约书亚记12:被约书亚打败的诸王。

本章列出在约旦河对岸被摩西打败的王，以及在迦南地被约书亚打败的王。摩西打败了亚摩利人的王西宏和巴山的王欧格。约书亚打败了31位王，本章逐一列举了他们的城池名称。

我们可能会想：这样的章节对我们有什么用呢？但它就在这里，包含在神的话语中。我们将提出两方面的建议，让我们用这一章给我们一个属灵的信息来工作。

首先，反对以色列的君王数量之多，总的来说，代表了许多阻碍我们献身于主的教导的事情。

其次，以色列人所打败的许多城镇的名字，都对我们在属灵生活中遇到的各种情况有重要的辨别意义（见瑞典堡的 天国的秘密2009[9]).例如，"约书亚 "的意思是'神就是胜利'，当我们选择反叛邪恶的时候，我们可以明白这一点。我们能做到这一点，是因为主为我们而战，并与我们同在；我们不能单独做到这一点。

每一个天堂都有一个相应的地狱（见Seniorburg的《Seniorburg》一书）。 天堂与地狱588).如果怜悯是天堂的东西，那么地狱就是残忍和所有与之相伴的东西。如果天真无邪是天堂的东西，那么地狱就是与蓄意的伤害和所有与之相伴的一切。邪恶是不可言喻的。

约书亚打败了三十一个君王。数字三十代表着战斗，也代表着 "残余"，这是主在我们的童年时期给我们的善和真理的根深蒂固的感觉，帮助我们在成年后的重生中对抗邪恶。三十一似乎表明，即使过了三十而立之年，战斗也会继续进行。天国的秘密5335).

这些君王的城名，每一个名字都代表着一种品质。'以色列'是耶和华赐给雅各的名字，是在他与神的天使争斗了一夜，取得了胜利之后（见 创世记32:24-28)."以色列 "的意思是'与神一同奋斗'，也是'与神同在的君子'，于是就成了以色列人的名字。

以此为例，我们来看看与以色列作战的三个迦南人的城市，探讨一下他们的名字的灵性意义。

1.雅摩斯王，意为'被死亡所降伏'。只以生命的必然结局来看待生命，会对我们的目标感、希望和信任感造成可怕的伤害。战胜耶摩斯王帮助我们看到，死亡是进入永生的过渡，是我们从今生进入最充实的生命的手段。

2.阿弥陀佛的王，是指'顽强的堡垒'。我们很容易看出，邪恶完全可以像顽强的堡垒一样。邪恶会像死神一样坚持不懈，不肯放过我们。邪恶会想方设法用各种狡猾的手段来击垮我们，破坏我们的信仰。它最不愿意做的事情，就是看到我们被解决了，然后最终放弃。

3.Taanach之王，意思是'沙子多，难于跨越'。这可能会让我们想起危险的流沙，或者是我们在沙地上踉踉跄跄地走过的样子。同样地，有时邪恶会在我们还没有意识到是地狱把我们困住的时候，就会出现在坚固的地面上给我们提供更安全的通道。

4926. 'And she said, Why have you made a breach upon yourself?' means this truth's apparent separation from good. This is clear from the meaning of 'a breach' as an infringement upon and perversion of truth through its separation from good, dealt with below. Here 'making a breach' plainly means pulling away the twice-dyed thread from the hand and so separating good; for good is meant by 'twice-dyed', 4922. As regards this separation being an apparent one, this follows from the fact that it appeared to the midwife that a separation had taken place; but in reality it was not the twin with the twice-dyed thread who came out but his brother, who represents truth. On these matters, see what has been shown immediately above in 4925, where it is shown that good is in actual fact the firstborn but that truth appears to be such. This can be illustrated further still from the functions and members within the human body. The appearance is that the members and organs are first and that the functions these perform are subsequent; for the organs and members present themselves to the eye and are also known before their functions are seen or known. But in spite of this appearance the functions are prior to the members and organs since these derive their existence from the functions they serve and so receive their own forms to accord with these functions. Indeed the function itself gives them these forms and accommodates them to itself. If this were not so, all the individual parts of the human body could not possibly act together in so harmonious a way that they make a single whole. The same may be said about good and truth. The appearance is that truth is first, but in reality good is, in that good gives truths the forms they take and accommodates them to itself. Therefore regarded essentially truths are nothing else than goods which have been given form, that is, they are the forms good takes. In relation to good, truths are also like the internal organs and the fibres of the body in relation to the functions these perform. Also, regarded essentially good is nothing else than the function.

[2] The meaning of 'a breach' as an infringement upon truth and a perversion of it through its separation from good is also clear from other places in the Word, as in David,

Our storehouses are full, yielding food and still more food; our flocks are thousands, and ten thousands in our streets, our oxen are laden; there is no breach. Psalms 144:13-14.

This refers to the Ancient Church as it was in its youth. 'The food' with which 'the storehouses are full' stands for spiritual food, that is, for truth and good. 'Flocks' and 'oxen' stand for forms of good, internal and external. 'There is no breach' stands for the fact that truth has not suffered any infringement upon it or perversion of it through separation from good.

[3] In Amos,

I will raise up the tent of David that is fallen down, and I will close up their breaches, and I will restore its destroyed places; and I will build it as in the days of old. Amos 9:11.

This refers to a Church where good is present. 'The tent of David that is fallen down' means the good of love and charity received from the Lord. For 'a tent' meaning that good, see 414, 1102, 2145, 2152, 3312, 4128, 4391, 4599, and 'David' the Lord, 1888. 'Closing up the breaches' stands for correcting falsities which have entered in through the separation of truth from good. 'Building it as in the days of old' stands for as the state of the Church was in ancient times. In the Word that state at that time is called 'the days of eternity', 'the days of old', and also 'of generation upon generation'.

[4] In Isaiah,

He that is of you is building the waste places of old; raise up the foundations of generation upon generation, and may you be called the one repairing the breach, the one restoring paths to dwell in. Isaiah 58:12.

This refers to a Church where charity and life are the essential thing. 'Repairing the breach' again stands for correcting falsities which have crept in through the separation of good from truth, the origin of all falsity. 'Restoring paths to dwell in' stands for truths which are linked to good, for 'paths' or ways are truths, 627, 2333, and 'dwelling in' is used in reference to good, 2268, 2451, 2712, 3613.

[5] In the same prophet,

You saw that the breaches of the city of David were very many, and you collected the waters of the lower pool. Isaiah 22:9.

'The breaches of the city of David' stands for falsities of doctrine. 'The waters of the lower pool' stands for traditions by which they introduced blemishes into the truths contained in the Word, Matthew 15:1-6; Mark 7:1-13. In Ezekiel,

You have not gone up into the breaches and made a hedge for the house of Israel, so that you might stand in war on the day of Jehovah. Ezekiel 13:5.

In the same prophet,

I sought from among them a man making a hedge and standing in the breach before Me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found none. Ezekiel 22:30.

'Standing in the breach' stands for defending and guarding against the intrusion of falsities. In David,

Jehovah said He would destroy the people, unless Moses His chosen had stood in the breach before Him. Psalms 106:23.

'Standing in the breach' again means guarding against the intrusion of falsities; 'Moses' here meaning the Word - see Preface to Chapter 18 of Genesis, and 4859 (end).

[6] In Amos,

They will drag out the last of you with fish-hooks; you will go out through the breaches, every one from her own region; and you will cast down the palace. Amos 4:2-3.

'Going out through the breaches' stands for doing so through falsities resulting from reasonings. 'The palace' means the Word and consequently the truth of doctrine that is grounded in good. And because 'breaches' means falsity which arises through the separation of good from truth, the same is also meant in the representative sense by 'strengthening and repairing the breaches of the house of Jehovah', 2 Kings 12:5, 7-8, 12; 22:5. In the second Book of Samuel,

It grieved David that Jehovah had made a breach into Uzzah; therefore he called that place Perez Uzzah. 2 Samuel 6:8.

This refers to Uzzah, who died because he touched the ark. 'The ark' represented heaven, or in the highest sense the Lord, and therefore Divine Good. But 'Uzzah' represented that which ministers, and so represents truth since truth ministers to good. This separation is meant by 'a breach into Uzzah'.