349. Sealed out of every tribe of Israel. This symbolizes the heaven and Lord's church formed from those people.

A tribe symbolizes religion as regards goodness of life, and every tribe symbolizes the church in respect to every good of love and every truth springing from that good, which produces goodness of life. For there are two elements which form the church: the goodness of love and doctrinal truth. The marriage of these two constitutes the church. The twelve tribes of Israel represented and so symbolized the church with respect to that marriage, and each tribe represented and so symbolized some universal truth accompanying goodness or some goodness accompanying truth present in that marriage.

But what each tribe symbolized has not been revealed previously to anyone, nor could it have been revealed, lest an ill-connected exposition profane the holiness that lies within these things when joined together, since their symbolism depends on their conjunction.

[2] They have one symbolism in the order in which they are listed according to their births (Genesis 29, 30, 35:18). The order there is: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, Benjamin.

They have another symbolism in the order in which they are listed when they went into Egypt, namely, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Gad, Asher, Joseph, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali (Genesis 46:8-25).

Still another symbolism in the order in which they were blessed by their father Israel, namely, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Zebulun, Issachar, Dan, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Joseph, Benjamin (Genesis 49).

Still another symbolism in the order in which they were blessed by Moses, namely, Reuben, Judah, Levi, Benjamin, Joseph, Ephraim, Manasseh, Zebulun, Gad, Dan, Naphtali, Asher (Deuteronomy 33) - Ephraim and Manasseh being listed there, and not Simeon or Issachar.

[3] Still another symbolism in the order in which they encamped and set out, namely, the tribes of Judah, Issachar and Zebulun on the east side, the tribes of Reuben, Simeon and Gad on the south side, the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh and Benjamin on the west side, and the tribes of Dan, Asher and Naphtali on the north side, with the tribe of Levi in the middle (Numbers 2:1-34).

And still another symbolism in the order in which they are listed elsewhere, as in Genesis 35:23-26, Numbers 1:5-16; 7:1-89; 13:4-15; 26:5-57; 34:17-28, Deuteronomy 27:12-13, Joshua 15; 16; 17; 18; 19, Ezekiel 48:1-35.

Consequently, when Balaam saw Israel dwelling according to their tribes, he said, "How good are your tents, O Jacob, and your tabernacles, O Israel" (Numbers 24:1-4ff.).

[4] On the breastpiece of judgment, namely, the Urim and Thummim, containing twelve precious stones according to the names of the children of Israel (Exodus 28:15-21), the symbolism of the tribes in their arrangement depended on the inquiry to which they provided a response.

But what they symbolized in the order in which they are mentioned here in the book of Revelation, which is still another order, will be told in what follows.

Tribes symbolize religion, and the twelve tribes the church and everything pertaining to it, because "tribe" and "scepter" are, in Hebrew, the same word, ¹ and a scepter means a kingdom, and the Lord's kingdom is heaven and the church.

Fußnoten:

310. 14. After the wedding the marriage of the spirit becomes also one of the body and thus complete. Everything that a person does in the body flows in from his spirit. For as we know, the mouth does not speak of itself, but the thought of the mind by means of it. Neither do the hands act or the feet move of themselves, but the will of the mind by means of them. Consequently we see that it is the mind that speaks in the body by means of its organ of speech, and the mind that acts in the body by means of its organs of action. It is apparent therefore that as the mind is, such are the utterances of the mouth and actions of the body.

It follows as a conclusion from this that the mind continually flows into the body and directs the body toward activities in harmony with it and its development. Accordingly, viewed in themselves, human bodies are simply replicas of minds outwardly organized to carry out the bidding of the soul.

This much is said by way of introduction to make perceptible why it is that a couple's minds or spirits should be united to each other and as though married first, before they are united also in respect to the body; namely, that the marriage may be a marriage of the spirit when it becomes one of the body; consequently, that the partners may love each other because of the spirit and in body as a result of that.

[2] From this perspective let us now consider marriage. When conjugial love joins a couple's minds and molds them into a marriage, it also then joins and molds their bodies for it; for as said, the form of the mind is also, inwardly, the form of the body, with the single difference, that the form of the body is outwardly organized to carry out the ends to which its interior form is directed by the mind. When the mind has been molded by conjugial love, moreover, not only is it inwardly present in the whole body so as to radiate throughout, but it is inwardly present further in the organs dedicated to reproduction, which are situated in their own area below the other areas of the body. In people who are united by conjugial love, their cast of mind finds final expression there. Consequently the affections and thoughts of their minds are channeled to them. In this the operations of their minds differ from those arising from other loves, loves which do not extend to those organs.

It follows in conclusion from this that as conjugial love is in a couple's minds or spirits, such is it inwardly in the organs belonging to it.

Besides, it is evident in itself that a marriage of the spirit after the wedding becomes also one of the body, thus complete. Consequently, that if the marriage is chaste in spirit and draws its quality from its sanctity in the spirit, it is of the same character when it comes into its complete expression in the body; and of the opposite character if the marriage in spirit is unchaste.