5354. And the name of the second called he Ephraim. That this signifies a new understanding in the natural, and its quality, is evident from the signification of a “name” and “calling a name,” as being the quality (see n. 144, 145, 1754, 1896, 2009, 2724, 3006, 3421); and from the representation of Ephraim, as being the understanding in the natural (of which in what follows). But first must be told what is meant by the new understanding and the new will signified by “Ephraim and Manasseh.” In the church it is indeed known that man must be born again (that is, must be regenerated) in order that he may enter the kingdom of God; for the Lord has plainly declared this in John 3:3, 5 (John 3:5). But what it is to be born again is known only to few, for the reason that few know what good and evil are, and this because they do not know what charity toward the neighbor is; if they knew this, they would also know what good is, and from good what evil is; for all that is good which comes from genuine charity toward the neighbor.

[2] But no one can be in this good from himself, because it is the celestial itself which flows in from the Lord. This celestial flows in continually, but evils and falsities stand in the way of its being received; and therefore in order that it may be received it is necessary for man to remove evils, and as far as he is able falsities also, and thus dispose himself to receive the influx. When after evils have been removed the man receives the influx, he at the same time receives a new will and a new understanding; and from the new will he feels delight in doing good to the neighbor from no selfish end, and from the new understanding he perceives delight in learning what is good and true for its own sake and for the sake of the life. Inasmuch as this new understanding and new will come into existence through influx from the Lord, the man who has been regenerated acknowledges and believes that the good and truth with which he is affected are not from himself but from the Lord, and also that whatever is from himself, or of his own, is nothing but evil.

[3] From all this it is plain what it is to be born again, and also what the new will and new understanding are. But the regeneration through which come the new understanding and the new will is not accomplished in a moment, but goes on from earliest infancy even to the close of life, and afterward in the other life to eternity, and this by Divine means, innumerable and unspeakable; for man of himself is nothing but evil, which continually exhales as from a furnace, and continually endeavors to extinguish the nascent good. The removal of such evil, and the inrooting of good in its place, cannot be effected short of the whole course of life, and through Divine means numberless and unspeakable. Of these means scarcely any are known at the present day, for the reason that man does not suffer himself to be regenerated, nor does he believe regeneration to be anything, because he does not believe in a life after death. The process of regeneration, which includes indescribable things, makes up the main part of angelic wisdom, and is of such a nature that it cannot be fully exhausted by any angel to eternity. Hence it is that this is the chief subject treated of in the internal sense of the Word.

[4] That “Ephraim” is the new understanding in the natural, is plain from very many passages in the Word, especially in the prophet Hosea, which treats much of “Ephraim,” and in which we read as follows:

I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from Me, in that thou hast wholly committed whoredom, O Ephraim, Israel is defiled. Israel and Ephraim shall go to ruin by their iniquity; Judah shall also go to ruin with them. Ephraim shall become a solitude in the day of reproof. And I am as a moth to Ephraim, and as a boring-worm to the house of Judah. And Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his wound, and Ephraim went to the Assyrian, and sent to king Jareb; and this one could not heal you (Hos. 5:3, 5, (Hosea 5:5) 9 (Hosea 5:9), 12-13).

Again in the same prophet:

When I healed Israel, then was the iniquity of Ephraim unveiled, and the evils of Samaria; for they have wrought a lie; and a thief cometh, and a troop spreadeth itself abroad. And Ephraim was like a silly dove without heart; they called Egypt, they went to Assyria. When they shall go I will spread my net over them (Hos. 7:1, 11-12).

[5] Again:

Israel is swallowed up; now shall they be among the nations as a vessel wherein is no desire; when they went up to Assyria, a wild ass alone; Ephraim winneth him loves with a harlot’s hire (Hosea 8:8-9;

Israel shall not dwell in the land of Jehovah, and Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat what is unclean in Assyria (Hos. 9:3);

Ephraim hath compassed me about with a lie, and the house of Israel with deceit; and Judah yet ruleth with God, and is faithful with the saints; Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind; every day he multiplieth a lie and wasting, and they make a covenant with the Assyrian, and oil is carried down into Egypt (Hos. 11:12; 12:1);

besides many other passages in the same prophet concerning Ephraim (as Hosea 4:17-19; 5:3, 5, 9, 11-14; 7:8-9; 9:8, 11, 16; 10:6, 11; 11:3, 8-9; 12:8, 14; 13:1, 12; 14:8).

[6] In all these passages by “Ephraim” is meant the intellectual of the church, by “Israel” its spiritual, and by “Judah” its celestial; and it is because the intellectual of the church is signified by “Ephraim” that it is so often said of him that he “goes away into Egypt,” and “into Assyria;” for by “Egypt” are signified memory-knowledges, and by “Assyria” reasonings from these; both being predicated of the understanding. (That “Egypt” signifies memory-knowledge may be seen above, n. 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462, 2588, 3325, 4749, 4964, 4966; and also that “Assyria” signifies reason and reasoning, n. 119, 1186)

[7] In like manner in the following passages by “Ephraim” is signified the understanding of the church:

Exult greatly, O daughter of Zion; sound, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold thy King cometh to thee. I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and I will cut off the battle bow; He shall speak peace against the nations; and His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth. I will bend Judah for Me, I will fill Ephraim with the bow, and I will stir up thy sons, O Zion, with thy sons, O Javan (Zech. 9:9-10, 13);

said of the coming of the Lord and of the church of the Gentiles. “To cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem” denotes to cut off all the understanding of the church; “to fill Ephraim with the bow” denotes to give a new understanding. That a “chariot” signifies what is of doctrine may be seen above (n. 5321), a “horse,” what is of the understanding (n. 2760-2762, 3217, 5321); and a “bow” also what is of doctrine (2685, 2686, 2709); for what is of doctrine depends on what is of the understanding, for it is believed as it is understood, the understanding of the doctrine determining the quality of the faith.

[8] Hence also the sons of Ephraim are called “shooters with the bow,” in David:

The sons of Ephraim, who were armed and shooters with the bow, turned back in the day of battle (Psalms 78:9).

In Ezekiel:

Son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the sons of Israel his companions; then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and of all the house of Israel his companions; afterward join them for thee one to another into one stick, that the two may become one in my hand. Behold I will take the stick of Joseph that is in the hands of Ephraim and of the tribes of Israel his companions, and will add those who are upon it with the stick of Judah, and I will make them one stick, that they may be one in My hand (Ezekiel 37:16-17, 19); where also by “Judah” is meant the celestial of the church, by “Israel” its spiritual, and by “Ephraim” its intellectual. That these are made one through the good of charity, is signified by one stick being made out of two. (That a “stick of wood” is the good of charity and consequently the good of works, may be seen above, n. 1110, 2784, 2812, 3720, 4943)

[9] In Jeremiah:

There shall be a day that the watchman from the mountain of Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, let us go up to Zion unto Jehovah our God. I will be a father to Israel, and Ephraim My firstborn is he (Jeremiah 31:6, 9).

In the same:

I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself, Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a calf unaccustomed; turn Thou me, that I may be turned. Is not Ephraim a precious son to Me? Is he not a child of delights? For after I have spoken against him, I will surely remember him again (Jeremiah 31:18, 20).

I will bring back Israel to his habitation, that he may feed in Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be sated in the mountain of Ephraim and in Gilead (Jeremiah 50:19).

In Isaiah:

Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower and to the glory of his adornment, which are upon the head of the valley of the fat ones that are troubled with wine (Isaiah 28:1).

[10] In these passages also by “Ephraim” is signified the understanding of the church. The understanding of the church is the understanding the men of the Church have of truths and goods, that is, of the doctrinal things of faith and charity; thus their notion, concept, or idea about them. Truth itself is the spiritual of the church, and good is its celestial; but truth and good are understood differently by different men; such therefore as is the understanding of truth, such is the truth with everyone. It is similar with the understanding of good.

[11] What the will of the church is that is signified by “Manasseh,” may be known from its understanding, which is “Ephraim.” It is with the will of the church as with its understanding, namely, that it is varied with each person. “Manasseh” signifies this will in Isaiah:

In the wrath of Jehovah Zebaoth the land is darkened, and the people is become like food for the fire; no man shall spare his brother; they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm: Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh: they together are against Judah (Isaiah 9:19-21); where “every man eating the flesh of his own arm, Manasseh, Ephraim, and Ephraim, Manasseh” denotes that the will of the man of the church will be against his understanding, and his understanding against his will.

[12] In David:

God hath spoken by His holiness: I will exult, I will divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth. Gilead is Mine, and Manasseh is Mine; and Ephraim is the strength of My head (Psalms 60:6-7

Again:

Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, Thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; Thou that sittest upon the cherubim, shine forth. Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up Thy might (Psalms 80:1-2); where also “Ephraim” denotes the understanding of the church, and “Manasseh” its will. The same is plain also from the blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh by Jacob before his death (Genesis 48:13-20); and also from Jacob’s accepting Ephraim in place of Reuben, and Manasseh in place of Simeon (Genesis 48:3, 5); for by Reuben was represented the understanding of the church, or faith in the understanding and in doctrine (see n. 3861, 3866), and by Simeon, faith in act, or obedience and will to do the truth, from which and by which is charity, and thus truth in act, which is the good of the new will (n. 3869-3872).

[13] The reason why Jacob, then Israel, blessed Ephraim in preference to Manasseh, by putting his right hand upon the former and his left upon the latter (Genesis 48:13-20), was the same that Jacob had for diverting to himself the birthright of Esau, and the same as in the case of Perez and Zerah the sons of Judah by Tamar, when Zerah, who was the firstborn, came forth after Perez (Genesis 38:28-30). This reason was that the truth of faith, which is of the understanding, is apparently in the first place during man’s regeneration, and then the good of charity, which is of the will, is apparently in the second place; and yet good is actually in the first place, and is manifestly so when the man has been regenerated (as may be seen above, n. 3324, 3539, 3548, 3556, 3563, 3570, 3576, 3603, 3701, 4243, 4244, 4247, 4337, 4925, 4926, 4928, 4930, 4977).

3869. And said, Because Jehovah hath heard. That in the supreme sense this signifies providence; in the internal sense, the will of faith; in the interior sense, obedience; in the external sense, hearing; in the present case faith in the will, which is from the Lord alone, is evident from the signification of “hearing.” That “to hear” is of the sense of hearing, it is needless to explain; but that in the interior sense “to hear” is obedience, and in the internal sense faith in the will, is evident from many passages in the Word (as will be seen presently); and also from the nature of hearing in respect to that of sight. That in the interior sense “sight” is understanding, and in the internal sense, faith in the understanding, may be seen above (see n. 3863); and this because the quality of things becomes apparent by the internal sight, and thereby they are apprehended by a kind of faith, but an intellectual kind. In like manner when the things which are heard penetrate to the interiors, they are also changed into something like sight, for what is heard is seen interiorly; and therefore by “hearing” there is also signified that which is signified by “sight,” namely, that which is of the understanding, and also that which is of faith; but the hearing at the same time persuades that the case is so, and affects not only the intellectual part of man, but also his will part, and causes him to will that which he sees. Hence it is that “hearing” signifies the understanding of a thing, and at the same time obedience; and in the spiritual sense, faith in the will.

[2] As all this is latent in hearing, namely, obedience and faith in the will, therefore these likewise are signified in common speech by “hearing,” “hearkening,” and “attending;” for “to hear” is to be obedient; and “to hearken to anyone” is also to obey. For the interior things of a matter are sometimes thus contained within the expressions of man’s speech, for the reason that it is the spirit of man which thinks and perceives the meaning of the expressions of speech, and this is in a certain communion with spirits and angels, who are in the first principles of the expressions. Moreover, such is the circle of things in man, that whatever enters by the ear and eye, or by the hearing and sight, passes into his understanding, and through the understanding into the will, and from the will into act. And in like manner the truth of faith first becomes the truth of faith in memory-knowledge; afterwards the truth of faith in the will; and lastly the truth of faith in act, thus charity. Faith in memory-knowledge, or in the understanding, is “Reuben,” as already shown; faith in the will is “Simeon;” and when faith in the will becomes charity it is “Levi.”

[3] That in the supreme sense “to hear” signifies providence, may be seen from what has been said above (n. 3863) concerning “seeing,” as being in the supreme sense foresight; for the Lord’s foreseeing is the seeing from eternity to eternity that the case is so; but the Lord’s providing is the directing that it be so; and is the bending of man’s freedom to good, insofar as He foresees that man will suffer himself to be bent in freedom (see n. 3854).

[4] That by “Jehovah hearing,” from which Simeon was named, in the interior sense is signified obedience, and in the internal sense faith in the will from the Lord alone, is manifest from very many passages in the Word; as from the following.

In Matthew:

Behold a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him (Matthew 17:5);

“to hear Him” denotes to have faith in Him, and to obey His commandments; thus to have faith in the will.

In John:

Verily, verily, I say unto you, that the hour cometh when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live. Marvel not at this; for the hour cometh in which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice (John 5:25, 28);

“to hear the voice of the Son of God” denotes to have faith in the words of the Lord, and to will them. They who have faith of the will, receive life; wherefore it is said, “they that hear shall live.”

[5] Again:

He who entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep; to him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice, and there shall be one flock, and one shepherd. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me (John 10:2-3, 16, 27);

“to hear the voice” manifestly denotes to obey from faith of the will. Again:

Everyone that is of the truth heareth My voice (John 18:37); where the same thing is meant.

In Luke:

Abraham said unto him, They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them. If they hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded if one rose from the dead (Luke 16:29, 31);

“to hear Moses and the Prophets” denotes to know the things contained in the Word, and to have faith therein; thus also to will them; for to have faith and not to will, is to see and not to hear, but to have faith and to will is both to “see” ¹ and to “hear;” wherefore both “seeing” and “hearing” are mentioned together in the Word throughout; and by “seeing” is signified the same as by “Reuben;” and by “hearing” the same as by “Simeon;” for they are joined together as brother to brother.

[6] That “seeing” and “hearing” are mentioned together, is evident from the following passages.

In Matthew:

Therefore speak I to them by parables; because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive; for this people’s heart is waxed gross, and with ears they have heard dully, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart. But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear. Verily I say unto you, that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see the things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear the things which ye hear, and have not heard them (Matthew 13:13-17; John 12:40; Isaiah 6:9).

In Mark:

Jesus said to the disciples, Why reason ye because ye have no bread? Do ye not yet comprehend, neither understand? Have ye your heart yet hardened? Having eyes, see ye not? And having ears, hear ye not? (Mark 8:17-18).

[7] In Luke:

Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God; but to others in parables; that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not hear (Luke 8:10).

In Isaiah:

The eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be opened (Isaiah 35:5).

Again:

And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of thick darkness, and out of darkness (Isaiah 29:18).

Again:

Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see (Isaiah 42:18).

Again:

Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears (Isaiah 43:8).

Again:

The eyes of them that see shall not be closed, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken (Isaiah 32:3).

Again:

Thine eyes shall see thy teachers, and thine ears shall hear a word (Isaiah 30:20-21).

Again:

He that stoppeth his ear from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil, shall dwell on high (Isaiah 33:15-16).

In Ezekiel:

Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of the house of rebellion, that have eyes to see, and see not; that have ears to hear, and hear not (Ezekiel 12:2).

In these passages mention is made of both “seeing” and “hearing” because the one follows the other; that is, faith in the understanding which is “seeing,” and faith in the will which is “hearing;” otherwise it would have been sufficient to mention one only; and from this it is also evident why one son of Jacob was named from “seeing” and another from “hearing.”

[8] That “seeing” signifies faith in memory-knowledge or in the understanding; and “hearing,” faith in obedience or in the will, is from the correspondences in the other life, and the derivative significatives; for those who are intellectual and are thence in faith belong to the province of the eye; and those who are obedient and thence in faith belong to the province of the ear. That this is the case will be seen at the close of the chapters, where of the Lord’s Divine mercy the Grand Man, and the correspondence of all things in the human body therewith, will be described.

[9] Hence then it is that in the internal sense the “eye” is the understanding (n. 2701); and that the “ear” is obedience, and in the spiritual sense the derivative faith, or faith in the will; as is evident also from the following passages.

In Isaiah:

Yea, thou heardest not yea, thou knewest not; yea, from that time thine ear opened not itself (Isaiah 48:8).

Again:

The Lord Jehovih will waken mine ear to hear, as they that are taught; the Lord Jehovih hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious (Isaiah 50:4-5).

Again:

In attending attend to Me, and eat ye that which is good, that your soul may delight itself in fatness; incline your ear, and come unto Me; hear that your soul may live (Isaiah 55:2-3).

In Jeremiah:

To whom shall I speak and testify, that they may hear; behold their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken (Jeremiah 6:10).

Again:

This thing I commanded them, saying, Hear ye My voice and I will be your God, and ye shall be My people; and they heard not, nor inclined their ear (Jeremiah 7:23-24, 26).

Again:

Hear the word of Jehovah, O ye women; and let your ear receive the word of His mouth (Jeremiah 9:20).

Again:

Ye have not inclined your ear, and have not obeyed Me (Jeremiah 35:15).

In Ezekiel:

Son of man, all My words that I have spoken unto thee, receive in thy heart, and hear with thine ears (Ezekiel 3:10).

Again:

I will set my zeal against thee, and they shall deal with thee in fury; they shall take away thy nose and thine ears (Ezekiel 23:25);

“to take away the nose and the ears” denotes the perception of truth and good, and the obedience of faith.

In Zechariah:

They refused to hearken, and turned a stubborn shoulder, and made their ears heavy, that they should not hear; and their heart have they set as adamant, that they might not hear the law (Zech. 7:11-12).

[10] In Amos:

Thus saith Jehovah, As the shepherd snatcheth out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear, so shall the sons of Israel be snatched away in Samaria, in the corner of a bed, and on the end of a couch (Amos 3:12);

“to snatch the two legs” denotes the will of good; and the “piece of an ear,” the will of truth. That a “piece of an ear” denotes this can as before said be seen solely from the correspondences in the other life, and the derivative significatives, according to which is the internal sense of the Word, and also the rituals in the Israelitish and Jewish Church. Hence it was that when Aaron and his sons were inaugurated into the ministry, it was commanded, among other things, that Moses should take of the blood of a ram, and should put it on the tip of Aaron’s ear, and upon the tip of the ear of his sons, and upon the thumb of their right hand, and upon the great toe of their right foot (Exodus 29:20). By this ritual was represented the will of faith, into which also as priest he was to be initiated. That this ritual was holy, everyone may know, because it was enjoined upon Moses by Jehovah; and so also putting blood on the tip of the ear was holy. But what particular holy thing this signified can be known only from the internal sense of things in the Word, which sense here is that the holy of faith from the will must be preserved.

[11] That by the “ear” is signified obedience, and in the internal sense the consequent faith, is still more plainly evident from the ritual respecting a servant who was not willing to depart from service; concerning whom we read in Moses:

If a manservant or maidservant shall not be willing to depart from service, his master shall bring him unto God, and shall bring him to the door, or unto the doorpost, and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him forever (Exodus 21:5-6; Deuteronomy 15:17);

“boring the ear through with an awl at the doorpost” signifies serving or obeying perpetually; in the spiritual sense it signifies not to will to understand truth, but to will truth from obedience, which relatively is not freedom.

[12] As in the internal sense the obedience of faith is understood by “ears,” and obeying by “hearing,” it is evident what is signified by these words of the Lord, so often uttered by Him:

He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear (Matthew 13:9, 43; Mark 4:9, 23; 7:16; Luke 8:8; 14:35; Revelation 2:7, 11, 29; 3:13, 22).

[13] That in the supreme sense “to hear” signifies providence, and “to see” foresight, is evident from the passages in the Word where “eyes” and “ears” are predicated of Jehovah or the Lord; as in Isaiah:

Incline Thine ear, O Jehovah and hear; open Thine eyes, O Jehovah and see (Isaiah 37:17).

In Daniel:

O my God, incline Thine ear and hear; open O Jehovah Thine eyes and see our wastes (Daniel 9:18).

In David:

O God, incline Thine ear unto me, and hear my speech (Psalms 17:6).

Again:

Incline Thine ear unto me, and save me (Psalms 71:2).

Again:

Turn Thine ear to my prayers because of Thy truth, answer me because of Thy righteousness (Psalms 143:1).

In Jeremiah:

O Jehovah, Thou heardest my voice; hide not Thine ear at my sighing, at my cry (Lam. 3:55-56).

In David:

O Jehovah, hide not Thy faces from me in the day of my distress; incline Thine ear to me; in the day when I cry, answer me (Psalms 102:1-2).

It is known that Jehovah has not ears nor eyes like a man, but that it is some attribute predicable of the Divine that is signified by the “ear” and by the “eye,” namely, infinite will and infinite understanding. Infinite will is providence, and infinite understanding is foresight; these are what are understood by “ear” and “eye” in the supreme sense, when they are attributed to Jehovah. From all this it is now manifest what in every sense is signified by “Jehovah hath heard,” from which Simeon was named.

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