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.

2284. 'Perhaps ten will be found there' means if remnants were still present. This is clear from the meaning of the number 'ten' as remnants, dealt with in Volume One, in 576, 1738. What remnants are however has been stated and shown in various places already, as in 468, 530, 560, 561, 660, 661, 1050, 1738, 1906, namely that they are all the good and all the truth with a person which lie stored away in his two memories and in his life.

[2] It is well known that there is nothing good nor anything true except that from the Lord; also that what is good and true is flowing in constantly from the Lord into man, but it is received in varying ways, and that in fact it is received according to the life of evil and according to the false assumptions in which the person has confirmed himself. These are what either annihilate, or stifle, or pervert the goods and truths flowing in constantly from the Lord. To prevent goods being mixed with evils therefore, and truths with falsities - for if they were mixed a person would perish for ever - the Lord separates them, and stores away within his interior man the goods and truths he receives. From there the Lord will never allow them to come forth as long as that person is governed by evil and falsity, except at those times when the person has entered some state that is a holy state, or when deeply and anxiously concerned about something, or in times of sickness, or other similar circumstances. These things which the Lord has so stored away in the person are what are called remnants, and of which very much mention is made in the Word, though nobody as yet knows that this is what they mean.

[3] It is according to the nature and the amount of the remnants, that is, of the good and truth residing with him, that a person experiences blessedness and happiness in the next life, for, as has been stated, such remnants are stored away in his interior man and are laid bare when he leaves things of a bodily and worldly nature behind him. The Lord alone knows the nature and the amount of remnants a person has. The person himself cannot possibly know this, for at the present day man is such that he is able to counterfeit what is good while within there is nothing but evil. A person can also appear to be evil and yet may have good within. For these reasons one is never allowed to judge the nature of another person's spiritual life; for the Lord alone, as has been stated, knows this. But one is allowed to judge the nature of another person's life, private and public, since this is of importance to society.

[4] It is very common for those who have adopted an opinion regarding any truth of faith to sit in judgement on others and to say that they cannot be saved unless their beliefs coincide with their own - a judgement which the Lord has forbidden, in Matthew 7:1-2. Yet from much experience I have been led to know that members of every religion are saved provided that they have received through a life of charity remnants of good and appearances of truth. This is what was meant by 'if ten were found [there] they would not be destroyed for the sake of the ten', that is, that if remnants were present they would be saved.

[5] The life of charity consists in thinking what is good in regard to another, and in willing for him that which is good, and in feeling joy within oneself that others as well are saved. But those people do not possess the life of charity whose will is that no others should be saved than those whose beliefs coincide with theirs, especially those who are indignant that the situation is otherwise. This becomes clear solely from the fact that more gentiles are saved than Christians. For people who have thought what is good in regard to their neighbour and have willed for him that which is good accept the truths of faith in the next life more readily than those who called themselves Christians; and they acknowledge the Lord more than Christians do. Indeed nothing gives angels greater delight and happiness than to be teaching those who pass from the world into the next life.