4270. 'And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two servant-girls, and his eleven sons, and passed over at the passage of Jabbok' means the first instillation of the affections for truth, together with truths that had been acquired. This is clear from the meaning of 'the two wives', who in this case are Rachel and Leah, as affections for truth, dealt with in 3758, 3782, 3793, 3819; from the meaning of 'the two servant-girls', who in this case are Bilhah and Zilpah, as exterior affections for truth that serve as means, dealt with in 3849, 3931; from the meaning of 'sons' as truths, dealt with in 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, 3373; and from the meaning of 'the passage of Jabbok' as the first instillation. The reason why 'Jabbok' means the first instillation is that it was a boundary to the land of Canaan. All the boundaries of that land were signs meaning the celestial and spiritual things of the Lord's kingdom, the distance and position of them determining their exact meanings, see 1585, 1866, 4116, 4240. The same applies to 'the ford (or passage) of Jabbok', which in relation to the land of Canaan was across the Jordan and was the boundary of the inheritance of the children of Reuben and Gad, as becomes clear from Numbers 21:24; Deuteronomy 2:36-37; 3:16-17; Joshua 12:2; Judges 11:13, 22. The reason why that territory had fallen to them as an inheritance was that Reuben represented faith in the understanding, or doctrine, which is the first stage of regeneration, or the truth of doctrine as a whole, by means of which the good of life is arrived at, see 3861, 3866; while Gad represented the works of faith, 3934. That is to say, those truths of faith or matters of doctrine, and these works of faith which are the works performed first, are the ones by means of which a person who is being regenerated is led on into good. This is why 'the passage of Jabbok' means the first instillation.

1866. 'From the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Phrath' means the extension of spiritual and celestial things, 'to the river of Egypt' being the extension of spiritual things, 'to the river Phrath' the extension of celestial things. This is clear from the meaning of 'the river of Egypt' and from the meaning of 'the great river' or the Euphrates. That these rivers mean the extension of spiritual and celestial things becomes clear from the meaning of 'the land of Canaan' as the Lord's kingdom in heaven and on earth, in which kingdom there is nothing else than the spiritual things of faith and the celestial things of mutual love. Consequently nothing else can be meant by the borders of the land of Canaan than the extension of those things. For what the land of Canaan is, what the river of Egypt is, and what the great river, the Euphrates, is, the inhabitants of heaven do not know at all. Indeed they do not know what the borders of any land are; but they do know what the extension of spiritual and celestial things is, and the range and limits of the states belonging to them. These are the things which those in heaven have in mind when such things in the letter are read by man, so that the letter and its historical sense which has served as a basis for heavenly ideas disappears.

[2] The reason why 'the river of Egypt' means the extension of spiritual things is that 'Egypt' means factual knowledge which, together with the rational concepts and the intellectual concepts which a person has, constitute spiritual things, as stated already in 1443 and elsewhere in this volume. And as to why in the internal sense 'Egypt' means factual knowledge, see 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462. That 'the river Euphrates' means the extension of celestial things becomes clear from the lands which that river bounded and marked off from the land of Canaan, and by which in many other places facts and the cognitions of celestial things are meant. Here however because it is called 'the river', and 'the great river', they are nothing other than celestial things and the cognitions of them, for 'the great river' and greatness are used in reference to these.