1585. And saw the whole plain of the Jordan symbolizes the goodness and truth that existed in his outer self, as can be seen from the symbolism of a plain and the Jordan. In an inner sense, the plain surrounding the Jordan symbolizes the outer self, with everything in it that is good or true.
The reason the Jordan basin symbolizes these things is that the Jordan was a boundary for the land of Canaan. As previous remarks have shown, the land of Canaan symbolizes the Lord's kingdom and church, and specifically its heavenly and spiritual attributes [§§1, 566-567, 585, 620, 662, 1413, 1437, 1441], which is why it is also called the Holy Land and the heavenly Canaan. And since it symbolizes the Lord's kingdom and church, in the highest sense it symbolizes the Lord himself, who is the all-in-all of his kingdom and church.
[2] As a consequence, everything in the land of Canaan carried a representative meaning. Sites in the middle of the land — its most central parts, in other words — represented the Lord's inner self. Mount Zion, for instance, represented his heavenly qualities, and Jerusalem, his spiritual ones. More distant locations represented traits more remote from internal ones. The most distant points — the borders — represented his outer self. Canaan had many borders; in general they were the two rivers of the Euphrates and the Jordan, and the sea as well. 1
So the Euphrates and the Jordan represented his outward aspects. Here, then, the Jordan basin symbolizes — just as it represents — all the properties of his outer being. The case is similar when the land of Canaan stands for the Lord's kingdom in the heavens; similar when it stands for the Lord's church on earth; similar when it stands for the individual member of his kingdom or church; similar when it stands abstractly for the heavenly attributes of love; and so on.
[3] This is why almost all the cities and in fact all the mountains, hills, valleys, rivers, and other features of the land of Canaan played a representative role.
Because the river Euphrates was a boundary, it represented the sense impressions and facts that belong to the outer self, as shown earlier, in §120. The Jordan and the Jordan plain did too, as the following passages demonstrate. In David:
My God, my soul is bowing down upon me. Therefore I will remember you from the land of Jordan, and [I will remember] the Hermons from the little mountain. (Psalms 42:6)
The land of Jordan here stands for something lowly and accordingly something remote from heavenly qualities, like our superficial traits, which are remote from our deep ones.
[4] The children of Israel crossed the Jordan when they entered the land of Canaan, and at their crossing the river parted. This also represented entry to the inner self through the outer, and an individual's entry into the Lord's kingdom as well, among other things (Joshua 3:13-17; 4:1-9).
Because our outer self constantly attacks our inner self and tries to gain control over it, "the boast of the Jordan," or "the swelling pride of the Jordan," became a standard phrase among the prophets. In Jeremiah, for instance:
How will you prove yourself the equal of horses? And in a land of peace you are smug; but how do you behave in the swelling pride of the Jordan? (Jeremiah 12:5)
The swelling pride of the Jordan stands for aspects of our outer self that rise up and try to dominate our inner self, as attempts at rationalization (the horses here) and a consequent smugness do.
[5] In the same author:
Edom will become a ruin. Look: like a lion he will go up from the boast of the Jordan to the dwelling of Ethan. (Jeremiah 49:17, 19)
The boast of the Jordan stands for pride lifted up by our outer self against the goodness and truth of our inner self. In Zechariah:
Howl, fir tree, because the cedar has fallen, because the majestic ones have been ravaged; wail, oaks of Bashan, because the walled forest has come down. The sound of the wailing of the shepherds, because their majesty has been ravaged! The sound of the roaring of young lions, that the boast of the Jordan has been ravaged! (Zechariah 11:2-3)
Numbers 34:12 shows that the Jordan was a boundary of the land of Canaan, and Joshua 15:5 shows that it was the eastern border of the land of Judah.
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