Arcana Coelestia volume 7 - Swedenborg Foundation

ARCANA COELESTIA 39585436. We are all one man’s sons. That this signifies that thesetruths are from one origin is evident from the signification of“sons,” here the sons of Jacob as being truths in general (of whichoften before). That their being “one man’s sons” signifies that theyare from one origin is evident without explication.5437. We are upright. That this signifies that thus they are truthsin themselves is evident from the signification of “we are upright”as being truths in themselves (of which just above, n. 5434).5438. Thy servants are no spies. That this signifies that it was notfor the sake of gain, is evident from the signification of “spies,” asbeing those who are in the truths of the church for the sake of gain(as shown above, n. 5432); here that it was not so.5439. And he said unto them, Nay, but to see the nakedness of theland ye are come. That this signifies that they did not care whetherthere are truths is evident from the signification of “coming to seethe nakedness of the land” as being to like nothing better than toknow in themselves that there are no truths (see n. 5433); here, thatthey did not care whether there are truths.5440. And they said, We thy servants are twelve brethren. That thissignifies that all things of faith were thus conjoined together isevident from the signification of “twelve” as being all things, andwhen as here predicated of the sons of Jacob, or of the tribes namedafter them, and also of the apostles, all things of faith in onecomplex (see n. 577, 2089, 2129, 2130, 2553, 3272, 3488, 3858,3862, 3913, 3926, 3939, 4060); and from the signification of“brethren” as being conjunction through good; for when truths areconjoined by means of good, they take on as it were a brotherhoodamong themselves. If when without good they appear conjoined,they nevertheless are not conjoined; for falsities of evil are alwaysentering and disjoining them. The reason of this is that they havenot one origin from which they are derived, nor one end to whichthey are directed. For there to be conjunction the first and the lastmust be conjoined; the first must be the good from which theycome, and the last must be the good to which they tend.