3862. Section 3858 above showed that the twelve tribes symbolized all facets of truth and goodness, or of faith and love. The current focus of discussion is the individual sons of Jacob for whom the tribes were named, so I need to reveal another secret here: the meaning that Jacob’s sons have.
All heavenly and spiritual warmth, or love and charity, is outwardly perceived in heaven as flames given off by the sun.
All heavenly and spiritual light, or faith, outwardly appears in heaven as light radiating from the sun. The heavenly and spiritual warmth contains wisdom, and the resulting light contains understanding, because they come from the Lord, who is the sun there. (See §§1053, 1521-1533, 1619-1632, 2441, 2495, 2776, 3138, 3167, 3190, 3195, 3222, 3223, 3338, 3339, 3341, 3413, 3485, 3636, 3643.) Clearly, then, all goodness comes from the warmth that the Lord gives off as the sun, and all truth comes from the light he sheds. All desires, which relate to love, or goodness, are variations of the heavenly and spiritual warmth given off by the Lord, and from them come changes of state. All thoughts, which relate to faith, or truth, are modifications of the heavenly and spiritual light shed by the Lord, and from them comes understanding.
All of heaven’s angels are subject to these influences; their feelings and thoughts have no other source or identity. This fact is clear from their language, which has the same source and therefore consists of variegations or modifications of heavenly light containing heavenly warmth. As a result, their speech is indescribable and displays more variety and fullness than anyone could possibly grasp (§§3342, 3344, 3345).
In order to provide an earthly representation of these concepts, Jacob’s sons were each given names symbolizing universal aspects of goodness and truth, or of love and faith. In consequence, the names symbolized variations of heavenly and spiritual warmth in their universal aspects and modifications of the resulting light in their universal aspects. The pattern of those universal qualities determines what kind of fire and radiance they emit. When the pattern starts with love, anything that genuinely follows it looks fiery. When the pattern starts with faith, anything that genuinely follows it looks brilliant—in all kinds of ways, depending on how the subsequent parts follow the pattern. If they do not truly fit in, it looks dark in all kinds of ways. Variations on the pattern will be discussed below, however, by the Lord’s divine mercy. This now is why the Lord gave answers through the Urim and Thummim and why, depending on what the situation was, [the priests] received the answers through flashes of light from the translucent precious stones on which the names of the twelve tribes were engraved. As noted, the names themselves were inscribed with universal aspects of love and faith as they exist in the Lord’s kingdom and consequently with universal aspects of fire and light that in heaven represent aspects of love and faith.
Let me start, then, by confirming from the Word that the order in which the tribes are named there varies, depending on the situation under discussion. This will indicate that the answers the Lord gave through the Urim and Thummim were flashes of light whose order was determined by the state of affairs. All light in heaven varies in accord with the situation at hand, and the situation at hand varies in accord with the pattern of goodness and truth. What combination of truth and goodness each pattern symbolizes will become clear from the explanation: Reuben symbolizes a faith imparted by the Lord; Simeon, a faith belonging to the will, imparted by the Lord; Levi, spiritual love, or charity; Judah, divine love and the Lord’s heavenly kingdom. The symbolism of the remaining eight will be given in the next chapter.
The pattern depicted here follows their birth order, which runs Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, and Benjamin. See verses 32, 33, 34, 35, of this chapter; the next chapter, Genesis 30:6, 8, 11, 13, 18, 20, 24; and Genesis 35:18. This order matches the situation being described here, which is a person’s rebirth. When we regenerate, we start with faith’s truth, meant by Reuben; advance from there to an intent to act on truth, meant by Simeon; from there to charity, meant by Levi; and so to the Lord, meant in the highest sense by Judah. Spiritual conception and birth, or regeneration, progresses from the outer plane to the inner, as noted just above in §3860; that is, it progresses from faith’s truth to love’s goodness.
Shortly before Jacob came to Isaac his father in Mamre, Kiriath-arba, his sons are named in this order: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher (Genesis 35:23, 24, 25, 26). Here the sons of Leah and Rachel come first, and those of the slaves, last, as determined by the situation being treated of.
They are listed in yet another order when they set out and came to Egypt, as described in Genesis 46:9-19; in another when Jacob (who by then was Israel) blessed them before dying (Genesis 49:3-27); and in another when Moses blessed them (Deuteronomy 33:6-24).
When they camped around the meeting tent, they were in this pattern: toward the east, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun; toward the south, Reuben, Simeon, Gad; toward the west, Ephraim, Manasseh, Benjamin; toward the north, Dan, Asher, Naphtali (Numbers 2:1– end).
For the arrangement the tribes stood in on Mount Gerizim to bless the people and on Mount Ebal to curse them, see Deuteronomy 27:12, 13.
When the chief men, one from each tribe, were to be sent to scout out the land, they are listed in this order: Reuben, Simeon, Judah, Issachar, Ephraim, Benjamin, Zebulun, Joseph (that is, Manasseh), Dan, Asher, Naphtali, Gad (Numbers 13:4– 16). However, the chiefs who were to give the land as an inheritance are listed in another order (Numbers 34:19-29). For the order in which lots were cast and fell out when the land was given as an inheritance, see Joshua 13-19.
Where Ezekiel deals with the borders of the new, holy land that the tribes were to inherit, they are mentioned in this order: Dan, Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Ephraim, Reuben, Judah, Benjamin, Simeon, Issachar, Zebulun, Gad—all reaching from the eastern side to the “sea” side, or western side, except for Gad, which was on the southern side toward the south (Ezekiel 48:1-7, 23-28). Where it deals with the gates of the new, holy city, the tribes are mentioned in this order: to the north, three gates for Reuben, Judah, Levi; to the east, three gates for Joseph, Benjamin, Dan; to the south, three gates for Simeon, Issachar, Zebulun; to the west, three gates for Gad, Asher, Naphtali (Ezekiel 48:31-34).
For the order of the twelve thousand sealed from each tribe, see Revelation 7:5-8.
In all these passages, the list of tribes matches perfectly the situation being spoken of, and the order of the names corresponds to it. The exact nature of the situation becomes clear from the surrounding context.
The Word mentions and describes how the precious stones were arranged in the Urim and Thummim but does not say which tribe each stone corresponded to. The stones represented every modification of the light given off by heavenly fire—that is, every kind of truth produced by goodness, or every form of faith produced by love. Because that is what they represented, heaven’s light itself miraculously shone through them according to the circumstances that the questions and answers were about. It gleamed and shone to affirm what was good and true, and it also varied in color, depending on the different states of goodness and truth, as it does in heaven. In heaven, distinctions among different kinds of light express heavenly and spiritual qualities in a way that is indescribable and completely incomprehensible to people on earth. As has been explained several times, heaven’s light contains life from the Lord, so it contains wisdom and understanding [§§3195, 3339, 3636, 3643, 3679]. Different varieties of light contain every facet of the life present in truth—every facet of wisdom and understanding. Different varieties of its fire, gleam, and radiance contain every facet of the life present in goodness and in the truth generated by goodness—every facet of love for the Lord and of the resulting faith. This is what the Urim and Thummim on the breastplate of the ephod over Aaron’s heart meant. In further support of this symbolism, Urim and Thummim mean lights and perfections; and the breastplate they lay on was called the breastplate of judgment because judgment means understanding and wisdom (§2235). It lay on Aaron’s heart because the heart symbolizes divine love (3635 and the end of this chapter [3884-3890]). For this reason, the precious stones were set in gold, gold in an inner sense meaning the good that comes of love (113, 1551, 1552), and a precious stone, truth translucent with goodness (114).
[7] Here is what Moses says about the Urim and Thummim:
You shall make a breastplate of judgment, a work well designed; like the work of the ephod you shall make it; of gold, blue-violet, and red-violet, and double-dyed scarlet, and interwoven byssus you shall make it. It shall be square when doubled. And you shall set stone-settings in it; four rows of stone there shall be. Sockets of gold there shall be for their settings. And the stones shall be according to the names of the sons of Israel—twelve, according to their names. The engravings of each signet shall be according to its name for the twelve tribes. (Exodus 28:15-21; 39:8-14)
Which stones were in each row is also specified there. To continue:
The breastplate shall not come off the ephod. And Aaron shall carry the names of Israel’s sons on the breastplate of judgment over his heart when he enters the Holy Place, as a memorial before Jehovah continually. And you shall put the Urim and the Thummim on the breastplate of judgment, and they shall be over Aaron’s heart in his entering Jehovah’s presence. And Aaron shall carry the judgment of the children of Israel over his heart before Jehovah continually. (Exodus 28:28, 29, 30; Leviticus 8:7, 8)
Jehovah (the Lord) took questions and gave answers through the Urim, as can be seen in Moses:
Jehovah said to Moses, “Take Joshua, son of Nun. You shall put some of your glory on him, so that all the congregation of the children of Israel will obey him. Before Eleazar the priest he shall stand, and [Eleazar] shall question him in the judgment of the Urim before Jehovah.” (Numbers 27:18, 20, 21)
And in Samuel:
Saul asked Jehovah, and Jehovah did not answer him, whether by dreams or by the Urim or by the prophets. (1 Samuel 28:6)
