Week 6    Day 3

    Listen:

The Cities of Refuge on the East Side of the Jordan

“Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau from the tribe of Reuben”

AC 3866. The tribe which took its name from Reuben [signifies] that which is the first of regeneration, or which is the first when man is becoming a church; and... this is the truth of doctrine, by which he may attain to the good of life.

“Ramoth in Gilead from the tribe of Gad”

AC 4117. The land of Gilead... was within the limits of the land of Canaan as understood in a broad sense. It was [beyond] the Jordan, and passed as an inheritance to the Reubenites and the Gadites, and especially to the half tribe of Manasseh; and as the inheritances extended thus far, it is said that it was within the limits of the land of Canaan as understood in a broad sense. That it passed as an inheritance to them, is evident in Moses (Num. 32:1, 26-41; Deut. 3:8, 10-16; Josh. 13:24-31) .... Because Gilead was a boundary, it signified in the spiritual sense the first good, which is that of the senses of the body; for it is the good or the pleasure of these into which the man who is being regenerated is first of all initiated. In this sense “Gilead” is taken in the Prophets....

“Golan in Bashan from the tribe of Manasseh”

AE 405:13. [It is written] in David:

A mountain of God is the mountain of Bashan; a mountain of hills is the mountain of Bashan. Why do you leap, you mountains, you hills of the mountain? God desires to dwell in it; yea, Jehovah will inhabit it perpetually (Ps. 68:15-16).

“The mountain of Bashan” signifies good of the will [voluntarium] such as exists in those who are in the externals of the church. For Bashan was a region beyond Jordan, which was given as an inheritance to the half tribe of Manasseh, as may be seen in Joshua... and “Manasseh” signifies the good of the will of the external or natural man. This good of the will is the same as the good of love in the external man, for all good of love is of the will, and all truth from it is of the understanding. Therefore “Ephraim,” his brother, signifies the truth of the understanding [intellectuale] belonging to that good.

Because “the mountain of Bashan” signifies that good, “the hills” of that mountain signify goods in act. Because it is the will that acts—for every activity of the mind and body is from the will, as everything active of thought and speech is from the understanding—therefore the joy arising from the good of love is described and meant by “skipping” and “leaping.” This makes clear what is signified by, “a mountain of God is the mountain of Bashan; a mountain of hills is the mountain of Bashan; why do you leap, you mountains, you hills of the mountain?” Because the Lord dwells with man in his good of the will, from which are goods in act, it is said, “God desires to dwell in it; yea, Jehovah will inhabit it perpetually.”

previous		next