441. It has been shown that "the tribe of Asher" signifies charity towards the neighbor, which is the spiritual internal itself of those who are in the second or middle heaven, and that "the tribe of Manasseh" signifies the good of life, which is the spiritual external that flows from their spiritual internal; while temptation, which is signified by "the tribe of Naphtali," is the uniting medium, for the internal and external are united by means of temptations. This makes clear what these three tribes involve in their order. It is to be known, that there must be with man and with angel, that they may be in heaven, both an internal and an external in accord with each other. It is impossible for anyone to be in only one of these and be in heaven; that is, in the internal only or in the external only; for the internal is like the soul, and the external like the body; the soul can effect nothing except by means of the body, nor can the body effect anything except from the soul; so the internal, unless the external corresponds or is correspondently concordant, lies powerless and as it were lifeless, for there must be an external in ¹ and through which the internal must work, as the soul works in and through its body; likewise the external, unless there is an internal corresponding to it, lies as if dead, for there must be an internal from which the external must work. This has been said to make known that "Asher" signifies the internal, and "Manasseh" the corresponding external; as also above, "Judah" signifies the internal, and "Gad" the corresponding external. ² It is similar in everything; therefore in man there is an internal and an external, an internal called his spiritual, and an external called his natural, one conjoining itself with the other by correspondences; therefore of what quality the one is such is the other, and everything that does not make one with the other by correspondences is dissipated and perishes.

Imibhalo yaphansi:

337. Verse 12. Saying with a great voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, signifies the acknowledgment from the heart that everything Divine is from the Lord's Divine Human unacknowledged and by many denied. This is evident from the signification of "saying with a great voice," as being the acknowledgment from the heart (of which presently); also from the signification of "worthy," as being, in reference to the Lord, merit and justice (respecting which see above, n. 293, 303); here therefore it signifies that from His own power, thus from merit, He acquired for Himself everything Divine, and so from justice everything Divine is His. That this is meant by "He is worthy," is evident from what immediately follows, namely, "to receive the power and riches and wisdom and honor and glory and blessing;" which in the complex signifies everything Divine. This is evident also from the signification of "the Lamb," as being the Lord in respect to the Divine Human (of which also above, n. 314; also from the signification of "was slain," as meaning unacknowledged and by many denied (of which also above, n. 315, 328). From this it is clear that "Saying with a great voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain," signifies the acknowledgment from the heart that everything Divine is from the Lord's Divine Human unacknowledged and by many denied. That everything Divine is in the Lord's Human, and from it, in heaven and on earth, has been shown in many places, and will be seen confirmed at the end of this work. That "saying with a great voice" means the acknowledgment from the heart, here that it means what has now been stated, can be seen from what precedes and what follows, in series; moreover, "voice" signifies all the things that are afterward said, and "a great voice" signifies that these things are from the heart. There are two words that often occur in the Word, namely, "great" and "many," and "great" is there predicated of good, and "many" of truths (for the reason see just above, n. 336); and as what proceeds from good proceeds from the heart, here "saying with a great voice" signifies the acknowledgment from the heart; moreover, "heart" from correspondence signifies the good of love (See in the work on Heaven and Hell 95, 447; and above, n. 167.

6337. 'And I will show you what will happen to you at the end of days' means the nature of the Church's state within the order in which they were arranged at that time. This is clear from the meaning of 'showing what will happen' as communicating and foretelling; and from the meaning of 'the end of days' as the final phase of the state in which they exist together - 'days' being states, 23, 487, 488, 493, 893, 2788, 3462, 3785, 4850, and 'the end' the final phase, so that 'the end of days' is the final phase of a state, that is to say, of the state in which truths and forms of good in general exist together when arranged in their proper order. The reason why it is the Church's state which is meant is that the truths and forms of good represented by 'Jacob and his sons' are what constitute the Church, on account of which 'Jacob' represents the Church, 4286, 4439, 4514, 4520, 4680, 4772, 5536, 5540, and so also 'his sons', 5403, 5419, 5427, 5458, 5512. And the reason why the nature of that state is meant is that the way the Church's truths and forms of good are represented depends on the order in which Jacob's sons or the tribes are mentioned in the Word, see 3862, 3926, 3939. For its nature is different if Reuben's name comes first from what it is if Judah's comes first. When Reuben is first the nature of the state is such that it starts with faith; but when Judah is first it is such that it starts with love; and the nature of it is different again when it starts with something other than faith or love. For variation in the nature of the state is also indicated by the order in which the rest are named after those two.

[2] The variations that are produced in this way are incalculable, indeed infinite, especially so when the truths and forms of good in general that are meant by 'the twelve tribes' also take on specific variations, countless ones for each - for then each truth and form of good in general assumes a different appearance - and even more especially so when those specific truths or forms of good take on countless individual variations, and so on. The infinite variations produced in this way may be illustrated by very many things that exist in the natural world. From all this one may now see that the twelve tribes have a different meaning when their names occur in the Word in one order from when they do so in another. Thus in this chapter they carry a meaning different from that seen elsewhere.