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.

3413. 'And filled them up with dust' means by means of earthly things, that is, by means of self-love and love of material gain. This is clear from the meaning of 'dust' as such, dealt with in 249. The meaning is that those who are called 'the Philistines', that is, who are not concerned with life but with doctrine, efface interior truths by means of earthly loves, which are self-love and love of gain. Because of those loves they are called 'the uncircumcised', 2039, 2049, 2056, 2632. Indeed people who are under the influence of those loves cannot avoid 'filling up the wells of Abraham with dust', that is, effacing the interior truths of the Word by means of earthly things, for there is no way in which they are able from these loves to see spiritual things, that is, things which belong to the light of truth from the Lord. In fact those loves introduce darkness, and this banishes that light, for as stated just above in 3412, as the light of truth from the Lord draws nearer, people who are concerned with doctrine alone and not with life are plunged into complete darkness and stupidity. Indeed they become like those in a rage, doing all they can to destroy truths in every way. For self-love and the love of gain are such that they do not allow any truth at all from the Divine to come anywhere near them. Nevertheless those people are able to boast of and pride themselves in the fact that they know truths; indeed they proclaim them with seeming zeal. It is however the fires of self-love and love of gain which inflame them and spur them on, and their zeal is merely the enthusiasm fired by those loves. This becomes quite clear from the fact that even though truths run counter to such persons' actual lives they are able to proclaim them with the selfsame zeal or enthusiasm. These are the earthly things which block the Word itself, the fountain of all truth.