2089. Twelve princes shall he beget. That this signifies the primary precepts which are of charity, is evident from the signification of “twelve,” as being all things of faith; and from the signification of “princes,” as being primary things. “King” and “princes” are mentioned in various parts of the Word; but in the internal sense they never signify king or princes, but the primary things of the matter in connection with which they are mentioned. (That “kings” signify truths in one complex has been already shown, n. 2015; also that “princes” are the primaries of truth, which are precepts, n. 1482.) Hence the angels-in fact the spiritual angels-are called “principalities,” because they are in truths. The term “princes” is predicated from the truths which are of charity; for, as before said (n. 1832), the spiritual, by means of the truths that appear to them as truths, receive charity from the Lord, and through this, conscience.

[2] That “twelve” signifies all the things of faith, has been hitherto unknown to the world; and yet whenever the number “twelve” occurs in the Word, whether in the historic or the prophetic part, it signifies nothing else. By the “twelve sons” of Jacob, and derivatively by the “twelve tribes” named from them, the same is signified; and also by the “twelve disciples” of the Lord. Each son of Jacob, and each of the twelve disciples, represented an essential and primary of faith. (What was represented by each son of Jacob, and so by each tribe, will of the Lord’s Divine mercy be told in what follows, where the sons of Jacob are treated of, Genesis 29 and 30.)

1866. From the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates. That this signifies the extension of spiritual and celestial things-to “the river of Egypt” being the extension of spiritual things, and “to the river Euphrates” being the extension of celestial things-is evident from the signification of “the river of Egypt,” and from the signification of “the great river,” or “the Euphrates.” That these “rivers” signify the extension of spiritual and celestial things, may be seen from the signification of the land of Canaan, as being the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens and on the earth, in which there is nothing but the spiritual things which are of faith and the celestial things which are of mutual love; and therefore nothing but the extension of these can be meant by the boundaries of the land of Canaan. For what the land of Canaan is, what the river of Egypt is, and what the great river Euphrates is, and indeed what the boundaries of any land are, they who are in the heavens do not know at all; but they well know what the extension of spiritual and celestial things is, and also the determinations and the limitations of the states of these things. These things they have in mind while the others are being read by man; and so the letter vanishes and together with it that historical sense which has served as an objective form for the heavenly ideas.

[2] That “the river of Egypt” signifies the extension of spiritual things, is because “Egypt” signifies memory-knowledges [scientifica], which, together with a man’s rational and intellectual things, constitute spiritual things (as before said, n. 1443 and in other places; and that “Egypt” in the internal sense signifies memory-knowledges may be seen n. 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462). That “the river Euphrates” signifies the extension of celestial things, may be seen from a consideration of the lands which that river bounds and separates from the land of Canaan, and by which likewise in many passages are signified the knowledges [scientifica et cognitiones] of celestial things but here, because it is called “the river” and “the great river,” celestial things and the knowledges [cognitiones] of them are what alone are signified; for a “great river” and “greatness” are predicated of these.