330. Out of every tribe and tongue. That this signifies from all those who are in truths as to doctrine and as to life, is clear from the signification of a tribe, as denoting all truths and goods in the aggregate (concerning which see above, n. 39); for those things are signified by the twelve tribes, and hence by every tribe is signified something of truth and good, therefore by out of every tribe is signified from all those who are in any kind of truth and good; and from the signification of tongue as denoting the doctrine of life and faith. That tribes signify all truths and goods in the aggregate, will be shown more fully in its proper article below. Similarly, that tongue signifies the doctrine of life and faith, thus religion. (Those [passages] only shall be adduced here that are shown in the Arcana Coelestia concerning the signification of the tribes, namely, the twelve tribes of Israel represented, and thence signified, all truths and goods in the aggregate, n. 3858, 3926, 4060, 6335; similarly the twelve apostles of the Lord the like, n. 2129, 3354, 3488, 6397. There were twelve, because twelve signifies all, n. 577, 2089, 2129, 2130, 3272, 3858, 3913. Because the twelve tribes represented, and thence signified, all truths and goods in the aggregate, therefore they represented heaven and the church, n. 6337, 6637, 7836, 7891, 7996. The twelve tribes signify various things according to the order in which they are named, and thus also all things of heaven and the church with variety, n. 3862, 3926, 3939, 4603 et seq., 6337, 6640, 10335; therefore, replies could be given and were given by the Urim and Thummim, on which the names of the twelve tribes of Israel were engraven in precious stones, n. 3858, 6335, 6640, 9863, 9865, 9873, 9874, 9905.)

6398. 'Dan will be a serpent on the road' means their reasoning regarding truth, since good does not as yet lead them. This is clear from the representation of 'Dan' as those guided by truth but not as yet by good, dealt with above in 6396; from the meaning of 'a serpent' as reasoning based on sensory evidence, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'the road' as truth, dealt with in 627, 2733. Thus 'Dan is a serpent on the road' means their reasoning regarding truth, since good does not as yet lead them. The nature of that reasoning and the nature of the truth resulting from it will be stated below.

[2] The reason why 'a serpent' means reasoning based on sensory evidence is that the interiors of a person are represented in heaven by living creatures of various kinds, and therefore in the Word similar things are meant by those same creatures. A person's sensory powers have come to be represented by serpents because they are the lowest of his mental powers. Compared with other mental powers those of the senses are on the ground so to speak, crawling around there, as may also be recognized from the forms that sensory impressions adopt when they enter in, which will in the Lord's Divine mercy be dealt with elsewhere. This explains why those sensory powers have come to be represented by 'serpents', so much so that the Lord's Divine sensory perception was represented by the bronze serpent in the wilderness, 4211 (end).

[3] True shrewdness and circumspection - qualities that reveal themselves in external affairs - were also meant by 'serpents', in Matthew,

Be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves. Matthew 10:16.

But in the case of a person who is governed by his senses and is far removed from what is internal - as those people are who are guided by truth but not as yet by good - and who speaks as his senses tell him, 'a serpent' means false reasoning. This therefore is why here, where Dan is the subject, reasoning regarding truth because good does not as yet lead him is meant. In other contexts ill-will, deceitfulness, and trickery are also meant by 'serpents', though in those places they are poisonous serpents - such as vipers and the like - whose reasoning is their poison.

'A serpent' is reasoning based on sensory evidence, see 195-197.

'A serpent' is all evil in general, and evils are distinguished from one another by different kinds of serpents, 251, 254, 257.