5704. The firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth. That this signifies according to the order of truths under good, is evident from the signification of “sitting according to birthright and according to youth,” as being according to the order of truths under good; for the sons of Israel represent the truths of the church in their order (see the explication of the twenty-ninth and thirtieth chapters of Genesis); and therefore to sit “according to their birth” is according to the order of truths. But the truths of the church which the sons of Israel represent do not come into any order except through Christian good, that is, through the good of charity toward the neighbor and of love to the Lord; for in good there is the Lord, and hence in good there is heaven; consequently in good there is life, thus living active force; but never in truth without good. That good sets truths in order after its own likeness is very manifest from every love, even from the loves of self and of the world, thus from the love of revenge, of hatred, and of the like evils. They who are in these evils call evil good, because to them evil is delightful. This so-called good of theirs sets in order the falsities which to them are truths, so that they may favor it, and at last sets all these falsities which they call truths in such an order as to effect persuasion. But this order is such as is the order in hell; whereas the order of truths under the good of celestial love is such as is the order in the heavens; and from this the man who has such order within him, that is, who has been regenerated, is called a little heaven, and moreover is a heaven in the least form, for his interiors correspond to the heavens.

[2] That it is good which sets truths in order is evident from the order in the heavens. There all the societies are set in order according to the truths under good which are from the Lord; for the Lord is nothing but Divine good; Divine truth is not in the Lord, but proceeds from Him; and according to this Divine truth under Divine good are all the societies in the heavens set in order. That the Lord is nothing but Divine good, and that Divine truth is not in Him, but proceeds from Him, may be illustrated by comparison with the sun of the world. The sun is nothing but fire, and light is not in it, but proceeds from it; and likewise the things that are of light in the world, such as vegetable forms, are set in order by the heat which proceeds from the sun’s fire and is in its light, as is evident in the time of spring and summer. As universal nature is a theater representative of the Lord’s kingdom, so also is this universal. The sun represents the Lord, the fire of it His Divine love, and the heat from it the good which flows therefrom, and the light the truths which are of faith; and because they are representative, therefore in the Word in the spiritual sense by the “sun” is meant the Lord (see n. 1053, 1521, 1529-1531, 3636, 3643, 4321, 5097, 5377), and by “fire” love (n. 934, 4906, 5071, 5215); thus the sun’s fire is representatively the Divine love, and the heat from it is good from the Divine love. (That light represents truth may be seen above, n. 2776, 3138, 3190, 3195, 3222, 3339, 3636, 3643, 3862, 3993, 4302, 4409, 4413, 4415, 4526, 5219, 5400)

1343. That “Eber” was a nation called, from Eber as its father, the Hebrew nation, and that thereby is signified the worship in general of the Second Ancient Church, is evident from those historical parts of the Word wherein it is spoken of. From that nation, because the new worship commenced there, all were called Hebrews who had a similar worship. Their worship was of the kind that was afterwards restored among the descendants of Jacob; and its chief characteristic consisted in their calling their God “Jehovah,” and in their having sacrifices. The Most Ancient Church with unanimity acknowledged the Lord, and called Him Jehovah, as is evident from the first chapters of Genesis, and elsewhere in the Word. The Ancient Church, that is, the church after the flood, also acknowledged the Lord, and called Him Jehovah, especially those who had internal worship, and were called “sons of Shem.” The others, who were in external worship, also acknowledged Jehovah, and worshiped Him. But when internal worship became external, and still more when it became idolatrous, and when each nation began to have its own god whom it worshiped, the Hebrew nation retained the name Jehovah, and called their God Jehovah; and hereby were distinguished from the other nations.

[2] Together with their external worship, the descendants of Jacob in Egypt lost this also-that they called their God Jehovah; nay, Moses himself did so; and therefore they were instructed first of all that Jehovah was the God of the Hebrews, and the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob; as may be seen from these words in Moses:

Jehovah said unto Moses, Thou shalt come in, thou and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, Jehovah the God of the Hebrews hath met with us; and now let us go, we pray thee, a three days’ journey into the wilderness, and we will sacrifice to Jehovah our God (Exodus 3:18). Again:

Pharaoh said, Who is Jehovah, that I should hearken unto His voice to let Israel go? I know not Jehovah, and moreover I will not let Israel go. And they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us; let us go, we pray thee, a three days’ journey into the wilderness, and we will sacrifice to Jehovah our God (Exodus 5:2-3).

[3] That together with the worship the descendants of Jacob in Egypt lost also the name of Jehovah, may be seen from these words in Moses:

Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the sons of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you, and they shall say to me, What is His name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM WHO I AM. And He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the sons of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the sons of Israel, Jehovah the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you; this is My name to eternity (Exodus 3:13-15).

[4] From these words it is evident that even Moses did not know Jehovah; and that they were distinguished from others by the name of Jehovah the God of the Hebrews. Hence in other places also Jehovah is called the God of the Hebrews:

Thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Jehovah the God of the Hebrews hath sent me unto thee (Exodus 7:16).

Go in unto Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus saith Jehovah the God of the Hebrews (Exodus 9:1, 13).

And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and said unto him, Thus saith Jehovah the God of the Hebrews (Exodus 10:3).

And in Jonah:

I am a Hebrew; and I fear Jehovah the God of the heavens (Jonah 1:9).

And also in Samuel:

The Philistines heard the voice of the shouting, and said, What meaneth the voice of this great shouting in the camp of the Hebrews? And they knew that the ark of Jehovah was come into the camp. And the Philistines said, Woe unto us! Who shall deliver us out of the hand of these august gods? These are the gods that smote the Egyptians with all manner of plagues in the wilderness. Be like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews (1 Samuel 4:6, 8-9).

Here also it is evident that the nations were distinguished by the gods on whose name they called, and the Hebrew nation by Jehovah.

[5] That the second essential of the worship of the Hebrew nation consisted in sacrifices, is also evident from passages cited above (Exodus 3:18; 5:2-3); as well as from the fact that the Egyptians abominated the Hebrew nation on account of this worship, as is evident from these words in Moses:

Moses said, It is not right so to do, for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to Jehovah our God; lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not stone us? (Exodus 8:26).

For this reason the Egyptians so abominated the Hebrew nation that they would not eat bread with them (Genesis 43:32). It is also evident from all this that the posterity of Jacob was not the only Hebrew nation, but all who had such worship; and therefore in Joseph’s time the land of Canaan was called the land of the Hebrews:

Joseph said, I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews (Genesis 40:15).

[6] That there were sacrifices among the idolaters in the land of Canaan, may be seen from many passages, for they sacrificed to their gods-to the Baals and others; and moreover Balaam, who was from Syria where Eber dwelt and whence the Hebrew nation came, not only offered sacrifices before the descendants of Jacob came into the land of Canaan, but also called Jehovah his God. That Balaam was from Syria, whence came the Hebrew nation, see Numbers 23:7; that he offered sacrifices, Numbers 22:39-40; 23:1-3, 14, 29; that he called Jehovah his God, Numbers 22:18, and throughout the chapter. What is said of Noah (Genesis 8:20), that he offered burnt-offerings to Jehovah, is not true history, but is history so made up, because by burnt-offerings there is signified the holy of worship, as may there be seen. From all this it is now evident what is signified by “Ber,” or by the Hebrew nation.