3862. Section 3858 above showed that the twelve tribes symbolized all facets of truth and goodness, or of faith and love. The current focus of discussion is the individual sons of Jacob for whom the tribes were named, so I need to reveal another secret here: the meaning that Jacob’s sons have.

All heavenly and spiritual warmth, or love and charity, is outwardly perceived in heaven as flames given off by the sun.

All heavenly and spiritual light, or faith, outwardly appears in heaven as light radiating from the sun. The heavenly and spiritual warmth contains wisdom, and the resulting light contains understanding, because they come from the Lord, who is the sun there. (See §§1053, 1521-1533, 1619-1632, 2441, 2495, 2776, 3138, 3167, 3190, 3195, 3222, 3223, 3338, 3339, 3341, 3413, 3485, 3636, 3643.) Clearly, then, all goodness comes from the warmth that the Lord gives off as the sun, and all truth comes from the light he sheds. All desires, which relate to love, or goodness, are variations of the heavenly and spiritual warmth given off by the Lord, and from them come changes of state. All thoughts, which relate to faith, or truth, are modifications of the heavenly and spiritual light shed by the Lord, and from them comes understanding.

All of heaven’s angels are subject to these influences; their feelings and thoughts have no other source or identity. This fact is clear from their language, which has the same source and therefore consists of variegations or modifications of heavenly light containing heavenly warmth. As a result, their speech is indescribable and displays more variety and fullness than anyone could possibly grasp (§§3342, 3344, 3345).

In order to provide an earthly representation of these concepts, Jacob’s sons were each given names symbolizing universal aspects of goodness and truth, or of love and faith. In consequence, the names symbolized variations of heavenly and spiritual warmth in their universal aspects and modifications of the resulting light in their universal aspects. The pattern of those universal qualities determines what kind of fire and radiance they emit. When the pattern starts with love, anything that genuinely follows it looks fiery. When the pattern starts with faith, anything that genuinely follows it looks brilliant—in all kinds of ways, depending on how the subsequent parts follow the pattern. If they do not truly fit in, it looks dark in all kinds of ways. Variations on the pattern will be discussed below, however, by the Lord’s divine mercy. This now is why the Lord gave answers through the Urim and Thummim and why, depending on what the situation was, [the priests] received the answers through flashes of light from the translucent precious stones on which the names of the twelve tribes were engraved. As noted, the names themselves were inscribed with universal aspects of love and faith as they exist in the Lord’s kingdom and consequently with universal aspects of fire and light that in heaven represent aspects of love and faith.

Let me start, then, by confirming from the Word that the order in which the tribes are named there varies, depending on the situation under discussion. This will indicate that the answers the Lord gave through the Urim and Thummim were flashes of light whose order was determined by the state of affairs. All light in heaven varies in accord with the situation at hand, and the situation at hand varies in accord with the pattern of goodness and truth. What combination of truth and goodness each pattern symbolizes will become clear from the explanation: Reuben symbolizes a faith imparted by the Lord; Simeon, a faith belonging to the will, imparted by the Lord; Levi, spiritual love, or charity; Judah, divine love and the Lord’s heavenly kingdom. The symbolism of the remaining eight will be given in the next chapter.

The pattern depicted here follows their birth order, which runs Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, and Benjamin. See verses 32, 33, 34, 35, of this chapter; the next chapter, Genesis 30:6, 8, 11, 13, 18, 20, 24; and Genesis 35:18. This order matches the situation being described here, which is a person’s rebirth. When we regenerate, we start with faith’s truth, meant by Reuben; advance from there to an intent to act on truth, meant by Simeon; from there to charity, meant by Levi; and so to the Lord, meant in the highest sense by Judah. Spiritual conception and birth, or regeneration, progresses from the outer plane to the inner, as noted just above in §3860; that is, it progresses from faith’s truth to love’s goodness.

Shortly before Jacob came to Isaac his father in Mamre, Kiriath-arba, his sons are named in this order: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher (Genesis 35:23, 24, 25, 26). Here the sons of Leah and Rachel come first, and those of the slaves, last, as determined by the situation being treated of.

They are listed in yet another order when they set out and came to Egypt, as described in Genesis 46:9-19; in another when Jacob (who by then was Israel) blessed them before dying (Genesis 49:3-27); and in another when Moses blessed them (Deuteronomy 33:6-24).

When they camped around the meeting tent, they were in this pattern: toward the east, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun; toward the south, Reuben, Simeon, Gad; toward the west, Ephraim, Manasseh, Benjamin; toward the north, Dan, Asher, Naphtali (Numbers 2:1– end).

For the arrangement the tribes stood in on Mount Gerizim to bless the people and on Mount Ebal to curse them, see Deuteronomy 27:12, 13.

When the chief men, one from each tribe, were to be sent to scout out the land, they are listed in this order: Reuben, Simeon, Judah, Issachar, Ephraim, Benjamin, Zebulun, Joseph (that is, Manasseh), Dan, Asher, Naphtali, Gad (Numbers 13:4– 16). However, the chiefs who were to give the land as an inheritance are listed in another order (Numbers 34:19-29). For the order in which lots were cast and fell out when the land was given as an inheritance, see Joshua 13-19.

Where Ezekiel deals with the borders of the new, holy land that the tribes were to inherit, they are mentioned in this order: Dan, Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Ephraim, Reuben, Judah, Benjamin, Simeon, Issachar, Zebulun, Gad—all reaching from the eastern side to the “sea” side, or western side, except for Gad, which was on the southern side toward the south (Ezekiel 48:1-7, 23-28). Where it deals with the gates of the new, holy city, the tribes are mentioned in this order: to the north, three gates for Reuben, Judah, Levi; to the east, three gates for Joseph, Benjamin, Dan; to the south, three gates for Simeon, Issachar, Zebulun; to the west, three gates for Gad, Asher, Naphtali (Ezekiel 48:31-34).

For the order of the twelve thousand sealed from each tribe, see Revelation 7:5-8.

In all these passages, the list of tribes matches perfectly the situation being spoken of, and the order of the names corresponds to it. The exact nature of the situation becomes clear from the surrounding context.

The Word mentions and describes how the precious stones were arranged in the Urim and Thummim but does not say which tribe each stone corresponded to. The stones represented every modification of the light given off by heavenly fire—that is, every kind of truth produced by goodness, or every form of faith produced by love. Because that is what they represented, heaven’s light itself miraculously shone through them according to the circumstances that the questions and answers were about. It gleamed and shone to affirm what was good and true, and it also varied in color, depending on the different states of goodness and truth, as it does in heaven. In heaven, distinctions among different kinds of light express heavenly and spiritual qualities in a way that is indescribable and completely incomprehensible to people on earth. As has been explained several times, heaven’s light contains life from the Lord, so it contains wisdom and understanding [§§3195, 3339, 3636, 3643, 3679]. Different varieties of light contain every facet of the life present in truth—every facet of wisdom and understanding. Different varieties of its fire, gleam, and radiance contain every facet of the life present in goodness and in the truth generated by goodness—every facet of love for the Lord and of the resulting faith. This is what the Urim and Thummim on the breastplate of the ephod over Aaron’s heart meant. In further support of this symbolism, Urim and Thummim mean lights and perfections; and the breastplate they lay on was called the breastplate of judgment because judgment means understanding and wisdom (§2235). It lay on Aaron’s heart because the heart symbolizes divine love (3635 and the end of this chapter [3884-3890]). For this reason, the precious stones were set in gold, gold in an inner sense meaning the good that comes of love (113, 1551, 1552), and a precious stone, truth translucent with goodness (114).

[7] Here is what Moses says about the Urim and Thummim:

You shall make a breastplate of judgment, a work well designed; like the work of the ephod you shall make it; of gold, blue-violet, and red-violet, and double-dyed scarlet, and interwoven byssus you shall make it. It shall be square when doubled. And you shall set stone-settings in it; four rows of stone there shall be. Sockets of gold there shall be for their settings. And the stones shall be according to the names of the sons of Israel—twelve, according to their names. The engravings of each signet shall be according to its name for the twelve tribes. (Exodus 28:15-21; 39:8-14)

Which stones were in each row is also specified there. To continue:

The breastplate shall not come off the ephod. And Aaron shall carry the names of Israel’s sons on the breastplate of judgment over his heart when he enters the Holy Place, as a memorial before Jehovah continually. And you shall put the Urim and the Thummim on the breastplate of judgment, and they shall be over Aaron’s heart in his entering Jehovah’s presence. And Aaron shall carry the judgment of the children of Israel over his heart before Jehovah continually. (Exodus 28:28, 29, 30; Leviticus 8:7, 8)

Jehovah (the Lord) took questions and gave answers through the Urim, as can be seen in Moses:

Jehovah said to Moses, “Take Joshua, son of Nun. You shall put some of your glory on him, so that all the congregation of the children of Israel will obey him. Before Eleazar the priest he shall stand, and [Eleazar] shall question him in the judgment of the Urim before Jehovah.” (Numbers 27:18, 20, 21)

And in Samuel:

Saul asked Jehovah, and Jehovah did not answer him, whether by dreams or by the Urim or by the prophets. (1 Samuel 28:6)

3195. And he was residing in the southland means therefore in divine light. This can be seen from the symbolism of residing as living (discussed in §1293), which has to do with goodness (2268, 2451, 2712), and from that of the southland as divine light. The south symbolizes light-specifically, the light of understanding, which is wisdom (1458). The land of the south, for its part, means a place and state in which that light shines. In the current verse, then, "Isaac came from going to Beer-lahai-roi, and he was residing in the southland" means that because divine goodness on the rational plane was born of divine truth, it was in divine light.

[2] Light is mentioned over and over in the Word, and on an inner level it symbolizes the truth that comes of goodness. On the highest inner level it symbolizes the Lord himself, because he is goodness and truth itself.

Light does actually exist in heaven, but it is infinitely brighter than the light on earth; see §§1053, 1117, 1521-1533, 1619-1632. This light reveals spirits and angels to each other and discloses all the glory that exists in heaven. The glow of this light may indeed look like the light of the world but is not like it, because it is not earthly but spiritual. It contains wisdom, so that what streams down before the eyes of the inhabitants this way is pure wisdom. So the wiser the angels are, the more brilliant the light they enjoy (§2776). This light also illuminates the human intellect, especially in a person who has been reborn, but we do not notice it as long as we are living in our bodies, because of the worldly light that then dominates. In the other world, evil spirits also see each other, and they see the many representative objects that emerge in the world of spirits, too. Although they see these things by heaven's light, it is a glimmer like that of a coal fire. That is what heaven's light turns into when it comes near them.

[3] As for the original source of this light, from eternity it has been the Lord alone, because the Lord is the divine goodness and divine truth itself from which the light comes. His divine humanity, which has existed from eternity (John 17:5), was that very light. Because this light was no longer able to affect the human race, which had moved so far away from goodness and truth and therefore from the light, and had thrown itself into the dark, the Lord wished to clothe himself in actual humanity by being born. In this way, he could shed light not only on our rational dimension but also on our earthly dimension. He made both the rational level and the earthly level in himself divine so that he could be the light also for people who sat in such thick shadow.

[4] Many passages in the Word can show that the Lord is the light, or in other words, is goodness and truth itself, so that all understanding and wisdom and consequently all salvation comes from him. In John, for instance:

In the beginning there was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. In him was life, and the life was the light of humankind. John came to testify concerning the light; he was not that light but [came] to testify concerning the light. It was the true light that shines on every person coming into the world. (John 1:1, 4, 7, 8, 9)

The Word was divine truth, and therefore was the Lord himself in his divine humanity, of whom the text says that the Word was with God and the Word was God. [5] In the same author:

This is the judgment: that the light came into the world but people loved the dark more than the light. (John 3:19)

The light stands for divine truth. In the same author:

Jesus said, "I am the light of the world; whoever follows me will not walk in the dark but have the light of life." (John 8:12)

In the same author:

For a short time yet, the light is with you; walk, as long as you have light, to prevent the dark from overtaking you. As long as you have the light, believe in the light, in order to be children of light. (John 12:35, 36)

In the same author:

Whoever sees me sees him who sent me; I have come into the world as the light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in the dark. (John 12:45, 46)

In Luke:

My eyes have seen your means of salvation, which you have prepared before the face of all peoples: a light for revelation to the nations and the glory of your people Israel. (Luke 2:30, 31, 32)

This is Simeon's oracular phrase concerning the Lord when he was born. [6] In Matthew:

The people sitting in darkness have seen a great light; and on those sitting in the vicinity and gloom of death, light has risen. (Matthew 4:16; Isaiah 9:2)

These passages make it obvious that the Lord is called the light in regard to the divine goodness and truth in his divine humanity. This is so in Old Testament prophecies as well. In Isaiah, for example:

The light of Israel will become a fire, and its Holy One, a flame. (Isaiah 10:17)

In the same author:

I, Jehovah, have called you in righteousness, and I will give you as a pact with the people and as a light for the nations. (Isaiah 42:6)

In the same author:

I have given you as a light of the nations, so that you may be my salvation all the way to the end of the earth. (Isaiah 49:6)

In the same author:

Rise, shine, because your light has come, and the glory of Jehovah has dawned above you! The nations will walk toward your light, and monarchs, toward the radiance of your dawn. (Isaiah 60:1, 3)

[7] John says that all of heaven's light and therefore its wisdom and understanding come from the Lord:

The holy city New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband, has no need for the sun or the moon to shine in it; God's glory will light it, and its lamp will be the Lamb. (Revelation 21:2, 23)

Further on the same city:

Night will not exist there, and they will have no need for a lamp or sunlight, because the Lord God gives them light. (Revelation 22:5)

[8] In Isaiah, too:

The sun will no longer be for light by day for you, and not as radiance for you will the moon shine, but Jehovah will become an eternal light to you, and your God will become your ornament. No longer will your sun set, and your moon will not withdraw, because Jehovah will become an eternal light to you. (Isaiah 60:19, 20)

"There will no longer be a sun for light by day, and not as radiance will the moon shine" means that we will not see what earthly light clarifies but what spiritual light clarifies, the latter being symbolized by "Jehovah will become an eternal light." Jehovah, mentioned here and elsewhere in the Old Testament, is the Lord; see §§1343, 1736, 2156, 2329, 2921, 3023, 3035.

[9] To three of his disciples-Peter, James, and John-he revealed that he is the light of heaven. That is, when he was transfigured, his face shone like the sun, while his clothes became like the light (Matthew 17:2). A face like the sun was his divine goodness; clothes like the light were his divine truth.

This shows what [Moses'] blessing means when it says, "Jehovah make his face shine on you and have mercy on you" (Numbers 6:25). Jehovah's face is mercy, peace, and goodness; see §§222, 223. The sun is divine love, so the Lord's divine love is what appears as the sun in heaven (30-38, 1053, 1521, 1529, 1530, 1531, 2441, 2495).

2712. ).

[6] In Isaiah:

Look: these will come from far off! And look: those will come from the north and from the west; and those, from the land of Sinim! (Isaiah 49:12)

The north stands for people with a dim sight of truth; the west, for people with a dim sight of goodness. They are said to come from far off because they are remote from the light the Lord sheds.

[7] In Amos:

Watch! The days will come in which I send famine into the land, and they will wander from sea to sea; and from the north all the way to the east they will dash about to seek Jehovah’s Word and will not find it. (Amos 8:11, 12)

The famine stands for a scarcity and lack of religious knowledge (§§1460, 3364). Wandering from sea to sea stands for trying to find out where the knowledge is, seas meaning knowledge in general (§§28, 2850). Dashing about from the north all the way to the east means dashing from a dim to a radiant sight of that knowledge. Obviously the object is knowledge, because it says they dash about to seek Jehovah’s Word and will not find it.

[8] In Jeremiah:

Shout these words toward the north and say, “Come back, rebellious Israel! I will not make my face fall regarding you, because I am merciful.” In those days the house of Judah will go toward the house of Israel, and they will come as one from the land of the north onto the land that I made your ancestors inherit. (Jeremiah 3:12, 18)

This passage is about rejuvenating the church with people from outside it. The north stands for people who do not know the truth but live a good life. The passage is clearly not talking about the north and the land of the north, because Israel no longer existed at that time. In the same author:

As Jehovah lives, who brought the children of Israel up from the land of the north! (Jeremiah 16:15)

Again the north stands for ignorance of truth.

[9] In the same author:

Watch: I am bringing them from the land of the north, and I will assemble them from the flanks of the land; among them are the blind and the lame. (Jeremiah 31:8)

The land of the north stands for ignorance of goodness resulting from ignorance of truth. Canaan represented the Lord’s kingdom and therefore represented what is good (see §3705 above), and its central points, such as Zion and Jerusalem, represented inmost goodness, to which truth has been united. So the more remote parts represented a dim sight of goodness and truth. All goodness and truth lying in the semidark is called the land of the north and the flanks of the land.

[10] In addition, since everything good that flows in from the Lord with light ends up in our murky minds, the north is also called a place of assembly, as in Isaiah:

You have said in your heart, “I will scale the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God and sit on the mountain of assembly, on the flanks of the north.” (Isaiah 14:13)

In the same author:

Wail, you gate! Shout, you city! Philistia, the whole of you has dissolved, because from the north comes smoke, and [there will not be] one single person in the assemblies. (Isaiah 14:31)

In David:

Great is Jehovah, and highly praised in the city of our God, his holy mountain; the joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion, the flanks of the north, the city of the great king. (Psalms 48:1, 2)

Further in the same author:

Yours are the heavens; yours also the earth. The world and its abundance you founded; the north and the right-hand side you created. (Psalms 89:11, 12)

The north stands for people who are fairly distant from the light of goodness and truth; the right-hand side, for those who are closer. The latter are on the Lord’s right hand; see §§1274, 1276.

[11] In Zechariah:

[Zechariah] saw four chariots going out between two bronze mountains. [The chariots] had horses that were chestnut, black, white, and hail-spotted, sturdy. The angel said, “These are the four winds of the heavens going out from where they stand by the Lord of the whole earth”—the black horses going out into the land of the north; and the white went out after them, and the hail-spotted went out into the land of the south. “Those going out to the land of the north bring my spirit to rest in the land of the north.” (Zechariah 6:1-8)

Chariots going out between two bronze mountains stand for doctrines teaching what is good. The meaning of chariots as doctrines will become clear elsewhere. A mountain means love (see §§795, 1430, 2722), so two mountains mean two kinds of love: heavenly love, or love for the Lord, and spiritual love, or love for one’s neighbor. Bronze means goodness on the earthly level resulting from this love (425, 1551). Horses mean intellectual matters and therefore an understanding of teachings about goodness (2760, 2761, 2762, 3217). The land of the south stands for people with a knowledge of what is good and true (1458, 3195). The land of the north stands for people who lack a knowledge of what is good and true but live a good life, as upright non-Christians do. When a new religion starts up among them, the spirit of God is said to rest there.

[12] In Jeremiah:

... Jehovah, who summoned up and who brought back the seed of the house of Israel from the land to the north and from all the lands to which I drove them, so that they could live on their land. (Jeremiah 23:8)

“From the land to the north” means from a dark place of ignorance concerning goodness and truth. In the same author:

Will iron be broken—iron from the north—and bronze? (Jeremiah 15:12)

Iron stands for earthly truth (§§425, 426); bronze, for earthly goodness (§§425, 1551). They are said to come from the north because they come from the earthly level, where there is relative darkness and an outer limit. The meaning in this prophetic utterance is not that iron and bronze come from the north, as is obvious without explanation. If that were the meaning, what divinity would the passage have? In fact, how would it connect with the verses before and after it?

[13] In Matthew:

I tell you that many will come all the way from the east and from the west and recline at [the table] with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (Matthew 8:11; Luke 13:29)

Many all the way from the east and from the west stands for people who know and live by what is good, and for people encumbered by darkness and ignorance—in other words, people inside and outside the church. As noted above, east and west symbolize states of goodness. Reclining with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob means being with the Lord; see §3305 at the end.

The Prophets say the same thing: that from east and west will come the people who will live with the Lord in his kingdom, or his church. In Isaiah, for example:

From the east will I bring your seed, and from the west will I gather you. (Isaiah 43:5)

In another place:

They will fear Jehovah’s name from the west, and his glory from the east. (Isaiah 59:19)

In another place:

They will know from sunrise and from sunset that there is none besides me; I am Jehovah, and there is no one else. (Isaiah 45:6)

And in another place:

I will rouse one from the north who will come; from the rising of the sun, that one will call on my name. (Isaiah 41:25)

The same symbolism of east, west, south, and north can also be plainly seen from the construction of the tabernacle; the way in which the children of Israel camped and set out to travel; the description of the land of Canaan; and the description of the new temple, the new Jerusalem, and the new earth.

The construction of the tabernacle: Everything in the tabernacle was arranged according to the compass directions (see Exodus 38), which determined, for instance, what went on the eastern and western sides and what went on the southern and northern ones (Exodus 26:18, 20, 22, 27; 27:9, 12,

[13]). The lampstand stood opposite the table [of showbread] on the side of the dwelling place toward the south, but the table, on the north side (Exodus 26:35; 40:22).

The way the children of Israel camped and set out to travel: This too was determined by the quarters. The people camped around the meeting tent—the tribe of Judah, the tribe of Issachar, and the tribe of Zebulun toward the east; the tribes of Reuben, Simeon, and Gad toward the south; those of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin toward the west; and those of Dan, Asher, and Naphtali toward the north (Numbers 2:1–end). Of the Levites, the Gershonites were toward the west; the Kohathites, toward the south; the Merarites, toward the north; and Moses, Aaron, and their offspring, in front of the dwelling place toward the east (Numbers 3:23-38). These positions represented the heavenly pattern displayed in the Lord’s kingdom as determined by the states of goodness and truth there. The people would trumpet an alert toward the south for setting out on their journeys (Numbers 10:6), and they set out in the same order in which they camped (Numbers 2:34).

The description of the land of Canaan: Moses first described the land in terms of its borders all around—on the southern side, western side, northern side, and eastern side (Numbers 34:2-12). This was repeated later when Canaan was assigned to the tribes by lot (Joshua 15,16, 17, 18, 19). As a result, and because of the earliest people (who lived in Canaan), all locations there developed a representation and symbolism according to their placement, distance, and directional borders (§§1607, 1866).

The description of the new temple, the new Jerusalem, and the new earth: Ezekiel too speaks in terms of quarters; for instance, in saying that the structure of the city was on the south, and in speaking of a gate to the building as having its face toward the east, toward the north, or toward the south (Ezekiel 40:2, 6, 19, 20-46). He speaks of the measurement of the temple and of its doorway toward the north and south (Ezekiel 41:11); of the courtyard toward the north, east, south, and west (Ezekiel 42:1, 4, 11, [16,] 17, 18, 19); of the glory of Jehovah, Israel’s God, entering by way of the east (Ezekiel 43:1, 2, 4); of the gates to the courtyard (Ezekiel

[44]:1, 2,

4;

[46]:1, 9, 10, 19, 20); of the Holy Land’s borders toward the north (Ezekiel 47:15, 16, 17), toward the east (Ezekiel 47:18), toward the south (Ezekiel 47:19), and toward the west (Ezekiel 47:20); and of each tribe’s territorial inheritance in terms of the four quarters (Ezekiel 48). And gates to the holy Jerusalem are spoken of as being on the east, north, south, and west (Revelation 21:13).

What is meant in an inner sense by the four quarters of the world in which such holy objects—or objects representing something holy—were arranged? Clearly they do not mean the four quarters but states of goodness and truth in the Lord’s kingdom.

The negative symbolism of north and west as something false and evil is clear from the following passages. In Jeremiah:

The word of Jehovah came to me a second time, saying, “What are you seeing?” I said, “An open pot I am seeing, and its face is toward the north.” And Jehovah said, “From the north, evil will open over all the inhabitants of the land. Watch! I am calling all the clans of the north to come.” (Jeremiah 1:13, 14, 15)

In the same author:

Raise a signal toward Zion! Assemble; do not stand there, because I am bringing evil from the north, and great wreckage. (Jeremiah 4:6)

In the same author:

The sound of a din! Look: it is coming, and great commotion from the land of the north, to reduce the cities of Judah [to] a wasteland. (Jeremiah 10:22)

In the same author:

In Tekoa, blow a horn, because evil looks out from the north, and great wreckage. Here comes a people coming from the land of the north, and a large nation will be stirred up from the flanks of the land. (Jeremiah 6:1, 22)

In the same author:

I took the goblet from Jehovah’s hand and gave a drink to all the nations—Jerusalem and the cities of Judah and its monarchs; Pharaoh, monarch of Egypt, and all the western horde; all the monarchs of Arabia and all the monarchs of the west living in the wilderness and all the monarchs of the north near and far. (Jeremiah 25:17-26)

In the same author:

The swift will not flee nor the mighty escape; toward the north along the shore of the river Euphrates they have stumbled and fallen. Who is this who rises like the river? Egypt rises like the river, for it said, “I will go up; I will blanket the land; I will destroy the city and those living in it.” But that day belongs to the Lord Jehovih Sabaoth—a day of vengeance—because there will be sacrifice to the Lord Jehovih in the land of the north along the river Euphrates. A very beautiful heifer is Egypt; destruction comes from the north.

The daughter of Egypt has been shamed, has been delivered into the hand of the people of the north. (Jeremiah 46:6, 7, 8, 10,

20, 24)

In the same author:

This is what Jehovah has said: “Look! Water climbing from the north; and it is like a flooding river, and will flood the earth and its abundance, the city and those living in it.” (Jeremiah 47:2)

In the same author:

Jehovah has spoken against Babylon: “A nation from the north will come up against them; it will make their land a desolation so that nothing can live in it.” (Jeremiah 50:[1,] 3)

In the same author:

Look: I am stirring and bringing up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the land of the north, and they will draw up their ranks against it; from there it will be seized. Look: a people coming from the north, and a large nation; and many monarchs will be stirred up from the flanks of the land. (Jeremiah 50:9, 41)

In the same author:

Then the heavens and the earth and all that is in them will sing over Babylon, because from the north destroyers will come to it. (Jeremiah 51:48)

In Ezekiel:

Tell Gog, “You will come from your place, from the flanks of the north, and many peoples with you; you will come up against my people Israel like a cloud to blanket the land.” (Ezekiel 38:14, 15, 16)

In the same author:

Here, now, I am against you, Gog, you chief; I will make you return, destroy a sixth of you, and bring you down from the flanks of the north and lead you onto Israel’s mountains. On Israel’s mountains you will fall; on the face of the field you will fall. (Ezekiel 39:1, 2, 4, 5)

In Zechariah:

“Oh, flee from the land of the north!” says Jehovah, “for I will spread you out like the four winds of the heavens. Oh, Zion, escape—you who live with the daughter of Babylon!” (Zechariah 2:6, 7)

These passages show what the north symbolizes in an opposite sense: falsity that produces evil, and falsity that comes from evil. Falsity that produces evil rises out of shallow reasoning about and against divine qualities on the basis of facts known to our earthly self, so it is said to be a people of the north from Egypt. (Egypt means facts of this type; see §§1164, 1165, 2588 at the end.) Falsity that comes from evil rises out of superficial worship that is seemingly devout but inwardly profane, so it is called a nation of the north from Babylon. (Babylon means this kind of worship; see §§1182, 1283, 1295, 1304, 1306, 1307, 1308, 1321, 1322, 1326. Babylon also means the force that causes spiritual devastation, §1327.) Both the falsity that produces evil and the falsity that comes from evil are said to hail from Gog, because Gog means an outward show of worship without any inward content. Accordingly it means idolatry of the kind in which Jews engaged in every era. (For this symbolism of Gog, see §1151.)

Out of the semidark in our earthly self, either truth dawns or falsity rises. When we allow ourselves to receive light from the Lord through the Word, the gloom we live in brightens. An inner path opens, enabling the Lord to flow in and communicate with us through heaven. When we do not allow ourselves to receive light from the Lord through the Word but only through our own intellect, the gloom we live in deepens into darkness, or falsity. The inner path closes, preventing the Lord from flowing in or communicating with us through heaven. The only inflow and communication that remains is the kind preserving the outward appearance of a human being who thinks and speaks, though solely at the inspiration of evil and falsity. Consequently in people who allow themselves to receive light, the north symbolizes truth, and in those who do not, it symbolizes falsity. The former rise out of the semidark, soaring into the light; the latter sink farther down from the semidark, recoiling from the light. The former go to the south; the latter, to Tartarus.

The meaning of the north as the pitch black of falsity and of the south as the light of truth is obvious in passages in Daniel about the ram and the buck of the goats and about the kings of the south and north. Concerning the ram and the buck of the goats:

The ram butted toward the west and toward the north and toward the south, so that no animals could stand before it. The buck of the goats came from the west onto all the face of the earth, and from one of its horns went out a horn that grew immensely toward the south and toward the sunrise and toward the ornament [of Israel]. (Daniel 8:4, 5, 9)

Concerning the kings of the south and north, the king of the south symbolizing people with a knowledge of truth, and the king of the north symbolizing people with falsity:

At the end of years they will become allies, so that the daughter of the king of the south will come to the king of the north to do what is right, but her arm will not gain strength. From her lineage will rise one who will come into the stronghold of the king of the north and prevail. And he will take captives away into Egypt. The king of the south will come into the kingdom and fight with the king of the north. The king of the north will return and marshal a great throng—more than before. Many will stand against the king of the south.

The king of the north will come and seize a fortified city and destroy much. The king of the south will engage in war with a large army but will not stand, because [people] will plan plans against him. Later he will come back but will not be as before. The people who know their God will grow strong.

Finally, at the time of the end, the king of the south will clash with [the king of the north]; therefore the king of the north will storm onto him with chariot and riders. In the beautiful land, many will be overthrown. But rumors will scare him from the sunrise and from the north, so that he goes out with great anger. He shall come to his end, and none will be helping him. (Daniel 11:1–end)

The king of the south means people who live in the light of truth, and the king of the north means those who live first in the shadow, then in the pitch black of falsity, as the details of the passage show. So the verses depict conditions in the church and the way they gradually deteriorate. The two kinds of people are called kings of the south and north because on the Word’s inner level kings symbolize truth and, in a negative sense, falsity (§§1672, 2015, 2069). Kingdoms symbolize aspects of truth and, in a negative sense, aspects of falsity (§§1672, 2547).