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Joshua 18

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1 And all the company of the sons of Israel are assembled [at] Shiloh, and they cause the tent of meeting to tabernacle there, and the land hath been subdued before them.

2 And there are left among the sons of Israel who have not shared their inheritance, seven tribes,

3 and Joshua saith unto the sons of Israel, `Till when are ye remiss to go in to possess the land which He hath given to you, Jehovah, God of your fathers?

4 Give for you three men for a tribe, and I send them, and they rise and go up and down through the land, and describe it according to their inheritance, and come in unto me,

5 and they have divided it into seven portions -- Judah doth stay by its border on the south, and the house of Joseph do stay by their border on the north --

6 and ye describe the land [in] seven portions, and have brought [it] in unto me hither, and I have cast for you a lot here before Jehovah our God;

7 for there is no portion to the Levites in your midst, for the priesthood of Jehovah [is] their inheritance, and Gad, and Reuben, and the half of the tribe of Manasseh received their inheritance beyond the Jordan eastward, which Moses servant of Jehovah gave to them.'

8 And the men rise and go; and Joshua commandeth those who are going to describe the land, saying, `go, and walk up and down through the land, and describe it, and turn back unto me, and here I cast for you a lot before Jehovah in Shiloh.'

9 And the men go, and pass over through the land, and describe it by cities, in seven portions, on a book, and they come in unto Joshua, unto the camp, [at] Shiloh.

10 And Joshua casteth for them a lot in Shiloh before Jehovah, and there Joshua apportioneth the land to the sons of Israel, according to their divisions.

11 And a lot goeth up [for] the tribe of the sons of Benjamin, for their families; and the border of their lot goeth out between the sons of Judah and the sons of Joseph.

12 And the border is to them at the north side from the Jordan, and the border hath gone up unto the side of Jericho on the north, and gone up through the hill-country westward, and its outgoings have been at the wilderness of Beth-Aven;

13 and the border hath gone over thence to Luz, unto the side of Luz (it [is] Beth-El) southward, and the border hath gone down [to] Atroth-Addar, by the hill that [is] on the south of the lower Beth-Horon;

14 and the border hath been marked out, and hath gone round to the corner of the sea southward, from the hill which [is] at the front of Beth-Horon southward, and its outgoings have been unto Kirjath-Baal (it [is] Kirjath-Jearim), a city of the sons of Judah: this [is] the west quarter.

15 And the south quarter [is] from the end of Kirjath-Jearim, and the border hath gone out westward, and gone out unto the fountain of the waters of Nephtoah;

16 and the border hath come down unto the extremity of the hill which [is] on the front of the valley of the son of Hinnom, which [is] in the valley of the Rephaim northward, and hath gone down the valley of Hinnom unto the side of Jebusi southward, and gone down [to] En-Rogel,

17 and hath been marked out on the north, and gone out to En-Shemesh, and gone out unto Geliloth, which [is] over-against the ascent of Adummim, and gone down [to] the stone of Bohan son of Reuben,

18 and passed over unto the side over-against Arabah northward, and gone down to Arabah;

19 and the border hath passed over unto the side of Beth-Hoglah northward, and the outgoings of the border have been unto the north bay of the salt sea, unto the south extremity of the Jordan; this [is] the south border;

20 and the Jordan doth border it at the east quarter; this [is] the inheritance of the sons of Benjamin, by its borders round about, for their families.

21 And the cities for the tribe of the sons of Benjamin, for their families, have been Jericho, and Beth-Hoglah, and the valley of Keziz,

22 and Beth-Arabah, Zemaraim, and Beth-El,

23 and Avim, and Parah, and Ophrah,

24 and Chephar-Haammonai, and Ophni, and Gaba; twelve cities and their villages.

25 Gibeon, and Ramah, and Beeroth,

26 and Mizpeh, and Chephirah, and Mozah,

27 and Rekem, and Irpeel, and Taralah,

28 and Zelah, Eleph, and Jebusi (it [is] Jerusalem), Gibeath, Kirjath: fourteen cities and their villages. This [is] the inheritance of the sons of Benjamin, for their families.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 6396

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6396. 'Dan' means those who are guided by truth but not as yet by good. This is clear from the representation of 'Dan' as the good of life, dealt with in 3921, 3923, but here those who have some goodness of life, which is engendered by truth but not as yet by good. For the situation with a person who is being regenerated by the Lord is that at first truth resides with him but no goodness of life engendered by that truth. Then such goodness of life engendered by truth, though not as yet by good, does reside with him; and after that, once he has been regenerated, goodness of life engendered by good comes to reside with him, at which stage he discerns truth from the vantage point of good and multiplies that truth residing with him. These are the degrees of regeneration, and 'Dan' is used to mean those with whom goodness of life resides which is engendered by truth but not as yet by good. The good that resides with them still lies deeply concealed within that truth; yet it provides them with an affection for truth and impels them to lead a life in accordance with the truth. Such people are in the Lord's kingdom, but because they are led to do good not by good but by truth, that is, not by anything of a new will but by the understanding - thus not by love but by obedience because they are commanded so to act - they are among those in the Lord's kingdom who inhabit the first or lowest heaven. These are the people whom 'Dan' represents, for in the internal sense of the prophetic declarations made here by Israel his twelve sons serve to describe in general the essential natures of all who are in the Lord's kingdom.

[2] The habitation by those meant by 'Dan' of the lowest heaven or lowest level of the Lord's kingdom because they are guided by truth but not as yet by good was represented by the falling of the lot last for Dan when the land of Canaan was shared out as an inheritance among the tribes, Joshua 19:40-48, and by the allotment at that time of an inheritance to them in the remotest part of the land, Judges 18. For the lot was cast before Jehovah, Joshua 18:6, and therefore fell for each tribe in accordance with its representation. The land of Canaan represented the Lord's kingdom, see 1607, 3038, 3481, 3705, 3686, 4447, 4454, and all its boundaries were therefore representative, 1607, 1866, 4116, so that the outermost parts of that land represented the lowest parts of the Lord's kingdom, 4240. 'Dan' consequently represented the inhabitants of those lowest parts, for before truth has become joined to good it resides on the lowest level of that kingdom. But if truth has become entirely separated from good it does not reside within any boundary of the Lord's kingdom but is outside it.

[3] The fact that Dan's inheritance was the outermost part of the land of Canaan is clear from the fact that whenever the full extent of that land was described the expression from Beersheba even to Dan was used, 2 Samuel 3:10; 17:11; 24:15; 1 Kings 4:25. In this expression Beersheba means the inmost part of the land, for the reason that it was the place where Abraham and Isaac lived, that is, before Jerusalem and Zion had become the inmost parts of the land.

[4] The essential nature of those guided by truth but not as yet by good was also represented by the Danites who were to spy out the land in which they were to live, Judges 18. It was represented by their removal of the Levite from Micah's house and their making off with the ephod, teraphim, and carved image, by which objects is meant the worship of those guided by truth but not as yet by good. For those people venerate things of an external nature but have no interest in those of an internal nature; for things of an internal nature are discerned by none but those who are guided by good. This is what the Danites under consideration here represented, as becomes clear from the consideration that all the historical incidents in the Word, both those in the Books of Moses and those in the Books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings, are representative of the celestial and spiritual realities of the Lord's kingdom, including therefore this incident in the Book of Judges involving the Danites. As regards anything further concerning the essential nature of those guided by truth but not as yet by good, this is described in the internal sense of the things said about Dan that come next.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.