Joshua 16: The territories of Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and Manasseh.

Chapter 16 tells about the land given to the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, the two sons of Joseph. Only Ephraim’s territory is covered in this chapter; Manasseh’s territory is discussed in Joshua 17.

The first three verses describe Ephraim and Manasseh’s territories as one large area. Half of Manasseh had already been given land on the other side of the River Jordan, (see Joshua 13 for more). Together, Ephraim and (the second half of) Manasseh’s territory is in the center of the land west of the Jordan.

This seems to suggest that the spiritual meaning of those two tribes is of major importance for us. Ephraim, Joseph’s younger son, stands for our understanding of the Lord’s truths, while Manasseh, the older son, stands for the good which these truths lead us to do (see Swedenborg’s work, Arcana Caelestia 8399).

It is a spiritual truth that we need an understanding of what is true - in the Word, and about the Lord - before we can begin to do what is genuinely good. Yet it is good which is the most important thing in our spiritual life, so this is really the first in importance (see Swedenborg’s True Christian Religion 336[2]).

This ‘switch’ is reflected in Genesis chapter 48, when Joseph takes his two sons to his dying father, Israel, for him to bless them. But Israel (Jacob) blesses younger Ephraim first, and Manasseh second; he reverses the order of their birth. For us, it is important to see that both good and truth combined are essential, each for the sake of the other. The tribes’ central location in the Land of Canaan and adjoining territories illustrate this point.

Verse 9 brings out this unity even further. It says: “The separate cities for the children of Ephraim were among the inheritance of the children of Manasseh, all the cities with their villages.” Not only were the two territories adjacent, but they overlapped, with separate cities for Ephraim being among the territory of Manasseh. Truth and good are partnered in a kind of marriage together (read Swedenborg’s Doctrine of Life 33).

The last verse of this short chapter raises another interesting point, which has been mentioned previously: while Israel had conquered the land of Canaan, there were places where the people of Canaan still lived among the Israelites. Verse 10 states: “And they did not drive out the Canaanites who dwelt in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwell among the Ephraimites to this day and have become forced labourers.”

We came across a similar situation in Joshua 9 with the Gibeonites, who made a treaty with Israel but became woodcutters and watercarriers to serve Israel. The meaning for us is that the lower or more outward, natural things of life are there to serve our spiritual life. They are not to be destroyed, because natural life is the arena in which we live out the beliefs and values that form our spiritual life (True Christian Religion 339).

The Canaanites in Gezer, who were forced to work for the Ephraimites, represent our lower nature. It is still active in us at times, rising up, showing itself, but we realize that this takes place so that it works for our spiritual growth and regeneration (Arcana Caelestia 5947).

338. The faith of the Apostles was solely in the Lord Jesus Christ, as is evident from many passages in their Epistles, of which I shall quote only the following:

It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; but the reason that I now live in the flesh is that I live in faith, which is in the Son of God, Galatians 2:20.

Paul to Jews and Greeks proclaimed repentance before God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, Acts of the Apostles 20:21.

The man who brought Paul outside said, What must I do to be saved? He replied, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, so shall you be saved and your household, Acts of the Apostles 16:30-31.

He who possesses the Son has life; he who does not possess the Son of God has no life. I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have everlasting life and you may believe in the name of the Son of God. 1 John 5:12-13.

We are by birth Jews, not sinners of gentile origin, but we know that man is not justified by the deeds prescribed by the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ; so we too have believed in Jesus Christ, Galatians 2:15-16.

Since their faith was in Jesus Christ, and such faith also comes from Him, they called it 'the faith of Jesus Christ', as in Galatians 2:16 just quoted, and in the following passages:

The righteousness of God through the faith of Jesus Christ [is manifested] to all and upon all who have believed, with a view to the justification of him who is of the faith of Jesus, Romans 3:22, 26.

To have the righteousness which comes from the faith of Christ, the righteousness of faith which comes from God, Philippians 3:9.

Those that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus ¹ . Revelation 14:12.

By faith which is in Christ Jesus. 2 Timothy 3:15.

In Jesus Christ is faith working through charity, Galatians 5:6.

[2] These passages may serve to establish what faith was understood by Paul in the saying so often repeated nowadays in the church:

We conclude therefore that man is justified by faith without the deeds prescribed by the law, Romans 3:28.

This was not faith in God the Father, but in His Son; much less was it in a sequence of three Gods, one from whom, another for whose sake and a third through whom. The church's belief that his faith in three persons was meant by Paul in that saying is due to the fact that for the last fourteen centuries, that is, from the time of the Council of Nicaea, the church acknowledged no other faith, and so was unaware of the existence of any other, believing it to be the sole and only possible faith. Consequently, wherever the Word of the New Testament mentions faith, this is thought to be the faith intended, and everything said there about it is attributed to this faith. As a result the only saving faith, that in God the Saviour, has been lost, and so many fallacies too have crept into its teachings, as well as so many paradoxes which are repugnant to sound reason. For any teaching of the church which is intended to teach and point out the way to heaven, that is, to salvation, is dependent upon faith; and because, as I have said, so many fallacies and paradoxes have crept into its teaching, they were obliged to propound the dogma, that the understanding must be kept in obedience to faith. Now since in Paul's saying (Romans 3:28) faith does not mean faith in God the Father, but in His Son, and 'the deeds prescribed by the law' do not there mean those prescribed by the Ten Commandments, but by the law of Moses given to the Jews (as is evident from the sequel to this passage, and also similar statements in the Epistle to the Galatians 2:14-15), the foundation stone of modern faith collapses, together with the shrine erected upon it, like a house subsiding into the ground until nothing is left showing but the top of the roof.

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