6398. Dan shall be a serpent upon the way. That this signifies their reasoning about truth because good does not as yet lead, is evident from the representation of Dan, as being those who are in truth and not yet in good (see n. 6396); from the signification of a “serpent,” as being reasoning from what is sensuous (of which in what follows); and from the signification of “way,” as being truth (n. 627, 2333). Thus by “Dan being a serpent upon the way” is signified their reasoning about truth, because good does not yet lead. The quality of this reasoning and of the consequent truth, will be told in what follows.

[2] That a “serpent” denotes reasoning from what is sensuous, is because the interiors of man are represented in heaven by animals of various kinds, and hence in the Word the like are signified by the same animals. The sensuous things of man were represented by serpents because sensuous things are the lowest things in man, and are relatively earthly, and as it were creeping; as may also be seen from the forms through which sensuous things flow, concerning which, of the Lord’s Divine mercy elsewhere. Hence these sensuous things were represented by serpents, and even the Lord’s Divine sensuous was represented by the brazen serpent in the wilderness (n. 4211); and prudence and circumspection, in externals, is signified by “serpents” in Matthew:

Be ye wise as serpents, and harmless as doves (Matthew 10:16).

But when a man is in what is sensuous, remote from what is internal, as are those who are in truth and not yet in good, and speaks from what is sensuous, then by the “serpent” is signified reasoning; here therefore, where Dan is treated of, is signified reasoning about truth, because good does not yet lead. In other cases malice, cunning, and deceit, are signified by “serpents,” but by poisonous serpents, as by “vipers” and the like, the reasoning of which is poison. (That the “serpent” denotes reasoning from what is sensuous may be seen above,n. 195-197; also that the “serpent” denotes all evil in general; and that evils are distinguished by different kinds of serpents n. 251, 254, 257)

195. The most ancient people did not compare all things in man to beasts and birds, but so denominated them; and this their customary manner of speaking remained even in the Ancient Church after the flood, and was preserved among the prophets. The sensuous things in man they called “serpents” because as serpents live close to the earth, so sensuous things are those next the body. Hence also reasonings concerning the mysteries of faith, founded on the evidence of the senses, were called by them the “poison of a serpent” and the reasoners themselves “serpents;” and because such persons reason much from sensuous, that is, from visible things (such as are things terrestrial, corporeal, mundane, and natural), it is said that “the serpent was more subtle than any wild animal of the field.”

[2] And so in David, speaking of those who seduce man by reasonings:

They sharpen their tongue like a serpent; the poison of the asp is under their lips (Psalms 140:3).

And again:

They go astray from the womb, speaking a lie. Their poison is like the poison of a serpent, like the deaf poisonous asp that stoppeth her ear, that she may not hear the voice of the mutterers, of a wise one that charmeth charms [sociantis sodalitia] ¹ (Psalms 58:3-6).

Reasonings that are of such a character that the men will not even hear what a wise one says, or the voice of the wise, are here called the “poison of a serpent.” Hence it became a proverb among the ancients, that “The serpent stoppeth the ear.”

In Amos:

As if a man came into a house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. Shall not the day of Jehovah be darkness and not light? even thick darkness, and no brightness in it? (Amos 5:19-20).

The “hand on the wall” means self-derived power, and trust in sensuous things, whence comes the blindness which is here described.

[3] In Jeremiah:

The voice of Egypt shall go like a serpent, for they shall go in strength, and shall come to her with axes as hewers of wood. They shall cut down her forest, saith Jehovah, because it will not be searched; for they are multiplied more than the locust, and are innumerable. The daughter of Egypt is put to shame; she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north (Jeremiah 46:22-24).

“Egypt” denotes reasoning about Divine things from sensuous things and memory-knowledges [scientifica]. Such reasonings are called the “voice of a serpent;” and the blindness thereby occasioned, the “people of the north.”

In Job:

He shall suck the poison of asps; the viper’s tongue shall slay him. He shall not see the brooks, the flowing rivers of honey and butter (Job 20:16-17).

“Rivers of honey and butter” are things spiritual and celestial, which cannot be seen by mere reasoners; reasonings are called the “poison of the asp” and the “viper’s tongue.” See more respecting the serpent below, at verses 14-15.

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