559. Verse 10. And they had tails like scorpions, signifies sensual knowledges [scientifica] that are persuasive. This is evident from the signification of "tails," as meaning sensual knowledges [scientifica] (of which presently); and from the signification of "scorpions," as being an infatuating and suffocating persuasiveness (of which see above, n. 544; therefore "tails like scorpions" signify sensual knowledges which are persuasive. "Tails" signify sensual knowledges because the tails that protrude outwardly from animals of the earth are the continuations of the spinal cord, which is called the spinal marrow, and this is a continuation of the brain, and the "brain" in like manner as the "head," signifies intelligence and wisdom, because intelligence and wisdom in their beginnings have their seat there; and as tails are the ultimates of the brain they signify sensual knowledges, since these are the ultimates of intelligence and wisdom.

[2] Sensual knowledges are such knowledges as enter from the world through the five bodily senses, and thence viewed in themselves are more material, corporeal, and worldly than those that are interior. All who are in the love of self and have confirmed themselves against Divine and spiritual things are sensual men, and when they are left to themselves and think in their spirit, they think about Divine and spiritual things from sensual knowledges, and consequently they reject Divine and spiritual things as not to be believed, because they do not see them with their eyes or touch them with their hands; and they apply their knowledges, which they have made sensual and material, to the destruction of these. For example, men who are learned in this kind of knowledge, who are skilled in physics, anatomy, botany, and other branches of human learning, when they see the wonderful things in the animal and vegetable kingdoms say in their hearts that all these things are from nature, and not from the Divine, and this because they believe in nothing that they do not see with their eyes and touch with their hands; for they are unable to elevate their minds upward so as to see these things from the light of heaven, for that light is thick darkness to them; but they detain their minds in earthly things, much the same as the animals of the earth do, with which indeed they compare themselves. In a word, with such all knowledges [scientiae] are made sensual; for such as the man himself is, such are all things of his understanding and will; if the man is spiritual all things become spiritual; if he is merely natural all things become natural and not spiritual; if the man is sensual all things become sensual, and this however learned and erudite he may seem to the world to be. But as every man has the faculty to understand truths and perceive goods, such men are able from that faculty to talk about these things like those who are spiritual-rational, although in respect to their spirit they are sensual; for when such men speak before others they do not speak from the spirit but from the bodily memory.

[3] All this has been said to make known what sensual knowledges are. These are what especially persuade, or are especially persuasive, because they are the ultimates of the understanding; for into these as into its ultimates the understanding closes, and these captivate the common people because they are appearances drawn from such things as they see in the world with their eyes; and so long as the thought clings to these it is impossible to dispose the mind to think interiorly or above them until they are put away; for the interior things of the mind all close into ultimates and rest upon them, as a house upon its foundation; consequently these are especially persuasive, but only with those whose minds cannot be elevated above sensual things; and the mind is elevated above them with those who are in the light of heaven from the Lord, for the light of heaven dissipates them. For this reason spiritual men rarely think from things sensual, for they think from things rational and intellectual; but sensual men, who have confirmed themselves in falsities against Divine and spiritual things, when they are left to themselves think only from sensual things.

[4] That "tails" signify sensual knowledges [scientifica] can be seen from the following passages. In Isaiah:

Jehovah will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush. The old man and the honorable, he is the head; but the prophet, the teacher of lies, he is the tail (Isaiah 9:14, 9:16).

This means that all intelligence and wisdom and all knowledge [scientia] of truth will perish; the "head" signifies intelligence and wisdom, wherefore it is said "the old man and the honorable, he is the head," for the "old man" signifies the understanding of truth, and the "honorable" the wisdom of good; but the "tail" signifies sensual knowledge [scientificum], which is the ultimate of intelligence and wisdom; when this is not joined to spiritual intelligence it becomes false knowledge, or knowledge applied to confirm falsities, which is sensual knowledge, like that of the sensual man who sees nothing from the understanding. This is why "the prophet who teacheth lies" is called the "tail," a "prophet" signifying the doctrine of truth, and thence the knowledge of truth, but here doctrine and the knowledge of falsity, for a "lie" signifies falsity, and the "teacher of a lie" one who teaches falsity by applying knowledges from the sense of the letter of the Word to confirm falsities.

[5] In the same:

Neither shall there be for Egypt any work that may make head or tail, branch or rush (Isaiah 19:15).

"Egypt" signifies knowledge [scientia] both of spiritual and of natural things; "no work for it that may make head or tail" signifies that it has no spiritual things, neither natural things by which spiritual things are confirmed, the "head" signifies here the cognitions of spiritual things which are means of intelligence, and the "tail" natural knowledges [scientifica] which are serviceable to things spiritual for intelligence; "branch and rush" have a similar signification, "branch" being spiritual truth, and "rush" sensual knowledge, which is ultimate truth; for if what is prior and what is posterior, or what is first and what is last, do not make one in man, he has no "head and tail."

[6] In Moses:

Thus Jehovah shall make thee as the head, and not as the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath, if thou shalt hearken unto the commandments of thy God (Deuteronomy 28:13).

"To make as the head" means to make spiritual and intelligent, and thus to elevate out of the light of the world into the light of heaven; and "to make as the tail" means to make sensual and foolish, so as not to look to heaven but only to the world; therefore it is said "and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath," "to be above" meaning to be elevated by the Lord so as to look to heaven, and "to be beneath" meaning not to be elevated by the Lord, but by self, and man by self looks only to the world. For man's interiors which belong to his thought and affection are elevated to heaven by the Lord when man is in the good of life and thence in the truths of doctrine; but when he is in the evil of life and thence in falsities, his lower things look downward, thus only to his body and to such things as are in the world, and thus to hell. Thus man puts off his truly human nature and puts on a beastly nature, for beasts look downward and to such things only as are met with in the world and upon the earth. Elevation into the light of heaven by the Lord is an actual elevation of man's interiors to the Lord; and a depression or casting down to such things as are below and outside the eyes is an actual depression and casting down of the interiors, and when this takes place, all the thought of the spirit is immersed in the ultimate sensual.

[7] In Moses:

The sojourner who is in the midst of thee shall ascend above thee higher and higher, but thou shalt come down lower and lower. He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him; he shall be as the head, and thou shalt be as the tail (Deuteronomy 28:43, 44).

This must have a like meaning; "to be as the head" signifying to be spiritual and intelligent, and "to be as the tail" to be sensual and stupid; therefore it is added "he shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him," which signifies that he shall teach thee truths, but thou shalt not teach him.

[8] In Isaiah:

Say unto him, Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither let thine heart be soft because of the two tails of smoking firebrands, for the glowing anger of Rezin and Syria, and of the son of Remaliah (Isaiah 7:4).

"Rezin and Syria" signify the perverted rational, and "the son of Remaliah," king of Israel, who is also called "Ephraim," signifies the perverted intellectual; it is the intellectual in respect to the Word that is signified by "the king of Israel" and "Ephraim;" and it is the rational in respect to the knowledges [scientiae] that confirm that is signified by "Rezin and Syria," for a man in order to have an understanding of the Word must have a rational, and when these two are perverted they look only downward to the earth, and outward to the world, as sensual men do who are in the falsities of evil; therefore they are called "tails." A "smoking firebrand" signifies the lust of falsity and consequent wrath against the truths and goods of the church.

[9] In Moses:

Jehovah said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand and take hold of the tail of the serpent. And he put forth his hand and took hold of it, and it became a staff in his hand (Exodus 4:4).

That here, too, "tail" means the sensual which is the ultimate of the natural may be seen in the Arcana Coelestia 6951-6955). Because "tails" signify the ultimates of intelligence and wisdom, which are sensual knowledges [scientifica], and because all the processes attending the sacrifices signified Divine celestial and spiritual things, therefore:

It was commanded that they should take away the tail hard by the backbone, and should sacrifice it with the other parts there mentioned (Leviticus 3:9; 8:25; 9:19; Exodus 29:22).

(That the burnt-offerings and sacrifices signified Divine celestial and spiritual things, which are the internals of the church, of which worship consists, see Arcana Coelestia 2180, 2805, 2807, 3830, 3519, 6905, 8936.) Because "tails" signify sensual knowledges [scientifica], and when these knowledges are separated from things interior which are spiritual, and in consequence do not with things interior look inward and upward but look outward and downward, they signify falsities confirmed by knowledges. Therefore also in what follows in Revelation, where falsities from that origin are treated of, it is said:

That the tails of the horses seen in vision were like unto serpents, and that they had heads with which they did hurt (Revelation 9:19).

And afterwards:

That the dragon with his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth (Revelation 12:3, 4);

which things may be seen explained below.

1343. That 'Eber' was a nation, the Hebrew nation, which took its name from 'Eber' as its forefather, and which means the worship in general of the second Ancient Church, is clear from the references to him in the historical sections of the Word. Because a new form of worship began with that nation, all those were called Hebrews whose worship was similar to it. Their worship was like that re-established at a later time among the descendants of Jacob, its chief features being that they called their God Jehovah and held sacrifices. The Most Ancient Church was of one mind in acknowledging the Lord and calling Him Jehovah, as is clear also from the early chapters of Genesis and elsewhere in the Word. The Ancient Church, that is, the Church after the Flood also acknowledged the Lord and called Him Jehovah, especially those who possessed internal worship and were called 'the sons of Shem'. The remainder whose worship was external also acknowledged Jehovah and worshipped Him. But when internal worship became external, and still more when it became idolatrous, and when each nation started to have its own god to worship, the Hebrew nation retained the name of Jehovah and called their own God Jehovah. In this they were different from all other nations.

[2] Along with external worship, Jacob's descendants in Egypt, including Moses himself, lost knowledge even of this fact, that their God was called Jehovah. Consequently they had first of all to be taught that Jehovah was the God of the Hebrews, and the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as becomes clear from the following in Moses,

Jehovah said to Moses, You and the elders of Israel shall go in to the king of Egypt, and you shall say to him, Jehovah the God of the Hebrews has met with us; and now let us go, pray, a three days' journey into the wilderness, and let us sacrifice to Jehovah our God. Exodus 3:18.

In the same author,

Pharaoh said, Who is Jehovah that I should hearken to His voice to send Israel away? I do not know Jehovah, and moreover I will not send Israel away. And they said, The God of the Hebrews has met with us; let us go, pray, a three days' journey into the wilderness, and let us sacrifice to Jehovah our God. Exodus 5:2-3.

[3] The fact that Jacob's descendants lost in Egypt, along with the worship, even the name of Jehovah becomes clear from the following in Moses,

Moses said to God, Behold, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they say to me, What is His name? What shall I tell them? And God said to Moses, I Am Who I Am. And He said, Thus shall you say to the children of Israel, I Am has sent me to you. And God said moreover to Moses, Thus shall you say to the children of Israel, Jehovah the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you; this is My name for ever. Exodus 3:13-15.

[4] From this it is evident that even Moses did not know it and that they were distinguished from everyone else by the name of Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews. Hence also Jehovah is elsewhere called the God of the Hebrews,

You shall say to Pharaoh, Jehovah the God of the Hebrews has sent me to you. Exodus 7:16.

Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, Thus said Jehovah the God of the Hebrews. Exodus 9:1, 13.

Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and said to him, Thus said Jehovah the God of the Hebrews Exodus 10:3.

In Jonah,

I am a Hebrew, and I fear Jehovah, the God of heaven. Jonah 1:9.

And also in Samuel,

The Philistines heard the noise of the shouting and said, What does the noise of this great shouting in the camp of the Hebrews mean? And they learned that the Ark of Jehovah had come to the camp. The Philistines said, Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who smote the Egyptians with every sort of plague in the wilderness. Acquit yourselves like men, O Philistines, lest you be slaves to the Hebrews. 1 Samuel 4:6, 8-9.

Here also it is evident that nations were distinguished from one another by the gods whose names they called on, and that the Hebrew nation was distinguished by that of Jehovah.

[5] The fact that sacrifices were the second essential feature of the worship of the Hebrew nation is also evident from the words from Exodus 3:18; 5:2-3, quoted above, as well as from the fact that the Egyptians abhorred the Hebrew nation on account of this form of worship, as is clear from the following in Moses,

Moses said, It is not right to do so, for we would be sacrificing to Jehovah our God what is abhorrent to the Egyptians; behold, we would be sacrificing what is abhorrent to the Egyptians in their eyes; will they not stone us? Exodus 8:26.

Consequently the Egyptians also abhorred the Hebrew nation so much that they refused even 'to eat bread' with them, Genesis 43:32. From this it is also evident that not merely the descendants of Jacob constituted the Hebrew nation but everybody who possessed that kind of worship. This also was why in Joseph's day the land of Canaan was called the land of the Hebrews,

Joseph said. By theft I have been taken away out of the land of the Hebrews. Genesis 40:15.

[6] The fact that sacrifices took place among the idolaters in the land of Canaan becomes clear from many references, for they used to sacrifice to their gods - to the baals and to others What is more, Balaam, who came from Syria where Eber had lived, that is, where the Hebrew nation had originated, before Jacob's descendants entered the land of Canaan, not only offered sacrifices but also called his God Jehovah. As to the fact that Balaam came from Syria where the Hebrew nation had originated, see Numbers 23:7; that he offered sacrifices, Numbers 22:39-40; 23:1-3, 14, 29; that he called his God Jehovah, Numbers 22:18, and elsewhere in those chapters. And Genesis 8:20 speaks of Noah offering burnt offerings to Jehovah - though this is not true history but made-up history - for 'burnt offerings' means the holiness of worship, as may be seen in that story. These considerations now show what 'Eber' or 'the Hebrew nation' means.