Peace on Earth

A Christmas Doctrinal Class by the Rev. Dr. Andrew M.T. Dibb

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!"

There are many stories about shepherds in the Word. Joseph's brothers were shepherds, and mighty king David himself was a shepherd in his youth. The life these men led was a very responsible one, for they had to look after their sheep. This meant many things. In one story we read of how shepherds had to draw water to give their flocks a drink (Genesis 29:3). When David was a young shepherd, a bear and a lion came to attack his sheep, and he had to defend them (1_Samuel 17:34-36). If a sheep went wandering off, the shepherd had to go and search for it, until the sheep was found - and that was a time of great rejoicing for the shepherd. The Lord once told a story about a man who had a hundred sheep, but when he found that one had gone astray, he left ninety nine of them, and searched and searched until he found the lost sheep. Then he came back full of joy because he had found his sheep (Luke 15:4, Luke 15:5).

We can imagine then, that shepherds knew a lot about sheep - they lived with them out in the fields. This means that shepherds were not city people. They didn't have polished manners, or lots of money. They probably weren't very educated, except about sheep. We know they must have been very brave, because they had to fight off wild animals, and perhaps even people who tried to steal their sheep. They must also have been gentle, because one has to be gentle with sheep, especially with little lambs.

These were the kinds of men the Lord sent the angel Gabriel to on the night He was born in Bethlehem. As we saw last week, an angel is a messenger of the Lord. In the Word angels came to bring wisdom and comfort, hope and the good news, the "euangellion" or Gospel, to those to whom the Lord wanted His presence revealed. This Gospel is the teaching that the Lord Jesus Christ was born into this world, that He made it possible for all people to be saved and brought into His kingdom. The angel Gabriel came in excitement to Mary to inform her that she was the Lord’s choice as His natural mother, and once the Lord was born, he spread the news to those willing to hear.

The angel came to simple shepherds, watching over their flock at night. When they first saw the angel, they were very afraid, but the angel's words were very comforting. "Behold," he said, "I bring you good tidings of great joy, which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord."

What wonderful words these are. Then, there appeared with the angel "a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!"." When the shepherds saw this heavenly host, they saw the entire society of angels who took the form of the angel Gabriel. The shepherds knew what they must do - they left their sheep, and went to see the Lord in Bethlehem.

What was it that made the shepherds so eager to leave their sheep in the middle of the night when they knew that there might be wild animals around, or robbers, or the possibility of the sheep wandering off? The answer is in the words of the heavenly host to them.

"Glory to God in the highest," they said, "and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men." Like us the shepherds lived in a dangerous times. Palestine was under Roman occupation, any signs of revolt, either by individuals or communities against the Romans were brutally subdued by being brutally killed or enslaved. People lived in fear and human life held very little value.

The idea of peace and goodwill contradicted every experience human experience. So it is in our own times. Wars, famine, disease continue to rampage across the face of the earth. Corruption, greed and the quest for power continue to pollute our societies, and immorality, injustice and an array of prejudices tear at the fabric of our communities. It is little wonder that many people have lost their faith in the Lord altogether—the ancient Jews looked for God in external observance of the Mosaic law as a refuge from the world, and modern people turn to naturalism for their answers. The Lord is not to be found in either.

There seems to be little 'peace on earth', and precious little 'goodwill toward men.' So what were the angels talking about. Was Gabriel making empty promises to the Shepherd when he said "I bring you good tidings of great joy, which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord." And the heavenly host proclaimed, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!"

The Lord came in the darkest spiritual state, and Gabriel’s words are words of genuine hope. The Lord is present with His love and wisdom in each and every angel of heaven. The things they think and say comes to them from the Lord Himself. This means that their words to the shepherds are truly words of hope. There will be 'peace on earth', and 'goodwill toward men'. The only obstacles to these things come from people themselves, who, like Herod, rejected the Lord and chose lives of selfishness and greed instead.

The full message of the Lord's promise of peace comes when we think of all the words of the angels in this story.

Firstly, Gabriel told the shepherds that a Saviour had been born in the city of David. The shepherds probably knew the ancient prophecies that the Lord would be born in Bethlehem. Like many people at that time, they would have been watching and waiting for a Saviour to come.

"The reason why the Lord was born there and not elsewhere, is that He alone was born a spiritual celestial man, but all others natural, with the capacity or ability to become either celestial or spiritual by regeneration from the Lord. The reason why the Lord was born a spiritual celestial man was that He might make His Human Divine, and this according to order from the lowest degree to the highest, and might thus dispose into order all things in the heavens and in the hells. For the spiritual celestial is intermediate between the natural or external man and the rational or internal man (see above, n. Arcana Coelestia 4585, Arcana Coelestia 4592), thus below it was the natural or external, and above it was the rational or internal." (Arcana Coelestia 4594[2])

We are told in many places in the Doctrine, that the essential quality of the celestial is love to the Lord, and so all good, while the quality of the spiritual is love to the neighbour, which we accomplish by putting truth into action. At birth the celestial and spiritual qualities in us exist only in potential, and become real through the process of repentance. Yet at birth the Lord had these qualities existing in Him. His love for the Divine Itself, His Father, is portrayed in His constant willingness to obey the Father, epitomized by His words in the Garden of Gethesemane: "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done" (Luke 22:42). The Lord’s willingness is His celestial quality, and it took the form of the spiritual. The spiritual is loving the neighbour, for the Lord acted at all times from His love for God towards the neighbour, whom He had come to rescue. His spiritual, therefore, is the fact that He is the Word, "made flesh" and dwelling among us.

Seen from this perspective, the Lord is a spiritual celestial being, incorporating these two essentials as a core part of His being, even though they were written and formed in the human from Mary through the process of glorification. Ordinary human beings are not born this way. We are born purely natural, and have to learn truths through the intellect, and then have them form a new will through a willingness to follow the Lord and through the process of regeneration.

"Bethlehem" represents these spiritual celestial qualities in the Lord by which He could save the human race, and for that reason, He was born there. The shepherds would not have known this, but they would have recognized the significance of Bethlehem from the ancient prophecies, and also a savior from the house of David. Like David, the Savior would be a great king.

They expected this saviour to be a mighty prince, or king, who would make the children of Israel into a great and powerful nation again. When the angel spoke to them, he said, "For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."

Gabriel’s message to the shepherds, that the Child born in Bethlehem was be "Christ the Lord" is different from the message given to Mary when he announced that she would conceive. "Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus" (Luke 1:30-31).

Very deep arcana lie concealed within the internal sense, which up to now have not come to anyone's knowledge. … It becomes absolutely clear from the internal sense of our Lord's two names JESUS CHRIST. When these are mentioned few have any other notion than that they are proper names which are little different from, though more sacred than, the names of any other human being. Better educated people know, it is true, that Jesus means Saviour, and Christ the Anointed, from which they conceive some more interior notion. But this is not the same as the things which the angels in heaven perceive from those names. They perceive things more Divine still, that is to say, when Jesus is mentioned by someone reading the Word they perceive Divine Good, and when Christ is mentioned, Divine Truth. And when both are mentioned together they perceive the Divine marriage of good to truth, and of truth to good. Thus they perceive everything Divine within the heavenly marriage, which is heaven. (Arcana Coelestia 3004)

Technically the name 'Christ' means one who has been anointed with oil, and thus who would be a king. When David was made king, Samuel the priest poured oil over his head as a sign that he was now the king. So when the angel said that 'Christ the Lord' was born, they understood that their king had come. The Writings tell us, however, that the name "Christ" refers specifically to the divine truth, which, in the Lord was His Humanity—thus to that child born in Bethlehem whose human would eventually be glorified and united to the Divine.

The Christ means the Lord's Divine humanity because the Christ is the Messiah, and the Messiah is the Son of God whose coming into the world was awaited by the Jews. (Apocalypse Revealed 520)

Salvation would come through the purifying of the human taken on from Mary, and its glorification, that is, it’s conjunction with the Divine. Christ the Lord is the Savior because by taking on this humanity, the Lord is now able to be present in the natural degree of our lives, and so lead us along the same route He followed in His glorification.

The shepherds were simple men. They thought, as many would later on, that this king would be king instead of King Herod - whom they didn't like. A message like this would have been wonderful enough, and the shepherds must have been very happy that they lived when the King had come down to earth. They couldn't have understood that the Lord did not come as an earthly king, He did not come to take over from Herod, or overthrow the Romans. "My kingdom," He said, "is not of this world." He came to bring us peace and show us how to build goodwill toward all men in our hearts.

As we celebrate Christmas, we are fortunate to know that the Lord didn't come as a king to overthrow the Romans, or take over from Herod. We know that He came to fight against the power of hell, and that He overcame it. He fought and He won, and in so doing, He has made it possible for us to do the same thing. His kingdom doesn't belong in this world, it is the kingdom of heaven, which we know lives within us as a constant source of love and kindness.

As the shepherds listened to Gabriel speaking, they were surprised when suddenly they saw with the angel Gabriel a multitude of the heavenly hosts, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!" This was enough to convince the shepherds. They left their flocks and went quickly to Bethlehem, where they saw the Child, wrapped in Swaddling Cloths, lying in a manger.

But if the Lord’s human was His truth, how can a person pick out the real truth from the rest of the things we learn. Let’s assume for a moment that more than one baby was born in Bethlehem on that night. How would the shepherds identify which of the babies born was the Christ? How do we know that the truths that will rescue and regenerate us are the real ones, amid a world full of competing truths?

The shepherds would know by the sign given to them. The Child would be wrapped in swaddling cloths and laid in a manger. With this information, they would know not to look for the Lord in a palace or wealthy home, or any place where the animals were separated from people. A stall, or stable, would be the most likely place.

Familiar as we are with the Christmas tableau of the stall, we know that we will not find the Lord in the riches of worldly knowledge, or contemporary wisdom (regardless of the age we live in), nor in conventional thought and practice. To find the Lord we need to look for that manger. In the spiritual sense,

"A manger" means the doctrine of truth from the Word, because "horses" signify the understanding of the Word; and thus a manger, as a feeding place for horses, signifies the doctrine of truth from the Word. (Apocalypse Explained 706[12])

"The doctrine of truth from the Word" is nothing other than the true teachings from the Word—clear, plain teachings that are self-evident to the reason of a person who is looking for truth. For example, when a person considers the qualities of God, that He is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, divine, these can only exist in one God. There cannot be a plural of omnipotent God. Reason does not allow for that. The teaching of the Word that God is One God, is eminently reasonable and believable. It is the same with many other teachings, for example, the Ten Commandments. It doesn’t take a genius to see that lying, stealing, murdering or committing adultery are harmful to both individuals and society.

These are the teachings of the Word that appeal to the understanding, the horses which each from the manger, and this is where we will find our salvation. The Lord was the Word, He is the truth come down and dwells among us. And the only place we find Him is lying in that manger of teaching.

It is not stretch of the imagination that the shepherds were looking for this manger, but as there were probably several new-born babies in Bethlehem, so there were probably many mangers in stables around the town. In our quest for understanding, there are many competing ideas laid before us. How do we know which is the right one?

The answer lies in the angel Gabriel’s description, "This will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger."

He is also said to have been "wrapped in swaddling clothes," because "swaddling clothes" signify first truths, which are truths of innocence, and which are also truths of the Divine love; for "nakedness," in reference to a babe, signifies deprivation of truth. From this it is clear why it was said by the angels, "This is a sign unto you, ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger." (Apocalypse Explained 706[12])

The "first truths" a person has are the sensual and factual knowledge from which they are able to think, reason, and so to believe and do. The "first truths" introduce a person to the church, and make it possible for them to develop the spiritual understanding that will later guide their lives.

… the first truths there being sensory ones, the second truths being factual, and interior truths matters of doctrine. The latter are based on factual truths inasmuch as a person can have and retain no idea, notion, or concept of them except from factual truths. But the foundations on which factual truths are based are sensory truths, for without sensory truths nobody is able to possess factual ones. (Arcana Coelestia 3310)

The first truths a person learns are from the sense of the letter of the Word, for these become the containant of deeper truths:

First truths are also ultimate truths, such as are in the sense of the letter of the Word, for through these entrance is effected, for these are first learned, and in them are all interior things which constitute the internal sense of the Word. (Apocalypse Explained 395)

These first truths from the foundation for the later truths:

But because exterior truths are the first truths which a person learns, the Lord has provided that by means of them he can be introduced into interior truths. (Arcana Coelestia 3857)

These are the "swaddling cloths" wrapping the baby. When the shepherds found a manger with this baby in it, they would know that they have found the Lord.

When Gabriel had made this announcement to the astonished shepherds, "suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!"

What wonderful words of praise, and words we still sing today. When the angels praised God, their song was a sign that they believed in God, not only in His existence, but also in all the things He has taught in His Word. From the prophecies of the Word they saw ahead into His life, and saw the great battles He would fight for each one of us. They saw His victories over the power of hell, as He made it subject to Himself.

They also saw that as He conquered hell. He made it possible for peace and goodwill to reign on all the earth - possible because if people followed His teachings, and walked the path He shows us, the primary human evils of selfishness and greed could be overcome, and, without them, there would be peace.

For many people the fact that there are still wars, disease and poverty two thousand years after the Lord's birth is a major stumbling block. Many people ask how these things can continue in the face of the Lord's birth, His life, death and resurrection. Yet the Lord did not come to change the natural world, He came to change our spiritual world - to change the way we think and feel about things, and from that to change how we act. Changing the world alone would not have a lasting effect. True change must come from within us, and genuine spiritual change can only come when we submit ourselves to the Lord as our God and Saviour.

The Lord's main message is, of course, that we must turn aside from evil and do good. We need to do this inside our hearts where no one can see what we really think and feel, and also in our actions, which everyone can see. If we believe that the Lord is our God and Saviour, then it is not so difficult to turn aside from these things, for we do them for the Lord. Our belief in Him, then, won't just be something we say, but it will be intertwined with all the things we do. It will be written on our hearts. So the angel hosts began by saying "Glory to God in the highest," for when we hold the Lord in glory and think of Him first in all the things we feel, think, say and do, then the Lord will be at the centre of our lives.

The angels next words show us what happens to us when we put the Lord high up in our lives. They said, "and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men." The word 'earth' here is a symbol of our minds - we often speak of a person as having a fertile mind, or as ideas as seeds. It is not too difficult, then, to see that the earth means more than just the world around us, it also means our minds.

Our minds become peaceful when the Lord governs it. The Psalmist says, "The Lord is in His holy temple, let all the earth keep silent before it" which reminds us that our minds come from and belong to the Lord. Our silence is the stilling of the voices of promoting contrary things to what the Lord gives us. When we use our minds properly as a bridge between true spiritual love and our actions in this world, then the Lord is present there, and when our minds are filled with the Lord, there is a silence, partly a silence of awe and partly a silence because the constant irritations of selfishness and greed are quietened by His presence.

This, then, is true peace. It is not contingent on natural things, on whether we are young or old, rich or poor, thin or fat, black or white. Rather it comes from within, from the presence of the Lord in our minds, and from His presence there He guides and directs our thoughts and our feelings, our speech and our actions.

This presence bubbles out of us as love - the angels call it 'Goodwill toward men'. A love that it untainted by selfishness makes it possible for us to reach out to others and embrace their lives with ours. It means that people will think before they act or speak. That they will hold back the hurtful word, or the painful action. It means that they will rise above self concern and learn to give of themselves.

If all six billion of us on this planet today could learn to think like this, then earthly peace would be with us all. There would be no more wars - differences between individuals and countries could be sorted out amicably with regard to the deeper issues at stake. Diseases and famine may still be with us, but people would see in them an opportunity to help one another.

It sounds utopian, and very simple. Yet those were the words the angels used when they spoke to the shepherds, "Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men."

The shepherds were so moved by these words - although they could only understand them in a very simple way, that they left their sheep, and went at once and in haste to Bethlehem. There, in that stable they saw, for the first time ever, the face of the Lord - a tiny child with the work of redemption stretched out before Him, a work that He did once during His life time, and over and over again in the hearts and minds of those who hear Him calling, and turn and follow Him.

AMEN

Readings:

Luke 2:8-20

Arcana Coelestia 92

Arcana Coelestia 223

Arcana Coelestia 925

4592. 'And his father called him Benjamin' means the nature of the spiritual of the celestial. This is clear from the representation of 'Benjamin' as the spiritual of the celestial. What this is has been explained above in 4585, namely the intermediate part between the spiritual and the celestial, or between the spiritual man and the celestial man. In the original language Benjamin means Son of the right hand, and by 'son of the right hand' is meant spiritual truth which springs from celestial good, and consequent power; for good receives power through truth, 3563. 'Son' means truth, 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, 3373, and 'hand' means power, 878, 3091, 3563, 'right hand' therefore meaning supreme power. From this one may see what is meant by 'sitting at God's right hand', namely a state of power received from truth that springs from good, 3387. When used in reference to the Lord this phrase denotes omnipotence, and also Divine Truth which proceeds from the Lord's Divine Good, as in Psalms 110:1; Matthew 22:44; 26:63-64; Mark 14:61-62; 6:19; Luke 22:69. And since it is Divine power, that is, omnipotence, that is meant, the phrase 'at the right hand of God's power (or virtue ¹ )' is used in these places.

[2] From this it is evident what 'Benjamin' means in the genuine sense, namely spiritual truth which springs from celestial good, meant by 'Joseph'. Both together therefore constitute that which lies between the spiritual man and the celestial man, as stated above in 4585. But this good and this truth are distinct and separate from the celestial represented by 'Judah' and from the spiritual represented by 'Israel', the former entity being higher or more interior, the latter one lower or more exterior, for as stated they constitute that which lies between. But no one can have any conception of the good represented by 'Joseph' or of the truth represented by 'Benjamin' except him who has been enlightened by the light of heaven. Angels have a clear conception of them because all the ideas forming their thought are products of the light of heaven which comes from the Lord, a light in which they see and perceive an unending number of things which man cannot possibly understand, let alone speak about.

[3] Take the following as an illustration. All without exception are born natural yet with the capacity to become either celestial or spiritual, whereas the Lord alone was born spiritual-celestial. It was for this reason that He was born in Bethlehem, where the border of the land of Benjamin ran. Indeed 'Bethlehem' means the spiritual of the celestial, and 'Benjamin' represents the same. The reason He alone was born spiritual-celestial is that the Divine dwelt within Him. These are matters which no one can possibly comprehend who does not dwell in the light of heaven; for one who dwells in the light of the world, and relies for his perception on that light, hardly knows what truth is or what good is, still less what it is to rise up by degrees to more interior levels of truth and good, and so hardly knows anything at all about the countless manifestations of truth and good in every degree which are visible to angels in light as clear as that shining at midday. This shows the nature of angels' wisdom in comparison with men's.

[4] There are six names which occur frequently [in the Word] - in the prophetical sections, where the Church is the subject. These are Judah, Joseph, Benjamin, Ephraim, Israel, and Jacob. Anyone who does not know which aspect of good or truth of the Church each of these is used to mean in the internal sense cannot know a single one of the Divine arcana of the Word in those sections. Nor can he know which aspect of the Church is meant unless he knows what the celestial is, meant by 'Judah'; what the celestial of the spiritual is, meant by 'Joseph'; what the spiritual of the celestial is, meant by 'Benjamin'; what the intellectual side of the Church is, meant by 'Ephraim'; what the internal spiritual is, meant by 'Israel'; and what the external spiritual is, meant by 'Jacob'.

[5] As regards 'Benjamin' in particular, he represents the spiritual of the celestial, while 'Joseph represents the celestial of the spiritual; and both together accordingly represent the intermediate part between the celestial man and the spiritual man. This being so they are linked together very closely, and for this reason that close link between them is also described by the following details in the historical narratives about Joseph,

Joseph told his brothers to bring their youngest brother, so as not to die. Genesis 42:20.

When they resumed with Benjamin, and Joseph saw Benjamin his brother, he said, Is this your youngest brother, of whom you told me? And he said, God be kind to you, my son. And Joseph hastened, for his bowels were stirred with emotion for his brother, and he sought to weep, and therefore went into his room and wept there. Genesis 43:29-30.

He multiplied Benjamin's portion five times more than the portion of any of the others. Genesis 43:34.

After disclosing who he was to his brothers he fell on the neck of Benjamin his brother and wept; and Benjamin wept on his neck. Genesis 45:14.

He gave changes of clothing to them all, but to Benjamin three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of clothing. Genesis 45:22.

[6] From these places it is evident that Joseph and Benjamin were linked very closely together, not because they had the same mother but because the spiritual link that exists between the good meant by 'Joseph' and the truth meant by 'Benjamin' is represented by them. And because these two constitute that which lies between the celestial man and the spiritual man Joseph and his brothers could not be brought together, nor he and his father brought together, except by means of Benjamin; for without that intermediary no such bringing together is possible. This was the reason why Joseph did not reveal his true identity before he did.

[7] Elsewhere in the Word, especially the prophetical part, there are other places where Benjamin means the spiritual truth which is the Church's, as in Moses' prophecy regarding the sons of Israel,

To Benjamin he said, Beloved of Jehovah, he will dwell in confidence upon him, covering him all the day, and he will dwell between his shoulders. Deuteronomy 33:12.

'Beloved of Jehovah' means spiritual truth springing from celestial good. The presence of this good with that truth is referred to as 'dwelling in confidence', 'covering it the whole day', and also 'dwelling between his shoulders', for in the internal sense 'the shoulders' means all power, 1085, and all power which good possesses is expressed by means of truth, 3563.

[8] In Jeremiah,

Flee, sons of Benjamin, out of the midst of Jerusalem, and sound the trumpet, and take up a prophecy over the house of the vine; for evil stares from the north, and great destruction. Jeremiah 6:1.

'Sons of Benjamin' stands for spiritual truth springing from what is celestial. 'Jerusalem' stands for the spiritual Church, as does 'the house of the vine' or Beth Hakkerem. 'Evil from the north' stands for man's sensory perception and his knowledge acquired through this. In the same prophet,

It will happen if you keep the sabbath day holy, that people will come in from the cities of Judah and from places surrounding Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the plain, and from the mountain, and from the south, bringing burnt offering and sacrifice, and minchah, and frankincense, and bringing thanksgiving, to the house of Jehovah. Jeremiah 17:24, 26.

[9] And elsewhere in the same prophet,

In the mountain cities, in the cities of the plain, and in the cities of the south, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the places surrounding Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, flocks will again pass under the hands of him who counts them. Jeremiah 33:13.

Here 'the land of Benjamin' too stands for spiritual truth which is the Church's, for all things that constitute the Church, from the first to the final degree of these, are meant by 'the cities of Judah', 'the places surrounding Jerusalem', 'the land of Benjamin', 'the plain', 'the mountain', and 'the south'.

[10] In Hosea,

Sound the trumpet (buccina) in Gibeah, the trumpet (tuba) in Ramah. Cry out, Beth Aven; after you, Benjamin. Ephraim will become lonely places on the day of reproach. Hosea 5:8-9.

'Gibeah', 'Ramah', and 'Beth Aven' stand for aspects of the spiritual springing from the celestial meant by 'Benjamin', for Gibeah was part of Benjamin, Judges 19:14, as also was Ramah, Joshua 18:25, as well as Beth Aven, Joshua 18:12. 'Sounding the trumpets (buccina et tuba)' and 'crying out' stand for declaring that the intellectual side of the Church, meant by 'Ephraim', has been destroyed.

[11] In Obadiah,

The house of Jacob will become fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, the house of Esau stubble; and those in the south will inherit the mountain of Esau, and those who are in the plain the Philistines; and they will inherit the field of Ephraim and the field of Samaria, and Benjamin [will inherit] Gilead. Obad. verses 18, 19.

Here, as in other places, it is quite evident that the names used mean spiritual realities, for unless one knows what is meant by 'the house of Jacob', 'the house of Joseph', 'the house of Esau', 'the mountain of Esau', 'the Philistines', 'the field of Ephraim', 'the field of Samaria', 'Benjamin', and 'Gilead', and in addition to these what is meant by 'those in the south', 'the house', 'the plain', 'the mountain', and 'the field', one will never understand anything here. Nor did the details described here as historical events actually take place. But anyone who knows what each individual expression implies will discover heavenly arcana within this particular use of them. Here also 'Benjamin' stands for what is spiritual springing from that which is celestial.

[12] Similarly the following in Zechariah,

Jehovah will be King over all the earth; in that day there will be one Jehovah, and His name one. Round about the whole land will be as the plain from Geba even to Rimmon. And [Jerusalem] will dwell in her own place, from the Gate of Benjamin even to the place of the first gate, to the corner gate, ² and the tower of Hananel, even to the king's winepresses. Zechariah 14:9-10.

Similarly in David,

Turn Your ear, O Shepherd, You who lead ³ Joseph like a flock, who are seated on the cherubim; before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up Your power and come to save us. Psalms 80:1-2.

Similarly in the prophecy of Deborah and Barak,

Jehovah will have dominion for me among the strong. Out of Ephraim whose root is in Amalek, following you, Benjamin, among your peoples, out of Machir lawgivers will come down, and out of Zebulun those who carry the sceptre of the scribe. Judges 5:13-14.

[13] In John,

I heard the number of the sealed, a hundred and forty-four thousand sealed out of every tribe of Israel - twelve thousand sealed out of the tribe of Zebulun, twelve thousand sealed out of the tribe of Joseph, twelve thousand sealed out of the tribe of Benjamin. Revelation 7:4, 8.

By 'the tribes of Israel' here are meant those with whom goods and truths exist and who as a consequence are in the Lord's kingdom. For 'the tribes' and 'twelve', or what amounts to the same 'twelve thousand', mean all aspects of love and faith, or all aspects of good and truth, 577, 2089, 2129, 2130, 3272, 3858, 3913, 3926, 3939, 4060. In that chapter of the Book of Revelation the tribes are divided into four groups, the last group being made up of twelve thousand sealed out of Zebulun, twelve thousand out of Joseph, and twelve thousand out of Benjamin, because 'the tribe of Zebulun' means the heavenly marriage, 3960, 3961, in which marriage heaven and so all things consist. 'Joseph' in this case means the celestial of the spiritual, or the good of truth, while 'Benjamin' means the truth of that good, or the spiritual of the celestial. These form the marriage in which heaven consists, and this is why these three tribes are mentioned last.

[14] Because 'Benjamin' was to represent the spiritual of the celestial of the Church, or the truth of good, which is the intermediate part between celestial good and spiritual truth, Jerusalem was therefore allowed to the children of Benjamin as an inheritance; for before Zion was built there Jerusalem meant the Church in general. For the allotment of Jerusalem to Benjamin, see Joshua 18:28 and Judges 1:21.

Notas de rodapé:

3857. 'And Rachel was barren' means that interior truths were not received. This is clear from the representation of 'Rachel' as the affection for interior truth, dealt with already, and from the meaning of 'barren' as not giving rise to doctrines, nor thus Churches. This statement expresses the opposite of what is said in reference to Leah, that is, that 'Jehovah opened her womb', meaning that the affection represented by her gave rise to the doctrines taught by the Churches. The reason interior truths were not received is that interior truths are such as go above the range of man's belief, that is to say, they do not fall into ideas he has and are not conditioned by the outward appearances or the illusions of the senses by which everyone allows himself to be led. He does not believe interior truths unless in some way they coincide with those appearances or illusions.

[2] For example, it is an interior truth that intervals of time and of space do not exist in the next life, but states instead. Man who is within time and space while he lives in the world forms all his ideas from these, so much so that he cannot have any thought without them, 3404. Consequently unless the states which exist in the next life were described by means of the intervals of time and space which man experiences, that is, by means of the kind of things that are moulded by time and space, he would perceive nothing and so believe nothing, and as a consequence would receive nothing. Doctrine would in that case be barren and no Church would arise from it.

[3] Take another example. Unless celestial and spiritual affections were described by means of such things as constitute worldly and bodily affections man would not perceive anything, for these are the affections he experiences, and it is from them that he is able to have notions about celestial and spiritual affections. Yet the two types of affections are as different from each other, or as far apart, as heaven from earth. Take for example the glory of heaven, that is, of the angels in heaven, 3839. Unless man modelled his idea of the glory of heaven on the idea of the glory which exists in the world he would not grasp it at all and so would not acknowledge it. The same applies to all other interior or heavenly things.

[4] For this reason the Lord has spoken in the Word in accordance with man's own ability to grasp things and with the appearances that go with that grasp of them. The literal sense of the Word is such, yet at the same time is of such a nature that it holds within it the internal sense which contains interior truths. This then explains why it is said in reference to Leah that 'Jehovah opened her womb', and that 'Rachel was barren'; for as has been stated, 'Leah' represents the affection for exterior truth, 'Rachel' the affection for interior truth. But because exterior truths are the first truths which a person learns, the Lord has provided that by means of them he can be introduced into interior truths. This provision is meant by the statement in Genesis 30:22 that God at last remembered Rachel, hearkened to her, and opened her womb.

[5] The truth of all this may be seen from the Churches which existed in ancient times, and from their doctrinal teachings, namely that their teachings were formed from external truths. With the Ancient Church which existed after the Flood their doctrinal teachings were for the most part external representatives and meaningful signs which had internal truths stored within them. For the majority of its members holy worship consisted in those external representatives and signs. If anyone had told them that the essential ingredients of Divine worship were not those representatives and meaningful signs but the spiritual and celestial realities represented and meant by these, they would have rejected them altogether, and so the Church would have ceased to exist. This applied even more to the Jewish Church. If anyone had told them that their religious observances received their holiness from the Divine things that were the Lord's within them they would not have acknowledged them at all.

[6] Such also was mankind when the Lord came into the world. They had grown even more bodily-minded, especially so those who were members of the Church. This is quite evident even from the disciples who, though with the Lord constantly and hearing so many things about His kingdom, were as yet unable to perceive interior truths. They were still unable to have any other concept of the Lord than such as exists with the Jews at the present day about the Messiah whom they are still awaiting. They imagined that He would promote that people to a position of dominion and glory over all nations throughout the world. And after hearing so many things from the Lord about the heavenly kingdom the disciples were still unable to think anything else than that the heavenly kingdom would be like an earthly kingdom, where God the Father would be supreme, after Him the Son, and then themselves the twelve, and so would reign in this order. For the same reasons also James and John asked to sit one on His right and the other on the left, Mark 10:35-37; and the rest of the disciples were angry at these two wishing to be greater than the rest, Mark 10:41; Matthew 20:24. For the same reason also, after teaching them what it was to be greatest in heaven, Matthew 20:25-28; Mark 10:42-45, the Lord still spoke in the way that they themselves thought. That is to say, He spoke of them sitting on twelve thrones and judging the twelve tribes of Israel, Luke 22:24, 30; Matthew 19:28.

[7] If they had been told that the word 'disciples' was not used to mean themselves but all people in whom the good of love and faith dwells, 3354, 3488, and also that in the Lord's kingdom there are no thrones, nor positions of government and dominion, as in the world, and that they would not be able to pass judgement on even the smallest aspect of any one person, 2129, 2553, they would have rejected that saying, and each would have left the Lord and gone back to his own employment. The reason why the Lord spoke in the way He did was so that they would receive those things and through them be introduced into internal truths. For within the external truths which the Lord spoke internal truths lay stored away which in course of time are laid bare. And when these are laid bare those external truths are dispelled and serve solely as the objects or the means for thought about internal ones. From these considerations one may recognize what is meant by the fact that Jehovah opened Leah's womb first and she bore sons to Jacob, and that Rachel did so subsequently.