Week 3    Day 1

    Listen:

The Inheritance of Ephraim in General

Joshua 16:1-10

1 And the lot came out for the sons of Joseph from Jordan at Jericho, to the waters of Jericho toward the sunrise, to the wilderness going up from Jericho in the mountain of Bethel;

2 and it goes out from Bethel to Luz, and crosses over to the border of the Archite at Ataroth,

3 and goes down toward the sea to the border of Japhleti, even to the border of Beth-choron the lower, and even to Gezer; and its outgoings are toward the sea.

4 And the sons of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, had their inheritance.

5 And this was the border of the sons of Ephraim according to their families: the border of their inheritance toward the sunrise was Ataroth-addar, even to Beth-choron the higher;

6 and the border went out toward the sea to Michmethah from the north, and the border turned around toward the sunrise to Taanath-shiloh, and crossed over it from the sunrise toward Janoah;

7 and it went down from Janoah to Ataroth, and to Naarah, and came upon Jericho, and went out to the Jordan.

8 From Tappuah the border went seaward to the brook Kanah; and the goings out of it were toward the sea. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Ephraim according to their families.

9 And the cities set apart for the sons of Ephraim were in the midst of the inheritance of the sons of Manasseh, all the cities and their villages.

10 And they did not dispossess the Canaanite that dwelt in Gezer; and the Canaanite dwells among Ephraim to this day, and became a servant of tribute.

AC 3969:7. There are two things that constitute the spiritual church, the understanding and the will, of which the understanding is represented by Ephraim, and the will by Manasseh.

AE 440:2. There are two things that constitute the church, namely, the truth of doctrine and the good of life; both of these must be in a man that he may be a man of the church. “Ephraim and Manasseh” represented and thence signify in the Word these two, “Ephraim” the truth of doctrine, and “Manasseh” the good of life. The truth of doctrine is also called the intellectual of the church, and the good of life is called its voluntary; for truth is of the understanding, and good is of the will; for this reason also “Ephraim and Manasseh” signify the intellectual and the voluntary of the church, “Ephraim” its intellectual, and “Manasseh” its voluntary.

Deuteronomy 33:1, 13-16

1 And this is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the sons of Israel before his death...

13 And for Joseph he said, Blessed by Jehovah be his land, for the precious things of the heavens, for the dew, and for the abyss that crouches beneath,

14 and for the precious things of increase from the sun, and for the precious things produced by the months,

15 and for the firstfruits of the mountains of the east, and for the precious things of the eternal hills,

16 and for the precious things of the earth and her fullness....

AE 448:7. This is the blessing of Joseph, or of the tribe named from Joseph by Moses; and this blessing was pronounced upon Joseph because “Joseph” signifies the Lord’s spiritual kingdom, and the heaven there that most nearly communicates with the Lord’s celestial kingdom. “The land of Joseph” means that heaven, and also the church that consists of those who will be in that heaven. “The precious things of heaven, the dew, and the deep that lies beneath” signify Divine-spiritual and spiritual-natural things from a celestial origin, “the precious things of heaven” Divine-spiritual things, “the dew” spiritual things communicating, and “the deep that lies beneath” spiritual-natural things. “The firstfruits of the mountains of the east, and the precious things of the hills of an age” signify genuine goods, both of love to the Lord and of charity towards the neighbor, “the mountains of the east” meaning the goods of love to the Lord, “the firstfruits” genuine goods, and “the hills of an age” the goods of charity towards the neighbor.

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