The First Things to be Affirmed and Acknowledged

Selection from Arcana Cœlestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

And Rachel said, God hath judged me, and hath also heard my voice, and hath given me a son: therefore called she his name Dan.  Genesis 30:6

Though the name was given to him [Dan] 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 [the good of life, and the holy of faith] 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.

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 Sam. 3:10)  See also 2 Sam. 17:11; 2 Sam. 24:2, 15; 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.

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.

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 (Rev. 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.

(Arcana Cœlestia 3923: 1, 7-9)