Arcana Coelestia #4117
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.
Jeremiah 18
1
The word which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying,
2
Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.
3
Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he was making a work on the wheels.
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And when the vessel that he made of the clay was marred in the hand of the potter, he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
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Then the word of Jehovah came to me, saying,
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O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith Jehovah. Behold, as the clay in the potter's hand, so are ye in my hand, O house of Israel.
7
At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it;
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if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.
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And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it;
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if they do that which is evil in my sight, that they obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.
11
Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your doings.
12
But they say, It is in vain; for we will walk after our own devices, and we will do every one after the stubbornness of his evil heart.
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Therefore thus saith Jehovah: Ask ye now among the nations, who hath heard such things; the virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing.
14
Shall the snow of Lebanon fail from the rock of the field? [or] shall the cold waters that flow down from afar be dried up?
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For my people have forgotten me, they have burned incense to false [gods]; and they have been made to stumble in their ways, in the ancient paths, to walk in bypaths, in a way not cast up;
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to make their land an astonishment, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and shake his head.
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I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.
18
Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.
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Give heed to me, O Jehovah, and hearken to the voice of them that contend with me.
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Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have digged a pit for my soul. Remember how I stood before thee to speak good for them, to turn away thy wrath from them.
21
Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and give them over to the power of the sword; and let their wives become childless, and widows; and let their men be slain of death, [and] their young men smitten of the sword in battle.
22
Let a cry be heard from their houses, when thou shalt bring a troop suddenly upon them; for they have digged a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet.
23
Yet, Jehovah, thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me; forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight; but let them be overthrown before thee; deal thou with them in the time of thine anger.
