156. 14. The state of marriage is preferable to a state of celibacy. This follows from what has been said so far about marriage and celibacy. The state of marriage is preferable because it exists from creation; because the origin of it is the marriage between good and truth; because it corresponds to the marriage of the Lord and the church; because the church and conjugial love are constant companions; and because the use it serves is more excellent than the uses served by anything else in creation, seeing that it results, according to order, in the propagation of the human race, and also of the angelic heaven, since heaven exists from the human race. In addition to this, marriage is the completion of a person, for by marriage a person becomes a complete person, as we show next in the following chapter. ¹ None of these things is true of celibacy.

[2] On the other hand, if one takes the proposition that a state of celibacy is better than the state of marriage and turns it over to an inquisition to approve and confirm by arguments, then these arguments lead to the following conclusions: That marriage is not sacred, nor can any marriage be chaste. Indeed, that chastity in the female sex is possible only in the case of those who refrain from marrying and take a vow of perpetual virginity. And moreover, that people who take a vow of perpetual celibacy are the kind of people meant by "eunuchs who make themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of God" (Matthew 19:12). Besides many other conclusions which, stemming from an untrue premise, are also untrue.

"Eunuchs who make themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of God" mean spiritual eunuchs, and these are people who in their marriages abstain from the evils of licentious relationships. The statement plainly does not mean Italian castrati. ²

151r. [Numbering was repeated by the author] ³ To this I will append two narrative accounts. This is the first:

As I was returning home from the school of wisdom spoken of above in no. 132, on the way I saw an angel dressed in blue.

He attached himself to my side and said, "I see that you have come from one of the schools of wisdom and that you were pleased by what you heard there. I perceive, too, that you are not fully in this world, because you are at the same time in the natural world. You are therefore also not acquainted with our Olympian gymnasia, where sages of old meet and learn from newcomers from your world what changes and progressions the state of wisdom has gone through and is presently undergoing. This being the case, if you wish, I will take you to a place where many of the sages of old live, together with their descendants or disciples."

He then took me to a border region between the north and the east. And when from an elevation I looked out toward it, suddenly a city appeared, and on one side of it two hills, with the hill nearer the city being lower than the other.

And the angel said to me, "That city is called Athenaeum, the lower hill Parnassium, and the higher one Heliconeum. They are called by these names because in the city and around it live wise men of old from Greece, such as Pythagoras, Socrates, Aristippus, and Xenophon, along with their disciples and pupils."

I then asked about Plato and Aristotle. The angel said that they and their followers lived in another region, because they taught matters of reason having to do with the intellect, while the ones here taught matters of morality having to do with life.

[2] The angel said that scholarly envoys are frequently sent out from the city of Athenaeum to educated Christians, to find out from them what people presently think about God, the creation of the universe, the immortality of the soul, the nature of man compared to the nature of animals, and other things which are matters of interior wisdom. And the angel said that today a herald had announced an assembly, a sign that the envoys had found newcomers from the earth from whom they had heard some interesting news.

We then saw many people coming out of the city and from the surrounding area, some wearing laurel wreaths on their heads, some holding palm branches in their hands, some with books under their arms, and some with pens under the hair of the left temple.

We slipped in among them and together ascended. And lo, on the hill there was an octagonal palace, which they called the Palladium, and we went in. And behold, we saw there eight hexagonal alcoves, each with a set of bookcases in it, and also a table, at which the people with the laurel wreaths sat. Moreover, in the Palladium itself we saw benches carved out of stone, on which the rest of the people took their seats.

[3] And then a door opened on the left, through which two newcomers from earth were ushered in. And having first greeted them, one of those wearing the laurel wreaths asked: "What news do you have from earth?"

So the newcomers said, "The news is that some people resembling beasts, or beasts resembling people, have been found in a forest. From their facial and physical features, however, it has been reportedly learned that they were born human, and that they were lost or left in the forest when they were about two or three years old.

"According to the report," the newcomers said, "they are unable to express any thought verbally, nor are they able to learn how to articulate sound into the form of any word. Nor did they know what food was suitable for them, as animals do, but they thrust into their mouth things they found in the forest, both things fit to be eaten and things unfit - to mention only some of many other similar discoveries. As a result of these findings, some of the learned among us have formed a number of conjectures, and others conclusions, about the nature of human beings compared to the nature of animals."

[4] When they heard this, some of the sages of old inquired, "What conjectures and conclusions do they draw from these discoveries?"

The two newcomers then replied that there were a number of them, but that they could be reduced to the following:

1. By his own nature and also from birth, the human being is more stupid and thus worse off than any animal, and that is the way he turns out if he is not educated.

2. He can be educated because he learned how to make articulate sounds and thus to speak, and by that means began to express thoughts, and this gradually more and more, until he was able to formulate laws of society, though many of these laws are imprinted on animals from birth.

3. Animals have the same faculty of reason as human beings.

4. Therefore if animals could talk, they would reason on any subject as cleverly as human beings. It is an indication of their ability that they think in accordance with the same reason and prudence as human beings.

5. The intellect is no more than a modified form of light from the sun, aided by warmth, by means of the ether, so that it is only an activity of interior nature, and this activity can be raised to the point that it appears as wisdom.

6. It is therefore vain to believe that a person lives after death any more than an animal - unless perhaps, owing to an exhalation of the life of the body, he may possibly appear for several days after death as a vapor resembling a ghost, before it evaporates back into nature - in much the same way as a bush raised from the ashes appears in a likeness of its prior form.

7. Consequently, religion, which teaches life after death, is an invention to keep simple people in bondage from within by its laws, as they are kept in bondage from without by laws of the state.

To this the newcomers added, that that was merely how some clever people reasoned, but not the intelligent ones.

Their listeners then asked, "What is the reasoning of the intelligent ones?"

The newcomers answered that they had not heard, but it was what they supposed.

152r. ³ On hearing these things, the people who were sitting at the tables all said, "Oh, what the times are like on earth now! Alas, what changes wisdom has undergone! Has wisdom become ingenious nonsense? The sun has set and now stands beneath the earth diametrically opposite its zenith!

"From the evidence of the people left and found in the forest, who cannot see that that is what a human being is like without education? Is he not as he is taught? Is he not born in a greater state of ignorance than animals? Does he not have to learn to walk and talk? If he did not learn to walk, would he stand erect upon his feet? And if he did not learn to talk, would he mutter anything he thought? Is everyone not as he is taught, irrational from being taught falsities, and wise from being taught truths? And one who is irrational from being taught falsities - is he not entirely caught up in the fantasy that he is wiser than one who is wise from being taught truths? Are there not fools and lunatics who are no more human than the people found in the forest? Are persons without memory not similar to them?

[2] "From these considerations and observations, we ourselves conclude that a person without education is not human, and not an animal either, but that he is a form of life which can receive into himself that which makes a person human. And thus we conclude that he is not born human, but becomes human; and that a person is born such a form of life in order that he may be an organism receptive of life from God, so that he may become a vessel into which God can introduce every kind of good and which by union with Himself He can bless to eternity.

"We perceive from what you have said that wisdom today has become so nonexistent or nonsensical that people know nothing at all about the nature of the life of human beings compared to the nature of the life of animals. That is why they also do not know the nature of man's life after death. Nevertheless, those who could know it, but do not wish to know it and therefore deny it, as many of your Christians do - we can liken them to the people found in the forest. Not that they have become that stupid from a lack of education; but by relying on misconceptions of the senses, which are dark shadows of truths, they have made themselves that stupid."

153r. [repeated] ³ At this point, however, someone in the middle of the Palladium stood up, holding a palm branch in his hand, and said, "Explain, please, this mystery, how a human being, created in the image of God, could be changed into the form of a devil. I know that angels of heaven are images of God and that angels of hell are images of the devil; and the two forms are opposite each other, angels of hell being forms of madness, angels of heaven forms of wisdom. Tell us, therefore, how a human being, created in the image of God, could pass from the light of day into such darkness of night that he could deny God and eternal life."

[2] To this the masters replied in turn, first the Pythagoreans, then the Socratics, and afterwards the rest.

But there was among them a certain Platonist. He spoke last, and his opinion prevailed. He said that people of the Saturnian period or golden age knew and acknowledged that they were recipient forms of life from God, and wisdom was therefore engraved on their souls and hearts. And consequently, from the light of truth they saw truth, and through truths perceived good from the delight of a love for good.

"However," he said, "in subsequent ages, the human race fell away from acknowledging that all truth of wisdom and consequent goodness of love in them continually flowed in from God; and as they fell away from this acknowledgment, they ceased to be dwelling places of God. Moreover, speech with God and association with angels also then ceased. For the orientation of the inner faculties of their minds, which had been directed upwards by God to God, became more and more bent in a slanting direction outward to the world, so that it was directed by God to God through the world; and finally it was turned upside down in the opposite direction, which is downwards to self. And because God cannot be regarded by a person who is inwardly upside down and thus turned away, people separated themselves from God and became forms of hell or the devil.

[3] "It follows from this that, in the first ages, people acknowledged with their heart and soul that all goodness of love and so truth of wisdom came to them from God, and also that these virtues were virtues of God in them, so that they themselves were merely recipients of life from God and for this reason were called images of God, sons of God, and born of God. But it follows then that, in succeeding ages, they no longer acknowledged this with their heart and soul, but did so owing to a certain conviction of belief, and then as a result of traditional faith, and finally with the lips alone. And to acknowledge something like this with the lips alone is not really acknowledging. Indeed, it is to deny at heart.

"Consequently it can be seen what wisdom is like today on earth among Christians - even though with their written revelation they could be inspired by God - when they do not know the difference between man and animal. And because of this, many of them believe that if a person lives after death, so will an animal. Or, because an animal does not live after death, so neither will a person. Has not our spiritual light, which enlightens the sight of the mind, become darkness in them? And their natural light, which enlightens only the sight of the body - has it not become their refulgence?"

154r. ³ After this the people all turned to the two visitors and thanked them for their coming and for their account; and they begged them to report to their comrades what they had heard.

Then the visitors replied that they would convince their friends of this truth, that they are human to the extent that they attribute every good of charity and truth of faith to the Lord and not to themselves; and that in the same measure they become angels of heaven.

155r. ³ The second account:

One morning I was awakened by the sound of very sweet singing from some height above me. And being therefore in the first moment of awakening, which is more internal, peaceful and gentle than any other moment of the day, I could be kept for a while in the spirit, as though outside the body, and could attend keenly to the affection which was being expressed in song. (A song in heaven is nothing but an affection of the mind which is expressed vocally as a melody, for it is the sound of one speaking without spoken words, coming from the same affection of love which gives life to speech.)

In that state I perceived that it was an affection having to do with the delights of conjugial love, which was turned into song by wives in heaven. I noticed that this was so from the sound of the singing, in which those delights were variously expressed in marvelous ways.

After this I arose and looked out into the spiritual world. And lo, in the east, beneath the sun there, I saw what seemed to be golden rain. It was morning mist, descending in such quantity that, struck by the rays of the sun, it presented to my eyes the appearance of golden rain. Being still more fully awakened on account of it, I went out in spirit, and then, meeting by chance an angel, I asked him whether he saw the golden rain coming down from the sun.

[2] Answering, he replied that he saw it whenever he was thinking about conjugial love and then turned his eyes in that direction.

He said further, "That rain falls upon a hall where there are three husbands with their wives, who live at the center of an eastern paradise. This kind of rain seems to be falling from the sun upon that hall, because abiding in those husbands and wives is wisdom concerning conjugial love and its delights - in the husbands, wisdom concerning conjugial love, and in the wives, wisdom concerning its delights.

"But since I perceive that you are thinking about the delights of conjugial love, I will take you to that hall and introduce you."

So he led me through areas befitting a paradise to houses which were built with boards of olive wood, with two columns of cedar in front of the entrance; and having introduced me to the husbands, he asked that I be allowed, in their presence, to speak with their wives.

They then nodded and called their wives.

The wives looked searchingly into my eyes. So I asked, "What are you looking at?" They said, "We can see keenly what attraction you feel and therefore what affection you have, which is where your thought concerning love for the opposite sex comes from. And we see that although you are thinking about it intently, still you are thinking chastely." They then said, "What do you want us to tell you about it?"

So I replied, "Please tell me something about the delights of conjugial love."

And the husbands nodded, saying, "Reveal to them something about these delights, if you wish. Their ears are chaste."

[3] So they asked, "Who told you that we were the ones to ask about the delights of that love? Why not our husbands?"

Then I replied, "This angel who is with me, he told me privately that wives are vessels receptive of and sensitive to those delights, because they are born forms of love, and all delights have to do with love."

Smiling at this they answered, "Be discreet, and do not say such a thing unless it can be interpreted in more than one way, because it is a point of wisdom kept deeply hidden in the hearts of our sex, which is not revealed to any husband except to one who is in a state of truly conjugial love. There are many reasons for this, which we conceal within and keep to ourselves."

At that the husbands then said, "Our wives know all the states of our mind, nor is anything hidden from them. They see, perceive and feel whatever comes from our will. And we in turn know nothing of this in our wives. Wives have this gift, because they have very tender loves and feelings of almost blazing zeal for the preservation of the friendship and trust in marriage and thus for the preservation of both partners' happiness of life. This happiness they watch over for their husbands and themselves from a wisdom inherent in their love - wisdom which is so full of discretion that they will not and therefore cannot say that they are the lovers, but that they are the recipients of love."

I then asked why wives will not and so cannot say this.

The wives replied that if the least suggestion of anything like this were to slip from their lips, their husbands would be invaded with coldness, which would separate them from their bed, bedroom, and sight.

"But this happens," they said, "in the case of people who do not hold marriage sacred, and who therefore do not love their wives with a spiritual love. It is different with those who do. This love in their minds is spiritual, and in the body becomes natural as a result of that. We here in this hall experience the natural love as a result of a spiritual one, and consequently we confide to our husbands secrets about the delights we feel having to do with conjugial love."

[4] At this point, I respectfully asked them to reveal something of these secrets to me as well. And immediately they looked toward the window to the south, where suddenly a white dove appeared. Its wings shone as though with silver, and its head was adorned with a crown seemingly of gold. It was standing on a branch, which had an olive growing out from it.

As they saw the dove engaged in an attempt to spread its wings, the wives said, "We will reveal something. When that dove appears, it is a sign to us that we may."

They then said, "Every man has five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. But we have also a sixth sense, which is a sense of all the delights of conjugial love in our husbands. We have this sense in the palms of our hands, whenever we touch our husbands' breasts, arms, hands or cheeks - especially their breasts - and also when we are touched by them. All the happy and pleasant states of the thoughts of their mind, and all the joys and delights of their heart, and the merry and cheerful feelings in their breast - these are then transmitted from them to us, taking form in us and becoming perceptible, discernible, and tangible. Moreover, we discern these things as keenly and as clearly as the ear discerns the melodies of songs, or as the tongue does the flavors of exquisite foods.

"In a word, the spiritual delights of our husbands take on a kind of natural embodiment in us. And for that reason, our husbands call us the sensory organs of chaste conjugial love and therefore of its delights. But this sense in our sex appears, continues, remains, and rises in the measure that our husbands love us for our wisdom and judgment, and in the measure that we love them in return for the same qualities in them. In heaven, this sense in our sex is called the interplay of wisdom with its love and of love with its wisdom."

[5] I was stirred by this with a desire to ask more questions, such as about the variety of the delights.

Answering, they said, "The variety is endless. However, we do not wish to say any more, and therefore we cannot, because the dove outside our window, with the olive branch under its feet, has flown away."

I then waited for its return, but in vain. Meanwhile, I asked the husbands, "Do you have a similar sense of conjugial love?"

And they replied, "We have one in general, but not in particular. We have a general sense of bliss, of delight, and of pleasant contentment, owing to the particular sensations of these in our wives. And this general sense, which we have from them, is like a peaceful serenity."

At these words, suddenly through the window a swan appeared, standing on the branch of a fig tree; and spreading its wings, it flew off.

Seeing this, the husbands said, "That is a sign for us to be silent about conjugial love. Come back from time to time, and perhaps more will be disclosed."

They then withdrew, and we departed.

Footnotes:

10062. 'And on the thumb of their right hand' means the resulting power of understanding in the middle heaven. This is clear from the meaning of 'the thumb' as the power of good exercised through truth, or truth in its power springing from good, and the resulting power of understanding, dealt with below. The reason why the power of understanding in the middle heaven is meant is that 'the blood' which was put on the thumb means Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good in the heavens, dealt with above in 10060, at this point therefore the resulting power of understanding. For 'the blood on the tip of the right ear' means the power of perception in the inmost heaven; as a result 'the blood on the thumb of the right hand' means the power of understanding in the middle heaven, while [that on] 'the big toe of the right foot' means the power of understanding in the last and lowest heaven. For the things that belong to the inmost heaven are meant by the head and parts of the head, and therefore this heaven's power of perception is meant here by 'the right ear', since the ear is part of the head. The things that belong to the middle heaven are meant by the body and parts of the body, and therefore the power of understanding is meant here by 'the right hand', while those things that belong to the lowest heaven are meant by the feet and parts of the feet. Regarding such correspondence of the heavens with the human being, see above in 10030 and the places referred to there. In the inmost heaven furthermore exists the ability to perceive truth springing from good; in the middle heaven however no ability to perceive truth exists, only the ability to understand it. And the like is so in the lowest heaven, see the places referred to in 9277, 9596, 9684.

[2] 'The thumb of the right hand' - which means truth in its power springing from good, and the resulting power of understanding in the middle heaven - seems, it is true, to be something too small and insignificant to mean heaven; for how, it may be asked, can the thumb come to have so great and significant a meaning? But it should be remembered that the last and lowest or outermost part of any member of the body has the same meaning as the whole member. 'The hand' means the whole power of the body, and the power which the body possesses is exercised through the arms and hands. Regarding what is last or outermost, that it means all or the whole, in the same way as what is first and highest, see above in 10044.

[3] For the meaning of 'the hands' as power and the fact that all power belongs to truth springing from good, see the places referred to in 10019; and for the meaning of 'the right hand' as the power of truth springing from good, and 'the left hand' as truth through which comes good, 10061. The reason why the power of understanding is what should be understood is that all the power of understanding is composed of truths, whereas all the power of will is composed of forms of good. For everything in the world and in heaven has connection with truth and with good, and the human understanding has been provided for truths and the will for forms of good. Therefore since truth in its power is meant by 'the hands', the understanding as well is meant by them.

[4] Because the thumb, like the hands, meant the power that belongs to truth springing from good, it was the practice in ancient times among the nations, and also among the Israelite people, to cut off the thumbs and big toes of their enemies, Judges 1:6-7; this represented the removal of all power from them. In the thumb furthermore resides the main power of the hand, for when the thumb has been cut off the hand no longer has the strength to fight in battle. Just as the thumb means power, so do 'the fingers', as in David,

Jehovah trains my hands for conflicts, and my fingers for war. Psalms 144:1.

In the same author,

When I look at the heavens, the work of Your fingers ... Psalms 8:3.

In Luke,

Jesus said, If I cast out demons by the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come to you. Luke 11:20.

3969. 'And she said, God has taken away my reproach. And she called his name Joseph, saying, May Jehovah add to me another son' in the highest sense means the Lord as regards the Divine Spiritual, in the internal sense the spiritual kingdom or the good of faith, and in the external sense salvation, also fruitfulness and multiplication. This is clear from the representation of 'Joseph' in the Word, dealt with below, also from the meaning of 'God has taken away my reproach', as well as 'May Jehovah add to me another son', for the name Joseph was derived from the verbs 'to gather up' and 'to add'. 'God has taken away my reproach' means that Rachel was now no longer barren, and so no longer 'dead', as she spoke of herself to Jacob in verse 1 above; see 3908. For 'Rachel' represents the affection for interior truth, that is, the interior man as regards truth, 3758, 3782, 3793, 3819. The interior man is so to speak dead as regards truth and good if the exterior or natural man does not correspond to it as regards goods and truths, see 3493, 3620, 3623. They must be so joined each to the other that they are not two but together form one man.

[2] But the two cannot become joined together until the natural or external man has been prepared, that is, until it has received and acknowledged the general truths which have been meant by Jacob's ten sons by Leah and the servant-girls, and until the good of the natural man has been joined to the truths in that man, which joining together was meant by Jacob's last son by Leah, namely Zebulun, who was so called from the expression 'dwelling together', 3960, 3961. After this joining together has taken place the interior man and the exterior man enter into the heavenly marriage spoken of in 3952. The reason they do not enter it until then is a very deep arcanum, for it is the good of the interior man which in that case joins itself to the good of the exterior man, and through that exterior good to the truth in the exterior man. At the same time the good of the interior man joins itself through the affection for truth in that interior man to the good of the exterior man and also to the truth there, and so joins itself directly and indirectly. concerning this direct and indirect linking together, see 3314, 3573, 3616. Since the interior man is only then joined to the exterior, and until this joining together has taken place the interior man is seemingly non-existent and so seemingly dead, as stated above, the phrase 'God has taken away my reproach' is therefore used. This then is what is meant by 'the reproach' which God is said to have 'gathered up', that is, to have taken away, meaning to have released her from it.

[3] But the words which follow - 'May Jehovah add to me another son', from which Joseph received his name - mean a second arcanum, which is this: 'Joseph' represents the Lord's spiritual kingdom and so the spiritual man, for that kingdom exists within every spiritual man. There are two things which constitute the spiritual man - charity and faith, or what amounts to the same, good and truth. Charity from which faith, or good from which truth springs, is the thing that Joseph represents. And faith which has charity within it, or truth which has good within it, is the thing that the second son means - that Benjamin represents, dealt with at Genesis 35:16-18. So Joseph means the celestial-spiritual man, and Benjamin the spiritual-celestial. The nature of the difference between them may be seen from what has been said fairly often already about good from which truth springs and truth that has good within it. This then is what is meant by Rachel's second utterance 'May Jehovah add to me another son'. But these arcana cannot be seen except by those who are governed by charity from which faith springs, for interiorly those people are dwelling in the light of heaven, which light also includes intelligence within it. But those arcana cannot be seen by those who are dwelling solely in the light of the world, for that light does not include intelligence except insofar as it holds the light of heaven within itself. To angels who dwell in the light of heaven these arcana belong among the most ordinary things they know.

[4] From these considerations one may now see that the words 'God has taken away my reproach' and 'May Jehovah add to me another son' in the highest sense mean the Lord as regards the Divine Spiritual, and in the internal sense the Lord's spiritual kingdom or the good of faith, for such good is the spiritual as this exists in that kingdom. But the reason why those words in the external sense mean salvation, also fruitfulness and multiplication, is that these come as the product of that good, 3971. But what the Lord's spiritual kingdom is may become clear from what has been stated and shown many times already about that kingdom, that is to say, it consists of those who are governed by charity and from charity by faith. This kingdom is distinct and separate from the Lord's celestial kingdom, for the celestial kingdom consists of those who are governed by love to the Lord and from that love by charity. The latter constitute the third or inmost heaven, whereas the spiritual constitute the second or interior heaven.

[5] The reason why the name God is used first, in 'God has taken away my reproach', then Jehovah, in 'May Jehovah add to me another son', is that God has regard to the ascent from truth up to good but Jehovah to the descent from good down to truth. The spiritual man is governed by the good of faith, that is, by the good from which truth springs; but prior to his becoming spiritual he is governed by the truth of faith, that is, by truth that has good within it. For the name God is used when truth is the subject, but Jehovah when good is the subject, 2586, 2769, 2807, 2822, 3921.

[6] The fact that 'Joseph' represents the Lord's spiritual kingdom, or the spiritual man, and so represents the good of faith, becomes clear also from those places in the Word where his name is mentioned, as in the prophecy of Jacob, who by then was Israel,

The son of a fruitful one is Joseph, the son of a fruitful one beside a spring; O daughters, he trails over the wall; and the archers will exasperate him and shoot at him and hate him. And he will sit in the strength of his bow, and the arms of his hands will be made strong by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob; from there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel. By the God of your father, and he will assist you; and with Shaddai, and he will bless you with the blessings of heaven from above, with the blessings of the deep lying beneath, with the blessings of the breasts and of the womb. The blessings of your father will prevail over the blessings of my ancestors, even to the desire of the everlasting hills. They will be upon the head of Joseph and upon the crown of the head of the Nazirite among his brothers. Genesis 49:22-26.

These prophetic utterances in the highest sense contain a description of the Lord's Divine Spiritual, in the internal sense a description of His spiritual kingdom. What each detail entails will in the Lord's Divine mercy be discussed in the explanation of that chapter.

[7] Similarly in the prophecy of Moses,

For Joseph he said, Blessed by Jehovah is his land, of the precious things of heaven, of the dew, of the deep also lying beneath, and of the precious things of the fruits of the sun, and of the precious things of the produce of the months, and of the precious things of the mountains of the east, and of the precious things of the everlasting hills, and of the precious things of the earth and of its fullness; and the good pleasure of Him dwelling in the bramble bush. They will come upon the head of Joseph and upon the crown of the head of the Nazirite among his brothers. Deuteronomy 33:13-17.

[8] Because 'Israel' represents the Lord's spiritual Church, 3305, 3654,

Jacob, who by then was Israel, said to Joseph,

Your two sons who were born to you in the land of Egypt, before I came to you in Egypt, will be mine. Ephraim and Manasseh will be as Reuben and Simeon. May the angel who has redeemed me from every evil bless the boys, that in them my name may be called, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and may they increase into a multitude in the midst of the earth. Genesis 48:5, 16.

There are two things which constitute the spiritual Church - the understanding and the will, the understanding being represented by 'Ephraim' and the will by 'Manasseh'. From this one can see why Joseph's two sons were adopted by Jacob, by then Israel, and acknowledged as his own. Ephraim is also mentioned often in the Word, especially the prophetical part, in which places that name means the ability which the spiritual Church possesses to understand what is true and what is good.

[9] In Ezekiel,

Jehovah said, Son of man, take a stick and write on it, For Judah and for the children of Israel, his companions. And take another stick and write on it, For Joseph - the stick of Ephraim and of the whole house of Israel, his companions and join them together, one to the other into one stick for you, that both may be one in your ¹ hand. Thus said the Lord Jehovih, I, behold, I am taking the stick of Joseph which is in the hand of Ephraim and of the tribes of Israel his companions, and I will add them to the stick of Judah, and make them into one stick, and they will be one in My hand. And I will make them into one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king will be king to them all, and they will no longer be two nations, nor will they ever be divided into two nations again. Ezekiel 37:16-17, 19, 22.

This refers to the Lord's kingdom, to the celestial and to the spiritual - 'Judah' being the celestial kingdom, 3654, 3881, 3921 (end), and 'Joseph' the spiritual. It is also said that those kingdoms will not be two but one - they were actually made one by the Lord's Coming into the world.

[10] By the Lord's Coming the spiritual were saved, see 2661, 2716, 2833, 2834. It is those who are spiritual that the Lord is speaking about in John,

And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice, and there will be one flock and one shepherd. John 10:16.

This is what is meant by 'the two sticks', the stick of Judah and the stick of Joseph, which will be joined into one, and will be one in the Lord's hand, like one nation, even as they are one in the Lord's kingdom. For celestial angels constitute the third heaven, which is the inmost heaven, but spiritual angels the second, which is the interior heaven, and in that kingdom they are one because one flows into the other, namely the celestial heaven into the spiritual. The spiritual kingdom is so to speak the groundwork on which the celestial is based, and in this way the two are made firm and stable. For the Divine celestial within the third or inmost heaven is love to the Lord, the celestial-spiritual in that heaven being charity. The latter, namely charity, is the chief thing in the second or interior heaven where spiritual angels are. This shows the nature of influx and also how things are made firm and stable by means of influx. 'Wood' means good, both the good which belongs to love to the Lord and the good which belongs to charity towards the neighbour, 2784, 2812, 3720. For this reason the command was given to write Judah and Joseph on the two sticks which were to be made one.

[11] In Zechariah,

I will make the house of Judah powerful, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will restore them, ² for I have had compassion on them, and they will be as though I had not forsaken them, for I am Jehovah their God and I will answer them. Zechariah 10:6.

This too refers to the two kingdoms, the celestial and the spiritual, 'Judah' being the celestial kingdom and 'Joseph' the spiritual. Also referred to is the salvation of the spiritual.

[12] In Amos,

Thus said Jehovah to the house of Israel, Seek Me and you will live. Seek Jehovah and you will live, lest like fire He invades the house of Joseph and it devours and there is nobody quenching it. Hate evil, and desire good, and establish judgement in the gate; it may be that Jehovah God Zebaoth will have compassion on the remnant of Joseph. Amos 5:4, 6, 15.

Here also those who are spiritual are meant by 'Joseph'. 'The house of Israel' means the spiritual Church, 3305, 3654, 'Joseph' the good of that Church. Hence the statement 'Jehovah said to the house of Israel, Seek Me and you will live, lest like fire He invades the house of Joseph'.

[13] In David,

Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, leading Joseph like a flock. You who are seated on the cherubim, shine forth before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh. Stir up Your might and come to save us. Psalms 80:1-2.

Here similarly 'Joseph' means the spiritual man, 'Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh' being three essentials of that Church.

[14] In the same author,

Raise a song, and sound the timbrel, the sweet harp with the lyre; blow the trumpet at the new moon, at the festival, on our feast day. For it is a statute for Israel, a judgement to the God of Jacob. [As] a testimony for Joseph He appointed it, when He went out against the land of Egypt. I heard a language that I did not know. Psalms 81:2-5.

From each individual word or term used here it is evident that 'Joseph' means the spiritual Church or spiritual man. For there are in the Word terms which present spiritual realities and terms which present celestial ones, and these terms occur consistently throughout the Word. In this quotation terms that present spiritual realities are used - 'a song', 'the timbrel', 'the harp with the lyre', and 'blowing the trumpet at the new moon, at the festival, on a feast day'. From this also it is evident that the subject is the spiritual Church meant by 'Joseph'.

[15] In Ezekiel,

Thus said the Lord Jehovih, This is the boundary by which you will inherit the land according to the twelve tribes of Israel, the portions for Joseph. Ezekiel 47:13.

This refers to the Lord's spiritual kingdom, and therefore the phrase 'the portions for Joseph' is used. The Lord's Divine spiritual is that which is also called His kingship, for the Lord's kingship is Divine Truth, but His priesthood Divine Good, 2015, 3009, 3670. The Lord's kingship itself is that which 'Joseph' represents, in that he was made king in the land of Egypt. That representation will in the Lord's Divine mercy be dealt with when that chapter is reached.

[16] As regards the Lord's Divine spiritual, or Divine Truth, which is represented in the highest sense by 'Joseph', it does not exist within the Lord but flows from the Lord; for the Lord is nothing else than Divine Good. But Divine Truth proceeds from Divine Good. To use a comparison, it is like the sun and the light of the sun. Light does not exist within the sun but proceeds from the sun. Or it is like fire. Light does not exist in fire but proceeds from it. And in the Word Divine Good itself is compared to the sun and also to fire, and is actually called sun and fire. The Lord's celestial kingdom receives its life from the good which proceeds from the Lord, but the spiritual kingdom receives its life from the truth derived from that good. For this reason in the next life the Lord is seen as the Sun by those who are celestial, but as the Moon by those who are spiritual, see 1053, 1521, 1529-1531, 3636, 3643. For both warmth and light proceed from the sun. Its warmth is comparable to the good of love, which is also called celestial and spiritual warmth, its light to the truth flowing from it, which is also referred to as spiritual light, see 3636, 3643. But the celestial warmth and the spiritual light which proceed from the Lord as the Sun in the next life, include within them the good of love and the truth of faith, and so include wisdom and intelligence, 1521-1523, 1542, 1619-1632, 2776, 3138, 3190, 3195, 3222, 3223, 3339, 3485, 3636, 3643, 3862. For things which proceed from the Lord are living.

[17] From this one may see what the Divine Spiritual is; in what the spiritual kingdom and the celestial kingdom have their origins; and also that the spiritual kingdom is the good of faith, which good is charity, flowing in from the Lord directly, and also indirectly through the celestial kingdom. In the Word the Divine Spiritual which proceeds from the Lord is called the Spirit of truth, and is holy truth. The Divine Spiritual does not belong to any spirit but is the Lord's, who imparts it through a spirit sent by Him, as becomes clear from the Lord's own words in John,

When He the Spirit of truth comes He will guide you into all the truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak. He will also declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify Me, for He will receive from what is Mine and declare it to you. John 16:13-14.

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