Manasseh

Preached on 11-12-00

MANASSEH

A Sermon by the Rev. Patrick A. Rose

"And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh; For God hath made me for-get all my toil, and all my father's house." (Gen. 41:51)

CANAAN WAS, FOR THE ISRAELITES, the promised land -- the land flowing with milk and honey. And this land, after it was conquered and settled by the children of Israel, stands for heaven -- it stands for man's mind after he has been prepared for heaven. It is because of this, because the land of Canaan was to be a picture of the mind of a regenerated man, that so many detailed instructions were given in the Word, in the Book of Joshua, as to how this the land should be divided between the tribes. Each detail -- each boundary line, can tell us something about heaven itself. This morning we are going to consider just one of these details.

If we were to look at a map of the land of Canaan as it was divided between the tribes, one of the first things we notice is the River Jordan. It runs from north to south, right through the center of the land, down to the Dead Sea in the south. Some of the tribes had territory on the left, that is, on the west side of the river. Others were given land to the right, east of the river. This, at least, is the way it looks. Strictly speaking, though, the River Jordan did not run through the land, but was a border to the land. In other words, those tribes on the west side of the river had their inheritance within the actual land of Canaan. Those tribes on the east, though, were not within the land of Canaan itself, but lived on the outskirts of the land. This is a representation of a person's mind, for the mind, we are taught, is divided, in general, into two parts -- into an internal and an external.

Now, if we were to look closer at the map, we notice that one tribe stands out from the rest in a striking way. Though some tribes had their inheritance within the land itself and other tribes inherited land beyond the Jordan, Manasseh -- the tribe of Manasseh -- had land on both sides of the river. Manasseh as it were joins the two parts of the land together. Obviously Manasseh stands for something very important within the mind -- something that conjoins the two parts of the mind into one. This morning we would consider what this something is -- what Manasseh is within the regenerated mind.

The tribe of Manasseh takes its representation from Manasseh the man -- the man from whom the tribe was descended. Once again we notice something unusual. Manasseh was not one of the twelve sons of Jacob. In fact, as we were to look at the map of the land of Canaan we notice there are in fact two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim, named after men who were not sons of Jacob at all. Manasseh and Ephraim were sons of Joseph. Why then do these tribes have territory within the land of Canaan? In effect, what has happened is this: the tribe of Joseph has been divided into two. There is no tribe of Joseph. Instead, from Joseph's two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, two tribes are formed, each with its own inheritance in the land.

Joseph's two sons obviously represented something special. And part of this representation originated in the fact that they, unlike their father, uncles and cousins, were born within the land of Egypt.

Each one of Jacob's sons stands for something relating to the establishment of the church, and indeed the establishment of heaven itself, within a person's mind. Each son, you might say, represents a step along the path to heaven. This is why all of Jacob's sons, with the sole exception of Benjamin, were born in the land of Paddan-aram. Paddan-aram stands for knowledges, and if we are to be regenerated, there are many, many things we must learn and know. And because each son stands for a step along the path to heaven, each of these sons produced his children in the land of Canaan -- Canaan representing heaven, or the church. Even though they all moved to Egypt during the famine, none of them had children in that land -- with the exception of Joseph.

To Joseph, and to Joseph alone, there were born sons in the land of Egypt -- Ephraim and Manasseh. Egypt represents what is natural. So it was that Ephraim, and especially Manasseh, came to represent, we are told, "the dominion of the internal man in the external" (AC 6025). Ephraim represents a new understanding and Manasseh represents a new will in the external or natural mind of man. This is why the tribe of Manasseh had such a special inheritance in the land of Canaan. The new will, that is, a genuine desire within the external natural mind to do what is good, is the most fundamental characteristic of the mind of a fully regenerate person. This new will is formed in the external man only after the external man is regenerated, and this external man, we are told, is regenerated last. The internal man must first be reformed, and only then can the external be reformed.

Few people are aware of just how necessary it is for a person to be regenerated. His mind, both internal and external, must be completely transformed. There must be this transformation, this rebirth, for the simple reason that a person, from birth, is filled with hereditary tendencies towards evil. He is far more corrupt than he could ever imagine. Now it doesn't appear this way because the external degree of the mind, that part which is directly concerned with the world, generally tries to put forth a good appearance. This external part of the mind is, you might say, so good at appearing good that it can fool even the person himself into thinking he is far better than he really is.

Deep within, though -- within the internal man -- the person is filled with inclinations to evils and falsities of every kind. This internal man, if it is not regenerated, is, we are told "nothing but hatred against everything that belongs to charity, and consequent rage against all things belonging to faith" (TCR 593). However good a person might appear on the outside, he is, nevertheless, filled with selfishness from within, and acts from selfishness in whatever he does. What might appear to be good words and actions are, in fact, motivated only by a concern for one’s own welfare.

The picture of our minds that we are given by the Lord would be a depressing one, were it not for the process of regeneration. From the moment of his birth into the world, a human being is blessed by the Lord with the influence of angels, and his mind is held open to receive instruction from the Word. And from the Word, or, if he does not have the Word, from whatever truths there may be in his religion, he comes to learn the difference between what is good and what is evil. This is the beginning of the establishment of the church, and of heaven, within the mind. It begins with instruction, instruction represented by the birth of Jacob's sons in the land of Paddan-aram. As a result of this instruction, a person can then determine, if he so chooses, to follow the teachings of the Lord. It is in this way that the internal man is reformed. Within himself, within the internal, the person comes to know and to desire the things of heaven.

This, though, is only the beginning. It is one thing to have a desire and vision within oneself; it is quite another to put this desire into practice -- to actually live the way an angel lives. Deeds are far more difficult than intentions, as we all know so very well. And the reason for this is that the external man has, in a very real sense, a mind of its own.

Before the internal is reformed, the external part of a person’s mind tries to appear good before the world. The person, without even having to think about it, generally acts in such a way that he might appear upright and honorable before others. Because of this, one might think that the external doesn't need reforming. The external man, though, is not doing what is good. It is doing what is expedient. From heredity, and, even more, from training and habit, it thinks and acts constantly out of self-interest. And this external man -- this selfish external part of the mind -- can be changed only slowly, and with great effort.

This is why regeneration must, inevitably, involve the conflicts of temptation. We may have good intentions, theoretically, within the internal man. But to come to the point where our deeds and words are genuinely motivated by charity and love -- this is far more difficult. By ourselves, and within ourselves, we may want to do what is good. As soon as we return to the arena of everyday life, however, we find, to our despair, that we continue to act out of concern for ourselves far more than we act from charitable motives. There is a conflict between, on the one hand, the internal man, and its desire to live the life that leads to heaven, and, on the other hand, the external man, with its strong desire to think only of serving itself. Within ourselves, within the internal man, we may indeed want to serve others without any thought of praise or reward. When we strive to put this desire into life, though, the external man, because of its nature, resists, and turns our thoughts in selfish directions ( cf. AC 6299). Despite our best intentions, we keep ending up asking ourselves: "What will I get out of it if I do what is good?"

So it is that the external man resists and rejects spiritual influx from the internal man. This is why, after Joseph is sold into Egypt, he undergoes many hardships. Egypt represents what is natural, and it is when our good intentions descend to the natural plane of everyday life that our faith is sorely tried. Joseph represents, in general terms, the celestial of the spiritual within the rational or internal man. He represents the love (that is, the celestial) of doing what is taught by spiritual truth from the Lord's Word. And this desire, within the internal man, to do what the truth teaches, suffers hard things as we attempt to put it into practice. Joseph is cast into a pit by his brothers. He is sold as a slave. He is falsely accused and cast into prison. At this point Joseph could easily have concluded that his whole life was doomed to be a complete failure. And, within our own minds, there are surely those times when we wonder whether our attempts to actually live our religion, to bring what is internal into external action, are likewise doomed.

Nevertheless, despite all the trials Joseph underwent, and despite all the indignities he suffered, it was necessary for him to be in Egypt. He had to live in Egypt, and, eventually, he had to rule over Egypt. Even though it may be difficult and very hard at times, the truths we receive within ourselves from the Word, truths we love and believe in, must be brought down into everyday life, and the external man must, eventually, be subjugated.

Eventually, of course, Joseph did come to rule Egypt. He was appointed, by Pharaoh, to rule the land on his behalf. Joseph was given absolute authority over the whole country -- a country that was one of the major powers of the ancient world. He had the authority to make the Egyptians do whatever he wanted them to do. And so too with us. Eventually, if we persist in our struggles with the natural external man, the Lord will give us power over the natural. We will be given the power to make ourselves do what is right -- do what the Lord says -- and then the external will no longer be able to resist.

Something else happened to Joseph, though, something that in many ways was more important than coming to rule the land. Pharaoh had given Joseph a woman to marry. She was the daughter of an Egyptian priest, and her name was As’enath. She bore Joseph two sons. Now Joseph could forget the troubles he had undergone. Not only did he rule the land of Egypt, but he now had two children born in that land. He called the older child Manasseh, which means, literally, "forgetfulness," for, he said, "God hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house" ( Gen. 41:51). The second son was called "Ephraim," meaning "fruitfulness." Now Joseph was happy.

We also become happy if we persist despite temptation, and so, with the Lord's help, conquer the external man. Not only will we be given power over the external man, but the external man itself will be transformed. Within the external man the Lord will form a new will. This is what is represented by the birth of Manasseh in Egypt. Joseph forgot his troubles, the troubles he had undergone in Egypt, and the troubles "his father's house" -- that is, his brothers -- had caused him by selling him into slavery. And with the birth of a new will in the natural we also forget our troubles -- the trials of temptation, the trials that are caused because of our heredity evils -- evils that are from "our father's house."

The wonderful thing about the new will is this -- it means we no longer have to make ourselves do what is right. The external man is not only subjugated, but, because there is within it this new will, it now wants to serve the internal -- it wants to do what is right.

Think about it! Never having to struggle ever again to make ourselves do what the Lord wants us to do! The new will in the natural, which is Manasseh, is born of Joseph. And it is said that the new will, together with a new understanding, in the natural, are the presence of the internal itself in the natural. There is not, and cannot be, any more conflict between the internal and external, because the internal desire to do the Lord's will, represented by Joseph, is now present within the external as well -- as Manasseh and Ephraim (cf. AC 6275).

This is why Jacob, or Israel, later adopts Ephraim and Manasseh as his own children. Israel had, long ago, been led to believe that Joseph had been killed by a wild animal. When Israel, and his family, later move to Egypt during the famine -- he not only meets Joseph, but meets these two grandchildren as well. And since, internally, Manasseh and Ephraim are Joseph, are the presence of the internal in the external, Israel acknowledges them as if they were his own sons: "And now your two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine." (Gen. 48:5).

This is why, in the literal sense, Ephraim and Manasseh came to be counted amongst the tribes. Ephraim and Manasseh actually were adopted sons of Israel -- he adopted his own grandchildren. And, in the internal sense, we can see why Ephraim and Manasseh had to have their own inheritances in the land. The land of Canaan is heaven, and there can be no heaven, no happy heaven, until conflict between the internal and external comes to an end. And this conflict will not end, not end fully, until the external man also has within itself a desire to do what is good and right. This also is why Manasseh not only had an inheritance in the land, but had an inheritance that spanned the River Jordan -- to represent love flowing in from the Lord, into the internal, and from there into the external.

Love must go forth, or else it eventually dies. It must go forth in action, go forth into life. Therefore Joseph had to go down into Egypt, go down into life, and there, despite the hardships, he had to endure, and come eventually to rule that land, and have children there. And because love must go forth from the internal man into the external, and thus into life, the tribe of Manasseh, representing the new will, had its inheritance not only within the land of Canaan itself, but also in the border across the river.

If love does not go forth into life this way it dies. If it does go forth, though, it is happy. Heaven itself is nothing else than loving the Lord's will, and doing it freely, easily and happily. Indeed, once the external man has been subjugated and regenerated, the person is, as to his spirit, already amongst the angels of heaven ( See TCR 607 ff).

A person who is regenerated does good, and he does it happily. This is why, in the 68th Psalm, in our second lesson this morning, the mountain of Bashan and its adjoining hills are spoken of as leaping or skipping. It is a strange image -- to speak of hills leaping. In the literal sense it doesn't seem to make any sense at all. Indeed some versions, such as the New King James, rework the translation to make it say something else ("fume with envy"). And yet it means just what it says. The hills of Bashan do skip or leap -- they skip with happiness. Bashan was the region east of the Jordan given to Manasseh -- and the hills there represented good actions -- the doing of good. Love, when it goes forth into life, into actions, is happy. And in this happiness the Lord Himself is present. Indeed it is said, of the mountain of Bashan, that there the Lord will dwell forever (Ps. 68:16).

The Lord is with us when we read His Word. The Lord is with us when we meditate upon His Word, and resolve, within ourselves, to obey His Word. And yet the Lord can only dwell with us, in fullness, when we actually do what His Word teaches -- and do it with happiness and with joy. In this the Lord is with us, for to do good with happiness is nothing less that heaven itself.

Amen.

Lessons: Gen. 41:41-52; Ps. 68:1-16; TCR 593