103. We can tell from the books of Moses that there was a Word among the ancients because he mentioned it and excerpted from it (Numbers 21:14-15, 27-30). We can tell that the narrative portions of that Word were called “The Wars of Jehovah, ” and that the prophetic portions were called “Pronouncements.” Moses quoted the following from the historical narratives of that Word:

Therefore it says in The Book of the Wars of Jehovah, “Waheb in Suphah and the rivers Arnon, a watercourse of rivers that goes down to [where] Ar is inhabited and rests along the border of Moab.” (Numbers 21:14-15)

In that Word as in ours, the wars of Jehovah were understood to be, and served to describe in detail, the Lord’s battles against hell and his victories over it when he would come into the world. These same battles are meant and described time after time in the historical narratives of our Word - in Joshua’s battles against the nations of the land of Canaan, for example, and in the wars of the judges and the kings of Israel.

[2] Moses quoted the following from the prophetic portions of that Word:

Therefore those who make pronouncements say, “Come to Heshbon! The city of Sihon will be built up and fortified, because fire has gone out from Heshbon, flame from the city of Sihon. It has devoured Ar of Moab, those who occupy the heights of Arnon. Woe to you, Moab! You have perished, people of Chemosh; he has made his sons fugitives and sent his daughters into captivity to Sihon, king of the Amorites. With arrows we have dealt with them; Heshbon has perished as far as Dibon, and we have spread destruction as far as Nophah, which extends to Medeba.” (Numbers 21:27-30)

Translators change [the title of] this to “Composers of Proverbs, ” but it should be called “Makers of Pronouncements” or “Prophetic Pronouncements, ” as we can tell from the meaning of the word moschalim in Hebrew. It means not only proverbs but also prophetic utterances, as in Numbers 23:7, 18; 24:3, 15 where it says that Balaam gave forth his pronouncement, which was actually a prophetic utterance and was about the Lord. In these instances each of his pronouncements is called a mashal in the singular. There is also the fact that what Moses quoted from this source are not proverbs but prophecies.

[3] We can see that this Word was similarly divine or divinely inspired from a passage in Jeremiah where we find almost the same words:

A fire has gone out from Heshbon and a flame from the midst of Sihon, which has devoured the corner of Moab and the top of the children of tumult. Woe to you, Moab! The people of Chemosh have perished, for your sons have been carried off into captivity and your daughters into captivity. (Jeremiah 48:45-46)

Further, both David and Joshua mention another prophetic book of the former Word, The Book of Jasher or The Book of the Righteous One. Here is where David mentions it:

David lamented over Saul and over Jonathan and wrote, “‘To Teach the Children of Judah the Bow.’ (You will find this written in The Book of Jasher.)” (2 Samuel 1:17-18)

Here is where Joshua mentions it:

Joshua said, “‘Come to rest, O sun, in Gibeon; and, O moon, in the valley of Aijalon.’ Is this not written in The Book of Jasher?” (Joshua 10:12-13)

Then too, I have been told that the first seven chapters of Genesis are right there in that ancient Word, so that not the slightest word is missing.

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

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

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

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

On that day there will be an altar to Jehovah in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to Jehovah at its border; and it will be for a sign and a witness to Jehovah Zebaoth in the land of Egypt, for they will cry out to Jehovah because of the oppressors, and He will send a saviour and prince to them, and he will deliver them. And Jehovah will make Himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know Jehovah on that day and will offer sacrifice and minchah, and will make a vow to Jehovah and perform it. On that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Asshur, and Asshur will come into Egypt, and Egypt into Asshur, and Egypt will serve Asshur. ¹ On that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Asshur, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom Jehovah Zebaoth will bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt My people, and Asshur the work of My hands, and Israel My heritage. Isaiah 19:18-25.

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

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