9642. The planks for the corner of the south toward the south. That this signifies even into its interior and inmost things where truth is in light, is evident from the signification of “the planks of the Habitation,” as being the good which supports heaven (see n. 9634); from the signification of a “corner,” when said of the quarters of the world, as being where that state is which is marked out and signified by the quarter (of which in what follows); and from the signification of “the south toward the south,” as being the interior and inmost things where truth is in its light; for by “the south” is signified a state of light, which is a state of intelligence from truths, and thus an interior state; for light (and with the light intelligence and wisdom) in the heavens, increases toward more interior things; and farther from these truth is in shade, which state of truth is signified by “the north.” From this then it is that by “the corner of the south toward the south” is signified even to the interior and inmost things where truth is in light.

[2] The same is signified by “the south” or “noonday” in Isaiah:

I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back; bring My sons from far, and My daughters from the end of the earth (Isaiah 43:6).

In this passage a new church is treated of; “saying to the north” denotes to those who are in darkness or ignorance concerning the truths of faith, who are the nations outside the church; “saying to the south” denotes to those who are in light from the knowledges of good and truth, who are those who are within the church; wherefore it is said to the latter that they should “not keep back,” but to the former that they should “give up.”

[3] In Ezekiel:

Set thy faces toward the south, and drop toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the field unto the south; and say to the forest of the south, Behold, I kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned. Set thy faces toward Jerusalem, and drop against the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel (Ezekiel 20:46-47; 21:2).

“The south” here denotes those who are in the light of truth from the Word, thus those who are of the church, but who are in falsities which they confirm from the sense of the letter of the Word wrongly unfolded; whence it is said, “the forest of the field unto the south,” and “the forest of the south.” A “forest” denotes where memory-knowledge reigns; but a “garden,” where truth reigns. From this it is plain what is signified by “setting the faces toward the south, and dropping [words] toward the south, and prophesying against the forest of the field unto the south;” and afterward by “setting the faces toward Jerusalem, and dropping against the holy places, and prophesying against the land of Israel; for “Jerusalem” and “the land of Israel” denote the church, and “the holy places” there denote the things which are of the church.

[4] In Isaiah:

If thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and sate the afflicted soul; then thy light shall arise in darkness, and thy thick darkness shall be as the noonday (Isaiah 58:10); where “darkness” and “thick darkness” denote ignorance of truth and good; while “light” and “the noonday” denote the understanding of them. And in Isaiah:

Bring forth counsel, execute judgment; make thy shadow like the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; reveal not the wanderer (Isaiah 16:3); where “in the midst of the noonday” denotes in the midst of the light of truth.

In Jeremiah:

Sanctify ye the battle against the daughter of Zion; arise, and let us go up into the south, for the day is going away, for the shadows of the evening have been bent down (Jeremiah 6:4); where “going up into the south” denotes against the church, in which truth is in light from the Word.

In Amos:

I will make the sun go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the day of light (Amos 8:9);

denoting the extinguishing of all the light of truth from the Word.

[5] In David:

Thou shalt not be afraid for the dread of night, nor for the arrow that flieth by day; for the pestilence in the thick darkness, for the death that wasteth at noonday (Psalms 91:5-6);

“the dread of night” denotes the falsities of evil which are from hell; “the arrow that flieth by day,” the falsity which is openly taught; “the death that wasteth at noonday,” the evil which is openly lived in, whereby truth is destroyed where it can be in its light from the Word.

[6] And in Isaiah:

The prophecy of the wilderness of the sea. As whirlwinds from the south, to pass through; it cometh from the wilderness, from a terrible land (Isaiah 21:1).

The he-goat of the goats magnified himself exceedingly; and his horn grew toward the south, and toward the east, and toward comeliness; and it grew even unto the army of the heavens, and some of the army and of the stars it cast down to the earth, and trampled upon them (Daniel 8:8-10).

The subject here treated of is the state of the future church, and it is foretold that the church will perish through the doctrine of faith separated from the good of charity; “the he-goat of the goats” denotes such a faith (n. 4169, 4769); its “horn growing toward the south” denotes the power of falsity therefrom against truths; “toward the east” denotes against goods; “toward comeliness” denotes against the church; “unto the army of the heavens” denotes against all the goods and truths of heaven; “casting down to the earth some of the army and of the stars” denotes to destroy these goods and truths, and the very knowledges of good and truth (n. 4697).

[7] In the same prophet is described a war between the king of the south and the king of the north (chap. 11), and by “the king of the south” is signified the light of truth from the Word, and by “the king of the north” reasoning from memory-knowledges about truths; the alternations that the church was to undergo until it should perish, are described by the various events of this war.

[8] As “the south” signified truth in light, it was ordained that the tribes of Reuben, Simeon, and Gad should encamp “toward the south” (Numbers 2:10-15); the encampments represented the setting in order of all things in the heavens in accordance with the truths and goods of faith and love (see n. 4236, 8103, 8193, 8196); and “the twelve tribes” which encamped signified all truths and goods in the complex (n. 3858, 3862, 3926, 3939, 4060, 6335, 6337, 6397, 6640, 7836, 7891, 7996, 7997); by “the tribe of Reuben” was signified the truth of faith in doctrine (n. 3861, 3866, 5542); by “the tribe of Simeon,” the derivative truth of faith in life (n. 3869-3872, 4497, 4502, 4503, 5482); and by “the tribe of Gad” were signified works from these truths (n. 6404, 6405). This shows why these tribes were encamped “toward the south;” for all things of truth, that is, of faith, belong to “the south,” because they belong to light.

[9] From all this it is now evident what is signified by “the corner of the south,” namely, where the state of truth is in light. For all states of the good of love and of the truth of faith are signified by “the four corners of the earth”—states of the good of love by “the corner of the east, and the corner of the west,” and states of the truth of faith by “the corner of the south,” and “the corner of the north.” In like manner by “the four winds” in the book of Revelation:

Angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth (Revelation 7:1).

Satan shall go forth to seduce the nations which are in the four corners of the earth (Revelation 20:8).

He shall send His angels, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from the ends of the heavens to the ends of them (Matthew 24:31).

Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live (Ezekiel 37:9).

[10] As by these “winds,” that is, by these “quarters,” were signified all things of good and of truth, thus all things of heaven and of the church, and by “the temple” was signified heaven or the church, therefore it has been customary from ancient times to place temples in an east and west direction, because “the east” signified the good of love in its rising, and “the west,” the good of love in its going down. This had its origin from the representatives in which were the ancients who belonged to the church.

7836. In the number of the souls, everyone for the mouth of his eating ¹ shall ye count for the lamb. That this signifies thus the filling up of the good, conformably to the innocence, from so many truths of good, according to the appropriation of the innocence, is evident from the signification of “the number of the souls,” as being so many truths of good, for “number” in the Word is predicated of truth, and “soul” of spiritual good; from the signification of “for the mouth of his eating,” as being according to the appropriation of it (that “to eat” denotes appropriation, see n. 3168, 3513, 3596, 3832); and from the signification of a “lamb,” as being innocence (n. 7832). The filling up of the good conformably to the innocence, is signified by “taking from the house of a near neighbor” such a number as may be sufficient for the lamb. (That “house” denotes good, see above, n. 7833.) It is said, “the truth of good,” and by this is meant the truth which is from good. For when they who are of the spiritual church are being regenerated, they are introduced to the good of charity by means of the truth of faith; but when they have been introduced to the good which is of charity, the truths which are afterward born thence are called the “truths of good.”

[2] But how the case is with what is contained in this verse cannot possibly be known unless it is known how it is with the societies in heaven; for the consociations of the sons of Israel according to tribes, families, and houses represented these societies. With the societies in heaven the case is this. The universal heaven is one society, which is ruled by the Lord as one man; the general societies there are as many as are the members, the viscera, and the organs in man; but the specific societies are as many as are the little viscera contained within each viscus, member, and organ; and the particular societies are as many as in these little viscera there are lesser parts constituting a greater one. That this is the case is plain from the correspondences of man, and of his members, organs, and viscera, with the Grand Man, that is, with heaven, which has been treated of from experience at the end of many chapters. From all this it can be seen how the case is with the distinctions of societies in heaven.

[3] But with each society in particular the case is this: it consists of many angels who are in agreement in respect to goods; these goods are various, for each angel has his peculiar good; but these various concordant goods are disposed by the Lord into such a form that together they present one good. Such societies were represented by the houses of the fathers among the sons of Israel. This is the reason why the sons of Israel were distinguished not only into tribes, but also into families and houses; and when they are mentioned, that the names of their fathers in order even to the tribe are mentioned; as of the father of Samuel, that he was of Mount Ephraim, whose “name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph” (1 Samuel 1:1); also of the father of Saul, that he was “of Benjamin, whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphiah, the son of a man a Benjamite” (1 Samuel 9:1); and so of very many others. Such mention was made in order that in heaven might be known the quality of the good which, being successively derived from the first, was represented by the one spoken of.

[4] Moreover, in heaven the case is this. If a society is not complete, as it should be, there are then taken from elsewhere, from some neighboring society, as many as will fill up the form of that good, according to the necessity in each state, and its changes; for the form of the good varies as the state is changed. But be it further known that in the third or inmost heaven, which is next above the heaven where the spiritual are (for these constitute the middle or second heaven), innocence reigns, because the Lord, who is innocence itself, flows in immediately into that heaven; whereas into the second heaven, where the spiritual are, the Lord flows in with innocence mediately, namely, through the third heaven.

[5] This influx is that by which the societies in the second heaven are disposed or arranged in order according to their goods; and therefore the states of the good are changed according to the influx of innocence; and consequently the conjunctions of the societies there are varied. From all this it can be seen how is to be understood that which is in this verse in the internal sense, namely, that if the particular good of anyone is not sufficient for the innocence, conjunction shall be effected with the nearest good of truth, in order that the good may be filled up, conformably to the innocence, from so many truths of good, according to the appropriation of the innocence.

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