118. Verse 14 And the name of the third river is the Hiddekel. This eastwards towards Asshur. And the fourth river is the Phrath.

'The river Hiddekel' is reason or the sharp-sightedness of reason. 'Asshur' is the rational mind. The river's 'going eastwards towards Asshur' means that the sharp-sightedness of reason comes from the Lord by way of the internal man into the rational mind, which belongs to the external man. 'The Phrath' or the Euphrates is knowledge, which is the extremity or boundary.

The Lord is called "Jehovah" in the Bible when the text is referring to his essence, which is love itself. He is called "God" when the text is referring to the expression of that love -- which is called Divine Truth. References to other gods, both positive and negative, reflect that meaning. In positive cases -- such as when angels and people are called gods, or when the Lord is referred to as the God of gods -- those gods represent true ideas that come to us from the Lord. In negative cases -- such as when the people of Israel repeatedly adopt the gods of their neighbors -- those gods represent false and twisted thinking that attacks what is good and true.