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Numbers 13

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1 And the people marched from Haseroth, and pitched their tents in the desert of Pharan.

2 And there the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

3 Send men to view the land of Chanaan, which I will give to the children of Israel, one of every tribe, of the rulers.

4 Moses did what the Lord had commanded, sending from the desert of Pharan, principal men, whose names are these:

5 Of the tribe of Ruben, Sammua the son of Zechur.

6 Of the tribe of Simeon, Saphat the son of Hurl.

7 Of the tribe of Juda, Caleb the son of Jephone.

8 Of the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph.

9 Of the tribe of Ephraim, Osee the son of Nun.

10 Of the tribe of Benjamin, Phalti the son of Raphu.

11 Of the tribe of Zabulon, Geddiel the son of Sodi.

12 Of the tribe of Joseph, of the sceptre of Manasses, Gaddi the son of Susi.

13 Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli.

14 Of the tribe of Aser, Sthur the son of Michael.

15 Of the tribe of Nephtali, Nahabi the son of Vapsi.

16 Of the tribe of Gad, Guel the son of Machi.

17 These are the names of the men, whom Moses sent to view the land: and he called Osee the son of Nun, Josue.

18 And Moses sent them to view the land of Chanaan, and said to them: Go you up by the south side. And when you shall come to the mountains,

19 View the land, of what sort it is: and the people that are the inhabitants thereof, whether they be strong or weak: few in number or many:

20 The land itself, whether it be good or bad: what manner of cities, walled or without walls:

21 The ground, fat or barren, woody or without trees. Be of good courage, and bring us of the fruits of the land. Now it was the time when the first ripe grapes are fit to be eaten.

22 And when they were gone up, they viewed the land from the desert of Sin, unto Rohob as you enter into Emath.

23 And they went up at the south side, and came to Hebron, where were Achiman and Sisai and Tholmai the sons of Enac. For Hebron was built seven years before Tanis the city of Egypt.

24 And going forward as far as the torrent of the cluster of grapes, they cut off a branch with its cluster of grapes, which two men carried upon a lever. They took also of the pomegranates and of the figs of that place:

25 Which was called Nehelescol, that is to say, the torrent of the cluster of grapes, because from thence the children of Israel had carried a cluster of grapes.

26 And they that went to spy out the land returned after forty days, having gone round all the country,

27 And came to Moses and Aaron and to all the assembly of the children of Israel to the desert of Pharan, which is in Cades. And speaking to them and to all the multitude, they shewed them the fruits of the land:

28 And they related and said: We came into the land to which thou sentest us, which in very deed floweth with milk and honey as may be known by these fruits:

29 But it hath very strong inhabitants, and the cities are great and walled. We saw there the race of Enac.

30 Amalec dwelleth in the south, the Hethite and the Jebusite and the Amorrhite in the mountains: but the Chanaanite abideth by the sea and near the streams of the Jordan.

31 In the mean time Caleb, to still the murmuring of the people that rose against Moses, said: Let us go up and possess the land, for we shall be able to conquer it.

32 But the others, that had been with him, said: No, we are not able to go up to this people, because they are stronger than we.

33 And they spoke ill of the land, which they had viewed, before the children of Israel, saying: The land which we have viewed, devoureth its inhabitants: the people, that we beheld, are of a tall stature.

34 There we saw certain monsters of the sons of Enac, of the giant kind: in comparison of whom, we seemed like locusts.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 2909

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2909. 'In Kiriath Arba, which is Hebron in the land of Canaan' means within the Church. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'Kiriath Arba' as the Church as regards truth, and from the meaning of 'Hebron in the land of Canaan' as the Church as regards good. In the Word, especially the prophetical part, whenever truth is the subject, good also is included, on account of the heavenly marriage that exists in every detail of the Word, see 683, 793, 801, 2173, 2516, 2712. Here therefore when Kiriath Arba is mentioned, so also is 'Hebron in the land of Canaan'. The land of Canaan is the Lord's kingdom, 1413, 1437, 1607, and locations in that land were in varying ways representative, 1585, 1866.

[2] As regards 'Kiriath Arba, which is Hebron', this was a region where Abraham, Isaac and Jacob dwelt. Abraham's dwelling there is evident from what has gone before,

Abraham came and dwelt in [the oak-groves of] Mamre, which are in Hebron. Genesis 13:18.

And Isaac and Jacob's dwelling there too is evident from what comes further on, Jacob came to Isaac his father in Mamre, to Kiriath Arba, which is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned. Genesis 35:27.

Joseph was sent by Jacob his father to his brothers, from the Valley of Hebron. Genesis 37:14.

From the representation dealt with already of those three personages it is clear that 'Kiriath Arba, which is Hebron' represented the Church before Jerusalem did so.

[3] In the course of time every Church deteriorates until it ceases to possess any faith or charity at all, at which point it is destroyed. This too was represented by 'Kiriath Arba, which is Hebron', that is to say, when this place was occupied by the Anakim, by whom dreadful false persuasions were meant, 581, 1673, regarding which occupation by the Anakim, see Numbers 13:21-22; Joshua 11:21; 14:15; 15:13-14; Judges 1:10. As regards the end or close of the Church and its destruction, this was represented by Joshua's utterly destroying everything in that place, Joshua 10:36-37; 11:21, and by Judah and Caleb's smiting the Anakim, Judges 1:10; Joshua 14:13-15; 15:13-14. The establishment again of a new Church was represented by the allotment of its fields and villages to Caleb as his inheritance, Joshua 21:12. The city itself however became a city of refuge, Joshua 20:7; 21:13, and a city for priests, for the sons of Aaron, Joshua 21:10-11, within the inheritance of Judah, Joshua 15:54.

[4] From this it is evident that Hebron represented the Lord's spiritual Church in the land of Canaan. For the same reason also David was ordered by Jehovah's command to go to Hebron and was there anointed king over the house of Judah; and after he had reigned there for seven years and six months he went to Jerusalem and took possession of Zion, see 2 Samuel 2:1-11; 5:5; 1 Kings 2:11, at which point the Lord's spiritual Church now began to be represented by Jerusalem, and His celestial Church by Zion.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.