3664. Go to Paddan-aram. That this signifies the knowledges of such truth, is evident from the signification of “Aram,” or “Syria,” as being knowledges (see n. 1232, 1234, 3249). That “Paddan-aram” signifies the knowledges of truth is because it was in Syria of the rivers, where Nahor, Bethuel, and Laban dwelt; and that by “Syria” are signified the knowledges of truth may be seen above (n. 3051). Paddan-aram is also mentioned above (25:20), and again below (31:18); in which places likewise it signifies the knowledges of truth.

1232. That by “Aram,” or Syria, are signified the knowledges of good, follows; and is seen also from the Word, as in Ezekiel:

Aram was thy trader, in the multitude of thy works; in chrysoprase, crimson, and broidered work, and fine linen, and coral, and carbuncle; they gave them in thy tradings (Ezekiel 27:16),

where Tyre is treated of, or the possession of knowledges; and “works, chrysoprase, crimson, broidered work, fine linen, coral, and carbuncle,” here signify nothing else than the knowledges of good.

In Hosea:

Jacob fled into the field of Aram, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept guard; and by a prophet Jehovah brought Israel up out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he kept. Ephraim hath provoked to anger with bitternesses (Hosea 12:12-14).

“Jacob” here denotes the external church, and “Israel,” the internal spiritual church; “Aram,” the knowledges of good; “Egypt,” memory-knowledge that perverts; “Ephraim,” intelligence perverted. What these signify in series cannot be seen from the literal sense, but only from the internal sense, where names signify actual things of the church, as has been said.

In Isaiah:

Behold Damascus is rejected from being a city, and is become a ruinous heap. The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Aram shall be as the glory of the sons of Israel (Isaiah 17:1, 3).

“The remnant of Aram” here denotes the knowledges of good, which are called “the glory of Israel.” “Aram,” or Syria, in the opposite sense, denotes the knowledges of good perverted; for it is a usual thing in the Word that the expressions are used in both senses (Isaiah 7:4-6; 9:11-12; Deuteronomy 26:5).