AE 447 - Zebulun; AE 448 - Joseph; AE 449 - Benjamin (and Bethlehem); AE 450 - Dan

AE 447 [1]

Of the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand sealed,
(Revelation 7:8)
means the conjunction with the Lord
of those who are in the third heaven.
. . . "Zebulun" in the Hebrew means cohabitation,
and cohabitation means in the spiritual sense conjunction,
such as exists with those who love each other.
Here "Zebulun" means the conjunction with the Lord
of those who are in the third heaven,
. . . therefore the three tribes last mentioned
mean conjunction with the Lord,
"the tribe of Zebulun" the conjunction with the Lord
of those who are in the third heaven,
"the tribe of Joseph" the conjunction with the Lord
of those who are in the second heaven,
and "the tribe of Benjamin" the conjunction with the Lord
of those who are in the lowest heaven.

AE 448 [1, 16]

Of the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand sealed,
(Revelation 7:8)
means the conjunction with the Lord
of those who are in the second heaven.

[16]
"Joseph" means in the highest sense the Lord
in respect to the Divine spiritual . . ..
How the Lord was received when He came into the world,
and how He was tempted
and then became Lord of heaven and earth,
and subjugated the hells,
reduced the heavens to order
and established the church
is described by the story of Joseph . . ..

AE 449 [1, 2, 3]

Of the tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand sealed,
(Revelation 7:8)
means the conjunction with the Lord
 of those who are in the lowest heaven.
This is evident from the representation of "Benjamin"
and the tribe named from him,
as being the spiritual-celestial in the natural person,
as "Joseph" represents it in the spiritual.
The spiritual-celestial is truth conjoined to good;
for truth regarded in itself is spiritual,
and good is celestial;
therefore by "Benjamin" and his tribe
the conjunction of truth and good in the natural is meant,
and thus here the conjunction with the Lord
of those who are in the lowest heaven;
for in the lowest heaven are those
who are in natural good and truth
from the spiritual and the celestial.

As "Benjamin" means truth conjoined to good
in the natural person,
and thus truth conjoined to good in those
who are in the lowest heaven,
so he was born to Jacob last,
and was called by him "son of the right hand,"
also he was born in Bethlehem,
and that city signifies truth conjoined to good in the natural.

He was called "the son of the right hand"
because "son" means truth,
and "right hand" means the power of truth from good,
and in the spiritual world
truth that is from good in the natural person has all power.
All the power the spiritual person has is in this,
because the effecting cause is in the spiritual person,
and the effect is in the natural,
and all the power of the effecting cause
puts itself forth through the effect.
For this reason he was called "Benjamin,"
that is, "the son of the right hand."
And as "Bethlehem" has a like signification,
namely, truth conjoined to good in the natural person,
David too was born there, and also anointed as king;
for David as king represented the Lord
in respect to truth from good,
and this, too, is signified by "king".
For the same reason the Lord was born in Bethlehem
because He was born a king,
and truth conjoined to good was with Him from birth.
For every infant is born natural,
and the natural,
because it is next to the external senses and the world,
is first opened,
and this with all men is ignorant of truth and desirous of evil;
but in the Lord alone t
he natural had a desire for good and a longing for truth;
for the ruling affection in a person,
which is his soul,
is from the father;
and with the Lord,
 the affection or soul from the Father was the Divine Itself,
which is the Divine good of the Divine love.

AE 450

Among these twelve tribes,
out of each of which twelve thousand
are said to have been sealed,
the tribe of Dan is not mentioned,
but in its stead the tribe of Manasseh.
. . . the tribe of Dan was the last of the tribes,
and therefore signified, in the Lord's kingdom,
the ultimates in which those are
who are in the good of life and of faith
according to their religion
in which there are no genuine truths.