6415. From what was said by Israel in this prophetic utterance about Dan, Gad, Asher, and Naphtali, it is very plain that there is an internal sense and that without this sense scarcely anything can be understood and known; such as that “Dan shall be a serpent upon the way, an arrow-snake upon the path, biting the horse’s heels, and that his rider shall fall backward;” that “a troop shall ravage Gad, and he shall ravage the heel;” that “Asher’s bread shall be fat, and he shall give the delights of a king;” and that “Naphtali is a hind let loose, giving discourses of elegance.” Who without the key from the internal sense can know what these things mean? That they were not said of the sons of Jacob, nor of the tribes, may be seen from the fact that nothing of the kind here described befell them in the “end of days,” when yet Israel says that he would tell them what should then befall them (verse 1); and as they were not said of them, it follows that they were said of such things as are represented by them, the nature of which has been unfolded above.