5354. And the name of the second called he Ephraim. That this signifies a new understanding in the natural, and its quality, is evident from the signification of a “name” and “calling a name,” as being the quality (see n. 144, 145, 1754, 1896, 2009, 2724, 3006, 3421); and from the representation of Ephraim, as being the understanding in the natural (of which in what follows). But first must be told what is meant by the new understanding and the new will signified by “Ephraim and Manasseh.” In the church it is indeed known that man must be born again (that is, must be regenerated) in order that he may enter the kingdom of God; for the Lord has plainly declared this in John 3:3, 5 (John 3:5). But what it is to be born again is known only to few, for the reason that few know what good and evil are, and this because they do not know what charity toward the neighbor is; if they knew this, they would also know what good is, and from good what evil is; for all that is good which comes from genuine charity toward the neighbor.

[2] But no one can be in this good from himself, because it is the celestial itself which flows in from the Lord. This celestial flows in continually, but evils and falsities stand in the way of its being received; and therefore in order that it may be received it is necessary for man to remove evils, and as far as he is able falsities also, and thus dispose himself to receive the influx. When after evils have been removed the man receives the influx, he at the same time receives a new will and a new understanding; and from the new will he feels delight in doing good to the neighbor from no selfish end, and from the new understanding he perceives delight in learning what is good and true for its own sake and for the sake of the life. Inasmuch as this new understanding and new will come into existence through influx from the Lord, the man who has been regenerated acknowledges and believes that the good and truth with which he is affected are not from himself but from the Lord, and also that whatever is from himself, or of his own, is nothing but evil.

[3] From all this it is plain what it is to be born again, and also what the new will and new understanding are. But the regeneration through which come the new understanding and the new will is not accomplished in a moment, but goes on from earliest infancy even to the close of life, and afterward in the other life to eternity, and this by Divine means, innumerable and unspeakable; for man of himself is nothing but evil, which continually exhales as from a furnace, and continually endeavors to extinguish the nascent good. The removal of such evil, and the inrooting of good in its place, cannot be effected short of the whole course of life, and through Divine means numberless and unspeakable. Of these means scarcely any are known at the present day, for the reason that man does not suffer himself to be regenerated, nor does he believe regeneration to be anything, because he does not believe in a life after death. The process of regeneration, which includes indescribable things, makes up the main part of angelic wisdom, and is of such a nature that it cannot be fully exhausted by any angel to eternity. Hence it is that this is the chief subject treated of in the internal sense of the Word.

[4] That “Ephraim” is the new understanding in the natural, is plain from very many passages in the Word, especially in the prophet Hosea, which treats much of “Ephraim,” and in which we read as follows:

I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from Me, in that thou hast wholly committed whoredom, O Ephraim, Israel is defiled. Israel and Ephraim shall go to ruin by their iniquity; Judah shall also go to ruin with them. Ephraim shall become a solitude in the day of reproof. And I am as a moth to Ephraim, and as a boring-worm to the house of Judah. And Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his wound, and Ephraim went to the Assyrian, and sent to king Jareb; and this one could not heal you (Hos. 5:3, 5, (Hosea 5:5) 9 (Hosea 5:9), 12-13).

Again in the same prophet:

When I healed Israel, then was the iniquity of Ephraim unveiled, and the evils of Samaria; for they have wrought a lie; and a thief cometh, and a troop spreadeth itself abroad. And Ephraim was like a silly dove without heart; they called Egypt, they went to Assyria. When they shall go I will spread my net over them (Hos. 7:1, 11-12).

[5] Again:

Israel is swallowed up; now shall they be among the nations as a vessel wherein is no desire; when they went up to Assyria, a wild ass alone; Ephraim winneth him loves with a harlot’s hire (Hosea 8:8-9;

Israel shall not dwell in the land of Jehovah, and Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat what is unclean in Assyria (Hos. 9:3);

Ephraim hath compassed me about with a lie, and the house of Israel with deceit; and Judah yet ruleth with God, and is faithful with the saints; Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind; every day he multiplieth a lie and wasting, and they make a covenant with the Assyrian, and oil is carried down into Egypt (Hos. 11:12; 12:1);

besides many other passages in the same prophet concerning Ephraim (as Hosea 4:17-19; 5:3, 5, 9, 11-14; 7:8-9; 9:8, 11, 16; 10:6, 11; 11:3, 8-9; 12:8, 14; 13:1, 12; 14:8).

[6] In all these passages by “Ephraim” is meant the intellectual of the church, by “Israel” its spiritual, and by “Judah” its celestial; and it is because the intellectual of the church is signified by “Ephraim” that it is so often said of him that he “goes away into Egypt,” and “into Assyria;” for by “Egypt” are signified memory-knowledges, and by “Assyria” reasonings from these; both being predicated of the understanding. (That “Egypt” signifies memory-knowledge may be seen above, n. 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462, 2588, 3325, 4749, 4964, 4966; and also that “Assyria” signifies reason and reasoning, n. 119, 1186)

[7] In like manner in the following passages by “Ephraim” is signified the understanding of the church:

Exult greatly, O daughter of Zion; sound, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold thy King cometh to thee. I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and I will cut off the battle bow; He shall speak peace against the nations; and His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth. I will bend Judah for Me, I will fill Ephraim with the bow, and I will stir up thy sons, O Zion, with thy sons, O Javan (Zech. 9:9-10, 13);

said of the coming of the Lord and of the church of the Gentiles. “To cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem” denotes to cut off all the understanding of the church; “to fill Ephraim with the bow” denotes to give a new understanding. That a “chariot” signifies what is of doctrine may be seen above (n. 5321), a “horse,” what is of the understanding (n. 2760-2762, 3217, 5321); and a “bow” also what is of doctrine (2685, 2686, 2709); for what is of doctrine depends on what is of the understanding, for it is believed as it is understood, the understanding of the doctrine determining the quality of the faith.

[8] Hence also the sons of Ephraim are called “shooters with the bow,” in David:

The sons of Ephraim, who were armed and shooters with the bow, turned back in the day of battle (Psalms 78:9).

In Ezekiel:

Son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the sons of Israel his companions; then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and of all the house of Israel his companions; afterward join them for thee one to another into one stick, that the two may become one in my hand. Behold I will take the stick of Joseph that is in the hands of Ephraim and of the tribes of Israel his companions, and will add those who are upon it with the stick of Judah, and I will make them one stick, that they may be one in My hand (Ezekiel 37:16-17, 19); where also by “Judah” is meant the celestial of the church, by “Israel” its spiritual, and by “Ephraim” its intellectual. That these are made one through the good of charity, is signified by one stick being made out of two. (That a “stick of wood” is the good of charity and consequently the good of works, may be seen above, n. 1110, 2784, 2812, 3720, 4943)

[9] In Jeremiah:

There shall be a day that the watchman from the mountain of Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, let us go up to Zion unto Jehovah our God. I will be a father to Israel, and Ephraim My firstborn is he (Jeremiah 31:6, 9).

In the same:

I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself, Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a calf unaccustomed; turn Thou me, that I may be turned. Is not Ephraim a precious son to Me? Is he not a child of delights? For after I have spoken against him, I will surely remember him again (Jeremiah 31:18, 20).

I will bring back Israel to his habitation, that he may feed in Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be sated in the mountain of Ephraim and in Gilead (Jeremiah 50:19).

In Isaiah:

Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower and to the glory of his adornment, which are upon the head of the valley of the fat ones that are troubled with wine (Isaiah 28:1).

[10] In these passages also by “Ephraim” is signified the understanding of the church. The understanding of the church is the understanding the men of the Church have of truths and goods, that is, of the doctrinal things of faith and charity; thus their notion, concept, or idea about them. Truth itself is the spiritual of the church, and good is its celestial; but truth and good are understood differently by different men; such therefore as is the understanding of truth, such is the truth with everyone. It is similar with the understanding of good.

[11] What the will of the church is that is signified by “Manasseh,” may be known from its understanding, which is “Ephraim.” It is with the will of the church as with its understanding, namely, that it is varied with each person. “Manasseh” signifies this will in Isaiah:

In the wrath of Jehovah Zebaoth the land is darkened, and the people is become like food for the fire; no man shall spare his brother; they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm: Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh: they together are against Judah (Isaiah 9:19-21); where “every man eating the flesh of his own arm, Manasseh, Ephraim, and Ephraim, Manasseh” denotes that the will of the man of the church will be against his understanding, and his understanding against his will.

[12] In David:

God hath spoken by His holiness: I will exult, I will divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth. Gilead is Mine, and Manasseh is Mine; and Ephraim is the strength of My head (Psalms 60:6-7

Again:

Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, Thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; Thou that sittest upon the cherubim, shine forth. Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up Thy might (Psalms 80:1-2); where also “Ephraim” denotes the understanding of the church, and “Manasseh” its will. The same is plain also from the blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh by Jacob before his death (Genesis 48:13-20); and also from Jacob’s accepting Ephraim in place of Reuben, and Manasseh in place of Simeon (Genesis 48:3, 5); for by Reuben was represented the understanding of the church, or faith in the understanding and in doctrine (see n. 3861, 3866), and by Simeon, faith in act, or obedience and will to do the truth, from which and by which is charity, and thus truth in act, which is the good of the new will (n. 3869-3872).

[13] The reason why Jacob, then Israel, blessed Ephraim in preference to Manasseh, by putting his right hand upon the former and his left upon the latter (Genesis 48:13-20), was the same that Jacob had for diverting to himself the birthright of Esau, and the same as in the case of Perez and Zerah the sons of Judah by Tamar, when Zerah, who was the firstborn, came forth after Perez (Genesis 38:28-30). This reason was that the truth of faith, which is of the understanding, is apparently in the first place during man’s regeneration, and then the good of charity, which is of the will, is apparently in the second place; and yet good is actually in the first place, and is manifestly so when the man has been regenerated (as may be seen above, n. 3324, 3539, 3548, 3556, 3563, 3570, 3576, 3603, 3701, 4243, 4244, 4247, 4337, 4925, 4926, 4928, 4930, 4977).

3576. And he blessed him. That this signifies conjunction thus, is evident from the signification of “being blessed,” as being conjunction (n. 3504, 3514, 3530, 3565). From these particulars which are related concerning Esau and Jacob it is evident that the good of the rational conjoined itself inmostly with the good of the natural, and through the good therein with truth; for Isaac represents the rational as to good; Rebekah, the rational as to truth; Esau, the good of the natural; and Jacob, the truth of it. That the rational as to good, signified by “Isaac,” conjoined itself inmostly with the good of the natural, signified by “Esau,” and not with the truth of the natural, signified by “Jacob,” except mediately, is evident from the fact that Isaac had Esau in mind when he pronounced the blessing on Jacob; nor did he then think of Jacob, but of Esau. He who pronounces a blessing, blesses him of whom he is thinking, and not then him of whom he is not thinking. All the blessing that is uttered with the mouth goes forth from within, and has life in it from the will and thought of him who blesses, and therefore it essentially belongs to him for whom he wills, and of whom he thinks. He who takes it away and thus makes it his own is like one who steals something which should be restored to another. That when Isaac blessed he thought of Esau and not of Jacob, is evident from all that goes before, as from verses 18 and 19, where Isaac says to Jacob, “Who art thou my son?” and Jacob said unto his father, “I am Esau thy firstborn;” and from verses 21-22, and 23, where Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near I pray, and I will feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau, or not;” and after he had felt him, he said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau, and he recognized him not;” also from verse 24, “And he said, Art thou my very son Esau? And he said, I am;” and at last when he kissed him, “he smelled the smell of his garments,” namely, Esau’s; and when he then blessed him, he said, “See, the smell of my son;” from all which it is evident that by the son whom he blessed no other was meant than Esau; and therefore also when he heard from Esau that it was Jacob, “Isaac shuddered with exceeding great shuddering” (verse 33), “and said, Thy brother came with fraud” (verse 35); but the reason why Jacob retained the blessing, according to what is said in verses 33 and 37, is that the truth represented by Jacob was apparently to have the dominion for a time, as has been shown several times above.

[2] But after the time of reformation and regeneration has been completed, then the good itself which had lain inmostly concealed, and from within had disposed each and all things that had appeared to be of truth, or that truth had attributed to itself, comes forth and openly has the dominion. This is signified by what Isaac said to Esau: “By thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother, and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from upon thy neck” (verse 40), the internal sense of which words is that so long as truth is being conjoined with good, good is apparently made to take a lower place; but that it will be in the prior place, and then there will be a conjunction of the rational with the good of the natural, and thereby with the truth; and thus truth will come to be of good; consequently Esau will then represent the good itself of the natural, and Jacob the truth itself thereof, both conjoined with the rational; thus in the supreme sense the Lord’s Divine natural; Esau, as to the Divine good, and Jacob as to the Divine truth, therein.