438. Verse 6. Of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand sealed, signifies charity towards the neighbor, and that all who are in it are in heaven and come into heaven. This is evident from the signification of "the tribe of Asher," as being the spiritual affection which is charity (of which presently); and from the signification of "twelve thousand sealed," as being those who are in heaven and who come into heaven (as above, n. 433). That "the tribe of Asher" signifies love towards the neighbor, which is called charity, will be made clear from what follows, and is also clear from this, that the twelve tribes taken together represented heaven and the church, and therefore signify these in the Word, and that each tribe represented, and thence signifies, some universal essential that is a constituent of heaven and the church. Heaven and the church are constituted, in general, of three universal essentials, namely, love to the Lord, charity towards the neighbor, and the obedience of faith; love to the Lord is signified by the first three tribes, Judah, Reuben, and Gad (as was shown above); charity towards the neighbor is signified by these three tribes, Asher, Naphtali, and Manasseh; while the obedience of faith is signified by the three tribes next named, Simeon, Levi, and Issachar; the conjunction of all of these with the Lord is signified by the last three tribes, Zebulun, Joseph, and Benjamin. This, in brief, is the signification of all these tribes named in this order, for their signification is determined by the order in which they are named (as has been said and shown above, n. 431, 435, 436).

[2] Furthermore, the "sealed" mean those who have been separated from the evil and received into heaven; and the first three tribes mean those who have been received into the highest or third heaven, in which all are in love to the Lord; the three tribes next named, which are now under consideration, mean those who have been received into the middle or second heaven, in which all are in charity towards the neighbor; while the three tribes that next follow mean those who have been received into the lowest or first heaven, where those are who are in the obedience that is called the obedience of faith; and the last three tribes mean the reception of all these into the three heavens by the Lord; for there are three heavens, distinguished from one another according to the degrees of the good of love. From all this it can first be seen that this second class of tribes, that is, the three tribes, Asher, Naphtali, and Manasseh, mean those who are in charity towards the neighbor; "the tribe of Asher" meaning charity towards the neighbor; "Naphtali" the regeneration of those who are in that charity, and "Manasseh" their good of life.

[3] But what "Asher" signifies in the Lord's kingdom, that is, in the church, shall first be told. "Asher" signifies the blessedness of spiritual affections, and thence spiritual affection itself; and as spiritual affection is what is called love towards the neighbor or charity, so "Asher" here signifies charity; consequently the "twelve thousand" of that tribe here signify all who are in charity, and are thus in the second or middle heaven. That Asher was so called from what is blessed or from blessedness is evident both from the meaning of the word in Hebrew and also from what was said of him by Leah the wife of Jacob, when he was born, which is the following:

Zilpah, Leah's maidservant, 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).

"The daughters who should call her blessed" signify the spiritual affections of truth, which constitute the church, from which is every internal blessedness that is heavenly, in which blessedness those are who are in charity towards the neighbor, for charity towards the neighbor is the spiritual affection of truth (as was just said above); and the spiritual affection of truth is to love truth in its essence, that is, to love truth because it is truth; moreover, the neighbor, in the spiritual sense, is nothing else than good and truth, and charity is love for this (as can be seen from what is said and shown in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, on Love towards the Neighbor, which is called Charity, n84-107. The rest of the passage may be seen explained in Arcana Coelestia 3936-3939).

[4] That "Asher" signified blessedness which is of love and charity is further evident from the blessing of Asher by Israel his father:

From Asher his bread is fat, and he shall yield the delicacies of a king (Genesis 49:20).

"From Asher" signifies from celestial and spiritual affections, which are those of love to the Lord and of charity towards the neighbor; "his bread is fat," signifies delight from good; "and he shall yield the delicacies of a king" signifies pleasure from truth. (This is further explained in Arcana Coelestia 6408-6410.)

[5] "Asher" has a similar significance in Moses' blessing, namely, the delight of the affection of truth from the Word; the blessing is this:

Of Asher he said, Blessed above sons be Asher; let him be acceptable unto his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil; thy shoe is iron and brass; and as the days so thy fame (Deuteronomy 33:24, 25).

Moses' blessing of the sons of Israel contains arcana respecting the Word; and "Asher," who is the one last mentioned there signifies the spiritual affection of truth from the Word; therefore it is said, "Blessed above sons be Asher, let him be acceptable to his brethren," "sons" signifying truths, and "brethren" the church from truths; and "blessed" and "acceptable" are predicated of the affection of truths. 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;" "foot" signifies truth in 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 is iron and brass;" natural truth is signified by "iron," and natural good by "brass," and the ultimate by "shoe." That the Word is to endure to eternity is signified by "as the days so thy fame." (That "iron" signifies natural truth, see above, n. 176; that "brass" signifies natural good, n. 70; and that "shoe" signifies the ultimate of the natural, which is the sensual, see 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:

That tribe encamped, together with the tribe of Dan and the tribe of Naphtali, to the north (Numbers 2:25-31).

The encampments of the sons of Israel in the wilderness represented the arrangements of the angelic societies in the heavens (See above, n. 431), and there to the north are the dwelling places of those 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, can be seen in Ezekiel, where the new land and the new city are treated of, and that land is distributed as an inheritance among all the tribes of Israel; and to the city twelve gates are assigned, one for each tribe. The inheritance of Asher is there described in chapter Ezekiel 48:1-3, and the gates in these words:

The corner towards the sea four thousand and five hundred; ¹ the gates of the city three; one gate of Gad, one gate of Asher, one gate of Naphtali. Round about eighteen thousand; and the name of the city from that day, Jehovah-is-there (verses 34, 35).

The "land" that was to be distributed for an inheritance signifies the church; the "sons of Israel" among whom it was to be distributed, signify all truths from good in the complex that belong to the church; the "city" signifies the doctrine of truth from good of love, therefore it is called Jehovah shammah, or "Jehovah-is-there;" the "gates" signify introductory truths, which are doctrinals; the number "four thousand and five hundred" signifies all truths from good, and "eighteen thousand" all the truths of doctrine encompassing and defending. This makes clear not only that each and all things there mentioned, even to the numbers, signify the things of the church, but also that no tribe of Israel is there meant, each tribe named standing for some universal essential of the church. It is evident, moreover, that "Asher" here signifies the spiritual affection of truth, which makes one with charity towards the neighbor. (That "Asher" signifies eternity in the highest sense, in the internal sense the felicity of life from blessedness of affections that are of love and charity, and in the external sense natural delight therefrom, see in Arcana Coelestia 3938, 3939, 6408.)

Poznámky pod čarou:

978. What the internal man is and what the external, few if any know nowadays. They imagine that these are one and the same, the chief reason being their belief that they do what is good and think what is true from their proprium; for the proprium carries such belief within itself. But the internal man is as different from the external as heaven from earth. When the learned as well as the unlearned reflect on the matter, they have no other concept of the internal man than of thought, seeing that it is something inward; and no other concept of the external man than of the body and its ability to perceive with the senses and to experience pleasure, seeing that it is something outward. But thought, which they imagine to belong to the internal man, does not in fact belong to the internal; for with the internal man resides nothing but goods and truths which are the Lord's, and in the interior man conscience has been implanted by the Lord. Even the evil, indeed the most evil, possess thought, and people who are devoid of conscience have it too. From this it is clear that man's thought belongs not to the internal man but to the external. And the fact that the body, and its ability to perceive with the senses and to experience pleasure, is not the external man is clear from the consideration that spirits likewise, who do not possess the [physical] body such as they had while living in the world, still have an external man.

[2] But what the internal man is and what the external nobody can possibly know unless he knows that in everyone there is a celestial and spiritual degree corresponding to the angelic heaven, a rational degree corresponding to the heaven of angelic spirits, and the interior sensory degree corresponding to the heaven of spirits. There are indeed three heavens, the same number as there are degrees with man. These heavens are quite distinct and separate from one another, which is why after death the person who has conscience is first of all in the heaven of spirits; after that he is raised by the Lord into the heaven of angelic spirits, and finally into the angelic heaven. This could not possibly take place if there were not the same number of heavens to which, and to the state of which, he is capable of corresponding. This has made clear to me what constitutes the internal man and what the external. Celestial and spiritual things form the internal man, rational things the inner or middle, and sensory things - not those of the body but those derived from bodily things - the external. And this applies not only to man but also to a spirit.

[3] Let me speak in terms used by the learned. These three are like end, cause, and effect. It is well known that no effect can possibly exist unless there is a cause, nor any cause unless there is an end. Effect, cause, and end are as distinct and separate from one another as exterior, interior, and inmost are. Strictly speaking the sensory man, that is, the one whose thought is based on sensory evidence, is the external man, while the spiritual and celestial man strictly speaking is the internal man. But the rational man comes in the middle between the two, and by way of this man - the rational - communication takes place between the internal man and the external. I know that few can grasp these ideas, the reason being that they live among, and think from, external things. This is why some equate themselves with animals and believe that when their bodies die they will be altogether dead. Yet it is when they die that they first start to live. In the next life people who are good lead first a sensory life in the world or heaven of spirits, then a more interior sensory life in the heaven of angelic spirits, and finally an inmostly sensory life in the angelic heaven. This latter or angelic life is the life of the internal man, about which hardly anything can be said that man is capable of grasping.

[4] The regenerate can know of the existence of that internal life only if they reflect on the nature of good and truth and of conflict. Actually that life is the Lord's life with man, for the Lord by way of the internal man works the good of charity and the truth of faith within the external man. That which from this is perceived in his thought and affection is something general, containing countless details which come from the internal man but which a person does not perceive at all before entering the angelic heaven. Concerning the nature of this general something, see what has been told from experience in 545. These matters that have been stated concerning the internal man however, since they lie beyond the grasp of most people, are not vital for their salvation provided they know of the existence of the internal man and of the external, and acknowledge and believe that everything good and true comes from the Lord.