1678. They returned and came to En-mishpat, this is Kadesh. That this signifies a continuation, is evident from what goes before, and from what follows. Here now the falsities and the evils derived from them are treated of. The falsities are signified by “the Amalekite,” and the evils that were derived from them are signified by “the Amorite in Hazezon-tamar.” By “Kadesh” are signified truths, and also contentions about truths. Because the falsities, and the evils derived from them which the Lord conquered in His first combat, are here treated of, it is here said, “En-mishpat, this is Kadesh,” because there was contention about truths.

[2] That “Kadesh” signifies truths concerning which there is contention, is evident in Ezekiel, where the boundaries of the Holy Land are described:

The corner of the south southward from Tamar as far as the waters of Meriboth (contentions) Kadesh, an inheritance to the great sea, and the corner of the south southward (Ezekiel 47:19; 48:28)

where “the south” denotes the light of truth; its boundary, by which is signified contention about truths, is called “Kadesh.”

[3] Kadesh also was where Moses smote the rock, out of which waters came forth, which waters were called Meribah, from contention (Numbers 20:1-2, 11, (Numbers 20:11)13). By a “rock,” as is known, the Lord is signified; by “waters,” in the internal sense of the Word, are signified spiritual things, which are truths; they were called “the waters of Meribah” because there was contention about them. That they were also called “the waters of the contention of Kadesh,” is evident in Moses:

Ye rebelled against My mouth in the wilderness of Zin, in the contention of the assembly, to sanctify Me by the waters in their eyes. These are the waters of contention of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin (Numbers 27:14; Deuteronomy 32:51).

So too it was to Kadesh that the spies returned from the land of Canaan, and Kadesh was the place where the Israelites murmured and contended, not being willing to enter into the land (Numbers 13:26).

[4] It is evident from these things that “En-mishpat,” or “the Fountain of Judgment,” or “the Fountain of Mishpat-Kadesh,” signifies contention about truths, and thus a continuation. As these are true historicals, and this occurred just as is here stated, it may appear as if such things were not represented and signified by the places to which Chedorlaomer came, and by the nations that he smote; but all the historicals in the Word are representative and significative, both those relating to places and nations, and also those relating to things done; as may be clearly seen from all things in both the historical and the prophetical parts of the Word.