AC GENESIS Chapter35

AC 4535. Preliminary to the foregoing chapters, from chapter 26, an explication has been given of what the Lord foretold about His advent, or the CONSUMMATION OF THE AGE; and it has been repeatedly shown that by His advent or the consummation of the age is signified the last time of the church, which is called in the Word the Last Judgment.  They who do not see beyond the literal sense must suppose that the Last Judgment is the destruction of the world, and this especially from the Revelation, where it is said:--

I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven (Rev. 21:1, 2).

And also from the prophecies of Isaiah, where are similar words:--

Behold I create new heavens and a new earth; therefore the former things shall not be remembered, nor come up upon the heart; but be ye glad and rejoice forever in that which I create, for behold I create Jerusalem an exultation, and her people a gladness (Isa. 65:17, 18; 66:22).

[2] They who do not see beyond the literal sense must infer that the universal heaven together with this earth will be annihilated, and that the dead will then for the first time rise again, and dwell in a new heaven and upon a new earth.  But that the Word is not to be so understood may be seen from many other passages where the heavens and the earth are mentioned. They who have any faith in an internal sense can plainly see that by “a new heaven and a new earth” is meant a new church, which shall succeed when the former church passes away (n. 1733, 1850, 3355); and that the “heaven” is its internal and the “earth” its external.

[3] This last time of a former church and first time of a new church are what is called the “consummation of the age” of which the Lord spoke in Matthew 24, and also are His advent, for the Lord then leaves the former church and comes to the new church.  That this is the “consummation of the age” may be seen also from other passages in the Word, as in Isaiah:--

In that day the remains shall return, the remains of Jacob, unto the mighty God; for although Thy people Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, remains of it shall return a consummation is determined, inundated is righteousness; for a consummation and a determination doth the Lord Jehovih Zebaoth make in the whole earth (Isa. 10:21-23).

In the same:--

Now be ye not scorners, lest your punishments be strengthened; for a consummation and a decision have I heard from- with the Lord Jehovih Zebaoth upon the whole earth (Isa.  28:22).

In Jeremiah:--

Thus said Jehovah, The whole earth shall be a waste, yet will I not make a consummation (Jer. 4:27).

In Zephaniah:--

I will bring men into distresses, and they shall go like the blind, because they have sinned against Jehovah; and their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung, for Jehovah shall make a consummation, yea, a speedy one, with all them that dwell in the land (Zephaniah 1:17, 18).

That the “consummation” here mentioned is the last time of the church, and that the “earth” is the church, is manifest from the particulars.

[4] That “earth” or “land” denotes the church, comes from the fact that the land of Canaan was the land where the church had been from the most ancient times, and where afterwards there was the representative of a church among the descendants of Jacob.  When this land is said to be “consummated,” it is not the nation in it that is meant, but it is the holy of worship that exists with the nation where the church is. For the Word is spiritual, and the land itself is not spiritual, nor the nation therein, but that which is of the church.  The land of Canaan was the land where the church had been from the most ancient times, (n. 567, 3686, 4447, 4454, 4516, 4517); and for this reason by “land” in the Word is signified the church, (n. 566, 662, 1066, 1067, 1262, 3355, 4447). From this it is manifest what is meant in Isaiah by “making a consummation in the whole land,” or “earth,” and in Zephaniah by the “speedy consummation of all that dwell in the land.” That the Jewish nation which dwelt in that land was not consummated, but the holy of worship with them, is well known.

[5] That this is the “consummation” appears still more plainly in Daniel:--

Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people, and upon thy city of holiness, to consummate the transgression, and to seal up sins, and to expiate iniquity, and to bring in the righteousness of an age, and to seal up vision and prophet, and to anoint the holy of holies; in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease; at last upon the bird of abominations shall be desolation; and even to the consummation and the determination shall it drop upon the devastation (Daniel 9:24, 27).

[6] From all this it may now be seen that by the “consummation of the age,” respecting which the disciples said to the Lord,

“What shall be the sign of Thy coming and of the consummation of the age?” (Matt. 24:3)

nothing else is signified than the last time of the church; and also by these words of the Lord, which are the last in the same evangelist:

“Jesus said to the disciples, Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you all the days even unto the consummation of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

It was said by the Lord that He would he with the disciples even to the consummation of the age, because by the Lord‘s twelve disciples the like is signified as by the twelve tribes of Israel, namely, all things of love and faith, consequently all things of the church (n. 3354, 3488, 3858); which is the same as is meant by the twelve tribes (n. 3858, 3926, 3939, 4060).  That it is the consummation of the church when there is no longer any charity and therefore no faith, has been repeatedly shown above.  That in this church which is called Christian scarcely anything of charity and its derivative faith survives, thus that the consummation of its age is now at hand, will of the Lord’s Divine mercy be shown in the following pages.

1. And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and abide there; and make there an altar unto God who appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from before Esau thy brother.

2. And Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the gods of the stranger which are in the midst of you, and purify yourselves, and change your garments:

3. And let us arise, and go up to Bethel, and I will make there an altar unto God who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I walked.

4. And they gave unto Jacob all the gods of the stranger which were in their hand, and the earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.

5. And they journeyed; and a terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.

6. And Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, this is Bethel, he and all the people that were with him.

7. And he built there an altar, and called the place El-Bethel; because there the gods were revealed unto him when he fled from before his brother.

8. And Deborah Rebekah‘s nurse died, and she was buried from under Bethel under the oak; and he called the name of it Allon-bacuth.

9. And God was seen by Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him.

10. And God said to him, Thy name is Jacob; thy name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name; and He called his name Israel.

11. And God said to him, I am God Shaddai; be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be from thee, and kings shall go forth from thy loins.

12. And the land which I gave to Abraham and to Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land.

13. And God went up from upon him in the place in which He spake with him.

14. And Jacob set up a pillar in the place in which He spake with him, a pillar of stone; and he poured out a drink-offering thereon, and poured oil thereon.

15. And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Bethel.

16. And they journeyed from Bethel; and there was still a tract of land to come to Ephrath; and Rachel brought forth, and suffered hard things in her bringing forth.

17. And it came to pass in her suffering hard things in her bringing forth that the midwife said unto her, Fear not, for this also is to thee a son.

18. And it came to pass as her soul was going forth that she was about to die; and she called his name Benoni; and his father called him Benjamin.

19. And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, this is Bethlehem.

20. And Jacob set up a pillar upon her grave; this is the pillar of Rachel’s grave even to this day.

21. And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Eder.

22. And it came to pass, while Israel abode in this land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father‘s concubine, and Israel heard. And the sons of Jacob were twelve.

23. The sons of Leah, Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, and Simeon and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun.

24. The sons of Rachel, Joseph and Benjamin.

25. And the sons of Bilhah Rachel‘s handmaid, Dan an Naphtali.

26. And the sons of Zilpah Leah’s handmaid, Gad and Asher.  These are the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan-aram.

27. And Jacob came unto Isaac his father to Mamre Kiriath-arba, this is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned.

28. And the days of Isaac were a hundred years and eighty years.

29. And Isaac expired and died, and was gathered unto his people, old and sated of days; and Esau and Jacob his sons buried him.

AC 4536. The subject treated of in the internal sense of this chapter is the residue in the Lord‘s natural, that it was made Divine. The interior things of the natural that were made Divine are here “Israel.” The progress toward things still more interior, where is the rational, is described by the birth of Benjamin, and afterwards by the coming of the sons of Jacob to Isaac.

AC 4537. Verses 1-4. And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and abide there; and make there an altar unto God who appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from before Esau thy brother. And Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the gods of the stranger which are in the midst of you, and purify yourselves, and change your garments; and let us arise, and go up to Bethel, and I will make there an altar unto God who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I walked. And they gave unto Jacob all the gods of the stranger which were in their hand, and the earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem. “And God said unto Jacob,” signifies the perception of natural good, such as Jacob now was, from the Divine; “arise, go up to Bethel,” signifies concerning the Divine natural; “and abide there,” signifies life; “and make there an altar unto God who appeared unto thee,” signifies what is holy there; “when thou fleddest from before Esau thy brother,” signifies when truth was set before good; “and Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him,” signifies disposition in natural good, such as there was then; “put away the gods of the stranger which are in the midst of you,” signifies that falsities should be rejected; “and purify yourselves and change your garments,” signifies holiness to be put on; “and let us arise and go up to Bethel,” signifies the Divine natural; “and I will make there an altar to God,” signifies the holy in which interior things are terminated; “who answered me in the day of my distress,” signifies in the state of the setting of truth before good; “and was with me in the way which I walked,” signifies His Divine providence; “and they gave unto Jacob all the gods of the stranger which were in their hand,” signifies that it rejected all falsities as much as possible; “and the earrings which were in their ears,” signifies things actual; “and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem,” signifies eternal rejection; “the oak by Shechem” denotes the fallacious natural.

AC 4538. And God said unto Jacob. That this signifies the perception of natural good, such as Jacob now represents, from the Divine, is evident from the signification in the historicals of the Word of “to say,” as being to perceive (n. 1602, 1791, 1815, 1822, 1898, 1919, 2061, 2080, 2238, 2260, 2619, 2862, 3395, 3509), wherefore that “God said” denotes perception from the Divine; and from the representation of Jacob, who here in the supreme sense is the Lord as to natural good. In the preceding pages it has been shown what Jacob represents in the Word; and as he represents various things, the subject shall be briefly explained.

[2] In the supreme sense Jacob represents in general the Lord’s Divine natural. But as the Lord glorified His natural, it was different in the beginning from what it was in the progression, and at the end.  Therefore Jacob represented various things, namely, in the beginning the Lord‘s natural as to truth, in the progression the Lord’s natural as to the good of truth, and at the end the Lord‘s natural as to good. For the Lord’s glorification proceeded from truth to the good of truth, and usually to good, as has already been frequently shown. Now as this is the end, Jacob represents the Lord as to natural good. See what has already been shown on these points, namely, that in the supreme sense Jacob represents the Lord‘s Divine natural, in the beginning as to truth, (n. 3305, 3509, 3525, 3546, 3576, 3599); and in the progression, the Lord’s Divine natural as to the good of truth, (n. 3659, 3669, 3677, 4234, 4273, 4337). The reason why Jacob now represents the Lord‘s Divine natural as to good, is that this is the end, as before said.

[3] This was the process when the Lord made His natural Divine, and the process is similar also when the Lord regenerates man; for it pleased the Lord to make His Human Divine in the same order as that in which He makes man new. It is for this reason that it has been repeatedly stated that man’s regeneration is an image of the Lord‘s glorification (n. 3138, 3212, 3296, 3490, 4402). When the Lord makes man new He first instructs him in the truths of faith, for without the truths of faith man does not know what the Lord is, what heaven is, and what hell is, nor even that they exist; and still less does he know the in numerable things relating to the Lord, to His kingdom in heaven, and to His kingdom on earth, that is, to the church; neither does he know what and of what nature are the things opposite to these, which relate to hell.

[4] Before he has learned these things, he cannot know what good is, by which is not meant civil good and moral good, for these are learned in the world by means of laws and statutes, and by reflections upon the morals of men, and therefore the nations outside the church also know such things; but by good is meant spiritual good, which good is called in the Word charity; and this good is in general to will and do good to others for no selfish reason, but from the delight of the affection. This good is spiritual good, and to it no man can attain except by means of the truths of faith, which are taught by the Lord by means of the Word and teachings of the Word.

[5] After a man has been instructed in the truths of faith, he is gradually led by the Lord to will the truth, and also from willing to do it.  This truth is called the good of truth, for the good of truth is truth in will and act; and it is called the good of truth because the truth which has been of doctrine then becomes of the life. At last, when the man perceives delight in willing good and in doing it from will, it is no longer called the good of truth, but good; for he is then regenerate, and no more wills and does good from truth, but truth from good; and the truth which he then does is also as it were good, for it derives its essence from its origin, which is good. From all this it is evident why and whence it is that Jacob in the supreme sense represents the Lord’s natural as to good. The reason why Jacob here represents this good, is that in the internal sense further progress is now treated of, namely, toward the interior things of the natural, which are “Israel” (n. 4636). No one who is being regenerated by the Lord can be led to these interior things until the truth with him has become good.

AC 4539. Arise, go up to Bethel. That this signifies that the perception is concerning the Divine natural, is evident from the signification of “arising,” as being elevation (n. 2401, 2785, 2912, 2927, 3171, 4103), here the elevation of the natural to the Divine; from the signification of “to go up,” as being more toward the interiors; and from the signification of “Bethel,” as being the Divine in the natural, or in the ultimate of order (n. 4089). For in the original language “Bethel” means the “house of God,” and as the house of God is where the knowledges of good and truth are, by “Bethel” in the proximate sense are signified these knowledges (n. 1453). But as the interiors are terminated and closed in the ultimates of order, and are together there, and as it were dwell together in one house; and as the natural in man is the ultimate with him in which his interiors are terminated, therefore by “Bethel” or the “house of God” is properly signified the natural (n. 3729, 4089), and indeed the good there in, for in the internal sense a “house” is good (n. 2233, 2234, 3720, 3729); moreover knowledges are in the natural, or in the ultimate of order.

[2] That “to go up” denotes toward the interiors is because interior things are what are called higher things (n. 2148), and therefore when progress toward interior things is treated of in the internal sense, the expression “to go up” is employed, as “to go up” from Egypt to the land of Canaan, and in the land of Canaan itself “to go up” to the interior parts, and from all parts of it to Jerusalem, and in Jerusalem itself to the house of God there. For example “to go up” from Egypt to the land of Canaan, in Moses:

Pharaoh said to Joseph, Go up and bury thy father; and Joseph went up, and all the servants of Pharaoh went up with him; and there went up with him both chariots and horsemen (Gen. 50:6, 7, 9).

And in the book of Judges:

And the angel of Jehovah went up from Gilgal to Bochim, and he said, I made you Do up out of Egypt (Judges 2:1);

for by “Egypt” in the internal sense is signified that memory-knowledge which is to serve for apprehending the things of the Lord‘s kingdom; and by the “land of Canaan” is signified the Lord’s kingdom. And as memory-knowledges are lower, or what is the same, are exterior, and the things of the Lord‘s kingdom are higher, or what is the same, interior, therefore one is said “to go up from Egypt to the land of Canaan,” and on the other hand “to go down from the land of Canaan to Egypt” (Gen. 42:2, 3; 43:4, 5, 15).

[3] In the land of Canaan itself “to go up” to its interior parts, in Joshua:

Joshua said, Go up and spy out the land; and the men went up and spied out Ai; and they returned unto Joshua and said unto him, Let not all the people go up let about two thousand men or about three thousand men go up; so there went up thither of the people about three thousand men (Joshua 7:2-4);

as the “land of Canaan” signifies the Lord’s kingdom, the parts which were more remote from its ultimate boundaries signified things interior, and therefore the expression “to go up” is here used. In like manner from all the surrounding parts to Jerusalem; and in Jerusalem to the house of God

 (1 Kings 12:27, 28; 2 Kings 20:5, 8; Matt. 20:18; Mark 10:33; Luke 18:31).

For Jerusalem was the inmost of the land, because by it was signified the Lord‘s spiritual kingdom; and the house of God was the inmost of Jerusalem, because by it was signified the Lord’s celestial kingdom, and in the supreme sense the Lord Himself. Hence men spoke of “going up” to them. From all this it is evident what is signified by “arise, go up to Bethel,” namely, progress toward the interiors, which is the subject treated of in this chapter (n. 4536).

AC 4540. And abide there. That this signifies life, is evident from the signification of “to abide,” or “dwell,” as being life (n. 1293, 3384, 3613, 4451).

AC 4541. And make there an altar unto God who appeared unto thee. That this signifies what is holy there, is evident from the signification of an “altar,” as being the principal representative of the Lord (n. 921, 2777, 2811, 4489); and therefore “to make an altar to God” signifies what is holy of worship.

AC 4542. When thou fleddest from before Esau thy brother. That this signifies when truth was set before good, is evident from the representation of Esau, as being the Divine good of the Lord‘s Divine natural (n. 3322, 3494, 3504, 3576, 3599). That the signification is when truth was set before good, may be seen from the explications given about Jacob in Genesis 27, when he fled before Esau, for the cause of his flight was that Jacob had taken away the birthright from Esau, by which is signified that truth had set itself before good; for Jacob there represents the truth of the Lord’s natural, and Esau its good. The reason why truth had set itself before good was that when anyone is being regenerated, truth is apparently in the first place; but after he has been regenerated, good is in the first place and truth is in a secondary place (n. 3324, 3539, 3548, 3556, 3563, 3570, 3576, 3603, 3610, 3701, 4243, 4244, 4247, 4337). Hence it is, that “when thou fleddest from before Esau thy brother” signifies when truth was set before good.

AC 4543. And Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him. That this signifies disposition by natural good, such as there was then, is evident from the signification of “saying to his household and to all that were with him,” as being disposition; and from the representation of Jacob, as here being natural good (n. 4538). The reason why “saying to his household and to all that were with him” denotes disposition, is that in what now follows the subject treated of in the internal sense is the disposition of truths by good. For when spiritual good (n. 4538) begins to act the first part in the natural mind, it then disposes into order the truths which are there.

AC 4544. Put away the gods of the stranger which are in the midst of you.  That this signifies that falsities should be rejected, is evident from the signification of “to put away,” as being to reject; and from the signification of the “gods of the stranger,” as being falsities. For by “gods” in the Word are signified truths, and in the opposite sense falsities (n. 4402); and those were called “strangers” who were outside of the church, consequently those who were in falsities and evils (n. 2049, 2115). Therefore the “gods of the stranger” denote falsities.

AC 4545. And purify yourselves, and change your garments. That this signifies that holiness was to be put on, is evident from the signification of “to be purified” or “cleansed,” as being to be sanctified; and from the signification of “changing the garments,” as being to put on, here to put on holy truths; for in the internal sense of the Word by “garments” are signified truths. It is very evident that to change the garments was a representative received in the church, but what it represented no one can know unless he knows what garments signify in the internal sense (n. 2576). As the subject here treated of is the rejection of falsities and the disposition of truths by good in the natural, mention is made of the fact that they were commanded by Jacob to change their garments.

[2] That to change the garments was a representative that holy truths were to be put on, may be seen also from other passages in the Word, as in Isaiah

Awake, awake, O Jerusalem, put on thy strength, O Zion, put on the garments of thy adornment, O Jerusalem, the holy city for there shall not continue to come into thee any more the uncircumcised and the unclean (Isa. 52:1)

as “Zion” is the celestial church, and “Jerusalem” the spiritual church, and as the celestial church is that which is in good from love to the Lord, and the spiritual church is that which is in truth from faith and charity, therefore “strength” is predicated of Zion, and “garments” of Jerusalem; and it is signified that thereby they were clean.

[3] In Zechariah:

Joshua was clothed with defiled garments, and stood thus before the angel; and [the angel] answered and said unto those that stood before him, saying, Remove the defiled garments from upon him; and unto him he said, See, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from upon thee by putting on thee change of garments (Zechariah 3:3, 4);

from this passage also it is evident that to remove the garments and to put on a change of garments, represented purification from falsities, for it is said, “I have made thine iniquity to pass from upon thee.” It was also for this reason that men had changes of garments, and they were so called (whereof occasional mention is made in the Word) because representations were thereby exhibited.

[4] As such things were represented by changes of garments, therefore where the new temple is treated of in Ezekiel, by which in the internal sense is signified a new church, it is said:

When the priests enter in, they shall not go out of the holy place to the outer court, but there they shall lay aside their garments wherein they ministered, for they are holiness, and shall put on other garments, and shall approach to those things which pertain to the people (Ezek. 42:14).

And again:

When they go forth into the outer court to the people, they shall put off their garments wherein they minister, and shall lay them aside in the chambers of holiness, and they shall put on other garments, and shall sanctify the people with other garments (Ezek. 44:19).

[5] Everyone can see that by the new temple and by the holy city and land, here described by the prophet and in the chapters which precede and follow, is not meant any new temple, nor a new city and a new land, for mention is made of sacrifices and rituals as to be instituted anew which nevertheless were to be abrogated; and mention is also made by name of the tribes of Israel dividing the land into inheritances among themselves, which nevertheless have been dispersed and have never returned.  Hence it is evident that by the rituals there mentioned are signified spiritual and celestial things of the church, similar to what are signified by the changes of garments when Aaron ministered, in uses:

When he maketh a burnt-offering he shall put on his clothing, and his linen breeches, the ashes he shall put beside the altar.  Afterward he shall put off his garments, and shall put on other garments, and shall bring forth the ashes into a clean place outside the camp, and thus shall he make the burnt-offering (Lev. 6:9-11).

[6] That to be cleansed denotes to be sanctified, may be seen from the cleansings which were commanded, as that they should wash their flesh and their garments, and that they should be sprinkled with the waters of separation.  That no one is sanctified by such things, everyone may know who has any knowledge about the spiritual man; for what has iniquity and sin in common with the garments with which a man is clothed?  And yet it is sometimes said that after they had cleansed themselves, they should be holy.  From this it is also manifest that the rituals enjoined upon the Israelites were holy simply because they represented holy things; consequently that those who were representative did not thereby become holy as to their persons; but that the holiness abstractedly represented by them affected the spirits who were with them, and thereby the angels in heaven (n. 4307).

[7] For of necessity there must be communication of heaven with man, in order that the human race may subsist, and this by means of the church, for otherwise they would become like beasts, devoid of internal and external bonds; and thus each would rush without restraint to accomplish the destruction of others, and they would annihilate each other. And as at that time this communication was not possible by means of any church, it was therefore provided by the Lord that it should be miraculously effected by means of representatives. That sanctification was represented by the ritual of washing and cleansing, is manifest from many passages in the Word, as when Jehovah came down upon Mount Sinai, He said to Moses:

Sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments, and be ready against the third day (Exod. 19:10-11).

In Ezekiel:

I will sprinkle upon you clean waters, and ye shall be cleansed from all your uncleannesses, and I will cleanse you from all your idols, and I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in the midst of you (Ezek. 36:25, 26);

where it is manifest that “sprinkling clean waters” represented the purification of the heart; thus that “to be cleansed” is to be sanctified.

AC 4546. And let us arise, and go up to Bethel.  That this signifies the Divine natural, is evident from what was said above (n. 4539), where the same words occur.

AC 4547. And I will make there an altar to God. That this signifies the holy in which interior things are terminated, is evident from the signification of “making an altar to God,” as being the holy of worship (n. 4541). It is said that interior things are terminated therein, because he was to make the altar in Bethel, which is here meant by “there,” and because by “Bethel” is signified the natural, in which interior things are terminated (n. 4539).

AC 4548. Who answered me in the day of my distress.  That this signifies in the state of the setting of truth before good, is evident from the signification of “day,” as being state (n. 23, 487, 488, 493, 893, 2788, 3462, 3785). That by the “day of my distress” is signified the state of the setting of truth before good, may be seen from what was said above (n. 4542); for the “day of distress” here involves the same as the words there “when thou fleddest from before Esau thy brother.”

AC 4549. And was with me in the way which I walked. That this signifies His Divine providence, is evident from the signification of “to be with anyone in the way which he walks,” when predicated of the Divine or of the Lord, as being His Divine providence; for to provide is properly to be present with anyone, and to protect him from evils.

AC 4550. And they gave unto Jacob all the gods of the stranger which were in their hand. That this signifies that it rejected ad falsities as much as possible, is evident from the signification of the “gods of the stranger,” as being falsities (n. 4544); and from the signification of “which were in their hand,” as being as much as possible, for the “hand” signifies power (n. 878, 3387). Hence, “being in the hand” denotes being in their power, or as much as possible. Their “giving them to Jacob” denotes that good rejected them, for by Jacob in this chapter is represented the good of the natural (n. 4538).

AC 4551. And the earrings which were in their ears. That this signifies things actual, is evident from the signification of “earrings,” as being badges representative of obedience, for the reason that the “ears” signify obedience (n. 2542, 3869); and the things of obedience are things actual, for to obey involves doing in act. Things actual are here predicated of the falsities that were to be rejected. A few words shall be said regarding the rejection of falsities, even those which are actual, which is here treated of in the internal sense. Before a man by regeneration from the Lord comes to good, and does truth from good, he has very many falsities mixed with truths; for he is introduced by means of truths of faith respecting which in his first age he had no other ideas than those of infancy and childhood; which ideas, as they arise from the external things of the world and the sensuous things of the body, cannot but be classed among fallacies, and consequently among falsities. These also become actual, for what a man believes, he does. It is these falsities which are here meant. They remain with a man until he is regenerate, that is, until he acts from good, and then the good that is, the Lord through the good reduces into order the truths so far learned, and when this is done, falsities are separated from the truths and are removed.

[2] Of all this the man is quite ignorant, and yet there is such a removal and rejection of falsities from his earliest childhood even to his last age, and this with every man, but especially with him who is being regenerated. The like takes place even with a man who is not being regenerated, for when he becomes an adult, and his judgment has attained its maturity, he then regards the judgments of his childhood as vain and absurd, and thus as removed far away from him. But the difference between the regenerate man and the unregenerate is that the regenerate regards those things as removed from him which do not agree with the good of faith and charity, but the unregenerate those which do not agree with the delight of the love in which he is. The latter therefore for the most part regards truths as falsities and falsities as truths. As regards earrings, they were of two kinds, those which were fastened above the nose to the forehead, and those which were fastened to the ears. Those which were fastened above the nose to the forehead were badges representative of good, and are called “nose jewels” (n. 3103); while those which were fastened to the ears were badges representative of obedience, and are “earrings.” But in the original language both are expressed by the same word.

AC 4552. And Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.  That this signifies eternal rejection, is evident from the signification of “hiding,” as being to reject and bury as dead; and from the signification of “under the oak,” as being to eternity; for as the oak is a very long-lived tree, when anything was hidden under it, it signified what is perpetual; and it also signified what is entangled, and moreover what is fallacious and false, because the lowest of the natural is relatively entangled and fallacious in so far as it derives its knowledge and its pleasure from the sensuous things of the body, and thus from fallacies. For by the “oak” is specifically signified the lowest of the natural, consequently in a good sense the truths and goods which are therein, and in the opposite sense the evils and falsities which are therein.

[2] Moreover when falsities are removed in a regenerate man, they are rejected to the lowest of the natural; and therefore when a man becomes mature in judgment and clearsighted, and especially when he becomes intelligent and wise, they appear still further removed from his interior sight. For with the regenerate man truths are in the inmost of his natural near good, which is like a little sun there; and the truths which depend on these are distant therefrom according to the degrees of so to speak their consanguinity and affinity with good. Fallacious truths are in the more outward circumferences, and falsities are rejected to the outermost ones. The latter remain with man forever, but are in this order when the man suffers himself to be led by the Lord, for this order is heavenly order, inasmuch as heaven itself is in such an order. But when a man does not suffer himself to be led by the Lord, but by evil, these things are then in the opposite order, evil with falsities then being in the middle, truths being rejected to the circumferences, and the veriest Divine truths to the outermost circumferences, which order is infernal, for in such an order is hell, the outermost circumferences being the lowest things of the natural.

[3] That “oaks” denote the falsities which are the lowest things of the natural, is because in the Ancient Church, when there was external worship representative of the Lord‘s kingdom, all trees of whatever kind signified something spiritual or celestial; for instance the olive and the oil from it signified the things which are of celestial love; the vine and the wine from it, the things which are of charity and its derivative faith; and so with the other trees, as the cedar, the fig, the poplar, the beech, and the oak, the signification of which has been occasionally shown in the explications. It is for this reason that they are so often mentioned in the Word, and also in general gardens, groves, and forests, and that men had their worship in these under certain trees. But as this worship became idolatrous, and the posterity of Jacob, with whom the representative of a church was instituted, was prone to idolatry, and consequently set up so many idols therein, they were forbidden to hold worship in gardens and groves, and under the trees therein; nevertheless the trees retained their signification, and therefore not only the more noble, as the olive, the vine, and the cedar, but also the poplar, the beech, and the oak, where mentioned in the Word, are each significative as in the Ancient Church.

[4] That “oaks” in a good sense signify the truths and goods which are lowest of the natural, and in the opposite sense falsities and evils, is evident from the passages in the Word where they are mentioned, when understood in the internal sense, as in Isaiah:

They who forsake Jehovah shall be consumed, for they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired; and ye shall be as an oak that casteth its leaves, and as a garden that hath no water (Isa. 1:28-30).

In the same:

The day of Jehovah Zebaoth shall be upon everyone lifted up and low, and upon all the cedars of Lebanon, and upon all the oaks of Bashan (Isa. 2:12, 13);

that the day of Jehovah will not be upon the cedars and the oaks, everyone may know, but upon those who are signified by them. Again:--

He who formeth a god heweth him down cedars, and taketh the beech and the oak, and strengtheneth for himself in the trees of the forest (Isa. 44:14).

[5] In Ezekiel:

Ye shall acknowledge that I am Jehovah when their pierced ones shall be in the midst of the idols round about their altars, upon every high hill, in all the heads of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every tangled oak, the place where they have given an odor of rest to all their idols (Ezek. 6:13).

Moreover the ancients had worship upon hills and mountains because hills and mountains signified celestial love; but when the worship was performed by idolaters, as here, they signify the love of self and of the world (n. 795, 796, 1430, 2722, 4210); and they held it under trees, because as before said these were significative according to their species. “Under the tangled oak” here denotes that the worship was from falsities, which are the lowest things of the natural, for these are in an entangled state (n. 2831). In Hosea:

They sacrifice upon the heads of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under the oak, the poplar, and the hard oak, because the shade thereof is good; therefore your daughters commit whoredom, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery (Hosea 4:13).

“To commit whoredom” is to falsify truths, and “to commit adultery” is to pervert goods, (n. 2466, 2729, 3399). In Zechariah:

Open thy doors, O Lebanon, and let the fire devour the cedars, because the magnificent ones are laid waste; howl, ye oaks of Bashan, for the forest of Bazar is come down (Zech. 11:1, 2).

AC 4553. Verses 5-7. And they journeyed; and a terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.  And Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, this is Bethel, he and all the people that were with him. And he built there an altar, and called the place El-Bethel; because there the gods were revealed unto him when he fled from before his brother. “And they journeyed,” signifies what is continuous; “and a terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob,” signifies that falsities and evils could not come near; “and Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan,” signifies the natural in its former state; “this is Bethel,” signifies the Divine natural; “he and all the people that were with him,” signifies with all that was therein; “and he built there an altar,” signifies by sanctification; “and he called the place El-Bethel,” signifies a holy natural; “because there the gods were revealed unto him,” signifies holy truths; “when he fled from before his brother,” signifies after truths were set before good.

AC 4554. And they journeyed.  That this signifies what is continuous, is evident from the signification of “journeying,” as being what is successive (n. 4375), thus what is continuous, namely, of progression toward interior things.

AC 4555. And a terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob. That this signifies that falsities and evils could not come near, is evident from the signification of a “terror of God,” as being protection; from the signification of the “cities that were round about them,” as being falsities and evils, “cities” in the genuine sense being truths of doctrine, and in the opposite sense, falsities of doctrine (n. 402, 2449, 2943, 3216, 4478, 4492, 4493); the reason why “cities” here signify evils also, is that the inhabitants likewise are meant, who in the genuine sense are goods, thus in the opposite sense evils (n. 2268, 2451, 2712); and from the signification of “not pursuing after them,” as being not to be able to come near.

[2] That a “terror of God” is protection, may be illustrated by what takes place in the other life; for there the hells cannot possibly come near heaven, nor evil spirits any society of heaven, because they are in terror of God.  For when evil spirits approach any heavenly society, they suddenly fall into anxieties and torments; and they who have fallen into these a few times dare not approach. Their not daring is what is meant in the internal sense by a “terror of God.” Not that God or the Lord terrifies them, but because they are in falsities and evils, and thus in the opposite to goods and truths; and that the falsities and evils themselves cause them to fall into anguish and torment when they approach goods and truths.

AC 4556. And Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, signifies the natural in its former state, and this is Bethel, signifies the Divine natural, as is evident from the signification of “Luz” as being the natural in its former state, or that very natural which was human. That this was made Divine is signified by, “this is Bethel.” “Bethel” is the Divine natural, (n. 4089, 4539). So also in other places in the Word where “Bethel” is named it is likewise said, “Luz, this is Bethel,” and “Bethel, beforetime Luz,” as in Joshua: “The boundary of the lot of the sons of Benjamin between the sons of Judah and the sons of Joseph went forth to Luz, to the side of Luz southward, this is Bethel” (Joshua 18:11, 13). And in the book of Judges:

“The house of Joseph went up to Bethel, and spied out Bethel; and the name of the city beforetime was Luz” (Judges 1:22, 23).

AC 4557. He and all the people that were with him. That this signifies with all that was therein, namely, that was in the natural, is evident from the representation of Jacob, who here is “he,” as being the good therein (n. 4538); and from the signification of “people,” as being truths (n. 1259, 1260, 2928, 3295, 3581); thus the “people that were with him” denotes the truths of that good. And as all things in the natural bear relation to goods and truths, by these words is here signified with all that was therein.

AC 4558. And he built there an altar. That this signifies by sanctification, is evident from the signification of an “altar,” as being the principal representative of the Lord, and thence the holy of worship (n. 4541), and when predicated of the Lord, His Divine Human, and the Holy which proceeds therefrom (n. 2811). For that which in the church is the principal representative of the Lord, is also in the supreme sense the Lord Himself as to His Divine Human; for that which represents it is, in this sense, the Human Itself. That the natural was sanctified, is signified by his “building there” (that is, in Bethel) an “altar;” for by “Bethel” is signified the Divine natural (n. 4556).

AC 4559. And called the place El-Bethel. That this signifies a holy natural, is evident from the signification of “Bethel,” as being the Divine natural (n. 4089, 4539, 4556); but when it is called “El-Bethel,” it is not the Divine, but a holy, natural; for when the Lord made His Human Divine, He first made it holy. Between making it Divine and making it holy there is this difference that what is Divine is Jehovah Himself, but what is holy is from Jehovah. The former is the Divine being, but the latter is what comes forth therefrom. When the Lord glorified Himself, He made his Human also the Divine being, or Jehovah (n. 2156, 2329, 2921, 3023, 3035); but before He did this, He made His Human holy.  Such was the process of the glorification of the Lord’s Human.  Hence also Bethel is now called “El-Bethel,” applying what is signified by the “El” which is added, namely, “because there the gods were revealed to him.” For “El” in the original language means “God;” but here “gods” in the plural, because in the internal sense “gods” denote holy truths (n. 4402). But in what follows it is called “Bethel,” for it is said, “Jacob called the name of the place Bethel” (verse 15); and it is added, “where God spake with him,” where it is in the singular. For “Bethel” in the original language is the “house of God;” but “El-Bethel” is “God the house of God.” Hence it is that “El-Bethel” denotes the holy natural, and “Bethel” the Divine natural.

AC 4560. Because there the gods were revealed unto him.  That this signifies holy truths, is evident from the signification of “gods,” as being holy truths (n. 4402). That these were adjoined to the good represented by Jacob, is signified by the “gods there revealed to him.” That the place was called “El-Bethel,” and yet previously (Gen. 28:19), and again later (verse 15), “Bethel,” and likewise that here when it is called “El-Bethel” it is said, “because there the gods were revealed unto him,” in the plural, and afterwards (verse 15) “where God spake with him,” in the singular, is a mystery, and it is evident that this mystery can be known only from the internal sense. Moreover many other mysteries are hidden herein, but these cannot be disclosed.

AC 4561. When he fled from before his brother. That this signifies after truths were set before good, is evident from the explication given above (n. 4542), where the same words occur.

AC 4562. Verse 8. And Deborah Rebekah‘s nurse died, and she was buried from under Bethel under the oak; and he called the name of it Allon-bacuth. “And Deborah Rebekah’s nurse died,” signifies that hereditary evil was expelled; “and she was buried from under Bethel under the oak,” signifies rejected forever; “and he called the name of it Allon-bacuth,” signifies the quality of the natural in that it was expelled.

AC 4563. And Deborah Rebekah‘s nurse died. That this signifies that hereditary evil was expelled, is evident from the signification of “dying,” as being the end, or that a thing ceases to be such (n. 494, 3253, 3259, 3276), here therefore expelled, because the subject treated of is hereditary evil; and from the representation of Deborah Rebekah’s nurse, as being hereditary evil. In nourishing and suckling an infant a nurse properly signifies the insinuation of innocence by means of what is celestial spiritual, for milk denotes the celestial spiritual (n. 2184), and the infant she suckles denotes innocence (n. 430, 1616, 2126, 2305, 2306) But here by “Deborah Rebekah‘s nurse” is signified that which was received from the mother and nourished from infancy.  That this was the hereditary evil from the mother against which the Lord fought, may be seen from what has been shown regarding this hereditary (n. 1414, 1444, 1573), and from His expelling it, so that at last He was not the son of Mary (n. 2159, 2574, 2649, 3036).

[2] It is known that man derives evil from both his parents, and that this evil is called hereditary evil. He is therefore born into it, but still it does not manifest itself until the man becomes an adult and acts from his understanding and the derivative will, and meanwhile it lies hidden, especially during infancy. And as of the Lord’s mercy no one is blamed for what is hereditary, but for what is actual (n. 966, 2308), and what is hereditary cannot become actual until the man acts from his own understanding and his own will, therefore infants are led by the Lord by means of infants and angels from Him, and hence they appear in a state of innocence while hereditary evil still lurks in everything they do (n. 2300, 2307, 2308). This hereditary evil yields them nourishment, or is as a nurse, until the time when they judge for themselves (n. 4063); and then if they are being regenerated they are brought by the Lord into a state of new infancy, and at last into heavenly wisdom; thus into genuine infancy, that is, into innocence; for genuine infancy or innocence dwells in wisdom (n. 2305, 3183). The difference is, that the innocence of infancy is without, and hereditary evil within; whereas the innocence of wisdom is within, and evil both actual and hereditary is without. From these and other things that have been already stated, it is evident that hereditary evil acts as a nurse from the earliest infancy to the age of new infancy; and hence it is that by a “nurse” is signified hereditary evil, and also that by a “nurse” is signified the insinuation of innocence by means of the celestial spiritual.

[3] As in the internal sense of this chapter the disposition and arrangement of truths by good in the Lord‘s natural is treated of (n. 4536), and the consequent progression to interior things, therefore hereditary evil is also treated of, in that it was expelled. This is the reason why mention is made in this verse of Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, that she died and was buried under an oak, which is not a thing of sufficient moment to interrupt the series unless it involved such things.

[4] The very mystery that is specifically signified by “Rebekah‘s nurse” cannot as yet be disclosed, for before this is done it is necessary to know the nature of the influx of the rational into the natural, namely, that it is from the good of the rational immediately into the good of the natural, and from the good of the rational mediately, through the truth there into the good of natural truth. “Rebekah”is the truth of the rational (n. 3012, 3013, 3077); and “Isaac” is the good of the rational (n. 3012, 3194, 3210); “Esau” is the good of the natural by immediate influx from the good of the rational, or “Isaac;” and “Jacob” is the good or good of truth of the natural by mediate influx through the truth of the rational, or “Rebekah.” In regard to this influx, mediate and immediate, (n. 3314, 3573). This must be known before it is possible to have any specific knowledge of the mystery why by “Rebekah’s nurse” is here signified and described hereditary evil; for it is from this that the nature of this evil can be seen.

AC 4564. And she was buried from under Bethel under the oak. That this signifies that it was rejected forever, is evident from the signification of “being buried,” as being to be rejected, for what is buried is rejected; and from the signification of “under the oak,” as being forever (n. 4552). “From under Bethel” signifies outside of the natural, for what is said to be underneath, or below, in the internal sense is without (n. 2148). “Bethel” is the Divine natural (n. 4089, 4539).

[2] The case herein is this. Evil both hereditary and actual in a man who is being regenerated is not exterminated so as to vanish or become null and void, but is only separated, and by the Lord‘s disposal is rejected to the circumferences (n. 4551, 4552); and it remains so with the man even to eternity; but he is withheld by the Lord from the evil and is kept in good. When this takes place it appears as if evils were cast away and the man purified from them, or as is said, “justified.” All the angels of heaven confess that with them, in so far as it is of themselves, there is nothing but evil and its derivative falsity; but in so far as it is from the Lord, there is good and the derivative truth.

[3] They who have conceived any other opinion on this subject, and have while living in the world confirmed themselves from their doctrine in the idea that they had been justified and were then without sins, thus that they are holy, are remitted into the state of their evils, both from what is actual and from what is hereditary, and are kept in this state until they know by living experience that of themselves they are nothing but evil, and that the good in which they had seemed to themselves to be, was from the Lord, consequently is not theirs, but the Lord’s. Such is the case with the angels, and such also is it with the regenerate among men.

[4] But with the Lord it was otherwise. All the hereditary evil from the mother He altogether removed from Himself, expelled, and cast out. For He had no evil by inheritance from His Father, because He was conceived of Jehovah, but only from the mother. This is the difference; and this is what is meant by the Lord‘s being made righteousness, the Holy itself, and the Divine.

AC 4565. And he called the name of it Allon-bacuth. That this signifies the quality of the natural in that it was expelled, is evident from the signification of “calling a name,” as being the quality (n. 144, 145, 1754, 1896, 2009, 2724, 3006, 3421). “Allon-bacuth” in the original language means “the oak of weeping,” and the place was so called because the “oak” denotes the lowest of the natural, into which, and at last out of which, hereditary evil was cast. The “oak” denotes the lowest of the natural, and also what is perpetual, (n. 4552). But “weeping” signifies the last farewell, and therefore it was customary to weep for the dead when they were buried, although it was known that only the dead body was rejected by burial, and that they who had been therein were alive in respect to their interiors.  Hence it is evident what is the quality of that which is signified by “Allon-bacuth,” or the “oak of weeping.”

AC 4566. Verses 9-13. And God was seen by Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. And God said to him, Thy name is Jacob; thy name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name; and He called his name Israel. And God said to him, I am God Shaddai; be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be from thee, and kings shall go forth from thy loins; and the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land. And God went up from upon him, in the place in which God spake with him. “And God was seen by Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him,” signifies interior natural perception; “and God said to him, Thy name is Jacob,” signifies the quality of the Lord’s external Divine natural; “thy name shall no more be called Jacob,” signifies that it should no longer be external only; “but Israel shall be thy name,” signifies the quality of the internal natural, or the quality of its spiritual, which is “Israel;” “and He called his name Israel,” signifies the internal natural, or the celestial spiritual of the natural; “and God said to him,” signifies perception from the Divine; “I am God Shaddai,” signifies the state of temptation past, and now Divine consolation; “be fruitful and multiply,” signifies good and thence truth, Divine; “a nation and a company of nations shall be from thee,” signifies good and the Divine forms of good; “and kings shall go forth from thy loins,” signifies truths from the Divine marriage; “and the land which I gave to Abraham and to Isaac, to thee I will give it,” signifies Divine good natural appropriated; “and to thy seed after thee will I give the land,” signifies Divine truth natural appropriated; “and God went up from upon him, in the place in which He spake with him,” signifies the Divine in this state.

AC 4567. And God was seen by Jacob again when he came from Paddanaram, and blessed him.  That this signifies interior natural perception, is evident from the signification of “God was seen,” as being interior perception. “To see” denotes to understand and perceive, (n. 2150, 2807, 3764, 3863, 4403-4421). Hence “God was seen,” when predicated of the Lord, denotes perception from the Divine, which is the same as interior perception. That the natural had this perception, is signified by God‘s being seen by Jacob, for Jacob represents the Lord’s natural, as has been frequently shown. “Again when he came from Paddan-aram” signifies after he had acquired the knowledges of good and truth which are signified by “Paddan-aram” (n. 3664, 3680, 4112). “And blessed him,” signifies progression to the more interior things of the natural, and the conjunction of good and truth there; for “to bless” is predicated of all the good with which anyone is gifted by the Lord (n. 1420, 1422, 2846, 3017, 3406), especially of the conjunction of good and truth (n. 3504, 3514, 3530, 3565, 3584).

AC 4568. And God said to him, Thy name is Jacob. That this signifies the quality of the Lord‘s external Divine natural, is evident from the signification of “name,” as being quality (n. 144, 145, 1754, 1896, 2009, 2724, 3006, 3421); and from the representation of Jacob, as being the Lord’s Divine natural, of which often above. It is called external, because “Israel” is the Lord‘s internal Divine natural, of which in what now follows.

AC 4569. Thy name shall no more be called Jacob. That this signifies that it should no longer be external only, is evident from what has just been said, and from what now follows concerning Israel.

AC 4570. But Israel shall be thy name. That this signifies the quality of His internal natural, or the quality of the spiritual of this natural, which is “Israel,” and that and He called his name Israel signifies His internal natural, or the celestial spiritual of the natural, is evident from the signification of “name,” as being quality (n. 4568); and from the signification of “Israel,” as being the internal of the Lord’s natural. No one can know why Jacob was called Israel unless he knows what the internal natural is, and what the external natural, and further, what is the celestial spiritual of the natural. These things have indeed been explained above, when Jacob was called Israel by the angel; but as they are of such a nature that very little if anything is known about them, it is necessary to explain again what they are.

[2] There are two things in man that are most distinct from each other, namely, the rational and the natural. The rational constitutes the internal man, and the natural the external; but the natural, like the rational, has also its own external and internal. The external of the natural is from the senses of the body, and from what flows in from the world immediately through these senses. By these man has communication with worldly and bodily things. They who are exclusively in this natural are called sensuous men, for in thought they scarcely go beyond this. But the internal of the natural is constituted of the conclusions drawn analytically and analogically from these things in the external, and yet it draws and deduces its conclusions from the senses. Thus the natural has communication through the senses with worldly and bodily things, and through things analogical and analytical with the rational, and thus with the things of the spiritual world. Such is the natural. There also exists an intermediate which communicates with both the external and the internal, thus by the external with what is in the natural world, and by the internal with what is in the spiritual world. This natural is what Jacob specifically represents, and the internal natural is what Israel represents. The case is the same with the rational, namely, that it is external and internal, and also intermediate; but of the Lord‘s Divine providence this subject shall be spoken of in connection with Joseph, for Joseph represents the external of the rational.

[3] But what the celestial spiritual is has already been stated, namely, that the celestial is that which is of good, and the spiritual that which is of truth; thus the celestial spiritual is that which is of good from truth. Now as the Lord’s church is external and internal, and as by the descendants of Jacob must be represented the internals of the church by means of externals, Jacob could therefore no longer be named Jacob, but Israel (n. 4286, 4292). Be it known moreover that both the rational and the natural are called celestial and spiritual, celestial when they receive good from the Lord, and spiritual when they receive truth from Him; for the good that inflows from the Lord into heaven is called celestial, and the truth is called spiritual. Jacob‘s being called “Israel” signifies in the supreme sense that the Lord, advancing to interior things, made the natural in Himself Divine, both as to its external and as to its internal; for in the supreme sense what is represented has reference to Him.

AC 4571. And God said to him. That this signifies perception from the Divine, is evident from the signification in the historicals of the Word of “to say” as being to perceive (n. 1791, 1815, 1819, 1822, 1898, 1919, 2080, 2619, 2862, 3395, 3509). That it was from the Divine is signified by “God said;” for the Divine was in the Lord from conception. This was His being, for He was conceived from Jehovah, and therefore His perception was from the Divine, but it was according to the state of the reception by His Human, because He made the Human in Himself Divine by successive steps. Hence it is evident that as the Divine or God was in Him, by the words “God said to him” is signified perception from the Divine.

AC 4572. I am God Shaddai. That this signifies the state of temptation past, and now Divine consolation, is evident from the signification of “God Shaddai,” as being temptation and afterwards consolation. For Jehovah or the Lord was called by the ancients “God Shaddai” with reference to temptations and consolation after them (n. 1992, 3667); consequently “God Shaddai” signifies a state of temptation that is past, and now Divine consolation. The reason why it is “past,” is that temptations were previously represented by Jacob, especially when he wrestled with the angel (Gen. 32:25-32), and when he met Esau (Gen. 33:1); and the reason why there is now consolation, is that by these temptations there was effected the conjunction of good and truth in the natural. This conjunction itself causes consolation, because conjunction is the end of temptations; for when he arrives at the end, everyone has consolation according to the hard things he suffered in the means.

[2] Be it known in general that all the conjunction of good with truth is effected by means of temptations, the reason of which is that evils and falsities offer resistance and as it were rebel, and strive in every possible way to prevent the conjunction of good with truth and of truth with good. This combat takes place between the spirits who are with the man, namely, between the spirits who are in evils and falsities, and those who are in goods and truths, and is perceived by the man as a temptation within himself. When therefore the spirits who are in evils and falsities are conquered by the spirits who are in goods and truths, and are compelled to depart, the latter have joy through heaven from the Lord, and this joy is perceived by the man as consolation, and as in himself. But the joy and consolation are not on account of victory, but on account of the conjunction of good and truth; for all conjunction of good and truth has joy within itself, because this conjunction is the heavenly marriage within which is the Divine.

AC 4573. Be fruitful and multiply. That this signifies good and thence truth, Divine, is evident from the fact that “fructifying” is predicated of good, and “multiplying” of truth (n. 43, 55, 913, 983, 2846, 2847).

AC 4574. A nation and a company of nations shall be from thee.  That this signifies good and the Divine forms of good, is evident from the signification of a “nation,” as being the good of the church (n. 1259, 1260, 1362, 1416, 1849); and from the signification of a “company of nations,” as being the truths which are from good, or what is the same, the forms of good; and in the supreme sense, in which the Lord is treated of, the Divine truths which are from Divine good, or the Divine forms of good.

[2] I will first state what the forms of good are, and then show that a “company of nations” signifies them. The truths that are from good are said to be the forms of good because they are nothing else than goods formed. He who conceives of truths in any other way, and especially he who separates them from good, does not know what truths are. Truths do indeed appear as if separate from good, thus as a form by themselves, but only to those who are not in good, or to those who think and speak otherwise than as they will and thence act. For man is so created that his understanding and will may constitute one mind, and they do constitute one mind when the understanding acts as one with the will, that is, when the man thinks and speaks as he wills and thence acts, for in this case the things of his understanding are forms of his will.  The things of the understanding are what are called truths, for truths are properly of the understanding; whereas the things of the will are what are called goods, for goods are properly of the will.  From this it follows that regarded in itself the understanding is nothing but the will formed.

[3] But as the term “form” savors of human philosophy, the matter shall be illustrated by an example, from which will be seen that truths are the forms of good.  In civil and moral life there exist what is honorable (honestum) and what is becoming (decorum). V“hat is honorable is to will well to others from the heart in the affairs of civil life, and what is becoming is to testify this in speech and gesture. Thus regarded in itself what is becoming is nothing but the form of what is honorable, for this Is its origin, and therefore when what is honorable shows itself by what is becoming (that is, in a becoming manner by speech and gesture), that which is honorable appears in every detail of that which is becoming, insomuch that whatever is uttered in the speech or shown in the gesture appears honorable, and is the form or image through which that which is honorable shines forth.  In this way the two things make a one, like an essence and its form, or like what is essential and what is formal. But if anyone separates what is honorable from what is becoming, that is, if anyone wills evil to a companion, and yet speaks well and behaves himself well toward him, there is then no longer anything of what is honorable in the speech and gestures, however much he may study to make a show of the form of what is honorable by what is becoming; for it is really dishonorable, and every discerning person so calls it, because it is either feigned, or fraudulent, or deceitful.

[4] From all this we can see how the case is with truths and goods; for truths in spiritual life are circumstanced as is what is becoming in civil life; and hence it is evident what is the quality of truths when they are the forms of good, and what when separated from good; for when they are not from good they are from some evil, and are its forms, however much they may counterfeit the forms of good.  That a ”company of nations“ denotes the forms of good, may be seen from the signification of ”nations,“ as being goods, of which just above.  Hence a ”company“ or congregation of them denotes a collection of them, which is nothing else than a form; and that this is truth’ has been shown. And as truths are what are signified, and by a ”nation“ is signified good, it is therefore said not only that a ”nation“ shall be from him, but also a ”company of nations;“ otherwise one expression would have sufficed. Moreover in the Word a ”company,“ a ” congregation,“ and a ”multitude,“ are said of truths. What ”multitude“ is, and ”being multiplied, (n. 43, 55, 913, 983, 2846, 2847).

AC 4575. And kings shall go forth from thy loins. That this signifies truths from the Divine marriage, is evident from the signification of “kings,” as being truths (n. 1672, 1728, 2015, 2069, 3009, 3670); and from the signification of “loins,” as being the things of conjugial love (n. 3021, 4277, 4280), consequently those of the heavenly marriage, and in the supreme sense of the Divine marriage.  Truths from the Divine marriage are those which proceed from the Lord‘s Divine Human, and are called holy, for the Lord’s Divine Human is the Divine marriage itself, and the things which proceed from it are holy, and are called celestial and spiritual, and effect the heavenly marriage, which is truth conjoined with good, and good conjoined with truth.  This marriage exists in heaven, and in everyone who is in heaven, and also in everyone who is in the church, provided he is in good and at the same time in truth

AC 4576. And the land which I gave unto Abraham and to Isaac, to thee I will give it.  That this signifies the Divine good appropriated, is evident from the signification of “land,” as being good. For the land of Canaan which is here meant by “the land,” denotes in the internal sense the Lord‘s kingdom, and hence the church, which is the Lord’s kingdom on earth (n. 1607, 3481, 3705, 4447, 4517), and as it denotes these, it denotes good, for this is the very essential thing of the Lord‘s kingdom and church.  But in the supreme sense the “land of Canaan” denotes the Lord’s Divine good, for the good which is in the Lord‘s kingdom in the heavens and on earth is from the Lord.  The above is evident also from the representation of Abraham and Isaac, as being the Lord’s Divine--Abraham the Divine Itself, and Isaac the Divine Human, specifically the Lord‘s Divine rational.  Concerning Abraham (n. 1989, 2011, 3245, 3251, 3439, 3703, 4206, 4207); and Isaac, (n. 1893, 2066, 2072, 2083, 2630, 2774, 3012, 3194, 3210, 4180); and from the signification of “giving the land to thee,” as being to appropriated it to the natural; for by Jacob, who here is “thee” is represented the Lord’s Divine natural, as has been frequently shown. From all this it is evident that by “the land which I gave to Abraham and to Isaac, to thee will I give it” is signified the Divine good appropriated.

AC 4577. And to thy seed after thee will I give the land. That this signifies Divine truth appropriated, is evident from the signification of “seed,” as being the truth of faith (n. 1025, 1447, 1610, 1940), and in the supreme sense the Divine truth (n. 3038); and from the signification of “giving the land,” as being to appropriate good (n. 4576); thus by “giving the land to thy seed,” is signified in the supreme sense to appropriate Divine good to Divine truth. But that it is the Divine truth which is appropriated, is because before the Lord was glorified He was in respect to his Human the Divine truth, and hence the Lord says of Himself that He is “the Truth” (John 14:6), and hence also He is called the “seed of the woman” (Gen. 3:15).  But after the Lord had been glorified in respect to His Human, He became the Divine good; and then from Him as the Divine good proceeded and proceeds the Divine truth, which is the “Spirit of truth” that the Lord was to send, as said in (John 14:16, 17; 15:26, 27; 16:13-15): see (n. 3704). From all this it is evident that by the words “to thy seed after thee” is signified in the supreme sense the Divine truth appropriated to Him; and also that the Divine truth proceeds from the Divine good which is Himself, and is appropriated to those who are in good and thence in truth

AC 4578. And God went up from upon him, in the place in which He spake with him. That this signifies the Divine in this state, is evident from the signification of “God went up from upon him,” as being the Divine; for “to go up” involves elevation to interior things, and when predicated of the Lord, who here is “God,” it denotes elevation to the Divine (n. 4539); and from the signification of the “place in which He spake with him,” as being this state. “Place” denotes state, (n. 2625, 2837, 3356, 3387, 4321). Hence the “place in which He spake with him” denotes the state in which He was.

AC 4579. Verses 14, 15. And Jacob set up a pillar in the place in which He spake with him, a pillar of stone; and he poured out a drinking thereon, and poured oil thereon. And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Bethel. “And Jacob set up a pillar in the place in which He spake with him, a pillar of stone,” signifies the holy of truth in that Divine state; “and he poured out a drink-offering thereon,” signifies the Divine good of truth; “and poured oil thereon,” signifies the Divine good of love; “and Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Bethel,” signifies the Divine natural and its state.

AC 4580. And Jacob set up a pillar in the place in which He spake with him, a pillar of stone. That this signifies the holy of truth in that Divine state, is evident from the signification of a “pillar,” as being the holy of truth; and from the signification of “in the place in which He spake with him,” as being in that state (n. 4578). Something shall first be said with regard to the origin of the setting up of pillars, and of the pouring a drink-offering upon them, and of pouring oil upon them.

[2] The pillars set up in ancient times were either for a sign, or for a witness, or for worship. Those for worship were anointed, and were then holy, and worship was also held there, thus in temples, in groves, in forests under the trees, and in other places.  This ritual  derived its representation from the fact that in the most ancient times stones were set up on the boundaries between families of nations, lest they should pass over the boundaries to do one another evil, as for instance in the case of Laban and Jacob, (Gen. 31:52). That they should not pass the boundaries to do evil was to them a law of nations.  And as the stones were on the boundaries, when the most ancient people (who in everything on the earth saw a corresponding celestial and spiritual thing) saw these stones as boundaries, they thought about the truths which are the ultimates of order. But their descendants, who beheld in objects less of what is spiritual and celestial, and more of what is worldly, began to think of them with sanctity merely from the veneration derived from old time. And at last the descendants of the most ancient people who lived immediately before the flood, and who no longer saw anything spiritual and celestial in earthly and worldly things regarded as objects, began to regard these stones as holy, pouring drink-offerings upon them, and anointing them with oil; and they were then called “pillars,” and were used for worship.

[3] This remained after the flood in the Ancient Church, which was representative, but with the difference that the pillars served these people as a means for attaining to internal worship; for the infants and children were instructed by their parents in regard to what they represented, and were thus brought to know holy things, and to be affected with the things which the pillars represented. It is for this reason that the ancients had pillars for worship in their temples, groves, and forests, and upon hills and mountains. But when the internal of worship altogether perished with the Ancient Church, and they began to hold the externals as holy and Divine, and thus to worship them idolatrously, they then erected pillars for their several gods. And as the posterity of Jacob were most prone to idolatrous things, they were forbidden to erect pillars, and also to have groves, and even to hold any worship upon mountains and hills; but they were to be gathered together to one place, where the ark was, and afterwards where the temple was, thus to Jerusalem; otherwise each family would have had its own externals and idols that they would have worshiped, and consequently a representative of a church could not have been instituted with that nation. Concerning pillars, (n. 3727). All this shows what was the origin of the pillars, and what they signified, and that when they were employed in worship they represented holy truth, and therefore it is here said “a pillar of stone,” for a “stone” signifies truth in the ultimate of order (n. 1298, 3720, 3769, 3771, 3773, 3789, 3798). Be it known moreover that what is holy is especially predicated of Divine truth; for the Divine is in the Lord, and Divine truth proceeds from Him (n. 3704, 4577), and is called the Holy.

AC 4581. And he poured out a drink-offering thereon. That this signifies the Divine good of truth, is evident from the signification of a “drink-offering,” as being the Divine good of truth, of which below; but first I will state what the good of truth is. The good of truth is that which has elsewhere been called the good of faith, and is love toward the neighbor, or charity.  There are two universal kinds of good, one of which is called the good of faith, and the other the good of love. The good of faith is what is signified by a “drink-offering,” and the good of love by “oil.” They who are brought by the Lord to good by an internal way are in the good of love, but they who are brought by an external way are in the good of faith. The men of the celestial church, and likewise the angels of the inmost or third heaven, are in the good of love; but the men of the spiritual church, and likewise the angels of the middle or second heaven, are in the good of faith. For this reason the former good is called celestial good, but the latter spiritual good. The difference is the same as that between willing well from good will, and willing well from good understanding.  The latter therefore, namely, spiritual good, or the good of faith, or the good of truth, is what is signified by a “drink-offering;” but the former, namely, celestial good, or the good of love, is what is understood in the internal sense by “oil.”

[2] That such things were signified by the “oil” and the “drink-offering” cannot indeed be seen except from the internal sense, and yet it must be apparent to everyone that holy things were represented, for otherwise what else would be the pouring out of a drink-offering and of oil upon a pillar of stone than a ridiculous and idolatrous performance? And so in the making of a king, unless holy things were signified and involved in the putting of a crown on his head, anointing him with oil from a horn upon his forehead and upon his wrists, putting a scepter into his hand besides a sword and keys, investing him with a crimson robe and than seating him upon a throne of silver; and afterwards in his riding on a horse in royal trappings and being served at table by those of highest rank, not to mention other formalities, unless all these ceremonies represented holy things, and were venerable through their correspondence with the things of heaven and thence of the church, they would be like babies‘ plays on a larger scale, or like plays on the stage.

[3] Nevertheless all these rituals derived their origin from the most ancient times, when rituals were holy from their representing holy things, and from correspondence with the holy things in heaven and thence in the church. Moreover at the present day they are regarded as venerable, not because it is known what they represent, or to what they correspond, but by an interpretation as of emblems that are in use. But if it were known what each of these things represents, and to what holy thing it corresponds the crown, the oil, the horn, the scepter, the sword, the keys, riding upon a white horse, and eating while nobles are serving men would think of them with much more reverence. But this they do not know, and wonderful to say, do not desire to know, to such a degree have the representatives and significatives which are in such things and everywhere in the Word been at the present day destroyed in the minds of men.

[4] That a “drink-offering” signifies the good of truth, or spiritual good, may be seen from the sacrifices in which it was employed. Sacrifices were made from the herd or from the flock, and were representative of the internal worship of the Lord (n. 922, 923, 1823, 2180, 2805, 2807, 2830, 3519). To these were added the meat-offering and the drink-offering. The meat-offering, which consisted of fine flour mingled with oil, signified celestial good, or what is the same, the good of love, “oil” signifying love to the Lord, and “fine flour” charity toward the neighbor. But the drink-offering, which consisted of wine, signified spiritual good, or what is the same, the good of faith.  Both together therefore (namely, the meat-offering and the drink-offering) signified the same things as the bread and wine in the Holy Supper.

[5] That these were added to the burnt-offerings and sacrifices, is evident in Moses:--

Thou shalt offer two lambs of the first year day by day continually; the one lamb thou shalt offer in the morning, and the other lamb shalt thou offer between the evenings; and a tenth of fine flour mingled with beaten oil, a fourth of a hin, and drink-offering of the fourth of a hin of wine for the first lamb and so also for the second lamb (Exod. 29:38-41).

In the same:

In the day when ye wave the sheaf of the firstfruits of the harvest, ye shall offer a lamb without blemish of the first year, for a burnt-offering unto Jehovah, the meat-offering whereof shall be two tenths of fine flour mingled with oil, and the drink-offering whereof shall be of wine, the fourth of a hin (Lev.  23:12, 13, 18).

Again:

On the day when the days of his Naziriteship are fulfilled, he shall offer his gift unto Jehovah (sacrifices), and a basket of unleavened things of fine flour, cakes mingled with oil, with unleavened wafers anointed with oil, with their meat-offering and their drink-offerings (Num. 6:13-15, 17).

Again:--

Upon the burnt-offering they shall offer a meat-offering of a tenth of fine flour mingled with the fourth of a hin of oil; and wine for the drink-offering, the fourth of a hin, in one manner for the burnt-offering of a ram, and in another manner for that of an ox (Num. 15:3-5, 11).

Again:

With the burnt-offering of the daily sacrifice thou shalt offer a drink-offering, the fourth of a hin for a lamb in the holy place shalt thou pour out a drink-offering of wine unto Jehovah (Num. 28:6, 7).

Moreover concerning the meat-offerings and drink-offerings in the sacrifices of various kinds, see (Num. 28:7-31 29:1-40).

[6] That the meat-offering and the drink-offering had this signification, may be seen from the fact that love and faith effect everything of worship; and it may be seen above that the bread (which here is of fine flour mingled with oil) and the wine in the Holy Supper signify love and faith, thus everything of worship (n. 1798, 2165, 2177, 2187, 2343, 2359, 3464, 3735, 3813, 4211, 4217).

[7] But when the people fell away from the genuine representative of the worship of the Lord, and turned away to other gods and poured out drink-offerings to them, then by the drink-offerings were signified things which are opposite to charity and faith, namely, the evils and falsities of the love of the world, as in Isaiah:

Ye did become heated with gods under every green tree, thou hast also poured out to them a drink-offering, thou hast offered a meat-offering (Isa. 57:5, 6);

“to become heated with gods” denotes the concupiscences of falsity. “Gods” denote falsities, (n. 4402, 4544); “under every green tree” denotes from the belief of all falsities (n. 2722, 4552); “to pour out to them a drink-offering and offer a meat-offering” denotes the worship of them. Again:

Ye that forsake Jehovah, that forget the mountain of My holiness, that prepare a table for Gad, and fill a drink-offering to Meni (Isa. 65:11).

In Jeremiah:

The sons gather wood, and the fathers kindle a fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes to the queen of the heavens, and to pour out a drink-offering to other gods (Jer. 7:18).

[8] Again:

Doing we will do every word that is gone forth out of our mouth, to burn incense to the queen of the heavens, and to pour out drink-offerings to her as we and our fathers have done, and our princes in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem (Jer. 44:17-19);

“the queen of the heavens” denotes all falsities, for in the genuine sense the “armies of the heavens” are truths, but in the opposite sense falsities, and in like manner the “king and queen;” thus the “queen” denotes all of them, and “to pour drink-offerings to her” is to worship.

[9] Again:

The Chaldeans shall burn the city, and the houses upon whose roofs they have offered incense to Baal, and have poured out drink-offerings to other gods (Jer. 32:29);

“the Chaldeans” denote those who are in worship in which there is falsity; “to burn the city” denotes to destroy and vastate those who are in doctrinal things of what is false; “to offer incense to Baal upon the roofs of the houses” denotes the worship of what is evil; “to pour out drink-offerings to other gods” denotes the worship of what is false.

[10] In Hosea:

They shall not dwell in Jehovah’s land, and Ephraim shall return into Egypt, and they shall eat what is unclean in Assyria they shall not pour out wine to Jehovah (Hosea 9:3, 4);

“not to dwell in Jehovah‘s land” denotes not to be in the good of love; “Ephraim shall return into Eat” denotes that the intellectual of the church will become mere knowledge and sensuous; “they shall eat what is unclean in Assyria” denotes impure and profane things from reasoning; “they shall not pour out wine to Jehovah” denotes no worship from truth.

[11] In Moses:--

It shall be said, Where are their gods, the rock in which they trusted, that did eat the fat of the sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink-offering? let them arise and help them (Deut. 32:37, 38);

“gods,” as above, denote falsities; “that did eat the fat of the sacrifices” denotes that they destroyed the good of worship; “that drank the wine of their drink-offering” denotes that they destroyed the truth of worship. Drink-offerings are also predicated of blood, in David:

They shall multiply their griefs, they have hastened to another, lest I pour out their drink-offerings of blood, and lest I take up their names upon my lips (Ps. 16:4);

and by these words are signified the profanations of truth; for in this sense “blood” denotes violence offered to charity (n. 374, 1005), and profanation (n. 1003).

AC 4582. And poured oil thereon. That this signifies the Divine good of love, is evident from the signification of “oil,” as being the Divine good of love (n. 886, 3728). By “setting up a pillar of stone and pouring out a drink-offering and oil upon it,” is described in the internal sense the process of advance from truth which is in the ultimate, to interior truth and good, and at last to the good of love. For the “pillar of stone” is truth in the ultimate of order (n. 4580), the “drink-offering” is interior truth and good (n. 4581), and the “oil” is the good of love. Such was the Lord’s process of advancement in making His Human Divine, and such also is that undergone by man when by regeneration the Lord makes him celestial.

AC 4583. And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Bethel. That this signifies the Divine natural and its state, is evident from the signification of “calling a name,” as being quality (n. 144, 145, 1754, 2009, 2724, 3006, 3421); and from the signification of “Bethel,” as being the Divine natural (n. 4559, 4560). That it is the state of this that is referred to, is signified by “the place where God spake with him” (n. 4578).

AC 4584. Verses 16-20. And they journeyed from Bethel; and there was still a tract of land to come to Ephrath; and Rachel brought forth, and suffered hard things in her bringing forth. And it came to pass in her suffering hard things in her bringing forth that the midwife said unto her, Fear not, for this also is to thee a son.  And it came to pass as her soul was going forth, that she was about to die; and she called his name Benoni; and his father called him Benjamin. And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, this is Bethlehem. And Jacob set up a pillar upon her grave; this is the pillar of Rachel‘s grave even to this day. “And they journeyed from Bethel, and there was still a tract of land to come to Ephrath,” signifies that now was the spiritual of the celestial.  “Joseph” is the celestial of the spiritual; “and Rachel brought forth, and suffered hard things in her bringing forth,” signifies the temptations of interior truth; “and it came to pass in her suffering hard things in her bringing forth,” signifies after temptations; “that the midwife said unto her, Fear not,” signifies perception from the natural; “for this also is to thee a son,” signifies spiritual truth; “and it came to pass as her soul was in departing that she was about to die,” signifies a state of temptations; “and she called his name Benoni,” signifies the quality of this state; “and his father called him Benjamin,” signifies the quality of the spiritual of the celestial; “and Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath,” signifies the end of the former affection of interior truth; “this is Bethlehem,” signifies in place thereof the resurrection of a new spiritual of the celestial; “and Jacob set up a pillar upon her grave,” signifies the holy of the spiritual truth that would rise again there; “this is the pillar of Rachel’s grave even to this day,” signifies the state of the holy forever.

AC 4585. And they journeyed from Bethel, and there was still a tract of land to come to Ephrath. That this signifies that now was the spiritual of the celestial, is evident from the signification of “journeying from Bethel” as being what is continuous of the advancement of the Divine from the Divine natural. “Journeying” denotes what is continuous, (n. 4554), here in the supreme sense what is continuous of the advancement of the Divine, and “Bethel” is the Divine natural, (n. 4559, 4560); from the signification of a “tract of land in coming,” as being what is intermediate; and from the signification of “Ephrath,” as being the spiritual of the celestial in a former state (of which below where Bethlehem is treated of, which is the spiritual of the celestial in a new state), hence it is said, “Ephrath, this is Bethlehem” (verse 19).

[2] In these verses the subject treated of is the advancement of the Lord‘s Divine toward interior things, for when the Lord made His Human Divine He advanced in a like order to that in which He makes man new by regeneration, namely, from what is external to interior things, thus from the truth which is in the ultimate of order to a good which is interior, and is called spiritual good, and from this to celestial good. But these things cannot fall into the understanding of anyone unless it is known what the external man and the internal man are, and that the former is distinct from the latter, although while man is living in the body they appear as one; also unless it is known that the natural constitutes the external man, and the rational the internal; and further, unless it is known what the spiritual is and what the celestial.

[3] These things have indeed already been occasionally unfolded, nevertheless they who have previously had no idea about them in consequence of having no desire to know the things of eternal life, find it impossible to have any such idea. Such people say, “What is the internal man? Is it possible that it can be distinct from the external? What is the natural, and the rational? Are they not one?  Moreover, What is the spiritual, and the celestial? Is not this a new distinction? We have heard of the spiritual, but that the celestial is something else we have not heard.” The case however is thus: They who have not previously acquired any idea on these subjects, for the reason that the cares of the world and of the body have possession of’ all their thought and take away all desire of knowing anything else; or because they deem it sufficient to know their doctrinal tenets as they are commonly known, and that it is of no consequence to have any further thought about the matter, saying, “We see the world, but the other life we do not see, perhaps it exists and perhaps not” much persons put away all these subjects, for even at the first look they at heart reject them.

[4] Nevertheless as they are such things as are contained in the internal sense of the Word, and these cannot be explained without adequate terms, and we have no terms more adequate for expressing exterior things than the term natural, for interior things than the term rational, for those things which are of truth the term spiritual, and those which are of good the term celestial, it is absolutely necessary to make use of these terms, for without terms adapted to the subject nothing can be described. In order therefore that those who desire to know may receive some idea of what the spiritual of the celestial is which Benjamin represents and which “Bethlehem” signifies, I will briefly explain it. In the supreme sense the subject that has been treated of is the glorification of the Lord‘s natural, and in the relative sense the regeneration of man as to his natural. That Jacob represented the man of the church as to his external, and Israel as to his internal, thus Jacob as to his exterior natural, and Israel as to his interior natural, has been shown above (n. 4286); for the spiritual man is from the natural, and the celestial man is from the rational. It has also been shown that the Lord’s glorification advanced from external things to more interior things, in like manner as the regeneration of man advances, and that for the sake of this representation Jacob was called “Israel.”

[5] But a further advance toward more interior things is now treated of, namely, toward the rational, for as just said, the rational constitutes the internal man.  The intermediate between the internal of the natural and the external of the rational is what is meant by the spiritual of the celestial, which is signified by “Ephrath” and “Bethlehem,” and is represented by Benjamin. This intermediate derives somewhat from the internal of the natural which is “Israel,” and from the external of the rational which is “Joseph;” for that which is intermediate derives something from each extreme, otherwise it could not serve as an intermediate. In order that anyone from being spiritual may become celestial, he must needs advance through this intermediate, for to climb up to higher things without an intermediate is not possible.

[6] And therefore the nature of the advance through this intermediate is here described by Jacob‘s coming to Ephrath, and by Rachel’s bringing forth Benjamin there. Hence it is evident that by their journeying from Bethel, and by there being yet a tract of land to come to Ephrath, is signified what is continuous of the advancement of the Lord‘s Divine from the Divine natural to the spiritual of the celestial which is signified by “Ephrath” and “Bethlehem,” and is represented by Benjamin. The spiritual of the celestial is the intermediate that is spoken of, being called “spiritual” from the spiritual man, which viewed in itself is the interior of the natural man, and “celestial” from the celestial man, which viewed in itself is the rational man. “Joseph” is the exterior rational man, and therefore the celestial of the spiritual from the rational is predicated of him.

AC 4586. And Rachel brought forth, and suffered hard things in her bringing forth. That this signifies the temptations of interior truth, is evident from the signification of “bringing forth,” as being the coming forth of the spiritual things which are of truth and of the celestial things which are of good, for in the internal sense “to bring forth” denotes the things of the spiritual birth (n. 1145, 1255, 2584, 3860, 3868, 3905, 3915, 3919, 4070); from the representation of Rachel, as being the affection of interior truth (n. 3758, 3782, 3793, 3819); and from the signification of “suffering hard things,” as being to undergo temptations, for when “to suffer hard things” is predicated of truths and goods, or of spiritual things and celestial things, it cannot mean anything else, because no one can attain to these except by means of temptations, for then interior goods and truths fight with the evils and falsities from what is hereditary and what is actual, the man being kept by the Lord from within in goods and truths, and being assaulted by the evils and falsities which burst forth from what is hereditary, and which are present from what is actual, that is, by the spirits and genii who are in these evils and falsities and are with the man. Hence come temptations, whereby not only are evils and falsities, when overcome, cast out and removed, but also goods and truths are confirmed. These are the things which are signified by Rachel’s bringing forth, and by her suffering hard things in her bringing forth.

AC 4587. And it came to pass in her suffering hard things in her bringing forth. That this signifies after temptations, is evident from what was said just above (n. 4586), and thus without further explication.

AC 4588. That the midwife said unto her, Fear not. That this signifies perception from the natural, is evident from the signification of “saying” in the historicals of the Word as being perception (n. 1791, 1815, 1819, 1822, 1898, 1919, 2080, 2619, 2862, 3395, 3509); and from the signification of a “midwife,” as being the natural. The reason why “midwife” here denotes the natural is that when interior temptations are being undergone, that is, when the interior man is undergoing temptations, the natural is then like a midwife; for unless the natural affords aid, it is impossible for any birth of interior truth to take place; for when interior truths are born, it is the natural which receives them into its bosom, because it affords the opportunity for them to work their way out. It is always the case with the things of spiritual birth, that their reception must be wholly in the natural; and this is the reason why when a man is being regenerated, the natural is first prepared to receive; and in so far as this is made receptive, so far interior truths and goods can be brought forth and multiplied. This is also the reason why if during the bodily life the natural man has not been prepared to receive the truths and goods of faith, he cannot receive them in the other life, consequently cannot be saved. This is what is meant by the common saying that as the tree falls, so it lies; or as man dies, such he will be. For man has with him in the other life all his natural memory, or that of his external man, although not there permitted to use it, (n. 2469-2494), so that it is there as a foundation plane, into which interior truths and goods fall; and if this plane is not receptacle of the goods and truths which flow in from within, these interior goods and truths are either extinguished, or perverted, or rejected. From all this it is evident that the natural is like a midwife.

[2] That in so far as the natural is a recipient when the interior man brings forth, it is like a midwife, may be seen also from the internal sense of the things related of the mid-wives who contrary to the command of Pharaoh saved alive the sons of the Hebrew women, of which we read in Moses:

The king of Egypt said to the midwives of the Hebrew women, and he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools, if it be a son, then ye shall kill him, but if it be a daughter, then she shall live. But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt spake to them, but saved the male children alive. And the king of Egypt called the midwives, and said unto them, Why have ye done this word, and have saved the male children alive? And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women, for they are lively, and have brought forth ere the midwife come unto them. And God did well to the midwives, and the people were multiplied, and became very numerous. And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that He made them houses (Exod. 1:15-21);

by the daughters and sons the Hebrew women brought forth, are represented the goods and truths of a new church; by the midwives, the natural in so far as it is a recipient of goods and truths; by the king of Egypt, memory-knowledge in general (n. 1164, 1165, 1186), which extinguishes truths when it enters into the things of faith by an inverted way, believing nothing except what the senses and memory-knowledge dictate. That the “midwives” here are receptions of truth in the natural, will of the Lord‘s Divine mercy be confirmed when the contents of that chapter come to be unfolded.

AC 4589. For this also is to thee a son.  That this signifies spiritual truth, may be seen from the signification of a “son,” as being truth (n. 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, 3373); here spiritual truth, because the “son” here is Benjamin, by whom is represented the spiritual of the celestial.

AC 4590. And it came to pass as her soul was in departing that she was about to die.  That this signifies a state of temptations, is evident from the signification of the “soul going forth and dying,” as being the utmost of temptation, which exists when the old man is dying and the new man is receiving life.  That this is the signification is manifest from what precedes, in that her “suffering hard things in bringing forth” denotes the temptation of interior truth (n. 4586, 4587); and from what follows at (verse 19), that “Rachel died.”

AC 4591. And she called his name Benoni.  That this signifies the quality of this state, is evident from the signification of “calling a name,” as being quality, as often shown above.  The state here described in the internal sense is a state of temptations, the quality of which is what is signified by “Benoni,” for in the original language “Benoni” means “the son of my sorrow” or “mourning.” In ancient times names significative of the state were given to infants, (n. 1946, 2643, 3422, 4298).

AC 4592. And his father called him Benjamin.  That this signifies the quality of the spiritual of the celestial, is evident from the representation of Benjamin, as being the spiritual of the celestial.  What this is was explained above (n. 4585), namely, that it is the intermediate which exists between the spiritual and the celestial, or between the spiritual man and the celestial man.  In the original language “Benjamin” means “the son of the right hand;” and by a “son of the right hand” is signified spiritual truth which is from celestial good and the consequent power, for good has power by means of truth (n. 3563). A “son” is truth (n. 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, 3373), and the “hand” is power (n. 878, 3091, 3563); hence the “right hand” is the highest power.  Hence it is evident what is signified by “sitting at the right hand of God,” namely, a state of power by virtue of the truth which is from good (n. 3387), which when predicated of the Lord is omnipotence, and also the Divine truth which proceeds from the Lord’s Divine good (Ps. 110:1; Matt. 22:44; 26:63, 64; Mark 14:61, 62; 16:19; Luke 22:69); and whereas it denotes Divine power that is, omnipotent is therefore said, “at the right hand of the power” (or virtue) “of God.”

[2] It is manifest from this what in the genuine sense is signified by “Benjamin,” namely, the spiritual truth which is from the celestial good which is “Joseph.” Both together therefore are that intermediate which as before said is between the spiritual man and the celestial man (n. 4585).  But this good and this truth are distinct from the celestial which is represented by “Judah,” and the spiritual which is represented by “Israel,” of which the former is higher or more interior, and the latter is lower or more external, for as before said they are an intermediate.  But no one can have an idea of the good which is represented by Joseph, and of the truth which is represented by Benjamin, except the man who is enlightened by the light of heaven.  The angels have a clear idea of them, because all the ideas of their thought are from the light of heaven which is from the Lord, in which they see and perceive illimitable things which man cannot possibly comprehend, still less utter.  As an illustration take the following.

[3] All men whatever are born natural, with the power of becoming either celestial or spiritual; but the Lord alone was born spiritual celestial, and for this reason He was born at Bethlehem, where is the boundary of the land of Benjamin, for by “Bethlehem” is signified the spiritual of the celestial, and by Benjamin is represented the spiritual of the celestial. The reason why the Lord alone was born spiritual celestial, is that the Divine was in Him.  These things cannot possibly he comprehended by anyone who is not in the light of heaven; for he who is in the light of the world, and has his perception therefrom, scarcely knows what truth is and what good is, still less what it is to ascend through degrees to the interior things of truth and good; thus he is in complete ignorance of those innumerable things of truth and good in every degree which are manifest before the angels as in noonday light.  Hence it is evident of what nature is the wisdom of angels relatively to that of men.

[4] There are six names which frequently occur in the prophets where the church is treated of, namely, “Judah,” “Joseph,” “Benjamin,” “Ephraim,” “Israel,” and “Jacob.” He who does not know what of the good and truth of the church is meant by each one of these in the internal sense, cannot possibly know anything of the Divine arcana of the Word there.  Nor can he know what of the church is meant, unless he knows what the celestial is which is “Judah,” what the celestial of the spiritual is which is “Joseph,” what the spiritual of the celestial is which is “Benjamin,” what the intellectual of the church is which is “Ephraim,” what the internal spiritual is which is “Israel,” and what the external spiritual is which is “Jacob.”

[5] As regards Benjamin specifically, as he represents the spiritual of the celestial, and Joseph the celestial of the spiritual, and thus both together the intermediate between the celestial and the spiritual man, and as they are consequently most closely conjoined, therefore also their conjunction is described in the history of Joseph as follows:--

Joseph told his brethren that they must bring their youngest brother, Lest they should die (Gen. 42:20).

When they returned with Benjamin, and Joseph saw Benjamin his brother, he said, Is this your youngest brother? And be said, God be gracious unto thee, my son And Joseph made haste, for his bowels did yearn toward his brother; and he sought where to weep, and he therefore entered into his chamber, and wept there (Gen. 43:29, 30)

He multiplied Benjamin‘s portion five-fold above the portions of them all (Gen. 43:34)

After be had made himself known to his brethren, be fell upon his brother Benjamin’s necks and wept; and Benjamin wept upon his necks (Gen. 45:14).

He gave changes of garments to them all, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver, and five changes of garments (Gen. 45:22).

[6] From all this it is evident that Joseph and Benjamin were most closely conjoined, not because they were of one mother, but because by them is represented the spiritual conjunction which exists between the good which is “Joseph” and the truth which is “Benjamin,” and because both are intermediate between the celestial and the spiritual man.  For this reason Joseph could not be conjoined with his brethren, nor with his father, except by means of Benjamin, for without an intermediate no conjunction is possible, and this was the reason why Joseph did not reveal himself sooner.

[7] Moreover by “Benjamin” in other parts of the Word, especially the prophetic, is signified the spiritual truth which is of the church, as in the prophecy of Moses concerning the sons of Israel:--

To Benjamin he said, The beloved of Jehovah, He shall dwell confidently upon him, covering upon him all the day, and He shall dwell between his shoulders (Deut. 33:12);

“the beloved of Jehovah” is spiritual truth which is from celestial good; it is said of this good that it “dwells confidently” with that truth, “covers it the whole day,” and also “dwells between its shoulders,” for in the internal sense the “shoulders” denote all power (n. 1085), and good has all its power by means of truth (n. 3563).

[8] In Jeremiah:--

Flee ye sons of Benjamin out of the midst of Jerusalem, and sounding sound with the trumpet, and take up a prophecy upon the house of the vineyard; for evil looks forth from the north, and a great shattering (Jer. 6:1);

“the sons of Benjamin” denote spiritual truth from the celestial; “Jerusalem” denotes the spiritual church; the “house of the vineyard,” or “Bethhaccherem,” the same; the “evil out of the north,” man‘s sensuous and the derivative memory-knowledge.  Again:--

It shall come to pass if ye hallow the sabbath day they shall enter in from the cities of Judah, and from the circuits of Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the plain, and from the mountain, and from the south, offering burnt-offering and sacrifice, and meat-offering, and frankincense, and offering thanksgiving, unto the house of Jehovah (Jer. 17:24, 26).

[9] And again elsewhere:--

In the cities of the mountain, in the cities of the plain, in the cities of the south, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the circuits of Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, shall the flocks yet pass over beside the hands of him that numbereth them (Jer. 33:13);

here also the “land of Benjamin” denotes the spiritual truth of the church; for all the things of the church, from the first degree to the last, are signified by the “cities of Judah,” the “circuits of Jerusalem,” the “land of Benjamin,” the “plain,” the “mountain,” and the “south.”

[10] In Hosea:--

Sound ye with the horn in Gibeah, with the trumpet in Ramah, shout ye Bethaven, after thee Benjamin, Ephraim shall become solitudes in the day of rebuke (Hosea 5:8, 9);

“Gibeah,” “Ramah,” and “Bethaven” denote the things of that spiritual truth from the celestial which is “Benjamin,” for Gibeah was in Benjamin (Judges 19:14), and Ramah also (Josh. 18:25), and likewise Bethaven (Josh. 18:12); “to sound with the horn and with the trumpet,” and “to shout,” denote to announce that the intellectual of the church, which is “Ephraim,” is made desolate.

[11] In Obadiah:--

The house of Jacob shall become a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, the house of Esau for stubble; and they of the south shall inherit the mountain of Esau, and those who are in the plain the Philistines and they shall inherit the field of Ephraim, and the field of Samaria; and Benjamin, Gilead (Obadiah 1:18, 19);

that names signify things is very evident here, as in other places, for unless it is known what is signified by the “house of Jacob,” the “house of Joseph,” the “house of Esau,” the “mountain of Esau,” the “Philistines,” the “field of Ephraim,” the “field of Samaria,” “Benjamin,” and “Gilead,” and moreover what by “them of the south,” by a “house,” a “plain,” a “mountain,” and a “field,” nothing here can possibly be comprehended; nor were the things done that are here historically related. But the man who knows what each expression involves, will find heavenly arcana therein.  Here also “Benjamin” is the spiritual from the celestial.

[12] In like manner these words in Zechariah:--

Jehovah shall be king upon the whole earth; in that day there shall be one Jehovah, and His name one; the whole earth shall encompass as a plain from Gibeah even to Rimmon, and she shall dwell under herself thence from Benjamin’s gate even unto the place of the first gate, even unto the gate of the corners, and from the tower of Hananeel even unto the king‘s wine-presses (Zech. 14:9, 10).

So in David:--

Give ear O Shepherd, Thou that leadest Joseph like a flock, Thou that sittest upon the cherubim before Ephraim, and Benjamin, and Manasseh, stir up Thy power, and come to save us (Ps. 80:1, 2).

So in the prophecy of Deborah and Barak:--

Jehovah shall rule for me among the mighty; out of Ephraim whose root is in Amalek, after thee Benjamin in thy peoples, out of Machir shall come down lawgivers, and out of Zebulun they that draw the scepter of the scribe (Judges 5:13, 14).

[13] In John:--

I heard the number of the sealed, a hundred and forty-four thousand sealed out of every tribe of Israel; of the tribe of Zebulun were sealed twelve thousand, if the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand, of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand (Rev. 7:4, 8);

where by the “tribes of Israel” are signified those who are in goods and truths, and therefore in the Lord’s kingdom; for “tribes” and “twelve,” or what is the same “twelve thousand,” are all things of love and faith, or all things of good and truth (n. 577, 2089, 2129, 2130, 3272, 3858, 3913, 3926, 3939, 4060). These things are here distributed into four classes, the last of which is the twelve thousand sealed of Zebulun, and of Joseph, and of Benjamin, because by the tribe of Zebulun is signified the heavenly marriage (n. 3960, 3961), in which is heaven, thus in which are all things; “Joseph” here is the celestial of the spiritual, or the good of truth; and “Benjamin” is the truth of this good, or the spiritual of the celestial.  This is the conjugial in heaven, and therefore these are named last.

[14] As Benjamin represented the spiritual of the celestial in the church, or the truth of good, which is the intermediate between celestial good and spiritual truth, therefore Jerusalem fell as an inheritance to the sons of Benjamin; for before Zion was built there, “Jerusalem” signified the church in general. Jerusalem fell to Benjamin (Joshua 18:28; Judges 1:21).

AC 4593. And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath.  That this signifies the end of the former affection of interior truth, is evident from the signification of “dying,” as being to cease to be such (n. 494), thus the end; from the representation of Rachel, as being the affection of interior truth (n. 3758, 3782, 3793, 3819); from the signification of “to be buried,” as being the rejection of a former state, and the resuscitation of a new one (n. 2916, 2917, 3256); and from the signification of “Ephrath,” as being the spiritual of the celestial in a former state (n. 4585).  From all this it is evident that by Rachel‘s dying and being buried in the way to Ephrath is signified the end of the former state of the affection of interior truth and the resuscitation of a new state which is “Bethlehem,” the explication of which follows.

[2] In the genuine sense by Rachel’s dying and being buried in the way to Ephrath is signified that which is hereditary, in that by means of temptations it was expelled forever, and which was the human affection of interior truth, which the Divine affection expelled.  It was for this reason that this son was called by his mother “Benoni,” or “ son of Sorrow,” but by his father “Benjamin,” or “son of the right hand.” In the human affection from the mother there is a heredity in which is evil, but in the Divine affection there is nothing but good; for in the human affection there is the glory of self and of the world as an end for the sake of self; but in the Divine affection there is an end for the sake of self that it may be from self to save the human race, according to the Lord‘s words in John:--

I pray for those whom Thou hast given Me, for all Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine, but I am glorified in them that they all may be one, as Thou Father art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us. The glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them, that they may be one as We are one; I in them, and Thou in Me (John 17:9, 10, 21-23).

AC 4594. This is Bethlehem. That this signifies in place thereof the resurrection of a new spiritual of the celestial, is evident from the signification of “Bethlehem,” as being the spiritual of the celestial in a new state; for “Ephrath” is the spiritual of the celestial in a former state (n. 4585), and by her being buried there is signified the resurrection of a new state (n. 4593). That Rachel brought forth her second son or Benjamin in Bethlehem, and died in bringing him forth, also that David was born in Bethlehem and was there anointed king, and finally that the Lord was there born, is a mystery which as yet has not been revealed, and could not be revealed to anyone who did not know what is signified by “Ephrath” and by “Bethlehem,” and what was represented by Benjamin, and also by David; and especially who did not know what the spiritual of the celestial is, for this was signified by these places and was represented by these persons.

[2] The reason why the Lord was born there and not elsewhere, is that He alone was born a spiritual celestial man, but all others natural, with the capacity or ability to become either celestial or spiritual by regeneration from the Lord. The reason why the Lord was born a spiritual celestial man was that He might make His Human Divine, and this according to order from the lowest degree to the highest, and might thus dispose into order all things in the heavens and in the hells.  For the spiritual celestial is intermediate between the natural or external man and the rational or internal man (n. 4585, 4592), thus below it was the natural or external, and above it was the rational or internal.

[3] He who cannot apprehend these things, cannot possibly comprehend, by any revelation whatever, why the Lord was born at Bethlehem.  For from the most ancient time “Ephrath” signified the spiritual of the celestial, and therefore afterwards “Bethlehem” had the same signification.  This then is the reason why the following is said in David:--

He sware to Jehovah, he vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob, If I shall come into the tent of my house, if I shall go upon the couch of my bed, if I shall give sleep to mine eyes, slumber to mine eyelids, until I find a place for Jehovah, habitations for the Mighty One of Jacob; lo we heard of Him in Ephrata, we found Him in the fields of the forest; we will go into His habitations, we will bow ourselves at His footstool (Ps.  132:2-7);

that these things were said of the Lord is very evident; “ we heard of Him,” and “we found Him,” are expressed in the original language at the end of the words by the letter h taken from the name Jehovah.

[4] And in Micah:--

Thou Bethlehem Ephrata, it is little that thou be among the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall one come forth unto Me who shall be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from the days of eternity (Micah 5:2; Matt. 2:6).

From these prophecies it was known to the Jewish people that the Messiah or Christ would be born at Bethlehem, as is evident in Matthew:--

Herod, gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, inquired of them where the Christ (the Messiah) should be born; and they said to him, In Bethlehem of Judea (Matthew 2:4, 5).

And in John:--

The Jews said, Doth not the Scripture say that the Christ (Messiah) should come of the seed of David, and from Bethlehem, the city where David was? (John 7:42).

And that He was born there may be seen in (Matthew 2:1; Luke 2:4-7).  For this reason also, and because He was from David, the Lord is called a “rod out of the stock of Jesse,” and the “root of Jesse” (Isa. 11:1, 10); for Jesse, David’s father, was a Bethlehemite; and David was born at Bethlehem and was anointed king there (1 Sam. 16:1-14; 17:12) Hence Bethlehem was called “the city of David” (Luke 2:4, 11; John 7:42). By David is especially represented the Lord as to His royalty or the Divine truth (n. 1888).

AC 4595. And Jacob set up a pillar upon her grave.  That this signifies the holy of the spiritual truth that would rise again there, is evident from the signification of a “pillar,” as being the holy of truth (n. 4580), here of spiritual truth from the celestial, because this is the truth treated of; and from the signification of a “grave,” as being resurrection (n. 2916, 2917, 3256).

AC 4596. This is the pillar of Rachel‘s grave even to this day.  That this signifies the state of the holy forever, is evident from the signification of a “pillar,” as being the holy of truth; and from the signification of a “grave,” as being resurrection; and from the signification of “even to this day,” as being forever (n. 2838, 3998).

AC 4597. Verses 21, 22. And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Eder.  And it came to pass while Israel abode in this land that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine, and Israel heard.  “And Israel journeyed,” signifies the celestial spiritual of the natural at this time; “and spread his tend beyond the tower of Eder,” signifies the interior things thereof; “and it came to pass while Israel abode in this land,” signifies when in this state; “that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father‘s concubine,” signifies the profanation of good by faith separate; “and Israel heard,” signifies that this faith was rejected.

AC 4598. And Israel journeyed.  That this means the celestial spiritual of the natural at this time, is evident from the signification of “journeying,” as being what is successive or continuous (n. 4375, 4554), here more toward interior things; and from the representation of “Israel” here, as being the celestial spiritual of the natural (n. 4286). What the celestial spiritual of the natural is, has been explained before, namely, that it is the good of truth, or the good of charity procured by means of the truth of faith. What advancement toward interior things is, is little known in the world. It is not an advancement into memory-knowledges, for this frequently exists without any advancement toward interior things, and very frequently with a departure from them. Neither is it an advancement into the judgment of manhood, for this also sometimes exists together with a departure from interior things. Nor is it an advancement into knowledges of interior truth, for these knowledges avail nothing unless the man is affected with them. An advancement toward interior things is an advancement toward heaven and the Lord by means of the knowledges of truth implanted in the affection of them, thus by means of affections.

[2] What is the nature of an advancement toward interior things is not apparent to anyone in this world; but in the other life it is plainly apparent, for there it is an advancement from a kind of mist into light, because they who are in exterior things alone are relatively in a mist, and by the angels are seen to be in one; whereas they who are in interior things are in light, and consequently are in wisdom, for the light there is wisdom; and wonderful to say, they who are in a mist cannot see those who are in light as in light, but they who are in light can see those who are in a mist as in a mist. As the subject here treated of is the advancement of the Lord’s Divine toward interior things, Jacob is here called “Israel,” but at other times he is called “Jacob,” as in the preceding verse of this chapter, and in the last verse.

AC 4599. And spread his tent beyond the tower of Eder.  That this signifies the interior things thereof, is evident from the signification of “spreading a tent,” as being the advancement of what is holy, here toward interior things. A “tent” denotes what is holy, (n. 414, 1102, 2145, 2152, 3312, 4391); from the signification of “beyond the tower,” as being into interior things; and from the signification of “Eder,” as being the quality of the state, namely, of the advancement of what is holy toward interior things. From ancient times this tower had this signification, but as it is mentioned nowhere else in the Word, except in (Joshua 15:21), this cannot be confirmed from parallel passages, as is the case with other names. The reason why “beyond the tower” denotes toward interior things, is that the things which are interior are expressed by things lofty and high, thus by mountains, hills, towers, the roofs of houses, and the like.  The reason is, that to minds which derive their ideas from the natural things of the world through the external senses, interior things appear as higher (n. 2148).

[2] That “towers” signify interior things may be seen also from other passages in the Word, as in Isaiah:--

My well beloved had a vineyard in a horn of the son of oil, which he fenced round and cleared of stones, and planted it with a noble vine, and built a tower in the midst of it (Isa. 5:1, 2);

the “vineyard” denotes the spiritual church; the “noble vine,” spiritual good; the “tower built in the midst of it,” the interior things of truth.  In like manner also in the Lord‘s parable in Matthew:--

A man a householder planted a vineyard, and set a hedge about it, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen. (Matthew 21:33; Mark 12:1).

[3] In Ezekiel:

The sons of Arvad and thine army were upon thy walls round about, and the Gammadim were in thy towers, they hung their shields upon thy walls round about; these have perfected thy beauty (Ezek. 27:11);

treating of Tyre, by which are signified the knowledges of good and truth, or those who are in these knowledges; the “Gammadim in its towers” denote the knowledges of interior truth.

[4] In Micah:--

Jehovah shall reign over them in Mount Zion from now and to eternity; and thou tower of the flock, the hill of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, and the former kingdom shall return, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem (Micah 4:7, 8);

where is described the Lord’s celestial kingdom; its inmost which is love to the Lord, by “Mount Zion;” its derivative which is mutual love, by the “hill of the daughter of Zion,” which love in the spiritual sense is called charity toward the neighbor; its interior truths of good by the “tower of the flock;” that from this comes the spiritual of the celestial kingdom is signified by the “kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.” In David:--

Let Mount Zion be glad, let the daughters of Judah exult because of Thy judgments encompass ye Zion, and gird it around, count the towers thereof (Ps. 48:11, 12);

where the “towers” denote the interior truths which defend what is of love and charity.

[5] In Luke:--

Whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple for which of you, desiring to build a tower, sitteth not down first and counteth the cost, whether he have wherewith to complete it? Or what king, going to make war with another king, doth not first sit down and consult whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand (Luke 14:27, 28, 31, 33);

he who does not know the internal sense of the Word must suppose that the Lord here spoke by comparisons, and that by building a tower and making war nothing further is meant, not knowing that all the comparisons in the Word are significative and representative, and that “to build a tower” is to procure for one‘s self interior truths, and that “to make war” is to combat from these; for the subject here treated of is the temptations undergone by those who are of the church, and who are here called the Lord’s “disciples.” These temptations are signified by the “cross” which they must carry; and that they by no means conquer from themselves or from what is their own, but from the Lord, is signified by “whosoever renounceth not all that he hath, he cannot be My disciple.” Thus do all these things cohere; whereas if the things that are related of the tower and the war are understood only comparatively, without an interior sense, they do not cohere.  From this it is manifest what light there is from the internal sense.

[6] The interiors of those who are in the love of self and the world, thus the falsities from which they combat, and by which they confirm their religiosity, are also expressed in the opposite sense by “towers,” as in Isaiah:--

The loftiness of men shall be brought low, and Jehovah Zebaoth shall be exalted above everyone proud and high, and upon everyone that is lifted up, and he shall be humbled; and upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan, and upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up, and upon every lofty tower, and upon every fortified wall (Isa 2:11-15);

where the interiors and the exteriors of these loves are described by the “cedars,” “oaks,” “mountains,” “hills,” “tower,” and “wall” (interior falsities by the “tower”), thus also interior things by those which are high, with the difference that they who are in evils and falsities believe themselves high and above others, but they who are in goods and truths believe themselves less and below others (Matt. 20:26, 27; Mark 10:44). Nevertheless goods and truths are described by high things, because in heaven they are nearer the Highest, that is, the Lord. Moreover “towers” in the word are predicated of truths, but “mountains” of goods.

AC 4600. And it came to pass, while Israel abode in this land.  That this signifies when in this state, namely, of good from truth, is evident from the signification of “to abide,” as being to live, for “to abide” signifies the like as “to dwell,” but with the difference that “to abide” is predicated of truth, and “to dwell” of good (that “to dwell” denotes to be and to live, thus state, may be seen above, n. 3384); from the signification of “land,” as being the church as to good (n. 566, 662, 1066, 1067, 1262, 1413, 1607, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 2571, 2928, 3355, 4447, 4535), here as to the good of truth, the state of which (in which Israel now was) is what is signified.

AC 4601. That Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his fathers concubine. That this signifies the profanation of good by means of faith separate, and that and Israel heard signifies that this faith was rejected, is evident from the representation of Reuben as being faith in doctrine and in understanding, which is the first thing of the church (n. 3861, 3866), here this faith separate from charity; and from the signification of “lying with Bilhah his father‘s concubine,” as being the profanation of good, for “to commit adultery” signifies to pervert or adulterate goods (n. 2466, 2729, 3399), but “to lie with a father’s concubine” is to profane them; and from the signification of “Israel heard,” as being that this faith was rejected.  In the proper sense by Israel‘s hearing is signified that the spiritual church knew this and assented to it; for by “hearing” is signified hearkening to, and by “Israel” the spiritual church; but that the true church does not assent, will appear from what will be said about Reuben.  But in the internal sense is signified that this faith was rejected, for it is not said what Jacob felt and thought about this nefarious deed; nevertheless that he utterly abominated and abhorred it, is manifest from his prophecy respecting Reuben:--

Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my strength, and the beginning of my might; excellent in honor, and excellent in power.  Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel, who wentest up thy father’s bed, then profanedst thou it, he went up my couch (Gen. 49:3, 4);

and from Reuben‘s being on this account deprived of his birthright (1 Chron. 5:1). Hence it is evident that by “Israel heard” is signified that this faith was rejected. “Birthright” is the faith of the church, (n. 352, 2435, 3325).

[2] The profanation of good is effected by faith separate when the truth of the church and its good are acknowledged and believed, and yet the man lives contrary to them.  For with those who separate the things of faith from those of charity in the understanding and thence in life, evil is conjoined with truth and falsity with good; and this conjunction itself is what is called profanation.  It is otherwise with those, who, although they know what the truth and good of faith are, still do not at heart believe. On profanation, (n. 301-303, 571, 582, 593, 1001, 1003, 1008, 1010, 1059, 1327, 1328, 2051, 2426, 3398, 3399, 3402, 3489, 3898, 4050, 4289); also that the profanation of good by faith separate was represented by Cain’s killing Abel; by Ham‘s being cursed by his father; and by the Egyptians being swallowed up by the Red Sea, (n. 3325); and here also by Reuben, (n. 3325, 3870)

[3] In order that those who are of the spiritual church could be saved, the Lord miraculously separated their intellectual part from their will part, and bestowed upon the intellectual the power of receiving a new will (n. 863, 875, 895, 927, 928, 1023, 1043, 1044, 2256, 4328, 4493). When therefore the intellectual apprehends and perceives the good which is of faith, and appropriates it to itself, and yet man’s will (that is, his willing evil) still reigns and commands, there is effected the conjunction of truth and evil, and of good and falsity.  This conjunction is profanation, and is meant by eating and drinking unworthily in the Holy Supper, said of those from whom the good which is there signified by the “body,” and the truth which is there signified by the “blood,” cannot he separated, because things which have been conjoined in this manner can never be separated to all eternity, and therefore the deepest hell awaits them.  But they who know what the truth and good of faith are, and yet do not at heart believe them (as is the case with most people at the present day), cannot profane them, because the intellectual does not receive them and imbue itself with them.

[4] It is the rejection of this separated faith that is here treated of, because in what presently follows truths and goods are treated of in their genuine order, and directly afterwards their conjunction with the rational or intellectual.  The sons of Jacob presently named are truths and goods in genuine order, and Isaac is the rational or intellectual.  The coming of Jacob and his sons to Isaac, is in the internal sense this conjunction with the intellectual.

AC 4602. Verses 22-26. And the sons of Jacob were twelve. The sons of Leah, Reuben Jacob‘s firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun.  The sons of Rachel, Joseph and Benjamin. And the sons of Bilhah Rachel’s handmaid, Dan and Naphtali. And the sons of Zilpah, Leah‘s handmaid, Gad and Asher.  These are the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan-aram.  “And the sons of Jacob were twelve,” signifies the state of all things now in the Divine natural; “the sons of Leah,” signifies external Divine goods and truths in their order; “Reuben Jacob’s firstborn,” signifies the good of faith; “and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun,” signifies the essential things of these; “the sons of Rachel, Joseph and Benjamin,” signifies interior goods and truths; “and the sons of Bilhah Rachel‘s handmaid, Dan and Naphtali,” signifies subsequent things that are of service to interior goods and truths; “and the sons of Zilpah Leah’s hand maid, Gad and Asher,” signifies those which are of service to exterior goods and truths; “these are the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan-aram,” signifies their origin and their present state.

AC 4603. And the sons of Jacob were twelve.  That this signifies the state of all things now in the Divine natural, is evident from the representation of Jacob, as being the Divine natural; and from the signification of “twelve” as being all, and when predicated of the sons of Jacob or of the tribes named from them, as being all things of truth and good (n. 2089, 2129, 2130, 3272, 3858, 3913, 3939). As regards the Lord‘s natural it has been shown how He made it Divine in Himself, for this was represented by Jacob.  But the subject here treated of is the conjunction of the Divine natural with the Divine rational, which conjunction is represented by Jacob’s coming to Isaac, for Isaac represents the Lord‘s Divine rational. It is for this reason that all Jacob’s sons are enumerated anew, for all things of truth and good must be in the natural before this could be fully conjoined with the rational, because the natural serves the rational as a receptacle, and therefore these are enumerated.  Be it known however that the sons of Jacob are now named in an order different from that in which they were named before; for the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, namely, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher, are in the last place, who nevertheless were born before Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, and Benjamin. The reason of this is that the order of the truths and goods in the natural when this has been made Divine, is here treated of; for the order in which these are mentioned is in accordance with the state of the subject that is being treated of (n. 3862, 3926, 3939).

AC 4604. The sons of Leah.  That this signifies external Divine goods and truths in their order, is evident from the representation of Leah, as being the affection of external truth (n. 3793, 3819).  Hence her “sons” are the goods and truths represented by Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun, of which in what follows.

AC 4605. Reuben Jacob‘s firstborn.  That this signifies the good of faith, is evident from the signification of the “firstborn,” as being faith (n. 352, 367, 2435, 3325); and from the representation of Jacob as being the good of natural truth (n. 4538); and from that of Reuben, as being the quality of faith.  For “Reuben” in the genuine sense signifies the truth of faith (n. 3861, 3866); but after the truth of faith has been made good, be signifies the good of faith. Moreover regarded in itself faith is charity, and thus regarded in itself the truth of faith is the good of faith, because faith is impossible except from charity, that is, truth is impossible except from good; and therefore when a man has been regenerated, good is in the first place, or is the firstborn (n. 3325, 3494).  Hence it is that by “Reuben Jacob’s firstborn” is here signified the good of faith.  The like is signified also in Moses:--

Let Reuben live and not die, and it shall be that his numbers are mortal (Deut. 33:6);

the reason why in this passage “Reuben” denotes the good of faith, is that he is put in the first place, and Judah in the second, thus in a different order in this prophecy of Moses respecting the sons of Israel from that in the prophecy of Jacob (Gen. 49), for as before said (n. 4603), the order in which they are named is determined in accordance with the state of the subject that is being treated of.

[2] In like manner in John:--

I heard the number of the sealed, a hundred and forty-four thousand sealed out of every tribe. Of the tribe of Judah were sealed twelve thousand, of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand, of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand (Rev. 7:4, 5);

here Judah is named in the first place, Reuben in the second, and Gad in the third.  These three here constitute the first class, and as the Lord‘s kingdom is the subject treated of, “Judah” signifies celestial good such as is in the inmost or third heaven, “Reuben” spiritual good which is the same as the good of faith such as is in the second or middle heaven, and “Gad” the good of the natural such as is in the first heaven.  But it is otherwise in the prophecy of Deborah and Barak:--

The princes in Issachar were with Deborah, and as was Issachar so was Barak; into the valley he was sent at his feet, in the classes of Reuben were great decrees of heart; why dwellest thou between two burdens to hear the hissings of the droves? to the classes of Reuben were great searchings of heart (Judges 5:15, 16);

it is impossible to know the meaning of these words unless it is known what Issachar, Deborah, Barak, and Reuben represent; and what the “princes,” the “valley,” the “classes,” the “decrees of heart,” the “two burdens,” and the “hissings of the droves,” signify; but it is evident that “Reuben” here denotes faith.

AC 4606. And Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun.  That these signify the essential things of these, that is, of the external Divine goods and truths, is evident from the representation of each one; namely, of Simeon, as being in the supreme sense Providence, in the internal sense faith in the will, and in the external sense obedience (n. 3869-3872); of Levi, as being in the supreme sense Love and Mercy, in the internal sense charity or spiritual love, and in the external sense conjunction (n. 3875, 3877); of Judah, as being in the supreme sense the Divine of the Lord’s love, in the internal sense the Lord‘s celestial kingdom, and in the exterior sense that doctrine from the Word which is of the celestial church (n. 3881); of Issachar, as being in the supreme sense the Divine good of truth and truth of good, in the internal sense celestial conjugial love, and in the external sense mutual love (n. 3956, 3957); and from the representation of Zebulun, as being in the supreme sense the Lord’s Divine Itself and His Divine Human, in the internal sense the heavenly marriage, and in the external sense conjugial love (n. 3960, 3961).  These are the essential things which are in the external Divine goods and truths of the Lord, but no one can unfold how each of these is within them unless he is in heavenly light, for therein these things appear like the answers given in the Urim and Thummim by means of flashings out of light and flame, and a consequent perception from the Lord.  For in the Urim and Thummim there were twelve precious stones according to the twelve tribes of Israel.

AC 4607. The sons of Rachel, Joseph and Benjamin.  That these signify interior goods and truths, is evident from the representation of Rachel, as being the affection of interior truth (n. 3758, 3782, 3793, 3819), hence the “sons of Rachel” are interior goods and truths The essential things of these are represented by Joseph and Benjamin; by Joseph in the supreme sense the Divine spiritual, in the internal sense the spiritual kingdom, and in the external sense its good (n. 3969); and by Benjamin the Divine spiritual of the celestial (n. 3969, 4592). These essential things are within interior goods and truths.

AC 4608. And the sons of Bilhah, Rachel‘s handmaid, Dan and Naphtali.  That these signify subsequent things that are of service to interior goods and truths, is evident from the representation of Bilhah Rachel as handmaid, as being the subsequent affection that is of service as a means to the affection of interior truth (n. 3849).  Moreover a “handmaid” denotes a means that serves for conjunction (n. 3913, 3917, 3931), and her “sons” denote such means. By subsequent goods and truths are meant those goods and truths that do not enter in immediately, but which are derived from such as do, and are adjoined to them as handmaids, and which also mediate and promote.  Their essentials things are represented by Dan and Naphtali; by Dan in the supreme sense the Lord’s righteousness and mercy, in the internal sense the holy of faith, and in the external sense the good of life (n. 3921, 3923); and by Naphtali, in the supreme sense His own power, in the internal sense temptation in which there is victory, and in the external sense resistance from the natural man (n. 3927, 3928).  These are the essential things of the means that are of service to interior goods and truths.

AC 4609. And the sons of Zilpah Leah‘s handmaid, Gad and Asher.  That this signifies those which are of service to exterior goods and truths, is evident from the representation of Zilpah Leah’s handmaid, as being the subsequent affection that is of service as a means to the affection of exterior truth (n. 3835).  A “handmaid” denotes a means that is of service for conjunction (n. 4608), and her “sons” denote such means, the essential things of which are represented by Gad and Asher; by Gad in the supreme sense omnipotence and omniscience, in the internal sense the good of faith, and in the external sense works (n. 3934); by Asher in the supreme sense eternity, in the internal sense the happiness of eternal life, and in one external sense the delight of the affection (n. 3938, 3939) These are the things which the enumeration of the sons of Jacob at this time involves; but how they cohere together and one follows another, and one is contained within another, cannot be seen in the light of the world unless it is enlightened by the light of heaven. Yet the things which then appear are still such as not to fall into Words, for human words are from ideas formed from the things which are in the light of the world.  The ideas which are from the light of heaven transcend these to such a degree that they cannot be expressed, but only to some extent thought of by those to whom it has been given to withdraw their mind from things of sense.

AC 4610. These are the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan-aram.  That this signifies their origin and their present state, is evident from what has already been said of the sons of Jacob both in general and specifically, namely, that by them are signified all things in the Lord‘s Divine natural in general (n. 4603), insomuch that all these things taken together are now “Jacob.” Their origin is signified by their being born in Paddan-aram, or from the knowledges of truth and good, for these are signified by “Paddan-aram” (n. 3664, 3680). As all of these taken together are now “Jacob,” it is therefore said in the original language, “who was born to him,” in the singular.  In what now follows the subject treated of is the conjunction of the Divine natural with the Divine rational.  This conjunction is represented Jacob’s coming to Isaac his father.

AC 4611. Verses 27-29. And Jacob came unto Isaac his father to Mamre Kiriath-arba, this is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned.  And the days of Isaac were a hundred years and eighty years. And Isaac expired and died and was gathered unto his peoples, old and sated of days; and Esau and Jacob his sons buried him. “And Jacob came unto Isaac his father,” signifies now the Divine rational with which it was conjoined; “to Mamre Kiriath-arba,” signifies its state; “this is Hebron,” signifies the state when they were conjoined; “where Abraham and Isaac sojourned,” signifies Divine life together; “and the days of Isaac were,” signifies the state of the Divine rational at this time; “a hundred years and eighty years,” signifies the quality of the state; “and Isaac expired, and died,” signifies resuscitation in the Divine natural; “and was gathered unto his peoples,” signifies that it was now among the things which are of the Divine natural; “old and sated of days,” signifies newness of life; “and Esau and Jacob his sons buried him,” signifies that it rose again in the good and the good of truth of the natural.

AC 4612. And Jacob came unto Isaac his father.  That this signifies now the Divine rational with which it was conjoined, is evident from the representation of Jacob, as being the Divine natural in the state treated of just above (n. 4604-4610); and from the representation of Isaac, as being the Divine rational (n. 1893, 2066, 2072, 2083, 2630, 3012, 3194, 3210). Conjunction is signified by his coming to him. In what follows, down to the end of the chapter, the subject treated of is the conjunction of the natural with the rational; and therefore in what immediately precedes, the quality of the natural has been described, in that it contained within it all things of good and truth, and this quality of the natural is signified by the twelve sons of Jacob, for as we have seen, each one of them represents some general of truth and good.

[2] As regards the conjunction of the natural and the rational treated of in the following verses, be it known that the rational receives truths and goods sooner and more easily than the natural (n. 3286, 3288, 3321, 3368, 3498, 3513).  For the rational is purer and more perfect than the natural, because it is interior or higher, and viewed in itself it is in the light of heaven, to which it is adapted. This is the reason why the rational receives the things of this light (namely, truths and goods, or what is the same, the things of intelligence and wisdom), sooner and more easily than the natural.  But the natural is grosser and more imperfect, because it is exterior or lower, and viewed in itself it is in the light of the world; which light has nothing of intelligence and wisdom within it except in so far as it receives it through the rational from the light of heaven.  The influx of which the learned of the present day speak, is nothing else.

[3] But with the natural the case is this: From the earliest infancy and childhood the natural receives its quality from the things which flow in from the world through the external senses, and by and from these the man acquires an intellectual.  But as he is then in the delights of the love of self and of the world, and consequently in cupidities, both from inheritance and from actual life, the intellectual which he then acquires is filled with such things, and whatever favors his delights he then regards as goods and truths, and the result is that the order of the goods and truths in the natural is inverted, or is opposite to heavenly order.  When the man is in this state, the light of heaven does indeed flow in through the rational, for it is from this that he has the ability to think, to reason, to speak, and to act becomingly and as a good citizen in the outward form; but still the things which are of light, and that conduce to his eternal happiness, are not in the natural, because the delights which rule there are repugnant to them, for the delights of the love of self and of the world are in themselves diametrically opposite to the delights of the love of the neighbor, and consequently to those of love to the Lord.  The man may indeed know the things of light or of heaven, but he cannot be affected with them, except in so far as they conduce to his winning honors and gaining wealth, and thus except in so far as they favor the delights of the love of self and of the world.

[4] From this it may appear that the order in the natural is wholly inverted, or opposite to heavenly order, and therefore when the light of heaven flows in through the rational into the natural, it must needs be either reflected back, or suffocated, or perverted Hence then it is that the natural must be regenerated before it can he conjoined with the rational.  For when the natural has been regenerated, the things which flow in from the Lord through heaven, thus through the rational into the natural, are received, because they agree.  For the natural is nothing else than a receptacle of good and truth from the rational, or through the rational from the Lord.  By the natural is meant the external man, which is also called the natural man, and by the rational is meant the internal man. These things have been premised in order that it may be known how the case is with what follows, in which the subject treated of is the conjunction of the natural with the rational.

AC 4613. To Mamre Kiriath-arba.  That this signifies its state, is evident from the signification of “Mamre,” as being the quality and quantity of that to which it is adjoined (n. 2970); and from the signification of “Kiriath-arba, as being the church as to truth (n. 2909), thus truth.  Hence by ”Mamre Kiriath-arba“ is signified the state of the natural as to truth, and by ”Hebron“ its state as to good, of which below.

AC 4614. This is Hebron. That this signifies the state when they were conjoined, is evident from the signification of ”Hebron,“ as being the good of the church (n. 2909), here the Divine good of the Lord‘s Divine natural; for those things which in the internal sense signify something of the church, in the supreme sense signify something of the Lord’s Divine, for the reason that all that which makes the church is from the Lord.  That ”Hebron“ signifies the state when they were conjoined (namely, the rational and the natural), is because Isaac was there, by whom is represented the Lord‘s Divine rational; and Jacob came thither, by whom is represented His Divine natural, and by his coming thither is signified conjunction (n. 4612).  It is said, ”Mamre Kiriath-arba, this is Hebron,“ because the Divine natural is conjoined with the good of the rational by means of good, for Isaac represents the Lord’s Divine rational as to good (n. 3012, 3194, 3210), whereas Rebekah represents it as to truth (n. 3012, 3013, 3077), and Rebekah is not here mentioned.

AC 4615. Where Abraham and Isaac sojourned.  That this signifies Divine life together, is evident from the signification of ”sojourning,“ as being life (n. 1463, 2025); and from the representation of Abraham, as being the Lord‘s Divine Itself (n. 1989, 2011, 3245, 3251, 3439, 3703, 4206, 4207); and from the representation of Isaac, as being His Divine rational (n. 1893, 2066, 2072, 2083, 2630, 2774, 3012, 3194, 3210, 4180). As the conjunction of the Divine natural with the Divine rational is the subject here treated of, Abraham and Isaac are named, and it is said that they ”sojourned“ there, in order that Divine life together may be signified, that is, together with the Divine natural, which is ”Jacob.“ And because the Divine Itself, the Divine rational, and the Divine natural are one in the Lord, it is therefore said, ”where also Abraham and Isaac sojourned (peregrinatus)“ in the singular, and not (peregrinati) in the plural.

AC 4616. And the days of Isaac were.  That this signifies the state of the Divine rational at this time, is evident from the signification of ”days,“ as being states (n. 23, 487, 488, 493, 893, 2788, 3462, 3785); and from the representation of Isaac as being the Divine rational (n. 4615).

AC 4617. A hundred years and eighty years. That this signifies the quality of the state, may be seen from the fact that all numbers in the Word signify things (n. 482, 487, 575, 647, 648, 755, 813, 1965, 1988, 2075, 2252, 3252, 4264, 4495); thus a ”hundred years and eighty years“ signify the quality of the thing, or the quality of the state which is treated of. That a ”hundred“ denotes a full state may be seen above (n. 2636), and ”eighty,“ temptation (n. 1963), here, by means of temptations; besides other things which cannot be known For numbers have their signification from the more simple numbers from which they arise by multiplication, as this number from twelve and fifteen, and also from others still more simple.

AC 4618. And Isaac expired and died. That this signifies resuscitation in the Divine natural, is evident from the signification of ”expiring and dying,“ as being resuscitation (n. 3326, 3498, 3505) For when it is related in the Word that anyone ”died,“ the signification in the internal sense is the last of him and something new in another, thus continuation, as when it is related of the kings of Judah and Israel that they ”died,“ or of the high priests that they ”died,“ in the internal sense this denotes the end of the representation by them, and the continuation of it in another, thus resuscitation. Moreover they who are in the other life, and are with man when these things are being read, do not receive any idea of death, because there they do not know anything about dying. Hence instead of this they perceive continuance in another. Moreover when man dies, he dies only as to his bodily part, which had served him for uses on earth, and continues his life as to his spirit in a world where bodily things are no longer of any use.

[2] The reason why by Isaac’s expiring and dying is signified resuscitation in the Divine natural, is that the rational has no life unless the natural corresponds to it (n. 3493, 3620, 3623). It is the same as with the sight of the eye unless this has objects outside of itself which it sees, it perishes; and it is the same with the other senses. The case is also the same if the objects are altogether contrary, for these induce death; and it is the same as with the vein of a spring whose waters have no outflow, causing the spring to be choked. And it is the same also with the rational unless there is reception of its light in the natural, its sight perishes, for the knowledges in the natural are the objects of sight to the rational; and if these objects are contrary to the light, that is, to the intelligence of truth and the wisdom of good, the sight of the rational also perishes, for it cannot flow into things contrary to itself.  Hence it is that with those who are in evils and falsities the rational is closed, so that no communication with heaven is open through it except only as it were through chinks, in order that there may be the capacity of thinking, of reasoning, and of speaking.  Consequently, in order that the natural may be conjoined with the rational, it must be prepared for the reception of it, which is effected by the Lord by means of regeneration; and then, when it is conjoined, the rational lives in the natural; for as before said the rational sees its objects in the natural, just as does the sight of the eye in the objects of the world.

[3] The rational has indeed a life in itself that is distinct from the life of the natural; but still the rational is in the natural like a man in his house, or like the soul in its body.  The case is also the same with the heavens.  The inmost or third heaven does indeed live distinct from the heavens which are below it, and yet unless there were a reception in the second or middle heaven, its wisdom would be dissipated. In like manner unless there were reception of the light and intelligence of this heaven in the lowest or first heaven, and of this finally in man‘s natural, the intelligence of these heavens also would be dissipated, unless it were provided by the Lord that there should be reception elsewhere. Therefore the heavens have been so formed by the Lord that the one serves the other for reception; and finally man as to his natural and sensuous serves for the lowest reception, for herein the Divine is in the ultimate of order, and passes into the world. If therefore the ultimate agrees or corresponds with the things that are prior, the prior things are then together in the ultimate; for the things which are ultimate are receptacles of those which are prior to themselves, and therein all the successives are together.  Hence it is evident what is meant by resuscitation in the Divine natural.

AC 4619. And was gathered unto his peoples.  That this signifies that it was now among the things which are of the Divine natural, is evident from the signification of ”being gathered unto his peoples,“ as being, in regard to representatives, that this one is treated of no longer (n. 3255, 3276); thus here that it is among the things which are of the Divine natural (n. 4618). When anyone died the ancients said that ”he was gathered to his peoples,“ and thereby meant in the proximate sense that he was among his own in the other life. For during his bodily life every man is as to his spirit in company with spirits and angels, and also comes among the same after death (n. 1277, 2379). This is what was meant by the ”peoples“ to whom he is gathered But in the internal sense of the Word, where the goods and truths of the church or of the Lord’s kingdom are treated of, by ”being gathered to one‘s people“ is signified to be among the truths and goods which agree or correspond.  All the heavenly societies are in truths and goods, but as the truths and goods there are related as by the relationships and connections of earth, with every shade of difference (n. 685, 917, 3815, 4121), therefore their ”peoples“ are the truths in which are the concordant societies, or the societies which are in these truths.  ”Peoples“ denote truths, (n. 1259, 1260, 2928, 3295, 3581).

AC 4620. Old and sated of days.  That this signifies newness of life, is evident from the signification of ”old,“ as being the putting off of a former state and the putting on of a new one (n. 2198, 3016, 3254, 3492), here therefore newness of life; and from the signification of ”sated of days,“ as being a full state.

AC 4621. And Esau and Jacob his sons buried him. That this signifies that it rose again in the good and good of truth of the natural, is evident from the signification of ”being buried,“ as being resurrection (n. 2916, 2917), and as being a state of representation resuscitated in another (n. 3256); from the representation of Esau, as being the Lord’s Divine natural as to good (n. 3302, 3576, 4241); and from the representation of Jacob, as being the Lord‘s Divine natural as to the good of truth (n. 4273, 4337, 4538).  From all this and from what was said above (n. 4618) it is manifest that by Esau and Jacob his sons burying him is signified that it rose again in the good and good of truth of the natural.  That ”being buried“ is in the internal sense rising again, is because when the body has died the soul rises again.  Hence when ”burial“ is mentioned in the Word the angels do not think of the body which is cast off, but of the soul which rises again; for they are in spiritual ideas, thus in the things that belong to life; and therefore all things that belong to death in the natural world, signify such things as belong to life in the spiritual world.

AC 4622. The dwellings of the blessed in the other life are of many kinds, and are constructed with such art as to be as it were embodiments of the very art of architecture, or to come straight from the art itself. On this subject see what has already been related from experience, (n. 1116, 1626-1630). These dwellings appear not only to the sight, but also to the touch, for all things there are adapted to the sensations of spirits and angels, and hence are such as do not come to bodily sense like that of man, but to that possessed by those who are there. I know that this is incredible to many, but this is because nothing is believed which cannot be seen by the bodily eyes and felt with the hands of flesh. For this reason the man of this day, whose interiors are closed, knows nothing of the things which exist in the spiritual world or in heaven. He does indeed say from the Word and from doctrine that there is a heaven, and that the angels who are there are in joy and in glory, but he knows no more about the matter. How the case is there he would indeed like to know, but when told he still believes nothing, because at heart he denies the existence of such things, and his desire to know about them is prompted solely by his curiosity from doctrine, and not by any delight grounded in faith. They who are not in faith also deny at heart; but they who believe get ideas from various sources about heaven and its joy and glory, each person from such things as are of his own knowledge and intelligence, and the simple from the things of bodily Sensation.

[2] Nevertheless most people do not apprehend that spirits and angels enjoy sensations much more exquisite than those of men in this world, namely, sight, hearing, smell, something analogous to taste, and touch; and especially the delights of the affections.  If men would only believe that their interior essence is the spirit, and that the body and its sensations and members are adapted to uses in this world merely, and that the spirit and its sensations and organs are adapted to uses in the other life, then from themselves and almost of their own accord they would come into ideas about the state of their spirit after death; for they would reflect that the spirit must be the man himself who thinks, and who desires, longs for things, and is affected with them; and further that all the power of sensation which appears in the body belongs properly to the spirit, and to the body merely by influx; and they would afterwards confirm themselves in this idea by many considerations, and in this way would at last take more delight in the things of their spirit than in those of their body.

[3] It is also a real fact that it is not man’s body which sees, hears, smells, and feels, but his spirit; and therefore when the spirit is divested of the body, it is in its own sensations, the same as when it was in the body, only now far more exquisite; for the things of the body, being comparatively gross, had rendered the sensations obtuse, and this the more because the man had immersed them in earthly and worldly things.  This I can aver that a spirit has much more exquisite sight than a man in the body, and also much more exquisite hearing, and, astonishing to say, the sense of smell, and especially the sense of touch; for spirits see one another, hear one another, and touch one another.  Moreover anyone who believes in the life after death might infer that this is the case from the fact that no life is possible without sensation, and that the quality of the life is according to the quality of the sensation, nay, that the intellectual faculty is nothing but an exquisite sense of interior things, and the higher intellectual of spiritual things; and it is from this that the things of the intellectual and its perceptions are called internal senses.

[4] As regards man‘s power of sensation immediately after death the case is this: As soon as a man dies and all things of his body grow cold, he is raised up into life, and at the same time into a state of all sensations; insomuch that at first he scarcely knows but that he is still in the body, for the sensations he then enjoys lead him so to believe.  But when he observes that he has more exquisite sensations, and especially when he begins to speak with other spirits, it dawns upon him that he is in the other life, and that the death of his body has been the continuation of the life of his spirit.  I have spoken with two of my acquaintances on the day of their burial, and with one who through my eyes saw his coffin and his bier; and as this man enjoyed all the sensation he had in this world, he spoke to me about the burial rites while I was following in his funeral procession, and also about his body, saying that they should throw that away because he himself was alive.

[5] Be it known however that they who are in the other life can see nothing whatever in this world through the eyes of any man; but that their being able to do so through mine was because I am in the spirit with them and at the same time in the body with those who are in the world (n. 1880).  And be it further known that I did not see with my bodily eyes those with whom I have spoken in the other life, but with the eyes of my spirit; and yet I saw them as clearly, and sometimes more clearly, than with the eyes of the body; for of the Lord’s Divine mercy the senses of my spirit have been opened.

[6] But I am aware that what I have so far said will not be believed by those who are immersed in bodily, earthly, and worldly things (that is, by those of them who have such things as their end), for such people apprehend no other things than those which are dissipated by death.  I am also well aware that those will not believe who have thought much and investigated much about the soul, and who have not at the same time comprehended that the soul of man is his spirit, and that his spirit is the man himself who is living in the body; for such persons could have no other notion about the soul than as of a thinking principle, whether of flame or of ether, that acts solely in to the organic forms of the body, and not into those purer forms which are of the spirit in the body; thus that the soul is such a thing as must be dissipated together with the body. And this is especially the case with those who have confirmed themselves in such things by views that are inflated with a persuasion of their own pre-eminent wisdom.

AC 4623. But be it known that the life of sense with spirits is twofold, namely, real and not real. The one is distinguished from the other by the fact that everything is real which appears to those who are in heaven, whereas everything is unreal which appears to those who are in hell. For whatever comes from the Divine (that is, from the Lord) is real, because it comes from the very being of things, and from life in itself, but whatever comes from a spirit‘s own is not real, because it does not come from the being of things, nor from life is, itself They who are in the affection of good and truth are in the Lord’s life, thus in real life, for the Lord is present in good and truth through the affection; but they who are in evil and falsity through the affection, are in the life of what is their own, thus in a life not real, for the Lord is not present in evil and falsity. The real is distinguished from the not real in this that the real is actually such as it appears, and that the not real is actually not such as it appears.

[2] They who are in hell have sensations equally with others, and are not aware but that everything is really or actually just as it appears to their senses; and yet when they are looked at by the angels, the same things appear as phantasms, and disappear, and they themselves do not appear as men, but as monsters. It has also been given me to speak with them on this subject, and some of them said that they believe things to be real because they see and touch them, adding that sense cannot deceive. But it was given me to reply that no matter how real these things may appear to them, they nevertheless are not real, and this because they themselves are in things contrary or opposite to the Divine, namely, in evils and falsities, and moreover are themselves nothing but phantasies in so far as their thoughts are concerned, to the extent that they are in cupidities of evil and persuasions of falsity; and to see anything from phantasies is to see things that are real as not real, and things that are not real as real; and that unless it were given them of the Lord‘s Divine mercy to have their senses affected in this manner, they would have no sensitive life, consequently no life at all, because that which is sensitive constitutes the whole of life. To adduce all my experience on these subjects would be to fill many pages.

[3] Therefore when you enter the other life beware of being befooled, for evil spirits know how to conjure up illusions of many kinds before those who come fresh from the world, and if they cannot deceive them, they nevertheless thereby endeavor to persuade them that nothing is real, but that all things are ideal, even those which are in heaven.

AC 4624. But with regard to the correspondence with the Grand Man of the sense of smell and consequently of the nostrils, those persons belong to this province who are in general perception, so that they may be called ”perceptions.“ To these correspond the sense of smell and its organ.  Hence also it is that to smell, to scent, to be quick-scented, and also the nose, are in common speech predicated of those who make a close conjecture, and also of those who perceive; for the interiors of the words of man’s speech derive many things from correspondence with the Grand Man, because in respect to his spirit man is in society with spirits, while in respect to his body he is in society with men.

AC 4625. But the societies of which the whole heaven (that is, the Grand Man) consists, are very numerous, and are more or less universal.  The more universal are those to which an entire member, organ, or viscus, corresponds; and the less universal are those to which their parts, or parts of parts, correspond.  Every society is an image of the whole, for that which is unanimous is composed of so many images of itself. As the more universal societies are images of the Grand Man, they have within them particular societies which correspond in a similar manner.  I have sometimes spoken with those who in the society into which I was sent, belonged to the province of the lungs, of the heart, the face, the tongue, the ear, the eye, and also with those who belonged to the province of the nostrils, from which last it was also given me to know their character, namely, that they are perceptions, for they had a general perception of whatever happened in the society, but not so much in particular as have those who are in the province of the eye, for the latter discriminate and view those things which are matters of perception.  It was further given me to observe that the perceptive power of the former varies in accordance with the general changes of state in the society in which they are.

AC 4626. When any spirit is approaching, even when he is far away and hidden from view, his presence (when the Lord gives Permission) is perceived from a certain spiritual sphere; and from this is known the quality of his life, of his affection, and of his faith.  Angelic spirits, who are in a more exquisite perception, thereby know innumerable things respecting the state of his life and faith, as I have often witnessed. When it pleases the Lord these spheres are turned into odors, and the very odor is plainly smelt.  The reason why these spheres are turned into odors is that odor corresponds to perception, and because perception is as it were spiritual odor, from which also odor descends. But see what has already been adduced from experience on these subjects; concerning spheres, (n. 1048, 1053, 1316, 1504-1519, 1695, 2401, 2489, 4464), concerning perception, (n. 483, 495, 503, 521, 536, 1383, 1384, 1388, 1391, 1397, 1398, 1504, 1640), and concerning the consequent odors, (n. 1514, 1517-1519, 1631, 3577).

AC 4627. Those however who relate to the interiors of the nostrils are in a more perfect state of Perception than those who relate to their exteriors. Concerning the former I may give the following account.  I saw as it were a bath, with long seats or benches, and from it heat exhaled. A woman appeared there who soon vanished into a blackish cloud and I heard little children saying that they did not desire to be  there. Soon afterwards I observed some angelic choirs, who were sent to me for the purpose of averting the endeavors of certain evil spirits; and then suddenly above the forehead there appeared little apertures, greater or less, through which a beautiful yellow light was shining; and in this light within the apertures I saw some women in a snowy radiance.  There afterwards again appeared little apertures in a different arrangement, through which the women within were looking out; and again other little apertures through which the light did not so freely pass.

[2] Finally I observed a bright white light, and was told that here were the abodes of those women who constitute the province of the internal nostrils (for they were of the female sex); and that the clear-sightedness of perception of those who are there, is represented in the world of spirits by such apertures. For the spiritual things in heaven are represented in the world of spirits by natural things, or rather by such things as are similar to those which are natural. It was afterwards given me to speak with them, and they said that through these representative apertures they can see with exactness what is being done below, and that the apertures appear turned to those societies which they are occupied in observing.  And as they were then turned to me, they said that they could observe all the ideas of my thought, and also those of the people around me.  They said moreover that they did not merely observe the ideas, but also saw them represented in many ways, as for instance those of the affection of good by correspondent little flames, and those of the affection of truth by variations of light. They added that they saw certain angelic societies with me, and their thoughts represented by objects of many colors, by crimson dyes such as we see on painted curtains, and also by the colors of the rainbow on a darker ground, and they said that they thus perceived those angelic societies to be of the province of the eye.

[3] Afterwards other spirits were seen who were cast down from thence and scattered about hither and thither, of whom they said that they were such as had insinuated themselves among them for the purpose of observing something, and of seeing what was going on below, but with an insidious purpose.  This casting down was observed whenever angelic choirs approached and entered into conversation with me. As regards those who were cast down, they said that they relate to the mucus of the nostrils, and that they are dull and stupid, and also devoid of conscience, thus altogether devoid of interior perception. The woman who was seen signified such female ensnares.  With these also it was given me to speak, and they expressed their surprise at anyone‘s having conscience, being quite ignorant of what conscience is; and when I said that it is an interior perception of what is good and true, and that to act contrary to it causes anxiety, this they did not understand. Such are those who correspond to the mucus which infests the nostrils and is therefore ejected.

[4] There was afterwards shown me the kind of light in which those live who relate to the interiors of the nostrils.  It was a light beautifully varied with veins of golden flame and silver light, the affections of good being represented therein by the veins of golden flame, and the affections of truth by the veins of Silver light. I was also shown that they have apertures opening at the side, through which they see as it were a sky with stars in the blue, and I was told that in their chambers there is a light so great as to immeasurably surpass the noonday light of this world.  I was further told that the heat there is like that of early Summer on earth, and also that these angels of the female sex are accompanied by little children of some years who are unwilling to Stay when the female ensnares (or mucuses) arrive.  Numberless such representatives appear in the world of spirits; but these were representative of the perceptions in which are those female angels who correspond to the sense of smell in the interiors of the nostrils.

AC 4628. With regard further to the odors into which the spheres of perceptions are turned, they are smelt as plainly as are odors on earth, but do not reach the sense of the man whose interiors are closed; for they flow in by an internal, and not by an external, way.  These odors are from a twofold origin the perception of good and the perception of evil; those from the perception of good are as intensely sweet as though they exhaled from the fragrant Bowers of a garden and other fragrant things, and are inexpressibly pleasant and various, and the angels of heaven are in the spheres of such odors; whereas the odors which are from the perception of evil are as intensely repulsive as are the stenches and putrid smells from stinking waters, excrements, and carcasses, or the filthy smell from mice and bedbugs.  In the spheres of such stenches are they who are in hell, and wonderful to say they who are in them do not perceive their offensiveness, nay, the stenches are delightful to them, and when they are in them, they are in the sphere of their delights.  But when hell is opened, and the exhalation from it reaches good spirits, these are seized with horror and distress, like those in the world who encounter the sphere of such stenches.

AC 4629. To adduce all my experience in connection with the spheres of perceptions being turned into odors, would be to fill a volume.  See what has been related of them above, (n. 1514, 1517, 1519, 1631, 3577), to which I may just add that I once perceived the general thought of many spirits concerning the Lord’s being born a man, and I observed that it consisted of mere objections; for what spirits think, both in general and in particular, is plainly perceived by others.  The odor of that sphere was perceived as like that of stinking water, and of water defiled with filth.

AC 4630. A certain person was present unseen over my head.  I knew he was there by the stench, which was like that of rotten teeth, and I afterwards noticed a smell like that from burning horn or bone.  Then there came a great crowd of such persons that rose up like a cloud from below not far from the back, and as these also were unseen, I conjectured that they were subtle, and yet evil; but I was told that these were invisible where there is a spiritual sphere, but visible where there is a natural sphere. For those who are so natural as not to think at all about spiritual things, nor to believe in the existence of hell or of heaven, and yet are subtle in their transactions, are such as these, and are called ”the invisible natural,“ being sometimes made manifest to others by their stench, as described above.

AC 4631. Two or three times also a cadaverous odor breathed upon me; and when I inquired from whom it came, I was informed that it came from a hell where are foul robbers and assassins and those who perpetrate crimes with gross deceit. Sometimes also I have noticed an excrementitious odor, and when I inquired whence it came, I was told that it was from a hell where there are adulterers. And when an excrementitious odor was mingled with a cadaverous one, I was told that it was from a hell where there are adulterers who are also cruel; and so on.

AC 4632. Once when I was thinking about the rule of the soul in the body, and about the influx of the will into the actions, I noticed that those who are in an excrementitious hell that was then a little open, thought of nothing but the control of the soul over the anus, and of the influx of the will into the protrusion of the excrements, which showed in what kind of a sphere of perception and thence of stench they were.  A similar thing took place when I was thinking about conjugial love, in that those who are in the hell of adulterers then thought of nothing but filthy practices and infamous acts such as are connected with adultery. And when I thought about sincerity, I noticed that the deceitful thought of nothing but deceitful crimes.

AC 4633. From what has now been said on the subject of perceptions and odors, it is manifest that in the other life everyone‘s life, and consequently everyone’s affection, is in plain view; and therefore anyone who believes that his previous character, and the consequent quality of his life, is unknown there, or that he can there hide his disposition as in this world, is much mistaken.  Moreover not only are those things seen there which a man has known about himself, but also those which he has not known, namely, such things as by frequent practice he has at last immersed in the delights of life, so as to cause them to disappear from his sight and reflection.  The very ends of his thought, of his speech, and of his actions, which from a like cause have become hidden from him, are most plainly perceived in heaven, for heaven is in the sphere and perception of ends.

AC 4634. A continuation concerning Correspondence with the Grand Man will be found at the end of the following chapter, and there concerning the correspondence therewith of the hearing and of the ears.

AC 4535. Preliminary to the foregoing chapters, from chapter 26, an explication has been given of what the Lord foretold about His advent, or the CONSUMMATION OF THE AGE; and it has been repeatedly shown that by His advent or the consummation of the age is signified the last time of the church, which is called in the Word the Last Judgment.  They who do not see beyond the literal sense must suppose that the Last Judgment is the destruction of the world, and this especially from the Revelation, where it is said:--

I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven (Rev. 21:1, 2).

And also from the prophecies of Isaiah, where are similar words:--

Behold I create new heavens and a new earth; therefore the former things shall not be remembered, nor come up upon the heart; but be ye glad and rejoice forever in that which I create, for behold I create Jerusalem an exultation, and her people a gladness (Isa. 65:17, 18; 66:22).

[2] They who do not see beyond the literal sense must infer that the universal heaven together with this earth will be annihilated, and that the dead will then for the first time rise again, and dwell in a new heaven and upon a new earth.  But that the Word is not to be so understood may be seen from many other passages where the heavens and the earth are mentioned. They who have any faith in an internal sense can plainly see that by “a new heaven and a new earth” is meant a new church, which shall succeed when the former church passes away (n. 1733, 1850, 3355); and that the “heaven” is its internal and the “earth” its external.

[3] This last time of a former church and first time of a new church are what is called the “consummation of the age” of which the Lord spoke in Matthew 24, and also are His advent, for the Lord then leaves the former church and comes to the new church.  That this is the “consummation of the age” may be seen also from other passages in the Word, as in Isaiah:--

In that day the remains shall return, the remains of Jacob, unto the mighty God; for although Thy people Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, remains of it shall return a consummation is determined, inundated is righteousness; for a consummation and a determination doth the Lord Jehovih Zebaoth make in the whole earth (Isa. 10:21-23).

In the same:--

Now be ye not scorners, lest your punishments be strengthened; for a consummation and a decision have I heard from- with the Lord Jehovih Zebaoth upon the whole earth (Isa.  28:22).

In Jeremiah:--

Thus said Jehovah, The whole earth shall be a waste, yet will I not make a consummation (Jer. 4:27).

In Zephaniah:--

I will bring men into distresses, and they shall go like the blind, because they have sinned against Jehovah; and their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung, for Jehovah shall make a consummation, yea, a speedy one, with all them that dwell in the land (Zephaniah 1:17, 18).

That the “consummation” here mentioned is the last time of the church, and that the “earth” is the church, is manifest from the particulars.

[4] That “earth” or “land” denotes the church, comes from the fact that the land of Canaan was the land where the church had been from the most ancient times, and where afterwards there was the representative of a church among the descendants of Jacob.  When this land is said to be “consummated,” it is not the nation in it that is meant, but it is the holy of worship that exists with the nation where the church is. For the Word is spiritual, and the land itself is not spiritual, nor the nation therein, but that which is of the church.  The land of Canaan was the land where the church had been from the most ancient times, (n. 567, 3686, 4447, 4454, 4516, 4517); and for this reason by “land” in the Word is signified the church, (n. 566, 662, 1066, 1067, 1262, 3355, 4447). From this it is manifest what is meant in Isaiah by “making a consummation in the whole land,” or “earth,” and in Zephaniah by the “speedy consummation of all that dwell in the land.” That the Jewish nation which dwelt in that land was not consummated, but the holy of worship with them, is well known.

[5] That this is the “consummation” appears still more plainly in Daniel:--

Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people, and upon thy city of holiness, to consummate the transgression, and to seal up sins, and to expiate iniquity, and to bring in the righteousness of an age, and to seal up vision and prophet, and to anoint the holy of holies; in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease; at last upon the bird of abominations shall be desolation; and even to the consummation and the determination shall it drop upon the devastation (Daniel 9:24, 27).

[6] From all this it may now be seen that by the “consummation of the age,” respecting which the disciples said to the Lord,

“What shall be the sign of Thy coming and of the consummation of the age?” (Matt. 24:3)

nothing else is signified than the last time of the church; and also by these words of the Lord, which are the last in the same evangelist:

“Jesus said to the disciples, Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you all the days even unto the consummation of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

It was said by the Lord that He would he with the disciples even to the consummation of the age, because by the Lord‘s twelve disciples the like is signified as by the twelve tribes of Israel, namely, all things of love and faith, consequently all things of the church (n. 3354, 3488, 3858); which is the same as is meant by the twelve tribes (n. 3858, 3926, 3939, 4060).  That it is the consummation of the church when there is no longer any charity and therefore no faith, has been repeatedly shown above.  That in this church which is called Christian scarcely anything of charity and its derivative faith survives, thus that the consummation of its age is now at hand, will of the Lord’s Divine mercy be shown in the following pages.

1. And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and abide there; and make there an altar unto God who appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from before Esau thy brother.

2. And Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the gods of the stranger which are in the midst of you, and purify yourselves, and change your garments:

3. And let us arise, and go up to Bethel, and I will make there an altar unto God who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I walked.

4. And they gave unto Jacob all the gods of the stranger which were in their hand, and the earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.

5. And they journeyed; and a terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.

6. And Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, this is Bethel, he and all the people that were with him.

7. And he built there an altar, and called the place El-Bethel; because there the gods were revealed unto him when he fled from before his brother.

8. And Deborah Rebekah‘s nurse died, and she was buried from under Bethel under the oak; and he called the name of it Allon-bacuth.

9. And God was seen by Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him.

10. And God said to him, Thy name is Jacob; thy name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name; and He called his name Israel.

11. And God said to him, I am God Shaddai; be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be from thee, and kings shall go forth from thy loins.

12. And the land which I gave to Abraham and to Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land.

13. And God went up from upon him in the place in which He spake with him.

14. And Jacob set up a pillar in the place in which He spake with him, a pillar of stone; and he poured out a drink-offering thereon, and poured oil thereon.

15. And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Bethel.

16. And they journeyed from Bethel; and there was still a tract of land to come to Ephrath; and Rachel brought forth, and suffered hard things in her bringing forth.

17. And it came to pass in her suffering hard things in her bringing forth that the midwife said unto her, Fear not, for this also is to thee a son.

18. And it came to pass as her soul was going forth that she was about to die; and she called his name Benoni; and his father called him Benjamin.

19. And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, this is Bethlehem.

20. And Jacob set up a pillar upon her grave; this is the pillar of Rachel’s grave even to this day.

21. And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Eder.

22. And it came to pass, while Israel abode in this land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father‘s concubine, and Israel heard. And the sons of Jacob were twelve.

23. The sons of Leah, Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, and Simeon and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun.

24. The sons of Rachel, Joseph and Benjamin.

25. And the sons of Bilhah Rachel‘s handmaid, Dan an Naphtali.

26. And the sons of Zilpah Leah’s handmaid, Gad and Asher.  These are the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan-aram.

27. And Jacob came unto Isaac his father to Mamre Kiriath-arba, this is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned.

28. And the days of Isaac were a hundred years and eighty years.

29. And Isaac expired and died, and was gathered unto his people, old and sated of days; and Esau and Jacob his sons buried him.

AC 4536. The subject treated of in the internal sense of this chapter is the residue in the Lord‘s natural, that it was made Divine. The interior things of the natural that were made Divine are here “Israel.” The progress toward things still more interior, where is the rational, is described by the birth of Benjamin, and afterwards by the coming of the sons of Jacob to Isaac.

AC 4537. Verses 1-4. And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and abide there; and make there an altar unto God who appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from before Esau thy brother. And Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the gods of the stranger which are in the midst of you, and purify yourselves, and change your garments; and let us arise, and go up to Bethel, and I will make there an altar unto God who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I walked. And they gave unto Jacob all the gods of the stranger which were in their hand, and the earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem. “And God said unto Jacob,” signifies the perception of natural good, such as Jacob now was, from the Divine; “arise, go up to Bethel,” signifies concerning the Divine natural; “and abide there,” signifies life; “and make there an altar unto God who appeared unto thee,” signifies what is holy there; “when thou fleddest from before Esau thy brother,” signifies when truth was set before good; “and Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him,” signifies disposition in natural good, such as there was then; “put away the gods of the stranger which are in the midst of you,” signifies that falsities should be rejected; “and purify yourselves and change your garments,” signifies holiness to be put on; “and let us arise and go up to Bethel,” signifies the Divine natural; “and I will make there an altar to God,” signifies the holy in which interior things are terminated; “who answered me in the day of my distress,” signifies in the state of the setting of truth before good; “and was with me in the way which I walked,” signifies His Divine providence; “and they gave unto Jacob all the gods of the stranger which were in their hand,” signifies that it rejected all falsities as much as possible; “and the earrings which were in their ears,” signifies things actual; “and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem,” signifies eternal rejection; “the oak by Shechem” denotes the fallacious natural.

AC 4538. And God said unto Jacob. That this signifies the perception of natural good, such as Jacob now represents, from the Divine, is evident from the signification in the historicals of the Word of “to say,” as being to perceive (n. 1602, 1791, 1815, 1822, 1898, 1919, 2061, 2080, 2238, 2260, 2619, 2862, 3395, 3509), wherefore that “God said” denotes perception from the Divine; and from the representation of Jacob, who here in the supreme sense is the Lord as to natural good. In the preceding pages it has been shown what Jacob represents in the Word; and as he represents various things, the subject shall be briefly explained.

[2] In the supreme sense Jacob represents in general the Lord’s Divine natural. But as the Lord glorified His natural, it was different in the beginning from what it was in the progression, and at the end.  Therefore Jacob represented various things, namely, in the beginning the Lord‘s natural as to truth, in the progression the Lord’s natural as to the good of truth, and at the end the Lord‘s natural as to good. For the Lord’s glorification proceeded from truth to the good of truth, and usually to good, as has already been frequently shown. Now as this is the end, Jacob represents the Lord as to natural good. See what has already been shown on these points, namely, that in the supreme sense Jacob represents the Lord‘s Divine natural, in the beginning as to truth, (n. 3305, 3509, 3525, 3546, 3576, 3599); and in the progression, the Lord’s Divine natural as to the good of truth, (n. 3659, 3669, 3677, 4234, 4273, 4337). The reason why Jacob now represents the Lord‘s Divine natural as to good, is that this is the end, as before said.

[3] This was the process when the Lord made His natural Divine, and the process is similar also when the Lord regenerates man; for it pleased the Lord to make His Human Divine in the same order as that in which He makes man new. It is for this reason that it has been repeatedly stated that man’s regeneration is an image of the Lord‘s glorification (n. 3138, 3212, 3296, 3490, 4402). When the Lord makes man new He first instructs him in the truths of faith, for without the truths of faith man does not know what the Lord is, what heaven is, and what hell is, nor even that they exist; and still less does he know the in numerable things relating to the Lord, to His kingdom in heaven, and to His kingdom on earth, that is, to the church; neither does he know what and of what nature are the things opposite to these, which relate to hell.

[4] Before he has learned these things, he cannot know what good is, by which is not meant civil good and moral good, for these are learned in the world by means of laws and statutes, and by reflections upon the morals of men, and therefore the nations outside the church also know such things; but by good is meant spiritual good, which good is called in the Word charity; and this good is in general to will and do good to others for no selfish reason, but from the delight of the affection. This good is spiritual good, and to it no man can attain except by means of the truths of faith, which are taught by the Lord by means of the Word and teachings of the Word.

[5] After a man has been instructed in the truths of faith, he is gradually led by the Lord to will the truth, and also from willing to do it.  This truth is called the good of truth, for the good of truth is truth in will and act; and it is called the good of truth because the truth which has been of doctrine then becomes of the life. At last, when the man perceives delight in willing good and in doing it from will, it is no longer called the good of truth, but good; for he is then regenerate, and no more wills and does good from truth, but truth from good; and the truth which he then does is also as it were good, for it derives its essence from its origin, which is good. From all this it is evident why and whence it is that Jacob in the supreme sense represents the Lord’s natural as to good. The reason why Jacob here represents this good, is that in the internal sense further progress is now treated of, namely, toward the interior things of the natural, which are “Israel” (n. 4636). No one who is being regenerated by the Lord can be led to these interior things until the truth with him has become good.

AC 4539. Arise, go up to Bethel. That this signifies that the perception is concerning the Divine natural, is evident from the signification of “arising,” as being elevation (n. 2401, 2785, 2912, 2927, 3171, 4103), here the elevation of the natural to the Divine; from the signification of “to go up,” as being more toward the interiors; and from the signification of “Bethel,” as being the Divine in the natural, or in the ultimate of order (n. 4089). For in the original language “Bethel” means the “house of God,” and as the house of God is where the knowledges of good and truth are, by “Bethel” in the proximate sense are signified these knowledges (n. 1453). But as the interiors are terminated and closed in the ultimates of order, and are together there, and as it were dwell together in one house; and as the natural in man is the ultimate with him in which his interiors are terminated, therefore by “Bethel” or the “house of God” is properly signified the natural (n. 3729, 4089), and indeed the good there in, for in the internal sense a “house” is good (n. 2233, 2234, 3720, 3729); moreover knowledges are in the natural, or in the ultimate of order.

[2] That “to go up” denotes toward the interiors is because interior things are what are called higher things (n. 2148), and therefore when progress toward interior things is treated of in the internal sense, the expression “to go up” is employed, as “to go up” from Egypt to the land of Canaan, and in the land of Canaan itself “to go up” to the interior parts, and from all parts of it to Jerusalem, and in Jerusalem itself to the house of God there. For example “to go up” from Egypt to the land of Canaan, in Moses:

Pharaoh said to Joseph, Go up and bury thy father; and Joseph went up, and all the servants of Pharaoh went up with him; and there went up with him both chariots and horsemen (Gen. 50:6, 7, 9).

And in the book of Judges:

And the angel of Jehovah went up from Gilgal to Bochim, and he said, I made you Do up out of Egypt (Judges 2:1);

for by “Egypt” in the internal sense is signified that memory-knowledge which is to serve for apprehending the things of the Lord‘s kingdom; and by the “land of Canaan” is signified the Lord’s kingdom. And as memory-knowledges are lower, or what is the same, are exterior, and the things of the Lord‘s kingdom are higher, or what is the same, interior, therefore one is said “to go up from Egypt to the land of Canaan,” and on the other hand “to go down from the land of Canaan to Egypt” (Gen. 42:2, 3; 43:4, 5, 15).

[3] In the land of Canaan itself “to go up” to its interior parts, in Joshua:

Joshua said, Go up and spy out the land; and the men went up and spied out Ai; and they returned unto Joshua and said unto him, Let not all the people go up let about two thousand men or about three thousand men go up; so there went up thither of the people about three thousand men (Joshua 7:2-4);

as the “land of Canaan” signifies the Lord’s kingdom, the parts which were more remote from its ultimate boundaries signified things interior, and therefore the expression “to go up” is here used. In like manner from all the surrounding parts to Jerusalem; and in Jerusalem to the house of God

 (1 Kings 12:27, 28; 2 Kings 20:5, 8; Matt. 20:18; Mark 10:33; Luke 18:31).

For Jerusalem was the inmost of the land, because by it was signified the Lord‘s spiritual kingdom; and the house of God was the inmost of Jerusalem, because by it was signified the Lord’s celestial kingdom, and in the supreme sense the Lord Himself. Hence men spoke of “going up” to them. From all this it is evident what is signified by “arise, go up to Bethel,” namely, progress toward the interiors, which is the subject treated of in this chapter (n. 4536).

AC 4540. And abide there. That this signifies life, is evident from the signification of “to abide,” or “dwell,” as being life (n. 1293, 3384, 3613, 4451).

AC 4541. And make there an altar unto God who appeared unto thee. That this signifies what is holy there, is evident from the signification of an “altar,” as being the principal representative of the Lord (n. 921, 2777, 2811, 4489); and therefore “to make an altar to God” signifies what is holy of worship.

AC 4542. When thou fleddest from before Esau thy brother. That this signifies when truth was set before good, is evident from the representation of Esau, as being the Divine good of the Lord‘s Divine natural (n. 3322, 3494, 3504, 3576, 3599). That the signification is when truth was set before good, may be seen from the explications given about Jacob in Genesis 27, when he fled before Esau, for the cause of his flight was that Jacob had taken away the birthright from Esau, by which is signified that truth had set itself before good; for Jacob there represents the truth of the Lord’s natural, and Esau its good. The reason why truth had set itself before good was that when anyone is being regenerated, truth is apparently in the first place; but after he has been regenerated, good is in the first place and truth is in a secondary place (n. 3324, 3539, 3548, 3556, 3563, 3570, 3576, 3603, 3610, 3701, 4243, 4244, 4247, 4337). Hence it is, that “when thou fleddest from before Esau thy brother” signifies when truth was set before good.

AC 4543. And Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him. That this signifies disposition by natural good, such as there was then, is evident from the signification of “saying to his household and to all that were with him,” as being disposition; and from the representation of Jacob, as here being natural good (n. 4538). The reason why “saying to his household and to all that were with him” denotes disposition, is that in what now follows the subject treated of in the internal sense is the disposition of truths by good. For when spiritual good (n. 4538) begins to act the first part in the natural mind, it then disposes into order the truths which are there.

AC 4544. Put away the gods of the stranger which are in the midst of you.  That this signifies that falsities should be rejected, is evident from the signification of “to put away,” as being to reject; and from the signification of the “gods of the stranger,” as being falsities. For by “gods” in the Word are signified truths, and in the opposite sense falsities (n. 4402); and those were called “strangers” who were outside of the church, consequently those who were in falsities and evils (n. 2049, 2115). Therefore the “gods of the stranger” denote falsities.

AC 4545. And purify yourselves, and change your garments. That this signifies that holiness was to be put on, is evident from the signification of “to be purified” or “cleansed,” as being to be sanctified; and from the signification of “changing the garments,” as being to put on, here to put on holy truths; for in the internal sense of the Word by “garments” are signified truths. It is very evident that to change the garments was a representative received in the church, but what it represented no one can know unless he knows what garments signify in the internal sense (n. 2576). As the subject here treated of is the rejection of falsities and the disposition of truths by good in the natural, mention is made of the fact that they were commanded by Jacob to change their garments.

[2] That to change the garments was a representative that holy truths were to be put on, may be seen also from other passages in the Word, as in Isaiah

Awake, awake, O Jerusalem, put on thy strength, O Zion, put on the garments of thy adornment, O Jerusalem, the holy city for there shall not continue to come into thee any more the uncircumcised and the unclean (Isa. 52:1)

as “Zion” is the celestial church, and “Jerusalem” the spiritual church, and as the celestial church is that which is in good from love to the Lord, and the spiritual church is that which is in truth from faith and charity, therefore “strength” is predicated of Zion, and “garments” of Jerusalem; and it is signified that thereby they were clean.

[3] In Zechariah:

Joshua was clothed with defiled garments, and stood thus before the angel; and [the angel] answered and said unto those that stood before him, saying, Remove the defiled garments from upon him; and unto him he said, See, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from upon thee by putting on thee change of garments (Zechariah 3:3, 4);

from this passage also it is evident that to remove the garments and to put on a change of garments, represented purification from falsities, for it is said, “I have made thine iniquity to pass from upon thee.” It was also for this reason that men had changes of garments, and they were so called (whereof occasional mention is made in the Word) because representations were thereby exhibited.

[4] As such things were represented by changes of garments, therefore where the new temple is treated of in Ezekiel, by which in the internal sense is signified a new church, it is said:

When the priests enter in, they shall not go out of the holy place to the outer court, but there they shall lay aside their garments wherein they ministered, for they are holiness, and shall put on other garments, and shall approach to those things which pertain to the people (Ezek. 42:14).

And again:

When they go forth into the outer court to the people, they shall put off their garments wherein they minister, and shall lay them aside in the chambers of holiness, and they shall put on other garments, and shall sanctify the people with other garments (Ezek. 44:19).

[5] Everyone can see that by the new temple and by the holy city and land, here described by the prophet and in the chapters which precede and follow, is not meant any new temple, nor a new city and a new land, for mention is made of sacrifices and rituals as to be instituted anew which nevertheless were to be abrogated; and mention is also made by name of the tribes of Israel dividing the land into inheritances among themselves, which nevertheless have been dispersed and have never returned.  Hence it is evident that by the rituals there mentioned are signified spiritual and celestial things of the church, similar to what are signified by the changes of garments when Aaron ministered, in uses:

When he maketh a burnt-offering he shall put on his clothing, and his linen breeches, the ashes he shall put beside the altar.  Afterward he shall put off his garments, and shall put on other garments, and shall bring forth the ashes into a clean place outside the camp, and thus shall he make the burnt-offering (Lev. 6:9-11).

[6] That to be cleansed denotes to be sanctified, may be seen from the cleansings which were commanded, as that they should wash their flesh and their garments, and that they should be sprinkled with the waters of separation.  That no one is sanctified by such things, everyone may know who has any knowledge about the spiritual man; for what has iniquity and sin in common with the garments with which a man is clothed?  And yet it is sometimes said that after they had cleansed themselves, they should be holy.  From this it is also manifest that the rituals enjoined upon the Israelites were holy simply because they represented holy things; consequently that those who were representative did not thereby become holy as to their persons; but that the holiness abstractedly represented by them affected the spirits who were with them, and thereby the angels in heaven (n. 4307).

[7] For of necessity there must be communication of heaven with man, in order that the human race may subsist, and this by means of the church, for otherwise they would become like beasts, devoid of internal and external bonds; and thus each would rush without restraint to accomplish the destruction of others, and they would annihilate each other. And as at that time this communication was not possible by means of any church, it was therefore provided by the Lord that it should be miraculously effected by means of representatives. That sanctification was represented by the ritual of washing and cleansing, is manifest from many passages in the Word, as when Jehovah came down upon Mount Sinai, He said to Moses:

Sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments, and be ready against the third day (Exod. 19:10-11).

In Ezekiel:

I will sprinkle upon you clean waters, and ye shall be cleansed from all your uncleannesses, and I will cleanse you from all your idols, and I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in the midst of you (Ezek. 36:25, 26);

where it is manifest that “sprinkling clean waters” represented the purification of the heart; thus that “to be cleansed” is to be sanctified.

AC 4546. And let us arise, and go up to Bethel.  That this signifies the Divine natural, is evident from what was said above (n. 4539), where the same words occur.

AC 4547. And I will make there an altar to God. That this signifies the holy in which interior things are terminated, is evident from the signification of “making an altar to God,” as being the holy of worship (n. 4541). It is said that interior things are terminated therein, because he was to make the altar in Bethel, which is here meant by “there,” and because by “Bethel” is signified the natural, in which interior things are terminated (n. 4539).

AC 4548. Who answered me in the day of my distress.  That this signifies in the state of the setting of truth before good, is evident from the signification of “day,” as being state (n. 23, 487, 488, 493, 893, 2788, 3462, 3785). That by the “day of my distress” is signified the state of the setting of truth before good, may be seen from what was said above (n. 4542); for the “day of distress” here involves the same as the words there “when thou fleddest from before Esau thy brother.”

AC 4549. And was with me in the way which I walked. That this signifies His Divine providence, is evident from the signification of “to be with anyone in the way which he walks,” when predicated of the Divine or of the Lord, as being His Divine providence; for to provide is properly to be present with anyone, and to protect him from evils.

AC 4550. And they gave unto Jacob all the gods of the stranger which were in their hand. That this signifies that it rejected ad falsities as much as possible, is evident from the signification of the “gods of the stranger,” as being falsities (n. 4544); and from the signification of “which were in their hand,” as being as much as possible, for the “hand” signifies power (n. 878, 3387). Hence, “being in the hand” denotes being in their power, or as much as possible. Their “giving them to Jacob” denotes that good rejected them, for by Jacob in this chapter is represented the good of the natural (n. 4538).

AC 4551. And the earrings which were in their ears. That this signifies things actual, is evident from the signification of “earrings,” as being badges representative of obedience, for the reason that the “ears” signify obedience (n. 2542, 3869); and the things of obedience are things actual, for to obey involves doing in act. Things actual are here predicated of the falsities that were to be rejected. A few words shall be said regarding the rejection of falsities, even those which are actual, which is here treated of in the internal sense. Before a man by regeneration from the Lord comes to good, and does truth from good, he has very many falsities mixed with truths; for he is introduced by means of truths of faith respecting which in his first age he had no other ideas than those of infancy and childhood; which ideas, as they arise from the external things of the world and the sensuous things of the body, cannot but be classed among fallacies, and consequently among falsities. These also become actual, for what a man believes, he does. It is these falsities which are here meant. They remain with a man until he is regenerate, that is, until he acts from good, and then the good that is, the Lord through the good reduces into order the truths so far learned, and when this is done, falsities are separated from the truths and are removed.

[2] Of all this the man is quite ignorant, and yet there is such a removal and rejection of falsities from his earliest childhood even to his last age, and this with every man, but especially with him who is being regenerated. The like takes place even with a man who is not being regenerated, for when he becomes an adult, and his judgment has attained its maturity, he then regards the judgments of his childhood as vain and absurd, and thus as removed far away from him. But the difference between the regenerate man and the unregenerate is that the regenerate regards those things as removed from him which do not agree with the good of faith and charity, but the unregenerate those which do not agree with the delight of the love in which he is. The latter therefore for the most part regards truths as falsities and falsities as truths. As regards earrings, they were of two kinds, those which were fastened above the nose to the forehead, and those which were fastened to the ears. Those which were fastened above the nose to the forehead were badges representative of good, and are called “nose jewels” (n. 3103); while those which were fastened to the ears were badges representative of obedience, and are “earrings.” But in the original language both are expressed by the same word.

AC 4552. And Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.  That this signifies eternal rejection, is evident from the signification of “hiding,” as being to reject and bury as dead; and from the signification of “under the oak,” as being to eternity; for as the oak is a very long-lived tree, when anything was hidden under it, it signified what is perpetual; and it also signified what is entangled, and moreover what is fallacious and false, because the lowest of the natural is relatively entangled and fallacious in so far as it derives its knowledge and its pleasure from the sensuous things of the body, and thus from fallacies. For by the “oak” is specifically signified the lowest of the natural, consequently in a good sense the truths and goods which are therein, and in the opposite sense the evils and falsities which are therein.

[2] Moreover when falsities are removed in a regenerate man, they are rejected to the lowest of the natural; and therefore when a man becomes mature in judgment and clearsighted, and especially when he becomes intelligent and wise, they appear still further removed from his interior sight. For with the regenerate man truths are in the inmost of his natural near good, which is like a little sun there; and the truths which depend on these are distant therefrom according to the degrees of so to speak their consanguinity and affinity with good. Fallacious truths are in the more outward circumferences, and falsities are rejected to the outermost ones. The latter remain with man forever, but are in this order when the man suffers himself to be led by the Lord, for this order is heavenly order, inasmuch as heaven itself is in such an order. But when a man does not suffer himself to be led by the Lord, but by evil, these things are then in the opposite order, evil with falsities then being in the middle, truths being rejected to the circumferences, and the veriest Divine truths to the outermost circumferences, which order is infernal, for in such an order is hell, the outermost circumferences being the lowest things of the natural.

[3] That “oaks” denote the falsities which are the lowest things of the natural, is because in the Ancient Church, when there was external worship representative of the Lord‘s kingdom, all trees of whatever kind signified something spiritual or celestial; for instance the olive and the oil from it signified the things which are of celestial love; the vine and the wine from it, the things which are of charity and its derivative faith; and so with the other trees, as the cedar, the fig, the poplar, the beech, and the oak, the signification of which has been occasionally shown in the explications. It is for this reason that they are so often mentioned in the Word, and also in general gardens, groves, and forests, and that men had their worship in these under certain trees. But as this worship became idolatrous, and the posterity of Jacob, with whom the representative of a church was instituted, was prone to idolatry, and consequently set up so many idols therein, they were forbidden to hold worship in gardens and groves, and under the trees therein; nevertheless the trees retained their signification, and therefore not only the more noble, as the olive, the vine, and the cedar, but also the poplar, the beech, and the oak, where mentioned in the Word, are each significative as in the Ancient Church.

[4] That “oaks” in a good sense signify the truths and goods which are lowest of the natural, and in the opposite sense falsities and evils, is evident from the passages in the Word where they are mentioned, when understood in the internal sense, as in Isaiah:

They who forsake Jehovah shall be consumed, for they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired; and ye shall be as an oak that casteth its leaves, and as a garden that hath no water (Isa. 1:28-30).

In the same:

The day of Jehovah Zebaoth shall be upon everyone lifted up and low, and upon all the cedars of Lebanon, and upon all the oaks of Bashan (Isa. 2:12, 13);

that the day of Jehovah will not be upon the cedars and the oaks, everyone may know, but upon those who are signified by them. Again:--

He who formeth a god heweth him down cedars, and taketh the beech and the oak, and strengtheneth for himself in the trees of the forest (Isa. 44:14).

[5] In Ezekiel:

Ye shall acknowledge that I am Jehovah when their pierced ones shall be in the midst of the idols round about their altars, upon every high hill, in all the heads of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every tangled oak, the place where they have given an odor of rest to all their idols (Ezek. 6:13).

Moreover the ancients had worship upon hills and mountains because hills and mountains signified celestial love; but when the worship was performed by idolaters, as here, they signify the love of self and of the world (n. 795, 796, 1430, 2722, 4210); and they held it under trees, because as before said these were significative according to their species. “Under the tangled oak” here denotes that the worship was from falsities, which are the lowest things of the natural, for these are in an entangled state (n. 2831). In Hosea:

They sacrifice upon the heads of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under the oak, the poplar, and the hard oak, because the shade thereof is good; therefore your daughters commit whoredom, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery (Hosea 4:13).

“To commit whoredom” is to falsify truths, and “to commit adultery” is to pervert goods, (n. 2466, 2729, 3399). In Zechariah:

Open thy doors, O Lebanon, and let the fire devour the cedars, because the magnificent ones are laid waste; howl, ye oaks of Bashan, for the forest of Bazar is come down (Zech. 11:1, 2).

AC 4553. Verses 5-7. And they journeyed; and a terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.  And Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, this is Bethel, he and all the people that were with him. And he built there an altar, and called the place El-Bethel; because there the gods were revealed unto him when he fled from before his brother. “And they journeyed,” signifies what is continuous; “and a terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob,” signifies that falsities and evils could not come near; “and Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan,” signifies the natural in its former state; “this is Bethel,” signifies the Divine natural; “he and all the people that were with him,” signifies with all that was therein; “and he built there an altar,” signifies by sanctification; “and he called the place El-Bethel,” signifies a holy natural; “because there the gods were revealed unto him,” signifies holy truths; “when he fled from before his brother,” signifies after truths were set before good.

AC 4554. And they journeyed.  That this signifies what is continuous, is evident from the signification of “journeying,” as being what is successive (n. 4375), thus what is continuous, namely, of progression toward interior things.

AC 4555. And a terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob. That this signifies that falsities and evils could not come near, is evident from the signification of a “terror of God,” as being protection; from the signification of the “cities that were round about them,” as being falsities and evils, “cities” in the genuine sense being truths of doctrine, and in the opposite sense, falsities of doctrine (n. 402, 2449, 2943, 3216, 4478, 4492, 4493); the reason why “cities” here signify evils also, is that the inhabitants likewise are meant, who in the genuine sense are goods, thus in the opposite sense evils (n. 2268, 2451, 2712); and from the signification of “not pursuing after them,” as being not to be able to come near.

[2] That a “terror of God” is protection, may be illustrated by what takes place in the other life; for there the hells cannot possibly come near heaven, nor evil spirits any society of heaven, because they are in terror of God.  For when evil spirits approach any heavenly society, they suddenly fall into anxieties and torments; and they who have fallen into these a few times dare not approach. Their not daring is what is meant in the internal sense by a “terror of God.” Not that God or the Lord terrifies them, but because they are in falsities and evils, and thus in the opposite to goods and truths; and that the falsities and evils themselves cause them to fall into anguish and torment when they approach goods and truths.

AC 4556. And Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, signifies the natural in its former state, and this is Bethel, signifies the Divine natural, as is evident from the signification of “Luz” as being the natural in its former state, or that very natural which was human. That this was made Divine is signified by, “this is Bethel.” “Bethel” is the Divine natural, (n. 4089, 4539). So also in other places in the Word where “Bethel” is named it is likewise said, “Luz, this is Bethel,” and “Bethel, beforetime Luz,” as in Joshua: “The boundary of the lot of the sons of Benjamin between the sons of Judah and the sons of Joseph went forth to Luz, to the side of Luz southward, this is Bethel” (Joshua 18:11, 13). And in the book of Judges:

“The house of Joseph went up to Bethel, and spied out Bethel; and the name of the city beforetime was Luz” (Judges 1:22, 23).

AC 4557. He and all the people that were with him. That this signifies with all that was therein, namely, that was in the natural, is evident from the representation of Jacob, who here is “he,” as being the good therein (n. 4538); and from the signification of “people,” as being truths (n. 1259, 1260, 2928, 3295, 3581); thus the “people that were with him” denotes the truths of that good. And as all things in the natural bear relation to goods and truths, by these words is here signified with all that was therein.

AC 4558. And he built there an altar. That this signifies by sanctification, is evident from the signification of an “altar,” as being the principal representative of the Lord, and thence the holy of worship (n. 4541), and when predicated of the Lord, His Divine Human, and the Holy which proceeds therefrom (n. 2811). For that which in the church is the principal representative of the Lord, is also in the supreme sense the Lord Himself as to His Divine Human; for that which represents it is, in this sense, the Human Itself. That the natural was sanctified, is signified by his “building there” (that is, in Bethel) an “altar;” for by “Bethel” is signified the Divine natural (n. 4556).

AC 4559. And called the place El-Bethel. That this signifies a holy natural, is evident from the signification of “Bethel,” as being the Divine natural (n. 4089, 4539, 4556); but when it is called “El-Bethel,” it is not the Divine, but a holy, natural; for when the Lord made His Human Divine, He first made it holy. Between making it Divine and making it holy there is this difference that what is Divine is Jehovah Himself, but what is holy is from Jehovah. The former is the Divine being, but the latter is what comes forth therefrom. When the Lord glorified Himself, He made his Human also the Divine being, or Jehovah (n. 2156, 2329, 2921, 3023, 3035); but before He did this, He made His Human holy.  Such was the process of the glorification of the Lord’s Human.  Hence also Bethel is now called “El-Bethel,” applying what is signified by the “El” which is added, namely, “because there the gods were revealed to him.” For “El” in the original language means “God;” but here “gods” in the plural, because in the internal sense “gods” denote holy truths (n. 4402). But in what follows it is called “Bethel,” for it is said, “Jacob called the name of the place Bethel” (verse 15); and it is added, “where God spake with him,” where it is in the singular. For “Bethel” in the original language is the “house of God;” but “El-Bethel” is “God the house of God.” Hence it is that “El-Bethel” denotes the holy natural, and “Bethel” the Divine natural.

AC 4560. Because there the gods were revealed unto him.  That this signifies holy truths, is evident from the signification of “gods,” as being holy truths (n. 4402). That these were adjoined to the good represented by Jacob, is signified by the “gods there revealed to him.” That the place was called “El-Bethel,” and yet previously (Gen. 28:19), and again later (verse 15), “Bethel,” and likewise that here when it is called “El-Bethel” it is said, “because there the gods were revealed unto him,” in the plural, and afterwards (verse 15) “where God spake with him,” in the singular, is a mystery, and it is evident that this mystery can be known only from the internal sense. Moreover many other mysteries are hidden herein, but these cannot be disclosed.

AC 4561. When he fled from before his brother. That this signifies after truths were set before good, is evident from the explication given above (n. 4542), where the same words occur.

AC 4562. Verse 8. And Deborah Rebekah‘s nurse died, and she was buried from under Bethel under the oak; and he called the name of it Allon-bacuth. “And Deborah Rebekah’s nurse died,” signifies that hereditary evil was expelled; “and she was buried from under Bethel under the oak,” signifies rejected forever; “and he called the name of it Allon-bacuth,” signifies the quality of the natural in that it was expelled.

AC 4563. And Deborah Rebekah‘s nurse died. That this signifies that hereditary evil was expelled, is evident from the signification of “dying,” as being the end, or that a thing ceases to be such (n. 494, 3253, 3259, 3276), here therefore expelled, because the subject treated of is hereditary evil; and from the representation of Deborah Rebekah’s nurse, as being hereditary evil. In nourishing and suckling an infant a nurse properly signifies the insinuation of innocence by means of what is celestial spiritual, for milk denotes the celestial spiritual (n. 2184), and the infant she suckles denotes innocence (n. 430, 1616, 2126, 2305, 2306) But here by “Deborah Rebekah‘s nurse” is signified that which was received from the mother and nourished from infancy.  That this was the hereditary evil from the mother against which the Lord fought, may be seen from what has been shown regarding this hereditary (n. 1414, 1444, 1573), and from His expelling it, so that at last He was not the son of Mary (n. 2159, 2574, 2649, 3036).

[2] It is known that man derives evil from both his parents, and that this evil is called hereditary evil. He is therefore born into it, but still it does not manifest itself until the man becomes an adult and acts from his understanding and the derivative will, and meanwhile it lies hidden, especially during infancy. And as of the Lord’s mercy no one is blamed for what is hereditary, but for what is actual (n. 966, 2308), and what is hereditary cannot become actual until the man acts from his own understanding and his own will, therefore infants are led by the Lord by means of infants and angels from Him, and hence they appear in a state of innocence while hereditary evil still lurks in everything they do (n. 2300, 2307, 2308). This hereditary evil yields them nourishment, or is as a nurse, until the time when they judge for themselves (n. 4063); and then if they are being regenerated they are brought by the Lord into a state of new infancy, and at last into heavenly wisdom; thus into genuine infancy, that is, into innocence; for genuine infancy or innocence dwells in wisdom (n. 2305, 3183). The difference is, that the innocence of infancy is without, and hereditary evil within; whereas the innocence of wisdom is within, and evil both actual and hereditary is without. From these and other things that have been already stated, it is evident that hereditary evil acts as a nurse from the earliest infancy to the age of new infancy; and hence it is that by a “nurse” is signified hereditary evil, and also that by a “nurse” is signified the insinuation of innocence by means of the celestial spiritual.

[3] As in the internal sense of this chapter the disposition and arrangement of truths by good in the Lord‘s natural is treated of (n. 4536), and the consequent progression to interior things, therefore hereditary evil is also treated of, in that it was expelled. This is the reason why mention is made in this verse of Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, that she died and was buried under an oak, which is not a thing of sufficient moment to interrupt the series unless it involved such things.

[4] The very mystery that is specifically signified by “Rebekah‘s nurse” cannot as yet be disclosed, for before this is done it is necessary to know the nature of the influx of the rational into the natural, namely, that it is from the good of the rational immediately into the good of the natural, and from the good of the rational mediately, through the truth there into the good of natural truth. “Rebekah”is the truth of the rational (n. 3012, 3013, 3077); and “Isaac” is the good of the rational (n. 3012, 3194, 3210); “Esau” is the good of the natural by immediate influx from the good of the rational, or “Isaac;” and “Jacob” is the good or good of truth of the natural by mediate influx through the truth of the rational, or “Rebekah.” In regard to this influx, mediate and immediate, (n. 3314, 3573). This must be known before it is possible to have any specific knowledge of the mystery why by “Rebekah’s nurse” is here signified and described hereditary evil; for it is from this that the nature of this evil can be seen.

AC 4564. And she was buried from under Bethel under the oak. That this signifies that it was rejected forever, is evident from the signification of “being buried,” as being to be rejected, for what is buried is rejected; and from the signification of “under the oak,” as being forever (n. 4552). “From under Bethel” signifies outside of the natural, for what is said to be underneath, or below, in the internal sense is without (n. 2148). “Bethel” is the Divine natural (n. 4089, 4539).

[2] The case herein is this. Evil both hereditary and actual in a man who is being regenerated is not exterminated so as to vanish or become null and void, but is only separated, and by the Lord‘s disposal is rejected to the circumferences (n. 4551, 4552); and it remains so with the man even to eternity; but he is withheld by the Lord from the evil and is kept in good. When this takes place it appears as if evils were cast away and the man purified from them, or as is said, “justified.” All the angels of heaven confess that with them, in so far as it is of themselves, there is nothing but evil and its derivative falsity; but in so far as it is from the Lord, there is good and the derivative truth.

[3] They who have conceived any other opinion on this subject, and have while living in the world confirmed themselves from their doctrine in the idea that they had been justified and were then without sins, thus that they are holy, are remitted into the state of their evils, both from what is actual and from what is hereditary, and are kept in this state until they know by living experience that of themselves they are nothing but evil, and that the good in which they had seemed to themselves to be, was from the Lord, consequently is not theirs, but the Lord’s. Such is the case with the angels, and such also is it with the regenerate among men.

[4] But with the Lord it was otherwise. All the hereditary evil from the mother He altogether removed from Himself, expelled, and cast out. For He had no evil by inheritance from His Father, because He was conceived of Jehovah, but only from the mother. This is the difference; and this is what is meant by the Lord‘s being made righteousness, the Holy itself, and the Divine.

AC 4565. And he called the name of it Allon-bacuth. That this signifies the quality of the natural in that it was expelled, is evident from the signification of “calling a name,” as being the quality (n. 144, 145, 1754, 1896, 2009, 2724, 3006, 3421). “Allon-bacuth” in the original language means “the oak of weeping,” and the place was so called because the “oak” denotes the lowest of the natural, into which, and at last out of which, hereditary evil was cast. The “oak” denotes the lowest of the natural, and also what is perpetual, (n. 4552). But “weeping” signifies the last farewell, and therefore it was customary to weep for the dead when they were buried, although it was known that only the dead body was rejected by burial, and that they who had been therein were alive in respect to their interiors.  Hence it is evident what is the quality of that which is signified by “Allon-bacuth,” or the “oak of weeping.”

AC 4566. Verses 9-13. And God was seen by Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. And God said to him, Thy name is Jacob; thy name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name; and He called his name Israel. And God said to him, I am God Shaddai; be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be from thee, and kings shall go forth from thy loins; and the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land. And God went up from upon him, in the place in which God spake with him. “And God was seen by Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him,” signifies interior natural perception; “and God said to him, Thy name is Jacob,” signifies the quality of the Lord’s external Divine natural; “thy name shall no more be called Jacob,” signifies that it should no longer be external only; “but Israel shall be thy name,” signifies the quality of the internal natural, or the quality of its spiritual, which is “Israel;” “and He called his name Israel,” signifies the internal natural, or the celestial spiritual of the natural; “and God said to him,” signifies perception from the Divine; “I am God Shaddai,” signifies the state of temptation past, and now Divine consolation; “be fruitful and multiply,” signifies good and thence truth, Divine; “a nation and a company of nations shall be from thee,” signifies good and the Divine forms of good; “and kings shall go forth from thy loins,” signifies truths from the Divine marriage; “and the land which I gave to Abraham and to Isaac, to thee I will give it,” signifies Divine good natural appropriated; “and to thy seed after thee will I give the land,” signifies Divine truth natural appropriated; “and God went up from upon him, in the place in which He spake with him,” signifies the Divine in this state.

AC 4567. And God was seen by Jacob again when he came from Paddanaram, and blessed him.  That this signifies interior natural perception, is evident from the signification of “God was seen,” as being interior perception. “To see” denotes to understand and perceive, (n. 2150, 2807, 3764, 3863, 4403-4421). Hence “God was seen,” when predicated of the Lord, denotes perception from the Divine, which is the same as interior perception. That the natural had this perception, is signified by God‘s being seen by Jacob, for Jacob represents the Lord’s natural, as has been frequently shown. “Again when he came from Paddan-aram” signifies after he had acquired the knowledges of good and truth which are signified by “Paddan-aram” (n. 3664, 3680, 4112). “And blessed him,” signifies progression to the more interior things of the natural, and the conjunction of good and truth there; for “to bless” is predicated of all the good with which anyone is gifted by the Lord (n. 1420, 1422, 2846, 3017, 3406), especially of the conjunction of good and truth (n. 3504, 3514, 3530, 3565, 3584).

AC 4568. And God said to him, Thy name is Jacob. That this signifies the quality of the Lord‘s external Divine natural, is evident from the signification of “name,” as being quality (n. 144, 145, 1754, 1896, 2009, 2724, 3006, 3421); and from the representation of Jacob, as being the Lord’s Divine natural, of which often above. It is called external, because “Israel” is the Lord‘s internal Divine natural, of which in what now follows.

AC 4569. Thy name shall no more be called Jacob. That this signifies that it should no longer be external only, is evident from what has just been said, and from what now follows concerning Israel.

AC 4570. But Israel shall be thy name. That this signifies the quality of His internal natural, or the quality of the spiritual of this natural, which is “Israel,” and that and He called his name Israel signifies His internal natural, or the celestial spiritual of the natural, is evident from the signification of “name,” as being quality (n. 4568); and from the signification of “Israel,” as being the internal of the Lord’s natural. No one can know why Jacob was called Israel unless he knows what the internal natural is, and what the external natural, and further, what is the celestial spiritual of the natural. These things have indeed been explained above, when Jacob was called Israel by the angel; but as they are of such a nature that very little if anything is known about them, it is necessary to explain again what they are.

[2] There are two things in man that are most distinct from each other, namely, the rational and the natural. The rational constitutes the internal man, and the natural the external; but the natural, like the rational, has also its own external and internal. The external of the natural is from the senses of the body, and from what flows in from the world immediately through these senses. By these man has communication with worldly and bodily things. They who are exclusively in this natural are called sensuous men, for in thought they scarcely go beyond this. But the internal of the natural is constituted of the conclusions drawn analytically and analogically from these things in the external, and yet it draws and deduces its conclusions from the senses. Thus the natural has communication through the senses with worldly and bodily things, and through things analogical and analytical with the rational, and thus with the things of the spiritual world. Such is the natural. There also exists an intermediate which communicates with both the external and the internal, thus by the external with what is in the natural world, and by the internal with what is in the spiritual world. This natural is what Jacob specifically represents, and the internal natural is what Israel represents. The case is the same with the rational, namely, that it is external and internal, and also intermediate; but of the Lord‘s Divine providence this subject shall be spoken of in connection with Joseph, for Joseph represents the external of the rational.

[3] But what the celestial spiritual is has already been stated, namely, that the celestial is that which is of good, and the spiritual that which is of truth; thus the celestial spiritual is that which is of good from truth. Now as the Lord’s church is external and internal, and as by the descendants of Jacob must be represented the internals of the church by means of externals, Jacob could therefore no longer be named Jacob, but Israel (n. 4286, 4292). Be it known moreover that both the rational and the natural are called celestial and spiritual, celestial when they receive good from the Lord, and spiritual when they receive truth from Him; for the good that inflows from the Lord into heaven is called celestial, and the truth is called spiritual. Jacob‘s being called “Israel” signifies in the supreme sense that the Lord, advancing to interior things, made the natural in Himself Divine, both as to its external and as to its internal; for in the supreme sense what is represented has reference to Him.

AC 4571. And God said to him. That this signifies perception from the Divine, is evident from the signification in the historicals of the Word of “to say” as being to perceive (n. 1791, 1815, 1819, 1822, 1898, 1919, 2080, 2619, 2862, 3395, 3509). That it was from the Divine is signified by “God said;” for the Divine was in the Lord from conception. This was His being, for He was conceived from Jehovah, and therefore His perception was from the Divine, but it was according to the state of the reception by His Human, because He made the Human in Himself Divine by successive steps. Hence it is evident that as the Divine or God was in Him, by the words “God said to him” is signified perception from the Divine.

AC 4572. I am God Shaddai. That this signifies the state of temptation past, and now Divine consolation, is evident from the signification of “God Shaddai,” as being temptation and afterwards consolation. For Jehovah or the Lord was called by the ancients “God Shaddai” with reference to temptations and consolation after them (n. 1992, 3667); consequently “God Shaddai” signifies a state of temptation that is past, and now Divine consolation. The reason why it is “past,” is that temptations were previously represented by Jacob, especially when he wrestled with the angel (Gen. 32:25-32), and when he met Esau (Gen. 33:1); and the reason why there is now consolation, is that by these temptations there was effected the conjunction of good and truth in the natural. This conjunction itself causes consolation, because conjunction is the end of temptations; for when he arrives at the end, everyone has consolation according to the hard things he suffered in the means.

[2] Be it known in general that all the conjunction of good with truth is effected by means of temptations, the reason of which is that evils and falsities offer resistance and as it were rebel, and strive in every possible way to prevent the conjunction of good with truth and of truth with good. This combat takes place between the spirits who are with the man, namely, between the spirits who are in evils and falsities, and those who are in goods and truths, and is perceived by the man as a temptation within himself. When therefore the spirits who are in evils and falsities are conquered by the spirits who are in goods and truths, and are compelled to depart, the latter have joy through heaven from the Lord, and this joy is perceived by the man as consolation, and as in himself. But the joy and consolation are not on account of victory, but on account of the conjunction of good and truth; for all conjunction of good and truth has joy within itself, because this conjunction is the heavenly marriage within which is the Divine.

AC 4573. Be fruitful and multiply. That this signifies good and thence truth, Divine, is evident from the fact that “fructifying” is predicated of good, and “multiplying” of truth (n. 43, 55, 913, 983, 2846, 2847).

AC 4574. A nation and a company of nations shall be from thee.  That this signifies good and the Divine forms of good, is evident from the signification of a “nation,” as being the good of the church (n. 1259, 1260, 1362, 1416, 1849); and from the signification of a “company of nations,” as being the truths which are from good, or what is the same, the forms of good; and in the supreme sense, in which the Lord is treated of, the Divine truths which are from Divine good, or the Divine forms of good.

[2] I will first state what the forms of good are, and then show that a “company of nations” signifies them. The truths that are from good are said to be the forms of good because they are nothing else than goods formed. He who conceives of truths in any other way, and especially he who separates them from good, does not know what truths are. Truths do indeed appear as if separate from good, thus as a form by themselves, but only to those who are not in good, or to those who think and speak otherwise than as they will and thence act. For man is so created that his understanding and will may constitute one mind, and they do constitute one mind when the understanding acts as one with the will, that is, when the man thinks and speaks as he wills and thence acts, for in this case the things of his understanding are forms of his will.  The things of the understanding are what are called truths, for truths are properly of the understanding; whereas the things of the will are what are called goods, for goods are properly of the will.  From this it follows that regarded in itself the understanding is nothing but the will formed.

[3] But as the term “form” savors of human philosophy, the matter shall be illustrated by an example, from which will be seen that truths are the forms of good.  In civil and moral life there exist what is honorable (honestum) and what is becoming (decorum). V“hat is honorable is to will well to others from the heart in the affairs of civil life, and what is becoming is to testify this in speech and gesture. Thus regarded in itself what is becoming is nothing but the form of what is honorable, for this Is its origin, and therefore when what is honorable shows itself by what is becoming (that is, in a becoming manner by speech and gesture), that which is honorable appears in every detail of that which is becoming, insomuch that whatever is uttered in the speech or shown in the gesture appears honorable, and is the form or image through which that which is honorable shines forth.  In this way the two things make a one, like an essence and its form, or like what is essential and what is formal. But if anyone separates what is honorable from what is becoming, that is, if anyone wills evil to a companion, and yet speaks well and behaves himself well toward him, there is then no longer anything of what is honorable in the speech and gestures, however much he may study to make a show of the form of what is honorable by what is becoming; for it is really dishonorable, and every discerning person so calls it, because it is either feigned, or fraudulent, or deceitful.

[4] From all this we can see how the case is with truths and goods; for truths in spiritual life are circumstanced as is what is becoming in civil life; and hence it is evident what is the quality of truths when they are the forms of good, and what when separated from good; for when they are not from good they are from some evil, and are its forms, however much they may counterfeit the forms of good.  That a ”company of nations“ denotes the forms of good, may be seen from the signification of ”nations,“ as being goods, of which just above.  Hence a ”company“ or congregation of them denotes a collection of them, which is nothing else than a form; and that this is truth’ has been shown. And as truths are what are signified, and by a ”nation“ is signified good, it is therefore said not only that a ”nation“ shall be from him, but also a ”company of nations;“ otherwise one expression would have sufficed. Moreover in the Word a ”company,“ a ” congregation,“ and a ”multitude,“ are said of truths. What ”multitude“ is, and ”being multiplied, (n. 43, 55, 913, 983, 2846, 2847).

AC 4575. And kings shall go forth from thy loins. That this signifies truths from the Divine marriage, is evident from the signification of “kings,” as being truths (n. 1672, 1728, 2015, 2069, 3009, 3670); and from the signification of “loins,” as being the things of conjugial love (n. 3021, 4277, 4280), consequently those of the heavenly marriage, and in the supreme sense of the Divine marriage.  Truths from the Divine marriage are those which proceed from the Lord‘s Divine Human, and are called holy, for the Lord’s Divine Human is the Divine marriage itself, and the things which proceed from it are holy, and are called celestial and spiritual, and effect the heavenly marriage, which is truth conjoined with good, and good conjoined with truth.  This marriage exists in heaven, and in everyone who is in heaven, and also in everyone who is in the church, provided he is in good and at the same time in truth

AC 4576. And the land which I gave unto Abraham and to Isaac, to thee I will give it.  That this signifies the Divine good appropriated, is evident from the signification of “land,” as being good. For the land of Canaan which is here meant by “the land,” denotes in the internal sense the Lord‘s kingdom, and hence the church, which is the Lord’s kingdom on earth (n. 1607, 3481, 3705, 4447, 4517), and as it denotes these, it denotes good, for this is the very essential thing of the Lord‘s kingdom and church.  But in the supreme sense the “land of Canaan” denotes the Lord’s Divine good, for the good which is in the Lord‘s kingdom in the heavens and on earth is from the Lord.  The above is evident also from the representation of Abraham and Isaac, as being the Lord’s Divine--Abraham the Divine Itself, and Isaac the Divine Human, specifically the Lord‘s Divine rational.  Concerning Abraham (n. 1989, 2011, 3245, 3251, 3439, 3703, 4206, 4207); and Isaac, (n. 1893, 2066, 2072, 2083, 2630, 2774, 3012, 3194, 3210, 4180); and from the signification of “giving the land to thee,” as being to appropriated it to the natural; for by Jacob, who here is “thee” is represented the Lord’s Divine natural, as has been frequently shown. From all this it is evident that by “the land which I gave to Abraham and to Isaac, to thee will I give it” is signified the Divine good appropriated.

AC 4577. And to thy seed after thee will I give the land. That this signifies Divine truth appropriated, is evident from the signification of “seed,” as being the truth of faith (n. 1025, 1447, 1610, 1940), and in the supreme sense the Divine truth (n. 3038); and from the signification of “giving the land,” as being to appropriate good (n. 4576); thus by “giving the land to thy seed,” is signified in the supreme sense to appropriate Divine good to Divine truth. But that it is the Divine truth which is appropriated, is because before the Lord was glorified He was in respect to his Human the Divine truth, and hence the Lord says of Himself that He is “the Truth” (John 14:6), and hence also He is called the “seed of the woman” (Gen. 3:15).  But after the Lord had been glorified in respect to His Human, He became the Divine good; and then from Him as the Divine good proceeded and proceeds the Divine truth, which is the “Spirit of truth” that the Lord was to send, as said in (John 14:16, 17; 15:26, 27; 16:13-15): see (n. 3704). From all this it is evident that by the words “to thy seed after thee” is signified in the supreme sense the Divine truth appropriated to Him; and also that the Divine truth proceeds from the Divine good which is Himself, and is appropriated to those who are in good and thence in truth

AC 4578. And God went up from upon him, in the place in which He spake with him. That this signifies the Divine in this state, is evident from the signification of “God went up from upon him,” as being the Divine; for “to go up” involves elevation to interior things, and when predicated of the Lord, who here is “God,” it denotes elevation to the Divine (n. 4539); and from the signification of the “place in which He spake with him,” as being this state. “Place” denotes state, (n. 2625, 2837, 3356, 3387, 4321). Hence the “place in which He spake with him” denotes the state in which He was.

AC 4579. Verses 14, 15. And Jacob set up a pillar in the place in which He spake with him, a pillar of stone; and he poured out a drinking thereon, and poured oil thereon. And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Bethel. “And Jacob set up a pillar in the place in which He spake with him, a pillar of stone,” signifies the holy of truth in that Divine state; “and he poured out a drink-offering thereon,” signifies the Divine good of truth; “and poured oil thereon,” signifies the Divine good of love; “and Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Bethel,” signifies the Divine natural and its state.

AC 4580. And Jacob set up a pillar in the place in which He spake with him, a pillar of stone. That this signifies the holy of truth in that Divine state, is evident from the signification of a “pillar,” as being the holy of truth; and from the signification of “in the place in which He spake with him,” as being in that state (n. 4578). Something shall first be said with regard to the origin of the setting up of pillars, and of the pouring a drink-offering upon them, and of pouring oil upon them.

[2] The pillars set up in ancient times were either for a sign, or for a witness, or for worship. Those for worship were anointed, and were then holy, and worship was also held there, thus in temples, in groves, in forests under the trees, and in other places.  This ritual  derived its representation from the fact that in the most ancient times stones were set up on the boundaries between families of nations, lest they should pass over the boundaries to do one another evil, as for instance in the case of Laban and Jacob, (Gen. 31:52). That they should not pass the boundaries to do evil was to them a law of nations.  And as the stones were on the boundaries, when the most ancient people (who in everything on the earth saw a corresponding celestial and spiritual thing) saw these stones as boundaries, they thought about the truths which are the ultimates of order. But their descendants, who beheld in objects less of what is spiritual and celestial, and more of what is worldly, began to think of them with sanctity merely from the veneration derived from old time. And at last the descendants of the most ancient people who lived immediately before the flood, and who no longer saw anything spiritual and celestial in earthly and worldly things regarded as objects, began to regard these stones as holy, pouring drink-offerings upon them, and anointing them with oil; and they were then called “pillars,” and were used for worship.

[3] This remained after the flood in the Ancient Church, which was representative, but with the difference that the pillars served these people as a means for attaining to internal worship; for the infants and children were instructed by their parents in regard to what they represented, and were thus brought to know holy things, and to be affected with the things which the pillars represented. It is for this reason that the ancients had pillars for worship in their temples, groves, and forests, and upon hills and mountains. But when the internal of worship altogether perished with the Ancient Church, and they began to hold the externals as holy and Divine, and thus to worship them idolatrously, they then erected pillars for their several gods. And as the posterity of Jacob were most prone to idolatrous things, they were forbidden to erect pillars, and also to have groves, and even to hold any worship upon mountains and hills; but they were to be gathered together to one place, where the ark was, and afterwards where the temple was, thus to Jerusalem; otherwise each family would have had its own externals and idols that they would have worshiped, and consequently a representative of a church could not have been instituted with that nation. Concerning pillars, (n. 3727). All this shows what was the origin of the pillars, and what they signified, and that when they were employed in worship they represented holy truth, and therefore it is here said “a pillar of stone,” for a “stone” signifies truth in the ultimate of order (n. 1298, 3720, 3769, 3771, 3773, 3789, 3798). Be it known moreover that what is holy is especially predicated of Divine truth; for the Divine is in the Lord, and Divine truth proceeds from Him (n. 3704, 4577), and is called the Holy.

AC 4581. And he poured out a drink-offering thereon. That this signifies the Divine good of truth, is evident from the signification of a “drink-offering,” as being the Divine good of truth, of which below; but first I will state what the good of truth is. The good of truth is that which has elsewhere been called the good of faith, and is love toward the neighbor, or charity.  There are two universal kinds of good, one of which is called the good of faith, and the other the good of love. The good of faith is what is signified by a “drink-offering,” and the good of love by “oil.” They who are brought by the Lord to good by an internal way are in the good of love, but they who are brought by an external way are in the good of faith. The men of the celestial church, and likewise the angels of the inmost or third heaven, are in the good of love; but the men of the spiritual church, and likewise the angels of the middle or second heaven, are in the good of faith. For this reason the former good is called celestial good, but the latter spiritual good. The difference is the same as that between willing well from good will, and willing well from good understanding.  The latter therefore, namely, spiritual good, or the good of faith, or the good of truth, is what is signified by a “drink-offering;” but the former, namely, celestial good, or the good of love, is what is understood in the internal sense by “oil.”

[2] That such things were signified by the “oil” and the “drink-offering” cannot indeed be seen except from the internal sense, and yet it must be apparent to everyone that holy things were represented, for otherwise what else would be the pouring out of a drink-offering and of oil upon a pillar of stone than a ridiculous and idolatrous performance? And so in the making of a king, unless holy things were signified and involved in the putting of a crown on his head, anointing him with oil from a horn upon his forehead and upon his wrists, putting a scepter into his hand besides a sword and keys, investing him with a crimson robe and than seating him upon a throne of silver; and afterwards in his riding on a horse in royal trappings and being served at table by those of highest rank, not to mention other formalities, unless all these ceremonies represented holy things, and were venerable through their correspondence with the things of heaven and thence of the church, they would be like babies‘ plays on a larger scale, or like plays on the stage.

[3] Nevertheless all these rituals derived their origin from the most ancient times, when rituals were holy from their representing holy things, and from correspondence with the holy things in heaven and thence in the church. Moreover at the present day they are regarded as venerable, not because it is known what they represent, or to what they correspond, but by an interpretation as of emblems that are in use. But if it were known what each of these things represents, and to what holy thing it corresponds the crown, the oil, the horn, the scepter, the sword, the keys, riding upon a white horse, and eating while nobles are serving men would think of them with much more reverence. But this they do not know, and wonderful to say, do not desire to know, to such a degree have the representatives and significatives which are in such things and everywhere in the Word been at the present day destroyed in the minds of men.

[4] That a “drink-offering” signifies the good of truth, or spiritual good, may be seen from the sacrifices in which it was employed. Sacrifices were made from the herd or from the flock, and were representative of the internal worship of the Lord (n. 922, 923, 1823, 2180, 2805, 2807, 2830, 3519). To these were added the meat-offering and the drink-offering. The meat-offering, which consisted of fine flour mingled with oil, signified celestial good, or what is the same, the good of love, “oil” signifying love to the Lord, and “fine flour” charity toward the neighbor. But the drink-offering, which consisted of wine, signified spiritual good, or what is the same, the good of faith.  Both together therefore (namely, the meat-offering and the drink-offering) signified the same things as the bread and wine in the Holy Supper.

[5] That these were added to the burnt-offerings and sacrifices, is evident in Moses:--

Thou shalt offer two lambs of the first year day by day continually; the one lamb thou shalt offer in the morning, and the other lamb shalt thou offer between the evenings; and a tenth of fine flour mingled with beaten oil, a fourth of a hin, and drink-offering of the fourth of a hin of wine for the first lamb and so also for the second lamb (Exod. 29:38-41).

In the same:

In the day when ye wave the sheaf of the firstfruits of the harvest, ye shall offer a lamb without blemish of the first year, for a burnt-offering unto Jehovah, the meat-offering whereof shall be two tenths of fine flour mingled with oil, and the drink-offering whereof shall be of wine, the fourth of a hin (Lev.  23:12, 13, 18).

Again:

On the day when the days of his Naziriteship are fulfilled, he shall offer his gift unto Jehovah (sacrifices), and a basket of unleavened things of fine flour, cakes mingled with oil, with unleavened wafers anointed with oil, with their meat-offering and their drink-offerings (Num. 6:13-15, 17).

Again:--

Upon the burnt-offering they shall offer a meat-offering of a tenth of fine flour mingled with the fourth of a hin of oil; and wine for the drink-offering, the fourth of a hin, in one manner for the burnt-offering of a ram, and in another manner for that of an ox (Num. 15:3-5, 11).

Again:

With the burnt-offering of the daily sacrifice thou shalt offer a drink-offering, the fourth of a hin for a lamb in the holy place shalt thou pour out a drink-offering of wine unto Jehovah (Num. 28:6, 7).

Moreover concerning the meat-offerings and drink-offerings in the sacrifices of various kinds, see (Num. 28:7-31 29:1-40).

[6] That the meat-offering and the drink-offering had this signification, may be seen from the fact that love and faith effect everything of worship; and it may be seen above that the bread (which here is of fine flour mingled with oil) and the wine in the Holy Supper signify love and faith, thus everything of worship (n. 1798, 2165, 2177, 2187, 2343, 2359, 3464, 3735, 3813, 4211, 4217).

[7] But when the people fell away from the genuine representative of the worship of the Lord, and turned away to other gods and poured out drink-offerings to them, then by the drink-offerings were signified things which are opposite to charity and faith, namely, the evils and falsities of the love of the world, as in Isaiah:

Ye did become heated with gods under every green tree, thou hast also poured out to them a drink-offering, thou hast offered a meat-offering (Isa. 57:5, 6);

“to become heated with gods” denotes the concupiscences of falsity. “Gods” denote falsities, (n. 4402, 4544); “under every green tree” denotes from the belief of all falsities (n. 2722, 4552); “to pour out to them a drink-offering and offer a meat-offering” denotes the worship of them. Again:

Ye that forsake Jehovah, that forget the mountain of My holiness, that prepare a table for Gad, and fill a drink-offering to Meni (Isa. 65:11).

In Jeremiah:

The sons gather wood, and the fathers kindle a fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes to the queen of the heavens, and to pour out a drink-offering to other gods (Jer. 7:18).

[8] Again:

Doing we will do every word that is gone forth out of our mouth, to burn incense to the queen of the heavens, and to pour out drink-offerings to her as we and our fathers have done, and our princes in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem (Jer. 44:17-19);

“the queen of the heavens” denotes all falsities, for in the genuine sense the “armies of the heavens” are truths, but in the opposite sense falsities, and in like manner the “king and queen;” thus the “queen” denotes all of them, and “to pour drink-offerings to her” is to worship.

[9] Again:

The Chaldeans shall burn the city, and the houses upon whose roofs they have offered incense to Baal, and have poured out drink-offerings to other gods (Jer. 32:29);

“the Chaldeans” denote those who are in worship in which there is falsity; “to burn the city” denotes to destroy and vastate those who are in doctrinal things of what is false; “to offer incense to Baal upon the roofs of the houses” denotes the worship of what is evil; “to pour out drink-offerings to other gods” denotes the worship of what is false.

[10] In Hosea:

They shall not dwell in Jehovah’s land, and Ephraim shall return into Egypt, and they shall eat what is unclean in Assyria they shall not pour out wine to Jehovah (Hosea 9:3, 4);

“not to dwell in Jehovah‘s land” denotes not to be in the good of love; “Ephraim shall return into Eat” denotes that the intellectual of the church will become mere knowledge and sensuous; “they shall eat what is unclean in Assyria” denotes impure and profane things from reasoning; “they shall not pour out wine to Jehovah” denotes no worship from truth.

[11] In Moses:--

It shall be said, Where are their gods, the rock in which they trusted, that did eat the fat of the sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink-offering? let them arise and help them (Deut. 32:37, 38);

“gods,” as above, denote falsities; “that did eat the fat of the sacrifices” denotes that they destroyed the good of worship; “that drank the wine of their drink-offering” denotes that they destroyed the truth of worship. Drink-offerings are also predicated of blood, in David:

They shall multiply their griefs, they have hastened to another, lest I pour out their drink-offerings of blood, and lest I take up their names upon my lips (Ps. 16:4);

and by these words are signified the profanations of truth; for in this sense “blood” denotes violence offered to charity (n. 374, 1005), and profanation (n. 1003).

AC 4582. And poured oil thereon. That this signifies the Divine good of love, is evident from the signification of “oil,” as being the Divine good of love (n. 886, 3728). By “setting up a pillar of stone and pouring out a drink-offering and oil upon it,” is described in the internal sense the process of advance from truth which is in the ultimate, to interior truth and good, and at last to the good of love. For the “pillar of stone” is truth in the ultimate of order (n. 4580), the “drink-offering” is interior truth and good (n. 4581), and the “oil” is the good of love. Such was the Lord’s process of advancement in making His Human Divine, and such also is that undergone by man when by regeneration the Lord makes him celestial.

AC 4583. And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Bethel. That this signifies the Divine natural and its state, is evident from the signification of “calling a name,” as being quality (n. 144, 145, 1754, 2009, 2724, 3006, 3421); and from the signification of “Bethel,” as being the Divine natural (n. 4559, 4560). That it is the state of this that is referred to, is signified by “the place where God spake with him” (n. 4578).

AC 4584. Verses 16-20. And they journeyed from Bethel; and there was still a tract of land to come to Ephrath; and Rachel brought forth, and suffered hard things in her bringing forth. And it came to pass in her suffering hard things in her bringing forth that the midwife said unto her, Fear not, for this also is to thee a son.  And it came to pass as her soul was going forth, that she was about to die; and she called his name Benoni; and his father called him Benjamin. And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, this is Bethlehem. And Jacob set up a pillar upon her grave; this is the pillar of Rachel‘s grave even to this day. “And they journeyed from Bethel, and there was still a tract of land to come to Ephrath,” signifies that now was the spiritual of the celestial.  “Joseph” is the celestial of the spiritual; “and Rachel brought forth, and suffered hard things in her bringing forth,” signifies the temptations of interior truth; “and it came to pass in her suffering hard things in her bringing forth,” signifies after temptations; “that the midwife said unto her, Fear not,” signifies perception from the natural; “for this also is to thee a son,” signifies spiritual truth; “and it came to pass as her soul was in departing that she was about to die,” signifies a state of temptations; “and she called his name Benoni,” signifies the quality of this state; “and his father called him Benjamin,” signifies the quality of the spiritual of the celestial; “and Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath,” signifies the end of the former affection of interior truth; “this is Bethlehem,” signifies in place thereof the resurrection of a new spiritual of the celestial; “and Jacob set up a pillar upon her grave,” signifies the holy of the spiritual truth that would rise again there; “this is the pillar of Rachel’s grave even to this day,” signifies the state of the holy forever.

AC 4585. And they journeyed from Bethel, and there was still a tract of land to come to Ephrath. That this signifies that now was the spiritual of the celestial, is evident from the signification of “journeying from Bethel” as being what is continuous of the advancement of the Divine from the Divine natural. “Journeying” denotes what is continuous, (n. 4554), here in the supreme sense what is continuous of the advancement of the Divine, and “Bethel” is the Divine natural, (n. 4559, 4560); from the signification of a “tract of land in coming,” as being what is intermediate; and from the signification of “Ephrath,” as being the spiritual of the celestial in a former state (of which below where Bethlehem is treated of, which is the spiritual of the celestial in a new state), hence it is said, “Ephrath, this is Bethlehem” (verse 19).

[2] In these verses the subject treated of is the advancement of the Lord‘s Divine toward interior things, for when the Lord made His Human Divine He advanced in a like order to that in which He makes man new by regeneration, namely, from what is external to interior things, thus from the truth which is in the ultimate of order to a good which is interior, and is called spiritual good, and from this to celestial good. But these things cannot fall into the understanding of anyone unless it is known what the external man and the internal man are, and that the former is distinct from the latter, although while man is living in the body they appear as one; also unless it is known that the natural constitutes the external man, and the rational the internal; and further, unless it is known what the spiritual is and what the celestial.

[3] These things have indeed already been occasionally unfolded, nevertheless they who have previously had no idea about them in consequence of having no desire to know the things of eternal life, find it impossible to have any such idea. Such people say, “What is the internal man? Is it possible that it can be distinct from the external? What is the natural, and the rational? Are they not one?  Moreover, What is the spiritual, and the celestial? Is not this a new distinction? We have heard of the spiritual, but that the celestial is something else we have not heard.” The case however is thus: They who have not previously acquired any idea on these subjects, for the reason that the cares of the world and of the body have possession of’ all their thought and take away all desire of knowing anything else; or because they deem it sufficient to know their doctrinal tenets as they are commonly known, and that it is of no consequence to have any further thought about the matter, saying, “We see the world, but the other life we do not see, perhaps it exists and perhaps not” much persons put away all these subjects, for even at the first look they at heart reject them.

[4] Nevertheless as they are such things as are contained in the internal sense of the Word, and these cannot be explained without adequate terms, and we have no terms more adequate for expressing exterior things than the term natural, for interior things than the term rational, for those things which are of truth the term spiritual, and those which are of good the term celestial, it is absolutely necessary to make use of these terms, for without terms adapted to the subject nothing can be described. In order therefore that those who desire to know may receive some idea of what the spiritual of the celestial is which Benjamin represents and which “Bethlehem” signifies, I will briefly explain it. In the supreme sense the subject that has been treated of is the glorification of the Lord‘s natural, and in the relative sense the regeneration of man as to his natural. That Jacob represented the man of the church as to his external, and Israel as to his internal, thus Jacob as to his exterior natural, and Israel as to his interior natural, has been shown above (n. 4286); for the spiritual man is from the natural, and the celestial man is from the rational. It has also been shown that the Lord’s glorification advanced from external things to more interior things, in like manner as the regeneration of man advances, and that for the sake of this representation Jacob was called “Israel.”

[5] But a further advance toward more interior things is now treated of, namely, toward the rational, for as just said, the rational constitutes the internal man.  The intermediate between the internal of the natural and the external of the rational is what is meant by the spiritual of the celestial, which is signified by “Ephrath” and “Bethlehem,” and is represented by Benjamin. This intermediate derives somewhat from the internal of the natural which is “Israel,” and from the external of the rational which is “Joseph;” for that which is intermediate derives something from each extreme, otherwise it could not serve as an intermediate. In order that anyone from being spiritual may become celestial, he must needs advance through this intermediate, for to climb up to higher things without an intermediate is not possible.

[6] And therefore the nature of the advance through this intermediate is here described by Jacob‘s coming to Ephrath, and by Rachel’s bringing forth Benjamin there. Hence it is evident that by their journeying from Bethel, and by there being yet a tract of land to come to Ephrath, is signified what is continuous of the advancement of the Lord‘s Divine from the Divine natural to the spiritual of the celestial which is signified by “Ephrath” and “Bethlehem,” and is represented by Benjamin. The spiritual of the celestial is the intermediate that is spoken of, being called “spiritual” from the spiritual man, which viewed in itself is the interior of the natural man, and “celestial” from the celestial man, which viewed in itself is the rational man. “Joseph” is the exterior rational man, and therefore the celestial of the spiritual from the rational is predicated of him.

AC 4586. And Rachel brought forth, and suffered hard things in her bringing forth. That this signifies the temptations of interior truth, is evident from the signification of “bringing forth,” as being the coming forth of the spiritual things which are of truth and of the celestial things which are of good, for in the internal sense “to bring forth” denotes the things of the spiritual birth (n. 1145, 1255, 2584, 3860, 3868, 3905, 3915, 3919, 4070); from the representation of Rachel, as being the affection of interior truth (n. 3758, 3782, 3793, 3819); and from the signification of “suffering hard things,” as being to undergo temptations, for when “to suffer hard things” is predicated of truths and goods, or of spiritual things and celestial things, it cannot mean anything else, because no one can attain to these except by means of temptations, for then interior goods and truths fight with the evils and falsities from what is hereditary and what is actual, the man being kept by the Lord from within in goods and truths, and being assaulted by the evils and falsities which burst forth from what is hereditary, and which are present from what is actual, that is, by the spirits and genii who are in these evils and falsities and are with the man. Hence come temptations, whereby not only are evils and falsities, when overcome, cast out and removed, but also goods and truths are confirmed. These are the things which are signified by Rachel’s bringing forth, and by her suffering hard things in her bringing forth.

AC 4587. And it came to pass in her suffering hard things in her bringing forth. That this signifies after temptations, is evident from what was said just above (n. 4586), and thus without further explication.

AC 4588. That the midwife said unto her, Fear not. That this signifies perception from the natural, is evident from the signification of “saying” in the historicals of the Word as being perception (n. 1791, 1815, 1819, 1822, 1898, 1919, 2080, 2619, 2862, 3395, 3509); and from the signification of a “midwife,” as being the natural. The reason why “midwife” here denotes the natural is that when interior temptations are being undergone, that is, when the interior man is undergoing temptations, the natural is then like a midwife; for unless the natural affords aid, it is impossible for any birth of interior truth to take place; for when interior truths are born, it is the natural which receives them into its bosom, because it affords the opportunity for them to work their way out. It is always the case with the things of spiritual birth, that their reception must be wholly in the natural; and this is the reason why when a man is being regenerated, the natural is first prepared to receive; and in so far as this is made receptive, so far interior truths and goods can be brought forth and multiplied. This is also the reason why if during the bodily life the natural man has not been prepared to receive the truths and goods of faith, he cannot receive them in the other life, consequently cannot be saved. This is what is meant by the common saying that as the tree falls, so it lies; or as man dies, such he will be. For man has with him in the other life all his natural memory, or that of his external man, although not there permitted to use it, (n. 2469-2494), so that it is there as a foundation plane, into which interior truths and goods fall; and if this plane is not receptacle of the goods and truths which flow in from within, these interior goods and truths are either extinguished, or perverted, or rejected. From all this it is evident that the natural is like a midwife.

[2] That in so far as the natural is a recipient when the interior man brings forth, it is like a midwife, may be seen also from the internal sense of the things related of the mid-wives who contrary to the command of Pharaoh saved alive the sons of the Hebrew women, of which we read in Moses:

The king of Egypt said to the midwives of the Hebrew women, and he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools, if it be a son, then ye shall kill him, but if it be a daughter, then she shall live. But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt spake to them, but saved the male children alive. And the king of Egypt called the midwives, and said unto them, Why have ye done this word, and have saved the male children alive? And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women, for they are lively, and have brought forth ere the midwife come unto them. And God did well to the midwives, and the people were multiplied, and became very numerous. And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that He made them houses (Exod. 1:15-21);

by the daughters and sons the Hebrew women brought forth, are represented the goods and truths of a new church; by the midwives, the natural in so far as it is a recipient of goods and truths; by the king of Egypt, memory-knowledge in general (n. 1164, 1165, 1186), which extinguishes truths when it enters into the things of faith by an inverted way, believing nothing except what the senses and memory-knowledge dictate. That the “midwives” here are receptions of truth in the natural, will of the Lord‘s Divine mercy be confirmed when the contents of that chapter come to be unfolded.

AC 4589. For this also is to thee a son.  That this signifies spiritual truth, may be seen from the signification of a “son,” as being truth (n. 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, 3373); here spiritual truth, because the “son” here is Benjamin, by whom is represented the spiritual of the celestial.

AC 4590. And it came to pass as her soul was in departing that she was about to die.  That this signifies a state of temptations, is evident from the signification of the “soul going forth and dying,” as being the utmost of temptation, which exists when the old man is dying and the new man is receiving life.  That this is the signification is manifest from what precedes, in that her “suffering hard things in bringing forth” denotes the temptation of interior truth (n. 4586, 4587); and from what follows at (verse 19), that “Rachel died.”

AC 4591. And she called his name Benoni.  That this signifies the quality of this state, is evident from the signification of “calling a name,” as being quality, as often shown above.  The state here described in the internal sense is a state of temptations, the quality of which is what is signified by “Benoni,” for in the original language “Benoni” means “the son of my sorrow” or “mourning.” In ancient times names significative of the state were given to infants, (n. 1946, 2643, 3422, 4298).

AC 4592. And his father called him Benjamin.  That this signifies the quality of the spiritual of the celestial, is evident from the representation of Benjamin, as being the spiritual of the celestial.  What this is was explained above (n. 4585), namely, that it is the intermediate which exists between the spiritual and the celestial, or between the spiritual man and the celestial man.  In the original language “Benjamin” means “the son of the right hand;” and by a “son of the right hand” is signified spiritual truth which is from celestial good and the consequent power, for good has power by means of truth (n. 3563). A “son” is truth (n. 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, 3373), and the “hand” is power (n. 878, 3091, 3563); hence the “right hand” is the highest power.  Hence it is evident what is signified by “sitting at the right hand of God,” namely, a state of power by virtue of the truth which is from good (n. 3387), which when predicated of the Lord is omnipotence, and also the Divine truth which proceeds from the Lord’s Divine good (Ps. 110:1; Matt. 22:44; 26:63, 64; Mark 14:61, 62; 16:19; Luke 22:69); and whereas it denotes Divine power that is, omnipotent is therefore said, “at the right hand of the power” (or virtue) “of God.”

[2] It is manifest from this what in the genuine sense is signified by “Benjamin,” namely, the spiritual truth which is from the celestial good which is “Joseph.” Both together therefore are that intermediate which as before said is between the spiritual man and the celestial man (n. 4585).  But this good and this truth are distinct from the celestial which is represented by “Judah,” and the spiritual which is represented by “Israel,” of which the former is higher or more interior, and the latter is lower or more external, for as before said they are an intermediate.  But no one can have an idea of the good which is represented by Joseph, and of the truth which is represented by Benjamin, except the man who is enlightened by the light of heaven.  The angels have a clear idea of them, because all the ideas of their thought are from the light of heaven which is from the Lord, in which they see and perceive illimitable things which man cannot possibly comprehend, still less utter.  As an illustration take the following.

[3] All men whatever are born natural, with the power of becoming either celestial or spiritual; but the Lord alone was born spiritual celestial, and for this reason He was born at Bethlehem, where is the boundary of the land of Benjamin, for by “Bethlehem” is signified the spiritual of the celestial, and by Benjamin is represented the spiritual of the celestial. The reason why the Lord alone was born spiritual celestial, is that the Divine was in Him.  These things cannot possibly he comprehended by anyone who is not in the light of heaven; for he who is in the light of the world, and has his perception therefrom, scarcely knows what truth is and what good is, still less what it is to ascend through degrees to the interior things of truth and good; thus he is in complete ignorance of those innumerable things of truth and good in every degree which are manifest before the angels as in noonday light.  Hence it is evident of what nature is the wisdom of angels relatively to that of men.

[4] There are six names which frequently occur in the prophets where the church is treated of, namely, “Judah,” “Joseph,” “Benjamin,” “Ephraim,” “Israel,” and “Jacob.” He who does not know what of the good and truth of the church is meant by each one of these in the internal sense, cannot possibly know anything of the Divine arcana of the Word there.  Nor can he know what of the church is meant, unless he knows what the celestial is which is “Judah,” what the celestial of the spiritual is which is “Joseph,” what the spiritual of the celestial is which is “Benjamin,” what the intellectual of the church is which is “Ephraim,” what the internal spiritual is which is “Israel,” and what the external spiritual is which is “Jacob.”

[5] As regards Benjamin specifically, as he represents the spiritual of the celestial, and Joseph the celestial of the spiritual, and thus both together the intermediate between the celestial and the spiritual man, and as they are consequently most closely conjoined, therefore also their conjunction is described in the history of Joseph as follows:--

Joseph told his brethren that they must bring their youngest brother, Lest they should die (Gen. 42:20).

When they returned with Benjamin, and Joseph saw Benjamin his brother, he said, Is this your youngest brother? And be said, God be gracious unto thee, my son And Joseph made haste, for his bowels did yearn toward his brother; and he sought where to weep, and he therefore entered into his chamber, and wept there (Gen. 43:29, 30)

He multiplied Benjamin‘s portion five-fold above the portions of them all (Gen. 43:34)

After be had made himself known to his brethren, be fell upon his brother Benjamin’s necks and wept; and Benjamin wept upon his necks (Gen. 45:14).

He gave changes of garments to them all, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver, and five changes of garments (Gen. 45:22).

[6] From all this it is evident that Joseph and Benjamin were most closely conjoined, not because they were of one mother, but because by them is represented the spiritual conjunction which exists between the good which is “Joseph” and the truth which is “Benjamin,” and because both are intermediate between the celestial and the spiritual man.  For this reason Joseph could not be conjoined with his brethren, nor with his father, except by means of Benjamin, for without an intermediate no conjunction is possible, and this was the reason why Joseph did not reveal himself sooner.

[7] Moreover by “Benjamin” in other parts of the Word, especially the prophetic, is signified the spiritual truth which is of the church, as in the prophecy of Moses concerning the sons of Israel:--

To Benjamin he said, The beloved of Jehovah, He shall dwell confidently upon him, covering upon him all the day, and He shall dwell between his shoulders (Deut. 33:12);

“the beloved of Jehovah” is spiritual truth which is from celestial good; it is said of this good that it “dwells confidently” with that truth, “covers it the whole day,” and also “dwells between its shoulders,” for in the internal sense the “shoulders” denote all power (n. 1085), and good has all its power by means of truth (n. 3563).

[8] In Jeremiah:--

Flee ye sons of Benjamin out of the midst of Jerusalem, and sounding sound with the trumpet, and take up a prophecy upon the house of the vineyard; for evil looks forth from the north, and a great shattering (Jer. 6:1);

“the sons of Benjamin” denote spiritual truth from the celestial; “Jerusalem” denotes the spiritual church; the “house of the vineyard,” or “Bethhaccherem,” the same; the “evil out of the north,” man‘s sensuous and the derivative memory-knowledge.  Again:--

It shall come to pass if ye hallow the sabbath day they shall enter in from the cities of Judah, and from the circuits of Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the plain, and from the mountain, and from the south, offering burnt-offering and sacrifice, and meat-offering, and frankincense, and offering thanksgiving, unto the house of Jehovah (Jer. 17:24, 26).

[9] And again elsewhere:--

In the cities of the mountain, in the cities of the plain, in the cities of the south, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the circuits of Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, shall the flocks yet pass over beside the hands of him that numbereth them (Jer. 33:13);

here also the “land of Benjamin” denotes the spiritual truth of the church; for all the things of the church, from the first degree to the last, are signified by the “cities of Judah,” the “circuits of Jerusalem,” the “land of Benjamin,” the “plain,” the “mountain,” and the “south.”

[10] In Hosea:--

Sound ye with the horn in Gibeah, with the trumpet in Ramah, shout ye Bethaven, after thee Benjamin, Ephraim shall become solitudes in the day of rebuke (Hosea 5:8, 9);

“Gibeah,” “Ramah,” and “Bethaven” denote the things of that spiritual truth from the celestial which is “Benjamin,” for Gibeah was in Benjamin (Judges 19:14), and Ramah also (Josh. 18:25), and likewise Bethaven (Josh. 18:12); “to sound with the horn and with the trumpet,” and “to shout,” denote to announce that the intellectual of the church, which is “Ephraim,” is made desolate.

[11] In Obadiah:--

The house of Jacob shall become a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, the house of Esau for stubble; and they of the south shall inherit the mountain of Esau, and those who are in the plain the Philistines and they shall inherit the field of Ephraim, and the field of Samaria; and Benjamin, Gilead (Obadiah 1:18, 19);

that names signify things is very evident here, as in other places, for unless it is known what is signified by the “house of Jacob,” the “house of Joseph,” the “house of Esau,” the “mountain of Esau,” the “Philistines,” the “field of Ephraim,” the “field of Samaria,” “Benjamin,” and “Gilead,” and moreover what by “them of the south,” by a “house,” a “plain,” a “mountain,” and a “field,” nothing here can possibly be comprehended; nor were the things done that are here historically related. But the man who knows what each expression involves, will find heavenly arcana therein.  Here also “Benjamin” is the spiritual from the celestial.

[12] In like manner these words in Zechariah:--

Jehovah shall be king upon the whole earth; in that day there shall be one Jehovah, and His name one; the whole earth shall encompass as a plain from Gibeah even to Rimmon, and she shall dwell under herself thence from Benjamin’s gate even unto the place of the first gate, even unto the gate of the corners, and from the tower of Hananeel even unto the king‘s wine-presses (Zech. 14:9, 10).

So in David:--

Give ear O Shepherd, Thou that leadest Joseph like a flock, Thou that sittest upon the cherubim before Ephraim, and Benjamin, and Manasseh, stir up Thy power, and come to save us (Ps. 80:1, 2).

So in the prophecy of Deborah and Barak:--

Jehovah shall rule for me among the mighty; out of Ephraim whose root is in Amalek, after thee Benjamin in thy peoples, out of Machir shall come down lawgivers, and out of Zebulun they that draw the scepter of the scribe (Judges 5:13, 14).

[13] In John:--

I heard the number of the sealed, a hundred and forty-four thousand sealed out of every tribe of Israel; of the tribe of Zebulun were sealed twelve thousand, if the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand, of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand (Rev. 7:4, 8);

where by the “tribes of Israel” are signified those who are in goods and truths, and therefore in the Lord’s kingdom; for “tribes” and “twelve,” or what is the same “twelve thousand,” are all things of love and faith, or all things of good and truth (n. 577, 2089, 2129, 2130, 3272, 3858, 3913, 3926, 3939, 4060). These things are here distributed into four classes, the last of which is the twelve thousand sealed of Zebulun, and of Joseph, and of Benjamin, because by the tribe of Zebulun is signified the heavenly marriage (n. 3960, 3961), in which is heaven, thus in which are all things; “Joseph” here is the celestial of the spiritual, or the good of truth; and “Benjamin” is the truth of this good, or the spiritual of the celestial.  This is the conjugial in heaven, and therefore these are named last.

[14] As Benjamin represented the spiritual of the celestial in the church, or the truth of good, which is the intermediate between celestial good and spiritual truth, therefore Jerusalem fell as an inheritance to the sons of Benjamin; for before Zion was built there, “Jerusalem” signified the church in general. Jerusalem fell to Benjamin (Joshua 18:28; Judges 1:21).

AC 4593. And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath.  That this signifies the end of the former affection of interior truth, is evident from the signification of “dying,” as being to cease to be such (n. 494), thus the end; from the representation of Rachel, as being the affection of interior truth (n. 3758, 3782, 3793, 3819); from the signification of “to be buried,” as being the rejection of a former state, and the resuscitation of a new one (n. 2916, 2917, 3256); and from the signification of “Ephrath,” as being the spiritual of the celestial in a former state (n. 4585).  From all this it is evident that by Rachel‘s dying and being buried in the way to Ephrath is signified the end of the former state of the affection of interior truth and the resuscitation of a new state which is “Bethlehem,” the explication of which follows.

[2] In the genuine sense by Rachel’s dying and being buried in the way to Ephrath is signified that which is hereditary, in that by means of temptations it was expelled forever, and which was the human affection of interior truth, which the Divine affection expelled.  It was for this reason that this son was called by his mother “Benoni,” or “ son of Sorrow,” but by his father “Benjamin,” or “son of the right hand.” In the human affection from the mother there is a heredity in which is evil, but in the Divine affection there is nothing but good; for in the human affection there is the glory of self and of the world as an end for the sake of self; but in the Divine affection there is an end for the sake of self that it may be from self to save the human race, according to the Lord‘s words in John:--

I pray for those whom Thou hast given Me, for all Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine, but I am glorified in them that they all may be one, as Thou Father art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us. The glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them, that they may be one as We are one; I in them, and Thou in Me (John 17:9, 10, 21-23).

AC 4594. This is Bethlehem. That this signifies in place thereof the resurrection of a new spiritual of the celestial, is evident from the signification of “Bethlehem,” as being the spiritual of the celestial in a new state; for “Ephrath” is the spiritual of the celestial in a former state (n. 4585), and by her being buried there is signified the resurrection of a new state (n. 4593). That Rachel brought forth her second son or Benjamin in Bethlehem, and died in bringing him forth, also that David was born in Bethlehem and was there anointed king, and finally that the Lord was there born, is a mystery which as yet has not been revealed, and could not be revealed to anyone who did not know what is signified by “Ephrath” and by “Bethlehem,” and what was represented by Benjamin, and also by David; and especially who did not know what the spiritual of the celestial is, for this was signified by these places and was represented by these persons.

[2] The reason why the Lord was born there and not elsewhere, is that He alone was born a spiritual celestial man, but all others natural, with the capacity or ability to become either celestial or spiritual by regeneration from the Lord. The reason why the Lord was born a spiritual celestial man was that He might make His Human Divine, and this according to order from the lowest degree to the highest, and might thus dispose into order all things in the heavens and in the hells.  For the spiritual celestial is intermediate between the natural or external man and the rational or internal man (n. 4585, 4592), thus below it was the natural or external, and above it was the rational or internal.

[3] He who cannot apprehend these things, cannot possibly comprehend, by any revelation whatever, why the Lord was born at Bethlehem.  For from the most ancient time “Ephrath” signified the spiritual of the celestial, and therefore afterwards “Bethlehem” had the same signification.  This then is the reason why the following is said in David:--

He sware to Jehovah, he vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob, If I shall come into the tent of my house, if I shall go upon the couch of my bed, if I shall give sleep to mine eyes, slumber to mine eyelids, until I find a place for Jehovah, habitations for the Mighty One of Jacob; lo we heard of Him in Ephrata, we found Him in the fields of the forest; we will go into His habitations, we will bow ourselves at His footstool (Ps.  132:2-7);

that these things were said of the Lord is very evident; “ we heard of Him,” and “we found Him,” are expressed in the original language at the end of the words by the letter h taken from the name Jehovah.

[4] And in Micah:--

Thou Bethlehem Ephrata, it is little that thou be among the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall one come forth unto Me who shall be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from the days of eternity (Micah 5:2; Matt. 2:6).

From these prophecies it was known to the Jewish people that the Messiah or Christ would be born at Bethlehem, as is evident in Matthew:--

Herod, gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, inquired of them where the Christ (the Messiah) should be born; and they said to him, In Bethlehem of Judea (Matthew 2:4, 5).

And in John:--

The Jews said, Doth not the Scripture say that the Christ (Messiah) should come of the seed of David, and from Bethlehem, the city where David was? (John 7:42).

And that He was born there may be seen in (Matthew 2:1; Luke 2:4-7).  For this reason also, and because He was from David, the Lord is called a “rod out of the stock of Jesse,” and the “root of Jesse” (Isa. 11:1, 10); for Jesse, David’s father, was a Bethlehemite; and David was born at Bethlehem and was anointed king there (1 Sam. 16:1-14; 17:12) Hence Bethlehem was called “the city of David” (Luke 2:4, 11; John 7:42). By David is especially represented the Lord as to His royalty or the Divine truth (n. 1888).

AC 4595. And Jacob set up a pillar upon her grave.  That this signifies the holy of the spiritual truth that would rise again there, is evident from the signification of a “pillar,” as being the holy of truth (n. 4580), here of spiritual truth from the celestial, because this is the truth treated of; and from the signification of a “grave,” as being resurrection (n. 2916, 2917, 3256).

AC 4596. This is the pillar of Rachel‘s grave even to this day.  That this signifies the state of the holy forever, is evident from the signification of a “pillar,” as being the holy of truth; and from the signification of a “grave,” as being resurrection; and from the signification of “even to this day,” as being forever (n. 2838, 3998).

AC 4597. Verses 21, 22. And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Eder.  And it came to pass while Israel abode in this land that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine, and Israel heard.  “And Israel journeyed,” signifies the celestial spiritual of the natural at this time; “and spread his tend beyond the tower of Eder,” signifies the interior things thereof; “and it came to pass while Israel abode in this land,” signifies when in this state; “that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father‘s concubine,” signifies the profanation of good by faith separate; “and Israel heard,” signifies that this faith was rejected.

AC 4598. And Israel journeyed.  That this means the celestial spiritual of the natural at this time, is evident from the signification of “journeying,” as being what is successive or continuous (n. 4375, 4554), here more toward interior things; and from the representation of “Israel” here, as being the celestial spiritual of the natural (n. 4286). What the celestial spiritual of the natural is, has been explained before, namely, that it is the good of truth, or the good of charity procured by means of the truth of faith. What advancement toward interior things is, is little known in the world. It is not an advancement into memory-knowledges, for this frequently exists without any advancement toward interior things, and very frequently with a departure from them. Neither is it an advancement into the judgment of manhood, for this also sometimes exists together with a departure from interior things. Nor is it an advancement into knowledges of interior truth, for these knowledges avail nothing unless the man is affected with them. An advancement toward interior things is an advancement toward heaven and the Lord by means of the knowledges of truth implanted in the affection of them, thus by means of affections.

[2] What is the nature of an advancement toward interior things is not apparent to anyone in this world; but in the other life it is plainly apparent, for there it is an advancement from a kind of mist into light, because they who are in exterior things alone are relatively in a mist, and by the angels are seen to be in one; whereas they who are in interior things are in light, and consequently are in wisdom, for the light there is wisdom; and wonderful to say, they who are in a mist cannot see those who are in light as in light, but they who are in light can see those who are in a mist as in a mist. As the subject here treated of is the advancement of the Lord’s Divine toward interior things, Jacob is here called “Israel,” but at other times he is called “Jacob,” as in the preceding verse of this chapter, and in the last verse.

AC 4599. And spread his tent beyond the tower of Eder.  That this signifies the interior things thereof, is evident from the signification of “spreading a tent,” as being the advancement of what is holy, here toward interior things. A “tent” denotes what is holy, (n. 414, 1102, 2145, 2152, 3312, 4391); from the signification of “beyond the tower,” as being into interior things; and from the signification of “Eder,” as being the quality of the state, namely, of the advancement of what is holy toward interior things. From ancient times this tower had this signification, but as it is mentioned nowhere else in the Word, except in (Joshua 15:21), this cannot be confirmed from parallel passages, as is the case with other names. The reason why “beyond the tower” denotes toward interior things, is that the things which are interior are expressed by things lofty and high, thus by mountains, hills, towers, the roofs of houses, and the like.  The reason is, that to minds which derive their ideas from the natural things of the world through the external senses, interior things appear as higher (n. 2148).

[2] That “towers” signify interior things may be seen also from other passages in the Word, as in Isaiah:--

My well beloved had a vineyard in a horn of the son of oil, which he fenced round and cleared of stones, and planted it with a noble vine, and built a tower in the midst of it (Isa. 5:1, 2);

the “vineyard” denotes the spiritual church; the “noble vine,” spiritual good; the “tower built in the midst of it,” the interior things of truth.  In like manner also in the Lord‘s parable in Matthew:--

A man a householder planted a vineyard, and set a hedge about it, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen. (Matthew 21:33; Mark 12:1).

[3] In Ezekiel:

The sons of Arvad and thine army were upon thy walls round about, and the Gammadim were in thy towers, they hung their shields upon thy walls round about; these have perfected thy beauty (Ezek. 27:11);

treating of Tyre, by which are signified the knowledges of good and truth, or those who are in these knowledges; the “Gammadim in its towers” denote the knowledges of interior truth.

[4] In Micah:--

Jehovah shall reign over them in Mount Zion from now and to eternity; and thou tower of the flock, the hill of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, and the former kingdom shall return, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem (Micah 4:7, 8);

where is described the Lord’s celestial kingdom; its inmost which is love to the Lord, by “Mount Zion;” its derivative which is mutual love, by the “hill of the daughter of Zion,” which love in the spiritual sense is called charity toward the neighbor; its interior truths of good by the “tower of the flock;” that from this comes the spiritual of the celestial kingdom is signified by the “kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.” In David:--

Let Mount Zion be glad, let the daughters of Judah exult because of Thy judgments encompass ye Zion, and gird it around, count the towers thereof (Ps. 48:11, 12);

where the “towers” denote the interior truths which defend what is of love and charity.

[5] In Luke:--

Whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple for which of you, desiring to build a tower, sitteth not down first and counteth the cost, whether he have wherewith to complete it? Or what king, going to make war with another king, doth not first sit down and consult whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand (Luke 14:27, 28, 31, 33);

he who does not know the internal sense of the Word must suppose that the Lord here spoke by comparisons, and that by building a tower and making war nothing further is meant, not knowing that all the comparisons in the Word are significative and representative, and that “to build a tower” is to procure for one‘s self interior truths, and that “to make war” is to combat from these; for the subject here treated of is the temptations undergone by those who are of the church, and who are here called the Lord’s “disciples.” These temptations are signified by the “cross” which they must carry; and that they by no means conquer from themselves or from what is their own, but from the Lord, is signified by “whosoever renounceth not all that he hath, he cannot be My disciple.” Thus do all these things cohere; whereas if the things that are related of the tower and the war are understood only comparatively, without an interior sense, they do not cohere.  From this it is manifest what light there is from the internal sense.

[6] The interiors of those who are in the love of self and the world, thus the falsities from which they combat, and by which they confirm their religiosity, are also expressed in the opposite sense by “towers,” as in Isaiah:--

The loftiness of men shall be brought low, and Jehovah Zebaoth shall be exalted above everyone proud and high, and upon everyone that is lifted up, and he shall be humbled; and upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan, and upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up, and upon every lofty tower, and upon every fortified wall (Isa 2:11-15);

where the interiors and the exteriors of these loves are described by the “cedars,” “oaks,” “mountains,” “hills,” “tower,” and “wall” (interior falsities by the “tower”), thus also interior things by those which are high, with the difference that they who are in evils and falsities believe themselves high and above others, but they who are in goods and truths believe themselves less and below others (Matt. 20:26, 27; Mark 10:44). Nevertheless goods and truths are described by high things, because in heaven they are nearer the Highest, that is, the Lord. Moreover “towers” in the word are predicated of truths, but “mountains” of goods.

AC 4600. And it came to pass, while Israel abode in this land.  That this signifies when in this state, namely, of good from truth, is evident from the signification of “to abide,” as being to live, for “to abide” signifies the like as “to dwell,” but with the difference that “to abide” is predicated of truth, and “to dwell” of good (that “to dwell” denotes to be and to live, thus state, may be seen above, n. 3384); from the signification of “land,” as being the church as to good (n. 566, 662, 1066, 1067, 1262, 1413, 1607, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 2571, 2928, 3355, 4447, 4535), here as to the good of truth, the state of which (in which Israel now was) is what is signified.

AC 4601. That Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his fathers concubine. That this signifies the profanation of good by means of faith separate, and that and Israel heard signifies that this faith was rejected, is evident from the representation of Reuben as being faith in doctrine and in understanding, which is the first thing of the church (n. 3861, 3866), here this faith separate from charity; and from the signification of “lying with Bilhah his father‘s concubine,” as being the profanation of good, for “to commit adultery” signifies to pervert or adulterate goods (n. 2466, 2729, 3399), but “to lie with a father’s concubine” is to profane them; and from the signification of “Israel heard,” as being that this faith was rejected.  In the proper sense by Israel‘s hearing is signified that the spiritual church knew this and assented to it; for by “hearing” is signified hearkening to, and by “Israel” the spiritual church; but that the true church does not assent, will appear from what will be said about Reuben.  But in the internal sense is signified that this faith was rejected, for it is not said what Jacob felt and thought about this nefarious deed; nevertheless that he utterly abominated and abhorred it, is manifest from his prophecy respecting Reuben:--

Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my strength, and the beginning of my might; excellent in honor, and excellent in power.  Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel, who wentest up thy father’s bed, then profanedst thou it, he went up my couch (Gen. 49:3, 4);

and from Reuben‘s being on this account deprived of his birthright (1 Chron. 5:1). Hence it is evident that by “Israel heard” is signified that this faith was rejected. “Birthright” is the faith of the church, (n. 352, 2435, 3325).

[2] The profanation of good is effected by faith separate when the truth of the church and its good are acknowledged and believed, and yet the man lives contrary to them.  For with those who separate the things of faith from those of charity in the understanding and thence in life, evil is conjoined with truth and falsity with good; and this conjunction itself is what is called profanation.  It is otherwise with those, who, although they know what the truth and good of faith are, still do not at heart believe. On profanation, (n. 301-303, 571, 582, 593, 1001, 1003, 1008, 1010, 1059, 1327, 1328, 2051, 2426, 3398, 3399, 3402, 3489, 3898, 4050, 4289); also that the profanation of good by faith separate was represented by Cain’s killing Abel; by Ham‘s being cursed by his father; and by the Egyptians being swallowed up by the Red Sea, (n. 3325); and here also by Reuben, (n. 3325, 3870)

[3] In order that those who are of the spiritual church could be saved, the Lord miraculously separated their intellectual part from their will part, and bestowed upon the intellectual the power of receiving a new will (n. 863, 875, 895, 927, 928, 1023, 1043, 1044, 2256, 4328, 4493). When therefore the intellectual apprehends and perceives the good which is of faith, and appropriates it to itself, and yet man’s will (that is, his willing evil) still reigns and commands, there is effected the conjunction of truth and evil, and of good and falsity.  This conjunction is profanation, and is meant by eating and drinking unworthily in the Holy Supper, said of those from whom the good which is there signified by the “body,” and the truth which is there signified by the “blood,” cannot he separated, because things which have been conjoined in this manner can never be separated to all eternity, and therefore the deepest hell awaits them.  But they who know what the truth and good of faith are, and yet do not at heart believe them (as is the case with most people at the present day), cannot profane them, because the intellectual does not receive them and imbue itself with them.

[4] It is the rejection of this separated faith that is here treated of, because in what presently follows truths and goods are treated of in their genuine order, and directly afterwards their conjunction with the rational or intellectual.  The sons of Jacob presently named are truths and goods in genuine order, and Isaac is the rational or intellectual.  The coming of Jacob and his sons to Isaac, is in the internal sense this conjunction with the intellectual.

AC 4602. Verses 22-26. And the sons of Jacob were twelve. The sons of Leah, Reuben Jacob‘s firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun.  The sons of Rachel, Joseph and Benjamin. And the sons of Bilhah Rachel’s handmaid, Dan and Naphtali. And the sons of Zilpah, Leah‘s handmaid, Gad and Asher.  These are the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan-aram.  “And the sons of Jacob were twelve,” signifies the state of all things now in the Divine natural; “the sons of Leah,” signifies external Divine goods and truths in their order; “Reuben Jacob’s firstborn,” signifies the good of faith; “and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun,” signifies the essential things of these; “the sons of Rachel, Joseph and Benjamin,” signifies interior goods and truths; “and the sons of Bilhah Rachel‘s handmaid, Dan and Naphtali,” signifies subsequent things that are of service to interior goods and truths; “and the sons of Zilpah Leah’s hand maid, Gad and Asher,” signifies those which are of service to exterior goods and truths; “these are the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan-aram,” signifies their origin and their present state.

AC 4603. And the sons of Jacob were twelve.  That this signifies the state of all things now in the Divine natural, is evident from the representation of Jacob, as being the Divine natural; and from the signification of “twelve” as being all, and when predicated of the sons of Jacob or of the tribes named from them, as being all things of truth and good (n. 2089, 2129, 2130, 3272, 3858, 3913, 3939). As regards the Lord‘s natural it has been shown how He made it Divine in Himself, for this was represented by Jacob.  But the subject here treated of is the conjunction of the Divine natural with the Divine rational, which conjunction is represented by Jacob’s coming to Isaac, for Isaac represents the Lord‘s Divine rational. It is for this reason that all Jacob’s sons are enumerated anew, for all things of truth and good must be in the natural before this could be fully conjoined with the rational, because the natural serves the rational as a receptacle, and therefore these are enumerated.  Be it known however that the sons of Jacob are now named in an order different from that in which they were named before; for the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, namely, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher, are in the last place, who nevertheless were born before Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, and Benjamin. The reason of this is that the order of the truths and goods in the natural when this has been made Divine, is here treated of; for the order in which these are mentioned is in accordance with the state of the subject that is being treated of (n. 3862, 3926, 3939).

AC 4604. The sons of Leah.  That this signifies external Divine goods and truths in their order, is evident from the representation of Leah, as being the affection of external truth (n. 3793, 3819).  Hence her “sons” are the goods and truths represented by Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun, of which in what follows.

AC 4605. Reuben Jacob‘s firstborn.  That this signifies the good of faith, is evident from the signification of the “firstborn,” as being faith (n. 352, 367, 2435, 3325); and from the representation of Jacob as being the good of natural truth (n. 4538); and from that of Reuben, as being the quality of faith.  For “Reuben” in the genuine sense signifies the truth of faith (n. 3861, 3866); but after the truth of faith has been made good, be signifies the good of faith. Moreover regarded in itself faith is charity, and thus regarded in itself the truth of faith is the good of faith, because faith is impossible except from charity, that is, truth is impossible except from good; and therefore when a man has been regenerated, good is in the first place, or is the firstborn (n. 3325, 3494).  Hence it is that by “Reuben Jacob’s firstborn” is here signified the good of faith.  The like is signified also in Moses:--

Let Reuben live and not die, and it shall be that his numbers are mortal (Deut. 33:6);

the reason why in this passage “Reuben” denotes the good of faith, is that he is put in the first place, and Judah in the second, thus in a different order in this prophecy of Moses respecting the sons of Israel from that in the prophecy of Jacob (Gen. 49), for as before said (n. 4603), the order in which they are named is determined in accordance with the state of the subject that is being treated of.

[2] In like manner in John:--

I heard the number of the sealed, a hundred and forty-four thousand sealed out of every tribe. Of the tribe of Judah were sealed twelve thousand, of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand, of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand (Rev. 7:4, 5);

here Judah is named in the first place, Reuben in the second, and Gad in the third.  These three here constitute the first class, and as the Lord‘s kingdom is the subject treated of, “Judah” signifies celestial good such as is in the inmost or third heaven, “Reuben” spiritual good which is the same as the good of faith such as is in the second or middle heaven, and “Gad” the good of the natural such as is in the first heaven.  But it is otherwise in the prophecy of Deborah and Barak:--

The princes in Issachar were with Deborah, and as was Issachar so was Barak; into the valley he was sent at his feet, in the classes of Reuben were great decrees of heart; why dwellest thou between two burdens to hear the hissings of the droves? to the classes of Reuben were great searchings of heart (Judges 5:15, 16);

it is impossible to know the meaning of these words unless it is known what Issachar, Deborah, Barak, and Reuben represent; and what the “princes,” the “valley,” the “classes,” the “decrees of heart,” the “two burdens,” and the “hissings of the droves,” signify; but it is evident that “Reuben” here denotes faith.

AC 4606. And Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun.  That these signify the essential things of these, that is, of the external Divine goods and truths, is evident from the representation of each one; namely, of Simeon, as being in the supreme sense Providence, in the internal sense faith in the will, and in the external sense obedience (n. 3869-3872); of Levi, as being in the supreme sense Love and Mercy, in the internal sense charity or spiritual love, and in the external sense conjunction (n. 3875, 3877); of Judah, as being in the supreme sense the Divine of the Lord’s love, in the internal sense the Lord‘s celestial kingdom, and in the exterior sense that doctrine from the Word which is of the celestial church (n. 3881); of Issachar, as being in the supreme sense the Divine good of truth and truth of good, in the internal sense celestial conjugial love, and in the external sense mutual love (n. 3956, 3957); and from the representation of Zebulun, as being in the supreme sense the Lord’s Divine Itself and His Divine Human, in the internal sense the heavenly marriage, and in the external sense conjugial love (n. 3960, 3961).  These are the essential things which are in the external Divine goods and truths of the Lord, but no one can unfold how each of these is within them unless he is in heavenly light, for therein these things appear like the answers given in the Urim and Thummim by means of flashings out of light and flame, and a consequent perception from the Lord.  For in the Urim and Thummim there were twelve precious stones according to the twelve tribes of Israel.

AC 4607. The sons of Rachel, Joseph and Benjamin.  That these signify interior goods and truths, is evident from the representation of Rachel, as being the affection of interior truth (n. 3758, 3782, 3793, 3819), hence the “sons of Rachel” are interior goods and truths The essential things of these are represented by Joseph and Benjamin; by Joseph in the supreme sense the Divine spiritual, in the internal sense the spiritual kingdom, and in the external sense its good (n. 3969); and by Benjamin the Divine spiritual of the celestial (n. 3969, 4592). These essential things are within interior goods and truths.

AC 4608. And the sons of Bilhah, Rachel‘s handmaid, Dan and Naphtali.  That these signify subsequent things that are of service to interior goods and truths, is evident from the representation of Bilhah Rachel as handmaid, as being the subsequent affection that is of service as a means to the affection of interior truth (n. 3849).  Moreover a “handmaid” denotes a means that serves for conjunction (n. 3913, 3917, 3931), and her “sons” denote such means. By subsequent goods and truths are meant those goods and truths that do not enter in immediately, but which are derived from such as do, and are adjoined to them as handmaids, and which also mediate and promote.  Their essentials things are represented by Dan and Naphtali; by Dan in the supreme sense the Lord’s righteousness and mercy, in the internal sense the holy of faith, and in the external sense the good of life (n. 3921, 3923); and by Naphtali, in the supreme sense His own power, in the internal sense temptation in which there is victory, and in the external sense resistance from the natural man (n. 3927, 3928).  These are the essential things of the means that are of service to interior goods and truths.

AC 4609. And the sons of Zilpah Leah‘s handmaid, Gad and Asher.  That this signifies those which are of service to exterior goods and truths, is evident from the representation of Zilpah Leah’s handmaid, as being the subsequent affection that is of service as a means to the affection of exterior truth (n. 3835).  A “handmaid” denotes a means that is of service for conjunction (n. 4608), and her “sons” denote such means, the essential things of which are represented by Gad and Asher; by Gad in the supreme sense omnipotence and omniscience, in the internal sense the good of faith, and in the external sense works (n. 3934); by Asher in the supreme sense eternity, in the internal sense the happiness of eternal life, and in one external sense the delight of the affection (n. 3938, 3939) These are the things which the enumeration of the sons of Jacob at this time involves; but how they cohere together and one follows another, and one is contained within another, cannot be seen in the light of the world unless it is enlightened by the light of heaven. Yet the things which then appear are still such as not to fall into Words, for human words are from ideas formed from the things which are in the light of the world.  The ideas which are from the light of heaven transcend these to such a degree that they cannot be expressed, but only to some extent thought of by those to whom it has been given to withdraw their mind from things of sense.

AC 4610. These are the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan-aram.  That this signifies their origin and their present state, is evident from what has already been said of the sons of Jacob both in general and specifically, namely, that by them are signified all things in the Lord‘s Divine natural in general (n. 4603), insomuch that all these things taken together are now “Jacob.” Their origin is signified by their being born in Paddan-aram, or from the knowledges of truth and good, for these are signified by “Paddan-aram” (n. 3664, 3680). As all of these taken together are now “Jacob,” it is therefore said in the original language, “who was born to him,” in the singular.  In what now follows the subject treated of is the conjunction of the Divine natural with the Divine rational.  This conjunction is represented Jacob’s coming to Isaac his father.

AC 4611. Verses 27-29. And Jacob came unto Isaac his father to Mamre Kiriath-arba, this is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned.  And the days of Isaac were a hundred years and eighty years. And Isaac expired and died and was gathered unto his peoples, old and sated of days; and Esau and Jacob his sons buried him. “And Jacob came unto Isaac his father,” signifies now the Divine rational with which it was conjoined; “to Mamre Kiriath-arba,” signifies its state; “this is Hebron,” signifies the state when they were conjoined; “where Abraham and Isaac sojourned,” signifies Divine life together; “and the days of Isaac were,” signifies the state of the Divine rational at this time; “a hundred years and eighty years,” signifies the quality of the state; “and Isaac expired, and died,” signifies resuscitation in the Divine natural; “and was gathered unto his peoples,” signifies that it was now among the things which are of the Divine natural; “old and sated of days,” signifies newness of life; “and Esau and Jacob his sons buried him,” signifies that it rose again in the good and the good of truth of the natural.

AC 4612. And Jacob came unto Isaac his father.  That this signifies now the Divine rational with which it was conjoined, is evident from the representation of Jacob, as being the Divine natural in the state treated of just above (n. 4604-4610); and from the representation of Isaac, as being the Divine rational (n. 1893, 2066, 2072, 2083, 2630, 3012, 3194, 3210). Conjunction is signified by his coming to him. In what follows, down to the end of the chapter, the subject treated of is the conjunction of the natural with the rational; and therefore in what immediately precedes, the quality of the natural has been described, in that it contained within it all things of good and truth, and this quality of the natural is signified by the twelve sons of Jacob, for as we have seen, each one of them represents some general of truth and good.

[2] As regards the conjunction of the natural and the rational treated of in the following verses, be it known that the rational receives truths and goods sooner and more easily than the natural (n. 3286, 3288, 3321, 3368, 3498, 3513).  For the rational is purer and more perfect than the natural, because it is interior or higher, and viewed in itself it is in the light of heaven, to which it is adapted. This is the reason why the rational receives the things of this light (namely, truths and goods, or what is the same, the things of intelligence and wisdom), sooner and more easily than the natural.  But the natural is grosser and more imperfect, because it is exterior or lower, and viewed in itself it is in the light of the world; which light has nothing of intelligence and wisdom within it except in so far as it receives it through the rational from the light of heaven.  The influx of which the learned of the present day speak, is nothing else.

[3] But with the natural the case is this: From the earliest infancy and childhood the natural receives its quality from the things which flow in from the world through the external senses, and by and from these the man acquires an intellectual.  But as he is then in the delights of the love of self and of the world, and consequently in cupidities, both from inheritance and from actual life, the intellectual which he then acquires is filled with such things, and whatever favors his delights he then regards as goods and truths, and the result is that the order of the goods and truths in the natural is inverted, or is opposite to heavenly order.  When the man is in this state, the light of heaven does indeed flow in through the rational, for it is from this that he has the ability to think, to reason, to speak, and to act becomingly and as a good citizen in the outward form; but still the things which are of light, and that conduce to his eternal happiness, are not in the natural, because the delights which rule there are repugnant to them, for the delights of the love of self and of the world are in themselves diametrically opposite to the delights of the love of the neighbor, and consequently to those of love to the Lord.  The man may indeed know the things of light or of heaven, but he cannot be affected with them, except in so far as they conduce to his winning honors and gaining wealth, and thus except in so far as they favor the delights of the love of self and of the world.

[4] From this it may appear that the order in the natural is wholly inverted, or opposite to heavenly order, and therefore when the light of heaven flows in through the rational into the natural, it must needs be either reflected back, or suffocated, or perverted Hence then it is that the natural must be regenerated before it can he conjoined with the rational.  For when the natural has been regenerated, the things which flow in from the Lord through heaven, thus through the rational into the natural, are received, because they agree.  For the natural is nothing else than a receptacle of good and truth from the rational, or through the rational from the Lord.  By the natural is meant the external man, which is also called the natural man, and by the rational is meant the internal man. These things have been premised in order that it may be known how the case is with what follows, in which the subject treated of is the conjunction of the natural with the rational.

AC 4613. To Mamre Kiriath-arba.  That this signifies its state, is evident from the signification of “Mamre,” as being the quality and quantity of that to which it is adjoined (n. 2970); and from the signification of “Kiriath-arba, as being the church as to truth (n. 2909), thus truth.  Hence by ”Mamre Kiriath-arba“ is signified the state of the natural as to truth, and by ”Hebron“ its state as to good, of which below.

AC 4614. This is Hebron. That this signifies the state when they were conjoined, is evident from the signification of ”Hebron,“ as being the good of the church (n. 2909), here the Divine good of the Lord‘s Divine natural; for those things which in the internal sense signify something of the church, in the supreme sense signify something of the Lord’s Divine, for the reason that all that which makes the church is from the Lord.  That ”Hebron“ signifies the state when they were conjoined (namely, the rational and the natural), is because Isaac was there, by whom is represented the Lord‘s Divine rational; and Jacob came thither, by whom is represented His Divine natural, and by his coming thither is signified conjunction (n. 4612).  It is said, ”Mamre Kiriath-arba, this is Hebron,“ because the Divine natural is conjoined with the good of the rational by means of good, for Isaac represents the Lord’s Divine rational as to good (n. 3012, 3194, 3210), whereas Rebekah represents it as to truth (n. 3012, 3013, 3077), and Rebekah is not here mentioned.

AC 4615. Where Abraham and Isaac sojourned.  That this signifies Divine life together, is evident from the signification of ”sojourning,“ as being life (n. 1463, 2025); and from the representation of Abraham, as being the Lord‘s Divine Itself (n. 1989, 2011, 3245, 3251, 3439, 3703, 4206, 4207); and from the representation of Isaac, as being His Divine rational (n. 1893, 2066, 2072, 2083, 2630, 2774, 3012, 3194, 3210, 4180). As the conjunction of the Divine natural with the Divine rational is the subject here treated of, Abraham and Isaac are named, and it is said that they ”sojourned“ there, in order that Divine life together may be signified, that is, together with the Divine natural, which is ”Jacob.“ And because the Divine Itself, the Divine rational, and the Divine natural are one in the Lord, it is therefore said, ”where also Abraham and Isaac sojourned (peregrinatus)“ in the singular, and not (peregrinati) in the plural.

AC 4616. And the days of Isaac were.  That this signifies the state of the Divine rational at this time, is evident from the signification of ”days,“ as being states (n. 23, 487, 488, 493, 893, 2788, 3462, 3785); and from the representation of Isaac as being the Divine rational (n. 4615).

AC 4617. A hundred years and eighty years. That this signifies the quality of the state, may be seen from the fact that all numbers in the Word signify things (n. 482, 487, 575, 647, 648, 755, 813, 1965, 1988, 2075, 2252, 3252, 4264, 4495); thus a ”hundred years and eighty years“ signify the quality of the thing, or the quality of the state which is treated of. That a ”hundred“ denotes a full state may be seen above (n. 2636), and ”eighty,“ temptation (n. 1963), here, by means of temptations; besides other things which cannot be known For numbers have their signification from the more simple numbers from which they arise by multiplication, as this number from twelve and fifteen, and also from others still more simple.

AC 4618. And Isaac expired and died. That this signifies resuscitation in the Divine natural, is evident from the signification of ”expiring and dying,“ as being resuscitation (n. 3326, 3498, 3505) For when it is related in the Word that anyone ”died,“ the signification in the internal sense is the last of him and something new in another, thus continuation, as when it is related of the kings of Judah and Israel that they ”died,“ or of the high priests that they ”died,“ in the internal sense this denotes the end of the representation by them, and the continuation of it in another, thus resuscitation. Moreover they who are in the other life, and are with man when these things are being read, do not receive any idea of death, because there they do not know anything about dying. Hence instead of this they perceive continuance in another. Moreover when man dies, he dies only as to his bodily part, which had served him for uses on earth, and continues his life as to his spirit in a world where bodily things are no longer of any use.

[2] The reason why by Isaac’s expiring and dying is signified resuscitation in the Divine natural, is that the rational has no life unless the natural corresponds to it (n. 3493, 3620, 3623). It is the same as with the sight of the eye unless this has objects outside of itself which it sees, it perishes; and it is the same with the other senses. The case is also the same if the objects are altogether contrary, for these induce death; and it is the same as with the vein of a spring whose waters have no outflow, causing the spring to be choked. And it is the same also with the rational unless there is reception of its light in the natural, its sight perishes, for the knowledges in the natural are the objects of sight to the rational; and if these objects are contrary to the light, that is, to the intelligence of truth and the wisdom of good, the sight of the rational also perishes, for it cannot flow into things contrary to itself.  Hence it is that with those who are in evils and falsities the rational is closed, so that no communication with heaven is open through it except only as it were through chinks, in order that there may be the capacity of thinking, of reasoning, and of speaking.  Consequently, in order that the natural may be conjoined with the rational, it must be prepared for the reception of it, which is effected by the Lord by means of regeneration; and then, when it is conjoined, the rational lives in the natural; for as before said the rational sees its objects in the natural, just as does the sight of the eye in the objects of the world.

[3] The rational has indeed a life in itself that is distinct from the life of the natural; but still the rational is in the natural like a man in his house, or like the soul in its body.  The case is also the same with the heavens.  The inmost or third heaven does indeed live distinct from the heavens which are below it, and yet unless there were a reception in the second or middle heaven, its wisdom would be dissipated. In like manner unless there were reception of the light and intelligence of this heaven in the lowest or first heaven, and of this finally in man‘s natural, the intelligence of these heavens also would be dissipated, unless it were provided by the Lord that there should be reception elsewhere. Therefore the heavens have been so formed by the Lord that the one serves the other for reception; and finally man as to his natural and sensuous serves for the lowest reception, for herein the Divine is in the ultimate of order, and passes into the world. If therefore the ultimate agrees or corresponds with the things that are prior, the prior things are then together in the ultimate; for the things which are ultimate are receptacles of those which are prior to themselves, and therein all the successives are together.  Hence it is evident what is meant by resuscitation in the Divine natural.

AC 4619. And was gathered unto his peoples.  That this signifies that it was now among the things which are of the Divine natural, is evident from the signification of ”being gathered unto his peoples,“ as being, in regard to representatives, that this one is treated of no longer (n. 3255, 3276); thus here that it is among the things which are of the Divine natural (n. 4618). When anyone died the ancients said that ”he was gathered to his peoples,“ and thereby meant in the proximate sense that he was among his own in the other life. For during his bodily life every man is as to his spirit in company with spirits and angels, and also comes among the same after death (n. 1277, 2379). This is what was meant by the ”peoples“ to whom he is gathered But in the internal sense of the Word, where the goods and truths of the church or of the Lord’s kingdom are treated of, by ”being gathered to one‘s people“ is signified to be among the truths and goods which agree or correspond.  All the heavenly societies are in truths and goods, but as the truths and goods there are related as by the relationships and connections of earth, with every shade of difference (n. 685, 917, 3815, 4121), therefore their ”peoples“ are the truths in which are the concordant societies, or the societies which are in these truths.  ”Peoples“ denote truths, (n. 1259, 1260, 2928, 3295, 3581).

AC 4620. Old and sated of days.  That this signifies newness of life, is evident from the signification of ”old,“ as being the putting off of a former state and the putting on of a new one (n. 2198, 3016, 3254, 3492), here therefore newness of life; and from the signification of ”sated of days,“ as being a full state.

AC 4621. And Esau and Jacob his sons buried him. That this signifies that it rose again in the good and good of truth of the natural, is evident from the signification of ”being buried,“ as being resurrection (n. 2916, 2917), and as being a state of representation resuscitated in another (n. 3256); from the representation of Esau, as being the Lord’s Divine natural as to good (n. 3302, 3576, 4241); and from the representation of Jacob, as being the Lord‘s Divine natural as to the good of truth (n. 4273, 4337, 4538).  From all this and from what was said above (n. 4618) it is manifest that by Esau and Jacob his sons burying him is signified that it rose again in the good and good of truth of the natural.  That ”being buried“ is in the internal sense rising again, is because when the body has died the soul rises again.  Hence when ”burial“ is mentioned in the Word the angels do not think of the body which is cast off, but of the soul which rises again; for they are in spiritual ideas, thus in the things that belong to life; and therefore all things that belong to death in the natural world, signify such things as belong to life in the spiritual world.

AC 4622. The dwellings of the blessed in the other life are of many kinds, and are constructed with such art as to be as it were embodiments of the very art of architecture, or to come straight from the art itself. On this subject see what has already been related from experience, (n. 1116, 1626-1630). These dwellings appear not only to the sight, but also to the touch, for all things there are adapted to the sensations of spirits and angels, and hence are such as do not come to bodily sense like that of man, but to that possessed by those who are there. I know that this is incredible to many, but this is because nothing is believed which cannot be seen by the bodily eyes and felt with the hands of flesh. For this reason the man of this day, whose interiors are closed, knows nothing of the things which exist in the spiritual world or in heaven. He does indeed say from the Word and from doctrine that there is a heaven, and that the angels who are there are in joy and in glory, but he knows no more about the matter. How the case is there he would indeed like to know, but when told he still believes nothing, because at heart he denies the existence of such things, and his desire to know about them is prompted solely by his curiosity from doctrine, and not by any delight grounded in faith. They who are not in faith also deny at heart; but they who believe get ideas from various sources about heaven and its joy and glory, each person from such things as are of his own knowledge and intelligence, and the simple from the things of bodily Sensation.

[2] Nevertheless most people do not apprehend that spirits and angels enjoy sensations much more exquisite than those of men in this world, namely, sight, hearing, smell, something analogous to taste, and touch; and especially the delights of the affections.  If men would only believe that their interior essence is the spirit, and that the body and its sensations and members are adapted to uses in this world merely, and that the spirit and its sensations and organs are adapted to uses in the other life, then from themselves and almost of their own accord they would come into ideas about the state of their spirit after death; for they would reflect that the spirit must be the man himself who thinks, and who desires, longs for things, and is affected with them; and further that all the power of sensation which appears in the body belongs properly to the spirit, and to the body merely by influx; and they would afterwards confirm themselves in this idea by many considerations, and in this way would at last take more delight in the things of their spirit than in those of their body.

[3] It is also a real fact that it is not man’s body which sees, hears, smells, and feels, but his spirit; and therefore when the spirit is divested of the body, it is in its own sensations, the same as when it was in the body, only now far more exquisite; for the things of the body, being comparatively gross, had rendered the sensations obtuse, and this the more because the man had immersed them in earthly and worldly things.  This I can aver that a spirit has much more exquisite sight than a man in the body, and also much more exquisite hearing, and, astonishing to say, the sense of smell, and especially the sense of touch; for spirits see one another, hear one another, and touch one another.  Moreover anyone who believes in the life after death might infer that this is the case from the fact that no life is possible without sensation, and that the quality of the life is according to the quality of the sensation, nay, that the intellectual faculty is nothing but an exquisite sense of interior things, and the higher intellectual of spiritual things; and it is from this that the things of the intellectual and its perceptions are called internal senses.

[4] As regards man‘s power of sensation immediately after death the case is this: As soon as a man dies and all things of his body grow cold, he is raised up into life, and at the same time into a state of all sensations; insomuch that at first he scarcely knows but that he is still in the body, for the sensations he then enjoys lead him so to believe.  But when he observes that he has more exquisite sensations, and especially when he begins to speak with other spirits, it dawns upon him that he is in the other life, and that the death of his body has been the continuation of the life of his spirit.  I have spoken with two of my acquaintances on the day of their burial, and with one who through my eyes saw his coffin and his bier; and as this man enjoyed all the sensation he had in this world, he spoke to me about the burial rites while I was following in his funeral procession, and also about his body, saying that they should throw that away because he himself was alive.

[5] Be it known however that they who are in the other life can see nothing whatever in this world through the eyes of any man; but that their being able to do so through mine was because I am in the spirit with them and at the same time in the body with those who are in the world (n. 1880).  And be it further known that I did not see with my bodily eyes those with whom I have spoken in the other life, but with the eyes of my spirit; and yet I saw them as clearly, and sometimes more clearly, than with the eyes of the body; for of the Lord’s Divine mercy the senses of my spirit have been opened.

[6] But I am aware that what I have so far said will not be believed by those who are immersed in bodily, earthly, and worldly things (that is, by those of them who have such things as their end), for such people apprehend no other things than those which are dissipated by death.  I am also well aware that those will not believe who have thought much and investigated much about the soul, and who have not at the same time comprehended that the soul of man is his spirit, and that his spirit is the man himself who is living in the body; for such persons could have no other notion about the soul than as of a thinking principle, whether of flame or of ether, that acts solely in to the organic forms of the body, and not into those purer forms which are of the spirit in the body; thus that the soul is such a thing as must be dissipated together with the body. And this is especially the case with those who have confirmed themselves in such things by views that are inflated with a persuasion of their own pre-eminent wisdom.

AC 4623. But be it known that the life of sense with spirits is twofold, namely, real and not real. The one is distinguished from the other by the fact that everything is real which appears to those who are in heaven, whereas everything is unreal which appears to those who are in hell. For whatever comes from the Divine (that is, from the Lord) is real, because it comes from the very being of things, and from life in itself, but whatever comes from a spirit‘s own is not real, because it does not come from the being of things, nor from life is, itself They who are in the affection of good and truth are in the Lord’s life, thus in real life, for the Lord is present in good and truth through the affection; but they who are in evil and falsity through the affection, are in the life of what is their own, thus in a life not real, for the Lord is not present in evil and falsity. The real is distinguished from the not real in this that the real is actually such as it appears, and that the not real is actually not such as it appears.

[2] They who are in hell have sensations equally with others, and are not aware but that everything is really or actually just as it appears to their senses; and yet when they are looked at by the angels, the same things appear as phantasms, and disappear, and they themselves do not appear as men, but as monsters. It has also been given me to speak with them on this subject, and some of them said that they believe things to be real because they see and touch them, adding that sense cannot deceive. But it was given me to reply that no matter how real these things may appear to them, they nevertheless are not real, and this because they themselves are in things contrary or opposite to the Divine, namely, in evils and falsities, and moreover are themselves nothing but phantasies in so far as their thoughts are concerned, to the extent that they are in cupidities of evil and persuasions of falsity; and to see anything from phantasies is to see things that are real as not real, and things that are not real as real; and that unless it were given them of the Lord‘s Divine mercy to have their senses affected in this manner, they would have no sensitive life, consequently no life at all, because that which is sensitive constitutes the whole of life. To adduce all my experience on these subjects would be to fill many pages.

[3] Therefore when you enter the other life beware of being befooled, for evil spirits know how to conjure up illusions of many kinds before those who come fresh from the world, and if they cannot deceive them, they nevertheless thereby endeavor to persuade them that nothing is real, but that all things are ideal, even those which are in heaven.

AC 4624. But with regard to the correspondence with the Grand Man of the sense of smell and consequently of the nostrils, those persons belong to this province who are in general perception, so that they may be called ”perceptions.“ To these correspond the sense of smell and its organ.  Hence also it is that to smell, to scent, to be quick-scented, and also the nose, are in common speech predicated of those who make a close conjecture, and also of those who perceive; for the interiors of the words of man’s speech derive many things from correspondence with the Grand Man, because in respect to his spirit man is in society with spirits, while in respect to his body he is in society with men.

AC 4625. But the societies of which the whole heaven (that is, the Grand Man) consists, are very numerous, and are more or less universal.  The more universal are those to which an entire member, organ, or viscus, corresponds; and the less universal are those to which their parts, or parts of parts, correspond.  Every society is an image of the whole, for that which is unanimous is composed of so many images of itself. As the more universal societies are images of the Grand Man, they have within them particular societies which correspond in a similar manner.  I have sometimes spoken with those who in the society into which I was sent, belonged to the province of the lungs, of the heart, the face, the tongue, the ear, the eye, and also with those who belonged to the province of the nostrils, from which last it was also given me to know their character, namely, that they are perceptions, for they had a general perception of whatever happened in the society, but not so much in particular as have those who are in the province of the eye, for the latter discriminate and view those things which are matters of perception.  It was further given me to observe that the perceptive power of the former varies in accordance with the general changes of state in the society in which they are.

AC 4626. When any spirit is approaching, even when he is far away and hidden from view, his presence (when the Lord gives Permission) is perceived from a certain spiritual sphere; and from this is known the quality of his life, of his affection, and of his faith.  Angelic spirits, who are in a more exquisite perception, thereby know innumerable things respecting the state of his life and faith, as I have often witnessed. When it pleases the Lord these spheres are turned into odors, and the very odor is plainly smelt.  The reason why these spheres are turned into odors is that odor corresponds to perception, and because perception is as it were spiritual odor, from which also odor descends. But see what has already been adduced from experience on these subjects; concerning spheres, (n. 1048, 1053, 1316, 1504-1519, 1695, 2401, 2489, 4464), concerning perception, (n. 483, 495, 503, 521, 536, 1383, 1384, 1388, 1391, 1397, 1398, 1504, 1640), and concerning the consequent odors, (n. 1514, 1517-1519, 1631, 3577).

AC 4627. Those however who relate to the interiors of the nostrils are in a more perfect state of Perception than those who relate to their exteriors. Concerning the former I may give the following account.  I saw as it were a bath, with long seats or benches, and from it heat exhaled. A woman appeared there who soon vanished into a blackish cloud and I heard little children saying that they did not desire to be  there. Soon afterwards I observed some angelic choirs, who were sent to me for the purpose of averting the endeavors of certain evil spirits; and then suddenly above the forehead there appeared little apertures, greater or less, through which a beautiful yellow light was shining; and in this light within the apertures I saw some women in a snowy radiance.  There afterwards again appeared little apertures in a different arrangement, through which the women within were looking out; and again other little apertures through which the light did not so freely pass.

[2] Finally I observed a bright white light, and was told that here were the abodes of those women who constitute the province of the internal nostrils (for they were of the female sex); and that the clear-sightedness of perception of those who are there, is represented in the world of spirits by such apertures. For the spiritual things in heaven are represented in the world of spirits by natural things, or rather by such things as are similar to those which are natural. It was afterwards given me to speak with them, and they said that through these representative apertures they can see with exactness what is being done below, and that the apertures appear turned to those societies which they are occupied in observing.  And as they were then turned to me, they said that they could observe all the ideas of my thought, and also those of the people around me.  They said moreover that they did not merely observe the ideas, but also saw them represented in many ways, as for instance those of the affection of good by correspondent little flames, and those of the affection of truth by variations of light. They added that they saw certain angelic societies with me, and their thoughts represented by objects of many colors, by crimson dyes such as we see on painted curtains, and also by the colors of the rainbow on a darker ground, and they said that they thus perceived those angelic societies to be of the province of the eye.

[3] Afterwards other spirits were seen who were cast down from thence and scattered about hither and thither, of whom they said that they were such as had insinuated themselves among them for the purpose of observing something, and of seeing what was going on below, but with an insidious purpose.  This casting down was observed whenever angelic choirs approached and entered into conversation with me. As regards those who were cast down, they said that they relate to the mucus of the nostrils, and that they are dull and stupid, and also devoid of conscience, thus altogether devoid of interior perception. The woman who was seen signified such female ensnares.  With these also it was given me to speak, and they expressed their surprise at anyone‘s having conscience, being quite ignorant of what conscience is; and when I said that it is an interior perception of what is good and true, and that to act contrary to it causes anxiety, this they did not understand. Such are those who correspond to the mucus which infests the nostrils and is therefore ejected.

[4] There was afterwards shown me the kind of light in which those live who relate to the interiors of the nostrils.  It was a light beautifully varied with veins of golden flame and silver light, the affections of good being represented therein by the veins of golden flame, and the affections of truth by the veins of Silver light. I was also shown that they have apertures opening at the side, through which they see as it were a sky with stars in the blue, and I was told that in their chambers there is a light so great as to immeasurably surpass the noonday light of this world.  I was further told that the heat there is like that of early Summer on earth, and also that these angels of the female sex are accompanied by little children of some years who are unwilling to Stay when the female ensnares (or mucuses) arrive.  Numberless such representatives appear in the world of spirits; but these were representative of the perceptions in which are those female angels who correspond to the sense of smell in the interiors of the nostrils.

AC 4628. With regard further to the odors into which the spheres of perceptions are turned, they are smelt as plainly as are odors on earth, but do not reach the sense of the man whose interiors are closed; for they flow in by an internal, and not by an external, way.  These odors are from a twofold origin the perception of good and the perception of evil; those from the perception of good are as intensely sweet as though they exhaled from the fragrant Bowers of a garden and other fragrant things, and are inexpressibly pleasant and various, and the angels of heaven are in the spheres of such odors; whereas the odors which are from the perception of evil are as intensely repulsive as are the stenches and putrid smells from stinking waters, excrements, and carcasses, or the filthy smell from mice and bedbugs.  In the spheres of such stenches are they who are in hell, and wonderful to say they who are in them do not perceive their offensiveness, nay, the stenches are delightful to them, and when they are in them, they are in the sphere of their delights.  But when hell is opened, and the exhalation from it reaches good spirits, these are seized with horror and distress, like those in the world who encounter the sphere of such stenches.

AC 4629. To adduce all my experience in connection with the spheres of perceptions being turned into odors, would be to fill a volume.  See what has been related of them above, (n. 1514, 1517, 1519, 1631, 3577), to which I may just add that I once perceived the general thought of many spirits concerning the Lord’s being born a man, and I observed that it consisted of mere objections; for what spirits think, both in general and in particular, is plainly perceived by others.  The odor of that sphere was perceived as like that of stinking water, and of water defiled with filth.

AC 4630. A certain person was present unseen over my head.  I knew he was there by the stench, which was like that of rotten teeth, and I afterwards noticed a smell like that from burning horn or bone.  Then there came a great crowd of such persons that rose up like a cloud from below not far from the back, and as these also were unseen, I conjectured that they were subtle, and yet evil; but I was told that these were invisible where there is a spiritual sphere, but visible where there is a natural sphere. For those who are so natural as not to think at all about spiritual things, nor to believe in the existence of hell or of heaven, and yet are subtle in their transactions, are such as these, and are called ”the invisible natural,“ being sometimes made manifest to others by their stench, as described above.

AC 4631. Two or three times also a cadaverous odor breathed upon me; and when I inquired from whom it came, I was informed that it came from a hell where are foul robbers and assassins and those who perpetrate crimes with gross deceit. Sometimes also I have noticed an excrementitious odor, and when I inquired whence it came, I was told that it was from a hell where there are adulterers. And when an excrementitious odor was mingled with a cadaverous one, I was told that it was from a hell where there are adulterers who are also cruel; and so on.

AC 4632. Once when I was thinking about the rule of the soul in the body, and about the influx of the will into the actions, I noticed that those who are in an excrementitious hell that was then a little open, thought of nothing but the control of the soul over the anus, and of the influx of the will into the protrusion of the excrements, which showed in what kind of a sphere of perception and thence of stench they were.  A similar thing took place when I was thinking about conjugial love, in that those who are in the hell of adulterers then thought of nothing but filthy practices and infamous acts such as are connected with adultery. And when I thought about sincerity, I noticed that the deceitful thought of nothing but deceitful crimes.

AC 4633. From what has now been said on the subject of perceptions and odors, it is manifest that in the other life everyone‘s life, and consequently everyone’s affection, is in plain view; and therefore anyone who believes that his previous character, and the consequent quality of his life, is unknown there, or that he can there hide his disposition as in this world, is much mistaken.  Moreover not only are those things seen there which a man has known about himself, but also those which he has not known, namely, such things as by frequent practice he has at last immersed in the delights of life, so as to cause them to disappear from his sight and reflection.  The very ends of his thought, of his speech, and of his actions, which from a like cause have become hidden from him, are most plainly perceived in heaven, for heaven is in the sphere and perception of ends.

AC 4634. A continuation concerning Correspondence with the Grand Man will be found at the end of the following chapter, and there concerning the correspondence therewith of the hearing and of the ears.

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