1172. That by "Dedan" are signified the knowledges of the lower celestial things that are in rituals, is evident from the following passages in the Word. In Ezekiel:
The sons of Dedan were thy traders; many isles were the mart of thy hand; they brought thee for a present horns of ivory, and ebony (Ezek. 27:15).
"Horns of ivory, and ebony" are in the internal sense exterior goods, which are of worship, or of rituals. In the same:
Dedan was thy trader in garments of freedom for the chariot; Arabia and all the princes of Kedar (Ezek. 27:20-21).
Here in like manner "garments of freedom for the chariot" are exterior goods, or goods of rituals. In Jeremiah:
Their wisdom is become stinking; flee ye, they have turned themselves away, they have let themselves down to dwell in the deep, O inhabitants of Dedan (Jer. 49:7-8).
Here "Dedan" in the proper sense denotes rituals in which there is no internal worship or adoration of the Lord from the heart, of which it is said that they "turn themselves away and let themselves down to dwell in the deep." From these passages it is now evident that knowledges of spiritual things are signified by "the sons of Cush;" and knowledges of celestial things by "the sons of Raamah."