3923. Therefore she called his name Dan. That this signifies its quality, is evident from the signification of a “name” and of “calling a name,” as being quality (see n. 144, 145, 1754, 1896, 2009, 2724, 3421). The quality itself is within the name “Dan,” for he was so called from “judging.” But though the name was given to him from “judging,” it nevertheless involves what is signified by all these words of Rachel: “God hath judged me, and also hath heard my voice,” that is, the good of life, and the holy of faith, and also in the supreme sense the justice and mercy of the Lord. It is this general principle of the church that is signified by “Dan,” and that is represented by the tribe named from Dan. This general principle is the first that is to be affirmed or acknowledged, before a man can be regenerated or made a church. Unless these things are affirmed and acknowledged, the rest of the things both of faith and of life cannot possibly be received, and therefore cannot be affirmed, still less acknowledged. For he who affirms mere faith with himself, and not the holy of faith, that is, charity (for this is the holy of faith), and does not affirm this by the good of life, that is, by the works of charity, can no longer have a relish for the essence of faith, because he rejects it. Affirmation together with acknowledgment is the first general principle with the man who is being regenerated, but is the last with him who has been regenerated; and therefore “Dan” is the first with him who is to be regenerated, and “Joseph” is the last; for “Joseph” is the spiritual man himself. But “Joseph” is the first with him who has been regenerated, and “Dan” the last; because the man who is to be regenerated commences from the affirmation that it is so, namely, the holy of faith and the good of life. But the regenerate man, who is spiritual, is in spiritual good itself, and from this he regards such affirmation as last; for with him the holy things of faith and goods of life have been confirmed.

[2] That “Dan” is the affirmative which must be the first thing when a man is being regenerated, may also be seen from other passages in the Word where “Dan” is named; as from the prophecy of Jacob, then Israel, respecting his sons:

Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel; Dan shall be a serpent upon the way, an adder upon the path, that biteth the horse’s heels, and his rider falleth backward. I wait for thy salvation, O Jehovah (Genesis 49:16-18).

“Dan” here denotes the affirmative of truth, concerning which it is said that it will be “a serpent upon the way, and an adder upon the path,” when anyone reasons about truth from sensuous things; “biting the horse’s heels,” when it consults the lowest intellectual things or memory-knowledges, and draws conclusions from them; and that it is then led away from the truth, is signified by “his rider falling backward;” for which reason it is said, “I wait for thy salvation, O Jehovah.” That the “serpent” is the man who reasons from sensuous things and memory-knowledges concerning Divine arcana, may be seen above (n. 195-197); and that “way” and “path” signify truth (n. 627, 2333); and that the “horse’s heels” are the lowest intellectual things or memory-knowledges (n. 259); for a “horse” is the intellectual (n. 2761, 2762); the lowest part of which is the “heel.”

[3] Again in the prophecy of Moses concerning the twelve tribes:

Of Dan he said, Dan is a lion’s whelp, he leapeth forth from Bashan (Deuteronomy 33:22);

a “lion” in the internal sense of the Word signifies the truth of the church, from his strength, for truth is that which fights and conquers; hence a “lion’s whelp” denotes the first of truth, which is affirmation and acknowledgment. It is said “from Bashan,” because it is from the good of the natural.

In Jeremiah:

Wash thine heart from wickedness, O Jerusalem, that thou mayest be saved. How long makest thou the thoughts of thine iniquity to lodge in the midst of thee? For a voice declareth from Dan, and causeth to hear iniquity from Mount Ephraim (Jeremiah 4:14-15);

“from Dan,” denotes the truth that is to be affirmed; “from Mount Ephraim,” that it is from the affection of it.

[4] In the same:

Wait for peace, but there is no good; and for a time of healing, and behold terror. The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan; at the sound of the neighings of his strong ones the whole land trembled; and they came and devoured the land and the fullness thereof, the city and them that dwell therein. For behold I will send among you serpents, basilisks, against which there is no enchantment, and they shall bite you (Jeremiah 8:15-17);

“the snorting of horses heard from Dan” denotes reasoning concerning truth from what is non-affirmative; the “land that trembled,” and their “devouring the fullness thereof,” denotes the church and all the things of the church; for they who reason concerning truth from what is non-affirmative (that is, negative) destroy all things of faith; the “basilisk serpents” denote reasonings, as above.

[5] In Ezekiel:

Dan and Javan coming in gave bright iron in thy fairs; cassia and calamus were in thy trading (Ezekiel 27:19); where Tyre is the subject treated of, by which are signified the knowledges of truth and good (n. 1201). “Dan” denotes the first truths that are affirmed; “fairs” and “trading,” the acquisitions of truth and good (n. 2967); the “bright iron,” natural truth which is the first (n. 425, 426); “cassia and calamus,” natural truth from which there is good.

[6] In Amos:

In that day shall the fair virgins and the young men faint for thirst. They that swear by the guilt of Samaria, and have said, Thy God, O Dan, liveth; and the way of Beersheba liveth; even they shall fall, and shall rise up no more (Amos 8:13-14);

“Thy God, O Dan, liveth, and the way of Beersheba liveth” denotes that they are in the denial of all things of faith and its doctrine. (That “way” denotes truth, see above, (627) n. 627, 2333; and “Beersheba,” doctrine, n. 2723, 2858, 2859, 3466.) That there is signified the denial of all things of faith, is because Dan was the last boundary of the land of Canaan, and Beersheba the first, that is, the midst or inmost of the land; for by the “land of Canaan” was represented and signified the Lord’s kingdom, and thus the church (n. 1607, 3038, 3481), and accordingly all things of love and faith, because these are of the Lord’s kingdom and church. Hence all things in the land of Canaan were representative, according to their distances, situations, and boundaries (n. 1585, 1866, 3686).

[7] The first boundary, that is, the midst or inmost of the land, was Beersheba, before Jerusalem became so, because Abraham was there, and also Isaac; but the last boundary, or the outermost of the land, was Dan; and hence when all things in one complex were signified, it was said, “from Dan even to Beersheba;” as in the second book of Samuel:

To transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul, and to set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan even to Beersheba (2 Samuel 3:10).

In the same:

All Israel gathering was gathered together from Dan even to Beersheba (2 Sam 17:11).

And again:

David said to Joab, Pass through all the tribes of Israel from Dan even to Beersheba (2 Samuel 24:2, 15).

And in the first book of Kings:

Judah and Israel dwelt in security, every man under his vine and under his fig-tree, from Dan even to Beersheba (1 Kings 4:25).

By this expression are meant in the historic sense all things of the land of Canaan; but in the internal sense all things of the Lord’s kingdom, and also all things of the church.

[8] The reason why, as before said, “Dan” is the first boundary, and also the last, is that the affirmative of truth and good is the first of all things when faith and charity are beginning with man, and the last when man is in charity and thereby in faith. It was from this also that the last lot fell to Dan when the land of Canaan was divided for inheritance (Josh. 19:40, etc.); for the lot was cast before Jehovah (Josh. 18:6); and hence it fell according to the representation of each tribe.

[9] And because the lot did not fall to Dan among the inheritances of the rest of the tribes, but beyond their borders (Judges 18:1), that tribe was omitted by John in the Revelation (Revelation 7:5-8), where the twelve thousand that were sealed are mentioned; for they who are only in the affirmative of truth and also of good, and go no further, are not in the Lord’s kingdom, that is, among the “sealed.” Even the worst men are able to know truths and goods, and also to affirm them; but the quality of the affirmation is known from the life.

[10] “Dan” is also mentioned as a boundary in Genesis 14:14, where Abraham is described as having pursued the enemy thus far, and where “Dan” has a similar signification. The city called “Dan” was not indeed built by the posterity of Dan at that time, but afterwards (Josh. 19:47; Judges 18:29); yet even then it was called the first boundary with respect to entering into the land of Canaan, or the last with respect to going out; and the inmost of the land was Hebron, and afterwards Beersheba, where Abraham and Isaac dwelt.

627. For all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth. That this signifies that man’s corporeal nature had destroyed all the understanding of truth, is evident from the signification of “flesh” (concerning which at verse 3), which in general means every man, and in particular the corporeal man, or all that is of the body; and from the signification of a “way” as being the understanding of truth, that is, truth itself. That a “way” is predicated of the understanding of truth, that is, of truth, is evident from passages which have been adduced in different places before, and also from the following.

In Moses:

Jehovah said, Arise, get thee down quickly from hence; for thy people have corrupted themselves; they have suddenly turned back out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten image (Deuteronomy 9:12, 16), meaning that they had turned away from the commandments, which are truths.

[2] In Jeremiah:

Whose eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of man, to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his works (Jeremiah 32:19).The “ways” here are a life according to the commandments; the “fruit of his works” is a life from charity. Thus a “way” is predicated of truths, which are those of the precepts and commandments. And the meaning of “son of man” [homo] and of “man” [vir] is as has been shown above. So in Jeremiah 7:3, and 17:10.

In Hosea:

I will visit upon him his ways, and render to him his works (Hosea 4:9).

In Zechariah:

Return ye from your evil ways, and from your evil works. Like as Jehovah Zebaoth thought to do unto us according to our ways, and according to our works (Zechariah 1:4, 6).

Here the sense is similar, but the opposite of the former, because they are evil “ways” and evil “works.”

In Jeremiah:

I will give them one heart, and one way (Jeremiah 32:39).

“Heart” denotes goods, and “way” truths.

In David:

Make me to understand the way of Thy commandments; remove from me the way of falsehood; and grant me Thy law graciously. I have chosen the way of truth. I will run the way of Thy commandments (Psalms 119:27, 29-30, 32).

Here the “way of the commandments” is called the “way of truth”—opposite to which is the “way of falsehood.”

[3] Again:

Make known to me Thy ways, O Jehovah, teach me Thy paths. Lead my way in Thy truth, and teach me (Psalms 25:4-5).

Here likewise a “way” manifestly denotes truth.

In Isaiah:

With whom did Jehovah take counsel, and who instructed Him, and taught Him the path of judgment, and taught Him knowledge [scientia], and made Him to know the way of understanding (Isaiah 40:14),

manifestly for the understanding of truth.

In Jeremiah:

Thus hath said Jehovah, Stand ye upon the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and go therein (Jeremiah 6:16).

Here likewise “way” is put for the understanding of truth.

In Isaiah:

I will lead the blind in a way that they knew not, in paths that they have not known I will lead them (Isaiah 42:16).

The terms “way” “path” [semita], “path” [trames], “street” [platea], and “street” [vicus] are predicated of truth, because they lead to truth; as also in Jeremiah: They have caused them to stumble in their ways, in the ancient paths, to walk in by-paths, in a way not cast up (Jeremiah 18:15).

So in the book of Judges:

In the days of Jael the paths ceased, and they that walked in paths went through crooked paths. The streets ceased in Israel (Judges 5:6).