4734. And Reuben said unto them. This signifies exhortation, in the proximate sense confession of the faith of the church in general (which is “Reuben,” n. 4731) exhorting or dictating that they should not do violence, as in what follows.

109. That although wisdom and intelligence appear in man, they are, as has been said, of the Lord alone, is plainly declared in Ezekiel by means of similar representatives:

Behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward; for the face of the house is the east; and he said, These waters issue out to the border toward the east, and go down into the plain, and come to the sea, which being led into the sea, the waters shall be healed; and it shall come to pass that every living soul which creepeth, whithersoever the water of the rivers shall come, shall live. And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, there come up all trees for food, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed; it is born again in its months, because these its waters issue out of the sanctuary, and the fruit thereof shall be for food, and the leaf thereof for medicine (Ezekiel 47:1, 8-9, 12).

Here the Lord is signified by the “east” and by the “sanctuary” whence the waters and rivers issued. In like manner in John:

He showed me a pure river of water of life, bright as crystal, going forth out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street thereof, and of the river on this side and that, was the tree of life, which bare twelve [manner of] fruits, and yielded her fruit every month; and the leaf of the tree was for the healing of the nations (Revelation 22:1-2).