432. Verse 5. Of the tribe of Judah twelve thousand sealed; of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand sealed; of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand sealed.

5. "Of the tribe of Judah twelve thousand sealed," signifies love to the Lord, and that all who are in that love are in heaven, and come into heaven n. 433; "of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand sealed," signifies the light of truth from that good, and that all who are in that light are in heaven and come into heaven n. 434; "of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand sealed," signifies the consequent good of life (n. 435, 436).

1362. That Terah was the son of Nahor, and also a nation that was named after him as its forefather, and that he means idolatrous worship, has been shown already. The fact that Terah was a nation becomes clear from the consideration that nations arising from his sons acknowledged him as their forefather, just as the sons of Jacob - that is, the Jews and Israelites - and also the Ishmaelites, Midianites, and others, acknowledged Abram as theirs and as the Moabites and Ammonites acknowledged Lot. Although these nations were not named after those forefathers, but after their sons, nevertheless when all acknowledge a common forefather and call themselves his sons - for example, the sons of Terah, or the sons of Abraham, or the sons of Lot - a nation is meant in a general sense by each one, as also here by Terah, Abram, Nahor, and Lot, because they are the stocks or roots of nations. The same was true of the descendants of Jacob who were all named after his twelve sons, but are nevertheless called Jacob and Israel, as well as the seed and the sons of Abraham, John 8:33, 39.