4608. And the sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaid, Dan and Naphtali. That these signify subsequent things that are of service to interior goods and truths, is evident from the representation of Bilhah Rachel’s handmaid as being the subsequent affection that is of service as a means to the affection of interior truth (see n. 3849). Moreover, a “handmaid” denotes a means that serves for conjunction (n. 3913, 3917, 3931), and her “sons” denote such means. By subsequent goods and truths are meant those goods and truths that do not enter in immediately, but which are derived from such as do, and are adjoined to them as handmaids, and which also mediate and promote. Their essential things are represented by Dan and Naphtali; by Dan in the supreme sense the Lord’s righteousness and mercy, in the internal sense the holy of faith, and in the external sense the good of life (n. 3921, 3923); and by Naphtali, in the supreme sense His own power, in the internal sense temptation in which there is victory, and in the external sense resistance from the natural man (n. 3927, 3928). These are the essential things of the means that are of service to interior goods and truths.

3923. Therefore she called his name Dan. That this signifies its quality, is evident from the signification of a “name” and of “calling a name,” as being quality (see n. 144, 145, 1754, 1896, 2009, 2724, 3421). The quality itself is within the name “Dan,” for he was so called from “judging.” But though the name was given to him from “judging,” it nevertheless involves what is signified by all these words of Rachel: “God hath judged me, and also hath heard my voice,” that is, the good of life, and the holy of faith, and also in the supreme sense the justice and mercy of the Lord. It is this general principle of the church that is signified by “Dan,” and that is represented by the tribe named from Dan. This general principle is the first that is to be affirmed or acknowledged, before a man can be regenerated or made a church. Unless these things are affirmed and acknowledged, the rest of the things both of faith and of life cannot possibly be received, and therefore cannot be affirmed, still less acknowledged. For he who affirms mere faith with himself, and not the holy of faith, that is, charity (for this is the holy of faith), and does not affirm this by the good of life, that is, by the works of charity, can no longer have a relish for the essence of faith, because he rejects it. Affirmation together with acknowledgment is the first general principle with the man who is being regenerated, but is the last with him who has been regenerated; and therefore “Dan” is the first with him who is to be regenerated, and “Joseph” is the last; for “Joseph” is the spiritual man himself. But “Joseph” is the first with him who has been regenerated, and “Dan” the last; because the man who is to be regenerated commences from the affirmation that it is so, namely, the holy of faith and the good of life. But the regenerate man, who is spiritual, is in spiritual good itself, and from this he regards such affirmation as last; for with him the holy things of faith and goods of life have been confirmed.

[2] That “Dan” is the affirmative which must be the first thing when a man is being regenerated, may also be seen from other passages in the Word where “Dan” is named; as from the prophecy of Jacob, then Israel, respecting his sons:

Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel; Dan shall be a serpent upon the way, an adder upon the path, that biteth the horse’s heels, and his rider falleth backward. I wait for thy salvation, O Jehovah (Genesis 49:16-18).

“Dan” here denotes the affirmative of truth, concerning which it is said that it will be “a serpent upon the way, and an adder upon the path,” when anyone reasons about truth from sensuous things; “biting the horse’s heels,” when it consults the lowest intellectual things or memory-knowledges, and draws conclusions from them; and that it is then led away from the truth, is signified by “his rider falling backward;” for which reason it is said, “I wait for thy salvation, O Jehovah.” That the “serpent” is the man who reasons from sensuous things and memory-knowledges concerning Divine arcana, may be seen above (n. 195-197); and that “way” and “path” signify truth (n. 627, 2333); and that the “horse’s heels” are the lowest intellectual things or memory-knowledges (n. 259); for a “horse” is the intellectual (n. 2761, 2762); the lowest part of which is the “heel.”

[3] Again in the prophecy of Moses concerning the twelve tribes:

Of Dan he said, Dan is a lion’s whelp, he leapeth forth from Bashan (Deuteronomy 33:22);

a “lion” in the internal sense of the Word signifies the truth of the church, from his strength, for truth is that which fights and conquers; hence a “lion’s whelp” denotes the first of truth, which is affirmation and acknowledgment. It is said “from Bashan,” because it is from the good of the natural.

In Jeremiah:

Wash thine heart from wickedness, O Jerusalem, that thou mayest be saved. How long makest thou the thoughts of thine iniquity to lodge in the midst of thee? For a voice declareth from Dan, and causeth to hear iniquity from Mount Ephraim (Jeremiah 4:14-15);

“from Dan,” denotes the truth that is to be affirmed; “from Mount Ephraim,” that it is from the affection of it.

[4] In the same:

Wait for peace, but there is no good; and for a time of healing, and behold terror. The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan; at the sound of the neighings of his strong ones the whole land trembled; and they came and devoured the land and the fullness thereof, the city and them that dwell therein. For behold I will send among you serpents, basilisks, against which there is no enchantment, and they shall bite you (Jeremiah 8:15-17);

“the snorting of horses heard from Dan” denotes reasoning concerning truth from what is non-affirmative; the “land that trembled,” and their “devouring the fullness thereof,” denotes the church and all the things of the church; for they who reason concerning truth from what is non-affirmative (that is, negative) destroy all things of faith; the “basilisk serpents” denote reasonings, as above.

[5] In Ezekiel:

Dan and Javan coming in gave bright iron in thy fairs; cassia and calamus were in thy trading (Ezekiel 27:19); where Tyre is the subject treated of, by which are signified the knowledges of truth and good (n. 1201). “Dan” denotes the first truths that are affirmed; “fairs” and “trading,” the acquisitions of truth and good (n. 2967); the “bright iron,” natural truth which is the first (n. 425, 426); “cassia and calamus,” natural truth from which there is good.

[6] In Amos:

In that day shall the fair virgins and the young men faint for thirst. They that swear by the guilt of Samaria, and have said, Thy God, O Dan, liveth; and the way of Beersheba liveth; even they shall fall, and shall rise up no more (Amos 8:13-14);

“Thy God, O Dan, liveth, and the way of Beersheba liveth” denotes that they are in the denial of all things of faith and its doctrine. (That “way” denotes truth, see above, (627) n. 627, 2333; and “Beersheba,” doctrine, n. 2723, 2858, 2859, 3466.) That there is signified the denial of all things of faith, is because Dan was the last boundary of the land of Canaan, and Beersheba the first, that is, the midst or inmost of the land; for by the “land of Canaan” was represented and signified the Lord’s kingdom, and thus the church (n. 1607, 3038, 3481), and accordingly all things of love and faith, because these are of the Lord’s kingdom and church. Hence all things in the land of Canaan were representative, according to their distances, situations, and boundaries (n. 1585, 1866, 3686).

[7] The first boundary, that is, the midst or inmost of the land, was Beersheba, before Jerusalem became so, because Abraham was there, and also Isaac; but the last boundary, or the outermost of the land, was Dan; and hence when all things in one complex were signified, it was said, “from Dan even to Beersheba;” as in the second book of Samuel:

To transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul, and to set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan even to Beersheba (2 Samuel 3:10).

In the same:

All Israel gathering was gathered together from Dan even to Beersheba (2 Sam 17:11).

And again:

David said to Joab, Pass through all the tribes of Israel from Dan even to Beersheba (2 Samuel 24:2, 15).

And in the first book of Kings:

Judah and Israel dwelt in security, every man under his vine and under his fig-tree, from Dan even to Beersheba (1 Kings 4:25).

By this expression are meant in the historic sense all things of the land of Canaan; but in the internal sense all things of the Lord’s kingdom, and also all things of the church.

[8] The reason why, as before said, “Dan” is the first boundary, and also the last, is that the affirmative of truth and good is the first of all things when faith and charity are beginning with man, and the last when man is in charity and thereby in faith. It was from this also that the last lot fell to Dan when the land of Canaan was divided for inheritance (Josh. 19:40, etc.); for the lot was cast before Jehovah (Josh. 18:6); and hence it fell according to the representation of each tribe.

[9] And because the lot did not fall to Dan among the inheritances of the rest of the tribes, but beyond their borders (Judges 18:1), that tribe was omitted by John in the Revelation (Revelation 7:5-8), where the twelve thousand that were sealed are mentioned; for they who are only in the affirmative of truth and also of good, and go no further, are not in the Lord’s kingdom, that is, among the “sealed.” Even the worst men are able to know truths and goods, and also to affirm them; but the quality of the affirmation is known from the life.

[10] “Dan” is also mentioned as a boundary in Genesis 14:14, where Abraham is described as having pursued the enemy thus far, and where “Dan” has a similar signification. The city called “Dan” was not indeed built by the posterity of Dan at that time, but afterwards (Josh. 19:47; Judges 18:29); yet even then it was called the first boundary with respect to entering into the land of Canaan, or the last with respect to going out; and the inmost of the land was Hebron, and afterwards Beersheba, where Abraham and Isaac dwelt.