438. Of the tribe of Asher were sealed twelve thousand.- That this signifies charity towards the neighbour, and that all who are in it are in heaven, and come into heaven, is evident from the signification of the tribe of Asher, which denotes that spiritual affection, which is charity, of which we shall speak presently; and from the signification of twelve thousand sealed, as denoting those who are in heaven, and who come into heaven, as above (n. 433). That the tribe of Asher signifies love towards the neighbour, which is called charity, will be evident from what follows, and is also clear from this fact, that the twelve tribes taken together represented heaven and the church, and therefore signify these in the Word, and that each tribe represented, and therefore signifies, some universal essential which makes heaven and the church. There are in general three universal essentials which make these, that is, love to the Lord, charity towards the neighbour, and the obedience of faith. Love to the Lord is signified by the first three tribes, Judah, Reuben, and Gad, as shown above; charity towards the neighbour is signified by the following three tribes, Asher, Naphtali, and Manasseh; but the obedience of faith is signified by the three following, Simeon, Levi, and Issachar; the conjunction of all these with the Lord is signified by the last three tribes, Zebulun, Joseph, and Benjamin. This is the signification in brief of all the tribes named in the above order; for their significations are governed by the order in which they are named, as shown above (n. 431:12, 435, 436).

[2] Moreover the sealed mean those who are separated from the evil and are received into heaven. The first three tribes mean those who are received into the highest or third heaven, where all are in love to the Lord. The next three tribes, which are now the subject, mean those who are received into the middle or second heaven, where all are in charity towards the neighbour; but the three tribes which follow these mean those who are received into the ultimate or first heaven, where those are who are in obedience, which is called the obedience of faith. The last three tribes mean the reception of all these into the three heavens by the Lord. For there are three heavens which are distinguished one from another according to the degrees of the good of love. From these considerations, it is evident in the first place, that this second class of the tribes, that is, the three tribes, Asher, Naphtali, and Manasseh, mean those who are in charity towards the neighbour. The tribe of Asher denotes charity towards the neighbour; Naphtali, the regeneration of these; and Manasseh, their good of life.

[3] But it shall first be explained, what Asher signifies in the kingdom of the Lord, or in the church. Asher signifies the blessedness of spiritual affections, and thence spiritual affection itself. And because spiritual affection is that which is called love towards the neighbour or charity, therefore Asher here signifies charity, consequently, the twelve thousand of that tribe here signify all who are in charity, and therefore in the second or middle heaven.

[4] That Asher was named from what is blessed, or blessedness, is evident not only from the signification of that expression in the Hebrew, but also from these words spoken respecting him by Leah, the wife of Jacob, when he was born.

"Zilpah Leah's handmaid bare Jacob a second son. And Leah said, In my blessedness, for the daughters will call me blessed; and she called his name Asher" (Genesis 30:12, 13).

Here, the daughters who should call her blessed, signify those spiritual affections of truth which make the church from which all that internal blessedness, which is celestial, arises. In this blessedness are those who are in charity towards the neighbour, for charity towards the neighbour is the spiritual affection of truth, as said just above. To love truth in its essence, that is, to love truth because it is truth, is the spiritual affection of truth. The neighbour also, in the spiritual sense, is nothing else but good and truth, and charity is the love thereof. This may be seen in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, where the nature of love towards the neighbour, which is called charity, is shown (n. 84-107). The rest of the above passage may be seen explained in the Arcana Coelestia 3936-3940). That Asher signifies the blessedness of love and charity, is further evident from the blessing of Asher by Israel his father:

"From Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall give the delights of a king" (Genesis 49:20).

"From Asher" signifies from celestial and spiritual affections, which are those of love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour. His bread shall be fat, signifies delight from good. And he shall give the delights of a king, signifies pleasantness from truth. For a further explanation of these things see Arcana Coelestia 6408-6410).

[5] The signification of Asher is similar in the blessing pronounced upon him by Moses, namely, the delight of the affection of truth from the Word. The blessing is as follows:

"And of Asher he said, Blessed above sons be Asher; let him be acceptable to his brethren, dipping his foot in oil. Thy shoe shall be iron and brass; and as the days thy fame" (Deuteronomy 33:24, 25).

In the blessing of the sons of Israel by Moses there are contained interior facts concerning the Word. Asher, who is there named last, signifies the spiritual affection of truth from the Word, wherefore it is said, "Blessed above sons be Asher, let him be acceptable to his brethren," sons signifying, truths, and brethren, the church thence, while blessed and acceptable are used in reference to the affection of these. The good of love, from which are the truths of the Word in the sense of the letter, is signified by dipping his foot in oil; the foot denotes truth in the ultimates, which is the truth of the sense of the letter of the Word, and oil signifies the good of love. That the ultimate of the Word is natural truth and good, is signified by, thy shoe shall be iron and brass; natural truth is signified by iron and natural good, by brass, and the ultimate, by the shoe. And as thy days thy fame, signifies that the Word shall endure to eternity. That iron signifies natural truth, may be seen above (n. 176) that brass signifies natural good, also above (n. 70); and that shoe signifies the ultimate of the natural, which is the sensual, may be seen in the Arcana Coelestia 1748, 2162, 6844).

[6] Because Asher signifies the delight of affections, such as those have who are in truths from the sense of the letter of the Word, therefore that tribe, together with the tribe of Dan, and the tribe of Naphtali, encamped to the north (Num. 2:25-31). The encampments of the sons of Israel in the wilderness, represented the arrangement of the angelic societies in the heavens (see above, n. 431:12-13), and those dwell in the heavens to the north who, from the good of charity, are in the affection of spiritual knowledges.

[7] That Asher signifies spiritual blessedness, which is blessedness from love and charity, is also evident in Ezekiel, where a new earth and a new city are treated of, and the land said to be distributed as an inheritance among all the tribes of Israel. The city is also stated to have twelve gates, one for each tribe. The inheritance of Asher is there treated of, chapter 48:1-3; and concerning the gates in these words:

"The corner towards the sea four thousand and five hundred; the gates of the city three; one gate of Gad, one gate of Asher, one gate of Naphtali. The circuit eighteen thousand; and the name of the city from that day, Jehovah Shammah" (chap. 48:34, 35).

The land distributed among the tribes for an inheritance, signifies the church; the sons of Israel, amongst whom it was to be distributed, signify all the truths of the church which are from good collectively. The city signifies the doctrine of truth from the good of love, therefore it was called, Jehovah Shammah, Jehovah is there; the gates signify introductory truths, which are doctrinals; the number four thousand and five hundred also signify all truths from good, and eighteen thousand, all the truths of doctrine encompassing and defending. From these things it is evident, that not only all the particulars there mentioned, even to the numbers, signify things of the church, but also that not any tribe of Israel is there meant, but instead of the tribe named, some universal essential of the church. It is also evident there that Asher signifies the spiritual affection of truth, which makes one with charity towards the neighbour. That Asher, in the highest sense, signifies eternity, in the internal sense, felicity of life from the blessedness of the affections of love and charity, and in the external sense, natural delight therefrom, may be seen in the Arcana Coelestia 3938, 3939, 6408).

2162. 'Wash your feet' means that they were to take on something natural so that during the state He was then passing through His perception might be improved. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'feet' as natural things, and also in a like manner from the train of thought. That arcana lie concealed here becomes clear to a certain extent from the fact that Abraham besought the three men to take a little water and wash their feet, and to relax under a tree, even though he knew that it was the Lord or Jehovah; also from the fact that if it was not so such details would not have been mentioned.

[2] That 'feet' means natural things becomes clear from the representatives in the next life, and consequently from representatives derived from these that existed among the most ancient people and so occur in the Word. Celestial and spiritual things are represented by 'the head' and the parts of the head; by 'the breast' and the parts of the breast are represented rational concepts and aspects of these; by 'the feet and the parts of the feet are represented natural things and the different kinds of these. Consequently 'the sole' and 'the heel' of the foot mean the lowest natural things, regarding which see 259, while 'a shoe' means the lowest things of all, which are filthy, regarding which see 1748.

[3] Similar things are meant by the representations in the dreams and visions in the Prophets, such as the statue seen by Nebuchadnezzar, the head of which was fine gold, the breast and arms were silver, the belly and thighs were bronze, the legs were iron, and the feet were partly iron and partly clay, Daniel 2:32-33. In this case 'the head' means celestial things, which are inmost and are 'gold', as shown in 113, 1551, 1552; 'the breast and arms' spiritual or rational things, which are 'silver', as shown in 1551; but 'the feet' means lower things, which are natural, the truths of which are meant by 'iron' and the goods by 'clay' or mud. As regards 'iron' meaning truth, see 425, 426, and 'clay' good, 1300, both of which in the present case are natural. These things come in the same order in the Lord's kingdom in heaven, and in the Church which is the Lord's kingdom on earth, and also in every individual who is a kingdom of the Lord.

[4] It is similar with the vision which Daniel himself saw, of which the following is said,

I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, a man clothed in linen whose loins were girded with gold of Uphaz and whose body was like tarshish, ¹ and whose face was like the appearance of lightning, and whose eyes were like fiery torches, and whose arms and feet like the shine of burnished bronze. Daniel 10:5-6.

Specifically these words mean the interiors of the Word as to goods and truths. 'The arms and feet' are its interiors, which constitute the sense of the letter, for natural things occur there, since natural things are the source from which the exteriors of the Word are drawn. What further is meant by each of these parts, namely the loins, body, face, eyes, and many others in man, becomes clear from the representatives in the next life, which will in the Lord's Divine mercy be spoken of when the Grand Man - which is the Lord's heaven - and the representatives that originate in heaven but occur in the world of spirits are dealt with.

[5] That which one reads about Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders seeing the God of Israel, under whose feet there was so to speak a paved work of sapphire stone, like the substance of the sky for pureness, Exodus 24:9-10, means that they saw, represented in natural things, merely the external features of the Church, and also the literal sense of the Word, in which too, as has been stated, external things are represented by natural things. And these external things are 'the feet' under which there is so to speak 'a paved work of sapphire stone, like the substance of the sky itself'. It is clear that it was the Lord whom they saw, though only in those lower or natural things, since He is called 'the God of Israel', whom all things of the Church represented and whom all things of the Word in the internal sense meant. For the Lord is presented visually in accordance with the things that are meant at the time. When, for example, in John, He was seen as a Man on a white horse, the Word was in this case meant by Him, as is explicitly stated in Revelation 19:11, 13.

[6] The living creatures seen by Ezekiel, which were cherubs, are described as regards celestial and spiritual things by their faces and wings, and also many other things. But as regards natural things they are described as follows, by their feet, a straight foot, and the soles of their feet being like the sole of a calf's foot, and sparkling like the shine of burnished bronze, Ezekiel 1:7. The reason their feet, that is, natural things, are said to have sparkled like burnished bronze is that 'bronze' means natural good, dealt with in 425, 1551. It was similar when the Lord appeared to John as the Son of Man: His eyes were like a flame of fire and His feet were like burnished bronze, Revelation 1:14-15; 2:18.

[7] That 'feet' means natural things is further evident from the following places: In John, who saw,

A mighty angel coming down out of heaven, wrapped in a cloud, and a rainbow around his head, his face was like the sun and his feet like pillars of fire. In his hand he had a little book opened, and he set his right foot on the sea and his left on the land. Revelation 10:1-2.

This angel in a similar way means the Word. The nature of the Word in the internal sense is meant by 'the rainbow around his head' and by 'his face being like the sun'; but the external sense, or sense of the letter, is meant by his 'feet'. 'The sea' is natural truths, 'the land' natural goods, from which it is clear what is meant by his setting his right foot on the sea and his left on the land.

[8] Reference is made in various places in the Word to 'a footstool', but no one knows what is meant by this in the internal sense; as in Isaiah,

Jehovah said, The heavens are My throne and the earth My footstool. Where is this house which you are going to build for Me and where is this place of My rest? Isaiah 66:1.

'The heavens' means the celestial and spiritual things, and so the inmost things, both of the Lord's kingdom in heaven and of the Lord's kingdom on earth, which is the Church. Also meant by 'the heavens' are those same things as they exist with every individual who is a kingdom of the Lord or a Church. Thus 'the heavens' also means the celestial and spiritual things regarded in themselves which are matters of love and charity and of faith that springs from these, and so means all things that belong to internal worship and similarly all things that belong to the internal sense of the Word. These things are meant by 'the heavens' and are called 'the Lord's throne', but by 'the earth' are meant all lower things corresponding to those meant by 'the heavens'. By 'the earth' lower rational and natural things are meant, which from correspondence are likewise referred to as celestial and spiritual things, such as those that exist in the lower heavens and also in the Church, and those things which belong to external worship and also those present in the literal sense of the Word. In short, all things that stem from internal things and manifest themselves in external are, being natural things, called 'the earth' and 'the Lord's footstool'. What heaven and earth mean in the internal sense of the Word, see also 82, 1733. What the new heaven and new earth mean, see 2117, 2118 (end). And that man is a miniature heaven, see 911, 978, 1900.

[9] Similarly in Jeremiah,

In His anger the Lord covers the daughter of Zion with a cloud, He has cast down from heaven to earth the splendour of Israel, and has not remembered His footstool on the day of His anger. Lamentations 2:1.

Also in David,

Exalt Jehovah our God, and bow down at His footstool. Holy is He! Psalms 99:5.

Elsewhere in the same author,

We will enter His dwelling-places, we will bow down at His footstool. Psalms 132:7.

People in the representative Church - and thus the Jews - imagined that God's house and the temple were His footstool. They did not know that by the Lord's house and the temple was meant external representative worship. What the internal features of the Church were, meant by 'heaven' or God's throne, they had no knowledge at all.

[10] In the same author,

Jehovah said to my Lord, Sit at My right hand till I make your enemies a stool for your feet. Psalms 110:1; Matthew 22:44; Mark 12:36; Luke 20:42-43.

Here 'footstool' in a similar way means natural things - both sensory impressions and factual knowledge, and man's rational ideas formed from these - which are called 'enemies' when worship is perverted by them (which is done from the literal sense of the Word). As a result worship exists solely in things that are external, and no internal worship - or rather only internal worship that is defiled - exists, concerning which see 1094, 1175, 1182. When these have became perverted and defiled in this manner they are called 'enemies'; but because, regarded in themselves, they have reference to internal worship, when this is restored, they become - both the things that belong to external worship and those that belong to the sense of the letter of the Word - 'a footstool', as stated already.

[11] In Isaiah,

The glory of Lebanon will come to you, the fir, the pine, and the box tree together, to beautify the place of My sanctuary; and I will make the place of My feet glorious. Isaiah 60:13.

This refers to the Lord's kingdom and Church, the celestial-spiritual things of which are meant by 'the glory of Lebanon', that is, cedar trees, but the celestial-natural things of it by 'the fir, the pine, and the box', as also in other places in the Word. Thus it is the external aspects of worship that are referred to when it is said that 'I will make the place of My feet glorious'; and this cannot he made glorious by the fir, the pine, and the box, but by the things meant by these.

[12] That 'feet' means these things is also clear from the representatives in the Jewish Church, for example, by the requirement that Aaron and his sons were to wash their hands and feet before entering the tabernacle, Exodus 30:19-20; 40:31-32. No one is able to see that arcana were represented by this, for what is such washing of the hands and feet but some external act which does not do anything at all if the internal is not pure and clean? Nor can the internal be made pure and clean by such a washing. But because all the forms of ritual of that Church meant internal things that are celestial and spiritual, so it was with this form; that is to say, it meant the cleanliness of external worship, which is clean when internal worship is present within it. This explains why their lavers were made of bronze, and also the large laver which was called 'the bronze sea', together with the ten smaller ones made of bronze around Solomon's temple, 1 Kings 7:23, 38. They were made of bronze because 'bronze' represented good present in external worship, which is the same as natural good. Regarding this meaning of bronze, see 425, 1551.

[13] Similarly representative was the prohibition that no man among Aaron's descendants who had a broken foot or a broken hand should draw near to offer fire-offerings to Jehovah, Leviticus 21:19, 21. 'Broken feet and hands' represented those people whose external worship was perverted.

[14] That 'feet' means natural things is also evident from various other places in the Prophets, as in these prophetical utterances in Moses,

Blessed above sons be Asher; let him be acceptable among his brothers, and dipping his foot in oil. Your shoes will be iron and bronze. Deuteronomy 33:24-25.

These words will not be understood by anybody unless he knows what the meaning of oil, foot, iron, bronze, and shoe are in the internal sense. 'Foot' is the natural; 'shoe' the still lower natural, such as that which is connected with the senses and the body, see 1748; 'oil' is the celestial, 886; 'iron' natural truth, 425, 426; and 'bronze' natural good, 425, 1551. From these places it is evident what these words embody.

[15] In Nahum,

The way of Jehovah is in storm and tempest, and the clouds are the dust of His feet. Nahum 1:3.

Here 'the dust of the feet' means the natural and bodily things with man which give rise to clouds. The same is also meant by these words in David,

Jehovah bowed the heavens and came down, and thick darkness was under His feet. Psalms 18:9.

[16] When goods and truths of faith are perverted by natural light, as people call it, it is described in the Word as the feet and hoofs of a beast which trouble waters and trample on food, as in Ezekiel,

You have come forth into the rivers, and have troubled the waters with your feet and trampled their rivers. I will destroy all its beasts from over many waters, and the foot of man will not trouble them any longer, nor will the hoofs of beast. Ezekiel 32:2, 13.

This refers to Egypt, which meant forms of knowledge, as shown in 1164, 1165, 1462. Thus by 'feet and hoofs which trouble the rivers and water' are meant facts gained from sensory and from natural things, on the basis of which people reason about the arcana of faith and do not believe anything until they grasp it by this method. This amounts to not believing at all, for the more such people go on reasoning, the less believing they are; see what is said in 128-130, 215, 232, 233, 1072, 1385. From all these quotations it is now evident that 'feet' in the Word means natural things. But what further meaning 'feet' may have is evident from the context in which the expression occurs.

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