6584. The sons also of Machir the son of Manasseh. That this signifies and in respect to the will and its derivatives, is evident from the representation of Manasseh, as being the will of the church (see n. 5351, 5353, 5354, 6222, 6238, 6267, 6296); and from the signification of his “sons” and “sons’ sons,” here the “sons of Machir,” as being the derivatives (n. 6583); the derivatives of the will of the church—signified by the “sons of Machir”—are goods conjoined with truths, thus also truths from good, for the truths that have been derived from good are forms of good. That the “sons of Machir” denote goods conjoined with truths is signified by their being “born on Joseph’s knees,” as presently follows; and that they denote truths from good is signified in the book of Judges: “Out of Machir shall come down lawgivers” (Judg. 5:14); “lawgivers” denote truths from good (n. 6372).

6238. As Reuben and Simeon they shall be mine. That this signifies that they shall be truth and the good of truth, is evident from the representation of Reuben, as being faith in the understanding, and the truth of doctrine whereby men can attain to the good of life (see n. 3861, 3866), thus in general the truth of the intellectual; and from the representation of Simeon, as being faith in the will, consequently truth in act, which is the good of faith or the good of truth (n. 3869-3872, 4497, 4502, 4503, 5626, 5630), thus in general the good that belongs to the new will. That the like are represented by Ephraim and Manasseh, is evident; but as Reuben profaned his representative (n. 4601), and Simeon defiled his (see n. 4497, 4502, 4503), and as on this account they were cursed (see the following chapter, verses 3-7), therefore they lost their birthright, and in their stead Ephraim and Manasseh the sons of Joseph were acknowledged as the firstborn (1 Chron. 5:1). Nevertheless the representative still remained with Reuben and Simeon, for it matters not what may be the quality of the person who represents (n. 665, 1097, 4281); that is to say, there remained the representative of faith in the understanding with Reuben, and the representative of faith in the will with Simeon; but with Ephraim there was the representative of the intellectual of the church, and with Manasseh of the will of the church.