432. Verse 5. Of the tribe of Judah twelve thousand sealed; of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand sealed; of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand sealed.

5. "Of the tribe of Judah twelve thousand sealed," signifies love to the Lord, and that all who are in that love are in heaven, and come into heaven n. 433; "of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand sealed," signifies the light of truth from that good, and that all who are in that light are in heaven and come into heaven n. 434; "of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand sealed," signifies the consequent good of life (n. 435, 436).

8300. Verses 11-13 Who is like You among the gods, O Jehovah? Who is like You, magnificent in holiness, to be venerated with praises, doing wonders? You stretched out Your right hand, the earth swallowed them. In Your mercy You have led this people [whom] you have redeemed; in Your strength You have brought them to the dwelling-place of Your holiness.

'Who is like You among the gods, O Jehovah?' means that every truth of good emanates from the Lord's Divine Human. 'Who is like You in holiness' means that He is the Source of everything holy. 'To be venerated with praises' means that to Him alone belong glory and thanksgiving. 'Doing wonders?' means that He is the Source of all the means through which comes power. 'You stretched out Your right hand' means that the exercising of power over all things became apparent from this. 'The earth swallowed them' means that as a result simply of His presence damnation and hell befell them. 'In Your mercy You have led this people' means the Divine flowing in among those who have been refraining from evils and consequently receiving good. 'You have redeemed' means those whom He has delivered from hell. 'In Your strength You have brought them to the dwelling-place of Your holiness' means that the Lord's Divine power has raised them to heaven, to the Divine there.

4832. 'And Er, Judah's firstborn, was evil in the eyes of Jehovah' means that it was immersed in falsity springing from evil. This is clear from the representation of 'Er' and from the meaning of 'firstborn' as falsity of faith, dealt with just above in 4830. Evidence that this falsity was falsity springing from evil is given in what has been stated above in 4818. But with this son the falsity springing from evil was of such a nature that not even that which was representative of the Church could be established among any who would have been descended from him, and therefore it is said that 'he was evil in the eyes of Jehovah, and Jehovah caused him to die'. Among that whole nation - right from the start, and especially from Judah onwards - falsity springing from evil was present, that is, a false teaching that resulted from evil living, though that falsity was different with one son of Judah from what it was with another. Which of these could serve a purpose was foreseen, and this was not that existing with Er the firstborn; nor was it that with Onan the secondborn, but that existing with Shelah. Therefore those first two sons were destroyed, whereas this third was preserved. The existence among that whole nation, from when it first began, of falsity springing from evil is described plainly in Moses in the following words,

Self-corrupted; not his sons; the blemish is theirs; a perverse and crooked generation. When Jehovah saw, and rejected - with more than indignation - His sons and His daughters. And He said, I will hide My face from them; I will see what their posterity will be, for they are a perverse generation, sons in whom there is no faithfulness. I will add evils upon them, I will expend My arrows on them; they will be exhausted with famine, and consumed with burning coal, and with bitter destruction. They are a nation from whom counsel has perished, in whom there is no intelligence; from the vine of Sodom comes their vine, and from the ploughed fields of Gomorrah, their grapes are grapes of gall, their dusters are bitterness. The poison of dragons is their wine, and the cruel gall of asps. Is not this stored up with Me, sealed up in My treasures? The day of their destruction is near, and the things to come upon them are hastening on. Deuteronomy 32:5, 10, 20, 23-24, 28, 32-35.

In the internal sense these words describe falsity springing from evil which existed among that nation, and the fact that this falsity was rooted deeply within them.