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Numbers Chapter 21

Summary of the Spiritual Sense

1. A temptation from the merely natural man, through its rational faculty, is described, vers. 1-3.
2. Another temptation causing distress on account of falsities from evil, during which there is a tendency to return to merely natural states, and sensual lusts prevail; but there is application to the Word, and earnest prayer for deliverance, and then revelation that the Lord's Human is to be made Divine through temptations, and that, therefore, every one in the church has power from Him, by faith, to overcome the promptings of the sensual life, vers. 4-9.
3. Other changes of state in which the man of the church is protected, vers. 10-20.
4. And lastly, he is disposed, in another state of temptation, to temporize with evils in general; but discovering his error, resists his enemies, both generally and in particular, by the help of the Lord, and thus the external man is subdued, both as to selfish love and worldly love, vers. 21-35.

1.  By the Canaanite, is denoted the natural man, which is in external worship separated from internal, 1063; by the king of Arad is denoted the Rational, because a king signifies governing truth, 1672, and Arad means a wild ass, 1949; by dwelling in the South, is denoted to be in natural intelligence, 1293, 1458; by hearing, is denoted to be affected, 4404; by Israel coming by the way of Atharim, or by the way of the spies, is denoted that the internal man is advancing towards the heavenly life, 3654, 3335, 2234, chap 13:21, 22; and by the king fighting against Israel, and taking some of them captive, is denoted that conflict follows during which the freedom of the spiritual man is interrupted, 1664, 7990.

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2.  Israel vowing a vow to the Lord, denotes that still, in the new state, the spiritual man is willing that the Lord may provide, 3732; and "If you will indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy, or devote, their cities," denotes the perception that, by overcoming the evil tendency in himself, his natural man will be consecrated to the Lord, 1822, 5544, 6091; while by destroying their cities which is here implied, is signified the rejection and condemnation of the falsities of evil, 402.

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3.  The Lord hearkening to the voice of Israel and delivering up the Canaanites, denotes that the Lord, in answer to earnest prayer, delivers the man of the church from merely external worship, 2001, 2542, 1063; their utterly destroying them and their cities denotes to utterly reject, both in life and doctrine, such worship, ver. 2; and the name of the place being called Hormah, denotes that a new state of true devotion is initiated, 145, the word Hormah meaning, in a bad sense, utter destruction, and in a good sense, consecrated to God, 6091.

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4.  Journeying from mount Hor, by the way of the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom, denotes that thus progress is made from a state of desolation as to truths into another state of temptation from the hells, 1457, 1675, 8099; compassing the land of Edom denoting temptations not arising from the corrupted natural man as to its false doctrines, 2973, 3322; and the soul of the people being much discouraged because of the way, denotes "as from interior distress on account of falsities from evil," 1000, 1259, 878² on Isaiah 37:27, 4861.

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5.  The people speaking against God and against Moses, denotes that Divine Truth internal and external is, as it were, despised, 1259, 2271, 2001, 7010; "Wherefore have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?" denotes that the tendency is to return to the state of the merely natural man, 8866, 5013, 2908, 2708; there being no bread and no water, denotes the rejection of regeneration because there are no remains of heavenly good and truth, 4976; and their soul loathing the light or vile bread, that is, the manna, denotes that the good of truth, according to the needs of the state, is utterly disgusting, 1000, 7768, 8464, 8487.

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6.  The Lord sending fiery serpents among the people; their biting the people; and much people of Israel dying, denotes the consequence, namely, that sensual lusts begin to gain dominion, and that much injury is done both to the truth of the church and its principles of good, 276, 191, 251, 6400, 304.

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7.  The people coming to Moses and saying, "We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and against you," denotes that there is earnest application to the Word; it is confessed that evil tendencies have prevailed; and that perception has been lost both as to good and truth, 1259, 6117, 7010, 5076, ver. 5; "pray to the Lord that He may take away the serpents from us," denotes earnest prayers, 2535, 251; and Moses praying for the people, denotes that intercession follows for deliverance, 7010, 8573.

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8.  The Lord saying to Moses, "Make you a fiery serpent and set it upon a standard," denotes revelation from the Lord by the Word, that the Human is to be made Divine even as to the sensual and corporeal degrees, 2001, 1822, 7010, 3863⁵, 8624; by combats against hereditary tendencies to evil, or against all the hells, and by victories over them; and "it shall come to pass that every one that is bitten, when he sees it, shall live," denotes that therefore every one in the church who, in temptation, flees from, and contends against, the evils of the natural man, has power from the Lord, by faith in Him, to overcome also, and to enjoy eternal life, 4979, 6400, 3863⁵, 290.

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9.  Moses making a serpent of brass and setting it upon a standard, denotes that therefore it happens in the church generally, that the Human of the Lord is acknowledged to be Divine by such combats and victories, 3863⁵, 8624; and it coming to pass that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked to the serpent of brass he lived, denotes that when man, in temptations, suffers from evils arising from the abuse of his sensual nature, and by application to the Lord and by faith in Him, conquers those evils, he comes into the enjoyment of eternal life, 4979, 6400, 3863⁵, 290.

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10.  The children of Israel journeying and pitching in Oboth, denotes that the man of the church is, let into states of the merely natural life, as appears from the signification of journeying as denoting progress and instruction, and thus a change of state, 3654, 1457; of pitching a tent as denoting, in this case, disjunction and not conjunction, 1598, 1616; and of Oboth, which is perhaps derived from the Hebrew word for bottles or wineskins, as denoting, therefore, what is merely natural, 2674, 3079. Also that what is merely natural is here denoted by Oboth appears from the consideration o! the series of things which follows.

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11.  Journeying from Oboth, and pitching in Iye-Abari in the wilderness which is before Moab toward the sunrising, denotes and thence into states in which evils are. predominant inducing new temptations, and a state of obscurity from the proximity of adulterated good springing from selfish love, because journeying denotes a change of state, 1457; from Oboth denotes merely natural love, ver. 10; pitching denotes further conjunction with evil or disjunction from good, 1598, 1616; Iye-Abarim means the heaps of Abarim, or the heaps of the region beyond, and therefore denotes the predominance of evils inducing new temptations, 4197, 7408, 6978 end, 7926²; a wilderness denotes a state of obscurity, 2708; Moab denotes a state of adulterated good, 2468; and the sunrising denotes a state of selfish love, 2441, 10584.

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12.  Journeying from there and pitching in the valley of Zered, denotes a state still more external in which there is a consciousness of adulterated good, 1457, 1598, 1616, 1723, 2468. It is said, "a consciousness of adulterated good," because Zered was a valley in the land of Moab, and therefore denotes adulterated good; and the word means "luxuriant growth," and thus indicates the activity of thought, or consciousness, 2646, 6749.

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13.  Journeying from there and pitching on the other side of Arnon, denotes progress into free natural delight, because Arnon means rejoicing, or leaping for joy, 1457, 1598, 1616; in the wilderness denotes a state of obscurity, 2708; coming out of the border of the Amorites denotes that ultimate truth and good are vitiated by evil, 8063, 1857, 1853; and Arnon being the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites, denotes that the truth of the Word perverted by adulterated good is the limit between that good and actual evil, 2468, 1857, 8063.

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14.  It being said in the book of the Wars of the Lord, "Vaheb in Suphah, and the valleys of Arnon," denotes that in the Ancient Word, which describes the combats of the Lord with the hells, and also the temptations of the man of the church, it is written: "He endures the extreme of temptation by receiving influx from the hells, and from natural delights thence, by the assumption of the Human in ultimates." This is shown by considering that "it is said" here means literally "it is written," and spiritually perception given to man, 1822; that the book of the Wars of the Lord is a part of the Ancient Word, 2897; that the wars of the Lord denote His temptations in the Human, and also the temptations of man for whom the Lord fights, 1664; that Jehovah and the Lord Jesus Christ are one and the same Person, 1664³; that Suph means a termination or completion, thus denoting the ultimate, the Suphah means a storm, or a whirl-wind, thus denoting evil influences and temptation thence, causing disturbances in the mind or in the church, 10044, 5078, 842; that the Red Sea, or Suph, denotes the hells from which temptations come, 8099, 8184; that hence Vaheb in Suphah denotes the extreme of temptations by influx from the hells, the meaning of the word Vaheb being uncertain; and that the valleys of Arnon denote natural delights, ver. 13, 1723.

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15.  The slope of the valleys that inclineth toward the dwellings of Ar, and leaneth upon the border of Moab, denotes that there, in an intermediate state, the Lord conquered the infernals, even as to their inmost evils and falsities, because the slope of the valleys is intermediate between the lowest ground and the highest, and therefore clearly signifies an intermediate state, 1292, 5852; inclining toward the dwelling of Ar, signifies that the Lord conquered the internals even as to their inmost evils and falsities, Ar being the chief city of the Moabites and therefore denoting such evils and falsities, 2451, 402; and leaning on the border of Moab denotes that, by those evils, good is adulterated in ultimates, 8063, 2468.

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16.  The Israelites journeying hence to Beer, denotes that therefore the man of the church from similar states of temptation is delivered, and is comforted from the Word, 3654, 1457, 3194, 2702; and this being the well whereof the Lord said to Moses, "Gather the people together and I will give them water," denotes that Divine Truth has ordained, from Divine Good, that thus, after temptation, he should be refreshed with abundance of truths, 2001, 7010, 6112, 1259, 2702.

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17.  Israel then singing this song: "Spring up O well; sing you to it," denotes that the man of the church rejoices in the Lord with all his heart, and delights in His Word with all the power of his intellect, 3654, 418, 2702, 683.

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18.  "The well which the princes dug," denotes that, as from himself, by primary truths, man is enabled to search the Word, 2702, 1482, 3424; "which the nobles of the people delved," denotes that, as from himself, from good affections, he penetrates into its mysteries, 683, 6372; "with the sceptre and with their staves," or "by the lawgiver, and with their staves," denotes that the Lord Himself operates inwardly, and man co-operates outwardly, because the "sceptre" or the "lawgiver," denotes truth from good internally, and thus the Lord's operation thereby, 4876¹⁰, 6372; and staves, denote the power of truth externally, and thus man's co-operation as from himself, 4876, 6372; and journeying from the wilderness to Mattanah denotes that for obscurity he receives enlightenment from the Lord, because Mattanah means the gift of the Lord, and thus enlightenment from good and truth, 5619, and a wilderness denotes obscurity, 2708.

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19.  From Mattanah to Nahaliel, denotes that, from this temporary state, the spiritual man passes into a state of the falsification of truths, because Nahaliel means the valley of God, and thus denotes a low state of spiritual life from which truth is falsified, 1723, 2001; and from Nahaliel to Bamoth denotes thence to a state of corrupted worship, because Bamoth means high places, and therefore denotes worship, and in this place imperfect, or corrupted worship, as the following verse shows, 2722.

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20.  From Bamoth to the valley that is in the field of Moab, to the top of Pisgah, which looks down upon the desert, or upon Jeshimon, denotes thence to a state of adulterated good exterior and interior indicating the proximity of another state of desolation and temptation, because a valley denotes a low state, 1723; the field of Moab, denotes the falsity of adulterated good, 368, 2468; Pisgah means hill eminence, fortress, and thus denotes, in this case, the interior falsities by which the state of corrupted good is defended, 2722, 7297³; and looking down upon the desert, or upon Jeshimon, denotes another state of desolation and temptation impending, 2708, 3708⁵ on Ps 107:4.

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21.  Israel sending messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, denotes that the spiritual man is disposed to temporize with evils, and thence thinks, 3654, 4239, 1857, 2506.

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22.  "Let me pass through your land," denotes that he may contemplate such evils safely, 3992, 1857; "We will not turn aside into field or into vineyard," denotes without being drawn from the path of rectitude either into their voluntary or intellectual delights, 4816, 2971, 9139; "we will not drink of the water of the wells," denotes without imbibing their falsities, 2702; and "we will go by the king's high way, until we have passed your border," denotes not being in the slightest degree contaminated with them, 3335, 1672, 2234, 8063.

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23.  Sihon not suffering Israel to pass through his border, denotes that evil is of such a character that this cannot be, because the king of the Amorites denotes the falsity of evil, 1682, 1857, and Sihon means rooting out, or conclusion, and thus signifies that falsity conjoined with evil utterly rejects good, and is the confirmation of the state of evil, 4317, 1857²; Sihon gathering all his people together denotes that falsities from evil are combined against the man of the church under their leading or prevailing motive, 6112, 1259; going out against Israel into the wilderness denotes that a state of obscurity ensues, 2708; coming to Jahaz denotes that this takes place in the intermediate state, because by Jahaz is meant quarrel, dispute, or the going out of the. Lord, 6764, 5337; and fighting against Israel denotes a conflict following, 1664.

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24.  Israel smiting him with the edge of the sword, denotes that the spiritual man overcomes evil by the power of Divine Truth from the Lord, 3654, 4251, 2799; possessing his land from Arnon to Jabbok, even to the children of Ammon, denotes thus gaining possession of the natural man even to the rejection of its ultimate evils and to the dispersion of its ultimate falsities, and also of its falsified truths, because by the land of the Amorites is signified the natural man where evils had predominated, 1857, 2183, by the valleys of Arnon are signified free natural delight, vers. 13, 14, by Jabbok are signified, in the best sense, ultimate truths with their affection, but here ultimate falsities, and the word means dispersion, or pouring out, 4301, and by the children of Ammon are signified falsified truths, 2468; and the border of the children of Ammon being very strong denotes that such truths appear to be very powerful against genuine good and truth, 2468, 8063.

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25.  By Israel taking all these cities, is denoted that the spiritual man now gains entire control of the natural understanding with its powers, 3654, 402; and by dwelling in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon and the towns, or daughters thereof, is denoted especially of the rational faculty of the natural man, and the affections of truth thereto belonging, which evil had before, 1293, 489, 1857. For Heshbon means invention, industry, or thought; or he that hastens to understand or to build, and thus clearly denotes the rational faculty; and it is said, "the rational faculty of the natural man," because it had belonged to both the Moabites and the Amorites, and was situated on the eastern side of the Jordan, 10332, 6263, 590, 5284, 657, 658, 4390, 1304, 1585.

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26.  Heshbon being the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, denotes that the rational faculty, which is fruitful in devices, is highly prized even by the wicked, ver. 25, 402, 1857; Sihon fighting against the former king of Moab denotes "who by its means engage in conflict with those who are in adulterated good," 1664, 2468; and taking all his land out of his hand, even to Arnon, denotes depriving them of those things by which they corrupt good and truth, even of the literal sense of the Word which they pervert, 567, 878, ver. 13, 1723. But it is said "even of the literal sense of the Word, which they pervert," because Arnon, as a river and a boundary, plainly denotes this, ver. 13, 9340.

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27.  Wherefore they that speak in proverbs saying, "Come you to Heshbon, let the city of Sihon be built and established," denotes that the Ancient Word, through the medium of its correspondences, teaches: "that the understanding of the merely natural man is predominant with the wicked, both as to thought, and as to affection," 2897, vers. 25, 26, 4390, 3388.

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28.  "For a fire is gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon; he has devoured Ar of Moab, the lords of the high places of Arnon," denotes that the love of the world and the love of self act through it as a means, 934; that it overwhelms the pretensions of those who are in the doctrines of corrupted good, 5149, 402, ver. 15, 2468; even of those whose worship internally and externally is alike adulterated, 10642, 2722, vers. 13, 14.

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29.  "Wo to you, Moab! You are undone, O people of Chemosh," denotes that such worship is doomed to destruction, and its falsities even as to their inmost principles are worthless, Chemosh meaning "as handling or as taking away," and thus denoting the tendency of falsity from evil to deprive the man of the church of good and truth, 2468, 1259, 878, 2468⁷, 2468¹⁶ ; and "he has given his sons as fugitives and his daughters into captivity to Sihon king of the Amorites," denotes that its corrupted truths are no longer conjoined with good affections, and its perverted affections are no longer sustained by truths, consequently becoming the slaves of falsity from evil, 489, 382, 7990, vers. 21-23.

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30.  "We have shot at them; Heshbon is perished even to Dibon, and we have laid waste even to Nophah, which reacheth to Medeba," denotes that such falsities tend to the destruction of adulterated good, and also devastate its perverted rational faculty internally and externally, as well as its external affection for knowledge by which it supports itself from the literal sense of the Word, because by the Amorites shooting at the Moabites is denoted that evil tends to the destruction of adulterated good, 1857, 2686, 2468; by Heshbon perishing is denoted the devastation of the perverted rational faculty internally, ver. 25; by even to Dibon is denoted the same externally, Dibon meaning understanding, abundance of knowledge, or of building, and thus signifying the same as Heshbon, ver. 25; by-laying waste even to Nophah, is denoted devastation as to the external affection for knowledge, this word meaning the blowing of a fire, and thus signifying natural desires excited by evil influences, 934, 5212, and laying waste signifying devastation, 407; and by "which is to Medeba," is denoted the literal sense of the Word, Medeba meaning the water of rest, and thus signifying the Word in the literal sense, where Divine Truth is in its fullness and power in ultimates, or in a fixed basis consisting of human language, which is correspondential as to every expression, 2702, 9349.

    But it is proper to add here that the whole of this verse, in the literal sense, "is obscure and has been variously interpreted by critics," so that no less than five different meanings have been given to the phrase here rendered "which reacheth to Medeba," namely (1) "which extends to Medeba," (2) "and to Medeba," (3) "which belongs to Medeba," (4) "which is at Medeba," and (5) "fire (has raged) to Medeba." In any case, however, the meaning of the terms " Nophah " and " Medeba," and consequently the correspondence of each term, clearly shows that the former has relation to affection or love, and the latter to intelligence or truth, and, moreover, there can be no doubt concerning the spiritual meaning of the whole verse, which is the complete vastation of those who are in adulterated good.

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31.  Thus Israel dwelling in the land of the Amorites, denotes that, on the other hand, the spiritual man is triumphant and completely overcomes the natural man, 3654, 1857.

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32.  Moses sending to spy out Jazer; their taking the towns thereof; and their driving out the Amorites that were there, denotes that now, therefore, the doctrine of good works is truly investigated; that it becomes subservient to heavenly purposes; and that every evil which had defiled it is expelled, because by Moses sending to spy out, is denoted investigation, 2397, 2714⁵; by Jazer is meant he that helps, and therefore by this place, considered as a city, is denoted doctrine which aids in the interpretation of the Word; and it is. said the doctrine of good works, because this territory belonged to the tribe of Gad, 402, 3934; by taking the towns of Jazer, is denoted that doctrine becomes subservient to heavenly purposes, through the affection of truth, 1664, 489, ver. 25; and by driving out the Amorites that were there is denoted that every evil which had defiled it is expelled, 1664, 1857.

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33.  Turning and going up by the way of Bashan, denotes that a fresh advance is made towards the destruction of essential evil, because going up signifies advance, 1543, a way signifies doctrine, 2234, and Bashan means in the tooth, in the ivory, in the change, or in the sleep, thus denoting a state of essential falsity and evil, 4424³, 6188³, 4136², 150, AE 1638; Og the king of Bashan going out against Israel, he and all his people, denotes that essential evil with all its falsities enters into a conflict with the man of the church, because Og means a cake, and thus, in a good sense, charity, and in the opposite sense the love of the world, 7978, as a king, he denotes falsity, 1682, going out here, denotes evil influx, 5337, and with all his people, denotes with falsities, 1259; and going out to battle at Edrei, denotes conflict when good begins to be confirmed, because Edrei means a very great mass or cloud, and the death of the wicked, 1047, 6119, and war, denotes spiritual conflict, or temptation, 1664.

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34.  By the Lord saying to Moses, is denoted revelation from the Lord by Divine Truth, 2001, 7010, 1822; by not fearing him, is denoted that this evil must not be feared, 2826; "I have delivered him into your hand, and all his people and all his land," denotes that Divine Good is all-powerful against essential evil both as to its internal and external opposition, ver. 33, 1259, 913, 2001, 878; and by doing to him as was done to Sihon king of the Amorites which dwelt in Heshbon, is denoted that essential evil must be subdued even as was the false principle from evil in general, which had possessed the human understanding, vers. 23-25.

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35.  Smiting him and his sons, and all his people until there was none left him remaining; and possessing his land, denotes that the spiritual man, by the power of the Lord, completely conquers the evil of merely natural love, with all its errors internal and external, and that thus the natural man becomes harmonious with the spiritual man, 4251, 489, 1259, 5897, 2658, 913.

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Discussion

Remembering that evil has its origin in the natural degree of man's life, and that regeneration consists in putting off what is merely natural, and in being born again into the life of the new natural man, we cannot be surprised that the internal sense of the Word has very largely to describe the states of the natural man under its various aspects, as we see in the last chapter and now in this. And the Canaanites especially are symbolic of the natural or external man as to his false and selfish worship. Even of the Lord also, as to His early state in His Human life, it is said, "the Canaanite was then in the land," and afterwards, as He advanced, "The Canaanite and the Perizzite were then in the land," to denote the presence of hereditary evil and falsity with Him. For in taking upon Him our fallen human nature, it was unavoidable that He should receive from the virgin mother tendencies to evil through which He was tempted, and was thus able by His own power, as a man like other men, to contend with, and overcome the infernal hosts, and thus preserve to eternity the free-will of man, and redeem him from the absolute dominion of evil. This, therefore, was the essence, so to speak, of the work of Redemption in general, and through it the Lord is now for ever able to redeem each individual, from his actual evils, by preserving in him the power to follow the Lord, in his regeneration, and also overcome like Him. This, then, is the subject of our first section. It is a temptation through the merely natural man, and particularly through the rational faculty of that man. For Arad means, as we have seen, a wild ass, and this denotes our natural reason in its opposition to spiritual truth. And it is a fact that we do all, in the course of our lives, get taken prisoners by this king Arad and have need of personal deliverance by the Lord.

But the Lord does not save us from the delusions of natural reason without our own co-operation with Him; and this is what is described in the rest of the section. We must, like the Israelites, go by the way of the spies; we must vow a vow to the Lord, which practically means giving up our natural wills, and submitting to the Divine Will; and we must entirely destroy, or devote all merely natural powers to destruction. For we cannot have the merely natural life, and at the same time enjoy the new natural life, and, moreover, if we wish to reason truly concerning Divine things as taught in the Word, we must not reason only according to the appearances of truth there, nor must we confuse appearances with realities and thus form to ourselves false doctrine; but we must judge not according to the appearance, but according to righteous judgement. For if we reason according to appearances, we may come to believe that our God is an angry God and takes vengeance upon His enemies; or we may conceive of Him as three persons each by himself God and Lord", and thus we may actually think of three gods, while yet we delude ourselves by saying that there is only one without having formed;i distinct and clear idea of that one. How much better, therefore, to judge righteously, and acknowledge the One God in Whom is the Divine Trinity of three Essentials, which together constitute the one Divine Person of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in Whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily (John 14:8-18; compared with Matt 28:18-20, and Colos 2:9; and also John 8:17-18, compared with John 8:58). Let us beware, then, of Arad the king of the Canaanites, and not permit ourselves to be deluded by him.

In the second section, the first point that requires our attention is the distinction that is to be carefully made between a state of desolation as to truths, or as to genuine doctrine, and a state arising from the falsities of evil, or from evils themselves represented by the way to the Red Sea. For now there is not only a deficiency of water, but there is a deficiency of bread, that is, a distaste for good, which is the result of the influx of falsities from evil. And then the consequences are the prevalence of sensual lusts which are denoted by fiery serpents. And experience proves that the falsities derived from sensual lusts are far more dangerous to the life of the spiritual man than are falsities of doctrine. Also, that is the reason why the serpent is not only representative of what is merely sensual and corporeal, but in addition, of selfish love, and of all the evils thence originating, two striking examples of which are to be found in Gen 3:15 and in Rev 12:9. But the example in our section is especially interesting, as it shows that the Lord, in His glorification, made even the sensual and corporeal principles in Himself Divine, thus rising from the dead with His whole body complete; and that, as the Lord conquered all the powers of evil on man's behalf, so every member of the church by faith in Him, which involves love to Him and obedience to His commandments, has power to overcome all evil, and thus spiritually to sit down with Him on His throne, even as He sat down with His Father on His throne; from which remarkable passage we are evidently not to understand that the Lord, in heaven, actually sits beside His Father, or that the fully regenerated man actually sits beside his Lord; for this would clearly be to entertain a merely sensual idea of the Lord's great work of Redemption, and of the effect of man's regeneration, and also produce in the minds of men an idea of more than one Lord, which is contrary to the very-principle of all true religion, namely, that the Divine Being is one, both in essence and in person (Zech 14:9). May we therefore overcome all evil by power from Him continually, even as He overcame, and thus united in Himself the Human with the Divine to eternity. And lastly, in this connection we may also remember that in heaven, which spiritually is the Lord's throne, the regenerated natural degree of man's life will be in perfect harmony with the higher degrees, and will have its appropriate satisfactions, as is so finely represented by the words, "The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox; and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, says the Lord" (Isaiah 65:25; 3994³); where by dust being the serpent's meat is plainly meant the satisfactions of the sensual life in outwardly expressing the joys and delights of the heavenly life of usefulness. For then even the spiritual body, with all its senses, will be obedient to the mind and heart, and fully express their thoughts and affections.

And now, in the third section, we are to note other changes of state with the man of the church denoted by the journeying of the Israelites to Oboth, to Iye-Abarim, to Zered, and to the other side of Arnon, all which, according to the meaning and thence to the correspondence of the names, combined with the signification of the wilderness, of the sunrising, of the valley, and of the border, clearly denotes a generally declining state, a state of obscurity, the activity of selfish love and consequently of adulterated good, and a state of free natural delight,

which is the limit between that good and actual evil. And when we reflect that the Israelites actually made these journeys, that the meaning of each term must describe spiritually the quality of the state, and also how naturally disposed we all are thus to decline and contaminate the good we receive from the Lord with our own actual states of error and selfishness, we may see how exactly the Word has been given by Divine inspiration to describe the states of the church in general, of the individual in particular, and in the supreme sense of the glorification of the Lord, and of His victories over the hells, for our redemption and salvation. The lesson, therefore, that we all have to learn from these things is, first of all, one of trust and confidence in the Lord our Saviour, Who has provided us with so wonderful a revelation of Divine and Spiritual truths adapted to our requirements, and secondly one of continual watchfulness, as we pass through life, lest we should allow ourselves to be beguiled through the delights of the merely natural man into states of adulterated good, and even into states of evil in general, while yet our hearts and our understandings inwardly are determined from the Lord to overcome all obstacles, and at last to make our natural life exactly conformed to our spiritual life, which is indeed the object we must continually strive to attain amid all our fluctuations and weaknesses. For we remember that the Lord said to His disciples, "Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matt 26:41).

But here we are arrived at a point in which we have a quotation from the Ancient Word, and therefore the following remarks concerning it may here be of use: "In the Word wherever wars are treated of, and mentioned, no other wars are signified in the internal sense than such as are spiritual. There were also books in the Ancient Church which were entitled the Wars of Jehovah, as appears from Moses, Num 21:14-16, which being written in the prophetic style, had an internal sense, and treated of the Lord's combats and temptations, and also of the combats and temptations of the church, and of those who are of the church; this is evident from the circumstance that some things were taken from there by Moses. The same is also evident from other books of that church which were called the books of the Prophetic Enunciators, concerning which see Num 21:27-30, in which nearly the same words occur as in Jeremiah, compare Num 21:28 and Jeremiah 48:45, whence also it may be concluded that the Ancient Church had writings, both historical and prophetical, which were Divine and inspired, and which in the internal sense treated of the Lord and His kingdom, and that these writings were the Word to that church, as the historical and prophetical books of our Word are to us, which in the literal sense treat of the Jews and Israelites, but in the internal sense, of the Lord, and of those things which are His," 2686; and see also 2897. But coming back to the quotation from this Ancient Word, we shall see for ourselves that its language is not only poetical, but also highly correspondential.

For it is evident that the book of the wars of the Lord can signify nothing but the temptations of the Lord, for He engages in no other wars; and that this book also describes the conflicts of the spiritual man in which the Lord fights for him, and delivers him, is because the glorification of the Lord is the pattern of the regeneration of man, and there can be no regeneration apart from conflicts against evil. And as the word Suph means a termination or completion, therefore it signifies the ultimate, while Suphah also means a storm, and thus temptation; and further, as Suph, or the Red Sea, denotes the hells, therefore it is said "He endured the extreme of temptation by receiving influx from the hells." Also as the valleys of Arnon denote natural delights, we see that influx from the hells is into man's natural delights; and indeed it is not possible that any one can be tempted by the internals unless there be some delight with him into which the influx can take place. But it is to be carefully remembered here that in the Lord's case there was no actual evil, but only hereditary tendencies thereto, while in man's case he is not tempted through hereditary tendencies, but through his actual evils; and it is very important indeed that this distinction should be properly understood; because from this we can also understand how it was that the Lord by His victories entirely expelled from His Human every vestige of the maternal hereditary life, rising from the dead in His Human body, now Divine, while man, on the other hand, although victorious by the Lord's help, retains with him to eternity the heredity into which he was born, and also his own evils, which by regeneration are not abolished, but are removed and become quiescent, or as if they did not exist. See therefore again 1444, 1667², 868.

And from these remarks it will be evident that all that follows in the section continues to speak of the Lord's glorification, in the supreme sense, and man's regeneration in the internal sense, and shows especially how consolation comes after temptation, and is succeeded by further conflicts; and we must now therefore consider these as set before us in the last section. And first it is to be well observed that the spiritual man in the course of his regeneration is just as much disposed to temporize with evil in general as he has been to do so with regard to evil as manifested in the natural affections; but he learns by experience that this cannot be. For manifestly if we reflect upon the matter we shall find that it is impossible to serve two masters in this way, and that every one must finally become either altogether a form of good to which truth is conjoined, or a form of evil to which falsity is conjoined. This, then, is the first great lesson of our section; and we must imitate the conduct of the Israelites who entirely overcame the Amorites, by ourselves entirely overcoming not only evil in general, but even the essential principle of evil which is the love of self, or selfishness, and is represented by Og the king of Bashan.

But, of course, this general and positive teaching involves the several particulars which follow. And one of them is that conflict must take place in an intermediate state, which is represented by Jahaz. For this word means quarrel or dispute; and so long as evil still has some influence over us, so long we must continue in this intermediate state; but when we have conquered the whole natural man, represented by the kingdoms of Sihon and Og, comes into subjection, subordination, and harmony with the spiritual man. But next we have to consider another side of the subject. For what will happen if, instead of overcoming evil, we live in a state of adulterated good, and persist in doing so? Certainly that, of course, evil will overcome us just as the Amorites had overcome the Moabites, who in the Word always signify this adulterated good in its various degrees and aspects. And this is what is representatively described in the following part of the section, and also in the second quotation from the Ancient Word, the particulars of which, as given in the series, and as explained in connection with the references, are most interesting, because they show the wonderful character of the Word in its internal sense; prove that the church has passed through similar experiences in all ages; and demonstrate that the corrupted man, as well as the regenerated man, cannot remain in the intermediate state, but must become entirely subject to evil, even as the Moabites became subject to the Amorites. That is to say, spiritually, the confirmed Moabite is bound to become in his Judgement a confirmed Amorite. Hence, then, we now see the importance of the quotation from the Ancient Word just in this place, and especially of the contents of its latter part as descriptive of the complete vastation of the corrupted man. And this therefore is the third great lesson in studying this part of our subject, namely, that the true spiritual man must determine not to be overcome by evil, but on the contrary, to overcome evil with good as described in ver. 31 in its spiritual sense. And consequently it is not enough to conquer evil only in its general form, but it is necessary also to conquer essential evil, that is, the very principle of evil which is selfishness, even as the Israelites not only overcame the Amorite king, but Og the king of Bashan also. And here again a particular study of each term used in the description shows how very exactly every one is used in its true correspondential sense, and has its appropriate place in the series. For truly "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul, the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple: the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes " (Ps 19:7-8).