3923. Therefore she called his name Dan. That this signifies its quality, is evident from the signification of a “name” and of “calling a name,” as being quality (see n. 144, 145, 1754, 1896, 2009, 2724, 3421). The quality itself is within the name “Dan,” for he was so called from “judging.” But though the name was given to him from “judging,” it nevertheless involves what is signified by all these words of Rachel: “God hath judged me, and also hath heard my voice,” that is, the good of life, and the holy of faith, and also in the supreme sense the justice and mercy of the Lord. It is this general principle of the church that is signified by “Dan,” and that is represented by the tribe named from Dan. This general principle is the first that is to be affirmed or acknowledged, before a man can be regenerated or made a church. Unless these things are affirmed and acknowledged, the rest of the things both of faith and of life cannot possibly be received, and therefore cannot be affirmed, still less acknowledged. For he who affirms mere faith with himself, and not the holy of faith, that is, charity (for this is the holy of faith), and does not affirm this by the good of life, that is, by the works of charity, can no longer have a relish for the essence of faith, because he rejects it. Affirmation together with acknowledgment is the first general principle with the man who is being regenerated, but is the last with him who has been regenerated; and therefore “Dan” is the first with him who is to be regenerated, and “Joseph” is the last; for “Joseph” is the spiritual man himself. But “Joseph” is the first with him who has been regenerated, and “Dan” the last; because the man who is to be regenerated commences from the affirmation that it is so, namely, the holy of faith and the good of life. But the regenerate man, who is spiritual, is in spiritual good itself, and from this he regards such affirmation as last; for with him the holy things of faith and goods of life have been confirmed.

[2] That “Dan” is the affirmative which must be the first thing when a man is being regenerated, may also be seen from other passages in the Word where “Dan” is named; as from the prophecy of Jacob, then Israel, respecting his sons:

Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel; Dan shall be a serpent upon the way, an adder upon the path, that biteth the horse’s heels, and his rider falleth backward. I wait for thy salvation, O Jehovah (Genesis 49:16-18).

“Dan” here denotes the affirmative of truth, concerning which it is said that it will be “a serpent upon the way, and an adder upon the path,” when anyone reasons about truth from sensuous things; “biting the horse’s heels,” when it consults the lowest intellectual things or memory-knowledges, and draws conclusions from them; and that it is then led away from the truth, is signified by “his rider falling backward;” for which reason it is said, “I wait for thy salvation, O Jehovah.” That the “serpent” is the man who reasons from sensuous things and memory-knowledges concerning Divine arcana, may be seen above (n. 195-197); and that “way” and “path” signify truth (n. 627, 2333); and that the “horse’s heels” are the lowest intellectual things or memory-knowledges (n. 259); for a “horse” is the intellectual (n. 2761, 2762); the lowest part of which is the “heel.”

[3] Again in the prophecy of Moses concerning the twelve tribes:

Of Dan he said, Dan is a lion’s whelp, he leapeth forth from Bashan (Deuteronomy 33:22);

a “lion” in the internal sense of the Word signifies the truth of the church, from his strength, for truth is that which fights and conquers; hence a “lion’s whelp” denotes the first of truth, which is affirmation and acknowledgment. It is said “from Bashan,” because it is from the good of the natural.

In Jeremiah:

Wash thine heart from wickedness, O Jerusalem, that thou mayest be saved. How long makest thou the thoughts of thine iniquity to lodge in the midst of thee? For a voice declareth from Dan, and causeth to hear iniquity from Mount Ephraim (Jeremiah 4:14-15);

“from Dan,” denotes the truth that is to be affirmed; “from Mount Ephraim,” that it is from the affection of it.

[4] In the same:

Wait for peace, but there is no good; and for a time of healing, and behold terror. The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan; at the sound of the neighings of his strong ones the whole land trembled; and they came and devoured the land and the fullness thereof, the city and them that dwell therein. For behold I will send among you serpents, basilisks, against which there is no enchantment, and they shall bite you (Jeremiah 8:15-17);

“the snorting of horses heard from Dan” denotes reasoning concerning truth from what is non-affirmative; the “land that trembled,” and their “devouring the fullness thereof,” denotes the church and all the things of the church; for they who reason concerning truth from what is non-affirmative (that is, negative) destroy all things of faith; the “basilisk serpents” denote reasonings, as above.

[5] In Ezekiel:

Dan and Javan coming in gave bright iron in thy fairs; cassia and calamus were in thy trading (Ezekiel 27:19); where Tyre is the subject treated of, by which are signified the knowledges of truth and good (n. 1201). “Dan” denotes the first truths that are affirmed; “fairs” and “trading,” the acquisitions of truth and good (n. 2967); the “bright iron,” natural truth which is the first (n. 425, 426); “cassia and calamus,” natural truth from which there is good.

[6] In Amos:

In that day shall the fair virgins and the young men faint for thirst. They that swear by the guilt of Samaria, and have said, Thy God, O Dan, liveth; and the way of Beersheba liveth; even they shall fall, and shall rise up no more (Amos 8:13-14);

“Thy God, O Dan, liveth, and the way of Beersheba liveth” denotes that they are in the denial of all things of faith and its doctrine. (That “way” denotes truth, see above, (627) n. 627, 2333; and “Beersheba,” doctrine, n. 2723, 2858, 2859, 3466.) That there is signified the denial of all things of faith, is because Dan was the last boundary of the land of Canaan, and Beersheba the first, that is, the midst or inmost of the land; for by the “land of Canaan” was represented and signified the Lord’s kingdom, and thus the church (n. 1607, 3038, 3481), and accordingly all things of love and faith, because these are of the Lord’s kingdom and church. Hence all things in the land of Canaan were representative, according to their distances, situations, and boundaries (n. 1585, 1866, 3686).

[7] The first boundary, that is, the midst or inmost of the land, was Beersheba, before Jerusalem became so, because Abraham was there, and also Isaac; but the last boundary, or the outermost of the land, was Dan; and hence when all things in one complex were signified, it was said, “from Dan even to Beersheba;” as in the second book of Samuel:

To transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul, and to set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan even to Beersheba (2 Samuel 3:10).

In the same:

All Israel gathering was gathered together from Dan even to Beersheba (2 Sam 17:11).

And again:

David said to Joab, Pass through all the tribes of Israel from Dan even to Beersheba (2 Samuel 24:2, 15).

And in the first book of Kings:

Judah and Israel dwelt in security, every man under his vine and under his fig-tree, from Dan even to Beersheba (1 Kings 4:25).

By this expression are meant in the historic sense all things of the land of Canaan; but in the internal sense all things of the Lord’s kingdom, and also all things of the church.

[8] The reason why, as before said, “Dan” is the first boundary, and also the last, is that the affirmative of truth and good is the first of all things when faith and charity are beginning with man, and the last when man is in charity and thereby in faith. It was from this also that the last lot fell to Dan when the land of Canaan was divided for inheritance (Josh. 19:40, etc.); for the lot was cast before Jehovah (Josh. 18:6); and hence it fell according to the representation of each tribe.

[9] And because the lot did not fall to Dan among the inheritances of the rest of the tribes, but beyond their borders (Judges 18:1), that tribe was omitted by John in the Revelation (Revelation 7:5-8), where the twelve thousand that were sealed are mentioned; for they who are only in the affirmative of truth and also of good, and go no further, are not in the Lord’s kingdom, that is, among the “sealed.” Even the worst men are able to know truths and goods, and also to affirm them; but the quality of the affirmation is known from the life.

[10] “Dan” is also mentioned as a boundary in Genesis 14:14, where Abraham is described as having pursued the enemy thus far, and where “Dan” has a similar signification. The city called “Dan” was not indeed built by the posterity of Dan at that time, but afterwards (Josh. 19:47; Judges 18:29); yet even then it was called the first boundary with respect to entering into the land of Canaan, or the last with respect to going out; and the inmost of the land was Hebron, and afterwards Beersheba, where Abraham and Isaac dwelt.

2762. That a “horse” signifies the faculty of understanding is from no other source than the representatives in the other life. Often there, in the world of spirits, horses are seen, and this with great variety, and those also that sit on them; and whenever they are seen they signify the faculty of understanding. There are such representatives continually with spirits. It is from the representation of the horse, as being the understanding, that when horses are mentioned in the Word, the spirits and angels with man at once know that the understanding is what is treated of. It is also from this that when spirits from a certain distant world on being imbued with intelligence and wisdom are taken up from the world of spirits into heaven, there appear to them horses shining as with fire; which also I have seen when they were taken up.

[2] From this I could see what is signified by the chariot of fire and horses of fire seen by Elisha when Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven; as also what is signified by the exclamation of Elisha then: “My Father, my Father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof” (2 Kings 2:11-12); and by Joash king of Israel saying the same to Elisha when he was dying: “My Father, my Father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof” (2 Kings 13:14). That by Elijah and Elisha was represented the Lord as to the Word, will of the Lord’s Divine mercy be told elsewhere; the doctrine of love and charity from the Word being meant by the “chariot of fire,” and the doctrine of faith therefrom by the “horses of fire.” The doctrine of faith is the same as the understanding of the Word as to its interiors, or as to its internal sense.

[3] That chariots and horses are seen in the heavens with spirits and angels, is evident from the fact of their being seen by the prophets, as by Zechariah (Zechariah 1:8-10; 6:3-7), and by others, and also by Elisha’s servant, as thus described in the book of Kings:

Jehovah opened the eyes of Elisha’s boy, and he saw; and behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha (2 Kings 6:17).

Moreover, where the abode of the intelligent and wise is, in the world of spirits, chariots and horses appear continually; for the reason as said that by chariots and horses are represented the things of wisdom and of intelligence. Resuscitated persons after death, who are entering into the other life, see represented to them a young man sitting upon a horse, and then alighting from the horse; and by this is signified that they are to be instructed in the knowledge of good and truth before they can come into heaven (see Part First,n. 187-188).

[4] That chariots and horses signified these things, was well known in the Ancient Church, as also is evident from the book of Job, which is a book of that Church, where are these words:

God hath made her to forget wisdom, and hath not imparted to her intelligence; what time she lifteth up herself on high she scorneth the horse and his rider (Job 39:17-19).

From the Ancient Church the signification of the horse, as being the faculty of understanding, was extended to the wise round about, even into Greece. From this it came to pass that when they described the sun (by which was signified love, n. 2441, 2495), they placed in it the god of their wisdom and intelligence, and gave him a chariot and four horses of fire; and that when they described the god of the sea, because by the sea were signified knowledges in general (n. 28, 2120), they gave horses also to him; and that when they described the rise of knowledges from the understanding, they represented a flying horse which with his hoof broke open a fountain, where dwelt the virgins that were the sciences; and by the Trojan horse nothing else was signified than a contrivance of their understanding for destroying city walls.

Even at this day the intellect is often described, according to the custom received from those ancient people, under the figure of a flying horse, or Pegasus; and learning is described as a fountain; but scarcely anyone knows that a horse, in the mystic sense, signifies the understanding, and a fountain truth; still less that these significatives were handed down to the Gentiles from the Ancient Church.