103. We can tell from the books of Moses that there was a Word among the ancients because he mentioned it and excerpted from it (Numbers 21:14-15, 27-30). We can tell that the narrative portions of that Word were called “The Wars of Jehovah, ” and that the prophetic portions were called “Pronouncements.” Moses quoted the following from the historical narratives of that Word:

Therefore it says in The Book of the Wars of Jehovah, “Waheb in Suphah and the rivers Arnon, a watercourse of rivers that goes down to [where] Ar is inhabited and rests along the border of Moab.” (Numbers 21:14-15)

In that Word as in ours, the wars of Jehovah were understood to be, and served to describe in detail, the Lord’s battles against hell and his victories over it when he would come into the world. These same battles are meant and described time after time in the historical narratives of our Word - in Joshua’s battles against the nations of the land of Canaan, for example, and in the wars of the judges and the kings of Israel.

[2] Moses quoted the following from the prophetic portions of that Word:

Therefore those who make pronouncements say, “Come to Heshbon! The city of Sihon will be built up and fortified, because fire has gone out from Heshbon, flame from the city of Sihon. It has devoured Ar of Moab, those who occupy the heights of Arnon. Woe to you, Moab! You have perished, people of Chemosh; he has made his sons fugitives and sent his daughters into captivity to Sihon, king of the Amorites. With arrows we have dealt with them; Heshbon has perished as far as Dibon, and we have spread destruction as far as Nophah, which extends to Medeba.” (Numbers 21:27-30)

Translators change [the title of] this to “Composers of Proverbs, ” but it should be called “Makers of Pronouncements” or “Prophetic Pronouncements, ” as we can tell from the meaning of the word moschalim in Hebrew. It means not only proverbs but also prophetic utterances, as in Numbers 23:7, 18; 24:3, 15 where it says that Balaam gave forth his pronouncement, which was actually a prophetic utterance and was about the Lord. In these instances each of his pronouncements is called a mashal in the singular. There is also the fact that what Moses quoted from this source are not proverbs but prophecies.

[3] We can see that this Word was similarly divine or divinely inspired from a passage in Jeremiah where we find almost the same words:

A fire has gone out from Heshbon and a flame from the midst of Sihon, which has devoured the corner of Moab and the top of the children of tumult. Woe to you, Moab! The people of Chemosh have perished, for your sons have been carried off into captivity and your daughters into captivity. (Jeremiah 48:45-46)

Further, both David and Joshua mention another prophetic book of the former Word, The Book of Jasher or The Book of the Righteous One. Here is where David mentions it:

David lamented over Saul and over Jonathan and wrote, “‘To Teach the Children of Judah the Bow.’ (You will find this written in The Book of Jasher.)” (2 Samuel 1:17-18)

Here is where Joshua mentions it:

Joshua said, “‘Come to rest, O sun, in Gibeon; and, O moon, in the valley of Aijalon.’ Is this not written in The Book of Jasher?” (Joshua 10:12-13)

Then too, I have been told that the first seven chapters of Genesis are right there in that ancient Word, so that not the slightest word is missing.

6637. 'These are the names of the children of Israel' means the essential nature of the Church. This is clear from the meaning of' the name as the essential nature, dealt with in 144, 145, 1754, 1896, 2009, 2628, 2724, 3006, 3421; from the representation of 'the sons of Israel' as spiritual truths, dealt with in 5414, 5879, 5951; and from the representation of 'Israel' as the good of truth, which is spiritual good, dealt with in 3654, 4598, 5803, 5806, 5812, 5817, 5819, 5826, 5833. Since Israel' represents the good of truth or spiritual good and 'his sons' represent spiritual truths in the natural, 'the sons of Israel' also represent the Church, for what makes it the Church is spiritual good and the truths that spring from that good. A person without spiritual good, that is, the good of charity, and without spiritual truths, that is, the truths of faith, does not belong to the Church in spite of having been born within the Church. The whole of the Lord's heavenly kingdom possesses the good of love and faith, and unless the Church possesses good like that it cannot be the Church since it is not joined to heaven; for the Church is the Lord's kingdom on earth.

[2] The term 'Church' is not used because it is the place where the Word is and teachings drawn from it, or because it is where the Lord is known and the sacraments are celebrated. Rather it is the Church because it lives in accordance with the Word or with teachings drawn from the Word, and seeks to make those teachings its rule of life. People who do not live like this do not belong to the Church but are outside it; and those who lead wicked lives, thus lives contrary to that teaching, are further away outside the Church than gentiles who know nothing whatever about the Word, the Lord, or the sacraments. For since those people are acquainted with the forms of good that the Church fosters and with the truths it teaches they annihilate the Church within themselves, something gentiles cannot do because they are unacquainted with those things. It should also be realized that everyone who leads a good life, in charity and faith, is a Church, and is a kingdom of the Lord. He is for that reason also called a temple, and a house of God too. Those who are Churches individually, no matter how remote from one another they may be, constitute one Church collectively. This then is the Church meant by the expression 'the children of Israel' here and in what follows.