Gilead, as in Genesis 31:21, 23, was a boundary of the land of Canaan. In the spiritual sense, it 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 8:52; 22:6; 46:11; 50:19; Ezekiel 47:18; Obadiah 1:19; Micah 7:14; Zechariah 10:10; Psalm 60:7; and, in the opposite sense, in Hosea 6:8; 12:11.

(Referenties: Arcana Coelestia 4117)