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.

2726. That 'Abraham sojourned in the land of the Philistines for many days' means that the Lord allied to the doctrine of faith very many things drawn from a knowledge of human cognitions is clear from the meaning of 'sojourning' as giving instruction, dealt with in 1463, 2025, from the representation of 'Abraham' as the Lord, dealt with in 1965, 1989, 2011, 2501, from the meaning of 'the land of the Philistines' or Philistia as knowledge of cognitions, dealt with in 1197, 1198, and from the meaning of 'days' as the state of whatever it is that is the subject, 23, 487, 488, 493, 893. Here because the subject is the cognitions from which the facts and rational ideas are obtained, and because the expression 'many days' is used, the meaning is relatively 'very many things' From verse 22 onwards the subject has been the rational ideas based on human factual knowledge, which were allied to the doctrine of faith, as is evident from the explanation given. The present verse forms the conclusion to these considerations. As regards the actual subject, since this in itself is rather profound, and since the same subject is dealt with extensively further on, in Chapter 26, let any further explanation here be put off till that chapter.