4117. 'And he set his face towards mount Gilead' means good within it. This is clear from the meaning of 'mount' as the celestial element of love, which is good, dealt with in 795, 1430, to which the good meant by 'Jacob' was joined - 'Gilead' meaning the essential nature of it. Since the river was the boundary and, as has been stated, meant the first phase of the joining together, 'mount Gilead', which lay in this part away from the Jordan, means the good involved in that first stage of the joining together.

[2] The land of Gilead where the mountain was situated lay within the confines of the land of Canaan understood in a wide sense. It was situated on this side of the Jordan, and was granted as an inheritance to the Reubenites and the Gadites, and in particular to the half-tribe of Manasseh. And since the inheritances stretched out that far, it is said that it was situated within the confines of the land of Canaan understood in a wide sense. The fact that this territory was granted as an inheritance to those tribes is clear in Moses, Numbers 32:1, 26-41; Deuteronomy 3:8, 10-16; Joshua 13:24-31. For this reason when the land of Canaan was envisaged in its entirety it was said to stretch from Gilead even to Dan, and in another sense from Beersheba even to Dan, for Dan also was a boundary, 1710, 3923. Regarding its stretching from Beersheba even to Dan, see 2858, 2859; and reference to its doing so from Gilead to Dan occurs in Moses,

Moses went up from the plains of Moab onto mount Nebo, the top of Pisgah, which is in the direction of Jericho. There Jehovah showed him the whole land, Gilead even to Dan. Deuteronomy 34:1.

And in the Book of Judges,

Gilead dwelling at the crossing of the Jordan; and Dan, why will he fear ships? Judges 5:17.

[3] Because it was a boundary, 'Gilead' in the spiritual sense means the good that comes first, which is that of the bodily senses, for it is the good or delight of the senses that a person who is being regenerated is introduced into first of all. This is the sense in which 'Gilead' is taken in the Prophets, as in Jeremiah 8:22; 22:6; 46:11; 50:19; Ezekiel 47:18; Obad. verse 19; Micah 7:14; Zechariah 10:10; Psalms 60:7; and in the contrary sense, in Hosea 6:8; 12:11.

5806. 'And he alone is left to his mother' means that this is the only truth the Church possesses. This is clear from the representation of Benjamin, to whom 'the only one left' refers here, as new truth, dealt with just above in 5804; and from the meaning of 'mother' as the Church, dealt with in 289, 2691, 2717, 5581. With regard to the fact that this truth - represented here by 'Benjamin', and described above in 5804 - is the only truth the Church possesses, the situation is this: Such truth is truth springing from spiritual good, which is 'Israel'; and it is what 'Benjamin' represents when he is with his father, whereas truth even more interior is represented by him when he is with Joseph. The truth which Benjamin represents when he is with his father and which is called new truth is the only truth that enables a person to be a Church, for this new truth or those truths [spoken of in 5804] hold life received from good within them. That is, the person with whom the truths of faith exist rooted in good is a Church, not so the person with whom the truths of faith but no good of charity exist. With the latter person the truths are dead, even though they may have been the same truths. From all this one may see what the situation is with regard to the fact that this truth is the only truth the Church possesses.