understanding and the will, establishing in them the basic elements of life, whereas the changes that occur in the world have an effect on and sustain things of the body.

[4] What is even more noteworthy is the fact that it is not the Lord who brings on the shades of evening and the darkness of night but those characteristics of angels, spirits, or men that are entirely their own. For the Lord as the Sun shines and flows in constantly; but because the evils
and falsities that spring from what is his own are present in a man, spirit, or angel, they turn and direct him away from the Lord. In so doing they bring him into the shades of evening, and lead the wicked into the darkness of night. It is similar to the way things are with the sun in our world. It shines and flows in constantly, but the earth by rotating on its axis turns away from the sun and brings itself into shade and darkness.

[5] These features of the natural world come about because the natural world comes into being from the spiritual world and is also kept in being from there, as a consequence of which the entire natural system is a theatre representative of the Lord’s kingdom, 3483, 4939. The purpose served by the changes that take place in the spiritual world is that all who are in heaven may constantly become more perfect. Such changes exist in the natural world for the same reason, for if they did not occur everything there would perish because of drought.

[6] It should be recognized however that in heaven there is no night, only evening, which is followed by the twilight that comes before morning; but in hell there is night. Changes take place there also, but they are of a contrary nature to those in heaven. In hell morning is the heat of evil desires, midday is the itch of false ideas, evening is anxiety, and night is torment. But through all these changes night predominates; merely variations of shade and darkness are what bring about those changes. In addition to this it should be recognized that in the spiritual world the changes which take place are not the same with one person as they are with another, also that the changes there do not divide into regular periods of time because they are variations of state that produce those changes. For instead of the periods of time that occur in the natural world there are states in the spiritual world, 1274, 1382, 2625, 2788, 2837, 3254, 3356, 4814, 4916, 4882, 4901.

AC (Elliott) n. 6111 6111. ‘And the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished from the presence of the famine’ means that this was so in the natural where factual knowledge resides, and within the Church. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the land of Egypt’ as the natural mind where factual knowledge resides, dealt with in 5276, 5278, 5280, 5288, 5701; from the meaning of ‘the land of Canaan’ as the Church, dealt with above in 6067; and from the meaning of ‘the famine’ as desolation, as immediately above in 6110. From these meanings it is evident that ‘the land of Egypt languished, and the land of Canaan, from the presence of the famine’ means that there is desolation in the natural where factual knowledge resides, and within the Church.

AC (Elliott) n. 6112 6112. ‘And Joseph gathered up all the silver’ means all factual knowledge that held truth in it and was appropriate. This is clear from the meaning of ‘gathering up’ as bringing together into a single whole; from the representation of ‘Joseph’ as the internal celestial, often dealt with already; and from the meaning of ‘silver’ as truth, dealt with in ‘551, 2954, 5658, but in this case factual knowledge that holds truth in it and is appropriate, for this silver existed, as stated in the words that immediately follow, in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan. All this shows that ‘Joseph gathered up all the silver’ means that the internal celestial brought together into a single whole all factual knowledge that held truth in it and that was appropriate. Factual knowledge is said to hold truth in it and to be appropriate when there are no illusions to darken it, for as long as these cannot be dispelled, factual knowledge is rendered inappropriate. The same is true of factual knowledge which has not become perverted through applications of it to falsities and to evils by others or by oneself, for once imprinted on factual knowledge such falsities and evils remain. Factual knowledge therefore which does not languish under these defects is factual knowledge that holds truth in it and is appropriate.

AC (Elliott) n. 6113 6113. ‘Found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan’ means that was present in the natural and in the Church. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the land of Egypt’ as the natural where factual knowledge resides, dealt with above in 6111; and from the meaning of ‘the land of Canaan’ as the Church, also dealt with above, in 6067. The word Church is used here to mean that which constitutes the Church in a person, for a person is a Church when goodness and truth are present in him; and groups of such people make up the Church in general.

AC (Elliott) n. 6114 6114. ‘For the corn which they were buying’ means that they were to be sustained by this. This is clear from the meaning of ‘corn’ as truth that the Church possesses, dealt with in 5402; and from the meaning of ‘buying’ as making one’s own, dealt with in 4797, 5374, 5397, 5406, 5410, 5426, and therefore being sustained. For spiritual food, meant by ‘corn’, is what is referred to here, and when this food is made a person’s own it sustains his spiritual life.

AC (Elliott) n. 6115 6115. ‘And Joseph caused the silver to come to Pharaoh’s house’ means that all that factual knowledge was brought into association with the general whole within the natural. This is clear from the meaning of ‘causing to come’ as bringing into association with and introducing into; from the meaning of ‘silver’ as factual knowledge that holds truth in it and is appropriate, dealt with in 6112; and from the representation of ‘Pharaoh’ as the natural in general, dealt with in 5160, 5799, 6015, and therefore ‘Pharaoh’s house’ is the general whole within the natural since this includes everything there in its entirety.

[2] Regarding this matter of bringing known facts that hold truths in them and that are appropriate into association with a general whole, it should be recognized that all known facts, and truths as well, if they are to be anything, must without exception be brought into association with a general whole. They must be placed with and contained within the general whole and be made subject to it; otherwise they are instantly scattered to the winds. Indeed, if known facts and truths are to be anything, they must be brought into a form in which they have a mutual relationship with one another, and this cannot be done if they do not exist in association with one another subject to a general whole. This therefore is what preserves them in the form they receive and gives each fact or truth there its specific character. That general whole too, together with others like it, must be brought into association with one another subject to a more general whole, and these in turn must be subject to the most general of all. If they are not, even the general wholes, and the more general ones too, are scattered to the winds.

[3] The most general and all-embracing whole, the source from which everything is held in place, is the Lord Himself; and what holds everything in place is Divine Truth going forth from Him. The more general wholes are general communities in the spiritual world into which Divine Truth flows, which makes them distinct and separate from one another on a general level; and the general wholes are less general communities subject to a more general one. The more general communities are those to which the members, organs, and viscera in a person correspond; through the amazing way that they are linked together they exist in a kind of form in which they have regard to one another and thus hold one another in place, and also present themselves as a single whole. In the human being the most general and all-embracing whole, holding every single thing in place, is the soul. It is also Divine Truth going forth from the Lord, for Divine Truth flows constantly into the soul and makes it what it is.

[4] Divine Truth going forth from the Lord is what is called the Word, through which all things were created, John 1:1-3, that is, through which all things came into being, and therefore through which all things are kept in being. The truth that all things in the entire natural world exist subject to a general whole, each specific thing to its own general whole, and that otherwise they cannot remain in being, anyone will plainly discover who is willing to turn his attention to those things in the natural creation.

AC (Elliott) n. 6116 6116. ‘And when the silver had been used up in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan’ means that factual knowledge that held truth in it and was appropriate could be seen no longer in the natural or within the Church on account of the desolation. This is clear from the meaning of ‘being used up’ as being seen no longer; from the meaning of ‘silver’ as factual knowledge that holds truth in it and is appropriate, dealt with above in 6112; from the meaning of ‘the land of Egypt’ as the natural where factual knowledge resides, dealt with above in 6111; and from the meaning of ‘the land of Canaan’ as the Church, also dealt with above, in 6067. The fact that it was on account of the desolation is evident from what has gone before, see 6110.

AC (Elliott) n. 6117 6117. ‘And all Egypt came to Joseph’ means a turning to the internal. This is clear from the meaning of ‘coming to him’ as turning to; from the meaning of ‘Egypt’ as factual knowledge, dealt with already; and from the representation of ‘Joseph’ as the internal, also dealt with already. The consideration that all factual knowledge in the natural was subject to the control of the internal is meant by Joseph’s being master over the whole land of Egypt. But the joining of the Church’s truths to known facts in the natural is what the internal sense is describing here.

AC (Elliott) n. 6118 6118. ‘Saying, Give us bread’ means a plea for the sustainment of spiritual life. This is clear from the meaning of ‘giving’, when it has reference to ‘bread’, as sustaining; and from the meaning of ‘bread’ as spiritual life. In a specific sense ‘bread’ means the good of love and charity; but in a general sense it means spiritual life, for in this case bread is used to mean all food, as shown in 2165. When used to mean all food in general, it is spiritual life; for in the spiritual sense food in general is all the good of love and all the truth of faith. These two are what compose spiritual life.

AC (Elliott) n. 6119 6119. ‘And why should we die near by you because the silver is lacking?’ means that otherwise spiritual death takes place because of the lack of truth. This is clear from the meaning of ‘dying’ as spiritual death, dealt with below; and from the meaning of ‘the silver lacking’ as a lack of truth – ‘silver’ being factual knowledge that holds truth in it and is appropriate, see 6112. What is implied by the notion that spiritual death takes place when there is a lack of truth is that spiritual life consists in deeds carried out in accordance with truths, consequently in useful services. For people endowed with spiritual life possess a yearning and desire for truths with life in view – that is, their end in view is to lead a life according to those truths – thus with useful services in view. Therefore the extent to which they can absorb truths, in accordance with which useful services are to be rendered, determines how much spiritual life they possess, because it determines how much of the light of intelligence and wisdom they possess. When truths are lacking therefore, as happens when a state of shade arrives – a state meant in the Word by ‘evening’, 6110 – spiritual life languishes. It languishes because things such as belong to the state of shade, that is, to spiritual death, enter in. When this happens people cannot be kept in the light in which they were before but are returned in part to a state of selfhood. As a consequence there emerges from the shade an image of spiritual death, that is, of damnation.

[2] It is clear from very many places in the Word that ‘death’ means spiritual death, or damnation; but let simply the following be quoted here: In Isaiah,

With righteousness He will judge the poor, and will reprove with uprightness the wretched of the earth. On the other hand He will smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath* of His lips He will make the wicked die. Isa. 11:4.

This refers to the Lord. ‘The rod of His mouth’ and ‘the breath of His lips stand for Divine Truth, the source of judgement. ‘Dying’ stands for suffering damnation. In the same prophet, He Will swallow up death for ever, and the Lord Jehovih will wipe away tears from upon all faces. Isa. 15:8.

In the same prophet,

The dead will not live, the Rephaim will not rise. To that end You have visited them, You have wiped them out. Isa. 16:14.

In the same prophet,

Your dead will live, my corpse will rise again. Isa. 26:19.

In the same prophet,

You have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell we have shaped a vision. Your covenant with death will be annulled, and your vision with hell will not stand. Isa. 28:15, 18.

[3] In Jeremiah,

You look for light, but He will turn it into the shadow of death, He will place it in thick darkness. Jer. 13:16.

In Ezekiel,

You have desecrated Me among My people for handfuls of barley and for crusts of bread, to slay souls that ought not to die and to bestow life on souls that ought not to live. Ezek. 13:19, 22.

In Hosea,

Out of the hand of hell I will redeem them, from death I will deliver them. I will be your plagues, O death; I will be your destruction, O hell! Hosea 13:14.

In David,

You lift me up from the gates of death. Ps. 9:13.

In the same author,

Lighten my eyes, lest perhaps I sleep [the sleep of] death. Ps. 13:3.

In the same author,

The cords of death encompassed me, and the cords of hell. Ps. 18:4, 5.

In the same author,

Like sheep they will be placed in hell, death will feed them. Ps. 49:14.

In John,

I have the keys of hell and of death. Rev. 1:18.

In the same book,

He who overcomes will not suffer harm in the second death. Rev. 1:11.

[4] In the same book,

I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive; but you are dead. Be watchful, and strengthen what remains, which is at the point of death. Rev. 3:1, 2.

In Matthew,

The people sitting in darkness have seen a great light; and for those sitting in the region and shadow of death, the light has arisen. Matt. 4:16.

In John,

He who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me will have eternal life, and will not come into judgement, but has passed from death to life. John 5:24.

In the same gospel,

I am going away and you will seek Me, but you will die in your sin. I have said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins. If anyone keeps My word he will not ever see death. John 8:21, 14, 51, 52.

Because ‘death’ meant damnation those who belonged to the representative Church were forbidden to touch the dead. If they did touch them they were unclean and had to be cleansed, Ezek. 44:25; Lev. 15:71; 21:2, 3; 22:8; Num. 6:6-12; 19:11-end.
* or the spirit

AC (Elliott) n. 6120 6120. ‘And Joseph said’ means the internal from which the response came. This is clear from the representation of ‘Joseph’ as the internal, dealt with already. The fact that it is a response is self-evident.

AC (Elliott) n. 6121 6121. ‘Give your livestock, and I will give you [bread] in exchange for your livestock’ means that they were to offer forms of the good of truth and would be sustained. This is clear from the meaning of ‘livestock’ as forms of the good of truth, dealt with in 6016, 6045; and from the meaning of ‘giving in exchange for them’ – giving them bread – as the sustaining of spiritual life, dealt with above in 6118.

AC (Elliott) n. 6122 6122. ‘If the silver is lacking’ means if truth could no longer be seen by them. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the silver lacking’ as a lack of truth, thus that truth is no longer to be seen, dealt with above in 6116, 6119. Truth is said not to be seen because in a state of desolation truth seems to have fled. But it is in fact present, for all truth and good that the Lord ever grants man, spirit, or angel remains. None is ever taken away from them, but in a state of desolation they become so obscured by the person’s selfhood that they cannot be seen. Once a state of light returns however, they are made present and to be seen. This shows what is meant by truth’s inability to be seen.

AC (Elliott) n. 6123 6123. ‘And they caused their livestock to come to Joseph’ means that forms of the good of truth were offered. This is clear from the meaning of ‘causing to come’ as being offered; and from the meaning of ‘livestock’ as forms of the good of truth, dealt with in 6016, 6045.

AC (Elliott) n. 6124 6124. ‘And Joseph gave them bread’ means the sustainment of spiritual life. This is clear from the meaning of ‘giving bread’ as the sustainment of spiritual life, dealt with above in 6118.

AC (Elliott) n. 6125 6125. ‘In exchange for horses’ means factual knowledge supplied from the understanding. This is clear from the meaning of ‘horses’ as ideas forming the understanding, dealt with in 2760-2762, 3217, 5321; and since they are spoken of in connection with Egypt, which means factual knowledge, ‘horses’ here are factual knowledge supplied from the understanding. But what factual knowledge supplied from the understanding is must be stated. There is an understanding part and there is a will part in the human mind, and these are situated not only in his internal man but also in his external. The human understanding is developing and growing from early childhood through to manhood, and it consists in a discernment of things gained from experience and formal knowledge, also a discernment of causes from effects as well as of consequences from a chain of causes. Thus the understanding part consists in a comprehension and perception of such things as are part of everyday life, public and private. An inflowing of light from heaven brings it into existence, and for that reason everyone’s understanding is capable of being made more perfect. Understanding is given to everyone in accordance with his effort to make use of what he knows, in accordance with the life he leads, and in accordance with his individual character; no one lacks it provided he is of sound mind. A person is given it to the end that he may have freedom of choice, that is, have the freedom to choose good or evil. Unless he possesses an understanding like the one just described, he has no power of his own to make that choice; thus nothing could possibly be made his own.

[2] In addition to this it should be recognized that the understanding part of a person’s mind is that which receives what is spiritual, so that it is the recipient of spiritual truth and good. For no good at all, that is, no charity, nor any truth at all, that is, any faith, can be instilled into anyone if he does not have that understanding part; but they are instilled in the measure that he does have it. This also explains why a person is not regenerated by the Lord until adult life when he does possess an understanding. Till then the good of love and the truth of faith fall like seed into utterly infertile soil. But once a person has been regenerated his understanding serves the function of enabling him to see and perceive what good is and from this what truth is. For the understanding converts things belonging to the superior light of heaven into those belonging to the inferior light of the natural world, as a consequence of which the former are then seen within the latter in the same way as a person’s inner affections are seen in his face when it lacks all pretence. And because the understanding serves that function, many places in the Word where the spiritual side of the Church is referred to refer also to its power of understanding, a matter which will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be dealt with elsewhere.

[3] From all this one may now see what is meant by factual knowledge supplied from the understanding, namely known facts which lend support to the things a person grasps and perceives with his understanding, whether those things are bad or good. Such facts are what are meant in the Word by ‘horses from Egypt’, as in Isaiah,

Woe to those who go down into Egypt for help, and rely on horses and trust in chariots because they are many, and on horsemen because they are extremely strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel and do not seek Jehovah. For Egypt is man (homo), not God; and his horses are flesh, not spirit. Isa. 31:1, 3.

‘Horses from Egypt’ stands for factual knowledge supplied from a perverted understanding.

[4] In Ezekiel,

He rebelled against him by sending his ambassadors to Egypt, that ha might give him horses and many people. Will he prosper? Will he who does this be rescued? Ezek. 17:15.

‘Horses from Egypt’ again stands for factual knowledge supplied from a perverted understanding, which knowledge is resorted to in matters of faith, though there is no belief in the Word, that is, in the Lord, apart from what that knowledge provides. Thus no belief ever comes to exist, for within a perverted understanding a negative attitude reigns.

[5] The destruction which such factual knowledge underwent is represented by the drowning of Pharaoh’s horses and chariots in the Sea Suph; and since that knowledge is meant by ‘horses’ and false matters of doctrine by ‘chariots’, his horses and chariots are mentioned so many times in the description of that event, see Exod. 14:17, 18, 27, 26, 28. And the Song of Moses and Miriam consequently contains these words,

Pharaoh’s horse went, also his chariot, also his horsemen, into the sea; but Jehovah made the waters of the sea come back over them. Sing to Jehovah, for He has highly exalted Himself; He has thrown the horse and its rider into the sea. Exod. 15:19, 21.

[6] Similar factual knowledge is also meant by the things required before-hand for a king over Israel, in Moses,

If they desire a king, from among their brothers shall a king be set over them. Only let him not multiply horses for himself nor lead the people back into Egypt in order to multiply horses. Deut. 17:15, 16.

‘A king’ represented the Lord as regards Divine Truth, 1672, 1728, 2015, 2069, 3009, 3670, 4575, 4581, 4789, 4966, 5044, 5068, thus as regards intelligence since this comes, when it is genuine, from Divine Truth. The need for intelligence to be acquired through the Word, which is Divine Truth, and not through factual knowledge taken from one’s own understanding is meant by the injunction that the king should not multiply horses or lead the people back into Egypt in order to multiply horses.

AC (Elliott) n. 6126 6126. ‘And for the livestock of the flock and for the livestock of the herd’ means forms of the good of truth, interior and exterior ones. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the flock’ as interior forms of good, and from the meaning of ‘the herd’ as exterior forms, both dealt with in 5913. And since forms of the good of truth are meant, the expression ‘the livestock of the flock and the livestock of the herd’ is used, ‘livestock’ being the good of truth, 6016, 6045, 6049.

AC (Elliott) n. 6127 6127. ‘And for asses’ means things of a subservient nature. This is clear from the meaning of ‘asses’ as things of a subservient nature, dealt with in 5958, 5959.

AC (Elliott) n. 6128 6128. ‘And he provided them with bread in exchange for [all] their livestock’ means the sustainment by means of an influx of good from the internal. This is clear from the meaning of ‘providing with bread’, or giving them bread, as the sustainment of spiritual life, dealt with above in 6118; from the meaning of ‘livestock’ as the good of truth, dealt with just above in 6126; and from the representation of ‘Joseph’ who provided them with it, as the internal, dealt with already. From this it follows that what is supplied comes through an influx of good from the internal, for the reason that the entire sustainment of spiritual life in the natural is effected by an influx from the internal, that is, from the Lord through the internal.

[2] Since the word ‘influx’ is used so frequently, and yet few perhaps know what it means, something therefore needs to be said about it. What influx is may become evident by comparing it with the kinds of things in the natural world that inflow. It may become evident for example from the flow of heat from the sun into all earthly objects, which gives rise to plant-life, and from the flow of light into the same objects, which assists plant-life and thereby in addition produces different colours and beautiful sights. What influx is evident in a similar way from the flow of heat into the surface-area of our bodies, and also of light into the eye. It is likewise evident from the flow of sound into the ear; and so on. These comparisons enable one to understand what the influx of life from the Lord is; the Lord is the Sun of heaven, the Source of [spiritual] heat, which is love, and of spiritual light, which is faith. One can also plainly feel the actual inflow, for heavenly heat, which is love, produces the vital heat that exists in a person, while heavenly light, which is faith, produces the light of understanding that exists in him. Yet such heat and light vary according to the different ways they are received.

AC (Elliott) n. 6129 6129. ‘That year’ means the period covered by that state. This is clear from the meaning of ‘year’ as a whole period from start to finish, dealt within 2906.

AC (Elliott) n. 6130 6130. ‘And that year ended’ means the desolation that followed the period covered by this state. This is clear from the meaning of ‘that year ended’ as that which followed the period covered by this state – ‘year being the period covered by an entire state, see immediately above in 6129. The fact that desolation followed that period is evident from the details that come next.

AC (Elliott) n. 6131 6131. ‘And they came to him in the second year’ means the beginning of the next state. This is clear from what comes before this, thus without any further explanation.

AC (Elliott) n. 6132 6132. ‘And said to him, We will not hide from [my] lord’ means that it is well known to the internal. This is clear from the meaning of ‘saying’ as perception, dealt with above in 6063; from the representation of Joseph, to whom ‘lord’ refers here, as the internal, dealt with already; and from the meaning of ‘not concealing from him’ as being well known. The reason why ‘not concealing’ in the internal sense means being well known is that everything that exists and happens in the natural is well known to the internal; for the natural derives all that it is from the internal, from which therefore nothing can be hidden. Yet even so, the external sense, especially where it is historical, uses the kind of words that appear here. It is like when the Lord speaks to a person He first asks him about what is going on even though it is fully known to Him, as when the angel of Jehovah spoke to Hagar, Gen. 16:7, 8; to Abraham, Gen. 18:9; and to Moses, Exod. 4:2. Nor can the external otherwise be content, for unless it declares something it does not think it can be known.

AC (Elliott) n. 6133 6133. ‘Since the silver has been used up’ means that truth can be seen no longer because of the desolation. This is clear from what is stated above in 6116, where similar words occur.

AC (Elliott) n. 6134 6134. ‘And the livestock of the beasts has passed to [my] lord’ means similarly the good of truth. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the livestock of the beasts’, that is, the livestock of the flock and of the herd, as the good of truth, interior and exterior, dealt with above in 6126. The fact that the good of truth similarly can be seen no longer because of the desolation is evident from what has been stated about ‘the silver’ immediately above in 6133.

AC (Elliott) n. 6135 6135. ‘Nothing is left before [my] lord apart from our bodies and our ground’ means that the receptacles of goodness and truth have been made completely desolate. This is clear from the meaning of body’ as the receptacle of good, dealt with below; and from the meaning of ground’ as the receptacle of truth. The reason why ‘ground’ is the receptacle of truth is that it receives seeds, and seeds sown in it mean in a specific sense matters of faith derived from charity, thus of truth derived from good, 1025, 1447, 1610, 1940, 2848, 3038, 3310, 3373; consequently ‘the ground’ means the receptacle of truth. See also what has been stated and shown previously regarding the ground in 566, 1068, 3671. The fact that such receptacles have been made desolate is meant by ‘nothing is left before [my] lord apart from’.

[2] In the genuine sense ‘body’ means the good of love and ‘ground’ the truth of faith. When truths and forms of the good of truth, meant by ‘the silver’ and ‘the livestock’, can be seen no longer on account of the desolation, ‘body’ means merely the receptacle for good and ‘ground’ the receptacle for truth. The reason why ‘body’ in the genuine sense means the good of love is that the body or the entire person meant by the body is a receptacle of life from the Lord, thus a receptacle of good; for the good of love composes the actual life in a person. The vital heat that consists in love is vital heat itself; and unless that heat exists in a person, the person is something dead. This then is the reason why in the internal sense ‘body’ means the good of love. Even if a person does not have heavenly love present in him but hellish love, the inmost centre of his life still owes its existence to heavenly love. For this love flows in constantly from the Lord and provides him with vital heat in its primary and original form; but as it comes to that person it is perverted by him, and this gives rise to hellish love, from which an unclean heat is radiated.

[3] I have been able to see quite clearly from the angels that ‘body’ in the genuine sense is the good of love. When they are present, love floods out of them, so much so that you think they are nothing but love; it floods out of their entire bodies. Also their bodies have a dazzling appearance, full of light shining from them; for the good of love is like a flame sending out from itself light, which is the truth of faith derived from that good. If this therefore is what the angels of heaven are like, what of the Lord Himself? He is the Source of every spark of love among the angels, and His Divine Love is seen as the Sun from which the whole of heaven receives its light, and from which all who are there derive their heavenly heat, that is, their love and so their life. The Lord’s Divine Human is what appears in that way and is the Source of all those things. From this one may now see what is meant by the Lord’s body – Divine Love, the same as is meant by His flesh, dealt with in 3813. Also, the Lord’s very body – having been glorified, that is, made Divine – is nothing else than such Love; so what else can one feel the Divine, which is the Infinite, to be?

[4] From all this one may recognize that nothing else is meant by ‘body’ in the Holy Supper than the Lord’s Divine Love towards the entire human race, described in the Gospels as follows,

Jesus, taking the bread and saying a blessing, broke and gave to the disciples and said, Take, eat, this is My body. Matt. 26:26; Mark 14:22; Luke 22:19.

He said, referring to the bread, ‘this is My body’ because ‘bread’ too means Divine Love, 276, 680, 2165, 2177, 3464, 3478, 3735, 4735, 5915.

[5] Divine Love is again meant by the Lord’s body in John,

Jesus said, Destroy [this] temple and in three days I will raise it up again. But He was speaking of the temple of His body. John 2:19, 21.

‘The temple of His body’ is Divine Truth derived from Divine Good, for ‘the temple’ is the Lord’s Divine Truth, see 3720. And since ‘body’ in the highest sense is the Divine Good of the Lord’s Divine Love, all in heaven are said to be in the Lord’s body.

[6] That the Lord’s body is Divine Good is also clear from the following words in Daniel,

I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, a man clothed in linen whose loins were girded with gold of Uphaz, and his body was like tarshish,* and his face was like the appearance of lightning, and his eyes were like fiery torches, and his arms and his feet like the shine of burnished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude. Dan. 10:5, 6.

‘The gold of Uphaz’ with which the man’s loins were girded, ‘the appearance of lightning’ that his face had, ‘the fiery torches’ descriptive of his eyes, and ‘the shine of bronze’ descriptive of his arms and feet mean aspects of the good of love. ‘Gold is the good of love, see 113, 1551, 1552, 5658, as also is ‘fire’, 934, 4906, 5215; and since ‘fire’ has that meaning, so does ‘lightning’. ‘Bronze’ is the good of love and charity in the natural, 425, 1551; ‘tarshish’ which the rest of his body looked like, that is to say, which his trunk between head and loins looked like, means the good of charity and faith; for tarshish is a sparkling and precious stone.
* A Hebrew word for a particular kind of precious stone, possibly a beryl.

AC (Elliott) n. 6136 6136. ‘Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our ground?’ means that if they have been made desolate, there is no longer any spiritual life beneath the internal. This is clear from the meaning of ‘before your eyes’ as beneath the internal, for ‘Joseph’, to whom these words are addressed, represents the internal; and from the meaning of ‘both we and our ground’ as the receptacles of goodness and truth, as immediately above in 6135, and so the receptacles of spiritual life. Those receptacles are said ‘to die’ when they do not have any spiritual life at all within them; for ‘to die’ means desolation, that is, the deprivation of goodness and truth, the components of spiritual life.

AC (Elliott) n. 6137 6137. ‘Buy us and our ground for bread’ means that it should make both its own so that they may be sustained with good. This is clear from the meaning of ‘buying’ as making one’s own, 4397, 5374, 5397, 5406, 5410, 5426; from the meaning of ‘us and our ground’ as the receptacles of goodness and truth, as above in 6135, 6136, thus both these, and from the meaning of ‘for bread’ as sustainment by good. The reason ‘bread’ is the good both of love and of faith is that the word ‘bread’ is also used to mean all food in general, 6118.

AC (Elliott) n. 6138 6138. ‘And we will live, and our ground, as Pharaoh’s slaves’ means total submission. This is clear from the meaning of ‘us and our ground’ as the receptacles of goodness and truth, as immediately above in 6135-6137; and from the meaning of ‘slaves’ as existing without any freedom of one’s own, dealt with in 5760, 5763, thus total submission. By receptacles are meant human forms themselves. For human beings are nothing else than forms receiving life from the Lord; yet the nature of those forms is such, owing to people’s heredity and their own actions, that they refuse spiritual life coming from the Lord. But once those receptacles have been renounced so completely that they no longer claim any freedom of their own, there is total submission. The person who is being regenerated is brought at length, through the repeated experiences of desolation and sustainment, to a point at which he no longer wishes to be his own man but the Lord’s. And once he has become the Lord’s he passes into a state in which, if left to himself, he is dejected and gripped by anxiety. But when he is brought out of that state he returns to the bliss and happiness that are his, to the kind of state all the angels experience.

[2] The Lord desires any person’s total submission so that He can make him blissful and happy. That is, He does not want him to be partly his own man and partly the Lord’s, for then there are two masters whom a person cannot serve simultaneously, Matt. 6:24. Total submission is again meant by the Lord’s words in Matthew,

Whoever loves father or mother above Me is not worthy of Me; and whoever loves son or daughter above Me is not worthy of Me. Matt. 10:37.

‘Father or mother’ in general means those aspects of a person essentially his own by virtue of his heredity, and ‘son or daughter’ those essentially his own by virtue of his own actions. What is essentially a person’s own is also meant by his ‘soul’ in John,

He who loves his soul will lose it, and he who hates his soul in this world will keep it into eternal life. If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. John 11:25, 26.

Total submission is also meant by the Lord’s words in Matthew,

Another disciple said, Lord, let me first go away and bury my father. But Jesus said to him, Follow Me, and leave the dead to bury their dead. Matt. 8:21, 22.

[3] The need for total submission is perfectly clear from the Church’s first commandment,

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. Mark 12:30.

Thus since love to the Lord does not come from man but from the Lord Himself, all his heart, all his soul, all his mind, and all his strength, which are recipients, must be the Lord’s; they must therefore be submitted totally to Him. Such a submission is what is meant by ‘we will live, and our ground, as Pharaoh’s slaves’; for ‘Pharaoh’ represents the natural in general, which is subject to the control of the internal celestial, in the highest sense to the control of the Lord, who is ‘Joseph’ in that highest sense.

AC (Elliott) n. 6139 6139. ‘And give us seed’ means an influx, as a result of this, of the good of charity and the truth of faith. This is clear from the meaning of ‘seed’ as the good of charity and the truth of faith, dealt with in 1025, 1447, 1610, 1940, 2848, 3078, 3310, 3373. It is self-evident that ‘giving’ them means an influx, for they enter a person by flowing in from the Lord.

AC (Elliott) n. 6140 6140. ‘So that we may live and not die’ means spiritual life received from them, and the fear no longer of damnation. This is clear from the meaning of ‘living’ as spiritual life, dealt with in 5890; and from the meaning of ‘dying’ as damnation, dealt with in 6119, in this case the fear of damnation because their state is one of desolation. When a person is being regenerated damnation is not present, but the fear of damnation is.

AC (Elliott) n. 6141 6141. ‘And the ground may not become a waste’ means that the mind must be cultivated with facts known to the Church. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the ground’ as the receptacle of truth, as above in 6135-6137, the actual receptacle being the mind, in this instance the natural mind since it is the ground of Egypt; and from the meaning of ‘being laid waste’ as a situation in which there is no truth to be seen, at this point no facts known to the Church, for ‘the Egyptians’ means the facts known to the Church, 4749, 4964, 4966, 6004, which are also the truths present in the natural. ‘The land of Egypt’ means the natural mind where factual knowledge resides, see 5276, 5278, 5280, 5288, 5701, and therefore ‘the ground of Egypt’ means that mind specifically. This now explains why ‘the ground may not become a waste’ means that the mind must be cultivated with facts [known to the Church].

AC (Elliott) n. 6142 6142. ‘And Joseph bought all the ground of Egypt for Pharaoh’ means that [the internal] made the entire natural mind where factual knowledge resides its own and placed it under its overall control. This is clear from the representation of ‘Joseph’ as the internal, dealt with often; from the meaning of ‘buying’ as making one’s own, dealt with in 4397, 5374, 5797, 5406, 5410, 5426; from the meaning of ‘the ground of Egypt’ as the natural mind where factual knowledge resides, dealt with immediately above in 6141; and from the representation of ‘Pharaoh’ as the natural in general, dealt with in 5160, 5799, 6015. Thus the acquisition of that ground for Pharaoh means placing under an overall control in the natural.

AC (Elliott) n. 6143 6143. ‘And the Egyptians sold, each one his field’ means a renunciation and surrender of everything of service to the Church. This is clear from the meaning of ‘selling’ as alienating so that it no longer belongs to that person, dealt with in 4098, 4751, 4758, 5886, thus renouncing and surrendering; and from the meaning of ‘field’ as doctrine taught by the Church, and in a general sense the Church itself, dealt with in 368, 2971, 3310, 3766. From this it is evident that ‘the Egyptians sold, each one his field’ means a renunciation and surrender of everything of service to the Church.

AC (Elliott) n. 6144 6144. ‘Because the famine overwhelmed them’ means because the desolation reached the point of despair. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the famine’ as desolation so far as things of the Church are concerned, dealt with in 5415, 5576. When it is said to ‘overwhelm’ them, it is despair, as in 5279, for the final stage of desolation is despair. Despair is the final stage of desolation and temptation, 5279, 5280, for a number of reasons, of which let only the following be advanced here: Through despair people are led in an effective and perceptible way to acknowledge that nothing true or good comes from themselves, and to acknowledge that what is their own has caused them to be damned but that with the Lord’s aid they are delivered from damnation, with salvation entering in through what is true and good. Despair also exists to the end that life’s bliss which the Lord imparts may be felt; for when people come out of that state of despair they are like those who have been condemned to death but then freed from prison. Periods of desolation and temptation also serve as the means by which people gain an insight into states contrary to heavenly life and from them are given a perception and insight into the bliss and happiness of heavenly life. For a perception and insight into bliss and happiness come in no other way than from a contrast with their opposites. Therefore so that they can have the one fully demonstrated as against the other, periods of desolation and temptation are protracted to the utmost, that is, to the point of despair.

AC (Elliott) n. 6145 6145. ‘And the land was Pharaoh’s’ means that all things were made subject to the natural, which was under the control of the internal. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the land was his’ as the making its own of all things, meant by ‘the land’, and the subjection of them to itself; and from the representation of ‘Pharaoh’ as the natural in general, dealt with in 5160, 5799, 6015, into which factual knowledge, meant by ‘Egypt’, was gathered, 6115. The reason this was under the control of the internal is that the entire natural, both in general and in every part, was under it. Being under the control of the internal is meant by Joseph’s being lord over all the land of Egypt, and also by his having been placed in charge over Pharaoh’s house, Gen. 41:40-43; also Chapter 45 where it says,

Joseph said to his brothers, God has established me as father to Pharaoh, and lord for all his house; and I have dominion in all the land of Egypt. Gen. 45:8.

This now explains why it is said of the natural that it was under the control of the internal.

AC (Elliott) n. 6146 6146. ‘And the people, he transferred them to the cities’ means that facts holding truths within them were assigned to different areas of doctrine. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the people’ as truths, dealt with in 1259, 1160, 3295, 3581, at this point facts holding truths within them since the people of Egypt are referred to; and from the meaning of ‘the cities’ as areas of doctrine, dealt with in 402, 2449, 3216, 4492, 4497. Consequently ‘transferring the people to the cities’ means assigning facts that hold truths within them to different areas of doctrine. This follows from what has gone before – from the description that truths were assigned to a general whole within the natural, 6715. For matters of doctrine are general wholes to which truths are assigned. The teaching of the Church divides up under its own headings, and each heading forms a general whole in the Church. From this one may also see that the transfer of the people by Joseph to the cities was carried out so that the relating of truths to general wholes, and so to different areas of doctrine, might be represented.

AC (Elliott) n. 6147 6147. ‘From one end of the border of Egypt to the other end of it’ means a spread throughout the whole natural where factual knowledge resides. This is clear from the meaning of ‘from one end of the border to the other end of it’ as a spread throughout the whole; and from the meaning of ‘Egypt’ as factual knowledge in the natural, often dealt with already, consequently the natural where factual knowledge resides. For the natural is the container, factual knowledge its contents; therefore ‘Egypt’ means both container and contents, that is, both the natural and factual knowledge. For the same reason ‘Pharaoh king of Egypt’ means the natural in general, 5160, 5799, and also factual knowledge in general, 6015, while ‘the land of Egypt’ means the natural mind, 5276, 5278, 5280, 5288, 5301.

AC (Elliott) n. 6148 6148. ‘Only the ground of the priests he did not buy’ means that the internal obtained for itself from the natural every capacity to receive good, because every such capacity came from itself. This is clear from the representation of ‘Joseph’, about whom these things are said, as the internal, dealt with already; from the meaning of ‘the ground’ as the receptacle of truth, dealt with above in 6135-6137, at this point the capacity to receive good, for the capacity of something is its inherent ability to receive, which causes a receptacle to be a receptacle (that capacity comes from good, that is, from the Lord through good, for if the good of love did not flow in from the Lord no one would ever have the capacity to receive truth or good. That inflow of the good of love from the Lord causes everything present inwardly in a person to be of a receptive nature. The truth that the capacity to receive good comes from the natural is meant by the fact that the ground lay in Egypt, since ‘Egypt’ means the natural in respect of factual knowledge, 6142); from the meaning of ‘the priests’ as good, dealt with below; and from the meaning of ‘not buying’ as not taking those capacities to itself – not in the way that it made truths and forms of the good of truth, together with their receptacles, its own, which came about through periods of desolation and sustainment – for the reason that those capacities came from itself, from the internal. All these meanings serve to show that ‘only the ground of the priests he did not buy’ means that the internal obtained for itself from the natural every capacity to receive good, because every such capacity came from itself.

[2] The implications of all this are that a person’s capacities to receive truth and good come directly from the Lord; he obtains them without any help at all from himself. A person’s capacity to receive goodness and truth is maintained in him unceasingly; and from that capacity he possesses understanding and will. But a person does not receive them if he turns to evil. The capacity to receive does, it is true, remain, but its access to thought and sensitivity is blocked, on account of which his capacity to see what is true and have a sensitive awareness of what is good perishes. And it perishes to the extent that he turns to evil and in faith and life becomes firmly settled in it. The fact that a person contributes nothing whatever to his capacity to receive truth and good is well known from the Church’s teaching that nothing at all of the truth of faith and nothing at all of the good of charity comes from man but from the Lord. Yet a person can destroy that capacity residing with him. From all this one may now see how one should understand the idea that the internal obtained for itself from the natural every capacity to receive good, because every such capacity came from itself. The expression ‘from the natural’ is used because the inflow of good from the Lord is effected by the Lord through the internal into the natural; and once the capacity to receive has been obtained from there, the inflow takes place, for now there is reception, see 5828.

[3] So far as the meaning of ‘the priests’ as forms of good is concerned, it should be recognized that there are two realities which go forth from the Lord – goodness and truth. Divine Good was represented by priests, and Divine Truth by kings; and this is why ‘the priests’ means forms of good and ‘the kings’ truths. Regarding the attribution of Priesthood and Kingship to the Lord, see 1728, 2015 (end), 3670. In the representative Ancient Church those two offices of priest and king existed jointly in one personage, the reason for this being that goodness and truth which go forth from the Lord are united; and they are also joined together in heaven among the angels.

[4] A personage in the Ancient Church in whom the two offices existed joined together was called Melchizedek, a name meaning king of righteousness. This may be seen from the following statement about Melchizedek who came to Abraham,*

Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; and he was a priest to God Most High. And he blessed Abraham. Gen. 14:18, 19.

His representation of the Lord in both offices is evident from the fact that he was a king and at the same time a priest, and from the fact that he was allowed to bless Abraham and offer him bread and wine, which even at that time were the symbols of the good of love and the truth of faith. His representation of the Lord in both offices is further evident in David,

Jehovah has sworn and will not repent, You are a priest for ever after the manner of Melchizedek. Ps. 110:4.

These words were spoken in reference to the Lord. ‘After the manner of Melchizedek’ means that He is both King and Priest, that is, in the highest sense that Divine Good and Divine Truth go forth together from Him.

[5] Because a representative Church was going to be established also among the descendants of Jacob, they too were to have a single personage to represent jointly Divine Good and Divine Truth, which go forth from the Lord united. But on account of the wars and the idolatry of that people the two were in fact divided right from the start; those who ruled over the attended to sacred duties were referred to as the priests, who belonged to the seed of Aaron and were the Levites. At a later time the two functions were joined together in a single person, as they were in Eli and Samuel. Yet because the nature of the people was such that the representative Church could not be established among them, only a representative of the Church, on account of the practice of idolatry prevalent among them, the two functions were allowed to be separated. The Lord was then represented in respect of Divine Truth by kings and in respect of Divine Good by priests. The separation took place because the people desired it, not because the Lord took any pleasure in it, as is clear from the Word of Jehovah to Samuel,

Obey the voice of the people in all that they have said to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them; and show them the right of the king. 1 Sam. 8:7-end; 12:19, 20.

[6] The reason why the two functions were not meant to be separated was that Divine Truth separated from Divine Good condemns all people, whereas Divine Truth united to Divine Good saves them. Judged by Divine Truth a person is condemned to hell, but Divine Good brings him out of there and raises him into heaven. Salvation comes of mercy and so sprigs from Divine Good; but damnation exists when a person rejects mercy and so casts Divine Good away from himself, as a consequence of which he is left to be judged by Truth. As regards ‘kings’ representing Divine Truth, see 1672, 1728, 2015, 2069, 3009, 3670, 4575, 4581, 4966, 5044, 5068.

[7] ‘The priests’ represented the Lord in respect of Divine Good, and for that reason good is meant by them. This becomes clear from the internal sense of all that was prescribed regarding the priesthood when Aaron was chosen, and after him the Levites, such as these prescriptions:

The High Priest alone should enter the Holy of holies and minister there. [Lev.16.]

Things holy to Jehovah were to be for the priest. Lev. 23:20; 27:21.

They were not to have any portion or inheritance in the land, but Jehovah would be their portion and inheritance. Num. 18:20; Deut. 10:9; 18:1.

The Levites were given to Jehovah instead of the firstborn, and they were given by Jehovah to Aaron. Num. 3:9, 12, 13, 40-end; 8:16-19.

The high priest and the Levites were to be in the middle of the camp when they pitched it and when they were journeying. Num. 1:50-54; 2:17; 3:23-38; 4:1-end.

No one from the seed of Aaron who had a blemish in himself was to approach to offer burnt offerings or sacrifices. Lev. 21:17-20.

And there are many other prescriptions besides these, such as those in Lev. 21:9-13, and elsewhere.

[8] In the highest sense all these prescriptions relating to the priests represented the Lord’s Divine Good and therefore in the relative sense the good of love and charity. Aaron’s vestments however, called ‘vestments of holiness’, represented Divine Truth from Divine Good. These matters will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be dealt with in the explanations of what appears in Exodus.

[9] Since truth is meant by ‘kings’ and good by ‘priests’, ‘kings and priests’ are mentioned together many times in the Word, as in John, Jesus Christ has made us kings and priests to His God and Father. Rev. 1:6; 5:10.

By virtue of the truth of faith we are said to have been made ‘kings’, and by virtue of the good of charity to have been made ‘priests’, so that the truth and good residing with those who abide in the Lord have been joined together, in the way they are in heaven, as stated above. This is what is meant by ‘being made kings and priests’.

[10] In Jeremiah,

It will happen on that day, that the heart of the king and of the princes will perish, and the priests will be dumbfounded and the prophets left wondering. Jer. 4:9.

In the same prophet,

The house of Israel is ashamed, they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets. Jer. 2:26.

In the same prophet,

The kings of Judah, the princes, the priests, and the prophets, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Jer. 8:1.

In these places ‘kings stands for truths, ‘princes’ for first and foremost truths, 1482, 1089, 5044, ‘priests’ for forms of good, and ‘prophets’ for those who teach, 2534.

[11] Quite apart from this it should be recognized that Joseph did not buy the ground of the priests. The fact that this was representative of the consideration that the whole of a person’s capacity to receive truth and good comes from the Lord is evident from a similar law in Moses regarding the fields belonging to the Levites,

The field of the country surrounding the cities of the Levites shall not be sold, for it is their eternal possession. Lev. 25:34.

The meaning here in the internal sense is that no one ought to lay any claim to the good of the Church, which is the good of love and charity, because that good is from the Lord alone.
* At this time the patriarch’s name was still Abram.

AC (Elliott) n. 6149 6149. ‘For the priests had a fixed Portion from Pharaoh’ means that this had therefore been decreed by the natural, which was under the as the natural in general, dealt with in 5160, 5799, 6015. And since that decree made in the natural originated in the internal, the description ‘under the control of the internal’ is added, which control was also represented by Joseph’s being lord over the whole of Egypt, and over Pharaoh’s house too, see 6145.

AC (Elliott) n. 6150 6150. ‘And ate their fixed portion which Pharaoh had given them’ means that they did not make any forms of good their own beyond what had been decreed. This is clear from the meaning of ‘eating’ as making one’s own, dealt with in 3168, 3513 (end), 3596, 3872, 4745; and from the meaning of ‘fixed portion’ as that which has been decreed, as immediately above in 6149, so that ‘eating a fixed portion’ means not making any forms of good one’s own beyond what has been decreed. This decree was made by the natural, represented by ‘Pharaoh’. that is, in the natural under the control of the internal, see also immediately above in 6149.

AC (Elliott) n. 6151 6151. ‘Therefore they did not sell their ground’ means that for this reason they had no need to renounce those things or surrender them. This is clear from the meaning of ‘selling’ as renouncing, dealt with above in 6143, and so surrendering, since that which is renounced is surrendered to another; and from the meaning of ‘ground’ – that of the priests of Egypt – as the capacity to receive good in the natural, also dealt with above, in 6148. That for this reason they had no need to – to renounce and surrender those things – is meant by ‘therefore they did not’.

AC (Elliott) n. 6152 6152. ‘And Joseph said to the people’ means an influx of the internal into facts that have truths within them. This is clear from the meaning of ‘saying’ as perception, dealt with in 6063, and since it refers to the internal, which is ‘Joseph’, an influx is meant (for what is perceived in the eternal flows in from the internal); from the representation of ‘Joseph’ as the internal, as has often been stated already; and from the meaning of ‘the people’ as facts that have truths within them, dealt with in 6146.

AC (Elliott) n. 6153 6153. ‘Behold, I have bought you today, and your ground, for Pharaoh’s house means that it had obtained those things for itself and had made them subject to the general whole within the natural, which was under the control of the internal. This is clear from the meaning of ‘buying’ as making one’s own and acquiring, dealt with in 4797, 5374, 5397, 5406, 5410, 5426; and from the meaning of ‘ground’ as the receptacles of truth, dealt with in 6135-6137; and the subjection of those receptacles to the general whole in the natural is meant by ‘his buying them for Pharaoh’ who represents the natural in general, dealt with in 5160, 5799, 6015. The use of the expression ‘under the control of the internal’ is in keeping with the explanation above in 6145.

AC (Elliott) n. 6154 6154. ‘Look, here is seed for you, and you may sow the ground’ means the good of charity and the truth of faith that are to be implanted. This is clear from the meaning of ‘seed’ as truth derived from good, or faith from charity, thus both of them, dealt with in 1025, 1447, 1610, 1940, 2848, 3038, 3310, 3373, 3671; from the meaning of ‘sowing’ as implanting; and from the meaning of ‘ground’ as receptacles, dealt with in 6135-6137. But once the truth and good have been implanted, ‘the ground’ no longer means a receptacle of them but that which actually constitutes the Church, as with ‘the field’, 566.

AC (Elliott) n. 6155 6155. ‘And so it will be at ingatherings’ means the fruits from this. This is clear from the meaning of ‘ingatherings’ as the fruits, for the harvest which comes forth from the field is the fruits of that field.

AC (Elliott) n. 6156 6156. ‘That you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh’ means that remnants are to be assigned to the general whole, which is under the control of the internal. This is clear from the meaning of ‘five’ or ‘a fifth’ as remnants, dealt with in 5291, 5894; and from the representation of ‘Pharaoh’ as the general whole within the natural, as above in 6153, the expression ‘under the control of the internal’ being used for the reason dealt with above in 6145. For what remnants are, see 1050, 1738, 1906, 2284, 5135, 5897, 5898, where it is shown that they are goods and truths stored away by the Lord in the interior man. They are brought out into the exterior or natural man when a person is in a state of goodness; but they are withdrawn and stored away again the moment he passes into a state of evil. They are withdrawn and stored away again to prevent them from being mixed up with evils and thereby destroyed.

[2] During the time that a person is unable to be regenerated his remnants are held in safe keeping within him interiorly; but when he is being regenerated they are brought from his interiors – as many as are appropriate to the stage reached in his regeneration – into his exteriors, for the reason that through regeneration his interiors become joined to his exteriors and act in unison with them. Those remnants are assigned first to general wholes, then gradually to specific parts. From this one may see, since the subject here in the internal sense is the regeneration of the natural, what is meant by the assignment of those remnants to the general whole in the natural.

AC (Elliott) n. 6157 6157. ‘And four portions shall be yours’ means those things which have not yet become remnants. This is clear from the meaning of ‘four portions’ – when this describes what is left over from ‘a fifth’, which means, 6156 – as things which are not yet remnants. ‘Four’ has a similar meaning to two, namely pairs and things joined together, 1686, as goodness and truth are a pair and joined together. When these have not yet become remnants is what is meant here by ‘four portions’. For forms of good and truths do not become remnants until they are made over to a person; and they are made over to him when they are accepted by him with affection and in freedom.

AC (Elliott) n. 6158 6158. ‘For seed of the field’ means for mental nourishment. This is clear from the meaning of ‘seed’ as truth and good, and so faith and charity, dealt with above in 6154; and from the meaning of ‘the field’ in a general sense as the Church, dealt with in 2971, 3766, and in a particular sense as the Church with the individual person, thus a person who has the Church within him, that is, who is receptive of truth and good. When that person is called ‘the field’, his mind is what is meant; for a human being is not a human being by virtue of the outward form he takes but by virtue of his mind, that is, of his understanding and will which constitute his mind, and also by virtue of the truth of faith and the good of charity which constitute a yet more interior mind. Since the latter, the mind, is in a genuine sense the human being, he is nourished and sustained by truth and good. And because truth and good are meant by ‘seed’, nourishment is also meant by it. This is also evident from the words that immediately follow – ‘for your food, and for those in your households, and for food for your young children’. From all this one may now see that ‘seed of the field’ means mental nourishment.

AC (Elliott) n. 6159 6159. ‘And for your food, and for those in your households’ means so that the good of truth may therefore be present in every single part. This is clear from the meaning of ‘food’ as the good of truth, dealt with in 5410, 5426, 5487, 5582, 5588, 5655, and from the meaning of ‘those who are in households’ as every single instance of good derived from truth, so that ‘for food for those in your households’ is the good of truth in every single part. What is really meant by this – by the statement that the good of truth may be present in every single part – is this: As a person undergoes regeneration, good instills itself into every single part of him, for it then comes about that an affection for good reigns throughout the whole of him. And what reigns throughout the whole reigns in each individual or every single part. This may be recognized from the dominant affection in any person. That affection, whatever it may be, is present in every individual part of his will, and also in every individual part of his thought. Even though it does not seem to be present always in his thought, it is nevertheless there. It does not seem to be there because at such moments it is covered over by other affections that circumstances introduce; but as those affections are stripped away, so the dominant affection comes into view.

[2] There is no better way to demonstrate this than by reference to spirits and angels. Spirits who are evil, that is, ones in whom evil has dominion, are evil in every single part. They are such even when they utter what is true or perform a good action, for in doing so they have nothing else in mind than to deceive others into thinking that they are in fact good spirits, and so to mislead them by an outward appearance of goodness. When they are doing this it can be clearly detected simply from the sound of their voice, and one can also detect it in the sphere emanating from them. Angels in heaven, in whom good has dominion, that is, reigns throughout, are good in every single part. That is, good from the Lord shines out of every single aspect of them. Even if they do something evil to outward appearance, their end or intention nevertheless is that good may be the outcome. From all this it may be seen that where good reigns throughout the whole, it does so in every single part; and the same holds true where evil reigns. For a reigning throughout the whole first begins when every single part is good or evil; and the essential nature and the number of those parts determines the nature of the whole. For what is called the whole is such by virtue of its existence in each separate part .

AC (Elliott) n. 6160 6160. ‘And for food for your young children’ means in those things that are forms of innocence. This is clear from the meaning of ‘food’ as the good of truth, as immediately above in 6159; and from the meaning of ‘young children’ as innocence, dealt with in 430, 3183, 5608.

AC (Elliott) n. 6161 6161. ‘And they said, You have bestowed life on us’ means spiritual life, in no other way and from no other source. This is clear from the meaning of ‘bestowing life’ as spiritual life, dealt with in 5890. Since the bestowal of life on, or the regeneration of the natural has been the subject in what has gone before, and since the entire process has been described there – and it takes place in that and no other way – the words of explanation ‘in no other way and from no other source’ are added.

AC (Elliott) n. 6162 6162. ‘Let us find favour in the eyes of [my] lord’ means a willingness to be made subject in this way, and self-abasement. This becomes clear from the fact that these words, coming as they do after the renunciation by those people of all they possess, are words expressing a willingness to be made subject in this way, and thus that they are words expressing self-abasement. The presence of these meanings within those words is clear from the state in which the people found themselves at that time, a state that is also evident from the train of thought in what comes before and after this.

AC (Elliott) n. 6163 6163. ‘And we will be Pharaoh’s slaves’ means that they should renounce their own and become submissive to the natural, which is under the control of the internal. This is clear from the meaning of ‘slaves’ as being without any freedom of their own, dealt with in 5760, 5767, thus a renunciation of what is properly their own; and from the meaning of ‘being Pharaoh’s’ as becoming submissive to the natural which is under the control of the internal, dealt with in 6145.

AC (Elliott) n. 6164 6164. ‘And Joseph made it a statute’ means a conclusion based on consent. This is clear from the meaning of ‘making it a statute’ as a conclusion based on consent; for what is made a statute comes into being with the consent of both parties and is regarded as one of those which have been mutually agreed on and so have imposed an obligation.

AC (Elliott) n. 6165 6165. ‘Even to this day’ means lasting for ever. This is clear from the meaning of ‘even to this day’ as lasting for ever, dealt with in 2838, 4304.

AC (Elliott) n. 6166 6166. ‘Regarding the ground of Egypt, that a fifth went to Pharaoh’ means remnants, as previously in 6156.

AC (Elliott) n. 6167 6167. ‘Only the ground of the priests, theirs alone, did not belong to Pharaoh’ means that every capacity to receive good came directly from the internal, as also previously, in 6148.

These matters which have now been stated regarding the joining of the natural to the internal, and so regarding the regeneration of the natural, effected through means that involve repeated phases of desolation and bestowal of life, will inevitably strike the member of the Church at the present day as things unheard of before. Even so, this is the truth of the matter and is something quite well known even by simple spirits in the next life. This being so, when a person reads the Word, those in the next life – being ones who understand the internal sense of the Word – not only have a perception of all those matters but in addition see countless arcana within them, arcana such as no human language can describe. In comparison with them the matters that have been introduced here are a mere few.

AC (Elliott) n. 6168 6168. Verses 27-31 And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen; and they had a possession in it, and were fruitful, and multiplied exceedingly. And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years; and the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were a hundred and forty-seven years. And Israel’s days drew near when he must die; and he called his son Joseph, and said to him, If now I have found favour in your eyes, put now your hand under my thigh, and show me mercy and truth;* do not, I beg you, bury me in Egypt. And let me lie with my fathers, and you are to carry me out of Egypt, and to bury me in their sepulchre. And he said, I will do according to your word. And he said, Swear to me. And he swore to him. And Israel bowed himself over the head of the bed.

‘And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt’ means that spiritual good lived among the facts known to the Church. ‘In the land of Goshen’ means in the middle of them. ‘And they had a possession in it’ means given and set in order thus by the internal. ‘And were fruitful, and multiplied exceedingly’ means resulting forms of the good of charity and resulting truths of faith. ‘And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt’ means the truth of the natural existing among known facts. ‘Seventeen years means the state there. ‘And the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were a hundred and forty-seven years means the state in general and its essential nature. ‘And Israel’s days drew near when he must die’ means the state immediately before regeneration. ‘And he called his son Joseph’ means the presence of the internal. ‘And said to him, If now I have found favour in your eyes’ means a desire. ‘Put now your hand under my thigh’ means a sacred bond. ‘And show me mercy and truth’ means humility. ‘Do not, I beg you, bury me in Egypt’ means regeneration not among known facts. ‘And let me lie with my fathers’ means life such as the ancients possessed. ‘And you are to carry me out of Egypt’ means so that there may be a raising up from factual knowledge. ‘And to bury me in their sepulchre’ means that kind of regeneration. ‘And he said, I will do according to your word’ means that it will indeed be done, for which the Divine has provided. ‘And he said, Swear to me’ means so that no change can be made. ‘And he swore to him’ means that no change can be made. ‘And Israel bowed himself over the head of the bed’ means that it turned towards things of the interior natural.
* lit. make with me mercy and truth

AC (Elliott) n. 6169 6169. ‘And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt’ means that spiritual good lived among the facts known to the Church. This is clear from the meaning of ‘dwelling’ as living, dealt with in 1293, 3384, 3617, 4451; from the representation of ‘Israel’ as spiritual good, dealt with in 5801, 5803, 5806, 5812, 5817, 5819, 5826, 5833; and from the meaning of ‘the land of Egypt’ as the natural mind, where factual knowledge resides, dealt with in 5276, 5278, 5280, 5288, 5301 – ‘Egypt’ meaning the facts known to the Church, see 4749, 4964, 4966, 6004.

AC (Elliott) n. 6170 6170. ‘In the land of Goshen’ means in the middle of them. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the land of Goshen’ as the middle or inmost part of the natural, dealt with in 5910, 6028, 6031, 6068, thus in the middle of the known facts, for Goshen was the best part of the land in Egypt.

AC (Elliott) n. 6171 6171. ‘And they had a possession in it’ means given and set in order thus by the internal. This is clear from the meaning of ‘a possession’ as the position spiritual life occupies, dealt with in 6103; and since Joseph was the one who gave them that possession, verse 11, the giving and setting in order of that position by the internal is meant. It follows from the whole train of thought that this is what is meant.

AC (Elliott) n. 6172 6172. ‘And were fruitful, and multiplied exceedingly’ means resulting forms of the good of charity and resulting truths of faith. This is clear from the meaning of ‘being fruitful’ as bringing forth forms of the good of charity, and from the meaning of ‘multiplying’ as bringing forth truths of faith, dealt with in 43, 55, 913, 983, 2846, 2847. For the expression ‘to be fruitful’ is derived from the word ‘fruits’, by which the works of charity are meant in the internal sense, while the expression ‘to be multiplied’ is derived from the word ‘multitude’, which in the internal sense is used to refer to the truths of faith, since ‘much’ (multum) refers in the Word to truths, but ‘great’ to forms of good.

AC (Elliott) n. 6173 6173. ‘And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt’ means the truth of the natural existing among known facts. This is clear from the meaning of ‘living’ as spiritual life, dealt with in 5890; from the representation of ‘Jacob’ as the truth of the natural, dealt with in 3305, 3509, 3525, 3546, 3599, 3775, 4009, 4234, 4520, 4538; and from the meaning of ‘the land of Egypt’ as the facts known to the Church, as just above in 6169.

AC (Elliott) n. 6174 6174. ‘Seventeen years’ means the state there. This is clear from the meaning of ‘seventeen’ as from beginning to end, or from the beginning to something new, dealt with in 755, 4670 (end); and from the meaning of ‘years’ as states, dealt with in 487, 488, 493, 893, so that here ‘seventeen years in which Jacob lived in Egypt’ means the beginning of the state of spiritual life in the natural among known facts even to the end of that state. For all numbers in the Word serve to denote spiritual realities, see 575, 647, 648, 755, 817, 1963, 1988, 2075, 2252, 3252, 4264, 4495, 4670, 5265.

AC (Elliott) n. 6175 6175. ‘And the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were a hundred and forty-seven years means the state in general and its essential nature. This becomes clear if the meaning of the numbers seven, forty, and a hundred is brought out.* For what seven means, see 395, 433, 716, 728, 881, 5165, 5268; for what forty means, 730, 862, 2272, 2273; and for what a hundred means, 1988, 1636, 4400. But no easy explanation of the sum of these numbers is possible, for they contain far more than anyone can calculate or explain intelligibly. In general these numbers contain the entire state of the reality represented by ‘Jacob’ and its essential nature. The angels can see these things in their entirety simply from that number; they can do so because with the angels all numbers in the Word pass into ideas about spiritual realities. This has also been made evident to me by the fact that on several occasions a long sequence of numbers has appeared in front of me, and whenever they have appeared the angels have told me that the numbers held, in sequence, the realities which they were talking about to one another. This in addition explains why the most ancient people who belonged to the celestial Church also had a way of calculating that consisted of numbers employed to express heavenly things which could barely be understood by the use of ideas in the natural mind. But after those people’s times such evaluations perished, along with the perception of heavenly things. All that remained was a knowledge of the general meaning of the simple numbers, such as three, six, seven, and twelve, but not much knowledge of the meaning of compound numbers. At the present day however even the idea that numbers in the Word mean something more than their numerical values is quite unknown, and therefore the idea will probably be treated as one of those that are unbelievable.
* The Hebrew way of expressing the number, which is rendered literally in the Latin, is seven years and forty and a hundred years.

AC (Elliott) n. 6176 6176. ‘And Israel’s days drew near when he must die’ means the state immediately before regeneration. This is clear from the meaning of ‘drawing near’ as being near, thus immediately before; from the meaning of ‘days as states, dealt with in 23, 487, 488, 493, 893, 2788, 7462, 3785, 4850; from the representation of ‘Israel’ as spiritual good, dealt with above in 6169; and from the meaning of ‘dying’ as rising again and being roused into spiritual life, dealt with in 3326, 3498, 3505, 4618, 4621, 6036, thus being regenerated. For one who is being regenerated rises from spiritual death and is roused into new life.

AC (Elliott) n. 6177 6177. ‘And he called his son Joseph’ means the presence of the internal. This is clear from the meaning of ‘calling to himself’ as causing to be present with oneself, thus the presence; and from the representation of ‘Joseph’ as the internal, as many times before, 6089, 6117, 6120, 6128, 6136, 6145, 6149, 6152, 6153, 6156, 6163, 6167.

AC (Elliott) n. 6178 6178. ‘And he said to him, If now I have found favour in your eyes’ means a desire. This is clear from the emotion that stirred Jacob when he addressed these words to Joseph. That emotion is contained in this stock phrase, for ‘If now I have found favour in your eyes’ is purely a stock phrase that serves to express emotion, thus the desire of the will, as also above in 6162.

AC (Elliott) n. 6179 6179. ‘Put now your hand under my thigh’ means a sacred bond. This is clear from the meaning of ‘putting a hand under the thigh’ as a bond established through what is connected with conjugial love, by all one’s power, for ‘hand’ means power, 878, 3091, 4971-4937, 5728, 5544, and ‘thigh’ what is connected with conjugial love, dealt with in 3021, 4277, 4280, 4575, 5050, 5062. The conjugial relationship in the supreme sense is the union within the Lord of the Divine and the Divine Human. From this it is the union of Divine Good and Divine Truth in heaven, for what goes forth from the Lord is Divine Truth from Divine Good. This is why heaven is heaven and is called a marriage, for the existence there of goodness and truth joined together, which go forth from the Lord, is what makes heaven. Also, since the Lord is the good there, and heaven is the truth from it, the Lord is in the Word called ‘the bridegroom’, while heaven and also the Church is called ‘the bride’. For goodness and truth constitute a marriage, and the existence of the two joined together is meant by the conjugial relationship. From this one may see how sacred it to be bound by what is of a conjugial nature, meant by ‘putting a hand under the thigh’. From that marriage, the marriage of goodness and truth, genuine conjugial love comes down, regarding which love and its holiness, see 2727-2759.

AC (Elliott) n. 6180 6180. ‘And show me mercy and truth’ means humility. This is clear from the meaning of ‘showing mercy’ as the good of love, and from the meaning of ‘showing truth’ as the truth of faith, both of which meanings are dealt with below. When these words are spoken they are words of entreaty, thus of humility. The reason why ‘showing mercy’ means the good of love is that all mercy is an expression of love, for one who has love or charity also has mercy; and his love and charity become mercy when his neighbour is poor or in misery and he comes to that neighbour’s aid while he is in that condition. This is why ‘mercy’ means the good of love. ‘Showing truth’ means the truth of faith for the reason that all truth is the province of faith, which explains why in the original language the word for truth also means faith.

[2] Since the good of love and the truth of faith exist completely joined together and one does not exist without the other, ‘mercy and truth’ was a phrase in common use among the ancients, for they knew well that the good of love was inseparable from the truth of faith. Since they are inseparable the two are mentioned jointly many times in the Word, as in Exodus,

Jehovah great in mercy and truth. Exod. 34:6.

In the second Book of Samuel,

David said to the men of Jabesh, May Jehovah show you mercy and truth. 2 Sam. 2:5, 6.

In the same book,

David said to Ittai the Gittite, Return and take your brethren back with you with mercy and truth. 2 Sam. 15:20.

In Hosea,

Jehovah’s controversy with the inhabitants of the land because there is no truth and no mercy, and no knowledge of God* in the land. Hosea 4:1.

In David,

All the ways of Jehovah are mercy and truth to those keeping His covenant. Ps. 25:10.

In the same author,

O Jehovah, You will not hold back from me Your mercies; let Your mercy and Your truth continually keep me safe. Ps. 40;11.

In the same author,

I will sing the eternal mercies of Jehovah, to generation after generation [I will make known] Your truth with my mouth. For I have said, For ever will mercy be built, in the very heavens You will make firm Your truth. Righteousness and judgement are the support of Your throne, mercy and truth stand before Your face. Ps. 89:1, 2, 14.

Also other places in David besides these – Ps. 26:3; 76:5; 57:3, 10; 61:7; 85:10; 86:15; 89:24, 33; 92:2.
* The Latin means Jehovah but the Hebrew means God, which Sw. has in another place where he quotes this verse.

AC (Elliott) n. 6181 6181. ‘Do not, I beg you, bury me in Egypt’ means regeneration not among known facts. This is clear from the meaning of ‘being buried’ as resurrection and regeneration, dealt with in 2916, 2917, 4621, 5551; and from the meaning of ‘Egypt’ as factual knowledge, often dealt with already. For what is meant by regeneration not among known facts, see just below in 6187.

AC (Elliott) n. 6182 6182. ‘And let me lie with my fathers’ means life such as the ancients possessed. This is clear from the meaning of ‘lying’ as life, for here lying implies being buried with them, and since being buried is resurrection and regeneration, ‘lying with them’ is life (for resurrection is an entering into life, and so similarly is regeneration); and from the meaning of ‘fathers’ as those who belonged to the Ancient Church and the Most Ancient, dealt with in 6075, thus the ancients.

AC (Elliott) n. 6183 6183. ‘And you are to carry me out of Egypt’ means so that there may be a raising up from factual knowledge. This is clear from the meaning of ‘carrying me’ as a raising up (for when people pass from Egypt to the land of Canaan they are said ‘to go up ,which means a raising up, 3084, 4539, 4969, 5406, 5817, 6007; and the same is meant by ‘carrying someone there out of Egypt’); and from the meaning of ‘Egypt’ as factual knowledge, dealt with already. A brief statement must be made to explain what a raising up from factual knowledge is. The regeneration of the natural is effected by an instilling of spiritual life from the Lord through the internal man into the known facts residing in the natural (this instilling has been the subject in the present chapter). But once a person has been regenerated thus far, and if he is the kind whose regeneration can go further, he is raised up from the exterior to the interior natural, which is subject to the direct control of the internal man. But if he is not that kind of person, his spiritual life exists in the exterior natural. The raising up is effected by a withdrawal from sensory impressions and factual knowledge and so by a raising up above them, and then the person comes into a state of interior thought and affection; thus interiorly he is raised into heaven. People who attain this state are in the internal Church, whereas those who attain only the first state are in the external Church. The latter are represented by ‘Jacob’, the former by ‘Israel’. It was therefore so that Jacob might be Israel, and so that spiritual good present in the interior natural – thus the internal spiritual Church – may thereby be represented by him as Israel, that these words were uttered by Jacob.

AC (Elliott) n. 6184 6184. ‘And to bury me in their sepulchre’ means that kind of regeneration. This is clear from the meaning of ‘being buried’ as regeneration, dealt with above in 6181, so that ‘being buried in their sepulchre’ – that is, in the same sepulchre – means that kind of regeneration.

AC (Elliott) n. 6185 6185. ‘And he said, I will do according to your word’ means that it will indeed be done, [for which the Divine has provided.] This is clear from the meaning of ‘doing according to someone’s word’ as it will indeed be done. The reason for the addition of the phrase ‘for which the Divine has provided’ is that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob represented three entities which however made one. In the highest sense Abraham represented within the Lord the Divine Itself, ‘Isaac’ the Divine Rational, and ‘Jacob’ the Divine Natural, 3305 (end), 4615, 6098. But in the relative sense that applies to man they represent what is inmost, which is celestial good; what is relatively internal, which is spiritual good; and what is relatively external, which is natural good. These are what is meant by the three in one sepulchre, for ‘a sepulchre’ means resurrection into life and regeneration, 2916, 2917, 4621, 5551.

AC (Elliott) n. 6186 6186. ‘And he said, Swear to me’ means so that no change can be made. This is clear from the meaning of ‘swearing’ as an unchangeable confirmation, dealt with in 2842.

AC (Elliott) n. 6187 6187. ‘And he swore to him’ means that no change can be made. This is clear from the meaning of ‘swearing’ as that which is unchangeable, as immediately above in 6186.

AC (Elliott) n. 6188 6188. ‘And Israel bowed himself over the head of the bed’ means that it turned towards things of the interior natural. This is clear from the meaning of ‘bowing oneself’ here as turning oneself; and from the meaning of ‘the bed’ as the natural, dealt with below. Thus ‘the head of the bed’ is that within the natural which is higher, that is, more internal; for wherever ‘the head’ is mentioned in the Word, what is more internal is meant. This is in relation to the body, which is more external. In saying that it turned towards things of the interior natural one means that natural truth, which is ‘Jacob’, was to be raised up to spiritual good, which is ‘Israel’, in accordance with what was stated and explained above in 6183.

[2] The reason ‘the bed’ means the natural is that the natural exists beneath the rational and serves it as a kind of bed. For the rational reclines so to speak on the natural, and since the natural is accordingly what is spread beneath, it is therefore called ‘the bed’, as also in Amos,

As the shepherd rescues from the mouth of the lion two legs or a piece of an ear, so will the children of Israel dwelling in Samaria be rescued, on the corner of n bed and on the end of a couch. Amos 3:12.

‘On the corner of a bed’ stands for within the lowest part of the natural, ‘on the end of a couch’ for within sensory awareness. For the people of Israel, whose capital city was Samaria, represented the Lord’s spiritual kingdom. One speaks of that kingdom being, as is said of father Israel here, ‘over the head of the bed’, because spiritual good, which is represented by ‘father Israel’, is ‘the head of the bed’. But when people turn away from that good to what belongs to the lowest part of the natural and to what belongs to sensory awareness, one speaks of them being ‘on the corner of a bed and on the end of a couch’. The same prophet speaks of

Those who lie on beds of ivory, and stretch out on their couches, but feel no grief over the ruin of Joseph. Amos 6:4, 6.

‘Beds of ivory’ are the pleasures of the lowest part of the natural that are pursued by haughty people. ‘Feeling no grief over the ruin of Joseph’ stands for feeling no concern at all that good from the internal has been reduced to nothing. In David,

If I come into the tent of my house, if I go up onto the couch of my bed . . . Ps. 132:3.

‘The tent of my house’ stands for the holiness of love, 414, 1102, 2145, 2152, 3312, 4128, 4391, 4599. ‘Going up onto the couch of a bed’ stands for up onto the natural, to truth that derives from the good of love. ‘Coming into the tent of one’s house and going up onto the couch of one’s bed’ is a prophetical saying which, as anyone may see, nobody can understand without the internal sense.

AC (Elliott) n. 6189 6189. INFLUX AND THE INTERACTION OF SOUL AND BODY – continued

The sections at the ends of Chapters 44 and 45 showed that two angels from heaven and two spirits from hell are present with a person and that their presence gives him a communication with both places, as well as giving him the freedom to turn to one or else the other. But the fact that the inflow of every single thing into him – evil from hell and good from heaven, that is, from the Lord through heaven – is dependent on his freedom is unknown to mankind, who therefore will hardly be ready to believe it.

AC (Elliott) n. 6190 6190. Since influx is the subject under discussion and the word is used so frequently, a preliminary statement must be made as to what influx is. There is no better way to show what is meant by spiritual influx than by comparison with natural kinds of influx that take place and reveal themselves in the world. There is for example the flow of heat from the sun into all earthly objects and all its variations that are determined by the seasons of the year and climates of the earth. Then there is the flow of light into those same objects and all its variations that are determined by the times of day as well as seasons of the year, further varied also by climates. It can be seen from the fact that the flow of heat from the sun into all earthly objects gives rise to plant-life, and that the flow of light into the same objects assists that plant-life and also produces different colours and beautiful sights. What influx is may be recognized in a similar way from the flow of that same heat into the surface-area of our bodies, and also of light into the eye. Likewise from the flow of sound into the ear, and from other inflowings like it, one may understand what the influx of life from the Lord is. He is the Sun of heaven and the Source of heaven’s heat, which is the good of love, and the Source of heaven’s light, which is the truth of faith. One can also plainly feel the inflow of them, for heavenly heat, which is love, produces the vital heat that exists in a person, while heavenly light, which is faith, produces his power of understanding, since the truth of faith, which goes forth from the Lord, gives his understanding light. But there is much variation to both these kinds of influx, for the exact nature of them is determined by the ways people receive them.

AC (Elliott) n. 6191 6191. Experience enabling me to know that the Lord governs a person by means of angels and spirits has been so conclusive that I have been left with not the slightest shadow of doubt. For many years now all my thoughts and all my affections, down to the last detail, have flowed in by means of spirits and angels. This I have been allowed to perceive so plainly that nothing could be plainer; for I have perceived, seen, and heard who exactly the spirits or angels were, what they were like, and where they came from. And whenever anything inimical has come into my thought or will I have spoken to and rebuked those who were responsible. I have also noticed that their power to introduce any such thing was curbed by the angels, observed how this was done, and also seen that they were often driven away by the angels. When they had been driven away, I noticed that in their place new spirits were present, from whom influx again took place. I was also allowed to discern where those spirits were from, that is, of which communities they were emissaries.

[2] Besides this I have often been given the opportunity to talk to those actual communities. Although every one of my thoughts and affections, down to the last detail, was flowing in through spirits or angels, my thinking was nevertheless as it had been before, and my desires as they had been before. I mixed with other people as I had done before, without anyone noticing any difference in my life from what it had been before. I realize that scarcely anyone will believe what I am saying; but all the same it is the absolute truth.

AC (Elliott) n. 6192 6192. I have been shown by live demonstration the manner in which spirits flow in with a person. When they come to him they adopt everything his memory contains, thus everything he has learned and retained since early childhood. Then the spirits suppose that what they have adopted is their own and thus play the part so to speak of the person in the person; but they are not allowed to go beyond the interior parts forming the person’s thought and will. They are not allowed to enter the exterior parts of actions and speech; for these are brought into play by means of a general influx from the Lord, without the intervention of specific spirits or angels. But although the spirits play the part of the person in the person so far as what forms his thought and will is concerned, they are not actually aware of their presence with him. The reason for this is that they take possession of all that his memory contains and imagine that it does not belong to another but is their own. A further reason is that they are thus prevented from doing the person harm, for if the spirits from hell who are present with a person did not imagine the contents of his memory were their own they would try by every method to destroy the person, body and soul, since that is hell’s essential delight.

AC (Elliott) n. 6193 6193. Since spirits take possession in that way of all that forms a person’s thought and will, and angels take possession of what is even more interior, so that he is joined very closely to them, the person cannot avoid the perception and sensation that he himself is the one who thinks and wills. For the nature of all communication in the next life is this: In a community in which people are alike, each thinks that what is another’s is his own. When therefore people who are good go into a heavenly community they instantly enter into all the intelligence and wisdom of that community, entering into it so fully that they know no other than that such things exist within themselves. This is also how it is with man and a spirit present with him. The things that flow in from spirits from hell are evil and false, but those which flow in from angels from heaven are good and true; and through these opposite kinds of influx a person is held in the middle, thus in freedom.

[2] Because what flows in from angels comes through the more interior parts of a person, it is less easily recognized by outward sensation than that which flows in from evil spirits. Also, the angels are by nature such that they will not hear of goodness and truth flowing in from themselves, only of its coming from the Lord. They are indignant at the thought of anything different; for they have a very clear perception that that is the truth of the matter, and there is nothing they like more than for their desires and thoughts to begin not in themselves but in the Lord. Evil spirits on the other hand are angry if they are told that their thoughts and desires do not begin in themselves, because that idea is contrary to what their loves lead them to be delighted with. And they are all the more angry when they are told that life does not exist independently in them but flows into them. This is demonstrated to those spirits through actual experience; and such demonstration takes place many times, when they do indeed confess that such is the truth, since they cannot speak contrary to experience. But after a while they deny it and have no wish to have it proved any more from experience.

AC (Elliott) n. 6194 6194. Sometimes it has happened that I have been thinking to myself or else talking to others without reflecting that spirits were present who prompted what I thought or said. But immediately afterwards the spirits spoke to me, telling me what their state was at the time, namely one in which they knew no other than that it was they who did the thinking. They told me indeed that those closest to me were fully convinced that they themselves did the thinking, but that those further away were not so convinced and those still further away even less so. I was also shown which particular communities flowed into the spirits as their subordinates.

AC (Elliott) n. 6195 6195. Some spirits were once present with me for a long time, neither particularly good nor particularly evil ones, a little way above my head. They had the ability to flow deeply into people’s affections; and because this was what they wanted to do, they also entered mine after a while and tied themselves to me in such a way that it seemed as though they could hardly be separated. I talked to them about what was going on, saying that they ought to separate themselves from me. But they could not do it. When they tried to do so and did succeed to some small extent, they then caused my thinking to be so dull that I could not think except in a confused and disjointed manner; and I felt pain in my head like that experienced by people who are fainting. This showed me how people’s loves serve to join them together and that all in the next life are joined together through them. This is the reason why spirits who enter the actual affections of another take possession of him, just as happens in the world when one person indulges another person’s love. But truths do not join people together, only affections for truth do so.

[2] From this it has become clear to me how a person is joined either to heaven or to hell, namely through his loves. He is joined to hell through his self-love and love of the world, but to heaven through his love of the neighbour and love of God. In addition it has been clear to me that a person tied to hell cannot possibly be released except by Divine means employed by the Lord, as has also been shown to me from those who have been tied to me by merely slender affections. I was not released from them except through intermediate kinds of love, by means of which they were gradually joined to others. As the spirits were separated they seemed to be placed further away from me, in front and to the left. I noticed that the separation took place through changes in the state of my affections; for as my affections changed, so those spirits departed from me. This also revealed to me where the appearances of distance in the next life originate.

AC (Elliott) n. 6196 6196. All kinds of experiences have enabled me to know that a person’s loves determine how closely spirits are associated with him. As soon as I have begun to love something intently, spirits with a similar love were present, and they were not removed until that love died down.

AC (Elliott) n. 6197 6197. As often as anything which I have not known the source of has entered my thinking or the desires of my will and I have wished to know the source, it has been shown me. That is to say, I have been shown which communities it came from, and sometimes which spirits were their agents through whom it came. Those spirits have also talked to me at such times and have confessed that they were thinking about that particular matter and that they also knew it was coming to me and seemed to me to exist within me. Deceitful ones, who are visible directly overhead, have come to me, sometimes in such a clever way that I did not know where the influx came from, and I could hardly discern what flowed in as anything else than something that existed in and originated with me, as is ordinarily so with others. But as I knew quite definitely that it originated somewhere else, the Lord granted me a perception which was so keen that I discerned every detail of what flowed in from those deceitful spirits. I also discerned exactly where they were and exactly who they were. When they realized this they were highly indignant, especially at the idea that I could reflect on the fact that my thought had originated with them. That reflection came to me by way of the angels.

[2] In particular the deceitful spirits instilled ideas such as were opposed to the Lord, and on these occasions I was also led to reflect that no one in hell acknowledges the Lord, and that they speak as insolently against Him as they are allowed to, though they do not mind hearing mention made of the Father, the creator of all things. This experience, which is a very clear sign, makes it quite plain that the Lord is the One who reigns over the whole of heaven, as He Himself teaches in Matthew,

All power in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Matt. 28:18.

It also shows that those spirits are opposed to the Lord because they are opposed to heaven, in which the Lord is the All in all.

AC (Elliott) n. 6198 6198. Some spirits were once present with me who imagined that it was they who had life and that the life I had came to me solely from them, so that they were in effect myself. But when they were told that they were spirits who existed separately from me, and that interiorly I too was a spirit they could not believe it. To enable them to know it, they were separated and in that way shown that they were spirits with a separate existence. But they still refused to believe it and stubbornly stuck to their own ideas. They went away for a while, and when they came back their conviction was still the same. This experience too shows that spirits know nothing different from this, that what exists with man is essentially theirs. But spirits like these who cling tenaciously to such beliefs are not afforded easy access to men because it is hard for them to be separated from men. A similar conviction has, it is true, been instilled into all other spirits to the end that they may be of service to men, but in them it is somewhat different.

AC (Elliott) n. 6199 6199. Another spirit too imagined that he was myself. He was so sure of it that he believed, when he talked to me in my native tongue, that he was using his own; for he said that that language was his. But he was shown that the language proper to spirits is entirely different and that it is the universal language of all languages. He was shown that ideas flow from that language into my own native tongue, so that spirits do not speak independently but within me, and that this serves to show that they not only enter what is man s but also suppose it to be their own.

AC (Elliott) n. 6200 6200. Because I have been living – constantly, for nine years now* – in company with spirits and angels, I have been able to take careful note of the nature of influx. When I have been thinking, the material ideas in my thought have presented themselves so to speak in the middle of a wave-like motion. I have noticed that the wave was made up of nothing other than such ideas as had become attached to the particular matter in my memory that I was thinking about, and that a person’s entire thought is seen by spirits in this way. But nothing else enters that person’s awareness then apart from what is in the middle which has presented itself as a material idea. I have likened that wave round about to spiritual wings which serve to raise the particular matter the person is thinking about up out of his memory. And in this way the person becomes aware of that matter. The surrounding material in which the wave-like motion takes place contained countless things that harmonized with the matter I was thinking about. This was made clear to me by the fact that from those things spirits living in a more perfect sphere knew everything I had ever learned on that particular subject. It accordingly showed me that spirits take in and absorb everything a Person knows, while genii, who are interested solely in his desires and affections, do the same to all aspects of his loves.

[2] Let the following example illustrate the point. Whenever I have thought about a person I knew, an image of that person, like that which comes to anyone s mind when his name is mentioned, presented itself in the middle. But round about the image of him – looking like the wings of a bird that are moving up and down – there was everything I had known and thought since childhood regarding that person. Consequently the entire character of that person as it existed in my thought and affection presented itself to spirits in an instant. The like has also happened whenever I have thought about any city. From the sphere round about moving like a wave spirits knew in an instant everything I had ever seen in it or known about it. The same thing has applied to my scientific knowledge.
* These words occur in Volume Five of the Latin, published in 1753.

AC (Elliott) n. 6201 6201. This was how my thought was seen by spirits when I had been raised a little way above the level of the senses. But when my thought took place on the latter level no such wave-like motion was seen; instead something entirely material appeared there, not unlike an object seen with the physical eyes. This is called thinking on the sensory level; but when thought takes place on a more internal level it is referred to as being raised above the level of the senses. The ancients were well acquainted with the idea that a person can be raised above the sensory level, and therefore some of them also wrote about that condition. People whose thought takes place on the lower level are called sensory-minded, and spirits of a similar nature are attached to them. These spirits take hold of little more from a person than what enters his own awareness too; for they are more unrefined than all other spirits. I have also noticed that when a person is on the sensory level and has not been raised above it his thought is confined to what is of a bodily and worldly nature. He has no wish to know about things that belong to eternal life; indeed he refuses to listen to anything about it.

[2] To enable me to know the nature of all this I have been brought down frequently to that sensory level, when the things described have occurred instantly. At the same time spirits in that more unrefined sphere have poured in foul and offensive ideas. But as soon as I was raised above the sensory level such ideas were dispelled. The life of the majority of people who surrender themselves to physical pleasures is on that sensory level, and so is the life of those who have utterly refused to contemplate the existence of anything beyond what they can see and hear, in particular those who have refused to think about eternal life. For that reason people of this kind revile such higher things and are nauseated when they hear them mentioned. At the present day large numbers of spirits like this exist in the next life, for bands of them enter it from the world. Also when they flow into a person they prompt him to indulge his natural inclination to lead a selfish and worldly life, not a life for others except insofar as they countenance him and his selfish desires. To be raised up above these spirits a person must entertain thoughts of eternal life.

AC (Elliott) n. 6202 6202. I have also noticed another kind of influx which does not take place through the spirits present with a person but through others who are sent out from some community in hell to the sphere emanating from that person’s life. They talk among themselves about the kinds of things that are unacceptable to the person, which results generally in a flowing into him of what is in many different ways troublesome, unpleasant, dejecting, and worrying. Such spirits have often been present with me, when I have experienced in the province of my stomach those who poured in feelings of anxiety – not that I knew where the feelings came from. Yet on every occasion I found out who they were, and then I heard them talking to one another about the kinds of things that were unacceptable to my affections. Avaricious spirits in the same region have sometimes been visible, though in a slightly higher position; they have poured in the kind of anxiety that results from concern for the future. I have also been allowed to rebuke those spirits and to tell them that they correlate with undigested food in the stomach which produces bad breath and so is nauseating. I have also seen them being driven away; and once they were driven away, anxiety completely disappeared. I have had this experience a number of times so that I could be quite certain that those spirits were the source of the trouble.

[2] This is the kind of influx that takes place among those who for no good reason are anxious and depressed, and also among those who are undergoing spiritual temptation. During temptation however there is not only a general influx of such spirits but also a particular stirring up by spirits from hell of the evils the person has put into practice. Those spirits also pervert and put a wrong interpretation on the forms of good that the angels use to fight with in temptation. A state such as this is what the person who is being regenerated enters by being let down into what is wholly his own. And this happens when he immerses himself too much in worldly and bodily interests and needs to be raised towards spiritual ones.

AC (Elliott) n. 6203 6203. The influx of evil from hell arises in the following way: When a person plunges himself into some evil – first because he gives in to it, then because he deliberately intends it, and finally because he loves and delights in it – the hell where that kind of evil reigns is opened; for evils and all their variations give rise to each distinction that marks off one hell from all the others. After it has been opened an influx from that hell also takes place.* If a person embarks on evil in that way it clings to him, for the hell whose sphere now surrounds him finds in him the same delight as is their own when immersed in their own kind of evil. This being so, that hell does not give up but stubbornly persists in causing the person to think about that evil – first of all now and again, then as often as anything related comes along, till at length it becomes what governs him all the time. When this happens he looks around for ideas such as will support the notion that the thing is not an evil, until he becomes thoroughly convinced it is not. At this point he strives so far as he can to get rid of external restraints and to make it allowable and smart, and at length even attractive and honourable, to engage in adulterous practices, theft involving trickery and deceit, various forms of arrogance and boasting, contempt for others, insults, persecution carried on under a cloak of righteousness, and other things like these. They are like blatant thefts which a person cannot refrain from committing once he has deliberately engaged in two or three; for they cling constantly to his thinking.
* Reading fit (takes place) for sit (may be)

AC (Elliott) n. 6204 6204. In addition to this it should be recognized that evil entering a person’s thought does not do him harm; for spirits from hell are constantly pouring in evil, but angels are constantly driving it away. But when it enters the will it does do harm, for it leads on to actions as often as external restraints do not hinder it. Evil enters the will when it is retained in one’s thought, is approved of, and especially when it is acted upon and therefore delighted in.

AC (Elliott) n. 6205 6205. I have often noticed that evil spirits invest themselves in particular with a person’s false notions and evil desires, and that when they do they control him in a despotic way. For one who gets inside a person’s evil desires and false notions makes him subject to himself and turns him into his slave. But an influx coming through angels adjusts itself to the person’s affections, which they guide gently, turning those affections towards what is good without breaking them. The actual influx of them is silent, barely perceptible, for it is an influx into the person’s interiors, always operating through his freedom.

AC (Elliott) n. 6206 6206. To take the subject further, it should be recognized that all evil flows in from hell and all good from the Lord by way of heaven. The reason however why evil becomes a person’s own is that he believes and convinces himself that he thinks and practises it all by himself. In this way he makes it his own. But if he believed what is really so, it would not be evil but good from the Lord that became his own. For if he believed what is really so he would think, the instant evil flowed in, that it came from the evil spirits present with him; and since that was what he thought the angels could ward that evil off and repel it. For influx from angels takes place into what a person knows and believes, not what he does not know or believe; there is nowhere else for it to become firmly established than in something the person knows or believes.

[2] When a person in that way makes some evil his own he acquires the sphere that is a product of that evil. This sphere is what the spirits from hell who have a sphere of like evil around them associate themselves with, for like is linked to like. The spiritual sphere existing with man or spirit is an emanation from the life which belongs to his loves, from which his character is recognized from afar. Their spheres are what determine the ways in which all are joined to one another in the next life, and the ways in which communities are joined too. They also determine the separations that take place, for contrary spheres conflict with and repel one another. Consequently the spheres produced by the loves of what is evil are all in hell, while the spheres produced by the loves of what is good are all in heaven, that is, those dwelling in such spheres are there.

AC (Elliott) n. 6207 6207. The influx from angels takes place primarily into a person’s conscience, in which there is a base laid down for them to operate into. This base exists within the interior parts of the person. Conscience is twofold – interior and exterior. Interior conscience is a conscience concerned with what is spiritually good and true, exterior conscience with what is just and fair. The latter kind of conscience exists with many at the present day, but interior conscience with few. Even so, those endowed with exterior conscience are saved in the next life, since they are the kind of people who, if they act contrary to what is good and true or contrary to what is just and fair, feel distressed and tormented within. They feel this way not because of any consequent loss of position, gain, or reputation but because they have acted contrary to what is good and true or just and fair. But where neither kind of conscience exists there is something very inferior to them which on occasions simulates conscience. That is to say, a simulation of conscience exists when people are moved to practise what is true and good, fair and just, not by a love of it but for selfish reasons, for position and personal gain. These people too feel distressed and tormented when things unacceptable to them occur; but this kind of conscience is no conscience at all because it goes with self-love and love of the world and has nothing in it of the love of God and of one’s neighbour. Nor is it therefore to be seen in the next life.

[2] People like this are also able to serve in quite high-ranking offices, just as those endowed with genuine conscience do, for to outward appearance they do the same kinds of things; but they do them for the sake of their own position and reputation. Therefore the more they fear the loss of the latter, the better they discharge their public duties in favour of neighbour and country. But people who do not fear their loss are utterly dispensable members of the state. Those with this false conscience do not even know what conscience is, and when they hear from others what it is they laugh at the idea and think it is the product of simplicity or sickness of mind. These matters have been stated so that people may know the nature of this influx, that is to say, that conscience is the base that has been laid down for the angels to flow into – in particular into the affections there for what is good and true, and for what is just and fair – and thereby bind and hold the person, though without taking away his freedom.

AC (Elliott) n. 6208 6208. There are quite a number of people who are endowed by heredity with natural good, as a result of which they delight in doing good to others. But since they have not adopted from the Word, from the teaching of the Church, or from the religion they belong to, any principles about the doing of good on account of those teachings, they have also been unable to have any conscience conferred on them; for conscience is not the product of natural or hereditary good but of teaching regarding what is true and good and of a life based on that teaching. When people like these come into the next life they are amazed that they are not received into heaven. They say they have led a good life, but they are told that a good life which is the outcome of natural or hereditary disposition is not a good life; it comes instead out of teaching regarding what is good and true and out of a life based on that teaching. Through such teaching and life, they are told, people have principles stamped on their character regarding what is true and good and receive a conscience, which is the base laid down for heaven to flow into. So that those who are told these things may know they are true, they are sent to different communities, where they allow themselves to be misled into all kinds of evil solely through reasonings and consequent false persuasions that things which are evil are good, and those which are good are evil. They are thus swayed by those arguments wherever they go and are borne around like straws in the wind. For they have no principles, no base laid down into which the angels can operate and guide them away from the wicked.

AC (Elliott) n. 6209 6209. An influx from angels that takes place with a person is not discerned as an influx from spirits is, for what flows in from angels is not material but spiritual. It seems to be altogether like a stream of air, flowing from interior angels as something filled with light, and from angels even more interior as something flaming. More will be said about these matters in the Lord’s Divine mercy at the ends of chapters following this.

AC (Elliott) n. 6210 6210. On some occasions I have happened to be deep in thought about worldly matters and the kinds of things that concern most people – possessions, the acquisition of riches, pleasures, and the like. At these times I noticed that I was slipping back into sensory-mindedness, and that to the extent that my thought was immersed in those worldly interests I was more removed from companionship with the angels. This also proved to me that people who are deeply engrossed in such concerns cannot have any real contact with them in the next life. For when such thoughts occupy the whole mind they bear its lower part downwards, like weights pulling it down. When such worldly interests are a person’s final concern they remove him from heaven, to which he cannot be raised except by means of the good of love and faith. This has been made additionally clear to me by the following experience. I was once taken through the dwelling-places of heaven, at which time my ideas were spiritual ones. Then I suddenly slipped into thinking about worldly matters, and all those spiritual ideas were scattered and became as nothing.

AC (Elliott) n. 6211 6211. I have sometimes wondered why speech and action are not governed by means of particular spirits in the way thought and will are governed by means of them. But I have been told that speech follows from thought and action from the will, and that this flows from true order, thus through general influx. Nevertheless spirits are assigned to each part of the body associated with the power of speech, and to each part associated with action, though these spirits are not directly aware of it. General influx is the unceasing endeavour by the Lord, acting through the whole of heaven, to enter every detail of a person’s life.

AC (Elliott) n. 6212 6212. It is well known from the Word that the prophets received influx from the world of spirits and from heaven. It came to them partly through dreams, partly through visions, and partly through utterances. With some prophets it also entered into their own speech and gestures, thus things of the body; and when this happened neither their utterances nor their actions were their own but were those of the spirits who occupied their bodies at the time. Some behaved as though they were insane, as when Saul lay down naked,* some inflicted wounds on themselves,** and others wore horns;*** and there are many other examples of the same thing.

[2] Having the desire to know how spirits led them to do those things, I was shown through actual experience. So that I might know, I was possessed for a whole night by spirits who occupied my bodily powers so fully that I could not feel it was my own body except in a very vague way. When those spirits came they looked like tiny clouds massed together in varying shapes, for the most part pointed ones; the tiny clouds were black. In the morning I saw a carriage with a pair of horses, and a man riding in it; then I saw a horse with someone sitting on it, who was thrown from the horse backwards and lay on the ground while the horse kicked up its heels. After that I saw someone else sitting on the horse. The horses were well-bred.

[3] After all this the angels told me the meaning of the things I had seen. The carriage with a man in it meant the spiritual sense contained in the prophecies which they were uttering, and those they were representing by the things I had seen. The horse that threw off the person sitting on it and that kicked up its heels meant that the Jewish and Israelite people among whom the prophecies existed were interested solely in things of an external nature, so that genuine understanding threw them off its back and so to speak kicked up its heels to move them away. The second person sitting on the horse meant the understanding which those people have who are interested in the internal sense of the prophetical part of the Word.

[4] This state which lasted through the night until morning taught me the way the prophets through whom spirits spoke and acted were possessed. The spirits occupied the prophets’ bodies so thoroughly that the prophets were left with hardly anything more than an awareness of their existence. There were particular spirits assigned to this function who had no wish to obsess men, only to enter a person’s bodily affections, and having entered them they entered all things of his body. The spirits normally present with me said that I had not been with them while I remained in that state.

[5] The spirits who possessed my body, in the way the bodies of prophets had been possessed in former times, afterwards talked to me. They said, besides much else, that at the time they knew nothing else than that their life was as it had been in the body. They went on to say that the prophets were recipients of further kinds of influx, ones that involved the prophets in the use of their own power of decision and thought. Spirits then simply talked to them, mainly within them; it was not a flowing into their thought and will, only speech which entered their hearing.
* 1 Sam. 19:24
** e.g. 1 Kings 18:28; Jer. 16:6; 41:5
*** 1 Kings 22:11

AC (Elliott) n. 6213 6213. By means of its own spirits hell is constantly instilling evil and falsity as well as perverting and wiping out truths and forms of good, whereas the Lord by means of angels is constantly warding off, taking away, lessening, and moderating those influences. Many years of almost unceasing experience have made this so familiar to me that I cannot even think about doubting it. But if the angels are to be able to ward off influences coming from hell, the truths of faith, joined to the good of life, into which they can flow must exist with the person. Those truths must serve as a base laid down for angels to operate into. But if the person does not possess truths joined to good he is brought away from hell, and then by means of angels the Lord governs him externally through what are called external restraints. These restraints involve the person’s own prudence, which he exercises so that he may be seen, so far as outward appearances go, to be one who loves his neighbour and country, even though he is motivated by thoughts of his own position, his own gain, reputation on account of these, and by fear of legal penalties, including death. These are the external restraints that are used to govern a person when internal ones, which are those of conscience, do not exist. But those external restraints do nothing in the next life, for they are taken away from a person; and once they have been taken away, what he has been like internally is seen.

AC (Elliott) n. 6214 6214. How difficult it is for a person to believe that spirits know his thoughts has been proved to me by the following experience. Before I talked to spirits some spirit happened to address me briefly on the matters I was thinking about. I was dumbfounded by this, that a spirit could know my thoughts, for I had supposed that such thoughts lay hidden and were known to God alone. After that, when I began to talk to spirits, I was indignant that I could not have any thought at all which they did not know and that this was going to prove irksome to me. But then over several days I grew accustomed to it. At length I also came to know that spirits not only discern everything present in a person’s thought and will, but also far more than the person himself discerns; that the angels discern even more than that, namely his intentions and ends in view from the primary, through the intermediate, to the final ones; and that the Lord knows not only what the entire person is like now but also will be for evermore. This has proved to me that absolutely nothing is hidden, but that a person’s inward thought and designs are as plain to see in the next life as if in broad daylight.

AC (Elliott) n. 6215 6215. Influx and the interaction of soul and body is continued at the end of the next chapter.

48

GENESIS 48

1 And so it was after these things, that [someone] said to Joseph, Behold, your father is sick. And he took his two sons with him, Manasseh and Ephraim.

2 And [someone] told Jacob and said, Behold, your son Joseph has come to you; and Israel strengthened himself and sat on the bed.

3 And Jacob said to Joseph, God Shaddai showed Himself to me in Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me.

4 And He said to me, Behold, I am making you fruitful and will cause you to be multiplied, and I will make you into a congregation of peoples, and I will give this land to your seed after you as an everlasting possession.

5 And now your two sons born to you in the land of Egypt, prior to my coming to you, to Egypt, they are mine, Ephraim and Manasseh; as Reuben and Simeon will they be mine.

6 And your offspring* that you beget after them will be yours; they will be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance.

7 And as for me, when I was coming from Paddan, Rachel died on me in the land of Canaan on the road when there was still a stretch of land to go to Ephrath; [and I buried her there on the road to Ephrath,] that is, Bethlehem.

8 And Israel saw Joseph’s sons and said, Whose are these?

9 And Joseph said to his father, My sons are they, whom God has given me here. And he said, Bring them now to me, and I will bless them.

10 And the eyes of Israel were weak** because of old age; he could not see. And [Joseph] made them draw near him, and [Israel] kissed them and
embraced them.

11 And Israel said to Joseph, I did not think to see your face, and behold, God has caused me to see your seed also.

12 And Joseph brought them away from his thighs and bowed down, his face to the earth.

13 And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand to Israel’s left, and Manasseh in his left to Israel’s right, and made them draw near him.

14 And Israel put out his right hand and placed it on Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head; crosswise he put out his hands, for Manasseh was the firstborn.

15 And he blessed Joseph, and said, The God before whom my fathers walked, Abraham and Isaac, the God feeding me since then, even until this day,

16 The angel redeeming me from every evil, may he bless the boys, and in them will my name be called, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and may they increase into a multitude in the midst of the earth.

17 And Joseph saw that his father placed his right hand on Ephraim’s head, and it was wrong in his eyes; and he grasped his father’s hand to remove it from upon Ephraim’s head onto Manasseh’s head.

18 And Joseph said to his father, Not so, my father, for this is the firstborn; place your right hand on his head.

19 And his father refused, and said, I know, my son, I know; he too will be a people, and he too will become great; but truly his younger brother will become greater than he, and his seed will be the fullness of nations.***

20 And he blessed them on this day, saying, In you will Israel bless, saying, May God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh. And he put Ephraim before Manasseh.

21 And Israel said to Joseph, Behold, I am dying; and God will be with you, and will bring you back to the land of your fathers.

22 And I give you one portion above your brothers, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow.
* lit. generation
** lit. heavy
*** An expression describing populousness

AC (Elliott) n. 6216 6216. CONTENTS

This chapter deals in the internal sense with the Church’s understanding, which consists of truth, and with its will, which consists of good, the Church’s understanding being ‘Ephraim’ and the Church’s will ‘Manasseh’.

AC (Elliott) n. 6217 6217. In the Church the truth of faith, which exists in the understanding, seemingly occupies the first place, while the good of charity, which exists in the will, seemingly occupies the second place. This is meant by Israel’s putting out his right hand onto Ephraim’s head and his left onto Manasseh’s head.

AC (Elliott) n. 6218 6218. THE INTERNAL SENSE

Verses 1, 2 And so it was after these things, that [someone] said to Joseph, Behold, your father is sick. And he took his two sons with him, Manasseh and Ephraim. And [someone] told Jacob and said, Behold, your son Joseph has come to you; and Israel strengthened himself and sat on the bed.

‘And so it was after these things’ means what follows as a consequence of the affairs prior to this. ‘That [someone] said to Joseph’ means a preeminent perception. ‘Behold, your father is sick’ means the next stage towards regeneration. ‘And he took his two sons with him, Manasseh and Ephraim’ means the Church’s will and the Church’s understanding, born from the internal. ‘And [someone] told Jacob’ means a discernment by the truth of the natural. ‘And said, Behold, your son Joseph has come to you’ means regarding the presence of the internal. ‘And Israel strengthened himself’ means new powers received through spiritual good. ‘And sat on the bed’ means which was turned towards the natural.

AC (Elliott) n. 6219 6219. ‘And so it was after these things’ means what follows as a consequence of the affairs prior to this. This is clear from the meaning of ‘things’ as the affairs that have been dealt with prior to this, so that ‘after these things’ means what follows as a consequence of the affairs prior to this.

AC (Elliott) n. 6220 6220. ‘That [someone] said to Joseph’ means a pre-eminent discernment. This is clear from the meaning of ‘saying’ as perception, dealt with in 1791, 1815, 1819, 1822, 1898, 1919, 2080, 2619, 2682, 3509, 5687. The reason a pre-eminent discernment is meant is that the subject in what follows is the Church’s understanding and will, thus its truth and good, which come from an inflowing through the celestial internal, which is ‘Joseph’.

AC (Elliott) n. 6221 6221. ‘Behold, your father is sick’ means the next stage towards regeneration. This is clear from the meaning of ‘dying’ as resurrection to life, and regeneration, dealt with in 3326, 3498, 3505, 4618, 4621, 6036; consequently ‘being sick’ prior to death means a movement towards regeneration, thus the next stage towards it. The meaning of ‘dying’ as regeneration and of ‘being sick’ as the next stage towards it is bound to seem too far-fetched to be believed; but the person who knows anything about the way angels think and speak will acknowledge the truth of it. Angels have no knowledge at all of death or of sickness and consequently form no mental image of them. Instead they form, when a person reads about sickness and death, an idea of the continuation of life, and an idea of resurrection. The reason they do this is that when a person dies he casts off solely what has served him for use in the world and enters into the life his spirit has led. This is the idea that comes to angels’ minds when a person reads about ‘dying’ and ‘being sick’. An idea of regeneration likewise comes to mind, since regeneration is resurrection to life. For at first the person was spiritually dead; but once he has been regenerated he is made alive and ‘a son of the resurrection.*

[2] The person who, while living in the body, is desirous of heaven thinks of death and of sickness previous to it as nothing else than resurrection to life. For when he thinks about heaven he detaches himself from thought of the body, especially when he is sick and approaching death. From this it is evident that a spiritual idea of death of the body is an idea of newness of life. When therefore those in heaven refer to resurrection or regeneration, and this comes down and is channelled into the kinds of things that belong to the world, it cannot fall into any other kinds of images than these. This is how it is with the Word. Every single detail has come down from the Lord, passing through heaven and into the world. On the way down it assumes forms suited to the understanding of those in the three heavens, and at length assumes a form suited to man’s understanding, which form is the literal sense.
* Luke 20:36

AC (Elliott) n. 6222 6222. ‘And he took his two sons with him, Manasseh and Ephraim’ means the Church’s will and the Church’s understanding, born from the internal. This is clear from the representation of ‘Manasseh’ as the new will in the natural and its essential nature, dealt with in 5354 (end); and from the representation of ‘Ephraim’ as the new understanding in the natural and its essential nature, dealt with in 5354. The birth of the two from the internal is meant by the fact that they were the sons of Joseph, who represents the internal celestial, 5869, 5877.

[2] What the Church’s understanding is and what its will is must be stated. The Church’s understanding consists in perceiving from the Word what the truth of faith is and what the good of charity is. As is well known, the literal sense of the Word is by nature such that a person can use that sense to support any opinion at all that he may adopt. The reason for this is that ideas appearing in the literal sense of the Word serve as general vessels to receive truths, though not until they have actually received truths does the real nature of those vessels reveal itself as if through transparency. Thus those ideas form merely a general impression which a person must gain first in order that he may aptly receive particular aspects and specific details. This fact – that the literal sense of the Word is by nature such that a person can use that sense to support any opinion at all that he may adopt – is clearly evident from the great number of heresies that have existed in the Church, and still exist in it. Adherents of each heresy find support for it in the literal sense of the Word, support which enables them to believe fully that it is the truth, which means that if they were to hear the actual truth from heaven they would receive nothing at all of it.

[3] The reason why they would not receive it is that they do not share in the understanding that the Church possesses; for that understanding exists when people read the Word, assiduously take one statement together with another, and by doing so see what they ought to believe and what they ought to do. Such understanding comes only to those who receive light from the Lord, whom the Christian world also calls ‘the enlightened’. That enlightenment does not come to any but the kind of people who have the desire to know truths, not for the sake of reputation and glory but for the sake of life and service. That same enlightenment is received by a person in his understanding, for the understanding is the receiver of light. This is clearly evident from the fact that people who have little understanding cannot by any means see such things from the Word but have faith in those who they think are the enlightened. Furthermore it should be recognized that those who have been regenerated receive from the Lord an understanding which is capable of being enlightened; and it is the light of heaven coming from the Lord that flows into the understanding and gives it light, for the understanding receives its light, its sight, and consequently its perception from no other source.

[4] But this understanding which is being called the Church’s understanding is more internal than an understanding based merely on factual knowledge, for it consists in a discernment that a thing is true not because factual evidence and philosophical deductions dictate it but because the Word in its spiritual sense does so. For example, people who possess the Church’s understanding can perceive clearly that in every single part the Word teaches that love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour are the essential qualities of the Church, that a person’s life continues after death, and that his life arises out of his loves. They can also perceive that faith separated from charity is not faith, that faith contributes nothing to eternal life except in the measure that the good of love to the Lord and the good of charity towards the neighbour are linked to it, and that faith and charity must therefore be joined together so that spiritual life may exist. People with an enlightened understanding can perceive quite clearly that these things are true; but those without it can by no means see that they are.

[5] It is thought that the people with an understanding in things of the Church are those who know how to substantiate extensively the opinions or teachings of their Church, to the point of convincing others that they are true, and who know how to refute numerous heresies in a masterly way. But this is not what is meant by the Church’s understanding, for substantiating opinions is not a characteristic of the understanding but of mental ability at a sensory level, which sometimes comes to exist in very wicked people; indeed those without any beliefs at all, also those who are steeped in actual falsities, can have that ability. Nothing comes more easily to both these kinds of people than to substantiate whatever idea they like, so thoroughly that they convince the simple. But before substantiating any opinion the Church’s understanding engages in seeing and perceiving whether it is true or not, and in substantiating it only after that.

[6] This understanding is what is represented by ‘Ephraim’. But the Church’s good, which is represented by ‘Manasseh’, is the good of charity, which the Lord instills into a member of the Church through the truths of faith. For these truths together with the good of charity are what flow into the understanding and give it light, and also enable the understanding and the will to constitute one mind. The truth that both these – the understanding and the will – are born from the internal may be seen from what was stated and shown previously; for the whole affection for goodness and truth, the affection through which enlightenment comes, flows in from no other origin, thus is born from no other origin than the internal; that is, it comes from the Lord through the internal.

AC (Elliott) n. 6223 6223. ‘And [someone] told Jacob’ means a discernment by the truth of the natural. This is clear from the meaning of ‘telling’ as discernment, dealt with in 3608, 5601; and from the representation of ‘Jacob’ as the truth of the natural, dealt with in 3305, 3509, 3525, 3546, 3599, 3775, 4009, 4234, 4520, 4538, 6001.

AC (Elliott) n. 6224 6224. ‘And said, Behold, your son Joseph has come to you’ means the presence of the internal. This is clear from the representation of ‘Joseph’ as the internal, 6177; and from the meaning of ‘coming to someone’ as presence, dealt with in 5934, 5941, 5947, 6063, 6089. ‘Joseph’ is the internal and in some other places the internal celestial, which one depending on the things with which it is connected in the natural below. The term ‘the internal’ is used when the connection is with the lower parts of the natural, which are represented by ‘Jacob’, and similarly when the connection is with Pharaoh. But the terms ‘the internal celestial’ and ‘internal good’ are used when the connection is with the interior parts of the natural, which are represented by ‘Israel’ and also by ‘his ten sons’ each connection existing because one flows into the other.

AC (Elliott) n. 6225 6225. ‘And Israel strengthened himself’ means new powers received through spiritual good. This is clear from the meaning of ‘strengthening oneself’ as receiving new powers; and from the representation of ‘Israel’ as spiritual good from the natural, dealt with in 4286, 4598, 5801, 5803, 5806, 5812, 5817, 5819, 5826, 5833. The reason the new powers come through spiritual good is that in what has just been said Jacob is called Jacob but now he is called Israel; for this is what is said,

[Someone] told Jacob and said, Behold, your son Joseph has come to you; and Israel strengthened himself.

For ‘Israel’ is spiritual good from the natural, whereas ‘Jacob’ is the truth of the natural, and the truth of the natural, which is the truth of faith there, receives its strength through spiritual good, which is the good of charity. Also, ‘Israel’ is the internal aspect of the Church and ‘Jacob’ its external aspect, 4286, 4292, 4570. The external aspect of the Church derives its strength and receives its powers from nowhere else than its internal. The internal aspect of the Church exists among those governed by the good of charity, which is the good of faith, also the good of truth, and spiritual good as well, which are ‘Israel’. But the external aspect of the Church exists among those governed by the truth of faith. They are not yet plainly governed by good; yet the truth they are governed by holds good within it, and this is ‘Jacob’.

AC (Elliott) n. 6226 6226. ‘And sat on the bed’ means which was turned towards the natural. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the bed’ as the natural, dealt with in 6188. The reason why ‘Israel sat on the bed’ means that spiritual good was turned towards the natural is that in the last verse of the previous chapter, Chapter 47, ‘Israel bowed himself over the head of the bed’ meant that spiritual good turned itself towards things of the interior natural, see 6188, and therefore moving himself from the head and sitting on the bed means that spiritual good turned itself towards the natural. Nothing intelligible can be said to show what turning itself to the interior natural is, or to the exterior natural, because very few people know of the existence of the interior natural and the exterior natural, or that thought takes place at one time in the first, at another in the second. And people who do not know these things do not stop to reflect on them and consequently cannot have gained any knowledge of this particular matter by anything they have experienced. Yet this turning to one and then to the other goes on in everyone, though with variations; for at one time a person’s thought is raised to things on a higher level, and at another it comes down to those on a lower level, so that at one time his thought looks upwards, at another time downwards.

[2] Apart from all this anyone can see that ‘Israel bowed himself over the head of the bed’ and that after that ‘he sat on the bed’ are matters which would have been too trivial for mention in the most holy Word unless they had held some arcanum within them. That arcanum cannot be brought to light except by means of the internal sense, except therefore through a knowledge of what each individual word means in the spiritual sense, that is, the sense that angels understand. For angels thoughts are not based, as men’s are, on worldly, bodily, and earthly objects, but on heavenly ones. The nature of the difference between those two kinds of objects is particularly evident from correspondences, which are the subject at the ends of a number of chapters.

AC (Elliott) n. 6227 6227. Verses 3-7 And Jacob said to Joseph, God Shaddai showed Himself to me in Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me. And He said to me, Behold, I am making you fruitful and will cause you to be multiplied, and I will make you into a congregation of peoples, and I will give this land to your seed after you as an everlasting possession. And now your two sons born to you in the land of Egypt, prior to my coming to you, to Egypt, they are mine, Ephraim and Manasseh; as Reuben and Simeon will they be mine. And your offspring* that you beget after them will be yours; they will be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance. And as for me, when I was coming from Paddan, Rachel died on me in the land of Canaan on the road when there was still a stretch of land to go to Ephrath; and I buried her there on the road to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem.

‘And Jacob said to Joseph’ means a communication of the truth of the natural with the internal. ‘God Shaddai showed Himself to me in Luz in the land of Canaan’ means the Divine appearing within the natural in a previous state. ‘And blessed me’ means a foretelling about a bestowal of life. ‘And he said to me, Behold, I am making you fruitful and will cause you to be multiplied’ means a bestowal of life through the good of charity and the truth of faith. ‘And I will make you into a congregation of peoples’ means an increase without limit. ‘And I will give [this] land to [your] seed after you as an everlasting possession’ means the Lord’s kingdom belonging to those who have that goodness and truth within them. ‘And now your two sons born to you in the land of Egypt’ means goodness and truth within the natural that come from the internal. ‘Prior to my coming to you, to Egypt’ means before the truth of the natural existed within factual knowledge there. ‘They are mine’ means that they are within me. ‘Ephraim and Manasseh’ means the Church’s understanding and will. ‘As Reuben and Simeon will they be mine’ means that they will be truth and the good of truth. ‘And your offspring that you beget after them’ means interior truths and forms of good which are begotten later on. ‘Will be yours’ means that they will be in the rational which is within the internal. ‘They will be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance’ means that they will be of the same essential nature as that of the Church’s truths and forms of good, and will exist together among them. ‘And as for me, when I was coming from Paddan’ means from a state of cognitions. ‘Rachel died on me in the land of Canaan’ means the end of a former affection for interior truth. ‘On the road when there was still a stretch of land’ means what comes in between. ‘To go to Ephrath’ means the spiritual of the celestial in a former state. ‘And I buried her on the road to Ephrath’ means a casting away of that state. ‘That is, Bethlehem’ means replacing this, a state in which there is a new affection for truth and good.
* lit. generation

AC (Elliott) n. 6228 6228. ‘And Jacob said to Joseph’ means a communication of the truth of the natural with the internal. This is clear from the meaning of ‘saying’ as perception, dealt with above in 6220, and also communication, dealt with in 3060, 4131, for What is perceived by another is something communicated to him; from the representation of ‘Jacob’ as the truth of the natural, dealt with just above in 6223; and from the representation of ‘Joseph’ as the internal, also dealt with above, in 6224.

AC (Elliott) n. 6229 6229. ‘God Shaddai showed Himself to me in Luz in the land of Canaan’ means the Divine appearing within the natural in a previous state. This is clear from the meaning of ‘God Shaddai’ as the Divine, for He who was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was called Shaddai, 3667, 5628, and was Jehovah Himself or the Lord, thus the Divine, as may be seen from Gen. 28:13, 19; from the meaning of ‘showed Himself to me’ as the fact that He appeared; from the meaning of ‘Luz’ as the natural in a previous state, dealt with in 4556; and from the meaning of ‘the land of Canaan’ as the Church, dealt with before. From all this it is evident that ‘God Shaddai showed Himself to me in Luz in the land of Canaan’ means the Divine appearing within the natural where the spiritual Church’s truth existed.

AC (Elliott) n. 6230 6230. ‘And blessed me’ means a foretelling about a bestowal of life. This is clear from the meaning here of ‘blessing’ as a foretelling regarding a bestowal of life; for the blessing was that He would make him fruitful and multiply him, make him into a congregation of peoples, and give the land to his seed after him as an everlasting possession, which are all part of the foretelling about the bestowal of life. Not that Jacob’s descendants were to have life bestowed on them but those who have the truth of faith and the good of charity in them; for these are the ones who are meant in the internal sense by ‘Jacob and Israel’.

AC (Elliott) n. 6231 6231. ‘And he said to me, Behold, I am making you fruitful and will cause you to be multiplied’ means a bestowal of life through the good of charity and the truth of faith. This is clear from the meaning of ‘being made fruitful’ as that which has regard to the good of charity, and of ‘being multiplied’ as that which has regard to the truth of faith, dealt with in 43, 55, 913, 983, 2846, 2847. Since these are what bestow life on a person, the expression ‘a bestowal of life through them’ is used.

AC (Elliott) n. 6232 6232. And I will make you into a congregation of peoples’ means an increase without limit. This is clear from the meaning of ‘a congregation of peoples’ as truths from good without limit; for ‘peoples’ means truths, 1259, 1260, 3295, and ‘a congregation an abundance. Consequently ‘making into a congregation of peoples’ means causing truths to increase abundantly. That increase is without limit for the reason that all things in the spiritual world, which spring from the Infinite, as truths and forms of good do, are capable of unending multiplication and increase. The expression ‘without limit’ denotes that which cannot be described and comprehended numerically; yet that which is without limit is finite when compared with the Infinite, so that there is no way of measuring one against the other.

[2] The reason why truths and forms of good can increase without limit is that they derive from the Lord who is Infinite. One may see that this is what truths and forms of good are like from the consideration that truth and good reign throughout the whole of heaven and yet are never exactly the same with one person as with another; and this would still be so even if heaven were millions of times larger. It can likewise be seen from the consideration that angels are forever becoming more perfect, that is, they grow constantly in goodness and truth; yet they cannot possibly attain a full degree of perfection. Unlimited possibility for growth always remains; for truths have no numerical limit, each truth has unlimited facets, and so on.

[3] The same thing can be seen even better from those living in the natural world. Even if the human race increased without limit, still no one would have a face identical with another’s; no one would have an internal face, that is, a personality, identical with another’s, nor even an identical sound of voice. From this it is evident that variety without limit exists in all things and that one thing is never identical with another. Variety even more unlimited exists among the truths and forms of good that belong to the spiritual world; for one thing in the natural world corresponds to millions in the spiritual world. Therefore the more interior things are, the more they are without limit.

[4] The reason why such things without limit are a feature of everything in the spiritual world and also in the natural world is that they have their origin in the Infinite, as stated above; for if they did not have their origin there they could not possibly be without limit. Furthermore the things that are without limit in both worlds also make it quite evident that the Divine is Infinite.

AC (Elliott) n. 6233 6233. ‘And I will give [this] land to [your] seed after you as an everlasting possession’ means the Lord’s kingdom belonging to those who have that goodness and truth within them. This is clear from the meaning of ‘land’, in this case the land of Canaan, as the Lord’s kingdom, dealt with in 1607, 3078, 3481, 3705, 4240, 4447; from the meaning of ‘seed’ as the truth of faith and the good of charity, dealt with in 1025, 1447, 1610, 1940, 2848, 3038, 3310 – ‘the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob’ being those who have forms of good and truths in themselves and are called ‘the sons of the kingdom’, 3373; and from the meaning of ‘an everlasting possession’ as having life that is the Lord’s, since those who have that life are ‘the sons of the kingdom’.

AC (Elliott) n. 6234 6234. ‘And now your two sons born to you in the land of Egypt’ means goodness and truth within the natural that come from the internal. This is clear from the representation of Manasseh and Ephraim, to whom ‘two sons’ refers here, as the Church’s will and the Church’s understanding within the natural, which are born from the internal, dealt with above in 6222 (and since good belongs to the will and truth to the understanding, the Church’s goodness and truth are meant by those same sons); from the meaning of ‘born to you’ – to Joseph – as that come from the internal; and from the meaning of ‘the land of Egypt’ as the natural mind where the Church’s factual knowledge resides, dealt with in 5176, 5178, 5280, 5288, 5301, and as the natural, 6147.

AC (Elliott) n. 6235 6235. ‘prior to my coming to you, to Egypt’ means before the truth of the natural existed within factual knowledge. This is clear from the meaning of ‘prior to my coming to you’ as before it was present; from the representation of Jacob, who says this regarding himself, as the truth of the natural, dealt with above in 6223; and from the meaning of ‘Egypt’ as factual knowledge within the natural, dealt with in 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462, 4749, 4964, 4966, 5700, 6004. The coming of Jacob and his sons into Egypt represented the instillation of truths into the Church’s factual knowledge, as the two previous chapters have shown, see 6004.

AC (Elliott) n. 6236 6236. ‘They are mine’ means that they are within me. This is clear from the representation of ‘Jacob’, who says this regarding himself, as the truth of the natural, dealt with below; and from the representation of Manasseh and Ephraim, to whom he is referring, as the Church’s will and the Church’s understanding within the natural, dealt with in 5354, 6222. The reason ‘they are mine’ means within me is that in representing the truth of the natural ‘Jacob’ also represents the natural in relation to truth, and within the natural there exist an understanding part and a will part, which are represented by ‘Ephraim and Manasseh’. And as they exist in the natural ‘they are mine’ therefore means within me.

[2] ‘Jacob’ represents the natural – in the highest sense the Lord’s Divine Natural, see 3305, 3509, 3525, 3576, 4009, 4538, 4570, 6098, and in the relative sense truth in the natural, thus also the natural in relation to truth, 3509, 3525, 3546. And since ‘Jacob’ in general is truth in the natural, his ten sons are the Church’s truths there in particular, 5403, 5419, 5427, 5458, 5511; and so now are Joseph’s sons too. ‘Pharaoh’ likewise represents the natural, though not as regards truths but as regards factual knowledge, which is of a lower order than truths but is that into which they can be introduced and instilled, represented by the coming of Jacob and his sons to Egypt.

AC (Elliott) n. 6237 6237. ‘Ephraim and Manasseh’ means the Church’s understanding and will, see 5354, 6222.

AC (Elliott) n. 6238 6238. ‘As Reuben and Simeon will they be mine’ means that they will be truth and the good of truth. This is clear from the representation of ‘Reuben’ as faith in the understanding, and the truth of doctrine by means of which one is able to arrive at the good of life, dealt with in 3861, 3866, thus in general truth that belongs to the understanding; and from the representation of ‘Simeon’ as faith in the will, consequently truth realized in action, which is the good of faith or the good of truth, dealt with in 3869-3872, 4497, 4502, 4503, 5626, 5630, thus in general good which belongs to the new will. The things that Ephraim and Manasseh represent are clearly similar to all this.

[2] But since Reuben profaned what he represented, 4601, and Simeon polluted what he represented, 4497, 4501, 4507, on account of which they were cursed, see verses 3-7 of the next chapter, they lost their birthright and Joseph’s sons Ephraim and Manasseh were acknowledged as the firstborn in place of them, 1 Chron. 5:1. Nevertheless what Reuben and Simeon represented remained with them, for it makes no difference what the character of the person who serves to represent something is like, 665, l097 (end), 4281. That is to say, the representation of faith in the understanding remained with Reuben, and the representation of faith in the will with Simeon. But what resided with Ephraim was the representation of the Church’s understanding, and what resided with Manasseh was the representation of the Church’s will.

AC (Elliott) n. 6239 6239. ‘And your offspring that you beget after them’ means interior truths and forms of good which are begotten later on. This is clear from the meaning of ‘offspring’ or ‘generation’ as matters of faith and charity, dealt with in 613, 2020, 2584, thus truths and forms of good; and from the meaning of ‘after them’ as interior ones which are begotten later on. The reason interior ones are meant is that what is begotten from the internal at a later time is more interior. For in every consecutive stage all that has already been begotten serves the internal as the means by which what is begotten subsequently can be introduced into a more interior position, for the internal raises the natural by degrees up to itself. This is evident from the birth of all that constitutes the understanding in a person. At first he is on the level of his senses; later on he rises to more and more internal levels until he arrives at full use of his understanding. Similar to this is the new generation or birth which is effected by means of faith and charity. Thus it is that a person is perfected by degrees; see what has been stated in 6183 about the gradual raising up to more interior levels when a person is being regenerated.

[2] In the Word ‘generation’ means things which have to do with faith and charity, for the reason that no generation other than that of a spiritual kind is meant in the internal sense. That kind of generation is also meant in David,

They will fear greatly, for God is in the generation of the righteous. Ps. 14:5.

‘The generation of the righteous’ stands for truths that flow from good, for righteousness is an attribute of good. In Isaiah, 41:4.

They will not labour in vain, and they will not produce offspring* in terror; they will be the seed of the blessed of Jehovah. Isa. 65:23.

In the same prophet,

Who has performed and done this, calling the generations from the beginning? I, Jehovah, am the first, and with the last I am the same. Isa. 41:4.

In Ezekiel,

Your tradings and your births’ are of the land of the Canaanite. Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. As for your births,** on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, and you were not washed with water for Me to see. Ezek. 16:3, 4.

In these verses, which refer to the abominations of Jerusalem, it is quite evident that ‘generations’ or ‘births’ means generations in a spiritual sense.

[3] In Isaiah,

Awake as in the days of eternity, in the generations of eternity.*** Isa. 51:9.

‘The days of eternity’ stands for the state and time of the Most Ancient Church. The expression ‘eternity’ is used in reference to that Church because the good of love to the Lord reigned in it, and that good, since it flows directly from the Lord, is called eternal. ‘The generations of eternity’ stands for the forms of good that spring from that good.

[4] Something similar to this appears in Moses,

Remember the days of eternity, understand the years of generation after generation. Deut. 32:7.

‘The days of eternity’ stands for the state and time of the Most Ancient Church which existed before the Flood and was a celestial Church. ‘The years of generation after generation’ stands for the state and time of the Ancient Church which existed after the Flood and was a spiritual Church. Those Churches are the subject at that point in Moses.

[5] In Joel,

Judah will abide into eternity, and Jerusalem into generation after generation. Joel 3:20.

‘Eternity’ is used in reference to Judah because ‘Judah’ represents the celestial Church, 3881, and ‘generation after generation’ is used in reference to Jerusalem because by ‘Jerusalem’ is meant the spiritual Church, 402.

[6] In Isaiah,

My righteousness will exist into eternity, and My salvation into each generation.**** Isa. 51:8.

Here ‘eternity’ has reference to the good of love, for the word ‘righteousness’ is used in connection with that good, 612, 2235, and ‘generation’ has reference to the good of faith.

[7] In David,

Your kingdom is a kingdom to all eternity,***** and Your dominion to every generation after generation. Ps. 145:13.

Here the meaning is similar, for unless ‘eternity’ had had reference to what was celestial, and ‘generation’ to what was spiritual, one expression alone would have been used. The use of two would be pointless repetition.

[8] Things that have to do with a state of faith are also meant in the laws which forbade one who was illegitimate, down to the tenth generation of his descendants, to come into the assembly of Jehovah, Deut. 23:2, or an Ammonite or Moabite, down to the tenth generation of his descendants, Deut. 23:3; and in the law which allowed the third generation of an Edomite or Egyptian to come into the assembly of Jehovah, Deut. 23:8. Things that have to do with a state of faith are meant similarly in the Ten Commandments, where it says that Jehovah God will visit the iniquity of the fathers on the sons, on the third and the fourth generation, inasmuch as they hate Him, Exod. 20:5.

[9] The reason why forms of faith and charity are meant by ‘generations’ is that in the spiritual sense no other kinds of offspring are meant than those associated with regeneration or one who has been regenerated. Similarly with references in the Word to birth, bearing. and conception; forms of faith and charity are meant, see 1145, 1255, 3860, 3863, 4668, 5160, 5598.
* lit. generate
** lit. generations
*** lit. eternities
**** lit. generation of generations
***** lit. of all eternities

AC (Elliott) n. 6240 6240. ‘Will be yours’ means that they will be in the rational which is within the internal. This is clear from the consideration that the internal celestial represented by ‘Joseph’ exists in the rational, 4286, 4963, and therefore ‘will be yours’ means that they will be in the rational, just as previously ‘they are mine’ meant within the natural, in which the truth of the natural represented by ‘Jacob’ exists, 6236.

Let a brief statement be made about what the rational is. The area of understanding within the internal man is called the rational, while the area of understanding in the external man is called the natural, so that the rational is internal and the natural is external; and the two are completely distinct and separate from each other. A truly rational person is none other than one who is called a celestial person; that person enjoys a perception of what is good, and from that good a perception of what is true. But a person who does not have such perception but merely an awareness that a thing is true, because he has been taught that it is, and has a conscience as a result of that awareness, is not truly a rational person but an interiorly natural one. He is what those who belong to the Lord’s spiritual Church are like. These two kinds of people are as
different from each other as the light of the moon is from the light of the sun; and that also is why the Lord is seen by spiritual angels as the moon but by celestial ones as the sun, 1521, 1529-1531, 4060, 4696. Very many in the world imagine that a rational person is one who can reason with skill on many subjects and link one piece of reasoning to another in such a way that the conclusion he draws seems to be the truth. But that ability occurs even in very wicked people who are expert reasoners and can make the deduction that evil things are good and false ideas are true, or that good things are evil and true ideas are false. But anyone who stops to reflect can that this is wicked imagination and not rationality. Rationality consists in seeing inwardly and perceiving that what is good is indeed good, and from this that what is true is indeed true; for such vision and perception of these things comes from heaven. The reason why those who belong to the Lord’s spiritual Church are interiorly natural people is that they acknowledge as true only what they have learned from parents and teachers and later on firmly established for themselves. There is nothing else from which they can see inwardly or perceive whether a thing is true except what they have thus firmly established for themselves – unlike those who are celestial; which is why the latter are rational people, whereas the former are interior natural ones. The internal celestial, which ‘Joseph’ represents, exists in the rational, but spiritual good, which ‘Israel’ represents, exists in the interior natural, 4286; for they are spiritual people who are represented by’ Israel’, and celestial ones who are represented by ‘Joseph’.

AC (Elliott) n. 6241 6241. ‘They will be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance’ means that they will be of the same essential nature as that of the Church’s truths and forms of good, and will exist together among them. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the name’ and ‘being called by the name’ as the essential nature, dealt with in 144, 145, 1754, 1896, 2009, 2724, 3006, 3421; from the representation of Ephraim and Manasseh, to whom ‘brothers’ refers here, as the Church’s understanding and will, 3969, 5354, 6212, thus its truth and good, 6234; and from the meaning of ‘in their inheritance’ as existing together among them.

AC (Elliott) n. 6242 6242. ‘And as for me, when I was coming from Paddan’ means from a state of cognitions. This is clear from the meaning of ‘Paddan Aram’ as cognitions of truth and good, dealt with in 3664, 3680, 4107, so that ‘Paddan’ is a state of cognitions.

AC (Elliott) n. 6243 6243. ‘Rachel died on me in the land of Canaan’ means the end of a former affection for interior truth. This is clear from the meaning of ‘dying’ as ceasing to be such as it had been, dealt with in 494, and as the end of a former representation, 3253, 3259, 3276, 5975; and from the representation of ‘Rachel’ as the affection for interior truth, dealt with in 3758, 3782, 3793, 3819.

AC (Elliott) n. 6244 6244. ‘On the road when there was still a stretch of land’ means what comes in between. This becomes clear without explanation.

AC (Elliott) n. 6245 6245. ‘To go to Ephrath’ means the spiritual of the celestial in a former state. This is clear from the meaning of ‘Ephrath’ as the spiritual of the celestial in a former state, dealt with in 4585, 4594.

AC (Elliott) n. 6246 6246. ‘And I buried her on the road to Ephrath’ means the casting away of that state. This is clear from the meaning of ‘burying’ as casting away, dealt with in 4564; and from the meaning of ‘Ephrath’ as the spiritual of the celestial in a former state, 6245.

AC (Elliott) n. 6247 6247. ‘That is, Bethlehem’ means replacing this, a state in which there is a new affection for truth and good. This is clear from the meaning of ‘Bethlehem’ as the spiritual of the celestial in a new state, dealt with in 4594, thus a state in which there is a new affection for truth and good. For the spiritual of the celestial is the truth of good, thus an affection for truth derived from good. The situation so far as the contents of this verse in the internal sense are concerned must be stated. What the verse deals with is the casting away of a former affection for truth and the acceptance of a new one. The former affection for truth exists while a person is being regenerated, but a subsequent and new one exists once he has become regenerated. In the former state the person has an affection for truth because he is intent on becoming intelligent, but in the subsequent state on becoming wise; or what amounts to the same, in the former state he has an affection for truth out of concern for doctrine, but in the subsequent state out of concern for life. When it is a concern for doctrine he looks from truth towards good, but when it is a concern for life he looks from good towards truth, so that the subsequent state is a reversal of the former. For that reason the former state is cast away while a person is being regenerated, and the subsequent and new one is received. Also, compared with the subsequent new state the former one is impure, for when a person has an affection for truth out of concern for doctrine because he is intent on becoming intelligent, he is also moved at the same time by a desire for reputation and glory. This desire is inevitably present in that former state, and its presence is allowed so that it may lead on into the next, because that is what people are like. But when he has an affection for truth out of concern for life, he casts aside glory and reputation as his ends in view and instead embraces the good of life, that is, charity towards the neighbour.

AC (Elliott) n. 6248 6248. Verses 8, 9 And Israel saw Joseph’s sons and said, Whose are these? And Joseph said to his father, My sons are they, whom God has given me here. And he said, Bring them now to me, and I will bless them.

‘And Israel saw Joseph’s sons’ means a discernment regarding the Church’s understanding and will. ‘And said, Whose are these?’ means and regarding their origin. ‘And Joseph said to his father’ means a response coming from what exists more internally. ‘My sons are they, whom God has given me here’ means that they come from the internal in the natural. ‘And he said, Bring them now to me’ means so that they may draw near to spiritual good. ‘And I will bless them’ means a foretelling regarding goodness and truth.

AC (Elliott) n. 6249 6249. ‘And Israel saw Joseph’s sons’ means a discernment regarding the Church’s understanding and will. This is clear from the meaning of ‘seeing’ as discernment, dealt with in 2150, 3764, 4403-4421, 4567, 4723, 5400; and from the representation of Ephraim and Manasseh as the Church’s understanding and will, born from the internal, which is ‘Joseph’, dealt with in 5354, 6222.

AC (Elliott) n. 6250 6250. ‘And said, Whose are these?’ means and regarding their origin, that is to say, a perception regarding it. This is clear from the meaning of ‘saying’ as perception, dealt with above in 6220; and from the meaning of whose are these?’ as a question regarding their origin. For in the internal sense putting questions denotes knowledge gained by perception, see 2693, 6132.

AC (Elliott) n. 6251 6251. ‘And Joseph said to his father’ means a response coming from what exists more internally. This becomes clear without explanation, since ‘Joseph’ means what is internal, 6177. For what happens when a person perceives something is that he asks himself what he knows about the matter and also responds to what he asks from what exists more internally in him. I have also noticed that when spirits have asked me what I knew about something they received a response by merely looking into my thought.

AC (Elliott) n. 6252 6252. ‘My sons are they, whom God has given me here’ means that they come from the internal in the natural. This is clear from the representation of Joseph, whose ‘sons’ they were, as the internal, dealt with in 6177, 6224; and from the meaning of the land of Egypt, to which ‘here’ refers, as the natural mind, dealt with in 5276, 5278, 5280, 5288, 5301, thus the natural.

AC (Elliott) n. 6253 6253. ‘And he said, Bring them now to me’ means so that they may draw near to spiritual good. This is clear from the meaning of ‘bringing them to him’ as so that they may draw near; and from the representation of Israel, to whom they were to draw near, as spiritual good, dealt with in 5801, 5803, 5806, 5812, 5817, 5819, 5826, 5833.

AC (Elliott) n. 6254 6254. ‘And I will bless them’ means a foretelling regarding goodness and truth. This is clear from the meaning of ‘blessing’ as foretelling, as above in 6230, here a foretelling regarding goodness and truth, which are represented by ‘Manasseh and Ephraim’. Being a very common word ‘blessing’ has various meanings. Included among them is the foretelling both of good things that are going to happen and also of bad ones, as is evident in the next chapter in which Israel foretold to his sons what was going to happen to them – bad things to some, such as Reuben, Simeon, and Levi, good ones to others, such as Judah and Joseph. That foretelling is called a blessing in verse 28 of that chapter,

This is what their father spoke to them; and he blessed them, each according to his blessing he blessed them.

It is also clear from the words contained in the first verse of the chapter that ‘blessing’ means a foretelling,

Jacob called his sons, and said, Gather together, and I will tell you what will happen to you at the end of days.

AC (Elliott) n. 6255 6255. Verses 10-14 And the eyes of Israel were weak* because of old age; he could not see. And [Joseph] made them draw near him, and [Israel] kissed them and embraced them. And Israel said to Joseph, I did not think to see your face, and behold, God has caused me to see your seed also. And Joseph brought them away from his thighs and bowed down, his face to the earth. And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand to Israel’s left, and Manasseh in his left to Israel’s right, and made them draw near him. And Israel put out his right hand and placed it on Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head; crosswise he put out his hands, for Manasseh was the firstborn.

‘And the eyes of Israel were weak’ means his obscurity of discernment. ‘Because of old age’ means because he was in the final phase of his representation. ‘He could not see means not noticing. ‘And [Joseph] made them draw near him’ means presence. ‘And [Israel] kissed them’ means a joining together resulting from an affection for truth. ‘And embraced them’ means a joining together resulting from an affection for good. ‘And Israel said to Joseph’ means a raising up to the internal. ‘I did not think to see your face’ means that he had not entertained any hope of an inflowing of his love. ‘And behold, God has caused me to see your seed also’ means that not only an inflow of love was discerned, but also the goodness and truth springing from it. ‘And Joseph brought them away from his thighs’ means that the good belonging to the will and the truth belonging to the understanding within the natural were brought away from an affection originating in love on the part of spiritual good. ‘And bowed down, his face to the earth’ means an expression of humility by them. ‘And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand to Israel’s left’ means truth belonging to the understanding, to occupy the second place. ‘And Manasseh in his left hand to Israel’s right’ means good belonging to the will, to occupy the first place. ‘And made them draw near him’ means a linking together. ‘And Israel put out his right hand and placed it on Ephraim’s head’ means that he considered truth to occupy the first place. ‘Who was the younger’ means though in fact it occupies the second place. ‘And his left hand on Manasseh’s head’ means that he considered good to occupy the second place. ‘Crosswise he put out his hands’ means thus out of keeping with true order. ‘For Manasseh was the firstborn’ means since good does indeed occupy the first place.
* lit. heavy

AC (Elliott) n. 6256 6256. ‘And the eyes of Israel were weak’ means his obscurity of discernment. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the eyes’ as the sight of the understanding, dealt with in 2701, 4087, 4379, 4403-4421, also meant by ‘seeing’, as above in 6249; from the representation of ‘Israel’ as spiritual good within the natural, dealt with above in 6253; and from the meaning of ‘being weak’, when used in reference to the eyes, as obscurity, thus obscurity of discernment. The reason Why Israel’s discernment had become obscure when he blessed Joseph’s sons was that he had reached the final phase of his representation, though a more general reason is that an obscurity of perception exists in the spiritual good which ‘Israel’ represents; for that good comes from the natural, in which inferior natural light predominates, not superior heavenly light in which spiritual and celestial good from the rational dwells. Such is the nature of the external man, also called the natural man. When the expression ‘spiritual good from the natural’ is used, people whose good is such are meant. They are those who belong to the Lord’s spiritual Church, which also is why ‘Israel’ represents that Church, 4286; and compared with celestial people, members of that Church, who are spiritual people, live in obscurity, see 2708, 2715, 2716, 2718, 2831, 2849, 2935, 2937, 3246, 4402. And since they live in obscurity they also put the truth of faith in the first place, even as Israel did here, in that he made Ephraim take precedence over Manasseh.

[2] The reason why spiritual people believe that the truth of faith takes precedence is that it is by means of truth that they are led on to good, 2954; and while they are being led to it they have no perception of good because good flows from within into an affection for truth, and so does not enter their discernment until they have been regenerated. This also explains why they call the good deeds of charity the fruits of faith, though little concern is shown for such fruits by those who suppose that faith alone without good works saves a person, even in the final hour when he dies, irrespective of the life he had led before that. This way of thinking is clearly an obscurity of discernment regarding goodness and truth. But be that as it may, those who make faith take precedence over charity on doctrinal grounds and yet lead a charitable life are people who belong to the Lord’s spiritual Church and are saved. For in life they make the good of charity take precedence, but in doctrine the truth of faith.

AC (Elliott) n. 6257 6257. ‘Because of old age’ means because he was in the final phase of his representation. This is clear from the meaning of ‘old age’ as a new state of representation, dealt with in 3254, thus the final phase of a former one.

AC (Elliott) n. 6258 6258. ‘He could not see’ means not noticing. This is clear from the meaning of ‘seeing’ as discerning, dealt with above in 6249, thus also noticing.

AC (Elliott) n. 6259 6259. ‘And [Joseph] made them draw near him’ means presence. This is clear from the meaning of making ‘draw near’ as causing to be present.

AC (Elliott) n. 6260 6260. ‘And [Israel] kissed them’ means a joining together resulting from an affection for truth. This is clear from the meaning of ‘kissing’ as a joining together resulting from affection, dealt with in 3573, 3574, 4215, 4753, 5929. The reason it is the result of an affection for truth is that the words ’embraced them’ follow, by which a joining together resulting from an affection for good is meant. For ’embracing’ describes a more internal and consequently closer joining together* than ‘kissing’, even as an affection for good is more internal than an affection for truth.
* The Latin means affection, but a joining together is clearly intended.

AC (Elliott) n. 6261 6261. ‘And embraced them’ means a joining together resulting from an affection for good. This is clear from the meaning of ’embracing’ as a joining together brought about by love, dealt with in 4351, thus a joining together resulting from an affection for good, see immediately above in 6260. The fact that ’embracing’ means such an affection is very plain from the love an embrace bears witness to – an embrace is an action which flows from that love. For every spiritual affection has a corresponding gesture that a person performs with his body; and this gesture is representative of that affection. This is also true, as is well known, of ‘kissing’, dealt with just above.

AC (Elliott) n. 6262 6262. ‘And Israel said to Joseph’ means a raising up to the internal. This is clear from the meaning of ‘saying’ as perception and also an inflowing, dealt with before. The reason a raising up is meant is that this verse deals with an inflowing of love, and consequently of goodness and truth from the internal, an inflowing which is a raising up to the internal. The external cannot possess love for the internal except through an inflowing and a raising up by the internal. For the very love that is felt within the external belongs to the internal; and since every active force has that which is reactive, namely that which acts in response to it, in order that some effect may be realized, and as the active force is the cause and what reacts to it is a product of the cause, reaction belongs to the active force just as the product of a cause belongs to that cause. For every force within the product of a cause originates in the cause. This is true of reaction existing in every detail of the entire natural order.

AC (Elliott) n. 6263 6263. ‘I did not think to see your face’ means that he had not entertained any hope of an inflowing of his love. This is clear from the meaning of ‘face’ as the interiors, dealt with in 358, 2434, 3527, 3573, 4066, 4796, 4798, 5695, thus the affections since they shine primarily from the face, 4796, 5102 – ‘God’s face’ therefore is Divine love and accordingly mercy, 5585; and from the meaning of ‘I did not think’ as not entertaining any hope. As regards an inflowing of love, this is meant by ‘seeing the face’, as is also evident from what is stated in the narrative immediately before and after.

AC (Elliott) n. 6264 6264. ‘And behold, God has caused me to see your seed also’ means that not only an inflow of love was discerned, but also the goodness and truth springing from it. This is clear from the representation of Manasseh and Ephraim, to whom ‘seed’ refers here, as good belonging to the will and truth belonging to the understanding, dealt with in 5354, 6222, as well as from the meaning of ‘seed’ also as goodness and truth, 1610, 2848, 3310, 3373, 7671. And since the words used are ‘I did not think to see your face, and behold, God has caused me to see’, the meaning is that not only an inflow of love was discerned, but also the goodness and truth springing from it; for ‘seeing the face’ means an inflow of love, see immediately above in 6263.

AC (Elliott) n. 6265 6265. ‘And Joseph brought them away from his thighs’ means that the good belonging to the will and the truth belonging to the understanding were brought away from an affection originating in love on the part of spiritual good. This is clear from the representation of ‘Joseph’ as the internal celestial, dealt with in 5869, 5877; from the representation of Manasseh and Ephraim, the ones here whom ‘Joseph brought away’, as the good belonging to the will and the truth belonging to the understanding, dealt with in 5354, 6222; from the meaning of ‘the thighs’ as an affection originating in love, dealt with in 3021, 4277, 4280, 4575, 5050-5062; and on the part of spiritual good is meant because they were brought away from Israel, who represents spiritual good, 6253. The words used here mean that the internal celestial took good belonging to the will and truth belonging to the understanding away from spiritual good, that is, away from the affection arising from its love; they have this meaning because ‘Israel’, who represents spiritual good, had made that goodness and truth draw near him. Besides this they had to be brought to him by Joseph, who represents the internal celestial; for that reason they were brought away and after that, as described in what follows, were brought to him again by Joseph.

[2] The explanation for all this is that the inflow of love came to that goodness and truth from the internal celestial by way of spiritual good – in keeping with true order. That external procedure had therefore to be strictly adhered to when they were going to be blessed; for they were being presented to the Lord, the Source of the foretelling meant here by the blessing, 6254. This now explains why Joseph brought his sons away from his father’s thighs, and why he himself after that brought them to him again.

AC (Elliott) n. 6266 6266. ‘And bowed down, his face to the earth’ means an expression of humility by them. This is clear from the meaning of ‘bowing down, face to the earth’ as an expression of interior humility, dealt with in 5682. For that kind of bowing down is an action performed by the body corresponding to humility of mind; and it explains why people who worship God in their hearts bow down in that manner. It is said that Joseph ‘bowed down’ because he was acting in place of them; yet he did not bow down before Israel but before the Lord, from whom the blessing came through Israel.

[2] Joseph did it in place of them because of the situation in spiritual things. Good belonging to the will and truth belonging to the understanding within the natural possess no ability on their own to humble themselves before the Lord; they can possess it only if it flows in from the internal. In fact without an inflow through the internal into the natural, nothing at all of the powers of will and understanding are present there, nor indeed any life since the internal is the means through which life from the Lord comes to be there.

AC (Elliott) n. 6267 6267. ‘And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand to Israel’s left’ means truth belonging to the understanding, to occupy the second place, ‘and Manasseh in his left to Israel’s right’ means good belonging to the will, to occupy the first place. This is clear from the representation of ‘Ephraim’ as truth belonging to the understanding, and from the representation of ‘Manasseh’ as good belonging to the will, dealt with in 5354, 6222; and from the meaning of ‘the right’ as occupying the first place, and of ‘the left’ as occupying the second place, as is evident from what is the normal practice in life. The implications of all this will be discussed in what follows below.

AC (Elliott) n. 6268 6268. ‘And made them draw near him’ means a linking together. This is clear without explanation.

AC (Elliott) n. 6269 6269. ‘And Israel put out his right hand and placed it on Ephraim’s head’ means that he considered truth to occupy the first place. This is clear from the meaning of ‘putting out his right hand’ as considering to occupy the first place – ‘right hand’ meaning in first place, as is self-evident; and from the representation of’ Ephraim’ as the understanding, and so the truth of faith since it dwells in the understanding part of a person s mind when sight provided by the light of heaven, thus spiritual sight, exists there, see 6222. The fact that Israel put his right hand on Ephraim’s head and his left on Manasseh’s is referred to in this verse and also in verses 17-19 below; and by that action is meant the fact that he considered the truth of faith to occupy first place and the good of charity second place. The reason he thought that way was that the spiritual man, represented by ‘Israel’, 4286, 6256, does not consider them, before he has been regenerated, any differently. For the spiritual man is directly conscious of what the truth of faith is; but he is not conscious of what the good of charity is since it comes to him by an interior route, whereas the truth of faith comes by an exterior one, just as factual knowledge does.

[2] But people who are not being regenerated say quite categorically that faith occupies the first place, that is, that it is the essential element of the Church, because they can then lead whatever kind of life they like and still say that they entertain the hope of salvation. This also is the reason why at the present day charity has disappeared so completely that scarcely anyone knows what it is, or even consequently what faith is since the one does not exist without the other. If charity occupied the first place and faith the second the whole appearance of the Church would be different, for in that case no others would be called Christians but those who led a life in keeping with the truth of faith, which is a charitable life. People would also know what charity was, and they would not on the basis of particular ideas about the truths of faith distinguish between and make many Churches out of different groups. Instead they would speak of one Church that included all leading a good life, and not only those within that part of the world where the Church exists but also those outside. If they spoke in this way the Church would have an enlightened view of such things as belong to the Lord’s kingdom; for charity is what brings light, and never faith without charity. And the mistaken ideas that faith separated from charity introduces would also be clearly recognizable.

[3] From this one may see how different the whole appearance of the Church would be if the good of charity were to occupy the first place, that is, if it were the essential element, and the truth of faith occupied the second place, that is, if it were the outward form that expressed it. The whole appearance of the Church would then be like that of the Ancient Church, which identified the Church with charity and had no other teachings of the Church than those concerned with charity, as a consequence of which they had wisdom from the Lord. The nature of that Church is described by these words in Moses,

Jehovah encompassed him, instructed him, and kept him as the pupil of His eye. As an eagle stirs up its nest, hovers over its young, spreads out its wings, He took him, He carried him on His wing. Jehovah alone led him, nor was any foreign god with him. He caused him to ride on the heights of the land, and He fed [Him] from the produce of the fields; He caused him to suck honey out of the rock and oil out of the flinty rock – butter from the herd, and milk from the flock, with the fat of lambs and of rams, the breed* of Bashan, and of goats, with the kidney-fat of wheat; and of the blood of the grape you drink unmixed wine. Deut. 32:10-14.

Those who belonged to that Church are consequently in heaven, enjoying complete happiness and glory there.
* lit. sons

AC (Elliott) n. 6270 6270. ‘Who was the younger means though in fact it occupies the second place. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the younger’, as occupying the second place.

AC (Elliott) n. 6271 6271. ‘And his left hand on Manasseh’s head’ means that he considered good to occupy the second place. This is clear from the meaning of ‘putting out his left hand’ as considering it to occupy the second place; and from the representation of ‘Manasseh’ as the will, and so also the good of charity. For what is implied here, see just above in 6269.

AC (Elliott) n. 6272 6272. ‘Crosswise he put out his hands’ means thus out of keeping with true order. This is clear from the meaning of ‘crosswise putting out one’s hands’ as not in keeping with true order; for by acting in that way Israel makes the younger the firstborn and the older the later-born, so that the truth of faith is made prior and higher and the good of charity posterior and lower. (For the birthright consists in holding the prior and higher position, 3325.) How much evil is introduced into the Church by that exchange of positions is perfectly plain, for by making the exchange people cast themselves into such obscurity that they do not know what good is, or thus what truth is. For good is like a flame and truth is like the light that shines from it. If you take away the flame the light perishes too; or if any light is visible it is like a false light which does not come from the flame. That exchange of positions also causes Churches to clash and quarrel with one another about what is true, one group declaring that this idea is true, another that it is false. Worse than that, once they make faith take precedence in a group of people forming the Church, they begin to separate faith from charity, to rate charity as nothing in comparison with faith, and so to have no concern about the life they lead – a way of thinking to which a person is by natural disposition also inclined. The Church as a consequence perishes, for the life he leads is what constitutes the Church in a person, not doctrine divorced from life. Nor thus does trust, which is a high degree of faith, constitute the Church; for genuine trust cannot exist except with those who have charity since a life filled with trust springs from charity. Besides, the good of charity is in reality the firstborn, that is, occupies the first place, while the truth of faith only appears to be, see 3324, 3539, 3548, 3556, 3563, 3570, 3576, 3603, 3701, 4243, 4244, 4247, 4337, 4925, 4926, 4928, 4930, 4977.

AC (Elliott) n. 6273 6273. ‘For Manasseh was the firstborn’ means since good does indeed occupy the first place. This is clear from the representation of ‘Manasseh’ as good belonging to the will, dealt with before; and from the meaning of ‘the birthright’ as the prior and higher position, dealt with in 3325, so that ‘the firstborn’ is the one who occupies the first place. Is anyone incapable of seeing from natural light alone, provided a superior light brightens it a little, that good occupies the first place, as also do the intentions in a person’s will, and that truth occupies the second, as also do the thoughts in his mind? Is anyone also incapable of seeing that the intentions in a person’s will cause him to think in one particular way and no other, consequently that the good he possesses causes him to think that this or that is true; so that truth occupies the second place and good the first? Think and reflect on whether truth that composes faith can take root anywhere else than in good, or whether faith other than that which has taken root there is faith. From this you will be able to decide which is the primary or essential element for the Church, that is, for the person in whom the Church exists.

AC (Elliott) n. 6274 6274. Verses 15, 16 And he blessed Joseph, and said, The God before whom my fathers walked, Abraham and Isaac, the God feeding me since then, even until this day, the angel redeeming me from every evil, may he bless the boys, and in them will my name be called, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and may they increase into a multitude in the midst of the earth.

‘And he blessed Joseph’ means a foretelling about the truth belonging to the understanding and the good belonging to the will, both of which possess life from the internal. ‘And said, The God before whom my fathers walked, Abraham and Isaac’ means the Divine from whom internal good and internal truth possessed their life. ‘The God feeding me’ means that same Divine bestowing life on the good of spiritual truth from the natural. ‘Since then, even until this day’ means constantly. ‘The angel redeeming me from every evil’ means the Lord’s Divine Human, the deliverer from hell. ‘May he bless the boys’ means, May he make it possible for them to have truth and goodness. ‘And in them will my name be called’ means that in them the essential nature of the good of spiritual truth from the natural will be present. ‘And the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac’ means, and the essential nature of internal goodness and truth. ‘And may they increase into a multitude in the midst of the earth’ means an extension from the inmost part.

AC (Elliott) n. 6275 6275. ‘And he blessed Joseph’ means a foretelling about the truth belonging to the understanding and the good belonging to the will, both of which possess life from the internal. This is clear from the meaning of ‘blessing’ as a foretelling, dealt with in 6230, 6254; and from the representation of Ephraim and Manasseh, to whom the name ‘Joseph’ applies here, as truth belonging to the understanding and good belonging to the will within the natural, which are born from the internal, dealt with in 6234, 6249. The fact that the name ‘Joseph’ is used to mean his sons is evident from the actual blessing, which declares,

The angel redeeming me from every evil, may he bless the boys, and in them will my name be called.

And the reason why they are called ‘Joseph’ is that the goodness and truth within the natural, which are represented by ‘Manasseh and Ephraim’, exist there as the internal itself.

[2] Internal and external are, it is true, distinct and separate from each other; but within the natural, where they are both together, the internal resides as if within a form of its own, perfectly suited to it. That form does not at all act independently but under the direction of the internal within it, and so is merely an agent. It is like the efficient cause within an effect. The efficient cause and the effect are distinct and separate from each other; yet the efficient cause resides within the effect as if the effect were its own form, perfectly suited to it, and through that form it acts as the cause in the sphere where the effect is produced. Something similar to this goes on with goodness and truth in a person’s natural, which are born from the internal. The internal clothes itself with such things as belong to the natural, so that it can reside there and lead its life there. But the things with which it clothes itself are nothing else than coverings, which do not act independently.

AC (Elliott) n. 6276 6276. ‘And said, The God before whom my fathers walked, Abraham and Isaac’ means the Divine from whom internal good and internal truth possessed their life. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the God’ as the Divine; from the meaning of ‘walking’ as living or having life, dealt with in 519, 1794; and from the representation of ‘Abraham’ in the highest sense as the Lord’s Divine itself, and of ‘Isaac’ as His Divine Rational, thus His Internal Human since ‘Jacob’ is the Lord’s Divine Natural or His External Human, all three of which are dealt with in 2011, 3245, 3305 (end), 3439, 4615. But in the representative sense ‘Abraham’ is internal good and ‘Isaac’ internal truth, 3703, 6098, 6185. The reason ‘Abraham’ and ‘Isaac’ have these meanings in the representative sense is that the actual goodness and truth which are present in the Lord’s kingdom come forth from His Divine and His Divine Human. These are what cause the Lord Himself to be present there, so that He Himself is His kingdom.

AC (Elliott) n. 6277 6277. ‘The God feeding me’ means that same Divine bestowing life on the good of spiritual truth from the natural. This is clear from the meaning of ‘feeding’ as bestowing life on (‘feeding’ or ‘pasturing’ is instructing, see 6044, and ‘pasture’ is that which sustains a person’s spiritual life, 6078. But ‘feeding’ and ‘pasture’ dealt with in those paragraphs have reference to a flock, whereas ‘feeding’ here is used in reference to Jacob, to his being sustained with food and the necessities of life, by which much the same is meant in the internal sense since what sustains and revitalizes bodily life means in the internal sense that which sustains spiritual life and revitalizes it); and from the representation of Israel, [to whom ‘me’ refers here,] as spiritual good from the natural, dealt with in 5801, 5803, 5806, 5812, 5817, 5819, 5826, 5833. And as this good represented by ‘Israel’ is the good of truth, the expression ‘the good of spiritual truth’ is used here. In the genuine sense ‘Israel’ is the spiritual Church; and the good associated with that Church is the good of truth. For truth is used to teach its members what good is; and when they act in accordance with the truth they have been taught, that truth is called good. Such good is what is called the good of truth and is represented by ‘Israel’ .

AC (Elliott) n. 6278 6278. ‘Since then, even until this day’ means constantly. This is clear from the meaning of ‘today’ or ‘to this day’ as that which is perpetual and eternal, dealt with in 2838, 4304, 6165. Here therefore ‘since then, even until this day’ means constantly – constantly bestowing life, meant by ‘feeding’, 6277.

AC (Elliott) n. 6279 6279. ‘The angel redeeming me from every evil’ means the Lord’s Divine Human, the deliverer from hell. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the angel’ as the Lord’s Divine Human, dealt with below; from the meaning of ‘redeeming’ as delivering, also dealt with below; and from the meaning of ‘evil’ as hell. The reason why ‘evil’ means hell is that hell itself is nothing but evil; for whether you say that all in hell are evil or that hell is evil, it amounts to the same thing. When the word ‘evil’ is used hell is meant in the spiritual sense; for whenever those who know the spiritual sense, as the angels in heaven do, think and express themselves, they do so without reference to any specific persons because they are concerned with the general and overall. This is why for them ‘evil’ means hell.

[2] The same applies to the word ‘sin’, when it is used to mean a dominant evil, as in Genesis 4,

Jehovah said to Cain, If you do not do well, sin is lying at the door. To you is his desire, and you will have dominion over him. Gen. 4:6, 7.

Here ‘sin’ stands for hell, which is at hand when a person does what is evil. Also the evil present in a person is itself nothing else than hell, for it flows into him from there, making him at this time a miniature hell, even as each of its inhabitants is one. It is like the contrary situation when the good present with a person is itself nothing else than heaven in him, for good flows into him from the Lord through heaven, making the person with whom good resides a miniature heaven, even as each inhabitant of heaven is one.

AC (Elliott) n. 6280 6280. As regards ‘the redeeming angel’ – that the Lord’s Divine Human is meant – this is clear from the consideration that by His assumption of the Human and making it Divine the Lord redeemed man, that is, delivered him from hell, on account of which, in respect of His Divine Human, the Lord is called the Redeemer. The reason why the Divine Human is called an angel is that the word ‘angel’ means one who has been sent, and the Lord’s Divine Human is called ‘the One who has been sent’, as is evident from quite a number of places in the Word, in the Gospels. Furthermore the Divine Human that existed before the Lord’s Coming into the world was Jehovah Himself flowing in by way of heaven when He was declaring His Word. Jehovah was above the heavens, but what passed from Him through the heavens was the Divine Human at that time; for by means of Jehovah’s flowing into heaven a human image was presented, and the Divine itself as present by this inflowing was the Divine Man. This is the Divine Human which has existed from eternity and is called the One who has been sent, by which is meant that which goes forth and which is one and the same as ‘the angel’ spoken of here.

[2] But because Jehovah was no longer able to reach men by flowing into them through that Divine Human of His, for the reason that they had distanced themselves so far away from that Divine, He took on a human form and made it Divine. Then by flowing in from this into heaven, He could reach right out to those members of the human race who would accept the good of charity and the truth of faith from His Divine Human, which had thus been made visible, and so could deliver them from hell – a deliverance which could not possibly have been accomplished in any other way. This deliverance is what is called Redemption, and the Divine Human itself effecting that deliverance or redemption is what is called ‘the redeeming angel’.

[3] But the Lord’s Divine Human, it should be recognized, is above heaven – as the Divine itself is – since the Lord is the Sun that gives heaven its light; thus heaven is far below Him. The Divine Human present in heaven is the Divine Truth going forth from Him, which is the light radiating from Him as from the sun. In Essence the Lord is not Divine Truth, for that Truth is what goes forth from Him like light from the sun; rather, His Essence is Divine Goodness itself, which is one with Jehovah.

[4] The Lord’s Divine Human is also called ‘the angel’ in other places in the Word, for example when He appeared to Moses in the bramble-bush, described as follows in Exodus,

When Moses came to the mountain of God, to Horeb, the angel of Jehovah appeared to him in a flame of fire from the middle of a bramble-bush. Jehovah saw that Moses turned aside to see, therefore God called to him from the middle of the bramble-bush. And He went on to say, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Exod. 3:1, 2, 4, 6.

It is the Lord’s Divine Human that is referred to here by the name ‘the angel of Jehovah’. He was really Jehovah, which he is also explicitly called. Jehovah’s presence there within His Divine Human may be recognized from the consideration that the Divine itself could not become visible except through the Divine Human, as the Lord’s words in John declare,

Nobody has ever seen God; the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known. John 1:18.

And in another place,

You have never heard the Father’s voice nor seen His shape. John 5:37.

[5] The Lord’s Divine Human is also called ‘an angel’ where the leading of the people into the land of Canaan is the subject, referred to in Exodus as follows,

Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way, and to bring you to the place which I have prepared. Take notice of his face; for he will not tolerate your transgression, since My name is within him. Exod. 23:20, 21, 23.

Here ‘an angel’ is the Divine Human. This is evident from the fact that it says ‘since My name is within him’, that is, Jehovah Himself is within him. ‘My name’ means Jehovah’s essential nature, present in the Divine Human. For more about the meaning of ‘the name of Jehovah’ as the Lord’s Divine Human, see 2628; and for more about the meaning of ‘the name of God’ as His essential nature, and so everything in its entirety by which God is worshipped, 1724, 3006.

[6] In Isaiah,

In all their affliction He suffered affliction, and the angel of His face delivered them; because of His love and His compassion He redeemed them, and took them and carried them all the days of eternity. Isa. 63:9.

‘The angel of Jehovah’s face’ is plainly the Lord’s Divine Human, for it says that ‘He redeemed them’. In Malachi,

Behold, suddenly there will come to His temple the Lord whom you seek, and the angel of the covenant in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming, says Jehovah Zebaoth. But who can endure the day of His Coming, and who will stand when He appears? Then the minchah of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to Jehovah, as in the days of eternity, and as in former years. Mal. 3:1, 2, 4

‘The angel of the covenant’ quite clearly means the Lord’s Divine Human, for the subject is the Lord’s Coming. ‘Then the minchah of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to Jehovah’ means that worship offered out of love and faith in Him will be acceptable then. It is perfectly plain that ‘Judah’ is not used in these verses to mean Judah, or ‘Jerusalem’ to mean Jerusalem, for neither at that time nor any later time was the minchah of Judah and Jerusalem acceptable. ‘The days of eternity’ are the states of the Most Ancient Church, which was a celestial Church, while ‘former years’ are the states of the Ancient Church, which was a spiritual one, see 6239. Furthermore ‘angel’ in the Word does not mean in the internal sense any angel but some Divine attribute within the Lord, 1925, 2319, 2821, 3039, 4085.

AC (Elliott) n. 6281 6281. As regards the verb ‘to redeem’, its proper meaning is to restore to oneself and to take to oneself what was previously one’s own; and it is used when slavery, death, or evil is involved. When it is slavery, people who have become slaves are meant, in the spiritual sense those enslaved to hell; when it is death, people in a state of damnation are meant; and when it is evil, as in the present context, people in hell are meant, since the evil from which the angel redeemed the speaker is hell, 6279. Because the Lord delivered mankind from those evils through having made the Human within Himself Divine, His Divine Human is the One in the Word who is called the Redeemer, as in Isaiah,

I am helping you, said Jehovah, and your Redeemer the Holy One of Israel. Isa. 41:14.

In the same prophet,

Thus said Jehovah, the Redeemer of Israel, His Holy One. Isa. 49:7, 26.

In the same prophet,

Jehovah Zebaoth is His name, and your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth He will be called, Isa. 54:5.

In these places a distinction is made between the Divine itself, called Jehovah, and the Divine Human, referred to as the Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

[2] Yet Jehovah Himself within His Divine Human is the Redeemer, as is clear from the following places: In Isaiah,

Thus said Jehovah the King of Israel, and his Redeemer Jehovah Zebaoth, I am the first and I am the last, and besides Me there is no God. Isa. 44:6.

In the same prophet,

Thus said Jehovah your Redeemer, I am Jehovah your God, who is teaching you. Isa. 48:17.

In the same prophet,

You are our Father, for Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O Jehovah, are our Father, our Redeemer; from of old is Your name. Isa. 63:16.

In David,

Jehovah who has redeemed your* life from the pit. Ps. 103:4.

[3] From these places too it is evident that no one else but the Lord is meant in the Word by ‘Jehovah’, 1743, 1736, 2921, 3035, 5667, and that ‘Jehovah the Redeemer’ is His Divine Human. Here also is the reason why those who have been redeemed are called ‘the Redeemed of Jehovah’ in Isaiah,

Say to the daughter of Zion, Behold, your salvation comes; behold, His reward is with Him, and the recompense of His work before Him. They will call them, The Holy People, the Redeemed Jehovah. Isa. 61:11, 12.

It is quite plain that the Lord is the reason why they are called ‘the Redeemed of Jehovah’, for the words ‘Behold, your salvation comes; behold, His reward is with Him’ have reference to the Lord’s Coming. See in addition Isa. 43:1; 52:2, 3; 63:4, 9; Hosea 13:14; Exod. 6:6; 15:13; Job 19:25, where it is evident that redemption has reference to slavery, death, and evil.
* The Latin means my but the Hebrew means your, which Sw. has in another place where he quotes this verse.

AC (Elliott) n. 6282 6282. ‘May he bless the boys’ means, May he make it possible for them to have truth and goodness. This is clear from the meaning of ‘blessing’ as endowing with truth and goodness, for in the spiritual sense ‘a blessing’ does not imply anything else, 1420, 1422, 4981; and from the representation of Ephraim and Manasseh, to whom ‘the boys’ refers here, as the Church’s understanding and the Church’s will, to which truth and good were to be imparted, truth to its understanding and good to its will.

AC (Elliott) n. 6283 6283. ‘And in them will my name be called’ means that in them the essential nature of the good of spiritual truth from the natural will be present. This is clear from the meaning of ‘one’s name being called in another’ as the essential nature of one in the other, dealt with in 1754, 1896, 2009, 3421; and from the representation of ‘Israel’ as the good of spiritual truth from the natural, dealt with above in 6277. And since they had within them Israel’s essential nature they were accepted among the rest of Jacob’s sons and became tribes, one the tribe of Manasseh, the other the tribe of Ephraim. Along with the rest – though excluding the tribe of Levi because it became the priesthood – they made up the twelve tribes when inheritances were allotted to them, as described in Joshua and also Ezekiel 48.

AC (Elliott) n. 6284 6284. ‘And the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac’ means, and the essential nature of internal goodness and truth. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the name’ as the essential nature, as immediately above in 6283; and from the representation of ‘Abraham and Isaac’ as internal goodness and truth, dealt with above in 6276. Internal goodness and truth must be present within external goodness and truth if the latter are to be goodness and truth. For as stated above in 6275, the external is merely something that provides an outward form in which the internal can exist and lead a life in accord with what flows into it from the Lord. And the internal too is merely something providing an outward form when considered in relation to what is supreme, namely the Lord. He is the Source of all life, and things below Him are forms that are merely receivers of life, ranged by degrees in order down to the last and lowest, which is the body.

AC (Elliott) n. 6285 6285. ‘And may they increase into a multitude in the midst of the earth’ means an extension from the inmost part. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the midst’ as the inmost part, dealt with in 1940, 2973, 6068, 6084, 6103. Consequently an increase into a multitude means an extension; for truths, meant by ‘a multitude’, extend from the inmost part as the centre to parts round about it. For the further they extend from it, and the more they do so in conformity with heavenly order, the greater is their state of perfection. That state is what is meant by this part of the blessing – ‘that they may increase into a multitude in the midst of the earth’.

AC (Elliott) n. 6286 6286. Verses 17-20 And Joseph saw that his father placed his right hand on Ephraim’s head, and it was wrong in his eyes; and he grasped his father’s hand to remove it from upon Ephraim’s head onto Manasseh’s head. And Joseph said to his father, Not so, my father, for this is the firstborn; place your right hand on his head. And his father refused, and said, I know, my son, I know; he too will be a people, and he too will become great; but truly his younger brother will become greater than he, and his seed will be the fullness of nations.* And he blessed them on this day, saying, In you will Israel bless, saying, May God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh. And he put Ephraim before Manasseh.

‘And Joseph saw that his father placed his right hand on Ephraim’s head’ means a discernment that he considered truth to occupy the first place. ‘And it was wrong in his eyes’ means displeasure. ‘And he grasped his father’s hand’ means an influx into the power which his obscure discernment possessed. ‘To remove it from upon Ephraim’s head onto Manasseh’s head’ means to divert him from error. ‘And Joseph said to his father, Not so, my father, for this is the firstborn’ means a perceptible influx regarding good, that the first place belonged to this. ‘Place your right hand on his head’ means that good should accordingly occupy the first place. ‘And his father refused’ means non-compliance. ‘And said, I know, my son, I know’ means that though that is true the appearance is different. ‘He too will be a people, and he too will become great’ means that truth from good also, thus the celestial man, will be increased. ‘But truly his younger brother will become greater than he’ means that good from truth, thus the spiritual man, will receive even greater increase. ‘And his seed will be the fullness of nations’ means that truth – the truth of faith – will be predominant. ‘And he blessed them on this day’ means Foresight and Providence continuing for ever. ‘Saying, In you will Israel bless, saying, May God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh’ means so that its own spiritual may reside in the truth of the understanding and the good of the will. ‘And he put Ephraim before Manasseh’ means that because he was spiritual he considered truth to occupy the first place.
* An expression describing populousness

AC (Elliott) n. 6287 6287. ‘And Joseph saw that his father placed his right hand on Ephraim’s head’ means a discernment that he considered truth to occupy the first place. This is clear from the meaning of ‘seeing’ as understanding and discerning, dealt with in 2150, 2807, 3764, 4567, 4723, 5400; from the representation of ‘Joseph’ as the internal celestial, dealt with in 5869, 5877, 6224; from the representation of Israel, to whom ‘father’ refers here, as spiritual good from the natural; from the meaning of ‘placing the right hand on the head’ as considering to occupy the first place, dealt with above in 6269; and from the representation of ‘Ephraim’ as truth present in the understanding part within the natural, dealt with above in 6234, 6238, 6267. From all this it is evident that ‘Joseph saw that his father placed his right hand on Ephraim’s head’ means a discernment by the internal celestial that spiritual good from the natural considered truth to occupy the first place. See what has been stated and shown above on these matters in 6256, 6269, 6272, 6273.

AC (Elliott) n. 6288 6288. ‘And it was wrong in his eyes’ means displeasure. This is clear without explanation. The reason Joseph was displeased was that he represents the internal celestial, which is above the spiritual good that ‘Israel’ represents. What is higher can discern the nature of anything done in what is lower, and so can also discern whether or not any thought there is the truth. For what is higher can see whatever exists in lower parts because it does so in the light of heaven. Thus it was that the internal celestial, which is ‘Joseph’, could see that spiritual good from the natural, which is ‘Israel’, was making a mistake; therefore it displeased him.

AC (Elliott) n. 6289 6289. ‘And he grasped his father’s hand’ means an influx into the power which his obscure discernment possessed. This is clear from the meaning of ‘grasping the hand’ as an influx into the power of discernment. For when the internal flows into the external, wishing to make it think and will something, it grasps hold of it so to speak. Here it takes hold of its power of discernment, meant by ‘the hand’; for ‘the hand’ means power, see, 878, 3387, 4931-4977. The reason why that discernment is said to be obscure is that spiritual people, who are represented by ‘Israel’, dwell in obscurity compared with celestial ones, who are represented by ‘Joseph’. For more about spiritual people and their dwelling in obscurity compared with celestial ones, see 2708, 2715, 2716, 2718, 2831, 2849, 2935, 2937, 3873, 4401.

[2] The fact that spiritual people dwell in obscurity is plainly evident from the consideration that prior to regeneration they are altogether in the dark about what is true and good, and that when they are being regenerated it is truth such as that contained in the teaching of their Church that they acknowledge and in which they put their trust, irrespective of whether it is true or not. Even so it is this truth that becomes good with them when it becomes part of what they will and consequently of their life. It is that good which is called the good of truth, also the good of faith, as well as spiritual good or the spiritual Church’s good. Anyone who turns his mind to the matter can see what is the essential nature of this good deriving from such an origin. Nevertheless good derived from that kind of truth, even among gentiles, is acceptable to the Lord, when it has charity towards the neighbour as its chief concern and when that charity has innocence within it.

AC (Elliott) n. 6290 6290. ‘To remove it from upon Ephraim’s head onto Manasseh’s head’ means to divert him from error. This is clear from the meaning of ‘removing’ as diverting, and from the meaning of ‘from upon Ephraim’s head onto Manasseh’s head’ as from error, the error being that he considered truth to occupy the first place and good the second, as has been shown above.

AC (Elliott) n. 6291 6291. ‘And Joseph said to his father, Not so, my father, for this is the firstborn’ means a perceptible influx regarding good, that the first place belonged to this. This is clear from the meaning of ‘saying’, when used in reference to the internal celestial, which ‘Joseph’ represents here, as an influx, dealt with in 6152, in this case a perceptible inflow because he not only grasped his father’s hand but also said to him, Not so, my father, for only grasped his father’s this is the firstborn.

AC (Elliott) n. 6292 6292. ‘Place your right hand on his head’ means that good should accordingly occupy the first place. This is clear from the meaning of ‘placing the right hand on a head’ as considering to occupy the first place, as above in 6269, 6287. The placing of his hand by one on the head of another when he was going to bless belonged to a custom received from the ancients. For the head is where a person’s actual powers of understanding and will reside, whereas the body is where actions in response and in obedience to them are located. Thus ‘placing a hand on the head’ was a representative act, denoting that a blessing should be imparted to a person’s understanding and will, thus to his real self. That same custom originating in those ancient times remains even to this day and is followed at ordinations as well as in blessings.

AC (Elliott) n. 6293 6293. ‘And his father refused’ means non-compliance. This is clear without explanation.

AC (Elliott) n. 6294 6294. ‘And said, I know, my son, I know’ means that though that is true the appearance is different. This is clear from the meaning of ‘knowing’, at this point as knowing that though something is true the appearance is different. The discernment of this now by spiritual good, which is ‘Israel’, resulted from the influx of the internal celestial, which is ‘Joseph’ – the influx dealt with above in 6289, 6291. When spiritual good has become enlightened as a result of such an influx it discerns the truth of the matter, which is that good belongs in the first place and truth in the second, and also that the appearance is different from this. Yet spiritual good goes on to make the matter of which one is the first rest in the fact that truth is going to rule over good, as described in what follows, and for that reason Israel keeps his right hand on the younger son’s head and his left on that of the firstborn.

AC (Elliott) n. 6295 6295. ‘He too will be a people, and he too will become great’ means that truth from good also, thus the celestial man, will be increased. This is clear from the meaning of ‘a people’ as truth, dealt with in 1259, 1260, 3581, 4619; from the meaning of ‘becoming great as being increased; and from the representation of Manasseh, about whom these things are said, as good that belongs to the will in the natural and is born from the internal, dealt with in 6234, 6238, 6267. The fact that truth from good is a mark of the celestial man is clear from what has often been stated and shown already about the celestial man. That is to say, it has been shown that the celestial man is one who, led by his will, has a concern for good, and from this for truth, and that he is different from the spiritual man, in that the latter, led by his understanding, has a concern for truth and from this for good. And since ‘Manasseh’ means good belonging to the will he represents the celestial man – the external celestial man or member of the external celestial Church, to be exact. For ‘Manasseh’ is good belonging to the will within the natural, thus within the external man, whereas ‘Joseph’ is the member of the internal celestial Church because he represents good belonging to the will within the rational, thus within the internal man.

[2] Let something also be said briefly about the truth of good, a mark of the celestial man. This truth is indeed called truth, but really it is good. Residing with the celestial man is the good of love to the Lord and the good of love towards the neighbour, the good of love to the Lord forming the internal part of him, the good of love towards the neighbour the external part. This being so, the members of the celestial Church in the internal part of that Church are those who are governed by love to the Lord, and those in the external part are those governed by love towards the neighbour. The good of the latter love – love towards the neighbour residing with the celestial man – is what is here being called the truth of good and is represented by ‘Manasseh’. For the celestial man is one who does not reason from truth, or even about truth, since he is able to perceive from good, that is, from the Lord through good, whether something is true or not true, 202, 377, 2715, 3146, 4448. Even so, the good of charity residing with him is what is called truth, but celestial truth.

AC (Elliott) n. 6296 6296. ‘But truly his younger brother will become greater than he’ means that good from truth, thus the spiritual man, will receive even greater increase. This is clear from the representation of Ephraim, to whom ‘younger brother’ refers here, as truth that belongs to the understanding within the natural and is born from the internal, dealt with in 6234, 6238, 6267, though ‘Ephraim’ at this point is good from truth, dealt with below; and from the meaning of ‘becoming greater than another’ as receiving even greater increase. The reason why here ‘Ephraim’ is good from truth is that he represents the member of the spiritual Church – the member of the external spiritual Church, to be exact – just as ‘Manasseh’ represents the member of the external celestial Church, 6295. What makes someone a member of the spiritual Church is good from truth – the internal part of that Church being what ‘Israel’ represents, the external what ‘Ephraim’ represents. A member of the spiritual Church differs from a member of the celestial in the fact that the spiritual member’s good has been implanted in the understanding part of his mind, whereas the celestial member’s has been implanted in the will part, see 863, 875, 895, 927, 928, 1023, 1043, 1044, 2256, 4328, 4493, 5117. This difference goes to explain why ‘Ephraim’ represents the spiritual man, and ‘Manasseh’ the celestial man.

[2] The reason why good from truth, or the spiritual man, will receive greater increase than good which gives rise to truth, which is the celestial man, is that the human will has been unceasingly corrupted, so corrupted that at length evil has taken complete possession of it, with the result that nothing sound has remained there. So that a person is not destroyed on account of this the Lord has seen to it that the understanding part of his mind may be regenerated and that he may thereby be saved. This now explains why there are few who still have any soundness in the will part of their mind, thus why there are few who can become celestial people but many who can become spiritual ones; and this in turn explains why those who are spiritual will receive greater increase than those who are celestial. This then is the meaning of ‘his younger brother will become greater than he’.

AC (Elliott) n. 6297 6297. ‘And his seed will be the fullness of nations’ means that truth – the truth of faith – will be predominant. This is clear from the meaning of ‘seed’ as faith and charity, dealt with in 1025, 1447, 1610, 1940, 2848, 3187, 3310, 3373, 3671, in this case faith since it refers to Ephraim; and from the meaning of ‘the fullness of nations’ as an abundance, thus that it will be predominant. ‘Fullness’ in the Word means the entire whole or, where it does not mean the entire whole, an abundant part; and it is used with reference both to truth and to good. For ‘a multitude’ is used with reference to truth, but ‘greatness’ to good, thus ‘fullness’ with reference to both, as in Jeremiah,

Behold, waters rising out of the north which will become like a deluging stream, and they will deluge the land and its fullness, the city and those who dwell in it. Jer. 47:2.

‘The land and its fullness’ stands for the entire whole, both of truth and of good, constituting the Church. ‘The city and those who dwell in it’ is therefore added, for ‘the city’ means truths, and ‘those who dwell in it’ forms of good, 2268, 2451, 2712.

[2] In Ezekiel,

They will eat their bread with anxiety, and drink their waters with astonishment, so that her land may be devastated of its fullness. Ezek. 12:19.

‘Land’ stands for the Church, and ‘fullness’ for the goodness and truth there. The fact that both are meant is evident from the words immediately before, which say that they will eat bread with anxiety and drink waters with astonishment. For ‘bread’ means the good of love, and ‘waters’ the truth of faith, which are referred to as ‘the fullness’ of the land.

[3] Similarly in Amos,

I hate the pride of Jacob and his palaces, therefore I will shut up the city and its fullness. Amos 6:8.

In David,

The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours. The world and the fullness of it You have founded. Ps. 89:11.

And elsewhere in the same author,

The earth is Jehovah’s and the fullness of it, the world and those who dwell in it. He has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers. Ps. 24:1, 2.

Here also ‘the fullness’ stands for truth and goodness. ‘The earth’ stands for the Church in a specific sense, ‘the world’ for the Church in an overall sense. Jehovah’s founding of the world upon the seas means basing it on things that contribute to knowledge, 28, and His establishing it upon the rivers means basing it on those that lead to intelligence, 3051. Is anyone unable to see that it is not Jehovah’s founding of the world on the seas or His establishing of it upon the rivers that is meant? For the world is not founded or established on them, and therefore anyone who thinks the matter over can see that something other than ‘the seas’ or ‘the rivers’ is meant and that this something other is a spiritual or internal facet of the Word.

AC (Elliott) n. 6298 6298. ‘And he blessed them on this day’ means Foresight and Providence continuing for ever. This is clear from the meaning of ‘blessing’ as a foretelling, dealt with in 6230, 6254, but in the highest sense the Lord’s Foresight (and as Foresight is meant, so also is Providence since the one does not exist without the other; for evil belongs to Foresight, but good to Providence, and evil that is foreseen is turned by Providence towards good. The reason why ‘blessing’ here means Foresight and Providence is that in the highest sense ‘Israel’, who gives the blessing, is the Lord, 4286); and from the meaning of ‘on this day’ or today as that which is eternal, dealt with in 2838, 7998, 4304, 6165.

AC (Elliott) n. 6299 6299. ‘Saying, In you will Israel bless, saying, May God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh’ means so that its own spiritual may reside in the truth of the understanding and the good of the will. This is clear from the representation of ‘Israel’ as spiritual good, dealt with in 5801, 5803, 5806, 5812, 5817, 5819, 5826, 5873; and from the representation of ‘Ephraim’ as truth belonging to the understanding, and of ‘Manasseh’ as good belonging to the will, both dealt with above. So that the spiritual, which is ‘Israel’, may reside in them is what the words ‘In you will he bless’ and ‘May God make you’ mean.

[2] What this really means – that the spiritual, represented by ‘Israel’, may exist within the truth of the understanding and the good of the will, which are ‘Ephraim and Manasseh’ – is that the spiritual good represented by ‘Israel’ is the spiritual part of the internal Church, whereas the truth and good represented by ‘Ephraim and Manasseh’ are part of the external Church, see above in 6296. So that what is internal may be the internal part of the Church it must of necessity reside in the external part of it, for the external serves as the foundation on which the internal must stand and is the receptacle into which the internal must flow. For this reason the natural, which is the external, must of necessity be regenerated, for if it is not, the internal has no foundation or receptacle; and if it has no foundation or receptacle it is completely destroyed. This then is what is meant by ‘its own spiritual may reside in the truth of the understanding and the good of the will’.

[3] Let the following example serve to shed light on this particular matter. The actual affection that charity arouses, that is to say, the calm and blissful feeling a person enjoys when he does good to his neighbour without thought of any reward, is the internal aspect of the Church. But willing it and doing it out of concern for truth, that is, because the Word prescribes it, are the external aspect of the Church. If the natural or the external is not in accord, that is, does not will or perform that action because it sees no reward and so nothing for itself in it – for such self-interest resides in the natural or external man through heredity and his own actions – the internal has no foundation or receptacle in harmony with it. Instead it has that which either turns aside, perverts, or smothers its inflow, and for that reason the internal is destroyed. That is to say, it is closed and blocked off, so that nothing from heaven can come through by way of the internal into the natural, apart from some ordinary degree of light through chinks all around which enables the person to think, will, and speak. But that ability acts in accord with what is in the natural, thus in favour of what is evil and false opposing what is good and true, to which end it makes that ordinary degree of spiritual light flowing in through the chinks all around subservient to itself.

AC (Elliott) n. 6300 6300. ‘And he put Ephraim before Manasseh’ means that because he was spiritual he considered truth to occupy the first place. This is made clear in the explanations given above at verses 13, 14, 17-19.

AC (Elliott) n. 6301 6301. Verses 21, 22 And Israel said to Joseph, Behold, I am dying; and God will be with you, and will bring you back to the land of your fathers. And I give you one portion above your brothers, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow.

‘And Israel said to Joseph, Behold, I am dying’ means a perception which spiritual good received from the internal celestial regarding new life and regarding the end of the representation. ‘And God will be with you means the Lord’s Divine Providence. ‘And will bring you back to the land of your fathers’ means to the state of both Ancient Churches. ‘And I give you one portion above your brothers’ means that the truth belonging to the understanding and the good belonging to the will were to have more there. ‘Which I took out of the hand of the Amorite’ means because of the victory over evil. ‘With my sword’ means through truth engaged in conflict. ‘And my bow’ means from doctrine.

AC (Elliott) n. 6302 6302. ‘And Israel said to Joseph, Behold, I am dying’ means a perception which spiritual good received from the internal celestial regarding new life and regarding the end of the representation. This is clear from the meaning of ‘saying’ as perception, dealt with above in 6220; from the representation of ‘Israel’ as spiritual good, also dealt with above, in 6225; from the representation of ‘Joseph’ as the internal celestial, dealt with in 5869, 5877; and from the meaning of ‘dying’ as awakening to life, dealt with in 3498, 3505, 4618, 4621, 6036, 6221, and also as the end of the former representation, 3257, 3259, 3276. That end is also meant here by ‘dying’, for when one who has been representing some aspect of the Church dies another takes his place to continue the line of representation. Thus after Abraham died the line of representation was continued in Isaac, then in Jacob, and after him in his sons. It was similar when Moses died; the sequence of representation continued in Joshua, and then in the judges one after another down to the kings, and so on.

AC (Elliott) n. 6303 6303. ‘And God will be with you’ means the Lord’s Divine Providence. This is clear from the meaning of ‘God will be with you’ as the Lord’s Divine Providence; for when the Lord is with someone He leads him and makes provision so that all that happens, whether sad or joyful, may bring him what is good. This is Divine Providence. It is called the Lord’s Providence because the words ‘God will be with you’ are used and in the Word ‘God’ and ‘Jehovah’ mean the Lord since there is no other God apart from Him. For truly He is the Father and truly He is the Son, because they are one; the Father is in Him, and He is in the Father, as He Himself teaches in John 14:9-11, see 1743, 1736, 2921, 3035, 5663.

AC (Elliott) n. 6304 6304. ‘And will bring you back to the land of your fathers’ means to the state of both Ancient Churches. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the land’ as the Church, dealt with in 566, 661, 1066, 1067, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 3355, 4575, 4447, 5577; and from the meaning of ‘fathers’ as those who belonged to the Ancient Church and the Most Ancient Church, dealt with in 6075. To the state of both Ancient Churches is said to be meant because the sons of Israel and their descendants, like members of the Ancient Churches, were to represent in specific detail the Lord’s celestial and spiritual kingdom. That representation was actually established – among the Jewish nation a representation of the celestial kingdom, and among the Israelite people a representation of the spiritual kingdom. But with that generation nothing of the Church or of the Lord’s kingdom could be established, only what was a mere representation, for they wished to see and acknowledge in representatives only what was external, and nothing at all internal.

[2] However, so that the overall representation might be effected, and through it some communication with heaven might exist, and through heaven with the Lord, they were restricted to externals; and at that time the Lord saw to it that communication might take place through external representation alone devoid of any internal. This was the state to which Jacob’s descendants could be ‘brought back’. Yet inwardly, external representatives among those descendants concealed Divine matters, in the highest sense those which had regard to the Lord’s Divine Human, and in the relative sense those which had regard to the Lord’s kingdom in heaven and to the Church. This state of both Ancient Churches is what is meant by the promise that God will bring them back to the land of their fathers.

AC (Elliott) n. 6305 6305. ‘And I give you one portion above your brothers’ means that the truth belonging to the understanding and the good belonging to the will were to have more there. This is clear from the representation of Ephraim and Manasseh – who are meant here by Joseph, as they are above in 6275 – as the truth belonging to the understanding and the good belonging to the will, dealt with many times before; and from the meaning of ‘giving one portion above their brothers’ as having more there, that is to say, in the Church, meant by ‘the land’, 6304. The reason why the good belonging to the will and the truth belonging to the understanding were to have more there is that these two are the essential constituents of the Church. This also explains why the birthright passed to Joseph’s sons, 1 Chron. 5:1.

AC (Elliott) n. 6306 6306. ‘Which I took out of the hand of the Amorite’ means because of the victory over evil. This is clear from the representation of ‘the Amorite’ as evil, dealt with in 1857; and from the meaning of ‘taking out of the hand’ as acquiring through victory. As regards ‘the Amorites’, it should be recognized that they mean evil, just as ‘the Canaanites’ and all the other nations in the land that are mentioned in the Word mean various kinds of evil and also of falsity. Such things were represented by the nations when the children of Israel were taking possession of the land of Canaan. The reason for this was that whenever the children of Israel represented the things of heaven those nations represented the things of hell; thus the land of Canaan represented every state that exists in the next life. Also, because the nations represented the things of hell they were utterly destroyed; and entrance into any treaty with those who might remain was forbidden.

[2] The action of the children of Israel, of their taking possession of and dwelling in the land of those who represented the hells, was representative. It represented what happened around the time of the Lord’s Coming, when spirits from hell had possession of a large part of heaven but He, by coming into the world and making the human within Himself Divine, cast them out of there and down into hell, and thereby delivered heaven from them, which He then gave as an inheritance to those who belonged to His spiritual kingdom.

[3] The representation of the Amorite nation as evil in general is evident from the places where it is referred to, as in Ezekiel, Thus said the Lord Jehovih to Jerusalem,* Your tradings and your births are of the land of the Canaanite. Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. Ezek. 16:3, 45.

‘Father’ in the internal sense means the Church’s good, or in the contrary sense evil, and ‘mother’ means the Church’s truth, or in the contrary sense falsity; and this is why it is said, ‘Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite’.

[4] In Amos,

I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and whose strength was like the oaks. I led you in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite. Amos 2:9, 10.

Here also ‘the Amorite’ stands for evil, for the evil of self-love is described by ‘the height of the cedars’ and ‘the strength of an oak’. The reason why ‘the Amorite’ means evil in general is that the entire land of Canaan was called ‘the land of the Amorite’; for it says, ‘I led you in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite’. In addition the second Book of Kings says,

Manasseh king of Judah did what was evil, greater than all the evil which the Amorites did, who were before him. 2 Kings 21:11.

[5] ‘With my sword’ means through truth engaged in conflict. This is clear from the meaning of ‘sword’ as truth engaged in conflict, dealt with in 2799, 4499.

‘And my bow’ means received from doctrine. This is clear from the meaning of ‘bow’ as doctrine, dealt with in 2686, 2709.

[6] The words used here, ‘the portion which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow’ were, it is quite evident, uttered by Israel on account of the internal sense; for Jacob did not take that portion from the Amorite with sword or bow. He bought it from the sons of Hamor, as is evident from Genesis 33, where these words occur, Jacob came to Salem, the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, as he was coming from Paddan Aram; and he encamped towards the face of the city. And he bought the portion of the field where he had stretched his tent, from the hand of the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for a hundred kesitahs. Gen. 33:18, 19.

The fact that this field was the portion he gave to Joseph is clear in Joshua,

The bones of Joseph which the children of Israel caused to be brought up out of Egypt they buried in Shechem, in the part of the field which Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for a hundred kesitahs; and they had become an inheritance for the children of Joseph. Josh. 24:32.

From this it is evident that the portion had been bought, and that this is what was given to Joseph. Nor was the city of Shechem nearby meant, the city in which Simeon and Levi killed every male and which they took with the sword, Gen. 34. This is made clear by the fact that Jacob detested what they did and for that reason cursed Simeon and Levi, completely dissociating himself from the crime. He said,

Simeon and Levi are brothers; instruments of violence are their swords. Into their secret place let my soul not come; in their congregation let not my glory be united; for in their anger they killed a man, and in their pleasure they hamstrung an ox. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and their wrath, for it was hard.** I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel. Gen. 49:5-7.

From all this it may now be seen that the words ‘the portion which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow’ were uttered by him, when the spirit of prophecy rested on him, for the sake of the internal sense.
* The Latin means O Jerusalem but the Hebrew means to Jerusalem, which Sw. has in other places where he quotes this verse (and possibly in his rough draft here).
** i.e. cruel

AC (Elliott) n. 6307 6307. INFLUX AND THE INTERACTION OF SOUL AND BODY – continued

Experience extending over many years now has allowed me to know about the existence of influx from the spiritual world by way of angels and spirits into people’s affections and thoughts, to know it so plainly that nothing could be plainer. I have been made aware of it as an inflowing not merely into thoughts but also into affections. Whenever evil and falsity have flowed in I have been allowed to know which hells they came from, and whenever goodness and truth have flowed in to know which angels they came from. Experience has made me so familiar with all this that at last I have been able to know where every specific aspect of my thoughts and affections originated. Yet my thoughts have been just like those I had before.

AC (Elliott) n. 6308 6308. That influx is effected through spirits and angels; and the order in which they flow in is evil spirits first, then angels who dispel what those spirits bring. Not that a person is aware of the existence of such influx, because his thought is preserved in a state of freedom created through its being poised between those two kinds of influx and because he does not pay any attention to such things. Wicked people could not know them even if they did pay them any attention, because with them there is no counterpoise of evil and good; but people governed by good can know. They also know from the Word that something is present inside them which is at war with the evil and falsity in them, and that the spiritual man is at war with the natural man, thus that angels who are in the interior and spiritual parts of his being are at war with evil spirits who are in the exterior and natural parts. This also goes to explain why the Church is called the Church militant.

[2] But the evil that flows from evil spirits into a person’s thought does him no harm whatever if he does not accept it. If he does accept it however and transfers it from thought to will he makes it his own. When he does that he draws nearer the parts where hellish spirits are and away from the angels of heaven. This is the Lord’s teaching in Mark 7:14-27, where He says that the things going into a person do not render him unclean, only those coming out, because they come from his heart or will.

AC (Elliott) n. 6309 6309. I have talked to good spirits about the internal and external man. I have spoken about the amazing fact that few within the Church believe in the existence of an internal man distinct and separate from the external, even though they know about it from the Word. Yet they could know that the internal man exists by taking a brief look each day at their thought and will. That is to say, they could know it from the fact that their inward thoughts are often at variance with their outward ones, and that they express their outward thoughts in speech, face, and actions, but not their inward ones, which they keep deeply hidden, as dissemblers, hypocrites, and the deceitful habitually do. People governed by good may know of this from times when they think that they ought not to be doing what they are doing and reproach themselves for it. All this goes to prove the existence of a more internal man distinct and separate from the external.

[2] But the reason why people give no thought to the existence of the internal man or, if they do give it any thought, why they have no real conception of it, is that they consider the body to be the place where life resides. And since they flood their thought with what is bodily and worldly any insight into matters of that kind, or indeed even any belief in their existence, is destroyed. This too I have been allowed to know from experience. Whenever I have been considering some heavenly idea and have then lapsed into thoughts about worldly and earthly matters, heavenly things have faded so much from view that they could barely be recognized. The reason for this is that what belongs to the superior light of heaven turns into darkness when it sinks to the level of what belongs to the inferior light of the world; for the two are contrary to each other. To remove that contrariety however a person undergoes regeneration and is also raised above the level of the senses to more internal things; and to the extent he is raised above them he leaves behind evils and falsities. But he cannot be raised up unless the good of faith and life is present in him.

AC (Elliott) n. 6310 6310. A person’s interiors are divided into separate degrees through derivation from one another; and in keeping with those degrees they also differ in the level of light they possess. The light on the internal sensory level next to the bodily senses is the dullest, a light that much experience has enabled me to recognize. I have also noticed that every time I have descended to this degree of light falsities and evils of many a kind have presented themselves, indeed even slanders against what is heavenly and Divine, not to mention things of a foul and disgusting nature. The reason why is that this kind of light prevails in hell, and hell enters a person by means of this light especially.

[2] When this is the kind of light a person has, his thought possesses virtually the same kind of light as his external sight, and takes place almost on the level of the body. People who see in this kind of light must be called sensory-minded, for their thought does not rise beyond sensory impressions received by the body. Such people do not have any perception of or belief in things that lie beyond the senses; they believe only what they can see and touch. This is the light that people see by who have not devoted any attention whatever to more internal things; in life they have neglected or treated with contempt everything of a rational or spiritual nature. It is the light that avaricious persons and adulterers in particular see by, also those who have led lives of mere pleasure-seeking or lives that have been disgustingly lazy. The thoughts of such people are consequently foul, and they often entertain disgraceful attitudes towards the holy things of the Church.

AC (Elliott) n. 6311 6311. As has been stated, it is by that inferior light that hell sees, and it is by that light too that some people who are not so wicked see, that is to say, people who have not been avaricious, adulterers, or mere pleasure-seekers, but who have come to see by that light because they have not cultivated the rational degree of their mind. I have been allowed to see those spirits living in a kind of twilight. I saw them in a market-place, crowds of them, where they were bringing sacks containing raw materials; they were weighing them and carrying them away. Some sirens were not far away at that time, and I heard them saying that they wanted to be there because they could see people with their own eyes. For since sirens more than any others have been given to adultery and have also been opposed to everything celestial or spiritual, they are unable to see any other spirits except those who see by the inferior light of the senses. For the sirens themselves see by that kind of light.

AC (Elliott) n. 6312 6312. Because hell sees by this inferior light, a person inevitably perishes if he is not raised up above it; and he is raised up by means of the good of faith. There are also hells which inhabit a sphere involving greater craftiness; their inhabitants are those who have been malevolent inwardly and have worked out many artful ways of depriving other people of their goods, and have devised many kinds of tricks so that they could have control over them. But I have noticed that this sphere flows into the external sensory sphere; it comes from those parts in a person’s back where his involuntary powers are located. This is why a sensory sphere is so powerful.

AC (Elliott) n. 6313 6313. When a person is raised up to more internal levels he passes from the dull light on the level of the senses to a quite gentle light. At the same time he is removed from the inflow of what is disgraceful or foul and is brought closer to what is just and fair, because he is brought closer to the angels present with him, thus closer to the light of heaven. This raising up from the level of the senses was well-known to the ancients, and also to gentiles; and that is why the sages among them have said that when the mind is removed from the sensory level, it comes into inner light and at the same time into a state filled with peace and into a kind of heavenly bliss. From this they also made deductions about the immortality of the mind. A person can be raised to even more internal levels; and the further he goes, the clearer is the light that he comes into. At length he is raised up into the light of heaven, a light that is nothing else than wisdom and intelligence from the Lord. With the three heavens nothing else marks off one from another than the internal levels to which it is raised, and so also the degree of light that it possesses. Because it exists at the inmost levels the third heaven is in the greatest light, thus in wisdom far surpassing the wisdom of lower heavens.

AC (Elliott) n. 6314 6314. As it is with light, so it is with the heat that is vital to a person’s existence. In no way at all does that vital heat originate in the heat radiated by the sun in the world; rather, it originates in spiritual heat, which is love and radiates from the Lord. This heat is what angels have. Consequently the amount of vital heat a person has is determined by the amount of love he has. His body however is warmed by worldly heat, as is his sensory awareness within it; yet vital heat flows into that worldly heat and imparts life to it. Differences in the purity and intensity of this heat are akin to variations in the clarity of the light. This vital heat is what one should understand by the holy fires mentioned in the Word, and therefore heavenly loves are meant by those fires. But in a contrary sense that worldly heat is what one should understand by the fires of hell, and therefore hellish loves and the desires that go with them are meant when these fires are mentioned in the Word.

AC (Elliott) n. 6315 6315. The person whose life has been raised up from the level of the senses by means of the good of faith is by turns in light on the sensory level and in light on a more internal one. When worldly cares occupy his attention, or he is among groups of people in which external interests flourish, or he indulges in mere pleasures, he is living on the sensory level. In this state he avoids and also objects to talking and thinking about God and matters of faith. If he did talk or think about them in that state he would consider them to be worthless unless he were instantly raised by the Lord from that level to more internal things. But when that person is not taken up with worldly things but sees in light on a more internal level, what is right and fair is the basis of his thought; and if he sees in light on a still more internal level, what is spiritually true and good is the basis of it. The person who leads a good life is raised from light on one level to that on another; he is raised to a more internal level the instant he begins to have evil thoughts, for angels are close by him. I have been allowed to know these things through experiences I have had, for I have frequently been aware of being raised up, and at the same time of changes of state in both my affections and my thoughts.

AC (Elliott) n. 6316 6316. The majority of the learned, it will surprise you to learn, think on the level of the senses. The reason for this is that they have studied different branches of knowledge solely for the sake of renown. They have studied them so that they may be promoted to important positions and thereby earn material gain, not to the end that they may be made wise; for all branches of knowledge that exist in the world of learning are means that may serve to make a person wise or that may serve to make him insane. Once those learned people have been raised to important positions they live, more than those who are simple, on the level of the senses, and they then think it a sign of simplicity to attribute anything to the Divine instead of attributing it to prudence and natural instinct and all else to chance.

AC (Elliott) n. 6317 6317. Once there were present with me some spirits who had been called learned when they had been people living in the world. They were taken back to their state of thought when they had been in the body; and what they had thought then was communicated to me, in particular their thought about spirits. The nature of their thought was such that they could never have been led to believe that a spirit was endowed with any sensory power; and all else they had thought about spirits or souls after death was devoid of any real quality. The reason for this was that they had considered the body to be the place where life resides and by the use of factual evidence and philosophical arguments had set themselves firmly against any idea that their spirit or soul would have life after death. As a consequence they had closed the interior parts of their minds, to which they then could not possibly have been raised. If, after they had set themselves against ideas about what belongs to life after death, they had then been told absolute truths, they would in their response to those truths have been like blind people with no sight and deaf ones with no hearing. Some of those people are also scornful, increasingly so the more they think they are wiser than others. But uneducated people who have been governed by the good of faith are not like them, for they have not used factual evidence or philosophical arguments to set themselves firmly against things of the Church, and on account of that they enjoy broader and clearer perception. And because they have not closed the interior parts of their minds they have the ability to accept what is good and true.

AC (Elliott) n. 6318 6318. There are also people who think on a level lower than that of the senses, namely the level of the body; they are those who have set themselves most firmly against belief in the Divine and have ascribed everything to natural forces, and so have led lives that took no account, except to outward appearances, of what was right and fair. Since they are inwardly like animals, though outwardly they look like human beings, they think on a level lower than that of the senses, and look to themselves and to others in the next life like people with physical bodies. I have seen them in a frontal position, close to my right foot, rising up from a deep place; they looked extremely hairy, and tough and coarse so to speak. Once they had risen up there appeared what looked like a sword hanging over their head. I spoke to them and they said it appeared to them exactly as if they were in the body.

AC (Elliott) n. 6319 6319. As regards what flows into a person from the angels present with him, it is not of the same nature as the objects of his thought but is that which involves correspondences; for the angels think on a spiritual level, but the person perceives their thought on a natural one. Thus spiritual realities come down into images that correspond to them, consequently into images which represent them and are known to the person. When for example the person speaks about bread, sowing, harvest, fatness, and the like, the angels’ thought is about aspects of the good of love and charity, and so on. I once had a quite ordinary dream, and having woken up I related it all from start to finish. The angels said that it coincided exactly with what they had been discussing. Not that the contents of my dream were the same things but ones that corresponded to and represented what they discussed; this was true of every detail. I spoke to them after that about influx.

[2] Objects are not visible to the spirits present with a person in the same way as they are to the person seeing them with his eyes, nor are words apprehended in the same way as they are by a person hearing them with his ears; rather they see and apprehend things as they appear in his thought. Thought is altogether different from speech, as is clear from the fact that a person thinks more in a moment of time than he can express in half an hour, since his thought does not involve any use of spoken words. From this one may gain some idea of what the interaction between soul and body is like – that it resembles the influx of the spiritual world into the natural world, since a person’s soul or spirit is in the spiritual world, and his body is in the natural world. Thus influx takes place in accord with correspondences.

AC (Elliott) n. 6320 6320. When the angels flow in they link affections [to the ideas they bring in]; and those actual affections hold countless elements of affection. But of those countless elements only a few are received by the person – only as many as can be attached to what exists already in his memory. Everything else the angels bring in surrounds what is received by him and so to speak holds it in its bosom.

AC (Elliott) n. 6321 6321. I have been led to know, through experience, of the influx from angels and of a person’s inability to live without it. There are malevolent spirits who have worked out artful ways of impeding an influx from the angels, though they do so only partially. They have been allowed to do it to me also so that I might know from experience what it was like. While those spirits were impeding the influx my ability to think ebbed and flowed, till at length I felt like those sinking into unconsciousness. But I was revived in an instant, and those spirits were cast away into their own hell. They appeared on the left on a level with the top of my head, where at first they lay out of sight.

AC (Elliott) n. 6322 6322. To all outward appearance the external senses, such as sight and hearing, flow into thought and initiate mental images there. For the appearance is that external objects activate the senses, first the external senses, then the internal ones, and speech too. But no matter how convincing that appearance may be, it is nevertheless a misconception. For what is external, being gross and material, cannot flow in and activate what is internal, which is pure and spiritual; that would be contrary to the nature of things. It is the power of the inward senses, a power belonging to the spirit itself, that perceives things, and it does so by means of the power of the outward senses. It is also the power of the inward senses that disposes an outward sensory organ to receive impressions of objects at its bidding. So it is that outward sensory organs – such as that of sight, which is the eye – instantly adapt themselves to all the objects of the senses. Nothing of this could happen in sensory organs without the inflow they receive from within; for all the fibres and small appendages, which are very many around each sensory organ, are instantly attuned to the nature of the object. Indeed the organ itself is also immediately conditioned to conform.

[2] Discussion regarding this appearance has often taken place among spirits, and on every occasion angels have responded by saying that influx does not take place from external things into internal ones at all, only from internal ones into external. This, they have said, is in accordance with order, contrary to which no influx can take place. Two or three times I have seen spirits who have been separated from association with angels because they have been led by outward appearances to believe that such influx from external things into internal ones does exist, thus that influx is physical, not spiritual. The reason why they had been separated was that they might have come to the conclusion that the hells which concern themselves with external things could flow into the heavens which concern themselves with internal ones. They might also have concluded that life did not flow in from the Lord, when in fact He is the source of all inflowing life, because He exists at the inmost point and in relation to Him everything else is external.

AC (Elliott) n. 6323 6323. The good of love which flows in from the Lord through angels contains all truth, and truth would reveal itself spontaneously if the human being led a life of love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour. This is evident not only from things that obtain in heaven but also from those in the natural order beneath. Since the things in the natural order are observable, let some be brought forward to illustrate the matter.

[2] Animals are propelled by nothing else than the loves and accompanying affections into which they have been created and afterwards born; for every animal is carried in the direction its affection and love take it. That being so, animals also have all the knowledge that ever accompanies that love. For they know from a love resembling the love that belongs to marriage how they are to mate, cattle in one way, birds in another. Birds know how they must build nests, lay eggs and sit on them, how they must hatch chicks and feed them. They know these things without any instruction, solely from a love resembling that which belongs to marriage and from a love for offspring, which loves have all that knowledge implanted in them. Similarly they know which food they must eat and how they must look for it. More than that, bees know how to look for food in flowers of various kinds, and also to gather wax to make cells with, in which first they place their offspring and after that store food. They also know how to make provision for the winter, not to mention many other things. All this knowledge is included in their loves and resides in them right from the start. Creatures are born into that knowledge because they exist in the order which belongs to their true nature and into which they have been created; and as such they are driven by a general inflow from the spiritual world.

[3] If the human being were living in the order into which he was created – that is to say, in love towards the neighbour and in love to the Lord, for these loves are peculiar to the human being – he would be born, pre-eminently all animals, not only into knowledge but also into all spiritual truths over and all celestial forms of good, thus into all wisdom and intelligence. For the human being is able to think about the Lord and to be joined to Him through love, and so to be raised up to what is Divine and eternal, which animals cannot be. Thus if he were living in his true order he would be governed solely by general influx from the Lord through the spiritual world. But because he is not born into his true order but into one contrary to it, he is born totally without knowledge. This being so, provision has been made so that he can be born again and in that way enter into intelligence and wisdom, in the same measure as he embraces good in freedom, and truth through good.

AC (Elliott) n. 6324 6324. Spirits who spend much of their time reasoning in the next life have little perception as to what is true or good and therefore cannot be admitted into the more internal angelic communities, for no intelligence at all can be imparted to them there. They have also been given to reasoning among themselves about the idea that every thought or affection anyone has flows into him, saying that if this idea were true, then no one could be found guilty or pay the price for any offence. But they were told in reply that if a person were to believe as things really are, which is that everything good and true comes from the Lord and everything evil and false from hell, he could not have been found guilty of any offence or had evil ascribed to himself. But because he believes that it begins in himself he takes evil as his own; for his belief causes this to happen. Thus evil clings and cannot be separated from him. Indeed the person’s nature is such that he would be indignant if anyone told him that his thoughts and desires came from others and did not begin in himself.

AC (Elliott) n. 6325 6325. It is an eternal truth that the Lord rules over heaven and earth, also that no one apart from the Lord is self-existent, consequently that all life flows in – life filled with goodness flowing in from the Lord, life filled with evil flowing in from hell. This is what they believe in the heavens; and when a person shares their belief, which he is able to do when he is governed by good, evil cannot be attached to him or be accepted by him as his own because he knows that it does not originate in himself but in hell. When this is a person’s state peace can be granted to him, for he trusts solely in the Lord. Nor can peace be granted to anyone else but those who have that faith springing from charity; for others constantly plunge themselves into anxious cares and evil desires that give rise to feelings of unease. Spirits who wish to govern themselves imagine that that state would amount to a loss of their own will, thus of their freedom, consequently of all delight, thus of all life and its sweetness. They say and imagine this because they do not know the real truth of the matter, which is that one who is led by the Lord enjoys true freedom, and so true delight and bliss. Forms of good and truths are assigned to him as his own; an affection and desire to do good are imparted to him, in which case nothing gives him greater happiness than the performance of useful services; a perception of what is good is imparted to him, also a sensation of it; and intelligence and wisdom are imparted to him. And all these things that he is given feel as though they are his own. For when led by the Lord he is a recipient of the Lord’s life. It is well known in the world of learning that a principal cause and an instrumental cause act together as a single cause. Now since man is a form receptive of the Lord’s life, he is the instrumental cause, whereas the life from the Lord is the principal cause. This life is felt by the instrumental cause to be its own, when in fact it is not its own.

AC (Elliott) n. 6326 6326. There was a philosopher who had died several years earlier, one of the quite renowned and level-headed. I spoke to him about the degrees of life in human beings. I said that a person consists of nothing but forms which are made for receiving life, and that one form is more internal than another. I said that one has derived its existence from another and is kept in existence by it, and also that a higher or more internal form still has life even when the lower or more external one may have been released from it. All workings of the mind, I continued, are variations of form, and when these variations occur in the purer substances, they are so perfect that they defy description. The ideas constituting a person’s thought are nothing else than such variations, which take place as changes occur in the state of a person’s affections.

[2] How utterly perfect the variations in purer forms are, I pointed out, can be deduced from the lungs. The lungs curl in varying ways and effect varying forms to produce particular sounds uttered in speech, particular notes struck in singing, particular movements made by the body, and also particular states of thought and affection. What then of more internal things which, when compared with such an important organ as the lungs, exist in an utterly perfect state of perfection? The philosopher endorsed all this and swore that such matters had been well known to him when he had lived in the world. He added that the world ought to be using philosophical arguments for such purposes and ought not to be fixing its attention merely on stock phrases and disputes about them, and so sweating away in the dust.

AC (Elliott) n. 6327 6327. This subject is continued at the end of the next chapter.

49

GENESIS 49

1 And Jacob called his sons, and said, Gather together, and I will tell you what will happen to you at the end of days.

2 Assemble, and hear, O sons of Jacob, and hear* Israel your father.

3 Reuben my firstborn, you are my might, and the beginning of my strength, excelling in eminence and excelling in worth.

4 Light as water, may you not excel, because you went up to your father’s bed; at that time you profaned [it] – he went up to my couch.

5 Simeon and Levi are brothers; instruments of violence are their swords.

6 Into their secret place let my soul not come; in their congregation let not my glory be united; for in their anger they killed a man, and in their pleasure they hamstrung an ox.

7 Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their wrath, for it is hard.** I will divide them in Jacob, and will scatter them in Israel.

8 Judah are you, your brothers will praise you; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies. Your father’s sons will bow down to you.

9 A lion’s cub is Judah; from the plunder you have gone up, my son. He crouched, he lay down like a lion, and like an old lion; who will rouse him?

10 The sceptre will not be removed from Judah, or a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to him will be the obedience of the peoples.

11 He binds his young ass to the vine, and the foal of his she-ass to the outstanding vine; he washes his clothing in wine, and his garment in the blood of grapes.

12 His eyes are red from wine, and his teeth white from milk.

13 Zebulun will dwell at the haven of the seas, and he will be at the haven of ships; and his side will be over towards Sidon.

14 Issachar is a bony ass, lying down between burdens.

15 And he will see rest that it is good, and the land that it is pleasant; and he will bend his shoulder to bear a burden, and will be one serving for tribute.

16 Dan will judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.

17 Dan will be a serpent on the road, a darting serpent on the path, biting the horse’s heels; and its rider will fall backwards.

18 I wait for Your salvation, O Jehovah.

19 Gad – a troop will ravage him, and he will ravage the heel.

20 From Asher, fat will be his bread, and he will yield a king’s delights.

21 Naphtali is a hind let loose, making elegant utterances.

22 The son of a fertile one is Joseph, the son of a fertile one beside a spring; daughters, [each one] marches onto the wall.

23 And they exasperate him and shoot at him and hate him, do the archers.

24 And he will sit in the strength of his bow, and the arms of his hands are made strong by the hands of the powerful Jacob – from there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel.

25 By the God of your father, who will help you, and together with Shaddai, who will bless you with the blessings of heaven from above, the blessings of the deep lying beneath, the blessings of the breasts and of the womb.

26 The blessings of your father will prevail over the blessings of my ancestors, even as far as the desire of the everlasting hills. They will be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of the Nazirite among his brothers.

27 Benjamin is a wolf; he will seize in the morning, he will devour the spoil, and at evening he will divide the plunder.

28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke to them; and he blessed them, each according to his blessing he blessed them.

29 And he commanded them and said to them, I am being gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers, at the cave which is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,

30 In the cave which is in the field of Machpelah, which faces Mamre in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite as a possession for a grave.

31 There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah.

32 The buying of the field and of the cave that was in it was from the sons of Heth.

33 And Jacob finished commanding his sons, and he gathered up his feet towards the bed, and expired, and was gathered to his peoples.
* lit. hear towards
** i.e. cruel

AC (Elliott) n. 6328 6328. CONTENTS

This chapter does not deal in the internal sense with the descendants of Jacob, with what is going to happen to them, but with the truths of faith and the forms of the good of love which the twelve tribes named after Jacob’s sons represent and mean.

AC (Elliott) n. 6329 6329. Dealt with first is faith separated from charity, which is totally rejected. That faith is Reuben, Simeon, and Levi.

AC (Elliott) n. 6330 6330. Dealt with after that is the celestial Church, which is the tribe of Judah, though the highest sense deals at this point with the Lord’s Divine Human.

AC (Elliott) n. 6331 6331. Then the rest of the tribes are dealt with in accordance with the state of the goodness and truth they represent.

AC (Elliott) n. 6332 6332. Dealt with finally is the celestial-spiritual Church, which is Joseph, though here also the highest sense deals with the Lord’s Divine Human.

AC (Elliott) n. 6333 6333. THE INTERNAL SENSE

The statements made in this chapter by Jacob show plainly that the Word has a meaning in it which is different from that seen in the letter. For in verse 1 Jacob, who by now is Israel, says that he will tell what will happen to his sons at the end of days; yet nothing of what he tells and foretells in fact happened to them. He says for example that the descendants of Reuben, Simeon, and Levi, who are the subject in verses 3-7, will be cursed more than the rest, and that Simeon and Levi will be divided in Jacob and scattered in Israel. Yet the opposite happened to Levi – he was blessed, for the priesthood was invested in him.

[2] Nor did what is said about Judah happen to that tribe, apart from the fact [implied in verse 10] that the representative of the Church remained longer with it than with the rest. And in addition to that, things are stated about it, the nature of which no one can know except from the different meaning concealed inwardly, such as the statements in verses 9, 11, 12, that he crouched and lay down like a lion; bound his young ass to the vine, the foal of his she-ass to an outstanding vine; washed his clothing in wine, his garment in the blood of grapes; or the statement that his eyes were red from wine, and his teeth white from milk. All these statements are of such a nature that anyone may see that they hold something which is well known in heaven but cannot become plain to man except from heaven.

[3] The same applies to what Israel said about the rest of his sons, for example, regarding Zebulun, that he will dwell at the haven of the seas and of ships, with his side towards Sidon; regarding Issachar, that being a bony ass lying down between burdens he will bend his shoulder to bear burdens; regarding Dan, that he will be a serpent on the road, a darting serpent on the path, biting the horse’s heels, and its rider will fall backwards; and so on regarding the rest of his sons. All this, as has been stated, plainly demonstrates the existence of an internal sense. The Word is given so that it may unite heaven and earth, that is, angels with men, and for that reason it has been written in such a way that angels may understand it in a spiritual manner while a person understands it in a natural one. And this brings a holy influence by way of the angels that causes the two to be united.

[4] Such is the nature of the Word both in the historical sections and in the prophetical parts. Yet the internal sense is less apparent in the historical sections than the prophetical parts because the historical narratives have been written in a different style, though that style nevertheless employs meaningful signs. Those narratives have been provided so that children, younger or older, may be introduced through them into reading the Word, for they give children delight and stay in their minds. Through those narratives they are brought in contact with the heavens, a contact that is pleasing because children live in a state of innocence and charity for one another. This is the reason for the existence of the historical part of the Word. And the reason why there is a prophetical part is so that a person may have no more than a vague understanding of it when he reads it; yet when the kind of person alive today gleans a vague understanding, the angels have a clear perception. This I have been allowed to know from much experience, which in the Lord’s Divine mercy will be presented elsewhere.

AC (Elliott) n. 6334 6334. Verses 1, 2 And Jacob called his sons, and said, Gather together, and I will tell you what will happen to you at the end of days. Assemble, and hear, O sons of Jacob, and hear* Israel your father.

‘And Jacob called his sons’ means organizing the truths of faith and the forms of the good of love in the natural. ‘And said, Gather together’ means the existence together of all in general. ‘And I will tell you what will happen to you at the end of days’ means the nature of the Church’s state within the order in which they were arranged at that time. ‘Assemble’ means that they should arrange themselves into order. ‘And hear, O sons of Jacob’ means the truths and forms of good in the natural. ‘And hear Israel your father’ means a foretelling regarding them made by spiritual good, in the highest sense the Lord’s foresight.
* lit. hear towards

AC (Elliott) n. 6335 6335. ‘And Jacob called his sons’ means organizing the truths of faith and the forms of the good of love in the natural. This is clear from the meaning of ‘calling’ as arranging into order, for the reason why they were called together was so that the truths of faith and the forms of the good of charity might be set forth in that organized arrangement; and from the representation of ‘Jacob’ and ‘his sons’ as the truths of faith and the forms of the good of love in the natural, ‘Jacob’ being those truths and forms of good in general, see 3509, 3525, 3546, 3659, 3669, 3677, 3775, 3829, 4234, 4273, 4777, 5506, 5533, 5535, 6001, 6236, and ‘his sons’, or the tribes named after them, those truths and forms of good in particular, 3858, 3926, 3939, 4060. With regard to this organization of the truths of faith and the forms of the good of love that is meant here and is set forth in the internal sense of this chapter, it should be recognized that the twelve tribes of Israel represented in general all truths and forms of good in their entirety, thus all the truths and forms of good which come forth from the Lord, therefore those which exist in heaven and from which heaven exists. And since all in general are represented, so is each one specifically; for classes in general include all members specifically, just as general wholes do their individual parts.

[2] Forms of good and the truths deriving from them are what determine the varying intensity of light in heaven; and that varying intensity of light is what determines the varying states of intelligence and wisdom. This was how it came about that light glittered and flashed through the Urim and Thummim, doing so in varying ways in keeping with the state of the matter about which questions were being asked. This took place because the twelve tribes, by whom all truths and forms of good in general were meant, were designated in the breastplate or Urim and Thummim; for each precious stone stood for one particular tribe. The reason why they were precious stones was that spiritual and celestial truths are meant by them, 114, 3720, and good is meant by the ‘gold’ into which they had been set,* 113, 1551, 1552, 5658. This arcanum is what was meant by the Urim and Thummim.

[3] The fact that the twelve tribes meant such things is evident from places in the Word where they are mentioned by name, in particular from the inheritances of the tribes in the land of Canaan, which are dealt with in Joshua, and from their inheritances in the Lord’s kingdom, which are dealt with in Ezekiel – in the final chapters, in which a new land, a new Jerusalem, and a new temple are described – and also in Revelation 7:4-8. That the twelve tribes meant such things is also evident from the order in which they were arranged when they pitched camp in the wilderness, an order which was such that it represented truths and forms of good in their right and proper order. This was the origin of the prophetic utterance made by Balaam,

When Balaam lifted up his eyes and saw Israel dwelling according to their tribes, the Spirit of God came upon him and he delivered an utterance, and said, How good are your tabernacles, O Jacob; your dwelling-places, O Israel! Like valleys they are planted, like gardens beside a river, like aloes Jehovah has planted, like cedars beside the waters. Num. 24:2, 3, 5, 6.

See also what has been shown regarding the tribes and organized arrangements of them in 2129, 3858, 3862, 3926, 3979, 4060, 4603.
* Reading cui inclusi (into which they had been set) for cui insculpti (for which they had been engraved).

AC (Elliott) n. 6336 6336. ‘And said, Gather together’ means the existence together of all in general. This is clear from the meaning of ‘gathering together’ as a call to exist together, in this case a call to all the truths of faith and forms of the good of love that are meant by the twelve sons of Jacob, see immediately above in 6335.

AC (Elliott) n. 6337 6337. ‘And I will show you what will happen to you at the end of days’ means the nature of the Church’s state within the order in which they were arranged at that time. This is clear from the meaning of ‘showing what will happen’ as communicating and foretelling; and from the meaning of ‘the end of days’ as the final phase of the state in which they exist together – ‘days’ being states, 23, 487, 488, 493, 893, 2788, 3462, 3785, 4850, and ‘the end’ the final phase, so that ‘the end of days’ is the final phase of a state, that is to say, of the state in which truths and forms of good in general exist together when arranged in their proper order. The reason why it is the Church’s state which is meant is that the truths and forms of good represented by ‘Jacob and his sons’ are what constitute the Church, on account of which ‘Jacob’ represents the Church, 4286, 4439, 4514, 4520, 4680, 4772, 5536, 5540, and so also ‘his sons’, 5403, 5419, 5427, 5458, 5512. And the reason why the nature of that state is meant is that the way the Church’s truths and forms of good are represented depends on the order in which Jacob’s sons or the tribes are mentioned in the Word, see 3862, 3926, 3939. For its nature is different if Reuben’s name comes first from what it is if Judah’s comes first. When Reuben is first the nature of the state is such that it starts with faith; but when Judah is first it is such that it starts with love; and the nature of it is different again when it starts with something other than faith or love. For variation in the nature of the state is also indicated by the order in which the rest are named after those two.

[2] The variations that are produced in this way are incalculable, indeed infinite, especially so when the truths and forms of good in general that are meant by ‘the twelve tribes’ also take on specific variations, countless ones for each – for then each truth and form of good in general assumes a different appearance – and even more especially so when those specific truths or forms of good take on countless individual variations, and so on. The infinite variations produced in this way may be illustrated by very many things that exist in the natural world. From all this one may now see that the twelve tribes have a different meaning when their names occur in the Word in one order from when they do so in another. Thus in this chapter they carry a meaning different from that seen elsewhere.

AC (Elliott) n. 6338 6338. ‘Assemble’ means that they should arrange themselves into order. This is clear from the meaning of ‘assembling’ as becoming arranged into order. ‘Assembling’ has no other meaning in the spiritual sense, for truths and forms of good cannot assemble without also becoming arranged into order. For the universal influence which emanates from the Lord causes this to happen, because that influence covers all specific things, including the most specific. All these taken together compose the universal influence by which all things in heaven are arranged into order. When that universal influence is at work forms of good and truths appear to arrange themselves into order, as though they moved into such order of their own accord. This is true of heaven taken as a whole; it is in a state of order and is constantly preserved in that state by the universal influence emanating from the Lord. It is also true of the communities of heaven in general, and it is true in addition of the communities there in particular. For as soon as angels or spirits assemble they instantly become arranged, seemingly all by themselves, into a state of order, and in so doing constitute a heavenly community that is an image of heaven. This would never happen if the universal influence emanating from the Lord did not cover the most specific things of all, and if all these were not in an utterly perfect state of order. If, as most people think, only some universal influence unconcerned with things of a specific nature came from God, and man, spirit, or angel controlled those things for himself, then instead of order everything would be in a state of confusion, and there would not be any heaven, or hell, or human race, or indeed any natural world.

[2] This may be illustrated from many things existing with a person. Unless for example his thoughts were arranged into order as a general whole, and at the same time in each specific part by the affections belonging to his love, those thoughts could never flow in a rational and analytical manner. Nor likewise could his actions. Also, unless there were universal and specific influences from the soul into the internal organs of the body, no order or control could be established in the body. But when there are specific influences and thus a universal one, all things are arranged into order seemingly by themselves. These matters have been stated so that people may know how to understand the idea that truths and forms of good should arrange themselves into order.

AC (Elliott) n. 6339 6339. ‘And hear, O sons of Jacob’ means the truths and forms of good in the natural. This is clear from the representation of ‘the sons of Jacob’ as the Church’s truths and forms of good in the natural, dealt with above in 6335.

AC (Elliott) n. 6340 6340. ‘And hear Israel your father’ means a foretelling regarding them made by spiritual good, in the highest sense the Lord’s foresight. This is clear from the meaning of ‘hearing’ – hearing what will happen at the end of days – as a foretelling; and from the representation of ‘Israel’ as spiritual good, as in 5801, 5803, 5806, 5812, 5817, 5819, 5826, 5833. And since a foretelling is meant in the internal sense by ‘hearing what will happen at the end of days’, the Lord’s foresight is meant in the highest sense; for the Lord’s foresight is the source of every foretelling that is made. When it says that the sons of Jacob should hear Israel, the meaning is that those who belong to the Church should hear the Lord, that is, hear Him in the Word. They should hear what He teaches there about the truths of faith and forms of the good of love, and what He foretells about those in possession of some truth or form of good meant by one or another son of Jacob. They should hear for example what He teaches and foretells about people with whom faith exists separated from charity, who are meant here by Reuben, Simeon, and Levi; about those with whom celestial good is present, who are meant by Judah; about those with whom spiritual good is present, who are meant by ‘Joseph’; and so also about those with whom whatever is meant by the rest of Jacob’s sons is present.

AC (Elliott) n. 6341 6341. Verses 3, 4 Reuben my firstborn, you are my might, and the beginning of my strength, excelling in eminence and excelling in worth. Light as water, may you not excel, because you went up to your father’s bed; at that time you profaned [it] – he went up to my couch.

‘Reuben my firstborn’ means faith which seemingly occupies the first place. ‘You are my might’ means that through that faith comes the power which good possesses. ‘And the beginning of my strength’ means that through that faith comes the initial power which truth possesses. ‘Excelling in eminence and excelling in worth’ means the resulting glory and powerfulness. ‘Light as water’ means that faith alone does not possess such qualities. ‘May you not excel’ means that neither does it have any glory or powerfulness. ‘Because you went up to your father’s bed’ means because when separated from the good of charity faith is involved in a foul liaison. ‘At that time you profaned [it]’ means that if it were joined to evil, profanity would exist. ‘He went up to my couch’ means because it would contaminate spiritual good in the natural.

AC (Elliott) n. 6342 6342. ‘Reuben my firstborn’ means faith which seemingly occupies the first place. This is clear from the representation of ‘Reuben’ as faith in the understanding, dealt with in 3861, 3866, and the Church’s confession of faith in general, 4731, 4734, 4761; and from the meaning of ‘firstborn’ as occupying the first place, dealt with in 3325. But faith does no more than seem to occupy the first place, see 3539, 3548, 3556, 3563, 3570, 3576, 3603, 3701, 4915, 4926, 4928, 4930, 4977, 6256, 6269, 6272, 6273.

AC (Elliott) n. 6343 6343. ‘You are my might’ means that through faith comes the power which good possesses. This is clear from the representation of Reuben, to whom ‘you’ refers here, as faith in the understanding, referred to immediately above in 6342; and from the meaning of ‘might’ as the power which good possesses. As regards power – the power to think and will, perceive, do what is good, believe, dispel falsities and evils – it comes wholly from good through truth, good being its primary source and truth merely the channel through which it comes, 3563, 4931, 5623. The reason the power that good possesses is meant is that ‘might’ means that power, whereas ‘strength’ means the power of truth. Thus it is that ‘the beginning of my strength’, which comes next, means the initial power that truth possesses; for the word used in the original language to express ‘strength’ has reference in the Word to truth, whereas the word used to express ‘might’ has reference to good.

[2] The fact that the Word is holy, extremely holy in its inner senses, is plainly evident from the consideration that the heavenly marriage, which is the marriage of goodness and truth, thus heaven itself, is present within every detail of the Word. In the inmost sense every detail embodies the marriage of the Lord’s Divine Human with His kingdom and Church; indeed the theme in the highest sense of all is the union of the Divine Itself and the Divine Human within the Lord. These extremely holy subjects contained in every detail of the Word are a plain indication that the Word has come down from the Divine. The truth of all this may be recognized from the consideration that where good is spoken of, so too is truth, and where what is internal is spoken of, so too is what is external. Also, there are expressions which always mean good, those which always mean truth, and those which mean both – both good and truth. Or if they do not mean them directly, they are nevertheless used with reference to them or else imply them. And such reference of those expressions to good and truth or their meaning them directly shows that every detail, as has been stated, embodies the marriage of goodness and truth, which is the heavenly marriage, and that the inmost and highest sense holds the Divine marriage which exists in the Lord, thus holds the Lord Himself, within it.

[3] All this reveals itself in every part of the Word, yet not plainly except in those places where the repetition of some matter occurs that is no more than a change of words, as in the present chapter, where Reuben is dealt with,

You are my might, and the beginning of my strength.

Also,

Excelling in eminence and excelling in worth.

Here ‘might’ is used in reference to good, and ‘strength’ to truth; ‘excelling in eminence’ is used in reference to truth, and ‘excelling in worth’ to good. Likewise in the next verse regarding Reuben,

You went up to your father’s bed; at that time you profaned it – he went up to my couch.

Similarly further on, where Simeon and Levi are dealt with,

Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their wrath, for it is hard. I will divide them in Jacob, and will scatter them in Israel. Verse 7.

Here ‘anger’ means a turning away from good and ‘wrath’ a turning away from truth. ‘Jacob’ is the external aspect of the Church and ‘Israel’ the internal aspect of it. Then where Judah is dealt with,

Your brothers will praise you; your father’s sons will bow down to you. Verse 8.

Further on,

He binds his young ass to the vine, and the foal of his she-ass to the outstanding vine; he washes his clothing in wine, and his garment in the blood of grapes. Verse 11.

Where Zebulun is dealt with,

He will dwell at the haven of the seas, and he will be at the haven of ships. Verse 13.

Where Dan is dealt with,

He will be a serpent on the road, a darting serpent on the path. Verse 17.

[4] Similar examples occur frequently in the Psalms and among the Prophets, as in Isaiah,

Babel will not be dwelt in ever again, it will not be lived in even from generation to generation. Its time is near and about to come, and its days will not be prolonged. Isa. 13:20, 22.

In the same prophet,

Search from above in the Book of Jehovah, and read: None of these will be missing, not one will not be left longing for its mate;* for He has commanded with His mouth, and His Spirit has gathered them. The Same has cast the lot for them, and His hand has distributed to them by means of a measuring rod. Even for ever they will possess it, from generation to generation they will dwell in it. Isa. 34:16, 17.

More examples may be found in a thousand other places. Anyone who does not know that expressions are used in the Word to mean spiritual and celestial realities, and that some are used to refer to good but others to truth, will inevitably think that such usages are no more than repetitions that serve solely as fillers and so are in themselves meaningless. Thus it is that people who think ill of the Word also add this to the arguments they use in vilifying it. Yet utterly Divine things are concealed within those repetitions; that is to say, the heavenly marriage, which is heaven itself, and the Divine Marriage, which is the Lord Himself, are concealed in them. This [highest] sense is ‘the glory’ in which the Lord is present, while the literal sense is ‘the cloud’ in which that glory is present, Matt. 24:30; Luke 21:27. See Preface to Genesis 18, and also 5922.
* lit. not one will be desiring the other

AC (Elliott) n. 6344 6344. ‘And the beginning of my strength’ means that through that faith comes the initial power which truth possesses. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the beginning of strength’ as initial power; and since ‘strength’ is used with reference to truth, the initial power that truth possesses is what is meant. A similar usage occurs in Isaiah,

Jehovah imparts might to the weary, and to him who has no strength He gives greater power. Isa. 40:29.

Here ‘might’ is used with reference to good and ‘strength’ to truth, ‘power’ with reference to both.

A brief statement will be made about how one should understand the explanation that through faith comes the power which good possesses, and the initial power which truth possesses, meant by ‘Reuben my firstborn, you are my might and the beginning of my strength’. In the spiritual world all power comes from good through truth; without good truth has no power at all. For truth is so to speak the body, and good so to speak the soul of that body, and to accomplish anything the soul must act through the body. From this it is evident that truth without good has no power at all, even as the body without the soul has none at all. A body without its soul is a corpse; so too is truth without good.

[2] As soon as good effects the birth of faith that is composed of truth, power reveals itself in truth. This power is what is called the initial power that truth possesses through faith and is what is meant by ‘the beginning of strength’, as in other places in the Word where the condition of the firstborn is referred to, for example in David,

He smote all the firstborn in Egypt, the beginning of strength in the tents of Ham. Ps. 78:51.

And in another place,

He smote all the firstborn in their land, the beginning of all their strength. Ps. 105:36.

Also in Deuteronomy,

He must acknowledge the firstborn son of her that is hated, to give him two parts of all that will be found for him, in that he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the first born is his. Deut. 21:17.

[3] The genuine meaning of ‘the firstborn’ is the good of charity, though the apparent meaning is the truth of faith, 3325, 4925, 4926, 4928, 4930. And because both that good and this truth are the fundamental qualities of the Church, the ancients spoke of the firstborn as his ‘father’s might and the beginning of his strength’. The fact that those fundamental qualities were meant by ‘the firstborn’ is quite evident from the considerations that everything which was a firstborn was Jehovah’s or the Lord’s and that the tribe of Levi was taken instead of all the firstborn and became the priesthood.

[4] Scarcely anyone in the world can know what the power possessed by truth coming from good is; but it is known to those in the next life, and so can be known through revelation from there. People in possession of truth that comes from good, that is, of faith derived from charity, possess power that comes through truth from good. All angels possess that power, which also is why in the Word angels are called ‘powers’. For they have the power to restrain evil spirits; even one angel can restrain a thousand together. Their power they use most especially among men; sometimes they protect a person from numerous hells, in thousands of ways.

[5] This power that angels possess comes to them through the truth of faith derived from the good of charity. But because the faith they have comes from the Lord, the Lord alone is the power that resides with them. This power which comes from the Lord through faith is meant by the Lord’s words to Peter,

On this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Matt. 16:18, 19.

These words were addressed to Peter because he represented faith, see Preface to Genesis 22, as well as 3750, 4738, 6000, 6073 (end). Also wherever ‘rock’,* as Peter is called here, occurs in the Word, faith is meant in its internal sense, and the Lord in respect of faith in its highest sense.
* Reading petram (rock), which Sw. has in his rough draft, for Petrum (Peter).

AC (Elliott) n. 6345 6345. ‘Excelling in eminence and excelling in worth’ means the resulting glory and powerfulness. This is clear from the meaning of ‘excelling in eminence’ as glory, for a person who is eminent possesses glory; and from the meaning of ‘excelling in worth’ as powerfulness, since one who has worth is endued with powerfulness. Here glory has reference to the truth of faith, 5922, powerfulness to the good of charity, which is why the phrase ‘the resulting glory and powerfulness’ is used – resulting from the truth of faith and the good of charity, both spoken of immediately above.

AC (Elliott) n. 6346 6346. ‘Light as water’ means that faith alone does not possess such qualities, neither glory nor powerfulness. This is clear from the meaning of ‘being light as water’ as having no weight or worth. The fact that faith alone is meant, that is, faith separated from charity, is evident from the things mentioned in what follows that involve Reuben, and that involve Simeon and Levi. Those men – Reuben, Simeon, and Levi – are used here also to refer to faith alone or faith separated from charity.

AC (Elliott) n. 6347 6347. ‘May you not excel’ means that neither does it have any glory or powerfulness. This is clear from the meaning of ‘not excelling’ – not excelling in eminence or worth, as in the phrase used just above, to which these words refer back – as the fact that such faith does not have any glory or powerfulness.

AC (Elliott) n. 6348 6348. ‘because you went up to your father’s bed’ means because when separated from the good of charity faith is involved in a foul liaison. This is clear from the meaning of ‘going up to his father’s bed’ as being involved in a foul liaison; that is to say, faith separated from charity is involved in it. For if faith in doctrine or the understanding, which ‘Reuben’ represents here, is not introduced to good and joined to it, it is either dissipated or ceases to be anything, or else it is introduced to evil and falsity and joined to them, which is the foul liaison that is meant. For then profanity comes about. The truth of this may be recognized from the fact that faith cannot have a dwelling-place anywhere else than within good; and if it does not have a dwelling-place there, then inevitably it ceases to be anything or is joined to evil. This is plainly evident from those people in the next life who have adhered to faith alone and not at all to charity. Their faith is dissipated in that life; or if it has been joined to evil, a lot among profaners awaits them.

[2] In the internal sense of the Word instances of adultery mean adulterations of good, while instances of whoredom mean falsifications of truth, 2466, 3399. But foul liaisons – which are called the forbidden degrees [of sexual relations], dealt with in Lev. 18:6-24 – mean various kinds of profanation. Profanation is obviously meant here also since the words used are, ‘You went up to your father’s bed; at that time you profaned [it] – he went up to my couch’. Regarding the meaning of these words as the profanation of good by separated faith, see 4601, where that unspeakable deed performed by Reuben is dealt with.

[3] The nature of faith alone or faith separated from charity is such that if it is joined to evil – as happens when a person first believes the truth of faith, and especially when initially he leads a life in accordance with it but after that renounces it and leads a life contrary to it – profanity takes place. For the truth of faith and the good of charity first become rooted through doctrine and life in the person’s interiors, after which they are called forth from there and are joined to evil. The lot that awaits the person in whom this happens is the worst of all in the next life; for with someone like that, good is incapable of being separated from evil, though they are nevertheless separated in the next life. Nor does someone like that have any remnants of good stored away in him interiorly because they have perished altogether in evil. Their hell is located on the left out in front, a considerable distance away; and those who are there look to the angels like skeletons, possessing scarcely any life. Therefore to avoid the occurrence of the profanation of goodness and truth, the person who – the Lord foresees – is the kind that will not allow himself to be regenerated is held back from faith and charity and is allowed to immerse himself in evil and consequently in falsity. For in this condition he cannot profane anything. See what has been stated and shown already about profanation in 301-303, 571, 582, 593, 1001, 1008, 1010, 1059, 1327, 1328, 2051, 2426, 3398, 3399, 3402, 3489, 3898, 4289, 4601.

AC (Elliott) n. 6349 6349. ‘At that time you profaned [it]’ means that if it were joined to evil, profanity existed. This is clear from what has been stated immediately above in 6348.

AC (Elliott) n. 6350 6350. ‘He went up to my couch’ means that it would contaminate spiritual good in the natural. This is clear from the meaning of ‘going up to the couch’ as contaminating by rendering profane, dealt with just above in 6348; and from the representation of Israel, whose couch it was to which he went up, as spiritual good in the natural, dealt with in 6340.

AC (Elliott) n. 6351 6351. Verses 5-7 Simeon and Levi are brothers; instruments of violence are their swords. Into their secret place let my soul not come; in their congregation let not my glory be united; for in their anger they killed a man, and in their pleasure they hamstrung an ox. Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their wrath, for it is hard.* I will divide them in Jacob, and will scatter them in Israel. ‘Simeon and Levi are brothers’ means faith in the will and charity, but here the opposite since faith separated from charity is meant. ‘Instruments of violence are their swords’ means that religious teachings serve to destroy charitable deeds, thus charity itself. ‘Into their secret place let my soul not come means that spiritual good has no wish to know the evil intentions of their will. ‘In their congregation let not my glory be united’ means that neither does the truth of spiritual good have any wish to know the resulting false ideas constituting their thought. ‘For in their anger they killed a man’ means that they felt utterly averse, and having that feeling they annihilated faith. ‘And in their pleasure they hamstrung an ox’ means that motivated by a wicked will they crippled completely the external good of charity. ‘Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce’ means an utter aversion to good and consequent damnation. ‘And their wrath, for it is hard’ means an aversion to the truth that is derived from good – a firm and determined aversion. ‘I will divide them in Jacob’ means that they are to be banished from the natural man. ‘And will scatter them in Israel’ means that they are to be banished from the spiritual man.
* i.e. cruel

AC (Elliott) n. 6352 6352. ‘Simeon and Levi are brothers’ means faith in the will and charity, but here the opposite since faith separated from charity is meant. This is clear from the representation of ‘Simeon’ as faith in the will, dealt with in 3869-3872, 4497, 4502, 4503, 5482, 5626, 5630; and from the representation of ‘Levi’ as charity, dealt with in 3875, 3877, but here the opposite of it since faith separated from charity is meant. For when such faith is represented by ‘Reuben’ as is evident from the explanations at verse 4, it follows that no faith present in the will, nor thus any charity, are what ‘Simeon and Levi’ represent; for these deficiencies follow in a chain of effects resulting from their initial cause. ‘Simeon’ therefore represents falsity in the will, and ‘Levi’ evil put into practice, for these are the opposites of faith in the will and charity. The fact that Simeon and Levi are cursed proves that those opposites are meant here.

AC (Elliott) n. 6353 6353. ‘Instruments of violence are their swords (machaera)’ means that religious teachings serve to destroy charitable deeds, thus charity itself. This is clear from the meaning of ‘instruments of violence’ as things that serve to destroy charity (the fact that ‘instruments’ are things that serve is self-evident, while the fact that ‘violence’ means the destruction of charity will be seen shortly below); and from the meaning of ‘swords as religious teachings. For ‘swords’ (gladius) are the truths of faith that are employed to fight against falsities and evils, 2799; thus swords’ (machaera)* are religious teachings, here teachings employed to fight against truth and goodness and to annihilate them, for they are employed by those who champion faith alone, or faith separated from charity, and with whom the opposite of charity resides.

[2] The religious teachings employed by those who champion faith alone to dispense with charitable works are principally these:

A person is saved by faith alone without the works of charity.

Those works are unnecessary, and a person can be saved by faith alone even in his final hour when he dies, irrespective of how he has lived throughout the whole course of his life.

Thus those who have performed nothing else than cruel deeds, robberies, acts of adultery, or unholy deeds can be saved.

Consequently salvation is merely a letting into heaven, which means that none are let in except those who have received that grace at the end of their lives, and which also means that some by God’s mercy have been chosen and others by the lack of it have been damned.

The truth of the matter however is that the Lord does not deny heaven to anyone. The life people have led and the communication of that life, which is perceived in heaven in the way an odour is on earth by its recipients, make it completely impossible for them to be there; for they are tormented in heaven by the wicked life they led more than they are in the deepest hell.

[3] ‘A sword’ means falsity fighting and killing. This is evident in John,

There went out another horse, fiery red; and it was granted to the one sitting on it to take away peace from the earth, so that people would kill one another, for which reason there was given him a great sword. Rev. 6:4.

In the same author,

If anyone kills with the sword, he must be killed with the sword. Rev. 13:10, 14.

[4] ‘Violence’ is the use of force against charity. This is plain from many places in the Word, as in Isaiah,

The violent one will cease to be and the scornful one will be destroyed. All ripeners of iniquity** will be cut off, those who cause a person to sin by a word, and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate, and cause him who is just to turn aside to something empty. Isa. 59:20, 21.

Here a different expression is used in the original language for ‘the violent one’; but it carries a similar spiritual meaning. The fact that ‘the violent one’ is someone who uses force against charity is meant when it says that ‘they cause a person to sin by a word’ and ’cause him who is just to turn aside’.

[5] In the same prophet,

Their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands. Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood. Isa. 59:6, 7.

Here ‘violence’ stands for force used against charity, a force that is also meant by ‘shedding blood’, see 774, 1005. In the same prophet,

No longer will there be violence in your land, a laying waste and ruin within your borders. Isa. 60:18.

‘Violence’ stands for the destruction of charity, for the outcome is a laying waste and ruin in the land, that is, in the Church.

[6] In Jeremiah,

I proclaim violence and a laying waste, for the word of Jehovah was made to me a reproach and ignominy the whole day. Jer. 20:8.

Here also ‘violence’ stands for violence in spiritual things, thus for the destruction of charity, and also of faith. In Ezekiel,

The land is full of the judgement of blood,*** and the city is full of violence. Ezek. 7:23.

‘The judgement of blood’ stands for the destruction of faith, ‘violence’ for the destruction of charity.

[7] In the same prophet,

If he begets a violent son, a shedder of blood, who does any one of these things; if he eats on the mountains, or defiles his companion’s wife, oppresses the wretched and needy, engages in plunderings, does not restore the pledge, or lifts his eyes to idols, commits abomination, lends at interest and takes usury, will he live? He will not live; he will surely die. Ezek. 18:10-13.

In this description of what ‘a violent son and a shedder of blood’ is, the wrong-doings that are listed are all the charitable works he destroys; thus ‘a violent son and a shedder of blood’ is one who destroys charity and faith.

[8] In David,

Deliver me, O Jehovah, from the evil person; from the man of violent actions preserve me. Those who think evil things in their heart gather together all the day for war, they make their tongue sharp, like a serpent; the poison of an asp is under their lips. Keep me, O Jehovah, from the hands of the wicked; from the man of violent actions preserve me. Do not let a slanderer**** be established in the land; as for the violent man, evil hunts him down, to overthrow him. Ps. 140:1-4, 11.

‘The man of violent actions’ stands for those who destroy the truths of faith and forms of the good of charity. Their fight against these is meant by ‘they gather together all the day for war, they make their tongue sharp, like a serpent’, ‘the poison of an asp is under their lips’, and ‘evil hunts him down, to overthrow him’. ‘Violence’ is referred to in other places besides these, such as Ezek. 12:19; Joel 3:19; Mal. 2:16, 17; Zeph. 3:4; Ps. 18:48; 55:9-11; 58:2-5; Deut. 19:16.
* The Hebrew word m’kerah, which Sw. renders machaera here in Gen. 49:7, does not occur again in OT. But machaera, a Greek word for a sword, is generally retained by Sw. in quotations from NT.
** The Latin means judgement but the Hebrew means iniquity.
*** lit. bloods
**** lit. a man of tongue

AC (Elliott) n. 6354 6354. ‘Into their secret place let my soul not come’ means that spiritual good has no wish to know the evil intentions of their will. This is clear from the representation of Israel, who says this about himself, as spiritual good, dealt with in 6340; and from the meaning of ‘into their secret place let there not come as having no wish to know – to know the evil intentions of their will, which are meant by ‘Simeon and Levi’, 6352. The expression ‘my soul’ is used because here ‘soul’ means the life of good that spiritual good possesses; the life of truth that it possesses is meant by ‘glory’, referred to immediately below.

AC (Elliott) n. 6355 6355. ‘In their congregation let not my glory be united’ means that neither does the truth of spiritual good have any wish to know the resulting false ideas constituting their thought. This is clear from the representation of Israel as spiritual good, dealt with in 6340; from the meaning of ‘in their congregation let it not be united’ as having no wish to be joined to the false ideas constituting their thought or thus to know them (false ideas constituting a person’s thought are meant by ‘congregation’, for ‘a congregation’, like ‘a multitude’, is used with reference to truths, and in the contrary sense to falsities); and from the meaning of ‘glory’, which is used with reference to truth, dealt with in 4809, 5922, for to those who cherish spiritual good truth is glory.

AC (Elliott) n. 6356 6356. ‘For in their anger they killed a man’ means that they felt utterly averse, and having that feeling they annihilated faith. This is clear from the meaning of ‘anger’ as a departure from charity and an aversion, dealt with in 357, 5034, 5798; from the meaning of ‘killing’ as annihilating; and from the meaning of ‘a man’ as the truth of faith, dealt with in 3134, 3309, 3459, 4823.

AC (Elliott) n. 6357 6357. ‘And in their pleasure they hamstrung an ox’ means that motivated by a wicked will they crippled completely the external good of charity. This is clear from the meaning of ‘good pleasure’ as the will, here a wicked will; from the meaning of ‘hamstringing’ as crippling; and from the meaning of ‘an ox’ as the natural or external good of charity, dealt with in 2180, 2566, 2781. The reason why ‘an ox’ is spoken of here, and ‘a man’ immediately before, is that ‘a man’ means the truth of faith and ‘an ox’ the good of charity; and they are both spoken of so that when good is the subject, truth too is dealt with, on account of the heavenly marriage present in every detail of the Word, 6343.

AC (Elliott) n. 6358 6358. ‘Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce’ means an utter aversion to good and consequent damnation. This is clear from the meaning of ‘cursed’ as damnation, for one who has been cursed has been damned; and from the meaning of ‘anger’ as an aversion to good, dealt with in 357, 5034, 5798, 6356, so that ‘fierce anger’ is an utter aversion.

AC (Elliott) n. 6359 6359. ‘And their wrath, for it is hard’ means an aversion to the truth that is derived from good – a firm and determined aversion. This is clear from the meaning of ‘wrath’ as an aversion to truth – ‘wrath’ is used in reference to truth and ‘anger’ to good, see 3614; and from the meaning of ‘hard’ as firm and determined. For when a false idea has been accepted so firmly that a person is convinced it is right it is then hard and fast. I have been allowed from experience to know of such hardness, for among spirits and angels truth from good looks like and presents itself as something soft, whereas falsity from evil does so as something hard, becoming ever harder as such falsity from evil becomes more firmly accepted. Once firm proof based on much evidence has led to utter conviction that it is right, that hardness among them seems to be like the hardness of a bone. Such hardness is also like the hardness of an object in the world, in that rays of light rebound from it. In the same way when the light of heaven flowing from the Lord falls on the hardness that falsity from evil produces, it rebounds; but when on the other hand the light of heaven flowing from the Lord falls on the softness that truth from good produces, it is taken in.

AC (Elliott) n. 6360 6360. ‘I will divide them in Jacob’ means that they are to be banished from the natural man. This is clear from the meaning of ‘dividing’ or cutting off as separation and removal from truth and good, dealt with in 4424, thus a banishment; and from the representation of ‘Jacob’ as the natural or external man, dealt with in 3305, 3576, 4286, 4292, 4570, 6236.

AC (Elliott) n. 6361 6361. ‘And will scatter them in Israel’ means that they are to be banished from the spiritual man. This is clear from the meaning of ‘scattering’ too as a banishment; but ‘scattering’ is distinguished from ‘dividing’ by the fact that the latter is used in reference to the external man and to truth, whereas the former is used in reference to the internal man and to good – ‘Jacob’ represents the natural or external man, and ‘Israel’ the spiritual or internal man, see 4286, 4291, 4570.

These things that Israel stated regarding Simeon and Levi, and also those regarding Reuben, do not mean such things as would happen, as verse 1 says, to their descendants at the end of days. This can be recognized from the fact that those descended from Simeon and from Levi were not cursed; nor were they divided in Jacob and scattered in Israel. The tribe of Simeon existed among the rest of the tribes as one of their number, while the tribe of Levi became the priesthood and so was blessed rather than cursed. Nor likewise was the tribe of Reuben inferior to any other tribe. From this it is quite evident that the things stated in this chapter about what would happen to the sons of Jacob at the end of days refer to what would happen not to those actual descendants but to people who are meant by them in the internal sense. At this point what would happen to those with faith separated from charity is meant, for they are the ones who are meant at this point in the internal sense by Reuben, Simeon, and Levi. From this it becomes perfectly clear that the internal sense of the Word is not that which shows itself in the letter; nor can that sense be seen by anyone unless he has a knowledge of the correspondences of natural things with spiritual ones. Indeed it is not seen at all by anyone who does not know what the spiritual is or what the celestial is.

AC (Elliott) n. 6362 6362. Verses 8-12 Judah are you, your brothers will praise you; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies. Your father’s sons will bow down to you. A lion’s cub is Judah; from the plunder you have gone up, my son. He crouched, he lay down like a lion, and like an old lion; who will rouse him? The sceptre will not be removed from Judah, or a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to him will be the obedience of the peoples. He binds his young ass to the vine, and the foal of his she-ass to the outstanding vine; he washes his clothing in wine, and his garment in the blood of grapes. His eyes are red from wine, and his teeth white from milk.

‘Judah are you’ means the celestial Church, in the highest sense the Lord’s Divine celestial. ‘Your brothers will praise you’ means that this Church is superior to all the rest. ‘Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies’ means that the hellish and devilish crew will flee from its presence. ‘Your father’s sons will bow down to you’ means that truths will submit themselves of their own accord. ‘A lion’s cub is Judah’ means innocence with innate strength. ‘From the plunder you have gone up, my son’ means that through the celestial the Lord accomplishes the deliverance of many from hell. ‘He crouched, he lay down like a lion, and like an old lion’ means the good of love and the truth from that good in their power. ‘Who will rouse him?’ means that he is safe when among all those in the hells. ‘The sceptre will not be removed from Judah’ means that power and control will not depart from the celestial kingdom. ‘Or a lawgiver from between his feet’ means truths from that kingdom in lower things. ‘Until Shiloh comes’ means the Lord’s Coming, and the peaceful tranquillity at that time. ‘And to him will be the obedience of the peoples’ means that from His Divine Human truths would go forth that were able to be received.* ‘He binds his young ass to the vine’ means truth in the natural for the external Church. ‘And the foal of his she-ass to the outstanding vine’ means truth from the rational for the internal Church. ‘He washes his clothing in wine’ means that His Natural consists in Divine Truth from His Divine Good. ‘And his garment in the blood of grapes’ means that His Intellect consists in Divine Good from His Divine Love. ‘His eyes are red from wine’ means that His Intellect or Internal Human is nothing else than good. ‘And his teeth white from milk’ means that the Divine Natural is nothing else than the good of truth.
* The three Latin words rendered here that were able to be received do not appear in the Latin edition, only in Sw.’s rough draft, where however they are possibly deleted. But cp 6374.

AC (Elliott) n. 6363 6363. ‘Judah are you’ means the celestial Church. in the highest sense the Lord’s Divine celestial. This is clear from the representation of ‘Judah’ in the highest sense as the Lord’s Divine love, which is His Divine celestial; but in the relative sense the Lord’s celestial kingdom, thus the celestial Church, is meant, dealt with in 3881. What the celestial kingdom is, or the celestial Church, and what the celestial is, see 640, 641, 765, 895, 2048, 2088, 2669, 2708, 2715, 2718, 2896, 3275, 3246, 3774, 3886, 3887, 4448, 4497, 5113, 5921, 6295.

AC (Elliott) n. 6364 6364. ‘Your brothers will praise you’ means that this Church is superior to all the rest. This is clear from the meaning of ‘being praised’ as being superior; from the representation of Judah, to whom ‘you’ refers here, as the celestial Church, dealt with immediately above in 6363; and from the meaning of ‘brothers’ as the truths which that Church possesses, thus also the Churches which are governed by those truths and are represented by ‘Judah’s brothers’; for truths and forms of good are what constitute a Church. The truths which the celestial Church possesses are meant by ‘your brothers’, that is, Judah’s brothers, whereas the truths that the spiritual Church possesses are meant by ‘his father’s sons’ below in 6366.

AC (Elliott) n. 6365 6365. ‘Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies’ means that the hellish and devilish crew will flee from its presence. This is clear from the meaning of ‘enemies’ as the hellish and devilish crew, for they are the enemies that are meant in the spiritual sense; and from the meaning of ‘hand on their neck’ as the pursuit of those who have taken to flight; for when an enemy flees the victor’s hand is on his neck. The phrase ‘will flee from its presence’ is used because whenever a member of the hellish crew approaches an angel from the Lord’s celestial kingdom he flees from his presence. He cannot stand it, because he cannot stand the sphere of celestial love, which is one of love to the Lord. To him that sphere is like a scorching and torturing fire. Furthermore no celestial angel ever engages in battle; still less does he have his hand on the neck of his enemies, indeed for his part he has no enemy. Nevertheless it says his hand will be on their neck because that is the way things go on in the world; but the meaning is that those from hell, who for their part are enemies, flee from his presence.

AC (Elliott) n. 6366 6366. ‘Your father’s sons will bow down to you’ means that truths will submit themselves of their own accord. This is clear from the meaning of ‘bowing down’ as submitting oneself, and from the meaning of ‘father’s sons’ as truths that spring from spiritual good; for ‘the sons of Israel’ are spiritual truths, 5414, 5879, 5951, and ‘Israel’ is spiritual good, 5801, 5803, 5806, 5812, 5817, 5819, 5826, 5833. The reason why those truths submit themselves of their own accord is that when celestial love, represented by ‘Judah’, flows into spiritual truths, represented by ‘the sons of Israel’, it rearranges them into order and submits them in that condition to the Lord. For by flowing into spiritual things what is celestial has the capacity to produce that effect; that is, good has that capacity by flowing into truth. This also explains why the Lord’s celestial kingdom is the inmost or third heaven, thus is the one closest to the Lord, while His spiritual kingdom is the middle or second heaven, and so is further away from the Lord. It is because they are arranged in this order that the Lord flows indirectly into the spiritual kingdom by way of the celestial kingdom, as well as directly. The nature of His inflow is such that the spiritual kingdom is maintained in order by means of the celestial and in that condition made submissive to the Lord. The inflow takes place from the celestial kingdom through love towards the neighbour, since that love is the exterior of the celestial kingdom and the interior of the spiritual kingdom and causes the two to be joined together, see 5922.

AC (Elliott) n. 6367 6367. ‘A lion’s cub is Judah’ means innocence with innate strength. This is clear from the meaning of ‘a lion’ as the good of love and the truth from that good in their power, dealt with below, so that ‘a lion’s cub’ is innocence with strength. The reason why with innate strength is meant is that here ‘Judah’ represents the celestial element of love, and the celestial element of love resides in the will part of the mind, 895, 917, 4493, 5117, and thus possesses innate strength. For a person is born into things that belong to the will part. That being so, members of the Most Ancient Church, which was celestial, were born into the good of love, in the measure that good was present in their will. This then is why the strength is said to be innate. The reason ‘a lion’s cub’ means innocence is that ‘a lion’ is the good of celestial love, and ‘a cub’, being so to speak its young child, accordingly means innocence.

[2] ‘A lion’ means the good of celestial love and the truth from that love in their power, and also in the contrary sense the evil of self-love in its power, as is clear from places in the Word where ‘a lion’ is mentioned. The good of celestial love is meant in John,

Behold, the Lion which is from the Tribe of Judah, the root of David, has prevailed to open the book and to loose its seven seals. Rev. 5:5.

Here the Lord is called ‘the Lion’ by virtue of the almighty power which His Divine Love and Divine Truth from that Love possess. There are also other places in the Word where Jehovah or the Lord is compared to a lion, as in Hosea,

They will go after Jehovah; He will roar like a lion, for He will roar, and respectfully [His] sons from the west* will draw near. Hosea 11:10.

[3] Also in Isaiah,

Thus said Jehovah to me, As a lion roars, and a young lion over its prey, when there come up against him a full number of shepherds, by whose voice he is not dismayed, and by whose tumult he is not distressed, so Jehovah Zebaoth will come down to fight on Mount Zion and on its hill. Isa. 31:4.

Here the almighty power of Divine Good is compared to ‘a lion’, and the almighty power of Divine Truth from that Good is compared to ‘a young lion’. For it says that ‘Jehovah Zebaoth will come down to fight on Mount Zion and on its hill’, and ‘Mount Zion’ means the Good of Divine Love and ‘its hill’ the Divine Truth from that Good, 795, 796, 1430, 4210.

[4] For the same reason the four living creatures in Ezekiel and in John, meaning cherubs, had the faces of a human being, lion, ox, and eagle: In Ezekiel,

The likeness of the faces of the four living creatures – [each of] the four had the face of a human being, and the face of a lion on the right side, and [each of] the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and [each of] the four had the face of an eagle. Ezek. 1:10; 10:14.

And in John,

Around** the throne were four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. And the first living creature was like a lion; the second living creature was like a calf; the third living creature had a face like a human being; the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. Rev. 4:6, 7.

The fact that the living creatures were cherubs is stated in Ezekiel to, which fact is also evident from the description of them in John, in which he says that they had ‘eyes in front and behind’. The Lord’s foresight and providence are meant by ‘the cherubs’, 308; and they had the face of a lion by virtue of the almighty power belonging to providence that Divine Truth from Divine Good possesses. So also with the cherubs around the new temple in Ezekiel 41:19.

[5] Celestial people in possession of the power supplied by the good and the truth from good which come from the Lord are meant by ‘lions’, as is evident in David,

There is no want to those fearing Jehovah. The young lions will lack and suffer hunger, but those seeking Jehovah will not lack any good thing. Ps. 34:9, 10.

In the same author,

The [young] lions are roaring for plunder, and to seek from God their food. The sun rises, they are gathered together, and lie down in their dwelling-places. Ps. 104:21, 22.

In Balaam’s prophetic utterance,

At that time it will be said to Jacob and to Israel, What has God been doing? See, a people will rise up like an old lion, and like a young lion will lift itself up. He will not rest until he has devoured the prey. Num. 23:23, 24.

[6] And further on,

When Balaam saw Israel dwelling according to their tribes, he said, He crouches, he lies down like a lion, and like an old lion; who will rouse him? Num. 24:2, 9.

The celestial is what is described here because celestial order is what the tribes represented by their encampments and was what Balaam saw in the spirit when he saw Israel dwelling according to their tribes, 6335. That order originates in Divine Good coming through Divine Truth from the Lord; and within that order resides all power, meant here by a crouching and recumbent lion.

[7] In Micah,

The remnant of Jacob will be with the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep, who, if he passes through, will tread down and tear in pieces,*** and there is no deliverer. Your hand will be lifted up over your enemies, and all your adversaries will be cut off. Micah 5:8, 9.

Here ‘a lion’ and a young lion stand for celestial good and celestial truth, which are ‘the remnant of Jacob’. They also stand for that good and truth in Isaiah 21:8; Jer. 25:38; Ezek. 38:13; Zech. 11:3. And that same good and truth were also represented by the lions at Solomon’s ivory throne, two next to the armrests**** and twelve on the six steps, 1 Kings 10:18-20, and by the lions on the panels of the ten pedestals made of bronze, 1 Kings 7:29, 36.

[8] In the contrary sense ‘a lion’ means the evil of self-love in its power, as is evident from the following places: In Isaiah,

There will not be any lion there, and the savage of the wild animals will not go up on it; it will not be found there. But they will go free; thus the redeemed of Jehovah will return, and will come to Zion with song. Isa. 35:9, 10.

In Jeremiah,

Why has Israel become plunder? The young lions roar at him, they sound their voice; they turn his land into a waste. Jer. 2:14, 15.

In the same prophet,

A lion has risen up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out; he has come from his place to turn the land into a waste. Jer. 4:7.

In the same prophet,

They did not know the way of Jehovah, the judgement of their God, therefore a lion from the forest has struck them down, and a wolf of the plains will devastate them. Jer. 5:4, 6.

In Nahum,

Where is the dwelling-place of lions, and the feeding-place***** of the young lions, where the lion walked, the old lion, the lion’s cub, and there is no one making them afraid? The lion tears in pieces enough for the cubs, and strangles for his old lionesses, and fills his caves with plunder, and his dwelling places with what he has pounced on. Behold, I am against you, said Jehovah Zebaoth, and I will burn her chariot in the smoke; but the sword will devour your young lions, and I will cut off your plunder from the earth. Nahum 2:11-17.

This refers to Nineveh.

In all these places ‘a lion’ stands for the power that the evil of self-love possesses, when it destroys and lays waste. ‘A lion’ has a like meaning in Jer. 12:8; 49:19; 50:17, 44; 51:38; Ezek. 19:2-9; 32:2; Joel 1:6; Zeph. 3:3; Ps. 57:4; 58:6; 91:13; Rev. 13:2.
* lit. sons from the sea
** The Latin means Before but the Greek means Around, which Sw. has in other places where he quotes this verse.
*** Reading discerpet (will tear to pieces), which Sw. has in his rough draft, for disperget (will scatter)
**** lit. the hands of the throne
***** lit. pasture or grazing ground

AC (Elliott) n. 6368 6368. ‘From the plunder you have gone up, my son means that through the celestial the Lord accomplishes the deliverance of many from hell. This is clear from the meaning of ‘going up from the plunder’ as deliverance from hell, dealt with below; and from the representation of Judah, to whom ‘my son’ refers here, as the Divine celestial, dealt with in 6363. The reason ‘going up from the plunder’ means deliverance from hell is that left to himself a person is in hell, for his will and thought, when they spring wholly from himself, are nothing but evil and derivative falsity, which tie him so firmly to hell that he cannot be torn away except by force. This tearing away and deliverance is what is called ‘the plunder’; and because that is effected by the power of the Lord’s Divine Good, it is said that through the celestial the Lord accomplishes the deliverance of many from hell.

[2] But it should be recognized that no one can be torn away and delivered from hell unless during his lifetime spiritual good, that is, charity that comes through faith, has existed in him; for unless that good coming through faith has been present in him, there is nothing that can receive the good which flows in from the Lord. Instead that good from Him flows straight through, without being able to become fixed anywhere. Consequently those lacking spiritual good cannot be torn away and delivered from hell. For all the states that a person has attained during his lifetime remain with him in the next life and are developed more fully. Good states with the good remain and are filled out with good, and by means of them those people are raised into heaven; and evil states with the evil remain and are filled with evil, and by means of them these people sink down into hell. This is what is meant by the saying that as a person dies, so he remains. From this it is evident who those people are who can be delivered from hell by the Lord through the Divine celestial.

AC (Elliott) n. 6369 6369. ‘He crouched, he lay down like a lion, and like an old lion’ means the good of love and the truth from that good in their power. This is clear from the meaning of ‘crouching’ as summoning up one’s power, for when a lion crouches he stiffens his sinews and makes himself powerful, as happens when he sees his prey; from the meaning of ‘lying down’ as lying in safety and without any fear; and from the meaning of ‘a lion’ and ‘an old lion’ as the good of love and the truth from that good in their power, dealt with just above in 6367. ‘A young lion’ is one whose power comes through truth from good, and ‘an old lion’ one whose power comes through good. For those with whom celestial good exists do not ever engage in fighting but are kept safe by means of good. For the moment they arrive the evil flee since the evil cannot stand the presence of them, see 6365. They are the ones who are meant by ‘an old lion’.

AC (Elliott) n. 6370 6370. ‘Who will rouse him?’ means that he is safe when among all those in the hells. This is clear from the meaning of ‘who will rouse?’ as being safe. The reason why among all those in the hells is meant is that he is safe when among all kinds of evil, even when in the midst of the hells. Love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour hold such safety, for the reason that people governed by that love are those who are joined most closely to the Lord; and they abide in the Lord because they abide in what is Divine going forth from Him. That is why no evil can touch them. It should be recognized that the countless hells are distinct and separate from one another, in keeping with the genera of all the evils and derivative falsities that exist, and with the species making up those genera, and with the individual members making up those species. Also, in each hell order exists, and that order is preserved both directly by the Lord and indirectly through celestial angels. Sometimes angels are also sent into the hells to restore to order things which have got out of order; and while they are there they are quite safe. This is what is meant when it is said that one with whom what is celestial exists is safe when among all those in the hells.

AC (Elliott) n. 6371 6371. ‘The sceptre will not be removed from Judah’ means that power and control will not depart from the celestial kingdom. This is clear from the meaning of ‘being removed’ as departing; from the meaning of ‘the sceptre’ as power and control, in particular the power and control of truth from good, dealt with in 4876 (end), for the sceptre is an emblem of royal power and control, and truth is meant by royal power, 1672, 1728, 2015, 2069, 3009, 4575, 6148; and from the representation of’ Judah’ as the celestial kingdom, dealt with above in 6763. From all this it is evident that ‘the sceptre will not be removed from Judah’ means that power and control will not depart from the celestial kingdom.

[2] Viewed from the sense of the letter the contents of this verse will be seen to mean that the kingdom was not going to be removed from the Jewish people before the Lord came. That understanding of the verse is quite correct; but even so, this historical consideration, like every other, has an inner meaning. For the removal of the kingdom from the Jewish people when the Lord came is a worldly matter; but the spiritual content that belongs to the inner meaning is evident when one understands power and control by ‘the sceptre’ and the celestial kingdom by ‘Judah’. Yet the notion that power and control would depart from the celestial kingdom when the Lord came is an arcanum that no one can know unless it is revealed to him. And what that arcanum entails is this: Prior to the Lord’s Coming into the world there was among men and among spirits an influx of life from Jehovah or the Lord which came by way of the celestial kingdom, that is, through the angels who were in that kingdom. This was the source of their power at that time. But when the Lord came into the world, and by so doing made the Human within Himself Divine, He took to Himself what had rested with angels of the celestial kingdom, namely that power and control. For what flowed from God and passed through that heaven had until then been the Divine human.* That influx was also the Divine Person who presented Himself, when Jehovah revealed Himself in this way. But this Divine human came to an end when the Lord made the Human within Himself Divine. From this one may now see what this arcanum entails. Angels of that kingdom do, it is true, still exercise great power and control, but only in the measure that the Lord’s Divine Human resides in them through their love for Him. See what has been stated and shown already on these matters in 1990, 2803, 3061, 4180, 4687, 5110, 6280.
* See 2814.

AC (Elliott) n. 6372 6372. ‘Or a lawgiver from between his feet’ means truths from that kingdom in Lower things. This is clear from the meaning of ‘a lawgiver’ as truths, dealt with below, and from the meaning of ‘feet’ as natural things, dealt with in 2162, 3147, 3761, 3986, 4280, 4938-4952, 5327, 5328, thus lower ones; for natural things are beneath, and the celestial ones, spoken of just before now, are above. The expression ‘a lawgiver from between his feet’ is used to mean the spiritual of the celestial, or truth that is derived from good; for at that time there was no spiritual kingdom distinct and separate from the celestial kingdom, like that after the Lord’s Coming; rather, it made one with the celestial kingdom, except that it formed the external part of it. For this reason the words ‘from between his feet’ are also used to mean truth that is derived from good, for the part in between the feet, from its communication with the loins, means that truth. Referring to this truth it is also said that it would be removed ‘when Shiloh comes’; that is to say, its power and control, like the power and control of the celestial spoken of immediately above in 6371, would be removed.

[2] The celestial kingdom exercised its power and control in those times through that truth, which explains why this truth is called ‘a lawgiver’. The same truth is also meant in the internal sense by ‘lawgiver’ in Isaiah,

Jehovah is our judge, Jehovah is our lawgiver, Jehovah is our king. Isa. 33:12.

‘Judge’ stands for Him when He acts from good, ‘legislator’ when He acts from truth deriving from that good, and ‘king’ when He acts from truth – sources of action which also follow one another in that order. In David,

Gilead is Mine, Manasseh is Mine, and Ephraim is the strength of My head, Judah is My lawgiver. Ps. 60:7, 108:8.

‘Judah the lawgiver’ stands for celestial good and accompanying celestial truth. In Moses,

The well* which the princes dug, which the chiefs of the people dug out, as directed by the lawgiver, with their staves. Num. 21:18.

And in the same author,

Gad chose the best** for himself, for there was the portion of the hidden lawgiver; from there came the heads of the people, he administered Jehovah’s righteousness, and His judgements with Israel. Deut. 33:21.

Here also ‘lawgiver’ stands for truth from good.
* lit. spring
** lit. saw the first fruits

AC (Elliott) n. 6373 6373. ‘Until Shiloh comes’ means the Lord’s Coming, and the peaceful tranquillity at that time. This is clear from the meaning of ‘Shiloh’ as the Lord, who is called Shiloh because He brought peace to all things and gave them tranquillity; for in the original language Shiloh is derived from a word meaning tranquil. Why the Lord is called Shiloh here is evident from what has been stated immediately above in 6371, 6372, regarding the celestial kingdom and its power and control. For when the Divine presented Himself by means of that kingdom there was no tranquillity, since things in heaven and those in hell could not be brought by means of that kingdom into a state of order. This was because the Divine, as it passed through that kingdom, could not remain pure since heaven is not pure;* so neither was that kingdom strong enough to serve as the means by which all things could be preserved in a state of order. And what is more, as a consequence hellish and devilish spirits were at that time breaking out of hell and having dominion over souls who were coming from the world, as a result of which a situation was coming about in which none but the celestial ones could be saved. At length scarcely these could have been saved if the Lord had not taken on the Human and made that Human within Himself Divine. [2] By doing this the Lord brought all things into a state of order, first those in heaven, then those in hell; and this gave rise to peaceful tranquillity.

Spiritual people, that is, those who belonged to the spiritual Church, were saved through the Lord’s Coming, see 2661, 2716, 2833, 2834.

When He was in the world the Lord brought all things into a state of order, 1810, 4286, 4187.

Divine Truth from Jehovah or the Lord flowed through heaven to the human race. But because this was insufficient when mankind departed from good, the Lord came into the world and made the Human within Himself Divine, so that the Lord’s Divine Human would then be the source from which Divine Truth went forth and thereby saved a person who received good by means of truth, 4180, 6280.
* Job 15:15

AC (Elliott) n. 6374 6374. ‘And to him will be the obedience of the peoples’ means that from His Divine Human truths would go forth that were able to be received. This is clear from the meaning of ‘obedience’ as the reception of truths which go forth from the Lord; and from the meaning of ‘peoples’ as those governed by truths – thus also truths themselves, dealt with in 1259, 1260, 3581 – and therefore as those who belong to the spiritual Church, 2928.

AC (Elliott) n. 6375 6375. ‘He binds his young ass to the vine’ means truth in the natural for the external Church. This is clear from the meaning of ‘binding’ as being joined to; from the meaning of ‘the vine’ as the spiritual Church, dealt with in 1069, 5113, here the external spiritual Church since the description ‘the outstanding vine’ immediately after means the internal church; and from the meaning of ‘an ass’ as truth in the natural, dealt with in 2781. From this it is evident that ‘he binds his ass to the vine’ means a joining through truth in the natural to the external Church.

AC (Elliott) n. 6376 6376. ‘And the foal of his she-ass to the outstanding vine’ means truth from the rational for the internal Church. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the vine’ as the spiritual Church, dealt with in 1069, 5113, so that ‘the outstanding vine’ means the internal Church (for the internal part of the Church is more outstanding than the external part of it); and from the meaning of ‘the foal of a she-ass’ as rational truth, dealt with in 2781. The external part of the Church is distinct and separate from the internal, in that it is located in the natural, thus in the external man, whereas the internal part is located in the rational, thus in the internal man. Members of the external Church are governed by truth, those of the internal Church by good. The former are motivated not so much by the good of charity as they are by the truth of faith, whereas the latter are motivated by the good of charity and from this by the truth of faith. Members of the internal Church are the ones meant by ‘the outstanding vine’, but members of the external Church are the ones meant by ‘the vine’.

AC (Elliott) n. 6377 6377. ‘He washes his clothing in wine’ means that His Natural consists in Divine Truth from His Divine Good. This is clear from the meaning of ‘washing’ as purifying, dealt with in 3147; from the meaning of ‘wine’ as the good of love towards the neighbour and the good of faith, and in the highest sense as Divine Truth from the Lord’s Divine Good, dealt with below; and from the meaning of ‘clothing’ as the exterior which covers the interior, dealt with in 5248, thus the natural since this is exterior and covers the rational, which is interior. Therefore ‘clothing’ also means truth since this is exterior and covers good, which is interior, 2576, 4545, 4763, 5319, 5954.

[2] The fact that ‘wine’ means love towards the neighbour and the good of faith may be recognized from what has been shown regarding the bread and wine in the Holy Supper, in 2165, 2177, 3464, 4581, 5915. These paragraphs show that ‘bread’ is the good of celestial love, and that ‘wine’ is the good of spiritual love. The same may also be recognized from the minchah and the drink-offering in sacrifices. The minchah in them meant the good of love, and the drink-offering the good of faith. The minchah consisted of the kinds of things that meant the good of love, while the drink-offering consisted of wine that meant the good of faith. The sacrifices themselves were also called ‘bread’, 2165. For the use in sacrifices of a drink-offering consisting of wine, see Exod. 29:40; Lev. 23:12, 13, 18, 19; Num.15:2-15; 28:6, 7, 18-end; 29:1-7 and following verses.

[3] The meaning that ‘wine’ has of love towards the neighbour and the good of faith is also evident in Isaiah,

Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! And come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Isa. 55:1.

No one can fail to see that they did not have to buy wine and milk, but that they were to acquire what is meant by ‘wine and milk’, which is love towards the neighbour and faith. These gifts come from the Lord ‘without money and without price’.

[4] In Hosea,

Threshing-floor and winepress will not feed them, and new wine will be deceptive to her.* Ephraim will return to Egypt, and in Assyria they will eat what is unclean. They will not pour libations of wine to Jehovah, their sacrifices will not be pleasing to Him. Hosea 9:1-4.

Here also in the internal sense reference is made to the good of love and the good of faith, to the demise of them. The good of love is meant by ‘threshing-floor’ by virtue of the grain there and the bread made from it, while the good of faith is meant by ‘winepress’, ‘new wine’, and ‘libation of wine’. ‘Ephraim will return to Egypt’ stands for the fact that the understanding would resort to factual knowledge for advice concerning the arcana of faith; ‘in Assyria they will eat what is unclean’ stands for that which is the outcome of consequent false reasoning – ‘Ephraim’ being the area of understanding in the Church, see 5754, 6112, 6238, 6267; ‘Egypt’ the area of factual knowledge, 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462, 5702; and ‘Assyria’ that of reasoning, 1186. The line of thought in this passage also shows that the words used here contain something more than what one sees in the letter. For everything hangs together in the internal sense, but not so in the external sense, for example when it says that ‘threshing-floor and winepress will not feed them, and new wine will be deceptive to her’, immediately followed by ‘Ephraim will return to Egypt, and in Assyria they will eat what is unclean’. Moreover, without the internal sense what meaning would Ephraim’s return to Egypt and their eating in Assyria what is unclean have?

[5] ‘Winepress’ and ‘wine’ are also used in Jeremiah to describe the demise of mutual love and the good of faith,

He who lays waste has fallen on your vintage, therefore joy and gladness have been plucked from Carmel, and from the land of Moab, for I have made the wine cease from the winepresses; none will tread the headed.** Jer. 48:32, 33.

[6] The fact that ‘wine’ means the good of mutual love and of faith is also evident in John,

I heard a voice from the midst of the four living creatures, saying, Do no harm to oil and wine. Rev. 6:6.

[7] ‘Oil’ stands for the good of celestial love, and ‘wine’ for the good of spiritual love.

‘Oil’ and ‘wine’ have a similar meaning in the Lord’s parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke,

A certain Samaritan was journeying, and seeing him who had been wounded by the robbers was moved with compassion for him; going therefore to him, he bandaged his wounds, and poured on oil and wine. Luke 10:33, 34.

‘He poured on oil and wine’ means that he performed the works of love and charity, ‘oil’ being the good of love, see 886, 3728. A like meaning was involved in the practice of the ancients, who poured oil and wine onto a pillar when they consecrated it, Gen. 35:14 – 4581, 4582.

[8] The fact that ‘wine’ means the good of love and faith is evident from the words the Lord used when He instituted the Holy Supper. He said then regarding the wine,

I tell you that I shall not drink from now on of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom. Matt.26:29; Luke 22:17, 18.

Anyone can see that He was not about to drink wine in that kingdom, but that the good of love and faith is meant, which He was about to impart to those who belonged to His kingdom. Much the same is meant by ‘wine’ in Isaiah 24:9, 11; Lam. 2:11, 12; Hosea 14:7; Amos 9:13, 14; Zech. 9:15, 16; Luke 5:37-39.

[9] Since ‘wine’ means the good of love and faith, Divine Truth from the Lord’s Divine Good is therefore meant in the highest sense, for that Truth, when it flows into a person and is accepted by him, brings him the good of love and faith.

[10] Since most things in the Word also have a contrary meaning, so too does ‘wine’, the contrary meaning of which is falsity from evil, as in Isaiah,

Woe to those who rise in the morning around dawn, and then follow strong drink, who continue into dusk, so that wine may inflame them! Woe to heroes at drinking wine, and to valiant men in mixing strong drink! Isa. 5:11, 22

In the same prophet,

Also these err through wine, and go astray through strong drink. The priest and the prophet err through strong drink. They are swallowed up by wine, they go astray through strong drink. They err among the seers, they are tottery in judgement. Isa. 28:7.

In the same prophet,

The shepherds know no understanding, they all look to their own way. Come, I will get wine, and we will be drunken from strong drink; and let there be tomorrow, as there is this day, great abundance. Isa. 56:11, 12.

In addition to these places ‘wine’ is used with the contrary meaning in Jer. 13:12; Hosea 4:11; 7:5; Amos 2:8; Micah 2:11; Ps. 75:8; Deut. 32:33.

Falsity from evil is also meant by the cup of the wine of wrath in Jer. 25:15, 16; Rev. 14:8, 10; 16:19; the winepress of the wrath of God’s anger, Rev. 19:15; and the wine of whoredom, Rev. 17:2; 18:3.
* The Latin means them but the Hebrew means her, which Sw. has in other places where he quotes this verse, as well as possibly here in his rough draft.

AC (Elliott) n. 6378 6378. ‘And his garment in the blood of grapes’ means that His Intellect consists in Divine Good from His Divine Love. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the blood of grapes’ as the good of love, and in the highest sense the Lord’s Divine Good flowing from His Divine Love, dealt with below; and from the meaning of ‘garment’ as the intellect, for the intellect is a receiver, and what is a receiver, being a container, is like a garment. The reason why ‘garment’ means the intellect and why ‘clothing’, dealt with immediately above in 6377, means the natural is that the external was the subject there, whereas the internal is the subject here. For owing to the heavenly marriage in the Word, when the external is referred to, so also is the internal; and when truth is referred to, so also is good, see 6343. This sometimes seems to outward appearance to amount to a repetition of the same thing, as for example here where it says ‘He washes his clothing in wine, and his garment in the blood of grapes .’Wine’ and ‘the blood of grapes’ seem to describe the same thing, and so do ‘clothing’ and ‘garment’; but they do not because what is external and what is internal are expressed in that way.

[2] The fact that ‘the blood of grapes’ is Divine Good from the Lord’s Divine Love is evident from the meaning of ‘blood’ as Divine Truth proceeding from the Lord’s Divine Good, referred to in 4735; and by ‘grapes’ in the highest sense is meant the Lord’s Divine Good present with those in His spiritual kingdom, and consequently in the relative sense the good of charity, 5117. ‘The blood of the grape’ also has a similar meaning in the Song of Moses,

Butter from the cattle, and milk from the flock, with the fat of lambs and rams, the breed* of Bashan, and of goats, with the kidney-fat of wheat, and of the blood of the grape you drink unmixed, wine. Deut. 31:14.
* lit. sons

AC (Elliott) n. 6379 6379. ‘His eyes are red from wine’ means that His Intellect or Internal Human is nothing else than good. This is clear from the meaning of ‘red’ as the good of love – a meaning that is derived from ‘fire’ and ‘blood’, which are red, dealt with in 3300 – so that ‘red from wine’ means that it is nothing else than good; and from the meaning of ‘eyes’ as the intellect or understanding, dealt with in 2701, 3820, 4403-4421, 4523-4534. And Since the Lord is the subject here, His Internal Human is what is meant here by His Intellect; for His External Human is meant, as now follows, by the words ‘teeth white from milk’.

AC (Elliott) n. 6380 6380. ‘And his teeth white from milk’ means that the Divine Natural is nothing else than the good of truth. This is clear from the meaning of ‘white’ as that which is used with reference to truth, dealt with in 3301, 3993, 4007, 5319; from the meaning of ‘teeth’ in the genuine sense as the natural, for the hard parts of a person’s body, such as his teeth, bones, and cartilages, correspond to the truths and forms of good that belong to the lowest parts of the natural; and from the meaning of ‘milk’ as the celestial-spiritual, or what amounts to the same, the good of truth, dealt with in 2184. The Lord’s Divine Natural is said to be the good of truth when it is considered in relation to people who believe in and love the Lord; for members of the external Church are unable to go any higher in their thinking than the Lord’s Divine Natural, whereas the thinking of members of the internal Church goes above the natural to the Internal. For the idea of the Lord formed by anyone who believes in Him is conditioned by how far he can rise in his thinking. Those who are aware of what the internal is can have an idea of the internal; but those who are not aware of what the internal is have an idea of the external. This is why the Lord’s Divine Natural is said to be the good of truth, when in fact His entire Human is the Divine Good of Divine Love.

AC (Elliott) n. 6381 6381. From what has now been said about Judah it is clearly evident that the Word has an internal sense and that unless a person knows what that sense holds within it, he cannot possibly know what is meant by the things said about him here. He cannot know what is meant by the statement that he is a lion’s cub who went up from the plunder, crouched, and lay down like a lion, and like an old lion. He cannot know what is meant by ‘the lawgiver from between his feet’, by ‘Shiloh’, by ‘binding his young ass to the vine, and the foal of his she-ass to the outstanding vine’, by ‘washing his clothing in wine, and his garment in the blood of grapes’, or by ‘his eyes are red from wine, and his teeth white from milk’. What all these things really mean would remain completely hidden from sight unless the sense that lies more deeply within were used to uncover them.

AC (Elliott) n. 6382 6382. Verse 13 Zebulun will dwell at the haven of the seas, and he will be at the haven of ships; and his side will be over towards Sidon. ‘Zebulun’ means the dwelling together of goodness and truth. ‘Will dwell at the haven of the seas’ means a life in which truth inferred from known facts is present. ‘And he will be at the haven of ships’ means in which teachings drawn from the Word are present. ‘And his side will be over towards Sidon’ means the extension on one side into the cognitions of good and truth.

AC (Elliott) n. 6383 6383. ‘Zebulun’ means the dwelling together of goodness and truth. This is clear from the representation of ‘Zebulun’ as the heavenly marriage, dealt with in 3960, 3961, thus goodness and truth joined together, since that conjunction is the heavenly marriage. The words ‘the dwelling together of goodness and truth’ are used because in the original language ‘Zebulun’ means a dwelling together. Here ‘Zebulun’ has reference to those within the Church who use the facts they know to draw inferences about spiritual truths and thereby strengthen their grasp of those truths. But it should be recognized that ‘Zebulun’ does not mean those people who do not believe something unless they are shown factual and sensory evidence to prove it and who until then have a negative attitude of mind. Such people do not ever come to believe it because that negative attitude of mind reigns in all their thinking; and when it reigns in all their thinking, facts which contradict, not those that corroborate, enter in and are gathered up by those people. They cast aside facts that may serve to corroborate, or else interpret them in such a way that they lend support to other factual evidence that contradicts the truth. Thus the negative attitude becomes all the stronger.

[2] But ‘Zebulun’ is used here to mean people who believe teachings drawn from the Word and accordingly have something of an affirmative attitude in all their thinking. Yet their faith does not exist in truths but in factual knowledge, for they bring such knowledge to bear on those teachings and by doing this strengthen their affirmative attitude. The ones who are meant by ‘Zebulun’ do not therefore go above factual knowledge; rather, when they hear or contemplate any truth of faith they instantly fall back on the facts they know. Many in the world are like this; and the Lord even makes provision so that factual knowledge and sensory evidence may serve them to that end.

AC (Elliott) n. 6384 6384. ‘Will dwell at the haven of the seas’ means a life in which truth inferred from known facts is present. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the haven’ as the place where factual knowledge ends and begins, in this case the place where truth inferred from factual knowledge is present, since ‘Zebulun’ here refers to those with whom the truths of faith reside in that knowledge; from the meaning of ‘the seas’ as known facts in their entirety, dealt with in 28; and from the meaning of ‘dwelling’ as life, dealt with in 1293, 3384, 3613, 4451, 6051. From this it is evident that by ‘will dwell at the haven of the seas’ is meant a Life in which truth inferred from known facts is present. As regards that life, see what has been stated immediately above in 6383. But this also should be known about it, that that life resides in the external or natural man, with some people in the lowest part of the natural, which is the level of the senses; for with them the truths of faith have been tied to factual knowledge in such a way that they cannot be raised above it. This also explains why they are in greater obscurity than anyone else in the spiritual Church; for they receive little light from their understanding, since it is preoccupied with factual knowledge and sensory impressions. It is different with those who have had an affirmative attitude of mind and have used factual knowledge to corroborate the truths of faith, but in such a way that they can be raised above factual knowledge, that is, above the natural, where that knowledge resides. These people have an enlightened understanding and so enjoy some perception of spiritual truth, which is served by factual knowledge beneath. That knowledge acts as a mirror in which the truths of faith and charity are seen and recognized, even as affections are seen in the face.

AC (Elliott) n. 6385 6385. ‘And he will be at the haven of ships’ means in which teachings drawn from the Word are present. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the haven’ as the resting-place, as immediately above in 6384, thus the place where those teachings are present; and from the meaning of ‘ships’ as teachings drawn from the Word. The reason Why they are meant by ‘ships’ is that ships sail across seas and along rivers, carrying commodities used to support life. For ‘seas’ and ‘rivers’ mean different kinds of knowledge; the commodities used to support life which the ships carry are teachings as well as actual truths drawn from the Word. The fact that such teachings and truths are meant by ‘ships’ is evident from the following places: In Isaiah,

The islands will put their trust in Me, and the ships of Tarshish at their head, to bring your sons from afar, their silver and their gold with them. Isa. 60:9.

‘The ships of Tarshish’ stands for teachings and truths drawn from the Word. This is why it says that they would bring their sons, their silver and gold; for ‘sons’ means those in possession of truths, ‘silver’ truth itself, and ‘gold’ good. Anyone can see that the ships of Tarshish are not really meant here, and that sons, silver, and gold are not really meant either.

[2] In Ezekiel,

In the heart of the sea are your borders, your architects have perfected your beauty. Of fir trees from Senir they built for you all the boards; they took a cedar from Lebanon to make a mast for you. Of oaks from Bashan they made oars; your plank they made of ivory, a daughter of steps* from the isles of Kittim. Fine linen with embroidered work from Egypt was your sail, that it might be to you an ensign; violet and purple from the islands of Elishah was your covering. The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad were your rowers; your wise men, O Tyre, who were in you were your pilots. Elders of Gebal and its wisemen were in you, remedying your cracks. All the ships of the sea and their sailors were in you, to conduct your trade. Ezek. 17:4-9.

This refers to Tyre, which means cognitions of good and truth, 1201. Those cognitions are described by means of the aspects of a ship – its boards, mast, oars, plank, sail, covering, rowers, pilots, and sailors. Who can fail to see that one must not take all these things literally? But when the cognitions of truth and good, which are ‘Tyre’, together with teachings drawn from the Word, are understood by ‘ships’, all things go beautifully together.

[3] In David,

How many are your works, O Jehovah! In wisdom You have made them all. This sea, great and wide on both hands** – there the ships sail, the sea monster whom you have formed to play in it. Ps. 104:24-26.

In the same author,

Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of confession, and declare Jehovah’s works in a triumphant shout. Those who go down to the sea with ships, doing work in many waters – these saw the works of Jehovah, and His marvels in the deep. Ps. 107:21-24.

Here also ‘ships’ stands for cognitions and religious teachings, ‘the sea monster’ for the general sources of known facts, 42. And since ‘ships’ are cognitions and those teachings, the words ‘those who go down to the sea with ships – these saw the works of Jehovah, and His marvels in the deep’ are used; for those who know those cognitions and teachings drawn from the Word see those works and marvels.

[4] In John,

The second angel sounded, and so to speak a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea. And a third part of the sea became blood, with the result that a third part of creatures died who had their being*** in the sea. And a third part of the ships was destroyed. Rev. 8:8, 9.

‘A great mountain burning with fire’ stands for self-love, 1691; ‘the sea stands for the natural where factual knowledge resides, 28; ‘blood’ stands for violence done to charity, 374, 1005; ‘the creatures who had their being in the sea’ stands for truths contained in factual knowledge, together with forms of good; ‘a third part’ stands for something not yet complete, 2788 (end). They ‘died’ stands for the fact that they had no spiritual life, 6119, and therefore ‘a third part of the ships was destroyed’ stands for the fact that the truths and forms of good presented in teachings drawn from the Word were falsified. From all this one may see what is meant by this prophetic description.

[5] But in the contrary sense ‘ships’ means cognitions and teachings that present falsity and evil, as in Daniel,

At the time of the end the king of the south will clash with him; therefore the king of the north will rush upon him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he will enter into countries, and will overflow and penetrate. Dan. 11:40.

‘The king of the south’ stands for truths that spring from good, ‘the king of the north’ for falsities that spring from evil, ‘chariots with horsemen and with ships’ for teachings that present falsity. ‘Countries’ stands for Churches, which – it is foretold – falsities springing from evils will overflow and penetrate ‘at the time of the end’.

[6] In John,

Every shipmaster, and everyone on board ships, and sailors, and all who trade on the sea, stood at a distance and were crying out as they saw the smoke of Babylon’s burning, saying, What [city] is like the great city? Woe, woe, the great city, in which all who have ships on the sea have been made rich by her wealth.**** Rev. 18:17-19.

Here it may be seen that ‘ships’ are cognitions and teachings that present falsity and evil because ‘Babylon’ describes worship which to outward appearance is holy but inwardly is profane. Once again no one can fail to see that ‘ships’ means something other than ships. The same is so in Isaiah,

Thus says Jehovah, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, For your sake I have sent to Babel, so that I may break down all the bars, and the Chaldeans in whose ships there is shouting Isa. 43:14.

In addition to these places falsities springing from evil are also meant by ‘ships’ in Isaiah 2:16; 23:1, 14; Ps. 48:7.
* a daughter of steps describes part of a ship, though exactly which part is not clear to the translator.
** lit. wide with spaces
*** lit. their souls
**** lit. preciousness

AC (Elliott) n. 6386 6386. ‘And his side will be towards Sidon’ means the extension on one side into cognitions of good and truth. This is clear from the meaning of ‘side’ as the extension on one side; and from the meaning of ‘Sidon’ as exterior cognitions of good and truth, dealt with in 1201.

In this section dealing with Zebulun reference is made to cognitions, religious teachings, and factual knowledge. And the phrases ‘the extension on one side into cognitions of good and truth’ and also ‘truth inferred from known facts in which teachings drawn from the Word are present’ are used, so let it be said what differences are being drawn here between these terms. Teachings consist in what is derived from the Word, cognitions in what is derived from those teachings on one side and factual knowledge on the other, while factual knowledge consists in what is derived from one’s own and other people’s experience.

AC (Elliott) n. 6387 6387. Verses 14, 15 Issachar is a bony ass, lying down between burdens. And he will see rest that it is good, and the land that it is pleasant; and he will bend his shoulder to bear a burden, and will be one serving for tribute.

‘Issachar’ means recompense gained from works. ‘Is a bony ass’ means lowest- ranking service. ‘Lying down between burdens’ means life among works. ‘And he will see rest that it is good’ means that works of goodness done without thought of recompense are filled with happiness. ‘And the land that it is pleasant’ means that those in the Lord’s kingdom enjoy that happiness. ‘And he will bend his shoulder to bear a burden’ means that nevertheless he makes every effort. ‘And will be one serving for tribute’ means so that he may earn merit.

AC (Elliott) n. 6388 6388. ‘Issachar’ means recompense gained from works. This is clear from the representation of ‘Issachar’ as mutual love which is earned as a reward or recompense, dealt with in 3956, 3957. Here recompense gained from works is meant, as is evident in the internal sense from every detail mentioned in this prophetic utterance concerning Issachar, in addition to which Issachar in the original language means reward. The reason why ‘Issachar’ here means recompense gained from works, whereas previously he meant mutual love, is that here one has to understand by Issachar people with whom some kind and appearance of mutual love, that is, of charity towards the neighbour, is present. But they wish to receive recompense for the good deeds they do; thus genuine mutual love or charity is not merely tainted by them but actually perverted. For people with whom genuine mutual love resides enter into the delight and blessedness that is theirs when they. perform good deeds to their neighbour; there is nothing they desire more. That delight and blessedness is what is meant in the Word by ‘reward’, for delight or blessedness is the reward, and in the next life it becomes the joy and happiness that is experienced in heaven, and so becomes for those people heaven itself. For when those in heaven with whom that love resides perform useful services and good deeds for others, they feel so full of joy and happiness that they seem to themselves to be in heaven for the first time then. This feeling is granted them by the Lord; and He grants it to each one according to the nature of the service he performs.

[2] But that happiness departs the moment they think of recompense, for thought of recompense, even though they already have the true recompense, renders that love impure and corrupts it. The reason for this is that they are now thinking about themselves, not about their neighbour, that is, how they themselves can be made happy, not how others can be unless they themselves benefit from it. Thus they turn love towards the neighbour into love towards themselves; and to the extent that they do so they prevent joy and happiness from being communicated to them out of heaven, since they channel the flow of happiness from heaven into themselves and do not pass it on to others. They are like objects which do not reflect rays of light but absorb them. Objects that do reflect them are lit up and shining, whereas those that absorb them are dull and not at all shining. People who are like this are therefore separated from angelic society, like those who have nothing in common with heaven; and these are the ones who are described here by ‘Issachar’.

AC (Elliott) n. 6389 6389. ‘Is a bony ass’ means lowest-ranking service. This is clear from the meaning of ‘an ass’ as service, dealt with in 5958, 5959; and from the meaning of ‘bone’ as that which possesses little spiritual life, dealt with in 5560, 5561. Thus ‘a bony ass’ is the lowest-ranking service, for people who do good for the sake of recompense do, it is true, perform useful services and act as servants; nevertheless they belong among those in the Lord’s kingdom who occupy the lowest position. For the good that is communicated to them they pass on to none but those who can repay them. They overlook all others who may be in the greatest need; or if they do help them out it is to the end that the Lord may recompense them. They look on what they do as that which earns them merit and so on the Lord’s mercy as their due. Thus they depart from a state of humility, and to the extent that they depart from it they depart from a state in which blessing and happiness are received from the Lord through heaven. From all this it may be seen that in the next life such people are, it is true, engaged in the performance of useful services; but they are the lowest ranking servants.

AC (Elliott) n. 6390 6390. ‘Lying down between burdens’ means life among works. This is clear from the meaning of ‘lying down’ as life, but life with little light; and from the meaning of ‘burdens’ as works. The reason why such works are meant by ‘burdens’ is that the people described here are not motivated, when they perform good deeds, by an affection that goes with love towards the neighbour but by an affection that goes with love towards themselves. Works motivated by the second affection are like the burdens carried by lowly asses, for such people are among the most menial servants. All servitude arises out of an affection that goes with self-love and love of the world, and all freedom arises out of an affection that goes with love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour. The reason for this is that the first affection enters in from hell, which is violently domineering, whereas the second comes from the Lord, who is not domineering but one who leads. This again shows that those who do good for the sake of recompense are the lowest-ranking servants, and that their works are ‘burdens’. ‘Burdens’ has a similar meaning in the Book of Judges,

Princes in Issachar were with Deborah; and as was Issachar, so was Barak; in the valley he will be sent under his feet* – in the divisions of Reuben, great as to decrees of the heart. Why should you sit between burdens, to hear the hissings of the flocks? Judg. 5:15, 16.

Here also ‘Issachar’ stands for those who wish to receive recompense for their works. ‘In the valley being sent under his feet’ stands for serving in the lowest ways. ‘The divisions of Reuben’ stands for those who have a knowledge of matters that constitute the truth of faith, among whom – yet placed beneath whom – there are those represented by ‘Issachar’. ‘Hearing the hissings of the flock’ stands for contempt on the part of those with whom the good of charity is present, who are meant by ‘the flocks’. ‘Sitting between burdens’ stands for among merit-seeking works.
* i.e. under his command

AC (Elliott) n. 6391 6391. ‘And he will see rest that it is good’ means that works of goodness done without thought of recompense are filled with happiness. This is clear from the meaning of ‘rest’ as the things which are of heaven, thus those who* have the good of charity in them, that is, who perform works of goodness without thought of recompense, dealt with below; and from the meaning of ‘that it is good’ as the fact that they are filled with happiness. The reason ‘rest’ means works of goodness done without thought of recompense is that ‘rest’ or peace in the highest sense means the Lord, and in the relative sense heaven and thus good which comes from the Lord, see 3780, 4681, 5662. And since the things meant by ‘rest’ or peace reside with none but those who have the good of charity in them and so perform works of goodness without thought of recompense, these works are meant by ‘rest’; for this meaning is what follows from the train of thought in the internal sense.

[2] The fact of the matter is that people who perform good deeds with no other end in view than recompense cannot possibly know that the performance of good deeds without thought of recompense holds happiness so great that it is the happiness of heaven. The reason why they cannot know is that happiness is seen by them to reside in the delight of self-love; and insofar as a person sees delight within this love he sees no delight within heavenly love, since the two are opposites. The delight which comes out of self-love entirely destroys that which comes out of heavenly love. It destroys it so completely that there is plainly no knowledge of what heavenly delight may be; or if mention is made of what it is like, this is met with unbelief and even rejection.

[3] I have been allowed to know about this from evil spirits in the next life who, when they lived in the world, performed no good deed for others or for their country except for selfish reasons. They do not believe that any delight can exist in the performance of good deeds without recompense as the end in view; for they imagine that without recompense as the end in view all delight ceases to exist. And if they are told nevertheless that when that delight ceases to exist heavenly delight starts to do so, they are dumbfounded on hearing it. And especially when they hear that that heavenly delight flows into a person by way of his inmost being and fills him interiorly with indescribable happiness, they are all the more dumbfounded, saying they cannot take it in. Indeed they say they do not want that delight, for they think that if they lose the delight of self-love their condition is utterly wretched because all the joy of life is in that case missing; and they also call those people naive whose state is different from one of self-love. Not unlike them are those whose works are performed with a view to recompense, for they do good works for their own benefit and not that of others, that is, they regard themselves in those works, not their neighbour, nor their country, nor heaven, nor the Lord, except as those who have a duty to be of benefit to them. These are the kinds of matters that this verse dealing with Issachar describes in the internal sense.
* Reading qui (who), which Sw. has in his rough draft, for quae (which)

AC (Elliott) n. 6392 6392. ‘And the land that it is pleasant’ means that those in the Lord’s kingdom enjoy that happiness. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the land’ as the Church, thus also the Lord’s kingdom, dealt with in 662, 1066, 1067, 1413, 1607, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 4447 (the reason why ‘the land’ has this meaning is that the land of Canaan, to which ‘the land’ refers in the Word, represented the Lord’s kingdom; and it had this representation because the Church had existed there since the most ancient times, 3038, 3481, 3686, 3705, 4447, 4454, 4516, 4517, 5136); and from the meaning of ‘that it is pleasant’ as the happiness which works of goodness without thought of recompense entail. The reason why it says ‘he will see rest that it is good, and the land that it is pleasant’, by both of which statements is meant the happiness that exists in the Lord’s kingdom, is that ‘seeing rest that it is good’ has reference to what is celestial or to good, while ‘seeing the land that it is pleasant ‘has reference to what is spiritual or to truth, both of which are mentioned on account of the marriage of goodness and truth, spoken of in 6343.

[2] To take further this matter of the happiness that exists in the works of goodness without thought of recompense, it should be recognized that very few at the present day know that performing good deeds without thought of recompense is that in which heavenly happiness consists. For people know of no other happiness than that gained from being raised to important positions, being served by others, having an abundance of riches, and leading a life of pleasure. They are profoundly ignorant of the existence above all these things of a happiness that fills a person’s inner being, thus of the existence of a heavenly happiness, or of the fact that this happiness is the happiness that genuine charity possesses. Ask the wise at the present day whether they know that this is heavenly happiness. This also explains why many disallow good works, in the belief that it is impossible for anyone to perform them without the intention to earn merit through them. For they do not know that those who are led by the Lord have no greater desire than to perform good works, and that nothing is further from their thought than the earning of merit through them. The new will which the Lord confers on those who are being regenerated brings this attitude of mind with it; for this new will is the Lord’s residing with a person.

AC (Elliott) n. 6393 6393. ‘And he will bend his shoulder to bear a burden’ means that nevertheless he makes every effort. This is clear from the meaning of ‘shoulder’ as all power or every effort, dealt with in 1085, 4971-4937; and from the meaning of ‘bearing a burden’ as performing works so as to earn merit. Consequently ‘bending the shoulder to bear a burden’ means making every effort at performing works in order to earn merit. The reason this is described as ‘bearing a burden’ is that such people do good not out of an affection for good, thus not in freedom, but out of a selfish affection, which is servitude, 6390.

[2] With regard to those who desire a reward for the works they accomplish, it should also be recognized that they are never satisfied but become annoyed if their reward is not greater than that which everyone else receives; or if they see that others are more richly blessed than themselves, they are sad and complaining. Real blessedness is not considered by them to reside in inward things but in outward ones, that is to say, in their being pre-eminent, having dominion, and being served by angels, thus in their being superior to angels and so being the chief and great ones in heaven. But in actual fact heavenly blessedness does not consist in wishing to have dominion and to be served by others but in wishing to serve others and to be the least, as the Lord teaches,

James and John, the sons of Zebedee drew near, saying, Grant us to sit in Your glory, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left. Jesus said to them, You do not know what you ask. To sit at My right hand and at My left is not Mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared. You know that those who are reckoned to rule the gentiles lord it over them, and the great ones have authority over them. It must not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your minister, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be ministered to but to minister. Mark 10:35-45.

[3] And He teaches that heaven belongs to those who do good without recompense as their end in view, in Luke,

Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted. When you give a dinner or a supper, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your kinsmen or rich neighbours, lest perhaps also they invite you back in return, and you are repaid. But when you give a feast invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, for they have nothing with which to repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just. Luke 14:11-14.

‘Repayment at the resurrection of the just’ is the inner happiness that comes from doing good without thought of recompense, which people receive from the Lord when they perform useful services. And the more that those who love to serve without thought of repayment love to do good, the nobler are the services committed to their charge. Also, they are in actual fact greater and more powerful than others.

[4] Those who perform good works with a view to repayment also say, because of what they know from the Word, that they wish to be the least in heaven. But they think that by saying this they may become great, so that they still have the same end in view. But those who do good without thought of repayment really do not think about pre-eminence, only about being of service.

[5] See what has been stated and shown already about earning merit through works,

In the next life those who are merit-seekers appear to be splitting wood and cutting grass, 1110, 1111, 4943.

How those people are represented, 1774, 2027.

Those who have done good for selfish and worldly reasons receive no payment in the next life for that good, 1835.

Those who place merit in works interpret the Word literally to their own advantage and laugh with scorn at its inner content, 1774, 1877.

True charity is devoid of all merit-seeking, 2340, 2373, 2400, 3816.

Those who separate faith from charity consider the works they have done to be worthy of merit, 2373 (end).

Those who come into heaven throw off what is their own and any merit of their own, 4007 (end).

Most people believe, when they start to be reformed, that the good they do originates in themselves, and that through this good they are worthy of merit; but they throw off that belief as they undergo regeneration, 4174.

AC (Elliott) n. 6394 6394. ‘And will be one serving for tribute’ means so that he may earn merit. This is clear from the meaning of ‘being one serving for tribute’ as being subject to and serving. And since those who wish to earn merit through works are spoken of as bony asses lying down between burdens and as those who bend their shoulder to bear a burden, ‘one serving for tribute’ too means those who wish to earn merit through works; for they are lowest-ranking servants, see above in 6389. The fact that ‘one serving for tribute’ means being subject to and serving is clear in Moses,

When you draw near a city to fight against it you shall proclaim peace to them.* But it shall be, if it responds to you in favour of peace and opens up to you – it shall be, that all the people who are found in it will become tribute to you and serve you. Deut. 20:10, 11.

In Jeremiah,

How lonely dwells the city [that was] great with people! She has become like a widow, [she who was] great among the nations; she who had dominion over provinces has become a payer of tribute. Lam. 1:1.

In these places it is self-evident that ‘becoming a tribute’ and ‘becoming a payer of tribute’ mean serving. In Matthew,

Jesus said, How does it seem to you, Simon? The kings of the earth, from whom do they receive tribute or tax, from their own sons or from strangers? Peter said to Him, From strangers. Jesus said to him, Then the sons are free; but so that we may not offend them, set off for the sea and cast a hook, and take the fish that comes up first. Open its mouth and you will find a stater;** take it and give it for Me and for you. Matt. 17:25-27.

Here also ‘giving tribute moneys or taxation’ means those who serve, and therefore it says that strangers were to give it but the sons would be free; for strangers were servants, 1097. Peter’s taking a fish from the sea and his finding in its mouth a stater which he was to give represented the fact that the lowest part of the natural, which is a servant, would accomplish it; for that part of the natural is meant by ‘fish’.
* lit. you shall invite them to peace
** A Greek coin

AC (Elliott) n. 6395 6395. Verses 16-18 Dan will judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan will be a serpent on the road, a darting serpent on the path, biting the horse’s heels; and its rider will fall backwards. I wait for Your salvation, O Jehovah.

‘Dan’ means those who are guided by truth but not as yet by good. ‘Will judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel’ means that it is one of the truths in general which the tribes of Israel represent. ‘Dan will be a serpent on the road’ means their reasoning regarding truth, since good does not as yet lead them. ‘A darting serpent on the path’ means reasoning from truth regarding good. ‘Biting the horse’s heels’ means false notions received from the lowest natural level. ‘And its rider will fall backwards’ means a receding from [truth]. ‘I wait for Your salvation, O Jehovah’ means unless the Lord brings them aid.

AC (Elliott) n. 6396 6396. ‘Dan’ means those who are guided by truth but not as yet by good. This is clear from the representation of ‘Dan’ as the good of life, dealt with in 3921, 3923, but here those who have some goodness of life, which is engendered by truth but not as yet by good. For the situation with a person who is being regenerated by the Lord is that at first truth resides with him but no goodness of life engendered by that truth. Then such goodness of life engendered by truth, though not as yet by good, does reside with him; and after that, once he has been regenerated, goodness of life engendered by good comes to reside with him, at which stage he discerns truth from the vantage point of good and multiplies that truth residing with him. These are the degrees of regeneration, and ‘Dan’ is used to mean those with whom goodness of life resides which is engendered by truth but not as yet by good. The good that resides with them still lies deeply concealed within that truth; yet it provides them with an affection for truth and impels them to lead a life in accordance with the truth. Such people are in the Lord’s kingdom, but because they are led to do good not by good but by truth, that is, not by anything of a new will but by the understanding – thus not by love but by obedience because they are commanded so to act – they are among those in the Lord’s kingdom who inhabit the first or lowest heaven. These are the people whom ‘Dan’ represents, for in the internal sense of the prophetic declarations made here by Israel his twelve sons serve to describe in general the essential natures of all who are in the Lord’s kingdom.

[2] The habitation by those meant by ‘Dan’ of the lowest heaven or lowest level of the Lord’s kingdom because they are guided by truth but not as yet by good was represented by the falling of the lot last for Dan when the land of Canaan was shared out as an inheritance among the tribes, Josh. 19:40-48, and by the allotment at that time of an inheritance to them in the remotest part of the land, Judges 18. For the lot was cast before Jehovah, Josh. 18:6, and therefore fell for each tribe in accordance with its representation. The land of Canaan represented the Lord’s kingdom, see 1607, 3038, 3481, 3705, 3686, 4447, 4454, and all its boundaries were therefore representative, 1607, 1866, 4116, so that the outermost parts of that land represented the lowest parts of the Lord’s kingdom, 4240. ‘Dan’ consequently represented the inhabitants of those lowest parts, for before truth has become joined to good it resides on the lowest level of that kingdom. But if truth has become entirely separated from good it does not reside within any boundary of the Lord’s kingdom but is outside it.

[3] The fact that Dan’s inheritance was the outermost part of the land of Canaan is clear from the fact that whenever the full extent of that land was described the expression from Beersheba even to Dan was used, 2 Sam. 3:10; 17:11; 24:15; 1 Kings 4:25. In this expression Beersheba means the inmost part of the land, for the reason that it was the place where Abraham and Isaac lived, that is, before Jerusalem and Zion had become the inmost parts of the land.

[4] The essential nature of those guided by truth but not as yet by good was also represented by the Danites who were to spy out the land in which they were to live, Judges 18. It was represented by their removal of the Levite from Micah’s house and their making off with the ephod, teraphim, and carved image, by which objects is meant the worship of those guided by truth but not as yet by good. For those people venerate things of an external nature but have no interest in those of an internal nature; for things of an internal nature are discerned by none but those who are guided by good. This is what the Danites under consideration here represented, as becomes clear from the consideration that all the historical incidents in the Word, both those in the Books of Moses and those in the Books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings, are representative of the celestial and spiritual realities of the Lord’s kingdom, including therefore this incident in the Book of Judges involving the Danites. As regards anything further concerning the essential nature of those guided by truth but not as yet by good, this is described in the internal sense of the things said about Dan that come next.

AC (Elliott) n. 6397 6397. ‘Will judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel’ means that it is one of the truths in general which the tribes of Israel represent. This is clear from the meaning of ‘judging’ as truth exercising its proper function, dealt with below; from the meaning of ‘people’ as those governed by truth, dealt with in 1259, 1260, 2928, 3295, 3581, 4619, at this point those guided by truth but not as yet by good, since they are Dan, that is, the people of Dan, 6396; and from the representation of ‘the tribes of Israel’ as all truths and forms of good in general, dealt with in 3858, 3926, 3939, 4060, 6335. Consequently ‘will judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel’ means that the truth which ‘Dan’ represents is one of the general truths that ‘the tribes of Israel’ represent. The reason why ‘judging his people’ means truth exercising its proper function is that all truths in general are represented by ‘the tribes of Israel’, as may become clear from the paragraphs referred to above; and since truths are what act as judges, ‘judging his people’ means truth exercising its proper function.

[2] In the Word one reads the description that the twenty-four elders will sit on thrones and judge nations and peoples, and that the twelve apostles will similarly sit on thrones and judge the twelve tribes of Israel. A person with no knowledge of the internal sense of the Word will think that precisely that is going to happen. But how those descriptions should be understood becomes clear when one knows from the internal sense what ‘the twenty-four elders’, ‘the twelve apostles’, and also ‘thrones’ mean, namely all truths in their entirety, in accordance with which judgement is effected. The same goes for one’s understanding here of ‘judging his people as one of the tribes of Israel’. The meaning is not that these or any other elders among them will act as judges, but that the actual truths meant by them, therefore the Lord alone since every truth comes forth from Him, will do so. The reference to the twenty-four elders who will sit on thrones and act as judges occurs in John as follows,

Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders seated, clad in white garments, who had crowns of gold on their heads. Rev. 4:4; 11:16.

In the same book,

I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgement was given to them. Rev. 20:4.

The reference to the twelve apostles occurs in Matthew,

Jesus said, You who have followed Me, in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Matt. 19:28.

And in Luke,

I bestow on you, just as My father bestowed on Me, a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Luke 21:29, 30.

Here neither the twenty-four elders nor the twelve apostles are what are really meant but all truths and forms of good in general, as may be recognized from the consideration that nobody, not even any angel, can judge anyone; for no one except the Lord alone can know what a person is or ever will be like interiorly. With regard to the twelve apostles, that they had a similar meaning to the twelve tribes, which was all truths and forms of good in their entirety, see 2129, 2553, 3488, 3858 (end). From all this it is now evident that ‘Dan will judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel’ means that the truth represented by ‘Dan’ is one of the general truths by means of which judgement is effected.

AC (Elliott) n. 6398 6398. ‘Dan will be a serpent on the road’ means their reasoning regarding truth, since good does not as yet lead them. This is clear from the representation of ‘Dan’ as those guided by truth but not as yet by good, dealt with above in 6396; from the meaning of ‘a serpent’ as reasoning based on sensory evidence, dealt with below; and from the meaning of ‘the road’ as truth, dealt with in 627, 2733. Thus ‘Dan is a serpent on the road’ means their reasoning regarding truth, since good does not as yet lead them. The nature of that reasoning and the nature of the truth resulting from it will be stated below.

[2] The reason why ‘a serpent’ means reasoning based on sensory evidence is that the interiors of a person are represented in heaven by living creatures of various kinds, and therefore in the Word similar things are meant by those same creatures. A person’s sensory powers have come to be represented by serpents because they are the lowest of his mental powers. Compared with other mental powers those of the senses are on the ground so to speak, crawling around there, as may also be recognized from the forms that sensory impressions adopt when they enter in, which will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be dealt with elsewhere. This explains why those sensory powers have come to be represented by ‘serpents’, so much so that the Lord’s Divine sensory perception was represented by the bronze serpent in the wilderness, 4211 (end).

[3] True shrewdness and circumspection – qualities that reveal themselves in external affairs – were also meant by ‘serpents’, in Matthew,

Be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves. Matt. 10:16.

But in the case of a person who is governed by his senses and is far removed from what is internal – as those people are who are guided by truth but not as yet by good – and who speaks as his senses tell him, ‘a serpent’ means false reasoning. This therefore is why here, where Dan is the subject, reasoning regarding truth because good does not as yet lead him is meant. In other contexts ill-will, deceitfulness, and trickery are also meant by ‘serpents’, though in those places they are poisonous serpents – such as vipers and the like – whose reasoning is their poison.

‘A serpent’ is reasoning based on sensory evidence, see 195-197.

‘A serpent’ is all evil in general, and evils are distinguished from one another by different kinds of serpents, 251, 254, 257.

AC (Elliott) n. 6399 6399. ‘A darting serpent on the path’ means reasoning from truth regarding good. This is clear from the meaning of ‘a darting serpent’ as reasoning regarding good, dealt with below; and from the meaning of ‘the path’ as truth, dealt with in 627, 2333, 3477. The reason why ‘a darting serpent on the path’ means reasoning from truth regarding good is that ‘a serpent’ means reasoning, so that ‘a darting serpent’ means reasoning that pushes itself forward – from truth towards good, since truth residing with those represented by ‘Dan’ is below, while good is above.

AC (Elliott) n. 6400 6400. ‘Biting the horse’s heels’ means false notions received from the lowest natural level. This is clear from the meaning of ‘biting’ as clinging to and thereby causing harm, and from the meaning of ‘the horse’s heels’ as false notions received from the lowest natural level; for ‘the heel’ is the lowest and bodily part of the natural, 259, 4938-4952. While ‘horse’ is the understanding part of the mind, 2761, 2762, 3217, 5321, 6125. ‘Horse’ here means false notions because the lowest natural level of the understanding, which is that of the senses, is meant. People who are guided by truth but not as yet by good are subject to false notions received from that lowest natural level. This may be recognized from the consideration that truth is not in any light unless good resides with it or exists within it. For good is like a flame radiating light, and when that good meets some truth it not only throws light on it but also draws it into that radiating light, towards itself. People therefore who are guided by truth but not as yet by good are in a kind of gloom and darkness, because truth possesses no light at all of its own, and the light which those people receive from good is as feeble as light which fades away. When such people therefore think and engage in reasoning about truth, and from truth about good, they are like those who see apparitions in the darkness and believe them to be real bodies. Or they are like people who in the gloom see streaks on a wall and whose imagination leads them to make some shape out of them, either of a human being or of some other living creature. But when daylight comes it is seen that they are merely streaks without any such shape. It is much the same with the truths residing with them; for they see as truths what are not truths, which ought rather to be likened to apparitions or streaks on the wall. What is more, people of this kind – those who have been guided by some truth from the Word but not by any good – have been the source of all the heresies that have arisen within the Church; for heretical belief has been seen by them to be altogether the truth. So too with falsities within the Church. Those who have disseminated them have not been guided by good, as may be recognized from the consideration that they cast the good of charity far behind the truth of faith and as a consequence have for the most part invented ideas which are in no way compatible with the good of charity.

[2] Since it is said that those who are guided by truth but not as yet by good use false notions received from the lowest natural level to reason about truth and about good, let something also be said about what false notions are. Take for example a person’s life after death. People subject to false notions received from lowest nature, such as those who are guided by truth but not as yet by good, do not believe that any part of a person except his body has life, or that a person can possibly rise again when he dies unless he gets back his body. If these people are told that the interior man is the one who has life within the body and who is raised up by the Lord when the body dies, and that this interior man has a body like those that spirits or angels have, and that like a person in the world he can see, hear, talk, mix with others, and seem to himself to be altogether a person, they cannot grasp any of it. False notions received from the lowest natural level cause them to believe that such things cannot be true.

[3] The chief reason why they do not believe them to be true is that they cannot see those things with their physical eyes. When such people think about the spirit or soul, the only idea they can have of it is that it is like things the eye cannot see in the natural world. Consequently they consider it to be either something breath-like, or else something air-like, ether-like, or flame-like, or – according to some – something purely thought-like, which possesses scarcely any vitality until it is joined again to the body. These people think the way they do because to them everything of an interior nature is gloom and darkness and only those of an external nature are in light. This shows how easily such people can fall into error; for if they limit their thought to the body and how it will be reassembled, to the destruction of the world and the fact that it has been awaited in vain for so many centuries, to animals and the fact that they have life not unlike man’s life, or to the fact that no dead persons reappear and declare their state of life, they easily recede – when they think of these and other such things – from belief in resurrection, as they do from many other matters of belief. The reason they recede from that belief is that they are not guided by good and do not through good see in the light. Such being their condition it also says, ‘And its rider will fall backwards; I wait for Your salvation, O Jehovah’, meaning a receding from [the truth] unless the Lord comes to their aid.

AC (Elliott) n. 6401 6401. ‘And its rider will fall backwards’ means a receding from [truth]. This is clear from the meaning of ‘falling backwards’ as a receding from – a receding from truth; and from the meaning of ‘rider’ as those subject to false notions received from lowest nature. ‘Horse’ means those false notions, see immediately above in 6400, and therefore ‘rider’ means those subject to them, the nature of which meanings has been discussed immediately above. Since ‘Dan’ means those within the Church who are the kind of people described just above in 6396 and who are accordingly among the lowest in the Lord’s kingdom, ‘Dan’ also means those who hatch false teachings out of false notions and disseminate them. These people’s false teachings are also called ‘horses’, and their reasonings about truth and good are called ‘serpents’, in Jeremiah,

From Dan the snorting of his horses was heard; at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones the whole earth quaked. And they came and devoured the land and the fullness of it, the city and those dwelling in it. For behold, I send into you poisonous serpents which do not respond to charming; and they will bite you. Jer. 8:16, 17.

AC (Elliott) n. 6402 6402. ‘I Wait for Your salvation, O Jehovah’ means unless the Lord brings them aid. This is clear from the meaning here of ‘waiting for salvation’ as bringing aid, ‘Jehovah’ being the Lord, see 1343, 1736, 2156, 2329, 2447, 2921, 3023, 3035, 5663, 6303. As regards the aid that the Lord brings to those who are guided by truth but not as yet by good when they recede from truth – meant by ‘the rider will fall backwards; I wait for Your salvation, O Jehovah’ – it should be recognized that they are people who look downwards and outwards since they are not as yet guided by good. But those who are guided by good, as those who have been regenerated are, are ones who look upwards and inwards; for when a person is being regenerated order is turned around in the process.

[2] Since those who are guided by truth but not as yet by good look downwards and outwards they are also some of those who in the Grand Man belong to the province of the outward skin; for the outward skin looks outwards, away from the internal parts of the body, and the sense of touch is aroused by things on the outside of it. No such feeling is aroused from the inside. From this it is evident that these people are in the Lord’s kingdom, since they are in the Grand Man, though in its last and outermost parts. Regarding those who constitute the skin, see 5552-5559.

AC (Elliott) n. 6403 6403. Verse 19 Gad – a troop will ravage him, and he will ravage the heel.

‘Gad’ means works motivated by truth but not as yet by good. ‘A troop will ravage him’ means that works performed without judgement will dislodge him from a state of truth. ‘And he will ravage the heel’ means consequent disorder in the natural.

AC (Elliott) n. 6404 6404. ‘Gad’ means works motivated by truth but not as yet by good. This is clear from the representation of ‘Gad’ as works, dealt with in 3934, 3935, here works that are motivated by truth but not as yet by good. This meaning is evident from the description of the man in the internal sense; it is also what follows in the overall line of thought, for ‘Dan’ immediately above represents those who are guided by truth but not as yet by good, 6396, and now here ‘Gad’ represents those who perform works that are motivated by truth but not as yet by good. The essential nature of those works will be stated in what follows immediately below.

AC (Elliott) n. 6405 6405. ‘A troop will ravage him’ means that works performed without judgement will dislodge him from a state of truth. This is clear from the meaning of ‘a troop’ as works, dealt with in 3934, here works performed without judgement, for those who perform works that are motivated by truth but not as yet by good have a darkened understanding, whereas those whose works are motivated by good have an enlightened understanding because that good gives it light (the light of truth from the Lord flows by way of good into the understanding part of the mind, then on into truth, but not directly into truth, much as sunlight flows by means of heat into members of the vegetable kingdom – such as trees, young plants, and flowers – and causes them to grow and blossom; the direct inflow of sunlight does not cause them to do so, for when light flows in without heat, as in wintertime, nothing grows or blossoms); and from the meaning of ‘ravaging him’ as dislodging him from a state of truth.

[2] But one must state who exactly those people are who are meant here by ‘Gad’. They are those who suffer delusions regarding what is true and yet are led by their deluded view of it to perform works, so that these are not works of truth, much less of good. Through those works they are dislodged from a state of truth, for as soon as the person guided by truth but not as yet by good is moved on religious grounds to put some idea into practice, he then defends that idea as though it were the absolute truth. He sticks to it and does not allow it to be altered except insofar as he moves on into good. For by putting the idea into practice he becomes engrossed in it and enamoured with it. In this way works dislodge him from a state of truth. But quite apart from all this, he believes things to be true which are not so; for these people too, like those meant by ‘Dan’, judge a thing from their senses, thus without judgement. Let some examples shed light on the matter. Take a person who has the idea that one person is his neighbour in exactly the same way as any other and who for that reason does what is good in exactly the same way to the evil as to the good, and by doing good to the evil, he does harm to others. After he has put the idea into practice several times he then defends it, saying that everyone is his neighbour, and that he is not concerned with what a person is like, only with doing good to him. Thus his works are performed without judgement, and he also acts in ways contrary to the real truth, for the real truth is that all are one’s neighbour but each is so in a different degree, and that those governed by good are pre-eminently one’s neighbour, 2417, 3419, 3820, 5025.

[3] ‘Gad’ also means those who think that the whole of salvation rests in works alone, like the Pharisee to whom the Lord referred in His parable,

The Pharisee stood and prayed these words to himself, God, I thank You that I am not like all other people – extortioners, unjust ones, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice in a week; I give tithes of all that I possess. Luke 18:11, 12.

Thus he thought that absolute truths consisted in external actions. People such as he are also in the Lord’s kingdom, though only on the edge of it, which is why the Lord says,

I tell you, the tax collector went down to his house [more] justified than the other. Luke 18:14.

In saying this He implied that the Pharisee too went down justified, since he had performed works because of the command to do them. In short, ‘Gad’ represents those who declare that to be true which is not in fact so and who are motivated to perform works by what is not in fact the truth. Consequently their works and truths are alike, for works are nothing else than will and understanding expressed in action. What saves those people is their intention to do what is good and the presence of a measure of innocence within their ignorance.

[4] People motivated to perform works of an external nature by what they believe to be true but which is not in fact so are also meant by ‘Gad’ in Isaiah,

You who forsake Jehovah, who forget My holy mountain, who set a table for Gad, and who fill a drink-offering for Meni. Isa. 65:11.
.
‘Setting a table for Gad’ stands for an interest solely in works. And in Jeremiah,

Against the sons of Ammon. Thus said Jehovah, Israel, has he no heir? Why then does his king inherit God, and his people dwell in his cities? Jer. 49:1.

‘Inheriting Gad’ stands for leading a life in which works are motivated by what are not truths. ‘The sons of Ammon’ are people who falsify truths and lead lives in accordance with those falsified truths, 2468, and these things said about Gad in this prophet apply to them.

AC (Elliott) n. 6406 6406. ‘And he will ravage the heel’ means consequent disorder in the natural. This is clear from the meaning of ‘ravaging’ as dislodging him from a state of truth, as immediately above in 6405, thus upsetting order or creating disorder; and from the meaning of ‘the heel’ as the lowest part of the natural, dealt with in 259, 4938-4952. From this it is evident that ‘he will ravage the heel’ means disorder in the natural. people performing works motivated by truth but not as yet by good inevitably introduce disorder into their natural, since works have an effect on the natural; and as a consequence they cannot help closing their interiors to the extent that they perform such works, since the natural forms the base on which the interiors rest. But if there is disorder in the natural, the things that flow in from the interiors become disordered too; and these things that disordered lack light and are in gloom. This being so, those people cannot see what the truth is, but in that gloom and lack of light they seize on as the truth what is not in fact the truth, and this is what then motivates them in their performance of works. Furthermore works are absolutely vital, for they are charity and faith when put into effect and expressed in life. Who fails to see that without works charity does not exist? Works are nothing else than actual goodness and truth expressed in an outward form; for when good which exists in the will and truth which exists in the understanding are put into action they are called works. From this it is evident that the nature of the goodness and truth determines that of the works.

AC (Elliott) n. 6407 6407. Verse 20 From Asher, fat will be his bread, and he will yield a king’s delights.

‘From Asher’ means the blessedness that the affections possess. ‘Fat will be his bread’ means the enjoyment that goodness gives. ‘And he will yield a king’s delights’ means the pleasure that truth provides.

AC (Elliott) n. 6408 6408. ‘From Asher’ means the blessedness that the affections possess, that is to say, heavenly affections, which are those of love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour. This is clear from the representation of ‘Asher’ as the happiness of eternal life and the blessedness that the affections possess, dealt with in 3938, 3939, in addition to which he was called Asher from a word meaning blessedness. As regards that blessedness, it is not easy to describe it, for the reason that it is an inner blessedness, which rarely reveals itself physically in a person and so is rarely perceptible. For while a person lives in the body he is distinctly aware of what presents itself in his body, but he is only very dimly aware of what presents itself in his spirit; for while a person is living in his body worldly concerns impede his awareness of it. The blessedness that the affections possess cannot flow into his perception in the body where those concerns are centred unless what exists on the natural and sensory levels has been brought into agreement with what exists on interior levels; and even then it is only a dim awareness, no more than a calm feeling brought about by his contented state of mind. But after he has died that blessedness makes itself plain and is felt to be blessing and happiness, which affect him both interiorly and exteriorly. In short the blessedness that heavenly affections possess is that which his soul or spirit possesses, flowing in by an interior route and reaching through to the body, where it is received to the extent that the delights springing from the loves that belong to the natural and the senses do not stand in the way.

[2] This blessedness does not exist in any way at all with those whose delight is that of self-love and love of the world; for these loves are quite the opposite of it. People ruled by these loves therefore are not at all able to understand how any blessedness can exist apart from that of being promoted to important positions, being venerated as if they were gods, having an abundance of riches, and possessing more wealth than others. And if these people are told that the delight that springs from those loves is external and perishes along with the body, and that what remains of it in the mind is turned after death into a miserable and hideous delight, such as exists with those in hell, but that an internal kind of delight exists, and that this is a blissful and happy one such as exists with those in heaven, they do not comprehend these things at all, for the reason that with them the external holds sway and the internal is closed. From all this one may see how to understand ‘the blessedness that the affections possess’, a blessedness meant by ‘Asher’.

AC (Elliott) n. 6409 6409. ‘Fat will be his bread’ means the enjoyment that goodness gives. This is clear from the meaning of ‘fat’ as enjoyment, for ‘fatness’ means what is celestial or the good of love, see 353, 5943. But When the word ‘fat’ is used in association with ‘bread’, which means the good of love, ‘fat’ means the enjoyment that goes with that love. For the meaning of ‘bread’ as the good of love, see 276, 680, 2165, 2177, 3464, 3478, 3735, 3813, 4111, 4217, 4735, 4976, 5915.

AC (Elliott) n. 6410 6410. ‘And he will yield a king’s delights’ means the pleasure that truth provides. This is clear from the meaning of ‘delights’ as pleasure, and from the meaning of ‘a king’ as truth, dealt with in 1672, 1728, 2015, 2069, 3009, 4575, 4581, 4966, 5044, 6148, so that ‘yielding a king’s delights’ is the pleasure that truth provides. Reference is made to both – to the enjoyment that good gives and the pleasure that truth provides – on account of the heavenly marriage present in every detail of the Word, 6343. The enjoyment that good gives and the pleasure that truth provides, which constitute the blessedness known in heaven, do not consist in having nothing to do but in being active. For the enjoyment and pleasure that consist in having nothing to do turn into the absence of enjoyment or pleasure, whereas the enjoyment and pleasure that consist in being active are lasting, constantly uplifting, and creative of blessedness. The activity engaged in by those in heaven consists in performing useful services – which for them is the enjoyment that good gives – and in gaining, with those services in view, a wise understanding of truths, which for them is the pleasure that truth provides.

AC (Elliott) n. 6411 6411. Verse 21 Naphtali is a hind let loose, making elegant utterances.

‘Naphtali’ means the state following temptations. ‘Is a hind let loose’ means the freedom that natural affection possesses. ‘Making elegant utterances’ means gladness of mind.

AC (Elliott) n. 6412 6412. ‘Naphtali’ means the state following temptations. This is clear from the representation of ‘Naphtali’ as temptation and also the state following temptations, dealt with in 3927, 3928; besides which he was given the name Naphtali by derivation from ‘wrestlings’, which in the spiritual sense are temptations.

AC (Elliott) n. 6413 6413. ‘Is a hind let loose’ means the freedom that natural affection possesses. This is clear from the meaning of ‘a hind’ as natural affection, dealt with below; and from the meaning of ‘let loose’ as freedom, for when a hind that has been captured is let loose it has freedom. Freedom from a state of temptations is compared to ‘a hind let loose’ because a hind is a woodland creature that loves more than all others to be free. The natural too is like this, for it loves to engage in what delights its affections and therefore to feel free; for freedom is the hallmark of affection. The reason ‘a hind’ means natural affection is that it is one of the beasts that serve to mean the affections, all of which beasts can be used as food and are useful creatures, such as lambs, sheep, she-goats, kids, he-goats, as well as bulls, young bulls, and also cows. Yet these beasts also serve to mean spiritual affections because burnt offerings and sacrifices were made of them, whereas ‘hinds’, because they were not put to that use, served to mean natural affections. For ‘beasts’ and their meaning affections, see 45, 46, 142, 143, 246, 714, 715, 719, 776, 1823, 2179, 2180, 3519, 5198; and the fact that their meaning affections has its origin in representatives in the world of spirits, 3218, 5850.

[2] Natural affections are also meant by ‘hinds’ in David,

Jehovah makes my feet like those of hinds, and sets me on my high places. Ps. 18:33.

And in Habakkuk,

Jehovih the Lord is my strength, who places my feet like those of hinds, and causes me to walk on my high places. Hab. 3:19.

‘Placing feet like those of hinds’ stands for the natural when its affections are in freedom, ‘feet’ being the natural, see 2162, 3147, 3761, 3986, 4280, 4938-4952, 5327, 5328. This meaning of ‘placing feet like those of hinds may be seen from the fact there is nothing spiritual about making a person’s feet like those of hinds, nimble and fit to run with. Yet the idea does have a spiritual implication, as is evident from the references that immediately follow to being set by Jehovah on high places and caused to walk on them, meaning spiritual affection on a level above natural affection. The same applies to the following words in Isaiah,

The lame man will leap like a hart. Isa. 35:6.

‘The lame man’ means a person who is governed by good, though not as yet by genuine good, 4302.

[3] In David,

As the hart cries out for the water brooks,* so does my soul cry out for You. Ps. 42:1.

Here ‘the hart’ stands for the affection for truth, ‘crying out for the water brooks’ for desiring truths, ‘waters’ being truths, see 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, 5668.

[4] In Jeremiah,

There has gone out from the daughter of Zion all her majesty; her princes have become like harts, they have not found pasture. Lam. 1:6.

‘The daughter of Zion’ stands for the affection for good, the affection the celestial Church has, 2362. ‘Princes stands for the first and foremost truths of that Church, 1482, 2089, 5044, which truths are compared to ‘harts’, by which affections for natural truth are meant. And by harts that ‘have not found pasture’ are meant natural affections devoid of truths and forms of good that go with them, ‘pasture’ being truth and the good of truth that sustain a person’s spiritual life, see 6078, 6277.

[5] ‘Hinds’ is used in a similar way in Jeremiah,

The land was broken up in pieces because no rain had come to be on the land; the farmers were put to shame, they covered their heads, because even the hind in the field calved but left because there was no grass. Jer. 14:4, 5.

‘The hind’ stands for an affection for natural good, ‘calved in the field’ for joining natural affections to spiritual ones which exist in the Church. Yet because those affections were devoid of truths and forms of good, it says that she left the field because there was no grass. Anyone can see that these things said about the hind have an inner meaning, for without it what point would there be in saying that the hind in the field calved but left because there was no grass?

[6] The same is so with what is said in David,

The voice of Jehovah causes the hinds to calve, and strips the forests bare; but in His temple everyone says, Glory. Ps. 29:9.

The existence of an inner meaning, which is the spiritual sense, within the statement that ‘the voice of Jehovah causes the hinds to calve’ is perfectly clear from the fact that immediately afterwards it says, ‘but in His temple everyone says, Glory’. Without the spiritual sense these words do not hang together with the statement before them about hinds and forests.
* lit. over the brooks of waters

AC (Elliott) n. 6414 6414. ‘Making elegant utterances’ means gladness of mind. This is clear from the meaning of ‘elegant utterances’ as gladness of mind. For all utterances come forth from the mind, and when the mind is glad and cheerful its talk is ‘elegant’. The fact that temptations are followed by
gladness and joyfulness, see 1992, 3696, 4572, 5628.

AC (Elliott) n. 6415 6415. From the things stated by Israel in these prophetic utterances concerning Dan, Gad, Asher, and Naphtali the existence of an internal sense is plainly evident, as is the fact that without that sense one can scarcely understand anything or know what is really meant. How does one understand for example the statements ‘Dan will be a serpent on the road, a darting serpent on the path, biting the horse’s heels; and its rider will fall backwards’, ‘a troop will ravage Gad, and he will ravage the heel’, ‘fat will be Asher’s bread, and he will yield a king’s delights’, or ‘Naphtali is a hind let loose, making elegant utterances’? Who can know what these statements mean without the key provided by the internal sense? They are not really things said about the sons of Jacob, or about the tribes, as becomes clear from the fact that nothing like those things happened to them ‘at the end of days’, even though Israel says in verse 1 that he will tell them what is going to happen to them at that time. And since what he said was not really about them it follows that he spoke about things such as were represented by them. The nature of those things has been explained above in what has gone before.

AC (Elliott) n. 6416 6416. Verses 22-26 The son of a fertile one is Joseph, the son of a fertile one beside a spring; daughters, [each one] marches onto the wall. And they exasperate him and shoot at him and hate him, do the archers. And he will sit in the strength of his bow, and the arms of his hands are made strong by the hands of the powerful Jacob – from there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel – by the God of your father, who will help you, and together with Shaddai, who will bless you with the blessings of heaven from above, the blessings of the deep lying beneath, the blessings of the breasts and of the womb. The blessings of your father will prevail over the blessings of my ancestors, even as far as the desire of the everlasting hills. They will be on the head of Joseph and on the crown of the head of the Nazirite among his brothers.

‘The son of a fertile one is Joseph’ means the spiritual Church, in the highest sense the Lord’s Divine spiritual. ‘The son of a fertile one beside a spring’ means the fruitfulness of truth from the Word. ‘Daughters, [each one] marches onto the wall’ means going out to fight against falsities. ‘And they exasperate him’ means resistance offered by falsities. ‘And shoot at him’ means that they use those falsities to fight with. ‘And hate him, do the archers’ means with utter hostility. ‘And he will sit in the strength of his bow’ means that he is protected by the militancy of the truth of doctrine. ‘And the arms of his hands are made strong’ means the power that the forces involved in fighting possess. ‘By the hands of the powerful Jacob’ means received from the almighty power of the Lord’s Divine Human. ‘From there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel’ means that from this springs all the goodness and truth which the spiritual kingdom possesses. ‘By the God of your father, who will help you’ means that He was the God of the Ancient Church. ‘And together with Shaddai’ means the Lord, bringer of benefits after temptations. ‘Who will bless you with the blessings of heaven from above’ means blessing with goodness and truth from a source within. ‘The blessings of the deep lying beneath’ means with factual knowledge which belongs in the natural. ‘The blessings of the breasts’ means with affections for goodness and truth. ‘And of the womb’ means these two joined together. ‘The blessings of your father will prevail over the blessings of my ancestors’ means that this Church will have spiritual good from the natural, but not from the rational. ‘Even as far as the desire of the everlasting hills’ means as far as celestial mutual love. ‘They will be on the head of Joseph’ means those things with respect to the interiors. ‘And on the crown of the head of the Nazirite among his brothers’ means with respect to the exteriors.

AC (Elliott) n. 6417 6417. ‘The son of a fertile one is Joseph’ means the spiritual Church, in the highest sense the Lord’s Divine spiritual. This is clear from the representation of ‘Joseph’ in the highest sense as the Lord’s Divine spiritual, in the internal sense as the spiritual kingdom and the good of faith, and in the external sense as fruitfulness and multiplication, dealt with in 3969, 3971; and since ‘Joseph’ is the fruitfulness of good and the multiplication of truth, he is called ‘the son of a fertile one’. ‘Joseph’ is used here to refer to the Lord’s spiritual kingdom, while above ‘Judah’ is used to refer to His celestial kingdom; for there are two kingdoms constituting heaven, the celestial and the spiritual. The celestial kingdom constitutes the inmost or third heaven, the spiritual kingdom the middle or second heaven; and the Lord is seen by the spiritual kingdom as the moon, but by the celestial kingdom as the sun, 1053, 1521, 1529-1531, 4060. When one says that ‘Joseph’ in the highest sense represents the Lord’s Divine Spiritual, the following is involved: The Lord is nothing else than Divine Good. What goes forth from His Divine Good and flows into heaven is in His celestial kingdom called the Divine celestial, but in His spiritual kingdom the Divine spiritual, so that one uses the expression Divine spiritual or Divine celestial with reference to receptivity.

AC (Elliott) n. 6418 6418. ‘The son of a fertile one beside a spring’ means the fruitfulness of truth from the Word. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the son’ as truth, dealt with in 489, 491, 533, 2623, 2803, 2813, 3773, 3704; from the meaning of ‘a fertile one’ as the fruitfulness of truth, for fertility, like bearing and birth, applies in the spiritual sense to truth and good, 1145, 1255, 3860, 3868, 4070, 4668, 5598; and from the meaning of ‘a spring’ as the Word, dealt with in 2702, 3424, 4861. From this it is evident that ‘the son of a fertile one beside a spring’ means the fruitfulness of truth from the Word. Those who belong to the Lord’s spiritual Church, the Church represented here by ‘Joseph’, come to know what good is from truth received from the Word, and so are introduced into good by means of truth. Then follows the fruitfulness meant by ‘a fertile one’.

AC (Elliott) n. 6419 6419. ‘Daughters, [each one] marches onto the wall’ means going out to fight against falsity. This is clear from the meaning of ‘a daughter’ as the Church, dealt with in 2362, 3963, here the spiritual Church since that Church is the subject; and from the meaning of ‘marching onto the wall’ as going out to fight against falsity, as is evident from the words that immediately follow – ‘they exasperate him and shoot at him and hate him, do the archers; and he will sit in the strength of his bow’, meaning the fight put up by falsity against truth.

[2] The expression ‘marches onto the wall’ is used because the subject in the internal sense is the attack made by falsities on truth and the protection of truth against falsity; for the spiritual Church represented by ‘Joseph’ is constantly under attack, but the Lord is constantly protecting it. This explains why in the Word all that makes up that Church is compared to a city with a wall, rampart, gates, and bars; and attacks made on the city describe attacks made on truth by falsities. Hence it also is that ‘a city’ means matters of doctrine, 402, 2268, 2449, 2712, 2943, 3216, 4492, 4493, and ‘a wall’ the truths of faith that serve to defend, or in the contrary sense falsities that serve to destroy. The first meaning – the truths of faith that serve to defend – may be seen in Isaiah,

Ours is a strong city; He will establish salvation for walls and rampart. Open the gates, so that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in. Isa. 26:1, 2.

In the same prophet,

You will call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise. Isa. 60:18.

In the same prophet,

Behold, I have engraved you upon [My] hands, your walls are continually before Me. Isa. 49:16

‘Walls’ stands for the truths of faith. In the same prophet,

Upon your walls, O Jerusalem, I have placed watchmen, all day and night they will not be silent, calling Jehovah to mind. Isa. 62:6.

Here the meaning is similar. In Jeremiah,

Thus said Jehovah, the God of Israel,* I will convert the weapons of war with which you are fighting with the king of Babel, besieging you outside the wall; I Myself will fight with you with an outstretched hand. Jer. 21:4, 5.

In the same prophet,

Jehovah thought to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion, He caused rampart and wall to mourn; they will languish together. Her gates have sunk into the earth, He has destroyed and broken in pieces her bars. Lam. 2:8, 9.

In Ezekiel,

The sons of Arvad, and your army, were on your walls round about, and the Gammadim were in your towers; they hung their shields on your walls round about and they made perfect your beauty. Ezek. 27:11.

This refers to Tyre, which means cognitions of good and truth.

[3] The fact that such things are meant by a city and its walls becomes perfectly clear from the description of the holy Jerusalem coming down out of heaven, as seen by John. From every detail of the description it is evident that a new Church is meant by that city; and by its wall is meant Divine Truth going forth from the Lord. The city is depicted in John as follows,

The holy Jerusalem coming down from heaven, having a wall great and high, having twelve gates – the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. He who talked to me measured the city and its gates, and its wall. Its wall was a hundred and forty-four cubits, which is the measure of a man, that is, of an angel. The structure of the wall was jasper, and the city pure gold, like pure glass. The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every precious stone. Rev. 21:10, 12, 14, 15, 17-19.

[4] The fact that ‘the wall’ means Divine Truth going forth from the Lord, and from this means the truth of faith coming out of the good of charity, is evident from the details regarding the wall that are mentioned in that description, such as the detail that the wall had twelve foundations, and in them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb; for ‘twelve means all, 3272, 3858, 3913, and ‘the wall and its foundations’ the truths of faith – much the same as is meant by ‘the twelve apostles’, 3488, 3858 (end), 6397. Then there is the detail that the wall was a hundred and forty-four cubits high, much the same being meant by that number as by twelve, which is all, since it is the product of twelve multiplied by twelve. And since that number used in reference to the wall means all truths and goods of faith, the expression ‘which is the measure of a man, that is, of an angel’ is added. Other details that are given are that the structure of the wall was jasper, and that its foundations were adorned with every precious stone; for ‘jasper’ and ‘precious stones’ mean the truths of faith, 114.

[5] The meaning of ‘wall’ in the contrary sense – falsities that serve to destroy – is evident from the following places: In Isaiah,

A day of tumult in the valley of vision. The Lord Jehovih Zebaoth has destroyed the wall, so that there is a shout towards the mountain. For Elam bore the quiver with chariots of men (homo), [and] horsemen. The horsemen surely positioned themselves right at the gate. Isa. 22:5-7.

In the same prophet,

The defence-work of your walls providing refuge** He will pull down, cast down, lay flat on the ground,*** right down into the dust. Isa. 25:12.

In Jeremiah,

Go up onto its walls and throw down. Jer. 5:10.

In the same prophet,

I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, which will consume the palaces of Benhadad. Jer. 49:27.

In the same prophet,

Raise a standard against the walls of Babel, keep watch, post watchmen. Jer. 51:12.

In Ezekiel,

They will overturn the walls of Tyre, and destroy her towers, and I will scrape her dust from her and make her a bare rock. Ezek. 16:4, 8, 9, 11.
* The Latin means Jehovah Zebaoth but the Hebrew means Jehovah, the God of Israel.
** lit. The fortification of refuge of your walls
*** lit. earth or land

AC (Elliott) n. 6420 6420. ‘And they exasperate him’ means resistance offered by falsities. This is clear from the meaning of ‘exasperating’ as resistance, for the amount of resistance offered determines how much exasperation takes place when conflict, to which reference is made here, arises. The fact that resistance is offered by falsities is evident from what follows below.

AC (Elliott) n. 6421 6421. ‘And shoot at him’ means that they use those falsities to fight with. This is clear from the meaning of ‘shooting at’ as using falsities to fight with; for ‘a bow’ means doctrine, and ‘arrows’ or ‘darts’ points of doctrine, thus truths belonging to doctrine among those led by truths, and falsities belonging to doctrine among those led by falsities, see 2686, 2709. The reason ‘shooting at’ here means using falsities to fight with is that people led by falsities are the subject here.

AC (Elliott) n. 6422 6422. ‘And hate him, do the archers’ means with utter hostility. This is clear from the meaning of ‘hatred’ as utter hostility, for one who hates another treats him, so far as he can, with utter hostility; and from the meaning of ‘the archers’ here as those who are opposed to members of the spiritual Church. For one who shoots with the bow or an archer is the spiritual man, for the reason that ‘a bow’ means matters of doctrine which the spiritual Church possesses, 2686, 2709, and therefore in the contrary sense one who shoots with the bow or an archer is he who as an enemy fights against the spiritual man. For the meaning of one who shoots with the bow or an archer as the spiritual man, see 2686, 2709. From this it is evident that ‘hate him, do the archers’ means that those led by falsities treat with utter hostility the member of the spiritual Church.

AC (Elliott) n. 6423 6423. ‘And he will sit in the strength of his bow’ means that he is protected by the militancy of the truth of doctrine. This is clear from the meaning of ‘sitting’ as being protected, for one who ‘sits in the strength of his bow’ is protected; and from the meaning of ‘bow’ as doctrine, dealt with in 2686, 2709. The strength that doctrine possesses resides in truth, for doctrine without truth in it has no strength. Regarding truth, that it possesses power and strength, see 878 (end), 3091, 4931, 4934, 4977, 6344. The reason why truth has ‘strength’ is that good acts by means of truth; for the nature of good is such that nothing at all evil or false can draw near it. Nor thus can any member of the hellish crew do so; that crew flees far away when good draws near, or when an angel governed by good does so. However, in order to fight that crew from hell present with a person and to protect him in every way, and in order also to protect spirits recently arrived from the world, as well as those on the lower earth, good acts by means of truth; for in that way it can draw near.

[2] How much power is contained in truth has been made clear to me from things I have been allowed to see in the next life. A certain person governed by natural truth, because he had been concerned for what was right when he had lived in the world, passed through many hells, from which he talked to me and described them. Such power and strength were present in him that hellish spirits were not at all able to molest him, so that he was protected as he passed from one hell to another, which is something people who are not guided by truth cannot possibly do. From all this one may see that ‘he will sit in the strength of his bow’ means that he is protected by the truth of doctrine. The fact that the militancy of truth provides such protection follows from what has gone before, where it says that the archers shoot at him and hate him.

AC (Elliott) n. 6424 6424. ‘And the arms of his hands are made strong’ means the power that the forces involved in fighting possess. This is clear from the meaning of ‘arms’ and ‘hands’ as powers, dealt with in 878, 3091, 3387, 4931-4937, 5327, 5328, 5544. It is plain that the power of the forces involved in fighting is meant since conflict is the subject.

AC (Elliott) n. 6425 6425. ‘By the hands of the powerful Jacob’ means received from the almighty power of the Lord’s Divine Human. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the hands’ as power, dealt with immediately above in 6424, and in the highest sense, in which the Lord is the subject, as almighty power, 878, 3387, 4592, 4933 (end); and from the meaning of ‘the powerful Jacob’ as the Lord’s Divine Natural, thus His Divine Human, 1893, 3305, 3576, 3599, 4286, 4538, 6098, 6185, 6276. That the Lord is the One who is meant by ‘the powerful Jacob’ is also evident in David,

He who swore to Jehovah made a vow to the powerful Jacob, If I enter the tent of my house . . . until I find a place for Jehovah, the dwelling-places of the powerful Jacob. Ps. 132:2, 3, 5.

And in Isaiah,

That all flesh may know that I Jehovah am your Saviour and your Redeemer, the powerful Jacob. Isa. 49:26.

In the same prophet,

Hear, O Jacob my servant, and Israel whom I have chosen. I will pour out My spirit upon your seed, and My blessing upon your sons. This one will say, I am Jehovah’s, and that one will call himself by the name of Jacob, and another will write with his hand, Jehovah’s, and surname himself by the name of Israel. Isa. 44:1-3, 5.

In the highest sense ‘Israel’ too means the Lord, in Hosea,

When Israel was a boy I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. Hosea 11:1.

The fact that it is the Lord who is meant here by ‘Israel’ is clear in Matthew,

Joseph went with the boy into Egypt, so that what had been said by the prophet might be fulfilled, Out of Egypt have I called My son. Matt. 2:14, 15.

AC (Elliott) n. 6426 6426. ‘From there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel’ means that from this springs all the goodness and truth which the spiritual kingdom possesses. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the shepherd’ as one who leads to the good of charity by means of the truth of faith, dealt with in 343, 3795, 6044 (here in the highest sense, since it has reference to the Lord, goodness and truth themselves are meant); from the meaning of ‘the stone’ as truth, dealt with in 1298, 3720, 3769, 3771, 3773, 3789, 3798; and from the representation of ‘Israel’ as the spiritual Church, dealt with in 3305, 4286, for ‘Israel’ is spiritual good or the good of truth, 4286, 4598, 5801, 5803, 5806, 5812, 5817, 5819, 5826, 5833. And since the good of truth is the essential element of the spiritual Church, ‘Israel’ means the spiritual Church, and in the highest sense the Lord’s spiritual kingdom. From all this it is evident that ‘from there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel’ means that from this springs all the goodness and truth which the Lord’s spiritual kingdom possesses.

[2] The reason why in the highest sense ‘the stone of Israel’ means the Lord with respect to the truth that His spiritual kingdom possesses is that in general ‘the stone’ means the temple, and specifically the foundation on which it stands. ‘The temple’ in turn means the Lord’s Divine Human, as is clear in John 2:19, 21, and so does its ‘foundation’ in Matthew 21:42, 44, and in Isaiah 28:16. This meaning of ‘the stone’ in the highest sense – the Lord in respect to Divine Truth which His spiritual kingdom possesses – is evident in David,

The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner. This has been done by Jehovah; it is marvellous in our eyes. Ps. 118:22, 23.

‘The stone’ here is the Lord, as is made clear in Luke,

It is written, The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner. Whoever falls onto that stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder. Luke 20:17, 18.

These things are spoken by the Lord regarding Himself. In Isaiah,

He is your fear, and He is your dread; for He will be a sanctuary, though He will be a stone to strike against and a rock to stumble over* for both houses of Israel. Many among them will trip, and fall, and be broken to pieces. Isa. 8:13-15.

Here the Lord is referred to. In the same prophet,

The Lord Jehovih said, Behold I [am He who] will lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tested stone, a precious corner-stone, surely founded. He who believes will not be hasty. Isa. 28:16.

In Zechariah,

Jehovah Zebaoth will visit His flock, the house of Judah, and will place them as His glorious horse** in battle. From Him comes the corner-stone, from Him the tent-peg, from Him the battle-bow. Zech. 10:3, 4.

[3] In Daniel,

You were watching, until a stone was cut out, not by means of hands, and it struck the statue on its feet, which were iron and clay, and smashed them to pieces. The stone that struck the statue became a great rock and filled the whole earth. The God of heaven will cause a kingdom to arise that will never be destroyed, and His kingdom will not be left to other people; it will crush and consume all those kingdoms, but will itself stand for ever. Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the rock, not by means of hands, and it smashed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold . . . Dan. 2:34, 35, 44, 45.

Here ‘the stone’ is used in the highest sense to mean the Lord, and in the relative sense to mean His spiritual kingdom. When it says that ‘the stone was cut out of the rock’ the meaning is that it came out of the truth of faith, for the truth of faith is meant in the Word by ‘rock’. And because the truth of faith is meant by ‘the stone’ and ‘the rock’, the Lord’s spiritual kingdom is also what is meant, since the truth of faith and good ensuing from this truth prevail in that kingdom. Something similar is also meant by ‘the stone’ on which Jacob slept and which he afterwards set up as a pillar, described as follows,

Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, Surely Jehovah is in this place and I did not know it. And he was afraid and said, How awesome is this place! This is nothing other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. And in the morning Jacob rose up early, and took the stone which he had placed as his headrest, and placed it as a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. He said, This stone which I have placed as a pillar will be God’s house. Gen. 28:16-18, 22.

The fact that by ‘the stone’ the ancients understood the Lord in the highest sense and His spiritual kingdom in the relative sense is also plain to see in Joshua,

Joshua erected the stone under the oak which was in Jehovah’s sanctuary. And Joshua said to all the people, Behold, this stone will be a witness to us, for it has heard all the sayings of Jehovah which He spoke to us. And it shall be a witness against you, lest you deny your God. Josh. 24:26, 17.
* lit. a stone of striking and a rock of stumbling
** lit. the horse of His glory

AC (Elliott) n. 6427 6427. What these three* verses contain in the internal sense is evident from the explanations that have been given. But even so, they inevitably remain obscure unless one knows what the spiritual kingdom is like. This kingdom consists of those who, possessing the truth of faith, make this truth part of their life and thus convert it into good. When a person leads a life in accordance with the truth of faith it is made into good and is called the good of truth; yet essentially it is truth in action. The truth of faith in the Lord’s spiritual Church is varying, for in one Church that is said to be the truth which in another is said not to be the truth, the doctrine taught by each Church being what leads to such variation. And in this way particular teachings come to be called truths. These truths are the ones that become linked to good and constitute good in the spiritual Church. Consequently the quality of its good comes to be that of its truth, for truths give good the quality it possesses.

[2] From this one may see that the good of the spiritual Church is impure and that as it is impure spiritual people cannot be admitted into heaven except by Divine means. The most important Divine means consisted in the Lord’s coming into the world and making the Human within Himself Divine. By that means spiritual people have been saved; yet because with them good is impure they are inevitably under attack from evils and falsities and so are engaged in conflict. But the Lord sees to it that through those conflicts what is impure with them is gradually made purer; for the Lord fights for them. These considerations are what are meant by ‘a daughter marches onto the wall’ and by ‘they exasperate him and shoot at him and hate him, do the archers; and he will sit in the strength of his bow, and the arms of his hands are made strong by the hands of the powerful Jacob; from there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel’.

[3] See what has been stated already about those who belong to the spiritual Church:

They live in obscurity so far as truth and the good resulting from truth are concerned, 2708, 2715, 2718, 2831, 2935, 2937, 3241, 3246, 3833, 6289.

Light is brought to that obscurity from the Lord’s Divine Human, 2716. Before the Lord’s Coming the spiritual kingdom was not the same as it was after His Coming, 6372.

The Lord came into the world to save those who are spiritual; and they are saved by means of the Lord’s Divine Human, 2661, 2716, 2833, 2834, 3969. From these places it is also evident that ‘the arms of his hands are made strong by the hands of the powerful Jacob; from there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel’ means the power that the forces involved in fighting possess, received from the almighty power of the Lord’s Divine Human, from which springs all the goodness and truth that the spiritual kingdom possesses, 6424-6426.
* The Latin says two.

AC (Elliott) n. 6428 6428. ‘By the God of your father, who will help you’ means that He was the God of the Ancient Church. This is clear from the representation of Jacob, to whom ‘father’ refers here, as the Ancient Church, dealt with in 4439, 4514, 4680, 4772. This Church was the spiritual Church, in which they worshipped the Lord, who is meant here by the God of the Ancient Church, the source of help in the conflicts spoken of immediately above.

AC (Elliott) n. 6429 6429. ‘And together with Shaddai’ means the Lord, bringer of benefits after temptations. This is clear from the meaning of ‘Shaddai’ as the name the Lord was given with respect to temptations and to the benefits following them, dealt with in 1992, 3667, 4572, 5628.

AC (Elliott) n. 6430 6430. ‘Who will bless you with the blessings of heaven from above’ means blessing with goodness and truth from a source within. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the blessings’ as the multiplication of truth and fruitfulness of good, for nothing else is meant in the spiritual sense by ‘a blessing’; and from the meaning of ‘heaven from above’ as from a source within, for a person’s heaven exists in him interiorly. Indeed a person who leads a good life is as to his interiors living in company with angels, thus in heaven, while as to his exteriors he is living in company with men, thus in the world. When therefore a person accepts goodness and truth which flow in from a source within, coming from the Lord by way of heaven, ‘he is blessed with the blessings of heaven from above’.

AC (Elliott) n. 6431 6431. ‘The blessings of the deep lying beneath’ means with factual knowledge which belongs in the natural. This is clear from the meaning of ‘being blessed with blessings’ as being endowed with the kinds of things that derive from the spiritual world; and from the meaning of ‘the deep lying beneath’ as factual knowledge in the natural. The natural is called ‘the deep lying beneath’ when considered in relation to the interiors constituting the heaven spoken of above in 6430. And since the natural is meant by ‘the deep lying beneath’, so too is factual knowledge meant, for factual knowledge and its delights belong in the natural and compose its life. This is especially true of the spiritual man, for he is led through factual knowledge to truths, and through truths to good. From all this it is evident that ‘being blessed with the blessings of the deep lying beneath’ means being endowed in the natural with factual knowledge and so with truths. Factual knowledge that holds truths in it and that belongs in the natural is also meant by ‘the deep’ in the blessing of Joseph recorded in Moses,

Blessed by Jehovah is his land, in regard to the precious things of heaven, to the dew, to the deep also lying beneath. Deut. 33:13.

AC (Elliott) n. 6432 6432. ‘The blessings of the breasts’ means with affections for goodness and truth. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the breasts’ as affections for goodness and truth. ‘The breasts’ means those affections because the breasts communicate with the generative organs, and for that reason they too belong to the province of conjugial love (regarding that province see 5050-5062). Now conjugial love corresponds to the heavenly marriage, which is a marriage of goodness and truth (for conjugial love comes down from that marriage, see 2618, 2728, 2729, 2803, 3132, 4434, 4835, 6179), and therefore ‘the breasts’ means affections for goodness and truth. In addition they derive that meaning from the fact that the breasts are what feed infants and so mean, through the affection that goes with breast-feeding, conjugial love when joined to the love of offspring.

[2] The same affections are also meant by ‘the breasts’ in Isaiah,

You will suck the milk of nations, and the breasts of kings you will suck. Instead of bronze I will bring gold, and instead of iron silver. Isa. 60:16, 17.

‘Sucking the breasts of kings’ stands for good obtained from truth, for by ‘kings’ truths are meant, 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 3670, 4575, 4581, 4966, 5044, 5068, 6148. ‘The milk of nations’ and ‘the breasts of kings’ plainly mean some profoundly spiritual matter, for those words would otherwise be meaningless. The fact that goodness and truth are meant is clear from the words that follow, which are ‘Instead of bronze I will bring gold, and instead of iron silver’; for ‘bronze’ is natural good, 425, 1551, and ‘gold’ celestial good, 113, 1551, 1552, 5658; ‘iron’ is natural truth, 425, 426, and ‘silver’ spiritual truth, 1551, 2954, 5658, 6112.

[3] In Ezekiel,

As regards increase, I gave you to be like the seed of the field, out of which you grew up and matured and reached full beauty; your breasts were formed and your hair had grown. Ezek. 16:7.

This refers to Jerusalem, which here means the Ancient spiritual Church. ‘Breasts that were formed’ stands for interior affections for goodness and truth, ‘your hair had grown for exterior affections belonging to the natural – ‘hair’ being the natural as regards truth, see 3301, 5247, 5569-5573. These words plainly contain a spiritual sense which is not visible in the letter, for without that sense why would it say of Jerusalem that its breasts were formed and its hair had grown?

[4] In the same prophet,

Two women, the daughters of one mother, committed whoredom in Egypt. In their youth they committed whoredom; there their breasts were squeezed, and there they contemplated their virgin busts. Ezek. 23:2, 3, 8, 21.

This passage in Ezekiel states that the two women are Jerusalem and Samaria, by whom Churches are meant in the internal sense. The statement that in their youth they committed whoredom with Egypt means that they falsified the truths of the Church by their use of factual knowledge – ‘committing whoredom’ is falsifying truths, see 2466, 4865, and ‘Egypt’ is factual knowledge, 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462, 5700, 5702. Consequently ‘their breasts were squeezed’ stands for affections for goodness and truth that became perverted through falsifications. The fact that the women’s whoredom and the squeezing of their breasts mean such things can be seen by those who are prepared to look into what is meant in the description of those women.

[5] In Hosea,

Contend with your mother, let her remove her whoredoms from her sight,* and her adulteries from between her breasts, lest perhaps I strip her naked, and make her like a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst. Hosea 2:1, 3.

‘Mother’ here stands for the Church, 289, 2691, 2717, 3703, 4257, 5581, whoredoms’ for falsifications of truth, 2466, 4865, ‘adulteries’ for adulterations of good, 2466, 2729, 3399. Consequently ‘adulteries from between her breasts’ stands for adulterated affections for goodness and truth, ‘stripping naked’ for depriving of all truth, 1073, 4958, 5437, ‘making like a wilderness, setting like a dry land, and slaying with thirst’ for the annihilation of all truth.

[6] In the same prophet,

Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts. Hosea 9:14.

‘Dry breasts’ stands for affections for neither truth nor good. In Isaiah,

O women without anxiety, stand still, hear My voice; O confident daughters, perceive My speech with your ears. Strip and make yourself bare, and gird [sackcloth] around your waist** – people beating themselves on their breasts for the fields of unmixed wine, and the fruitful vine. Isa. 32:9, 11, 12.

‘Daughters’ stands for affections, 2362, 3024, 3963, ‘being stripped bare’ for being deprived of truth, 1073, 4958, 5433, ‘girding [sackcloth] around one’s waist’ for suffering grief over good that has been lost, ‘beating on breasts’ for suffering grief over the good of truth that has been lost. Since these things are meant, it also says ‘for the fields of unmixed wine, and the fruitful vine’; for ‘the field’ is the Church in respect of good, thus the Church’s good, 2971, 3196, 3310, 3766, and ‘vine’ is the spiritual Church, and therefore the good of truth, 5113, 6375, 6376.

[7] In the Book of Revelation,

I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands one like the Son of Man, clothed with a long robe, and surrounded by a golden girdle around the breasts. Rev. 1:12, 13.

‘Golden lampstands’ are truths of good, ‘the Son of Man’ is Divine Truth, ‘surrounded by a golden girdle around the breasts’ the good of love. Anyone may deduce from the holiness of the Word that the things John saw concealed within themselves realities such as belong to the Lord’s kingdom and His Church; for what holiness would there be in making predictions about kingdoms in the world? From this one may recognize that they are heavenly things that are meant by ‘lampstands’ and by ‘the Son of Man, clothed with a long robe, and surrounded by a golden girdle around the breasts’.

[8] In Luke,

A certain woman lifted up her voice out of the crowd;*** she said about Jesus, Blessed is the womb that carried You, and the breasts that You sucked. But Jesus said, Rather than that, blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it. Luke 11:27, 28.

The Lord’s reply shows what ‘blessed is the womb’ and what ‘the breasts’ mean – ‘those who hear the Word of God and keep it’, thus affections for truth which exist with those who hear the Word or God, and affections for good which exist with those who keep it, that is, put it into practice.
* lit. faces
** lit. upon your loins
*** lit. the people

AC (Elliott) n. 6433 6433. ‘And of the womb’ means these two – goodness and truth – joined together. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the womb’ as the inmost centre of conjugial love; and since conjugial love receives its being from the heavenly marriage, which is goodness and truth joined together, ‘the womb’ means these two joined together. For the meaning of ‘the womb’ as the inmost centre of conjugial love, see 4918; and for the origin of conjugial love in the heavenly marriage, which is goodness and truth joined together in heaven, 2618, 2728, 2729, 2803, 3132, 4434, 4835, 6179.

AC (Elliott) n. 6434 6434. ‘The blessings of your father will prevail over the blessings of my ancestors means that this Church will have spiritual good from the natural, but nor from the rational. This is clear from the representation of ‘Joseph’ as the spiritual Church, dealt with in 6417; from the representation of Israel, to whom ‘father’ refers here, as spiritual good from the natural, dealt with in 5801, 5807, 5806, 5812, 5817, 5819, 5826, 5833; from the representation in the highest sense of Isaac and Abraham, to whom ‘ancestors’ refers here, as the Lord’s Divine Internal, ‘Isaac’ representing the Lord’s Internal Divine Human or Divine Rational, 1893, 2066, 2072, 2083, 2630, 3012, 3194, 3210, and ‘Abraham’ the Lord’s Divine itself, toll, 3251, 3439, 4615 (though in the relative sense Abraham and Isaac represent the internal aspect of the Lord’s kingdom and Church, 6098, 6185, 6276). From all this one may in some measure see the meaning of ‘the blessings of your father will prevail over the blessings of my ancestors’, which is that the spiritual Church will have good from the natural or external man but not from the rational or internal man; for the good of the member of the spiritual Church exists in the natural and does not go beyond it, whereas the good [of the member] of the celestial Church exists in the rational. No one can possibly know this meaning unless he knows what ‘Israel’ and what ‘Isaac and Abraham’ represent, also where the spiritual Church’s good exists and from where it originates.

AC (Elliott) n. 6435 6435. ‘Even as far as the desire of the everlasting hills’ means as far as celestial mutual love. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the everlasting hills’ as aspects of mutual love, dealt with below; for the vision that the spiritual Church may arrive at that love is meant by ‘even as far as the desire of the everlasting hills’. Before other places in the Word are introduced to show that mutual love is meant by ‘the everlasting hills’ something must be said first about what one means by mutual love, a goal which the member of the spiritual Church represented by ‘Joseph’ has more than enough to do to reach. What has often been stated and shown already shows that there are two kingdoms constituting heaven – the celestial kingdom and the spiritual kingdom. The difference between those two kingdoms is that the internal good of the celestial kingdom is the good of love to the Lord, while its external good is the good of mutual love. Members of that kingdom are governed by the good of love, not by truth that is called the truth of faith; for such truth is so integrated into the good of that kingdom that it cannot be seen in isolation from good. This being so, members of that kingdom cannot even utter the word faith, 202, 103, 4448; for with them the good of mutual love stands in place of the truth of faith. But in the spiritual kingdom the good of charity towards the neighbour constitutes the internal aspect of it and the truth of faith the external aspect.

[2] From all this one may see what the difference is between the two kingdoms, and also that they meet each other, in that the external aspect of the celestial kingdom coincides with the internal of the spiritual kingdom through an intermediary called the celestial of the spiritual. For as stated above, the external of the celestial kingdom is the good of mutual love, and the internal of the spiritual kingdom is the good of charity towards the neighbour. But the good of mutual love is more internal than the good of charity towards the neighbour, because the former springs from the rational, the latter from the natural. But although the good of mutual love, which is the external of the celestial Church, is more internal, while the good of charity towards the neighbour is more external, the Lord nevertheless joins the two kinds of good together through, as has just been stated, an intermediary, and in that way joins the two kingdoms together.

[3] To distinguish between the external good of the celestial Church and the internal good of the spiritual Church, let the former kind of good be called in what follows below the good of mutual love and let the latter kind be called the good of charity towards the neighbour – a difference that has not been observed in previous sections. Once these things are known, what is meant by ‘even as far as the desire of the everlasting hills’, one of Israel’s blessings regarding this spiritual Church, can be stated, which is the vision that the spiritual kingdom may rise above the good of charity and reach even as far as the good of mutual love which belongs to the celestial kingdom, and thus the two kingdoms may be joined together at a very deep level. These are the things that are meant by those words.

[4] Very many places in the prophetical part of the Word mention mountains and hills, by which forms of the good of love are meant in the internal sense. ‘Mountains’ means the good of love to the Lord, which is the internal of the celestial kingdom, while ‘hills’ means the good of mutual love, which is the external of the same kingdom. But when the spiritual kingdom is the subject ‘mountains’ means the good of charity towards the neighbour, which is the internal of that kingdom, while ‘hills’ means the truth of faith, which is its external. It should be recognized that every one of the Lord’s Churches is internal and external; and so too are both His kingdoms.

[5] This meaning of ‘hills’ becomes clear from the following places: In Isaiah,

In the latter days it will be, that the mountain of Jehovah will be on the top of the mountains, and raised above the hills. Isa. 2:2; Micah 4:1.

‘The mountain of Jehovah’, which is Zion, stands for the Lord’s celestial kingdom, thus for the good of that kingdom, which is the good of love to the Lord, and so in the highest sense is the Lord Himself since all love and all good in the celestial kingdom are the Lord’s.

[6] ‘Mount Zion’ has the same meaning in other places in the Word; and by ‘its hill’ is meant the good of mutual love, as in Isaiah,

Jehovah Zebaoth will come down to fight on Mount Zion and on its hill. Isa. 31:4.

Here ‘hill’ stands for the good of mutual love; and since ‘hill’ means the good of mutual love, and ‘mountain’ the good of celestial love, which is that of love to the Lord, it says ‘Jehovah will come down to fight on that mountain’. Jehovah does not fight actually on Mount Zion and its hill; rather, where the good of love exists, that is what the Lord, meant here by Jehovah, fights for, that is, He fights for those with whom that good exists. If He ever did fight for Zion and Jerusalem, it was because they represented the celestial Church. This also explains why Mount Zion was called holy, and so also why Jerusalem was termed holy, when in fact it was unclean, as is evident in the Prophets where its abominations are referred to.

[7] In David,

The mountains will bring peace, and the hills, in righteousness. Ps. 72:3.

In the same author,

Praise Jehovah, mountains and all hills. Ps. 148:9.

In the same author,

The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs.* Ps. 104:4, 6.

In the same author,

A mountain of God is the mountain of Bashan; a mountain of hills is the mountain of Bashan. Why do you leap up, O mountains, hills of mountains? God desires to inhabit it; yes, Jehovah will inhabit it perpetually. Ps. 68:15, 16.

In these places ‘mountains’ stands for celestial love, and ‘hills’ for spiritual love. Mountains are obviously not what is meant, nor hills, nor even those who were on mountains and hills.

[8] In Isaiah,

It will be that on every high mountain, and on every lofty hill, there will be brooks, streams of water. Isa. 30:25.

‘Streams of water’ stands for cognitions of good and truth, which are said to be ‘on every high mountain, and on every lofty hill’, for those cognitions flow from forms of the good of celestial and spiritual love.

[9] In Habakkuk,

Jehovah stood and measured the earth; He looked and scattered the nations, because the eternal mountains were dissolved, the everlasting hills sank down. Hab. 3:6.

‘The eternal mountains’ stands for the good of love that existed with the Most Ancient Church, which was celestial, and ‘the everlasting hills’ for the good of mutual love that existed with that Church – the former good being its internal, the latter its external. When that Church is what is meant in the Word, there is frequently added, because it was the Most Ancient Church, the word ‘eternal’, as in the expression ‘the eternal mountains’ used here, and in the expression ‘eternal days’ or ‘days of eternity’ used elsewhere, 6239. Also added was the word ‘everlasting’, as in the expression ‘the everlasting hills’ used here, as well as ‘as far as the desire of the everlasting hills’ appearing in Israel’s prophetic utterances. From this one may see that ‘the everlasting hills’ means forms of the good of mutual love belonging to the celestial Church or the Lord’s celestial kingdom.

[10] Something similar occurs in Moses’ prophetic utterance concerning Joseph,

. . . in regard to the first fruits of the mountains of the east, and to the precious things of the eternal hills . . . Let them come upon the head of Joseph. Deut. 33:15, 16.

In Isaiah,

The mountains and the hills will resound with song, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Isa. 55:12.

In Joel,

On that day the mountains will drip new wine, and the hills will flow with milk, and all the streams of Judah will flow with water. Joel 3:18; Amos 9:13.

In Ezekiel,

My sheep wander in all the mountains and on every high hill, and over all the face of the earth they were dispersed. I will give them and the places around My hill a blessing, and I will send down the rain in its season. Ezek. 34:6, 26.

In Jeremiah,

On all the hills in the wilderness those who cause devastation have come, for the sword of Jehovah is devouring. Jer. 11:12.

In these places forms of the good of celestial love are meant by ‘the mountains’, and much the same, but in a lower degree, by ‘the hills’.

[11] Because mountains and hills were signs that meant things such as these, Divine worship as well took place in the Ancient Church on mountains and hills. And later still the Hebrew nation set up altars on mountains and hills, offering sacrifice and incense there; or where there were no hills they built high places. But that worship became idolatrous, owing to the fact that they considered the actual mountains and hills to be holy and gave no thought at all to the holy things that they were signs of; and because that worship had become idolatrous the Israelite and Jewish people were forbidden to practise it, for those people were extremely prone, more than all others, to engage in idolatrous worship. But so as to retain that representative feature of mountains and hills which had existed in ancient times, Mount Zion was selected, which in the highest sense represented the Divine Good of the Lord’s Divine Love, and in the relative sense the Divine Celestial and Divine Spiritual in His kingdom.

[12] Since mountains and hills were signs meaning such things, Abraham was commanded to sacrifice his son on one of the mountains in the land of Moriah. it was also on a mountain that the Lord appeared to Moses, and from upon a mountain that the Law was proclaimed; for He appeared to Moses on Mount Horeb, and the Law was proclaimed on Mount Sinai. And in addition the temple in Jerusalem was built on a mountain.

[13] The fact that it was an age-old religious practice that led those people to celebrate sacred worship on mountains and hills, and that subsequently led the gentiles, also idolatrous Israelites and Jews, to offer sacrifice and incense on them, is evident in Jeremiah,

Your adulterous acts and your neighings, the wickedness of your whoredom committed on the hills, in the field – I have seen your abominations. Jer. 13:27.

This refers to Jerusalem. In Ezekiel,

When their slain will be in the midst of their idols, around their altars on every high hill, on all the mountain tops, and under every green tree, and under every entangled oak. Ezek. 6:13.

In Jeremiah,

On every high hill, and under every green tree, you are a sinful prostitute. Jer. 2:20; 3:6.

And there are other places besides these – 1 Kings 14:23; 2 Kings 16:4; 17:10.

[14] Because idolatrous worship was performed on mountains and hills, the evils of self-love are meant by them in the contrary sense, as in Jeremiah,

[I saw] the mountains; and behold, they are shaken, and all the hills are overturned. I looked, and behold, there was no man, and every bird of the air had flown away. Jer. 4:24-25.

In Isaiah,

Every valley will be lifted up, and every mountain and hill made low. Isa. 40:4.

In the same prophet,

Behold, I have made you into a new threshing-sledge** provided with sharp points. You are to thresh the mountains and crush them, and you are to make the hills like chaff. Isa. 41:15.

In the same prophet,

I will lay waste mountains and hills, and dry up every plant on them. Isa. 42:15.

In Micah,

Hear now what Jehovah is saying, Arise, contend with the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. Micah 6:1.

In Jeremiah,

Lost sheep have My people been, their shepherds have led them astray, O rebellious mountains. They have gone from mountain onto hill, they have forgotten their resting-place.*** Jer. 50:6.

And there are other places besides these, such as Jer. 16:16; Nahum 1:5, 6.

[15] The reason why ‘mountains and hills meant forms of the good of celestial and spiritual love was that they were places that rose up above the earth, and places that rose up high meant things belonging to heaven, and in the highest sense those belonging to the Lord. For ‘the land of Canaan’ meant the Lord’s heavenly kingdom, 1607, 3038, 3481, 3705, 4240, 4447; consequently everything in that land had a spiritual meaning, its mountains and hills meaning the kinds of things that are ‘high’. For when the most ancient people, who belonged to the celestial Church, went up a mountain, the idea of height came to mind, and from height the idea of what was holy, for the reason that Jehovah or the Lord was said to live in the most high places, and also for the reason that ‘height’ in the spiritual sense was the good of love, 650.
* lit. sons of the flock
** lit. threshing-sledge of a recent threshing-sledge
*** lit. bed

AC (Elliott) n. 6436 6436. ‘They will be on the head of Joseph’ means those things with respect to the interiors. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the head’ as the interiors, for it is there that everything in the human being exists first and foremost. A further reason why the interiors are what are meant by ‘the head’ lies in correspondence. From correspondence ‘the neck’ means what is intermediate, ‘the body’ the exteriors, and ‘the feet and soles of the feet’ the most external parts. This correspondence has its origin in heaven’s presentation of itself as the Grand Man. The inmost heaven where the Lord’s celestial kingdom is situated presents itself as the head there; the middle or second heaven where His spiritual kingdom is located presents itself as the body; and the lowest or first heaven as the feet, see 4938, 4939, 5318, 6291.

AC (Elliott) n. 6437 6437. ‘And on the crown of the head of the Nazirite among his brothers’ means with respect to the exteriors. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the crown of the head of the Nazirite’ as the exteriors, dealt with below; and from the representation of the sons of Israel, to whom Joseph’s ‘brothers’ refers here, as spiritual truths in the natural, dealt with in 5414, 5879, 5951. Which are also exterior ones when considered in relation to other truths. For the good that resides with the member of the spiritual Church is the good of truth, and this good is an interior one because it resides in the interior part of the natural. The reason why ‘the Nazirite’ means the exteriors is that Nazirites represented the Lord’s Divine Natural, which is the External Divine Human. That this is what Nazirites represented is clear from the fact that naziriteship is identified with the hair, and the holiness of that state lay in the hair. It did so for the sake of the representation already mentioned; for ‘the hair’ corresponds to and consequently means the natural, see 3301, 5247, 5569-5573. This is also evident from those who took the nazirite vow. They were forbidden to shave their hair during the time of the vow, Num. 6:5; but afterwards, when the period of their naziriteship had been completed, they had to shave their head at the door of the tent of meeting and cast their hair into the fire under the eucharistic sacrifice, Num. 6:13, 18. The same thing is further evident from Samson, who was a Nazirite. His strength lay in his hair, Judg. 13:3, 5; 16:1-end, see 330. This is why it says in Jeremiah,

Cut off the hair of your naziriteship and throw it away, and take up a lamentation on the hills. Jer. 7:29.

From all this it is clear that ‘the crown of the head of the Nazirite’ means the exteriors, for the crown of the Nazirite’s head is where his hair is. So much for the arcanum meant in the Word by ‘the Nazirites’.

AC (Elliott) n. 6438 6438. From these things foretold by Israel regarding Joseph it may again be seen that every detail contains an inner meaning and that without that meaning scarcely anything is intelligible. The person who fixes his attention solely on the literal meaning may think that these things which were stated regarding Joseph were going to happen to his descendants from Manasseh and Ephraim, because in verse 1 Israel says that he was going to tell them what would happen to them at the end of days. But in the historical accounts concerning those descendants in the Books of Moses, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, or Kings, one does not find anything of the sort happening to them. They were no more greatly blessed than any other tribe; rather, like all the others they were taken away into captivity and scattered among the nations. From all this it is evident that the real meaning is not what presents itself in the sense of the letter but something else contained in the internal sense. Furthermore without the internal sense one cannot begin to know what all the things said about Joseph imply, namely these:

The son of a fertile one is Joseph, of a fertile one beside a spring; daughters, each one of whom marches onto the wall.

They exasperate him and shoot at him and hate him, do the archers.

He will sit in the strength of his bow, and the arms of his hands will be made strong by the hands of the powerful Jacob; from there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel.

The blessings of his father will prevail over the blessings of his ancestors, even as far as the desire of the everlasting hills.

They will be on the head of Joseph and on the crown of the head of the Nazirite among his brothers.

Every single one of these statements is of such a nature that no one can ever know what it really means except from the internal sense.

AC (Elliott) n. 6439 6439. Verse 27 Benjamin is a wolf; he will seize in the morning, he will devour the spoil, and at evening he will divide the plunder. ‘Benjamin’ means the truth of good present in the spiritual Church, which is ‘Joseph’. ‘Is a wolf’ means an eagerness to rescue and deliver the good. ‘He will seize in the morning, he will devour the spoil’ means that the deliverance takes place when the Lord is present. ‘And at evening he will divide the plunder’ means their possession in the Lord’s kingdom, while they are still in obscurity.

AC (Elliott) n. 6440 6440. ‘Benjamin’ means the truth of good present in the spiritual Church, which is ‘Joseph’. This is clear from the representation of ‘Benjamin’ as the spiritual of the celestial, dealt with in 4592. Which – the spiritual of the celestial – is the truth of good. In this instance the truth of the good present in the spiritual Church, which is represented by ‘Joseph’ in this prophetic utterance made by Israel, is meant; for since ‘Joseph’ represents the spiritual Church, 6417, he also represents the good present in that Church (a Church is a Church by virtue of good). And the truth of that good is ‘Benjamin’.

AC (Elliott) n. 6441 6441. ‘Is a wolf’ means an eagerness to rescue and deliver the good. This is clear from the meaning of ‘a wolf’ as one who seizes and scatters; and since natural desires are meant in the Word by ‘beasts’, ‘a wolf’ means an eagerness to seize, as is also clear from places in the Word where ‘a wolf’ is mentioned, as in Matthew,

Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. Matt. 7:15.

In John,

The hireling who is not the shepherd, whose sheep are not his own, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf seizes them, and scatters them. John 10:12.

Similar references to the wolf occur in other places, such as Luke 10:3; Jer. 5:6; Ezek. 22:27; Zeph. 3:3. From all these places it is evident that ‘a wolf’ means those who seize, but here one who rescues from hell those who have been seized. How it is with the meaning of the wolf is much the same as it is with that of the lion, which is also a rapacious creature. The lion too is said to seize the prey, collect the spoil, and gather the plunder, as the wolf here is said to do; but in the good sense ‘lion’ means truth when empowered by good, see 6367. Something similar applies also to other ravenous creatures, such as leopards or eagles.

AC (Elliott) n. 6442 6442. ‘He will seize in the morning, he will devour the spoil’ means that the deliverance takes place when the Lord is present. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the morning’ in the highest sense as the Lord, dealt with in 2405, 2780 – therefore ‘he will seize in the morning’ means that the rescue and deliverance of the good takes place when the Lord is present; and from the meaning of ‘devouring the spoil’ as taking to Himself those He rescued and delivered. For the meaning of ‘devouring’ as taking and joining to oneself, see 3168, 3513 (end), 3596, 5643; and as for the meaning of ‘the spoil’ as those who have been rescued and delivered, this is self-evident. Because the Lord is spoken of in the Word as One who rescues and delivers the good, the expressions to seize, prey, spoil, and plunder are also used in reference to Him. This is clear from what was stated above in verse 9 about Judah, ‘A lion’s cub is Judah; from the plunder you have gone up, my son’, meaning that from the Lord through the celestial comes deliverance from hell, see 6368. It is also clear from other places in the Word, as in Isaiah,

Jehovah’s roaring is like that of a lion, He roars like young lions, and growls, and lays hold of the plunder so that no one rescues it. Isa. 5:29.

In the same prophet,

As a lion roars, and a young lion over his prey, so Jehovah Zebaoth will come down to fight on Mount Zion. Isa. 31:4.

In Jeremiah,

I will rescue you on that day, I will surely rescue you; but let your life* be as spoil to you, for the reason that you have put your trust in Me. Jer. 39:17, 18.

In Zephaniah,

Wait for Me, said Jehovah, until the day I rise up to the plunder. Zeph. 3:8.

In Isaiah,

I will divide for Him among many, so that He may divide the spoil with the strong. Isa. 53:12.

The whole chapter in which this verse appears refers to the Lord.

[2] The meaning of ‘devouring the prey (or spoil)’ as taking to oneself good things that have been seized by the evil is clear in Balaam’s prophetic utterance in Moses,

See, a people will rise up like an old lion, and like a young lion will lift itself up. He will not rest until he has devoured the prey. Num. 23:24.
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