4117. 'And he set his face towards mount Gilead' means good within it. This is clear from the meaning of 'mount' as the celestial element of love, which is good, dealt with in 795, 1430, to which the good meant by 'Jacob' was joined - 'Gilead' meaning the essential nature of it. Since the river was the boundary and, as has been stated, meant the first phase of the joining together, 'mount Gilead', which lay in this part away from the Jordan, means the good involved in that first stage of the joining together.

[2] The land of Gilead where the mountain was situated lay within the confines of the land of Canaan understood in a wide sense. It was situated on this side of the Jordan, and was granted as an inheritance to the Reubenites and the Gadites, and in particular to the half-tribe of Manasseh. And since the inheritances stretched out that far, it is said that it was situated within the confines of the land of Canaan understood in a wide sense. The fact that this territory was granted as an inheritance to those tribes is clear in Moses, Numbers 32:1, 26-41; Deuteronomy 3:8, 10-16; Joshua 13:24-31. For this reason when the land of Canaan was envisaged in its entirety it was said to stretch from Gilead even to Dan, and in another sense from Beersheba even to Dan, for Dan also was a boundary, 1710, 3923. Regarding its stretching from Beersheba even to Dan, see 2858, 2859; and reference to its doing so from Gilead to Dan occurs in Moses,

Moses went up from the plains of Moab onto mount Nebo, the top of Pisgah, which is in the direction of Jericho. There Jehovah showed him the whole land, Gilead even to Dan. Deuteronomy 34:1.

And in the Book of Judges,

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

[3] Because it was a boundary, 'Gilead' in the spiritual sense means the good that comes first, which is that of the bodily senses, for it is the good or delight of the senses that a person who is being regenerated is introduced into first of all. This is the sense in which 'Gilead' is taken in the Prophets, as in Jeremiah 8:22; 22:6; 46:11; 50:19; Ezekiel 47:18; Obad. verse 19; Micah 7:14; Zechariah 10:10; Psalms 60:7; and in the contrary sense, in Hosea 6:8; 12:11.

3038. 'To your seed I will give this land' means the Divine Truth which belonged to the Lord's Human. This is clear from the meaning of 'seed' as the faith that is an expression of charity, and also those in whom such faith is present, dealt with in 1025, 1447, 1610, 2848 (and since all good and truth of faith are received from the Lord, it is Divine Truth itself that is meant in the highest sense by 'seed'); and from the meaning of 'this land', namely Canaan, as heaven or the Lord's kingdom, dealt with in 1413, 1437, 1607. And as heaven or the Lord's kingdom is meant, it is the Lord's Divine Human itself that 'the land of Canaan' is used to mean in the highest sense. For the Divine itself cannot flow into heaven except through the Lord's Divine Human, which the Lord also made plain in Matthew,

All things have been delivered to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son and he to whom the Son wishes to reveal Him. Matthew 11:27.

And in John,

Nobody has ever seen God; the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known. John 1:18.

'The Son' is the Lord's Divine Human. Anyone who believes that in heaven they worship any other Father than the Lord is much mistaken.