440. Of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand sealed, signifies the goods of life therefrom. This is evident from the representation and consequent signification of "the tribe of Manasseh," as meaning the voluntary [principle] of the church, and the good of life therefrom. It means the good of life because the good of life makes one with the voluntary of the church or of the man of the church, since that which a man wills he does when he can, for doing is nothing but the will acting, as can be seen from the fact that doing stops when the will stops, and doing goes on as long as there is a will; that which the will of a regenerated man does is called the good of life. For this reason, as the voluntary of the church is signified by "Manasseh" and his tribe, so the good of life is also signified. Moreover, the good of life is the outcome of charity towards the neighbor after regeneration, which is signified by "Asher and Naphtali," like an effect from its cause; for they who are in charity towards the neighbor are regenerated by the Lord, and those who are regenerated are in the good of life, since they act from charity, and all action from charity is good of life.

[2] There are two things that constitute the church, namely, the truth of doctrine and the good of life; both of these must be in a man that he may be a man of the church. "Ephraim and Manasseh" represented and thence signify in the Word these two, "Ephraim" the truth of doctrine, and "Manasseh" the good of life. The truth of doctrine is also called the intellectual of the church, and the good of life is called its voluntary; for truth is of the understanding, and good is of the will; for this reason also "Ephraim and Manasseh" signify the intellectual and the voluntary of the church, "Ephraim" its intellectual, and "Manasseh" its voluntary. That these might be represented and thence signified by "Ephraim and Manasseh" they were born to Joseph in the land of Egypt; for "Joseph" signifies the celestial-spiritual, or the spiritual kingdom itself that is adjoined to the celestial kingdom, and "the land of Egypt" signifies the natural; consequently "Manasseh" signifies the good of the will in the natural born of the celestial-spiritual, and "Ephraim" signifies truth of the understanding in the natural, also born from the same. The nativity of these is thus described in Moses:

And unto Joseph were born two sons before the year of famine came, whom Asenath the daughter of Potiphera priest of On bare unto him. And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh, For God hath made me forget all my toil and all my father's house. And the name of the second called he Ephraim, For God hath made me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction (Genesis 41:50-52).

The meaning of these words in the spiritual sense can be seen in the Arcana Coelestia 5347-5356), namely, that the name of the firstborn, "Manasseh," means the new voluntary in the natural and what is its quality; and the name of the second, "Ephraim," means the new intellectual in the natural, and what is its quality; or what is the same, "Manasseh" means the good of the new natural man, and "Ephraim" its truth (See n. 5351, 5354).

[3] That this is the signification of "Manasseh and Ephraim" can be seen from the fact that they were adopted by Jacob as "Reuben and Simeon," which is thus described in Moses:

And Jacob said unto Joseph, Now thy two sons, born unto thee in the land of Egypt, before I came unto thee into Egypt, they are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh, even as Reuben and Simeon, shall be mine. They shall be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance (Genesis 48:3, 5, 6).

As "Reuben" signifies truth in the understanding, which is the truth of doctrine, and "Simeon" truth in the will, which is the good of life, therefore Jacob says that "Ephraim and Manasseh should be to him as Reuben and Simeon;" consequently "Ephraim" signifies intellectual truth, and "Manasseh" voluntary good. (But this may be seen more fully explained in Arcana Coelestia 6234-6241.)

[4] The same can be seen from the blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh by Jacob, then Israel, as follows:

Israel blessed Joseph, and said, The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me from then unto this day, the Angel that hath redeemed me from all evil, bless the boys; and in them shall my name be called, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth (Genesis 48:15-16).

That here, too, "Ephraim" means intellectual truth, and "Manasseh" voluntary good, both in the natural, may be seen in the Arcana Coelestia 6274-6285). And again, in the blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh by Moses, as follows:

Respecting Joseph, In the firstborn of his ox he hath honor, and his horns are the horns of a unicorn; with them he shall push the peoples together to the ends of the earth; and these are the myriads of Ephraim and these the thousands of Manasseh (Deuteronomy 33:17).

This may be seen explained above (n. 336[4]).

That "Ephraim" signifies the understanding of truth, and "Manasseh" the will of good, both in the natural, can be seen also from the following passages. In Isaiah:

In the fury of Jehovah of Hosts is the land darkened, and the people are become as fuel of the fire; a man shall not pity his brother; and if he shall cut down on the right hand he shall still be hungry, and if he shall eat on the left hand they shall not be satisfied; they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm, Manasseh Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh, they together against Judah ¹ (Isaiah 9:19-21).

"Manasseh shall eat Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh," here signifies that every good and truth of the church is to perish, the good through falsity, and the truth through evil, as may be seen above (n. 386, where the particulars are explained).

[5] In David:

Gilead is Mine, and Manasseh is Mine, and Ephraim is the strength of My head; Judah is My lawgiver (Psalms 60:7; 108:8).

"Manasseh" here signifies the good of the church, "Ephraim" its truth, and "Gilead" the natural; and since truth from good in the natural has Divine power it is said, "Ephraim is the strength of My head." Divine power is through truth from good in the natural, because the natural is the ultimate into which things interior flow, which are spiritual and celestial, and where they are together and subsist; consequently where they are in fullness, and in this and from this is all Divine operation. For this reason the sense of the letter of the Word, because it is natural, has in it Divine power (respecting which see above, n. 346, and Arcana Coelestia 9836); from this it can be seen why Ephraim is said to be "the strength of Jehovah's head;" Judah is said to be "His lawgiver" because "Judah" signifies internal Divine truth, or the Word in the spiritual sense, and "lawgiver" and "law" have a similar signification.

[6] In the same:

Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, Thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; Thou that sittest upon the cherubim, shine forth. Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh stir up Thy might and come for salvation to us (Psalms 80:1, 2).

From the spiritual sense it is clear that these words contain a supplication to the Lord to instruct those who are of the church, and to lead them by truths to good, thus to heaven. The Lord is called "the Shepherd of Israel" because He instructs and leads; it is therefore said, "Thou that leadest Joseph like a flock," "Joseph" meaning those of the church who are in truths from good; "Thou that sittest upon the cherubim" signifies the Lord above the heavens, whence He sends forth the light that illustrates minds, therefore it is said "shine forth." That the light of truth may penetrate even to those who are in natural truth and good, thus to the lowest in the church, is signified by "before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh stir up Thy might;" "Ephraim" meaning those who are in natural truth; natural truth is such truth as the truth of the Word is in the sense of the letter; "Manasseh" means those who are in natural good, which is the delight of doing good and learning truth; "Benjamin" means the conjunctive of truth and good, or the conjoining medium in the natural; "to stir up might" means the penetration of light even to that; "come for salvation to us" means that such may be saved.

[7] Because all the good that the natural man has flows in from the Lord through the spiritual, and without that influx there can be no good in the natural, and because "Manasseh" represented and thus signified good in the natural man from a spiritual origin, therefore to that tribe an inheritance was given both beyond or without Jordan and on this side or within Jordan, that is, to half the tribe beyond or without Jordan, and to the other half on this side or within Jordan (See Numbers 32:33, 39, 40; Deuteronomy 3:13; Joshua 13:29-31; 17:5-13, 16-18). The land beyond or without Jordan represented and signified the external church, which is with men in the natural man; but the land on this side or within Jordan represented and signified the internal church, which is with men in the spiritual man (on which see above, n. 434. Again, it is good that constitutes the church, and this good flows in immediately out of the spiritual man into the natural, and without this influx the church is not with man; and this is the reason that to the tribe of Manasseh, by which the good of the church was signified, was given an inheritance both within and without Jordan. That spiritual good flows into natural good immediately, but into natural truth mediately, may be seen in the Arcana Coelestia 3314, 3573, 3576, 3616, 3969, 3995, 4563); thus that there is a parallelism between spiritual good and natural good, but not between spiritual truth and natural truth (n. 1831, 1832, 3514, 3564). That "Manasseh" signifies the good of the church, or the good of life, which is the same as the good of the will, can be seen from the representation and consequent signification of "Ephraim," as being the truth of the church, or the truth of doctrine, which is the same as the truth of the understanding; for these were brethren, and good and truth are called brethren in the Word. (That "Ephraim" signifies the truth of doctrine, and thus the intellectual of the church, may be seen in Arcana Coelestia 5354, where many passages from the Word in which Ephraim is mentioned are cited and explained; see also n. 3969, 6222, 6234, 6238, 6267, 6296.)

Poznámky pod čarou:

6222. 'And he took his two sons with him, Manasseh and Ephraim' means the Church's will and the Church's understanding, born from the internal. This is clear from the representation of 'Manasseh' as the new will in the natural and its essential nature, dealt with in 5354 (end); and from the representation of 'Ephraim' as the new understanding in the natural and its essential nature, dealt with in 5354. The birth of the two from the internal is meant by the fact that they were the sons of Joseph, who represents the internal celestial, 5869, 5877.

[2] What the Church's understanding is and what its will is must be stated. The Church's understanding consists in perceiving from the Word what the truth of faith is and what the good of charity is. As is well known, the literal sense of the Word is by nature such that a person can use that sense to support any opinion at all that he may adopt. The reason for this is that ideas appearing in the literal sense of the Word serve as general vessels to receive truths, though not until they have actually received truths does the real nature of those vessels reveal itself as if through transparency. Thus those ideas form merely a general impression which a person must gain first in order that he may aptly receive particular aspects and specific details. This fact - that the literal sense of the Word is by nature such that a person can use that sense to support any opinion at all that he may adopt - is clearly evident from the great number of heresies that have existed in the Church, and still exist in it. Adherents of each heresy find support for it in the literal sense of the Word, support which enables them to believe fully that it is the truth, which means that if they were to hear the actual truth from heaven they would receive nothing at all of it.

[3] The reason why they would not receive it is that they do not share in the understanding that the Church possesses; for that understanding exists when people read the Word, assiduously take one statement together with another, and by doing so see what they ought to believe and what they ought to do. Such understanding comes only to those who receive light from the Lord, whom the Christian world also calls 'the enlightened'. That enlightenment does not come to any but the kind of people who have the desire to know truths, not for the sake of reputation and glory but for the sake of life and service. That same enlightenment is received by a person in his understanding, for the understanding is the receiver of light. This is clearly evident from the fact that people who have little understanding cannot by any means see such things from the Word but have faith in those who they think are the enlightened. Furthermore it should be recognized that those who have been regenerated receive from the Lord an understanding which is capable of being enlightened; and it is the light of heaven coming from the Lord that flows into the understanding and gives it light, for the understanding receives its light, its sight, and consequently its perception from no other source.

[4] But this understanding which is being called the Church's understanding is more internal than an understanding based merely on factual knowledge, for it consists in a discernment that a thing is true not because factual evidence and philosophical deductions dictate it but because the Word in its spiritual sense does so. For example, people who possess the Church's understanding can perceive clearly that in every single part the Word teaches that love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour are the essential qualities of the Church, that a person's life continues after death, and that his life arises out of his loves. They can also perceive that faith separated from charity is not faith, that faith contributes nothing to eternal life except in the measure that the good of love to the Lord and the good of charity towards the neighbour are linked to it, and that faith and charity must therefore be joined together so that spiritual life may exist. People with an enlightened understanding can perceive quite clearly that these things are true; but those without it can by no means see that they are.

[5] It is thought that the people with an understanding in things of the Church are those who know how to substantiate extensively the opinions or teachings of their Church, to the point of convincing others that they are true, and who know how to refute numerous heresies in a masterly way. But this is not what is meant by the Church's understanding, for substantiating opinions is not a characteristic of the understanding but of mental ability at a sensory level, which sometimes comes to exist in very wicked people; indeed those without any beliefs at all, also those who are steeped in actual falsities, can have that ability. Nothing comes more easily to both these kinds of people than to substantiate whatever idea they like, so thoroughly that they convince the simple. But before substantiating any opinion the Church's understanding engages in seeing and perceiving whether it is true or not, and in substantiating it only after that.

[6] This understanding is what is represented by 'Ephraim'. But the Church's good, which is represented by 'Manasseh', is the good of charity, which the Lord instills into a member of the Church through the truths of faith. For these truths together with the good of charity are what flow into the understanding and give it light, and also enable the understanding and the will to constitute one mind. The truth that both these - the understanding and the will - are born from the internal may be seen from what was stated and shown previously; for the whole affection for goodness and truth, the affection through which enlightenment comes, flows in from no other origin, thus is born from no other origin than the internal; that is, it comes from the Lord through the internal.