Joshua 12: The kings who were defeated by Joshua.

This chapter lists the kings who were defeated by Moses on the other side of the river Jordan, and those defeated by Joshua in the land of Canaan. Moses defeated Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan. Joshua defeated 31 kings, and this chapter names their cities one by one.

We might well wonder: what is the use of such a chapter for us? But here it is, included in the Word of God. We will suggest two ways in which this chapter gives us a spiritual message to work with:

First, the sheer number of kings who opposed Israel represent, in a general way, the many things that prevent us from dedicating ourselves to the Lord’s teachings.

Secondly, the many names of the towns that the Israelites defeated are all significant in identifying the various situations we encounter in our spiritual lives (See Swedenborg’s Arcana Caelestia 2009[9]). For example “Joshua” means ‘God is victory’, something we can come to understand as we choose to turn against evil. We can do that because the Lord fights for and with us; we cannot do that alone.

For every heaven there is a corresponding hell (See Swedenborg’s Heaven and Hell 588). If mercy is something of heaven, hell is to do with cruelty and all that goes with it. If innocence is of heaven, hell is to do with intended harm and all that goes with that. Evil is unspeakably precise.

Joshua defeated thirty-one kings. The number thirty stands for combat and also for ‘remnants’, which are deep-seated feelings of good and truth given the Lord gives us during our childhood, to help us combat evil in adult regeneration. Thirty-one would seem to suggest combat going on even past thirty (Arcana Caelestia 5335).

The names of the cities of these kings are given, and each name represents a quality. ‘Israel’ was the name given to Jacob by the Lord, after he had wrestled all night with the angel of God and had prevailed (see Genesis 32:24-28). “Israel” means ‘striving with God’ and also ‘a prince with God’, and it became the name of the people of Israel.

As examples, we will look at three Canaanite cities which fought Israel, and explore the spiritual meaning of their names.

1. The king of Jarmuth, means ‘being downcast by death’. Viewing life only in terms of its inevitable end does terrible things to our sense of purpose, hope and trust. Defeating Jarmuth helps us see that death is a transition into eternal life, and our means of passing from this life into our fullest life.

2. The king of Aphek, means ‘tenacious fortress’. We can quite readily see that evil can be exactly like a tenacious fortress. Evil will hang on like grim death and refuse to let us go. Evil will attempt any number of devious tactics to break us down or undermine our faith. The last thing it will do is to see that we’re resolved, and then finally give up.

3. The king of Taanach, which means ‘sandy, hard to cross’. This might remind us of dangerous quicksands, or the way in which we stumble trying to walk through sand. Again, sometimes evil can appear to give us safer passage on solid ground, before we realize that it is the hells ensnaring us.

5334. Verses 46-49 And Joseph was a son of thirty years when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt; and Joseph came out from before Pharaoh, and went through all the land of Egypt. And in the seven years of abundance of corn the land yielded bunches. And he gathered all the food of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up' the food in the cities; the food of the field of a city which was round about it he laid up ¹ in the midst of it. And Joseph stored up grain like the sand of the sea, very much, until he left off numbering, because it was beyond number.

'And Joseph was a son of thirty years' means a state when the quantity of remnants was complete. 'When he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt' means the presence of the celestial of the spiritual in the natural. 'And Joseph came out from before Pharaoh' means when the natural in general belonged to it. 'And went through all the land of Egypt' means when it made each thing there subordinate and submissive. 'And in the seven years of abundance of corn the land yielded bunches' means initial states when series of truths were multiplied. 'And he gathered all the food of the seven years' means the preservation of truth linked to good, multiplied in the initial phases. 'Which were in the land of Egypt' means within the natural. 'And laid up food in the cities' means that it stored them in the interior parts. 'The food of the field of a city' means that these were proper to and suitable for those interior parts. 'Which was round about it he laid up in the midst of it' means what existed first in the exterior natural was stored away by it in the interior parts of the interior natural. 'And Joseph stored up grain like the sand of the sea, very much' means a multiplication of truth derived from good. 'Until he left off numbering, because it was beyond number' means such as holds the celestial from the Divine within it.

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