Week 3    Day 5

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The Inheritance of Benjamin in General; Jericho

Joshua 18:11-21

11 And the lot of the tribe of the sons of Benjamin came up according to their families. And the border of their lot came out between the sons of Judah and the sons of Joseph.

12 And they had a border for the quarter toward the north from the Jordan; and the border went up to the shoulder of Jericho from the north, and went up on the mountain toward the sea; and the outgoings thereof were toward the wilderness of Beth-aven.

13 And the border crossed over from there to Luz, to the shoulder of Luz toward the south—that is Bethel; and the border went down to Ataroth-addar, by the mountain which is to the south of Beth-choron the lower.

14 And the border was marked out and turned around to the quarter of the sea southward, from the mountain which is before Beth-choron southward; and the goings out thereof were to Kiriath-baal, that is Kiriath-jearim, a city of the sons of Judah; this was the quarter toward the sea.

15 And the quarter toward the south was from the end of Kiriath-jearim, and the border went out toward the sea, and went out to the fountain of waters of Nephtoah.

16 And the border went down to the end of the mountain which is before the Ravine of the Son of Hinnom, which is in the valley of the Rephaim northward, and it went down the Ravine of Hinnom to the shoulder of the Jebusite southward, and went down to En-rogel.

17 And it was marked out from the north, and went out to En-shemesh, and went out to Geliloth, which is opposite the going up of Adummim, and it went down to the stone of Bohan, the son of Reuben.

18 And it crossed over to the shoulder next to the desert northward, and went down toward the desert.

19 And the border crossed over to the shoulder of Beth-choglah northward; and the outgoings of the border were toward the tongue of the Salt Sea northward; to the end of the Jordan southward; this was the south border.

20 And Jordan bordered it on the quarter toward the east. This was the inheritance of the sons of Benjamin, by the borders thereof all around, according to their families.

21 And the cities of the tribe of the sons of Benjamin according to their families were Jericho, and Beth-choglah, and the valley of Keziz,

22 and Beth-arabah, and Zemaraim, and Bethel,

23 and Avim, and Parah, and Ophrah,

24 and Kephar-haammonai, and Ophni, and Gibea: twelve cities and their villages;

25 Gibeon, and Ramah, and Beeroth,

26 and Mizpeh, and Kephirah, and Mozah,

27 and Rekem, and Irpeel, and Taralah,

28 And Zela, and Eleph, and Jebusi, which is Jerusalem, Gibeath, Kiriath: fourteen cities and their villages. This is the inheritance of the sons of Benjamin according to their families.

AE 449:4. Because “Benjamin” and his tribe signify truth conjoined to good in the natural man, his lot in the land of Canaan was between the sons of Judah and the sons of Joseph; Jerusalem also, where the Jebusites then were, fell to that tribe for an inheritance (Josh. 18:11-28), so that the sons of Benjamin dwelt there with the Jews, who afterwards occupied that city. The tribe of Benjamin had its lot among the sons of Joseph because that tribe represented and thence signified the conjunction of good and truth; for “Judah” signifies the good of the church, and “Joseph” the truth of the church.

Jericho

AE 458. [T]he signification of a “palm tree” is the good of truth, that is, spiritual good... [W]hen that truth in the thought is so loved as to be willed, and from being willed is done, then, since it belongs to the love, it becomes good.

AE 458:10. Because “Jericho” signifies the good of truth, that city was called the city of palm trees (Deut. 34:3; Judg. 1:16; 3:13); for all names of places and cities in the Word signify such things as pertain to heaven and the church, which are called spiritual; and “Jericho” signifies the good of truth. Because of this signification of “Jericho,” the Lord in the parable of the Samaritan said that he was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho (Luke 10:30), which signifies by means of truths to good; for “Jerusalem” signifies the truth of doctrine, and “Jericho” the good of truth, which is the good of life, and [the Samaritan] exercised [the good of life] towards the man wounded by robbers.

AE 458:11. Again, because of this signification of Jericho, when Joshua was by Jericho, he saw a man standing with a drawn sword in his hand, who said to Joshua, Put off thy shoe from off thy foot in the place whereon thou standest, for it is holy. And Joshua did so (Josh. 5:13, 15). So, too, when the sons of Israel had taken Jericho by carrying the ark round about it, the silver and the gold and the vessels of bronze and of iron which they found there they put into the treasury of the house of Jehovah (Josh. 6:24). From the above it is evident why Jericho was called “the city of palm-trees.”

AE 458:12. Furthermore, in the spiritual world, in the paradises where the angels are who are in spiritual good or in the good of truth, palm-trees are seen in great abundance, from which also it is clear that the “palm-tree” signifies the good of truth; for all things that appear in that world are representatives of the state of life and of the affections, thus of the good and truth with angels.

AE 700:15. The “city of Jericho” signifies instruction in the knowledges of good and truth, by which man is introduced into the church; for Jericho was a city not far from the Jordan, and that river signified introduction into the church... For all places in the land of Canaan were significative of things celestial and spiritual belonging to the church, and this from the most ancient times. And because the sons of Israel were to represent the church, and among them the Word was to be written, in which those places were to be mentioned signifying such things as are of heaven and the church, therefore the sons of Israel were introduced into [that land], and their introduction was signified by “the river Jordan,” and their instruction by “Jericho.” And as “Jericho” signified instruction it signified also the good of life, because unless one is in the good of life he cannot be instructed in the truths of doctrine.

But when the land of Canaan was held by idolatrous nations, the signification of the places and cities in that land was changed into the opposite, Jericho then signifying the profanation of truth and good. From this it follows that the “city” itself signified the doctrine of falsity and evil, which perverted and profaned the truths and goods of the church, its “wall” signifying falsities of evil defending that doctrine, and the “inhabitants” those who are profane; and as all profaneness is from infernal love after having acknowledged truth and good, therefore the city was burned with fire, the inhabitants given to the curse, and its wall fell down, “fire” signifying infernal love, “curse” a total blotting out, and “the falling down of the wall” exposure to every evil and falsity.

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