447. Verse 8. Of the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand sealed, signifies the conjunction with the Lord of those who are in the third heaven. This is evident from the representation and consequent signification of "Zebulun" and the tribe named from him, as meaning the conjunction with the Lord of those who are in the third heaven; because "Zebulun" in the Hebrew means cohabitation, and cohabitation signifies in the spiritual sense conjunction, such as exists with those who love each other. Here "Zebulun" signifies the conjunction with the Lord of those who are in the third heaven, because the nine preceding tribes signify all those who are in the heavens and who come into the heavens; and there are three heavens, the inmost, the middle, and the lowest, and no one comes into heaven except those whom the Lord conjoins to Himself; therefore the three tribes last mentioned signify conjunction with the Lord, "the tribe of Zebulun" the conjunction with the Lord of those who are in the third heaven, "the tribe of Joseph" the conjunction with the Lord of those who are in the second heaven, and "the tribe of Benjamin" the conjunction with the Lord of those who are in the lowest heaven.

[2] "Zebulun" signifies in the highest sense the union of the Divine Itself and the Divine Human in the Lord, in the internal sense the Lord's conjunction with heaven and the church; and in particular, the conjunction of good and truth therein, for by this conjunction the conjunction with the Lord of those who are in the three heavens and in the church is effected; for with such the Lord flows in with the good of love and charity, and conjoins that good to the truths that are with them, and thereby conjoins man and angel to Himself. This is what is signified by "cohabitation," which is the meaning of "Zebulun." That this is the meaning of "Zebulun" can be seen in the Arcana Coelestia 3960, 3961), where the words of Leah his mother when he was born are explained, which are as follows:

And Leah conceived, and bare a sixth son to Jacob. And Leah said, God hath endowed me with a good dowry; this time will my husband cohabit with me, because I have borne him six sons; and she called his name Zebulun (Genesis 30:19, 20).

[3] From this signification of "Zebulun" what is signified by him in the following passages can be seen. As in the prophecy of Israel respecting his sons:

Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the seas; and he shall dwell at a haven of ships; and his side shall be unto Zidon (Genesis 49:13).

Here "Zebulun" signifies the conjunction of good and truth, which is called the heavenly marriage; "to dwell at a haven of the sea" signifies the conjunction of things spiritual with natural truths, "seas" meaning knowledges (scientifica), which are natural truths; "to dwell at a haven of ships" signifies the spiritual conjunction with doctrinals from the Word, "ships" meaning doctrinals and knowledges of all kinds; "his side shall be unto Zidon" signifies extension to the knowledges of good and truth from the celestial kingdom. (For further explanation of this see Arcana Coelestia 6382-6386.)

[4] The like is meant in the prophecy of Moses respecting the sons of Israel:

Of Zebulun he said, Be glad, Zebulun; in thy going out, and Issachar in thy tents. They shall call the peoples unto the mountain; there they shall sacrifice sacrifices of righteousness; for they shall suck the abundance of the seas, and the hidden things of the secret things of the sand (Deuteronomy 33:18, 19).

Here, too, "Zebulun" signifies the marriage of good and truth, as may be seen in the preceding article n. 445, where the prophecy is explained. So again in the prophecy of Deborah and Barak in the book of Judges:

Out of Machir shall come down lawgivers, and out of Zebulun they that draw the staff of the scribe. Zebulun was a people that devoted the soul to death, and Naphtali upon the heights of the field. The kings came, they fought, then fought the kings of Canaan in Taanach by the waters of Megiddo; they took no gain of silver. They fought from heaven; the stars from their courses fought with Sisera (Judges 5:14, 18-20).

This prophecy treats of the combat of truth from good against falsity from evil; "the king of Canaan" who reigned in Hazor, and "Sisera" the captain of his army who fought against Barak and Deborah, signify the falsity of evil, and "Barak and Deborah" the truth of good; and as "the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun" signify combat from truth that is from good, "the tribe of Naphtali" combat, and "the tribe of Zebulun" the conjunction of good and truth, therefore these two tribes only, and not the other tribes, were taken to fight (See Judges 4:6). That this was what this combat signified can be seen from the prophecy uttered by Barak and Deborah, which treats in the spiritual sense of the victory of truth from good over falsity from evil, and of the purification and reformation of the church. So here "Out of Machir shall come down lawgivers" signifies that the truths of good shall flow forth from the good of life, for "Machir" has a like signification as "Manasseh," because Machir was the son of Manasseh (Genesis 50:23; Joshua 13:31); and "lawgivers" signify those who are in the truths of good, and in an abstract sense the truths of good; "and out of Zebulun they that draw the staff of the scribe" signifies intelligence from the conjunction of truth and good, "Zebulun" signifying here, as above, the conjunction of truth and good, and the "staff of the scribe" intelligence. "Zebulun was a people that devoted the soul to death, and Naphtali upon the heights of the field," signifies combat in the natural man by means of truths from the spiritual man and from its influx and conjunction, "the heights of the field" signifying the interior things that are of the spiritual man, from which the natural man combats; "the kings came, they fought, then fought the kings of Canaan" signifies the falsities of evil against which is combat; "in Taanach by the waters of Megiddo" signifies those falsities and of what quality they are; "they took no gain of silver" signifies that they took and carried away nothing of truth from good, "silver" meaning truth from good; "they fought from heaven, the stars from their courses fought with Sisera" signifies combat by means of the knowledges of truth and good, which are from the Lord through heaven, "stars" meaning such knowledges, and "courses" truths.

[5] Again, "Zebulun and Naphtali" signify the conjunction of truth and good through combat against falsities and evils, and consequent reformation. In Matthew:

Jesus leaving Nazareth, came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the nations; the people sitting in darkness saw a great light; and to those sitting in the region and shadow of death to them did light spring up. From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent ye, for the kingdom of the heavens hath come nigh (Matthew 4:13-17; Isaiah 9:1, 2).

In Isaiah this was evidently said respecting the Lord, for it is said "that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet;" therefore "the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and Galilee of the nations," signify the establishment of the church with the Gentiles that are in the good of life and that receive truths and are thus in the conjunction of good and truth, and in combat against evils and falsities. That this means the establishment of the church and the reformation of such nations is evident also from its being said "beyond Jordan, Galilee of the nations," and also "the people sitting in darkness saw a great light, and to those sitting in the region and shadow of death did light spring up."

[6] "Zebulun and Naphtali" signify in the highest sense the union of the Divine Itself and the Lord's Divine Human by means of temptations admitted into Himself, and victories gained by His own power; as in David, Psalms 68:27-29 (which may be seen explained above, n. 439. Because of this signification of "Zebulun":

The tribe of Judah, together with the tribe of Issachar and the tribe of Zebulun, pitched to the east about the tent of meeting (Numbers 2:3-10);

for the encampments of the sons of Israel about the tent of meeting represent and thence signify the arrangements of the angelic societies in heaven; and to the east in heaven are those who are in conjunction with the Lord through love to Him; for "the tribe of Judah" represented love to the Lord, and "the tribe of Zebulun" conjunction with Him.

526. And the third part of them was darkened, signifies that all these were changed into the falsities of evil and into the evils of falsity. This is evident from the signification of "darkness," as being falsities, and thus "to be darkened" means to be changed into falsities. It means a change both into the falsities of evil and into the evils of falsity, because it is said that "the third part of the sun was darkened, the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars," and the "sun" signifies the good of love, the "moon" the good and truth of faith, and the "stars" the knowledges of good and truth; therefore "the third part of the sun was darkened" signifies that the good of love was changed into evil and into falsity from evil, which is the falsity of evil; for good is changed into evil and into falsity therefrom, but the truth of faith, which is signified by the "moon," is changed into falsity and into evil therefrom, which is the evil of falsity. The evil of falsity is the falsity of doctrine out of which comes evil of life, and the falsity of evil is the evil of life out of which comes the falsity of doctrine.

[2] Darkness signifies falsity because light signifies truth, and falsity is the opposite of truth as darkness is of light; moreover, when the light of life, which is the Divine truth, is not with man, the shadow of death is with him, which is falsity; for man from what is his own (proprium) is in every evil and in falsity from the evil, and he is removed from these only by means of the truths of the church; consequently where there are no truths there are the falsities of evil. (That it is only by means of truths that man is removed from evils, is purified, and is reformed, see in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 24.)

[3] That "darkness" signifies in the Word falsities of various kinds can be seen from the following passages. In Joel:

The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of Jehovah cometh (Joel 2:31).

"The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood," has a similar signification as "the third part of the sun and the third part of the moon were darkened," namely, that at the end of the church there will be the falsity of evil in the place of the good of love, and evil of falsity in the place of truth of faith.

[4] Elsewhere in the Word where the darkening of the sun and moon is spoken of there is a like meaning, as in Isaiah:

For the stars of the heavens and the constellations thereof shall not make their light to shine; the sun shall be darkened in its rising, and the moon shall not make bright her light (Isaiah 13:10; 24:21, 23).

In Ezekiel:

When I shall extinguish thee I will cover the heavens and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not make her light to shine; all luminaries of light in the heavens will I make dark over thee, and I will set darkness upon thy land (Ezekiel 32:7, 8).

In Joel:

The day of Jehovah is near in the valley of decision; the sun and the moon have been darkened, and the stars have withdrawn their brightness (Joel 3:14, 15).

In the same:

The day of Jehovah cometh, a day of darkness and of thick darkness, a day of cloud and obscurity. Before Him the earth trembled, the sun and the moon were darkened, and the stars withdrew their brightness (Joel 2:1-2, 10).

In the Gospels:

Immediately after the affliction of those days the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven (Matthew 24:29; Mark 13:24, 25).

This is said of the last time of the church, when there is no longer any spiritual good or truth, or the good and truth of heaven and the church, but evil and falsity. That the goods and truths of the church, which are called the goods of love and the truths of faith are changed into evils and falsities, is signified by "the sun and moon shall be obscured and darkened, and the stars shall not give their light;" the Last Judgment that then follows is meant by "the day of Jehovah great and terrible;" and as this comes when the church is in darkness and in thick darkness, that day is also called "a day of darkness and thick darkness," and also "a day of cloud and obscurity," as also in the following passages.

[5] In Amos:

Woe unto you that desire the day of Jehovah. What to you is the day of Jehovah? It is darkness, and not light. Shall not the day of Jehovah be darkness, and not light? Even thick darkness, and no brightness to it? (Amos 5:18, 20).

In Zephaniah:

The day of Jehovah, a day of wasteness and devastation, a day of darkness and thick darkness, a day of clouds and of gloominess (Zephaniah 1:14, 15).

In Isaiah:

In that day he shall look upon the land, which behold is darkness and distress, and the light shall grow dark in its ruins (Isaiah 5:30).

In the same:

He shall look unto the earth, and behold distress and darkness dimmed with straitness and driven with thick darkness (Isaiah 8:22).

In the same:

Behold, darkness covereth the earth, and thick darkness the peoples (Isaiah 60:2).

In Jeremiah:

Give glory to Jehovah your God before He causeth darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the mountains of twilight; then shall ye look for light, but He will turn it into the shadow of death, He will make it thick darkness (Jeremiah 13:16).

This is said of the last time of the church, when the Lord is to come into the world, and judgment is to be accomplished; because there will then be no longer any good of love or truth of faith, but the evil of falsity and the falsity of evil, that day is called "a day of darkness and of thick darkness."

[6] The same is signified by:

The darkness that came over all the land from the sixth hour to the ninth hour when the Lord was crucified (Matthew 27:45; Mark 15:33; Luke 23:44-49).

"The darkness over all the land" represented that in the whole church there was nothing but evil and falsity therefrom, and falsity and evil therefrom; moreover, the three hours signify what is full and complete; for each and all things related in the Gospels respecting the Lord's passion have stored up in them arcana of heaven, and signify Divine celestial things, which can be laid open only by means of the internal spiritual sense.

[7] That "darkness" signifies falsity is further evident from the following passages. In Isaiah:

Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil, that put darkness for light and light for darkness (Isaiah 5:20).

"To put darkness for light and light for darkness" signifies to call falsity truth and truth falsity; it is clear that "darkness" means falsity and "light" truth, for good and evil are first spoken of, therefore what follows must be respecting truth and falsity.

[8] In John:

This is the judgment, that the Light hath come into the world, and men have loved the darkness rather than the light, because their works were evil (John 3:19).

The Lord here calls Himself the Light because He was the Divine truth itself when in the world; therefore "the Light" signifies the Lord in relation to Divine truth, also Divine truth from the Lord; and as darkness is opposed to light, "the darkness that men loved rather than the light" signifies infernal falsity, which is the falsity of evil. That the falsity of evil is here signified by "darkness" is evident from its being said, "because their works were evil." The falsity of evil springs from evil works, or the evils of life; for as good joins to itself truth, so evil joins to itself falsity; for the one belongs to the other.

[9] "Light" and "darkness" have a similar signification in the following passages in John:

In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. And the light appeareth in the darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not (John 1:4, 5).

In the same:

Jesus said, I am the Light of the world; he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life (John 8:12).

In the same:

Jesus said, Walk while ye have the Light, that darkness overtake you not; for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. I have come a Light into the world, that whosoever believeth on Me may not abide in darkness (John 12:35, 46).

In these passages "darkness" signifies infernal falsity; for the "light" to which darkness is opposed, signifies Divine truth. "Light" signifies Divine truth because light in the heavens is in its essence Divine truth proceeding from the Lord (See in the work on Heaven and Hell 116-140). Now as Divine truth is the light in the heavens, it follows that the falsity of evil, which is the falsity in the hells, is darkness. This darkness is not indeed darkness to those who are in the hells, for they see one another; but the light by which they see is like the lumen from burning coal, and this lumen, when the light of heaven flows into it, becomes mere darkness. For this reason also the caverns and dens in which they are appear to those in heaven like gloomy caves.

[10] From this it can be seen why "darkness" signifies the falsities of evil, and why the Lord says:

That those who are in hell are to be cast into outer darkness (Matthew 8:12; 22:13; 25:30).

In David:

The enemy pursueth my soul; he hath crushed my life down to the earth; he hath made me to sit in darkness, like the dead of the world (Psalms 143:3).

"The enemy who pursueth his soul" signifies in the spiritual sense evil; consequently "to make me to sit in darkness" signifies falsities.

[11] In Isaiah:

Judgment is far from us, and righteousness doth not overtake us; we wait for light, but behold darkness; for brightness, but we walk in thick darkness (Isaiah 59:9).

"Judgment is far from us" signifies that there is no understanding of truth; "righteousness doth not overtake us" signifies that there is no good of life; "we wait for light, but behold darkness," signifies waiting for truth, but behold falsity; "for brightness, but we walk in thick darkness," signifies waiting for goods through truths, but behold a life of falsity from evils; for "brightness" signifies the goods of truth, because "light" signifies truth, and truth is bright from good; "thick darkness" signifies the falsities of evil, and "to walk" signifies to live.

[12] In Luke:

But this is your hour and the power of darkness (Luke 22:53).

The Lord said this to the chief priests, the captains of the temple, and the elders, who seized Him by the aid of Judas. The power to do this wickedness the Lord calls "the power of darkness," because they were in the falsities of evil, in falsities respecting the Lord and in evils against Him; here also "darkness" means hell, because such falsities of evil are there.

[13] In the same:

The lamp of the body is the eye; when therefore thine eye is pure thy whole body also shall be light; but when the eye is evil thy body also shall be dark. Take heed, therefore, that the light that is in thee be not darkness. If thy whole body therefore be light, having no part dark, the whole shall be light, as when a lamp by its flashing doth give thee light (Luke 11:34-36; Matthew 6:22, 23).

The "eye" here signifies the understanding, and the "pure (or single) eye" the understanding of truth from good; but the "evil eye" signifies the understanding of falsity from evil; the "body" that is either light or dark, means the whole man. From this the signification of these words in series can be concluded, namely, that the whole man is such as is his understanding from the will; for every man is his truth and his good, because he is his love or affection; therefore he is throughout wholly such as he is in respect to his understanding from his will; for all truth is of the understanding, and all good is of the will; for the body is a mere obedience, since it is the effect of an effecting cause, and the effecting cause is the understanding from the will; therefore such as is the quality of the one such is that of the other, for the effect has its all from its effecting cause. That heed must be taken that truth once perceived in the understanding and received into the will be not turned into falsity, which is done from evil, is meant by "take heed, therefore, that the light that is in thee be not darkness," for from this falsities become worse; therefore in Matthew, in the passages just referred to, it is said:

If, therefore, the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is the darkness! (Matthew 6:23).

[14] "Darkness" signifies the falsities of evil also in Isaiah:

Sit thou silent and enter into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for they shall no longer call thee the mistress of kingdoms (Isaiah 47:5).

"The daughter of the Chaldeans" signifies the falsification of truth, therefore "darkness" signifies the falsities of evil, since evil falsifies truth:

The thick darkness of darkness that was over all the land of Egypt for three days, while in the dwellings of the sons of Israel there was light (Exodus 10:21-23);

signifies also the falsity of evil. Likewise the "darkness" in Genesis (Genesis 15:17), and in many other passages.

[15] It has been shown thus far that "darkness" signifies in the Word the falsities of evil. "Darkness" signifies also falsities not of evil, such as were the falsities of religion among the upright Gentiles, which falsities were with them because of their ignorance of the truth; that these falsities were also called "darkness" is evident from the following passages:

This people walking in darkness have seen a great light; those dwelling in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light become bright (Isaiah 9:2).

In Matthew:

A people sitting in darkness saw a great light; and to those sitting in the region and shadow of death a light hath arisen (Matthew 4:16).

In Luke:

The dayspring from on high appeared to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death (Luke 1:78, 79).

In Isaiah:

If thou shalt draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul, thy light shall arise in the darkness, and thy thick darkness be as the noonday (Isaiah 58:10).

In the same:

He shall say to the bound, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Be revealed (Isaiah 49:9).

In the same:

In that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of thick darkness and in ¹ darkness (Isaiah 29:18).

In the same:

And I will lead the blind in a way that they have not known. I will make darkness into light before them, and crooked things into straightness (Isaiah 42:16).

In Micah:

When I sit in darkness Jehovah shall be a Light unto me (Micah 7:8).

In these passages "darkness" signifies the falsities of ignorance, such as existed, and as exist at this day among the upright Gentiles. These falsities are altogether distinct from the falsities of evil, which have evil stored up in them because they are from evil, while the former have good stored up in them because they have good as an end. Those, therefore, who are in these falsities can be instructed in truths, and they also when instructed receive truths in the heart, for the reason that good, which is in their falsities, loves truth, and also conjoins itself to truth when it is heard. It is otherwise with the falsities of evil; these are averse to all truth and cast it off because it is truth, and thus is not in agreement with evil.

[16] Again, "darkness" signifies in the Word mere ignorance from lack of truth (as in David, Psalms 18:29; 139:11, 12). "Darkness" signifies also natural lumen, for this in comparison with spiritual light is like darkness; therefore also when angels look down into man's natural lumen, such as is in man's natural cognition, they regard it as darkness, and the things that are in it as in darkness; this light is signified by "darkness" in Genesis 1:2-5. And as the sense of the letter of the Word is natural, that sense also is called in the Word "a cloud," and also "darkness," in comparison with the internal spiritual sense, which is the light of heaven, and is called "glory."

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