4255. 'For with just my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I have become two camps' means that from having little He now had much. This is clear from the meaning of 'a staff' as power - a word used in reference to truth, and dealt with in 4013, 4015; from the meaning of 'Jordan' as introduction into cognitions of good and truth, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'two camps' as goods and truths, as above in 4250 - the two camps referred to here consisting of the people, flocks, herds, and camels, which he split into two groups. From this one may see what these words mean in the proximate sense - that when being introduced into cognitions He had only a small amount of truth but subsequently He had many truths and goods; or what amounts to the same, from having little He now had much. From the explanations given up to now it is evident that the subject in the internal sense has been the way in which the Lord made the Human within Him Divine, doing so step by step in keeping with order. So the subject has been His advance into intelligence and wisdom, at length into Divine intelligence and wisdom. This shows what the phrase 'from having little He now had much' is used to mean.

[2] The reason 'the Jordan' means introduction into cognitions of good and truth is that it was a boundary to the land of Canaan. For all the boundaries of that land meant things that are first and last in the Lord's kingdom, and also those that are first and last in the Church, and so those that are first and last in the celestial and spiritual things which constitute the Lord's kingdom and His Church, see 1585, 1866, 4116, 4240. Therefore, being a boundary, 'the Jordan' meant introduction into cognitions of good and truth, for these come first; but when at length a person becomes in himself a Church or the Lord's kingdom they come to be last.

[3] That 'the Jordan' means things that are first and those that are last may be seen from other places in the Word, as in David,

O my God, my soul bows itself down within me; ¹ therefore I remember You from the land of Jordan, and the Hermons from the little mountain. Psalms 42:6.

'Remembering from the land of Jordan' stands for doing so from what is last and so from a position of humbleness. In the same author,

Judah became His sanctuary, Israel His dominions. The sea saw and fled; the Jordan turned about backwards. Psalms 114:2-3, 5.

'Judah' stands for the good of celestial love, and 'Israel' for the good of spiritual love, 3654. 'The sea' stands for cognitions of truth, 28, 'the Jordan' stands for cognitions of good which are said 'to turn about backwards' when the good of love gains dominion, for in that case cognitions are viewed from that good, not the good from those cognitions - in accordance with the things that have often been shown already.

[4] In the Book of Judges,

Gilead dwelling at the crossing of the Jordan; and Dan, why will he fear ships? Judges 5:17.

'Gilead' stands for the sensory good or pleasure by means of which a person is first introduced into the path of his regeneration, 4117, 4124. 'Dwelling at the crossing of the Jordan' stands for the things effecting that introduction, and so things that are first and last in the Church and the Lord's kingdom. These introductory things were also represented by 'the Jordan' when the children of Israel entered the land of Canaan, Joshua 3:14-end; 4:1-end; for 'the land of Canaan' represented the Lord's kingdom, 1413, 1437, 1607, 3038, 3481, 3686, 3705.

And the dividing of the Jordan and their passing through on dry ground meant the removal of evils and falsities and the admission into the Lord's kingdom of those who are governed by goods and truths. Similar in meaning is the dividing of the waters of the Jordan by Elijah when he was carried up into heaven, 2 Kings 2:8, and by Elisha when he entered in place of Elijah into the prophetic role, 2 Kings 2:14.

[5] The cure of Naaman's leprosy, effected by his having washed himself seven times in the Jordan according to Elisha's command, 2 Kings 5:1-14, represented baptism, for baptism means introduction into the Church and into the things that belong to the Church, and so into regeneration and the things that belong to regeneration. Not that anyone is regenerated by baptism; rather it is the sign of it, which he should call to mind. And because the things which constitute the Church are meant by baptism, and baptism is meant by 'the Jordan', as mentioned above, it was the Jordan therefore in which people were baptized by John, Matthew 3:6; Mark 1:5. And the Lord too was willing to be baptized in it by John, Matthew 3:13-17; Mark 1:9.

[6] Because 'the Jordan' means things that are first and last in the Lord's kingdom and in the Church - such as the cognitions of good and truth, since these serve to introduce a person into His kingdom and Church - the Jordan is also for that reason referred to as a boundary of the new earth or holy land, in Ezekiel 47:18. The new earth or holy land means the Lord's kingdom and also the new Church which is the Lord's kingdom on earth, see 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end), 3355 (end).

Note a piè di pagina:

2156. 'My Lord' means the Three in One, that is to say, the Divine itself, the Divine Human, and the Holy proceeding; and as the Three exist in One the word 'Lord' in the singular is used, as similarly it is used -

In verses 27, 31 'Behold now, I have undertaken to speak to my Lord'.

In verses 30, 32, 'Let not now my Lord be incensed'.

The three men are also called Jehovah -

In verse 13, Jehovah said to Abraham.

In verse 14, 'Will anything to be too wonderful for Jehovah?'

In verse 22, Abraham still stood before Jehovah.

In verse 33, And Jehovah departed, when He had finished speaking to Abraham.

From these places it is clear that the three men, that is, the Divine itself, the Divine Human, and the Holy proceeding, are one and the same as the Lord, and the Lord one and the same as Jehovah. In the statement of Christian faith called the Creed the same is recognized, where it is explicitly stated,

There are not three uncreated, not three infinites, not three eternals, not three almighties, not three Lords, but One.

There are none who separate Three that are within a One, apart from those who say that they acknowledge one Supreme Being, the Creator of the Universe. Such an acknowledgement is excusable among those outside the Church; but in the case of those inside the Church who declare the same, these do not acknowledge any God at all, though they say and sometimes think it. Still less do they acknowledge the Lord.