Apocalypse Revealed #351
351. Of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand were sealed. This symbolizes wisdom springing from celestial love in those people who will be in the New Heaven and in the Lord's New Church.
In the highest sense Reuben symbolizes omniscience; in the spiritual sense, wisdom, intelligence and knowledge, also faith; and in the natural sense, sight. Here, however, Reuben symbolizes wisdom, because he comes after Judah, who symbolizes celestial love, and celestial love produces wisdom. For there is no love without its partner, which is knowledge, intelligence, or wisdom. The partner of natural love is knowledge; that of spiritual love is intelligence; and that of celestial love is wisdom.
[2] Reuben symbolizes these three because his name was derived from a word meaning to look or see, and natural sight spiritually is knowledge, spiritual sight is intelligence, and celestial sight is wisdom.
Reuben was also Jacob's firstborn, and therefore Israel called him "my might, the beginning of my strength, excellent in eminence and excellent in valor" (Genesis 49:3). Of such a character also is wisdom springing from celestial love.
Moreover, because by virtue of his primogeniture Reuben represented and so symbolized the wisdom possessed by people of the church, therefore he urged his brothers not to kill Joseph, and he grieved when he found Joseph not in the pit (Genesis 37:21-22, 29-30).
For the same reason his tribe camped on the south side of the Tabernacle, and the tribes camped on that side were called the Camp of Reuben (Numbers 2:10-16). The south, too, symbolizes wisdom springing from love. Consequently people in heaven who have that wisdom dwell toward the south (see the book Heaven and Hell, 148-150nos. ).
This wisdom is symbolized by Reuben in the prophetic utterance of Deborah and Barak:
Among the divisions of Reuben were great resolves of heart... Why do you sit among the packs, (Issachar,) to hear the rustling of the flocks? To listen to the divisions of Reuben (where there are) great searchings of heart? (Judges 5:15-16)
The divisions of Reuben are concepts of every kind, which have to do with wisdom.
[3] Because the tribes all symbolize their opposites as well, so too does the tribe of Reuben; and in an opposite sense he symbolizes wisdom divorced from love, and thus also faith divorced from charity. Therefore his father Israel cursed him (Genesis 49:3-4). And therefore he was deprived of his primogeniture (1 Chronicles 5:1; see no. 17 above). For the same reason, too, the tribe was given an inheritance in the Trans-Jordan and not in the land of Canaan. And Ephraim and Manasseh, Joseph's sons, were acknowledged in the place of Reuben and Simeon (Genesis 48:5).
Nevertheless, he still retained the representation and consequent symbolism of wisdom.
Revelation 1
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This is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things which must happen soon, which he sent and made known by his angel to his servant, John,
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who testified to God's word, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, about everything that he saw.
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Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things that are written in it, for the time is at hand.
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John, to the seven assemblies that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from God, who is and who was and who is to come; and from the seven Spirits who are before his throne;
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and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us, and washed us from our sins by his blood;
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and he made us to be a Kingdom, priests to his God and Father; to him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
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Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, including those who pierced him. All the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. Even so, Amen.
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"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."
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I John, your brother and partner with you in oppression, Kingdom, and perseverance in Christ Jesus, was on the isle that is called Patmos because of God's Word and the testimony of Jesus Christ.
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I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, like a trumpet
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saying, "What you see, write in a book and send to the seven assemblies: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and to Laodicea."
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I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. Having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands.
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And among the lampstands was one like a son of man, clothed with a robe reaching down to his feet, and with a golden sash around his chest.
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His head and his hair were white as white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire.
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His feet were like burnished brass, as if it had been refined in a furnace. His voice was like the voice of many waters.
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He had seven stars in his right hand. Out of his mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining at its brightest.
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When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He laid his right hand on me, saying, "Don't be afraid. I am the first and the last,
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and the Living one. I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. I have the keys of Death and of Hades.
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Write therefore the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will happen hereafter;
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the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands. The seven stars are the angels of the seven assemblies. The seven lampstands are seven assemblies.
