Apocalypse Explained, volume 1 - Swedenborg Foundation

APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED 54what good and truth are signified by “Judah,” n. 3881, 6363; whatby “Reuben,” n. 3861, 3866, 4605, 4731, 4734, 4761,6342–6345; what by “Gad,” n. 3934–3935; what by “Asher,” n.3938, 3939, 6408; what by “Naphtali,” n. 3927, 3928; what by“Manasseh,” n. 3969, 5351, 5354, 6222, 6234, 6238, 6267, 6296;what by “Simeon,” n. 3869–3872, 4497, 4502–4503, 5482, 5626,5630; what by “Levi,” n. 3875, 3877, 4497, 4502–4503; what by“Issachar,” n. 3956, 3957; what by “Zebulon,” n. 3960, 3961,6383; what by “Joseph,” n. 3969, 3971, 4669, 6417; and what by“Benjamin,” n. 3969, 4592, 5411, 5413, 5443, 5639, 5686,5688–5689, 6440. That all numbers in the Word signify things,see n. 482, 487, 647–648, 755, 813, 1963, 2075, 2252, 3252,4264, 4495, 4670, 5265, 6175, 9488, 9659, 10217, 10253. That“twelve” signifies all, and all things in respect to truths from good,see n. 577, 2089, 2129, 2130, 3272, 3858, 3913, likewise thenumbers “72,” “144,” “1200,” “144,000,” because they arise fromthe number 12 by multiplication, n. 7973. That compositenumbers have a like meaning with the simple numbers from whichthey are produced by multiplication, see n. 5291, 5335, 5708,7973).[4] He who is not aware that numbers signify things, and whatthe numbers “twelve,” “one hundred and forty-four,” and “twelvethousand” signify, likewise what “tribes” and “apostles” signify,cannot know what is signified by these words in Revelation:The holy city, new Jerusalem, had a wall great and high, havingtwelve gates, and in the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon,which are the names of the twelve tribes of Israel; and the wall hadtwelve foundations, and on them the twelve names of the apostles of thelamb. The wall was a hundred and forty and four cubits, and the lengthand the breadth of the city twelve thousand furlongs (Rev. 21:12, 14,16–17).What is signified by all this you will see explained in New Jerusalemand Its Heavenly Doctrine (n. 1); namely, that by “Jerusalem” issignified the church in respect to doctrine; by its “wall,” protectingtruths; by the “gates,” introductory truths; by the” foundations,”the knowledges on which doctrine is based; by “twelve angels,” andby “twelve tribes,” all truths and goods in the complex; “the twelve