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Arcana Coelestia 6405 [2] But who they are that are here signified by “Gad,” shall be told. They are such as fall into illusion with respect to truth, and yet do works from this; thus works not of truth, still less of good. By such works they are driven away from truth, for as soon as a man who is in truth and not yet in good brings anything into act from his religiosity, he afterward defends it as if it were the veriest truth, and abides in it, nor does he admit any amendment of it, except insofar as he comes into good; for by so acting he imbues himself with it and loves it. Thus works drive him away from truth. Besides, he believes those things to be truths which are not truths, for these persons also, like those signified by “Dan,” judge from what is sensuous, thus without judgment. Let this be illustrated by examples. When one who counts everyone equally his neighbor, and thus benefits the evil equally with the good, and by thus conferring benefits on the evil does harm to others, has committed such acts repeatedly, he afterward defends them, saying that everyone is his neighbor, and that it is not his concern what his quality is, but only to confer benefits on him; thus he does works without judgment, and also contrary to the truth itself; for the truth itself is that all are the neighbor, but in a different degree, and that they are the neighbor more than others who are in good (see n. 2417, 3419, 3820, 5025).[3] By “Gad” are also signified those who make all salvation consist in works alone, like the Pharisee of whom the Lord says in the parable:
The Pharisee standing by himself prayed thus, God, I thank Thee that I am not as other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess (Luke 18:11-12);
thus holding external things as the veriest truths.
6328. GENESIS 49
1. And Jacob called his sons, and said, Gather ye yourselves together, and I will tell you what shall befall you in the end of the days.
2. Assemble yourselves and hear, ye sons of Jacob, and hear unto Israel your father.
3. Reuben, my firstborn, thou art my strength, and the beginning of my forces, excellent in eminence, and excellent in power.
4. Light as water thou shalt not excel, because thou wentest up on thy father’s bed, then profanedst thou it; he went up on my couch.
5. Simeon and Leviticus are brethren; instruments of violence are their swords.
6. Into their secret let not my soul come; in their assembly let not my glory be united; for in their anger they slew a man, and in their good pleasure they unstrung an ox.
7. Cursed be their anger for it was vehement, and their wrath for it was hard. I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.
8. Judah, thy brethren shall celebrate thee, thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies, thy father’s sons shall bow down to thee.
9. Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the prey my son thou art gone up; he bowed, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?
10. The scepter shall not be removed from Judah, and a lawgiver from between his feet, even until Shiloh come; and to him is the obedience of the peoples.
11. He binds his young ass unto the vine, and his ass’s colt unto the choice vine; he washes his clothing in wine, and his covering in the blood of grapes:
12. His eyes are red with wine, and his teeth are white with milk.
13. Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the seas, and he shall be at a haven of ships, and his side shall be toward Zidon.
14. Issachar is a bony ass, lying down between the burdens.
15. And he shall see rest that it is good, and the land that it is pleasant; and he shall bow his shoulder to bear, and shall be a servant to tribute.
16. Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel.
17. Dan shall be a serpent upon the way, an arrow-snake upon the path, biting the horse’s heels, and his rider shall fall backward.
18. I wait for Thy salvation, O Jehovah.
19. Gad, a troop shall ravage him, and he shall ravage the heel.
20. From Asher, his bread is fat, and he shall yield the delights of a king.
21. Naphtali is a hind let loose, giving discourses of elegance.
22. Joseph is the son of a fruitful one, the son of a fruitful one over a fountain, of a daughter, she marches upon the wall.
23. And embitter him, and shoot at him, and hate him, the archers.
24. And he shall sit in the strength of his bow, and the arms of his hands are made strong by the hands of the mighty Jacob; from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel.
25. By the God of thy father, and He shall help thee, and with Shaddai, and He shall bless thee, with the blessings of heaven above, with blessings of the deep that lieth beneath, with blessings of the breasts and of the womb.
26. The blessings of thy father shall prevail above the blessings of my progenitors, even to the desire of the hills of an age: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of the Nazirite of his brethren.
27. Benjamin is a wolf; he shall seize in the morning, he shall devour the spoil, and at even he shall divide the prey.
28. All these are the twelve tribes of Israel; and this is what their father spake to them and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them.
29. And he commanded them, and said unto them, I am being gathered unto my people; bury me unto my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite;
30. In the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is upon the faces of Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a sepulcher.
31. There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah:
32. The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the sons of Heth.
33. And Jacob finished commanding his sons, and he gathered up his feet unto the bed, and expired, and was gathered unto his peoples.
