'Reuben,' in the highest sense, signifies omniscience. In a spiritual sense, he signifies wisdom, intelligence, science, and faith. In a natural sense, he signifies sight. In Revelation 7:5, 'Reuben' signifies wisdom because he comes after Judah, who signifies celestial love, and celestial love produces wisdom because no love exists without its consort, which is science, intelligence, and wisdom. The consort of natural love is science, the consort of spiritual love is intelligence, and the consort of celestial love is wisdom. 'Reuben' signifies these things because he was named for 'seeing' or 'sight,' and spiritual-natural sight is science, spiritual sight is intelligence, and celestial sight is wisdom. Also, 'Reuben' was the firstborn of Jacob, and was therefore called his 'might, the beginning of [his] strength, excelling in eminence, and excelling in worth.' This is the nature of wisdom originating in celestial love. Because 'Reuben' was the firstborn, he represents and signifies the wisdom of the people of the church. This is why he urged his brothers not to kill Joseph, and grieved when Joseph was not found in the pit in Genesis 37:21, 22. This is also why his tribe camped in the south, and was called 'the camp of Reuben.' The south also signifies wisdom originating in love, which is people in this wisdom in heaven dwell to the south. 'The tribe of Reuben' in an opposite sense symbolizes wisdom divorced from love, and faith divorced from charity. This is why his father Israel cursed him in Genesis 49:3, 4. He was also deprived of his birthright in 1 Chronicles 5:1. For the same reason the tribe was given an inheritance across the Jordan and not in the land of Canaan. Ephraim and Manasseh, Joseph's sons, were also acknowledged in place of Reuben and Simeon in Genesis 48:5. Nevertheless, he still retains the positive representation and symbolism of wisdom.

(Odkazy: Apocalypse Revealed 351; Numbers 2:10-16)

148. All the people in the heavens live in different areas according to the cardinal directions. People who are sensitive to the good that love does live along the east-west axis: the ones who have a clear perception of this, toward the east; and the ones who have a vague perception of it, toward the west. People who are sensitive to the issues of wisdom that result [from that good] live along the south-north axis: the ones in a clear light of wisdom, toward the south; and the ones in a dim light of wisdom, toward the north.

The dwelling arrangement for angels in the Lord's spiritual kingdom is like that of the ones in his heavenly kingdom, with a difference that depends on the good that love does and the light of truth that comes from the good. This is because the love in the heavenly kingdom is a love for the Lord, and the light of truth from that love is wisdom. On the other hand, the love in the spiritual kingdom is the love for our neighbor that is called thoughtfulness, and the light of truth that comes from it is intelligence, also called faith (see above, 23). They also differ according to the directions, since as just noted (146), the directions in the two kingdoms are thirty degrees apart.