1389 – 2743

1389. Souls that have come into the other life have wondered that there is such a communication of another’s thoughts, and that they at once know the quality of another person’s faith, as well as that of his disposition. But they were told that the spirit receives much more excellent faculties when it has been separated from the body. During the bodily life there is an influx of the objects of the senses; and also of phantasy from those things which thence inhere in the memory; besides anxieties for the future; various cupidities that are excited by external things; cares for food, clothing, place of abode, children; and other things, concerning which they take no thought in the other life; and therefore on the removal of these obstacles and hindrances, together with the corporeal parts that are of gross sensation, they cannot but be in a more perfect state. The same faculties remain, but are much more perfect, clear, and free; especially with those who have lived in charity and faith in the Lord, and in innocence; for the faculties of all such are immensely elevated above those which they had in the body, being finally elevated even to the angelic faculties of the third heaven.

1390. Nor is there a communication merely of another’s affections and thoughts, but also of his memory-knowledge, to such an extent that one spirit supposes that he has known what another knows, even if he had known nothing about such matters. Thus there is a communication of all the other’s knowledge. Some spirits retain what is thus communicated, and some do not.

1391. Communications are made both by conversation with one another, and by ideas together with representations; for the ideas of thought of spirits are simultaneously representative, and by this means all things are set forth in great fullness. They can represent more by a single idea than they can utter by a thousand words. But the angels perceive what is within the idea, what the affection is, what the origin of the affection, what its end; besides other things that are interior.

1392. The delights and happiness in the other life are wont to be communicated from one to many by a real transmission that is wonderful, by which they too are affected in a similar manner; and these communications are effected without any loss to him who makes the communication. It has been granted me also thus to communicate delights to others by transmissions. From this may be seen what must be the happiness of those who love the neighbor more than themselves, and who desire nothing more than to transfer their happiness to others; a condition that originates in the Lord, who in this manner communicates felicities to the angels. The communications of happiness are such continual transmissions; but without any reflection that they are from such an active origin, and from a determination as it were open and voluntary.

1393. Communications are also effected in a wonderful way by means of removals, the nature of which cannot be perceived by man. Sad and troublesome things are removed in an instant, and thus things that give delight and happiness are presented without any hindrances; for when these have been removed, the angels flow in, and communicate their happy feelings.

1394. It is owing to the existence of such perception as enables one to know in an instant what is the quality of another in respect to love and faith, that spirits and angels are joined together into societies in accordance with their agreement, and are separated from fellowship according to their disagreement; and this so exquisitely that there is not the smallest difference which does not dissociate or consociate. Hence the societies in the heavens are so distinct from one another that nothing can be conceived to be more so; and this in accordance with all the differences of love to the Lord, and of faith in Him, which cannot be numbered. Hence comes the form of heaven, which is such as to represent one man; and this form is continually being perfected.

1395. As regards this kind of perception, I have learned many things from experience, but it would be tedious to relate them all. Often have I heard the deceitful speaking, and have perceived not only that there was deceit, but also what the deceit was, and what special wickedness there was in it. There is as it were an image of the deceit in every tone of the voice. I could also perceive whether the deceit belonged to him who was speaking, or to others who spoke through him. The case is similar with those who are in hatred: the nature of the hatred is at once perceived, and more things that are in it than man can in any wise be induced to believe. When the persons are presented against whom the hatred has been felt, a lamentable state results, for whatever had been thought and plotted against them stands forth to view.

1396. A certain spirit who while he lived in the world had desired to arrogate to himself merit for his acts and his teaching, went away to the right and came to those who were not of such a character. In order that he might be associated with them, he said that he was nothing, and that he desired to serve them; but instantly, on his first approach, and indeed while he was still far away, they perceived what he was; and they at once replied that he was not what he professed to be, but that he desired to be great, and therefore could not be in agreement with them, who were little. Being ashamed at this, he withdrew, wondering that they knew him so far away.

1397. As the perceptions are so exquisite, evil spirits cannot approach a sphere, or any society, where there are good spirits who are in mutual love. When they merely approach it they begin to be distressed, and they complain and lament. In his audacity and self-confidence, a spirit who was evil obtruded himself into a certain society that is at the first threshold of heaven; but from the moment of his arrival he was scarcely able to breathe, and became sensible of a cadaverous stench from himself, and therefore fell back.

1398. There were a number of spirits about me who were not good. An angel came, and I saw that the spirits could not endure his presence; for, as he came nearer, they fell back more and more. I wondered at this, but it was given me to know that the spirits could not stay in the sphere which he had with him. From this, and also from other experience, it has been made evident that one angel can put to flight myriads of evil spirits, for they cannot endure the sphere of mutual love. And yet it was perceived that the sphere of the angel had been tempered by means of others who were associated with him: if it had not been tempered, they would all have been dissipated. From all this it is evident what a perfect perception exists in the other life; and how those who are there are associated together, and also separated from fellowship, in accordance with the perceptions.

1399. Every spirit has communication with the interior and with the inmost heaven, though he is wholly ignorant of it, and without this communication he could not live. What he is inwardly, is known by the angels who are in his interiors, and he is also ruled by the Lord by means of these angels. Thus there are communications of his interiors in heaven, as there are of his exteriors in the world of spirits. By means of interior communications he is fitted for the use into which he is led without his being aware of it. The case is the same with man: he likewise communicates with heaven by means of angels-although of this he is wholly ignorant-for otherwise he could not live. The things which flow in therefrom into his thoughts, are only the ultimate effects; all his life is from this source, and from this are ruled all the endeavors [conatus] of his life.

1400. A continuation concerning perceptions and the spheres that arise from them, will be found at the end of this chapter.

CHAPTER 12

1. And Jehovah said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy land, and from thy birth, and from thy father’s house, to the land that I will cause thee to see.
2. And I will make thee into a great nation; and I will bless thee, and will make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing.
3. And I will bless them that bless thee, and will curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all the families of the ground be blessed.
4. And Abram went as Jehovah had spoken unto him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was a son of five years and seventy years, when he went forth out of Haran.
5. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gotten, and the soul that they had gained in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.
6. And Abram passed through the land, even unto the place Shechem, even unto the oak-grove Moreh: and the Canaanite was then in the land.
7. And Jehovah was seen of Abram, and said, To thy seed will I give this land. And there he built an altar to Jehovah, who was seen of him.
8. And he removed from thence into the mountain on the east of Bethel, and spread his tent; having Bethel toward the sea, and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to Jehovah, and called on the name of Jehovah.
9. And Abram journeyed, going and journeying, toward the south.
10. And there was a famine in the land. And Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; because the famine was grievous in the land.
11. And it came to pass that when he drew nigh to come into Egypt, he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold I pray, I know that thou art a woman beautiful to look upon:
12. And it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they will say, This is his wife; and they will kill me, and will make thee to live.
13. Say, I pray, thou art my sister; that it may be well with me for thy sake, and that my soul may live because of thee.
14. And it came to pass when Abram was come into Egypt, that the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very beautiful.
15. And the princes of Pharaoh saw her, and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken to Pharaoh’s house.
16. And he did well unto Abram for her sake; and he had flock and herd, and he-asses and menservants, and maidservants and she-asses, and camels.
17. And Jehovah smote Pharaoh with great plagues, and his house, because of the word of Sarai, Abram’s wife.
18. And Pharaoh called Abram, and said, What is this that thou hast done unto me? why didst thou not tell me that she is thy wife?
19. Why saidst thou, She is my sister? and I might have taken her to me for a woman. And now, behold thy wife; take her, and go.
20. And Pharaoh commanded the men concerning him; and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had.

sRef Gen@12 @0 S0′ 1401. THE CONTENTS
True historical things begin here, all of which are representative, and each word significative. The things related in this chapter concerning Abram represent the Lord’s state from earliest childhood up to youth. As the Lord was born in the same way as other men, He also advanced from an obscure state to one more lucid. “Haran” is the first state, which was obscure; “Shechem” is the second; “the oak-grove Moreh” is the third; “the mountain which had Bethel toward the sea and Ai on the east,” is the fourth; and the “journey thence toward the south into Egypt,” is the fifth.

sRef Gen@12 @0 S0′ 1402. The things told of Abram’s sojourn in Egypt represent and signify the Lord’s first instruction. “Abram” is the Lord; “Sarai,” as a wife, is truth to be adjoined to the celestial; “Sarai,” as a sister, is intellectual truth; “Egypt” is memory-knowledge [scientia]. The progress from memory-knowledges [a scientificis] even to celestial truths is described; this was according to Divine order, that the Lord’s Human Essence might be conjoined with His Divine Essence, and at the same time become Jehovah.

1403. THE INTERNAL SENSE
From the first chapter of Genesis up to this point, or rather to the mention of Eber, the historicals have not been true but made-up historicals, which in the internal sense signify celestial and spiritual actualities. But in this chapter and in those which follow, the historicals are not made-up but true historicals; and in the internal sense these in like manner signify celestial and spiritual actualities, as anyone may see from the single consideration that it is the Word of the Lord.

1404. In these things now before us, which are true historicals, all the statements and words both in general and in particular have in the internal sense an entirely different signification from that which they bear in the sense of the letter; but the historicals themselves are representative. Abram, who is first treated of, represents in general the Lord, and specifically the celestial man; Isaac, who is afterwards treated of, in like manner represents in general the Lord, and specifically the spiritual man; Jacob also in general represents the Lord, and specifically the natural man. Thus they represent the things which are of the Lord, of His kingdom, and of the church.

1405. But the internal sense, as has already been clearly shown, is of such a nature that all things in general and in particular are to be understood abstractly from the letter, just as if the letter did not exist; for in the internal sense is the Word’s soul and life, which does not become manifest unless the sense of the letter as it were vanishes. Thus, from the Lord, do the angels perceive the Word when it is being read by man.

1406. What the historicals in this chapter represent, is evident from the Contents that have been premised; what is signified by the statements and the words, may be seen from what follows, where they are explained.

sRef Gen@12 @1 S0′ 1407. Verse 1. And Jehovah said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy land, and from thy birth, and from thy father’s house, to the land that I will cause thee to see. These and the things which follow occurred historically, as they are written; but the historicals are representative, and each word is significative. By “Abram” in the internal sense is meant the Lord, as has been said before. By “Jehovah said unto Abram,” is signified the first mental advertence of all; “get thee out of thy land,” signifies the corporeal and worldly things from which He was to recede; “and from thy birth,” signifies the more exterior corporeal and worldly things; “and from thy father’s house,” signifies the more interior of such things; “to the land that I will cause thee to see,” signifies the spiritual and celestial things that were to be presented to view.

sRef Gen@12 @1 S0′ 1408. These and the things which follow occurred historically as they are written; but the historicals are representatives and all the words are significative. The case is the same with all the historicals of the Word, not only with those in the books of Moses, but also with those in the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings. In all these, nothing is apparent but mere history; but although it is history in the sense of the letter, still in the internal sense there are arcana of heaven, which lie stored up and hidden there, and which can never be seen so long as the mind, together with the eye, is kept in the historicals; nor are they revealed until the mind is removed from the sense of the letter. The Word of the Lord is like a body that contains within it a living soul; the things belonging to the soul do not appear while the mind is so fixed in corporeal things that it scarcely believes that there is a soul, still less that it will live after death; but as soon as the mind withdraws from corporeal things, those which are of the soul and life become manifest. And this also is the reason, not only why corporeal things must die before man can be born anew, or be regenerated, but also why the body itself must die so that he may come into heaven and see heavenly things.
[2] Such also is the case with the Word of the Lord: its corporeal things are those which are of the sense of the letter; and when the mind is kept in these, the internal things are not seen at all; but when the former are as it were dead, then for the first time are the latter presented to view. But still the things of the sense of the letter are similar to those which are with man while in the body, to wit, to the knowledges of the memory that come from the things of sense, and which are general vessels that contain interior or internal things within them. It may be known from this that the vessels are one thing, and the essentials contained in the vessels another. The vessels are natural; the essentials contained in the vessels are spiritual and celestial. So likewise the historicals of the Word, and all the expressions in the Word, are general, natural, and indeed material vessels, in which are things spiritual and celestial; and these in no wise come into view except by the internal sense.
[3] This will be evident to everyone from the mere fact that many things in the Word are said according to appearances, and indeed according to the fallacies of the senses, as that the Lord is angry, that He punishes, curses, kills, and many other such things; when yet in the internal sense they mean quite the contrary, namely, that the Lord is in no wise angry and punishes, still less does He curse and kill. And yet to those who from simplicity of heart believe the Word as they apprehend it in the letter, no harm is done while they live in charity. The reason is that the Word teaches nothing else than that everyone should live in charity with his neighbor, and love the Lord above all things. They who do this have in themselves the internal things; and therefore with them the fallacies taken from the sense of the letter are easily dispelled.

sRef Gen@12 @1 S0′ 1409. That the historicals are representative, but all the words significative, is evident from what has already been said and shown concerning representatives and significatives (n. 665, 920, 1361); nevertheless, since representatives begin here, it is well to give briefly a further explanation of the subject. The Most Ancient Church, which was celestial, looked upon all earthly and worldly, and also bodily things, which were in any wise objects of the senses, as being dead things; but as each and all things in the world present some idea of the Lord’s kingdom, consequently of things celestial and spiritual, when they saw them or apprehended them by any sense, they thought not of them, but of the celestial and spiritual things; indeed they thought not from the worldly things, but by means of them; and thus with them things that were dead became living.
[2] The things thus signified were collected from their lips by their posterity and were formed by them into doctrinals, which were the Word of the Ancient Church, after the flood. With the Ancient Church these were significative; for through them they learned internal things, and from them they thought of spiritual and celestial things. But when this knowledge began to perish, so that they did not know that such things were signified, and began to regard the terrestrial and worldly things as holy, and to worship them, with no thought of their signification, the same things were then made representative. Thus arose the Representative Church, which had its beginning in Abram and was afterwards instituted with the posterity of Jacob. From this it may be known that representatives had their rise from the significatives of the Ancient Church, and these from the celestial ideas of the Most Ancient Church.
[3] The nature of representatives may be manifest from the historicals of the Word, in which all the acts of the fathers, Abram, Isaac, and Jacob, and afterwards those of Moses, and of the judges and kings of Judah and Israel, were nothing but representatives. Abram in the Word, as has been said, represents the Lord; and because he represents the Lord, he represents also the celestial man; Isaac likewise represents the Lord, and thence the spiritual man; Jacob in like manner represents the Lord, and thence the natural man corresponding to the spiritual.
[4] But with representatives the character of the person is not considered at all, but the thing which he represents; for all the kings of Judah and of Israel, of whatever character, represented the Lord’s kingly function; and all the priests, of whatever character, represented His priestly function. Thus the evil as well as the good could represent the Lord and the celestial and spiritual things of His kingdom; for, as has been said and shown above, the representatives were altogether separated from the person. Hence then it is that all the historicals of the Word are representative; and because they are representative, it follows that all the words of the Word are significative, that is, that they have a different signification in the internal sense from that which they bear in the sense of the letter.

sRef Gen@12 @1 S0′ 1410. Jehovah said unto Abram. That this signifies the first mental advertence of all, depends upon the fact that this historical is representative, and the words themselves significative. Such was the style in the Ancient Church, that when anything was true, they said “Jehovah said,” or, “Jehovah spoke,” which signified that it was so; as has been shown above. But after significatives had been turned into representatives, then Jehovah or the Lord did actually speak with men; and when it is then said that Jehovah said, or, Jehovah spoke with anyone, it signifies the same as before; for the Lord’s words in the true historicals involve the same as His words in the made-up ones. There is only this difference, that the latter are composed to be like true history, and the former are not so composed. Wherefore that “Jehovah said unto Abram,” signifies nothing else than the first mental advertence; as when in the Ancient Church anyone was admonished by conscience, or by some other dictate, or by their Word, that a thing was so, it was then said in like manner that “Jehovah said.”

sRef Gen@12 @1 S0′ 1411. Get thee out of thy land. That this signifies the corporeal and worldly things from which He was to recede, is evident from the signification of “land” or “earth,”* which is variable, adapting itself to the person or thing of which it is predicated-as in the first chapter of Genesis, where likewise “earth” signifies the external man (see also n. 82, 620, 636, 913). That it here signifies corporeal and worldly things, is because these are of the external man. A “land,” in the proper sense, is the land, region, or kingdom itself; it is also the inhabitant thereof; and also the people itself and the nation itself, in the land. Thus the word “land” not only signifies in a broad sense the people or the nation, but also in a limited sense the inhabitant. When the word “land” is used with reference to the inhabitant, its signification is then in accordance with the thing concerning which it is used. It is here used respecting corporeal and worldly things; for the land of his birth, out of which Abram was to go, was idolatrous. In the historical sense, therefore, the meaning here is that Abram should go out from that land; but in the representative sense, that He should recede from the things which are of the external man; that is, that external things should not resist, nor bring in disturbance; and because this is concerning the Lord, it signifies that His externals should agree with His internals.
* The Latin word terra means both “land” and “earth.”

sRef Gen@12 @1 S0′ 1412. And from thy birth. That this signifies the more exterior corporeal and worldly things, and that “from thy father’s house” signifies the more interior of such things, may be seen from the signification of “birth,” and from the signification of a “father’s house.” There are in man corporeal and worldly things more exterior and more interior; the more exterior are those which are proper to the body, such as pleasures and the things of sense; the more internal are affections and things of memory-knowledge; and these are what are signified by “birth” and a “father’s house.” That these are their significations may be confirmed by many passages of the Word, but as it is evident from the connection, and from looking at the things in the internal sense, there is no need to dwell on the confirmation.

sRef Gen@12 @1 S0′ 1413. To the land that I will cause thee to see. That this signifies the spiritual and celestial things that would be presented to view, is evident from the signification of “land” (n. 662, 1066), and here indeed of the land of Canaan, by which the Lord’s kingdom is represented, as may be seen from many other passages in the Word. The land of Canaan is therefore called the Holy Land, and also the heavenly Canaan. And because it represented the Lord’s kingdom, it also represented and signified the celestial and spiritual things that belong to His kingdom; here, those which belong to the Lord Himself.

sRef Gen@12 @1 S0′ 1414. As the Lord is here treated of, more arcana are contained than can ever be thought of and declared. For here, in the internal sense, is meant the Lord’s first state, when born; which state, because most deeply hidden, cannot well be set forth to the comprehension. Suffice it to say that the Lord was like other men, except that He was conceived of Jehovah, but still was born of a virgin mother, and by birth derived infirmities from the virgin mother like those of man in general. These infirmities are corporeal, and it is said of them in this verse that He should recede from them, in order that celestial and spiritual things might be presented for Him to see. There are two hereditary natures connate in man, one from the father, the other from the mother. The Lord’s heredity from the Father was the Divine, but His heredity from the mother was the infirm human. This infirm nature which a man derives hereditarily from his mother, is something corporeal that is dispersed when he is being regenerated, while that which a man derives from his father remains to eternity. But the Lord’s heredity from Jehovah, as was said, was the Divine. Another arcanum is that the Lord’s Human also was made Divine. In Him alone there was a correspondence of all the things of the body with the Divine-a most perfect correspondence, infinitely perfect, giving rise to a union of the corporeal things with Divine celestial things, and of sensuous things with Divine spiritual things; and thus He was the Perfect Man, and the Only Man.

sRef Gen@12 @2 S0′ 1415. Verse 2. And I will make thee into a great nation; and I will bless thee, and will make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing. “I will make thee into a great nation” signifies the kingdom in the heavens and on the earth; it is said “a great nation,” from things celestial and from goods; “and I will bless thee,” signifies the fructification of celestial things and the multiplication of spiritual things; “and will make thy name great,” signifies glory; “and thou shalt be a blessing,” signifies that from the Lord are all things both in general and in particular.

sRef Gen@12 @2 S0′ 1416. I will make thee into a great nation. That this signifies the kingdom in the heavens and on the earth, is evident from the signification of a “nation,” as being in the internal sense the celestial of love and the derivative good, thus all in the universe in whom is the celestial of love and of charity; and as in the internal sense the Lord is here treated of, there is meant all the celestial and all the derivative good, thus His kingdom, which is with those who are in love and charity. In the supreme sense the Lord is Himself the “great nation,” because He is the celestial itself, and good itself; for all the good of love and of charity is from Him alone; and therefore the Lord is His kingdom itself, that is, He is the all in all of His kingdom, as is also acknowledged by all the angels in heaven. Hence now it is evident that “I will make thee into a great nation,” signifies the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens and on earth.
sRef Gen@17 @5 S2′ sRef Gen@17 @16 S2′ sRef Gen@17 @15 S2′ [2] That in the internal sense, where the Lord and the celestial things of love are treated of, a “nation” signifies the Lord and all celestial things, is evident from the things adduced above concerning the signification of a “nation,” and of “nations” (n. 1258, 1259). This may also be further confirmed by the following passages. Concerning Abraham it is said:
Thy name shall not any more be called Abram, and thy name shall be Abraham, for the father of a multitude of nations have I given thee (Gen. 17:5).
The letter h in “Abraham” was taken from the name Jehovah, on account of his representation of Jehovah or the Lord. In like manner it is said of Sarai:
Thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. And I will bless her, and also give thee a son of her; thus I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall be of her (Gen. 17:15-16);
where “nations” denote the celestial things of love, and “kings of peoples” the spiritual things of faith thence derived, which belong to the Lord alone.
sRef Gen@35 @10 S3′ sRef Gen@35 @11 S3′ sRef Gen@21 @13 S3′ sRef Gen@21 @18 S3′ [3] Concerning Jacob in like manner:
Thy name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name, and He called his name Israel: and God said, I am God the thunderer; increase and multiply; a nation and a congregation of nations shall be from thee, and kings shall go forth out of thy loins (Gen. 35:10-11);
where “Israel” denotes the Lord, and that He Himself is “Israel” in the supreme sense, is well known to some; and when He is “Israel,” it is evident that “a nation” and “an assemblage of nations,” and “kings out of His loins,” are the celestial and the spiritual things of love, and therefore all who are in the celestial and the spiritual things of love. Concerning Ishmael, Abram’s son by Hagar, it is said:
The son of the handmaid I will make him into a nation, because he is thy seed (Gen. 21:13, 18).
What is represented by Ishmael will be seen in its place; the “seed” of Abram is love itself, and from this the term “nation” is used for those begotten of Ishmael.
sRef Ex@19 @6 S4′ sRef Jer@31 @36 S4′ sRef Ex@19 @5 S4′ [4] That a “nation” signifies the celestial things of love, is evident in Moses:
If hearing ye will hear My voice, and will keep My covenant, ye shall also be a peculiar treasure unto Me out of all peoples, and ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation (Exod. 19:5, 6);
where “a kingdom of priests,” which is the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens and on earth, being so named from the celestial things of love, is manifestly called “a holy nation;” whereas the Lord’s kingdom from His kingly function was named from the spiritual things of love, and is called “a holy people;” and for this reason “kings out of the loins,” in the passage quoted above, are spiritual things. In Jeremiah:
If these statutes have departed from before Me, saith Jehovah, the seed of Israel also shall cease, that it be not a nation before Me all the days (Jer. 31:36);
“the seed of Israel” denotes the celestial of charity; and when this ceases, there is no longer a nation before the Lord.
sRef Isa@9 @2 S5′ sRef Isa@9 @6 S5′ sRef Isa@9 @3 S5′ sRef Isa@9 @4 S5′ sRef Ps@106 @5 S5′ sRef Isa@9 @7 S5′ [5] In Isaiah:
The people that walk in darkness have seen a great light; Thou hast multiplied the nation (Isa. 9:2-3).
This is said of the church of the nations specifically; but in general of all who are in ignorance and live in charity; these are a “nation,” because they are of the Lord’s kingdom. In David:
That I may see the good of Thy chosen; that I may be glad in the gladness of Thy nation, that I may glory in Thine inheritance (Ps. 106:5).
Here “nation” plainly denotes the Lord’s kingdom. As the signification of “nation” is the celestial of love and the derivative good, there originated, from a perception of this signification, the fact that the men of the Most Ancient Church were distinguished into households, families, and nations; and thereby they perceived the Lord’s kingdom, and consequently the celestial itself. From this Perceptive arose the Significative, and from this the Representative.

sRef Gen@12 @2 S0′ 1417. That “a great nation” is so called from celestial things and goods, is evident from what has just been said and shown, and also from what was said above (n. 1259). Hence it may be known what in the proper sense is the Church of the Nations.

sRef Gen@12 @2 S0′ 1418. And I will bless thee. That this signifies the fructification of celestial things and the multiplication of spiritual things, is evident from the signification in the Word of “to bless,” concerning which presently.

sRef Matt@20 @26 S0′ sRef Matt@20 @28 S0′ sRef Gen@12 @2 S0′ sRef Matt@20 @27 S0′ sRef Mark@10 @44 S0′ sRef Mark@10 @45 S0′ 1419. And I will make thy name great. That this signifies glory, is evident without explication. In the external sense, by “making a name,” and by “glory,” there is signified something worldly; but in the internal sense, something celestial. This celestial is not to strive to be the greatest, but to be the least, by serving all; as the Lord Himself said in Matthew:
It shall not be so among you; but whosoever would be great among you shall be your minister; and whosoever would be first among you shall be your servant: even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many (Matt. 20:26-28; Mark 10:44-45).
It is the celestial of love not to desire to be one’s own, but to belong to all; so that we desire to give others all that is our own; in this consists the essence of celestial love. The Lord, being love itself, or the essence and life of the love of all in the heavens, wills to give to the human race all things that are His; which is signified by His saying that the Son of man came to give His life a ransom for many. From this it is evident that in the internal sense “name” and “glory” are altogether different from what they are in the external sense. In heaven therefore all are rejected who desire to become great and the greatest; because this is contrary to the essence and life of heavenly love, which are from the Lord. Hence also it is that nothing is more contrary to heavenly love than the love of self. Concerning these things see what is related from experience above (n. 450, 452, 952).

sRef Jer@4 @2 S0′ sRef Gen@28 @14 S0′ sRef Ps@21 @6 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @18 S0′ sRef Gen@26 @4 S0′ sRef Gen@12 @2 S0′ sRef Ps@72 @17 S0′ 1420. And thou shalt be a blessing. That this signifies that all things both in general and in particular are from the Lord, is evident from the signification of “a blessing.” A “blessing” is predicated of all goods; in the external sense, of corporeal, worldly, and natural goods; in the internal sense, of spiritual and celestial goods. “To be a blessing,” is to be the source of all goods, and the giver of all goods. This can by no means be said of Abram, and hence it is evident that by Abram is represented the Lord, who alone is “a blessing.” In like manner in regard to what is said of Abraham hereafter:
Abraham shall surely become a great and numerous nation, and in him shall all the nations of the earth be blessed (Gen. 18:18);
of Isaac:
In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed (Gen. 26:4),
and of Jacob:
In thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed (Gen. 28:14).
That nations cannot be blessed, and are not blessed, in Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and in their seed, but in the Lord, may be seen by everyone. This is clearly said in David:
His name shall endure forever; before the sun shall the name of his son endure; and all nations shall be blessed in him (Ps. 72:17);
where the Lord is treated of. Again:
Thou shalt set him for blessings forever (Ps. 21:6);
where also the Lord is treated of. In Jeremiah:
The nations shall be blessed in Him, and in Him shall they glory (Jer. 4:2).
From these passages it is now evident that “a blessing” signifies the Lord, and that when He is called “a blessing,” it signifies that from Him are all celestial and spiritual things, which alone are goods; and because they alone are goods, they alone are truths; and therefore in proportion as there are celestial and spiritual goods in natural, worldly, and corporeal ones, in the same proportion these are goods, and are “blessed.”

1421. Verse 3. And I will bless them that bless thee, and will curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all the families of the ground be blessed. “I will bless them that bless thee,” signifies all happiness to those who acknowledge the Lord from the heart; “and will curse him that curseth thee,” signifies unhappiness to those who do not acknowledge Him; “and in thee shall all the families of the ground be blessed,” signifies that all things true and good are from the Lord.

1422. I will bless them that bless thee. That this signifies all happiness to those who acknowledge the Lord from the heart, is evident from the signification of a “blessing,” as involving all and each of the things that are from the Lord, as well those that are good as those that are true; thus celestial, spiritual, natural, worldly, and corporeal things; and because in the universal sense “blessing” embraces all these, it may be seen in each passage, from the connection, what is signified by “to bless;” for this adapts itself to the things of which it is predicated. From this it is evident that “I will bless them that bless thee,” signifies all happiness to those who acknowledge the Lord from the heart; for in the internal sense, as already said, the Lord is here treated of.
sRef Ps@96 @2 S2′ sRef Ps@68 @26 S2′ sRef Dan@2 @19 S2′ sRef Dan@2 @20 S2′ [2] Among the ancients, “to bless Jehovah,” or “the Lord,” was a customary form of speech, as is evident from the Word. Thus in David:
Bless ye God in the congregations, the Lord from the fountain of Israel (Ps. 68:26).
Again:
Sing to Jehovah, bless His name, proclaim His salvation from day to day (Ps. 96:2).
In Daniel:
Then was the secret revealed in a vision of the night; therefore Daniel blessed the God of the heavens; he said, Blessed be the name of God Himself for ever and ever, for wisdom and power are His (Dan. 2:19-20).
Of Zacharias and Simeon we also read that they “blessed God” (Luke 1:64, 2:28). Here it is evident that “to bless the Lord” is to sing to Him, to proclaim the good tidings of His salvation, to preach His wisdom and power, and thus to confess and acknowledge the Lord from the heart. They who do this cannot but be blessed by the Lord, that is, be gifted with those things which belong to blessing, namely, with celestial, spiritual, natural, worldly, and corporeal good; these, when they follow each other in this order, are the goods in which there is happiness.
sRef Ps@119 @12 S3′ sRef Ps@66 @20 S3′ sRef Ps@72 @19 S3′ sRef Luke@1 @68 S3′ sRef Ps@144 @1 S3′ sRef Luke@1 @67 S3′ sRef Ps@28 @6 S3′ sRef Ps@31 @21 S3′ sRef Ps@72 @18 S3′ [3] As “to bless Jehovah,” or “the Lord,” and “to be blessed by Jehovah,” or “the Lord,” was a common form of speech, it was therefore common also to say “Blessed be Jehovah.” As in David:
Blessed be Jehovah, because He hath heard the voice of my supplications (Ps. 28:6).
Again:
Blessed be Jehovah, for He hath made His mercy wonderful to me (Ps. 31:21).
Again:
Blessed be God, who hath not turned away my prayers, nor His mercy from me (Ps. 66:20).
Again:
Blessed be Jehovah God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things and blessed be His glorious name for ever, and let the whole earth be filled with His glory (Ps. 72:18-19).
Again:
Blessed art Thou, O Jehovah teach me Thy statutes (Ps. 119:12).
Again:
Blessed be Jehovah, my Rock, that teacheth my hands (Ps. 144:1).
In Luke:
Zacharias, filled with the Holy Spirit, prophesied, saying, Blessed be the God of Israel, for He hath visited and wrought deliverance for His people (Luke 1:67-68).

1423. And will curse him that curseth thee. That this signifies the unhappiness of those who do not acknowledge the Lord, is evident from the signification of “being cursed,” and of “cursing,” as being to turn one’s self away from the Lord, as has been shown before (n. 245, 379), and consequently not to acknowledge Him; for they who do not acknowledge, turn themselves away. Thus “to curse” here involves all things opposite to those involved in “blessing.”

1424. And in thee shall all the families of the ground be blessed. That this signifies that all goods and truths are from the Lord, is evident from the signification of “to bless,” which is treated of in this verse and the preceding; also from the signification of “the families of the ground,” as being all good and truth; for in the Word “families” signify the like as do “nations” and “peoples,” being predicated of both; and it is said, “families of the nations,” and “families of the peoples.” “Nations,” as has been shown, signify goods; and “peoples,” as has also been shown, signify truths (n. 1259); and therefore “families” signify goods and also truths (n. 1261). The reason why these are called “all the families of the ground,” is that all goods and truths are of the faith of love, which is of the church. That by “the ground” is signified the church, consequently the faith of the church, was shown above (n. 566).

sRef Gen@12 @4 S0′ 1425. Verse 4. And Abram went as Jehovah spoke unto him; and Lot went with him. And Abram was a son of five years and seventy years when he went forth out of Haran. By “Abram,” as already said, is represented the Lord as to His Human Essence. “And Abram went as Jehovah spoke unto him” signifies His progression toward Divine things; “and Lot went with him,” signifies what is sensuous; by “Lot” is represented the Lord as to His sensuous and corporeal man; “and Abram was a son of five years and seventy years,” signifies that as yet there was not very much of the Divine; “when he went forth out of Haran,” signifies an obscure state of the Lord.

sRef Gen@12 @4 S0′ 1426. That by “Abram” is represented the Lord as to His Human Essence, is evident from everything that is said of Abram. Afterwards he represents the Lord both as to the Human and also the Divine Essence, and he is then called “Abraham.” The things that have so far been said, from the first verse, represent and signify the Lord’s first mental advertence that He was to put on celestial and thus Divine things. Here there commence the progressions of His Human Essence to His Divine Essence.

sRef Gen@12 @4 S0′ 1427. And Abram went as Jehovah spoke unto him. That this signifies progression toward Divine things, is evident from what has just been said.

sRef Gen@12 @4 S0′ 1428. And Lot went with him. That this signifies what is sensuous, and that by “Lot” is represented the Lord as to His sensuous and corporeal man, is evident from the representation of Lot in what follows, where it is said that he was separated from Abram, and was saved by angels; but afterwards, when he was separated, Lot put on another representation, concerning which, of the Lord’s Divine mercy hereafter. It is evident that the Lord was born as are other men, but of a virgin mother, and that He possessed what is sensuous and corporeal as do other men; but He differed from other men in the fact that His sensuous and corporeal was afterwards united to celestial things, and was made Divine. The Lord’s sensuous and corporeal itself, or what is the same, His sensuous and corporeal man, as it was in His state of childhood-not as it became when united by means of celestial things to the Divine-is represented by Lot.

sRef Gen@12 @4 S0′ 1429. Abram was a son of five years and seventy years. That this signifies that as yet there was not very much of the Divine, is evident from the signification of the number “five” as being a little, and of the number “seventy” as being what is holy. That “five” denotes a little, has been shown above (n. 649); and also that “seventy,” like “seven,” signifies what is holy (n. 395, 433, 716, 881): here, because “seventy” is a predicated of the Lord, it signifies the holy Divine. That in the internal sense the numbers of Abram’s years also signify other things, is evident from what has been said and shown before concerning years and numbers (n. 482, 487, 493, 575, 647, 648,, 755, 813); and also from the fact that there is not a syllable or iota in the Word which has not an internal sense; and unless spiritual and celestial things were involved, it would not have been mentioned that Abram was then five years and seventy years old; neither would this have taken place at this age of Abram; as is evident also from other numbers, both of years and of measures, that occur in the Word.

sRef Gen@12 @4 S0′ 1430. When he went forth out of Haran. That this signifies an obscure state of the Lord, like that of man’s childhood, is evident from the signification of “Haran” in the preceding chapter, whither Terah first came with Abram, and where Terah the father of Abram died,(Gen. 11:31-32); and also from what follows, in that Jacob went to Haran, where Laban dwelt (Gen. 27:43; 28:10; 29:4). Haran was a region where worship was external; and indeed, as regards Terah, Abram, and Laban, it was idolatrous; yet in the internal sense the same is not signified as in the external, but only something that is obscure. When from the external sense we pass to the internal the idea of idolatry does not remain, but is wiped away, just as the idea of holy love arises from the mention of a mountain (see n. 795); in passing from the external sense to the internal, the idea of a mountain first perishes, and there remains the idea of height, and by height is represented holiness. So in all other cases.

sRef Gen@12 @5 S0′ 1431. Verse 5. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gotten, and the soul that they had gained in Haran: and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came. “And Abram took Sarai his wife,” signifies good to which truth has been adjoined; by “Abram,” as has been said, is meant the Lord; here, when He was a child; by Sarai” as a “wife,” is meant truth: “and Lot his brother’s son,” signifies sensuous truth, thus the first that is insinuated into a child; “and all their substance that they had gotten,” signifies all things that are sensuous truths; “and the soul that they had gained in Haran,” signifies every living essential that was possible in that obscure state; “and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan,” signifies that He thus advanced to the celestial things of love; “and into the land of Canaan they came,” signifies that He attained to the celestial things of love.

sRef Gen@12 @5 S0′ 1432. And Abram took Sarai his wife. That this signifies good to which truth has been adjoined, is evident from that which is signified in the Word by a man and his wife (see n. 915); thus here, in the internal sense, by “Sarai” is signified truth. In all things of man both in general and in particular there is an image of a marriage; nor can there possibly be anything so small as not to contain this image within it, whether it be in the external man and each and everything belonging to it, or in the internal man and each and everything belonging to it. The reason is that all things both in general and in particular come forth and subsist from the Lord, and from the unition of His Human Essence, as in a marriage, with His Divine Essence; and from the conjunction or heavenly marriage of both with His kingdom in the heavens and on earth. In the present case therefore, where there was to be represented the truth that is joined to the Lord’s good, and this by historic facts concerning Abram, it could be represented in no other way than by a “wife.” That there is an image of a marriage in all things both in general and in particular, may be seen above (n. 54, 55, 718, 747, 917).

sRef Gen@12 @5 S0′ 1433. That by “Abram” is meant the Lord, in the present case when He was a child; and that by “Sarai his wife” is meant truth, is evident from what has been already said.

sRef Gen@12 @5 S0′ 1434. And Lot his brother’s son. That this signifies sensuous truth, and thus the first that was insinuated into the Lord when a child, is evident from the signification of “Lot,” as being the sensuous-as stated in the explication of the preceding verse-and from the signification of “son,” as being truth (see n. 264, 489, 491, 533); and also from the signification of “brother,” as being the truth of faith (n. 367). Thus sensuous truth is what is here signified, for in the internal sense there is no reflection on the persons and words, but only upon their signification. In heaven they do not know who Lot is, but only the quality that is represented by him; nor do they know what a son is, but the spiritual state by which one is relatively as a son; nor do they know what a brother is, except from brotherhood such as there is in heaven. As regards sensuous truth, it is the first truth that insinuates itself; for in childhood the judgment does not go higher. Sensuous truth consists in seeing all earthly and worldly things as being created by God, and each and every thing for a purpose, and in all things whatsoever a certain image of God’s kingdom. This sensuous truth is insinuated solely with the celestial man; and as the Lord alone was a celestial man, these and similar sensuous truths were insinuated into Him in earliest childhood: whereby He was prepared for the reception of celestial things.

sRef Gen@12 @5 S0′ 1435. And all the substance that they had gotten. That this signifies all things that are sensuous truths, is evident from what has already been said. All the memory-knowledge from which a man thinks, is called “acquisition” or “substance.” Without the acquisition of memory-knowledges, a man cannot as a man have any idea of thought. The ideas of thought are founded upon those things which have been impressed on the memory from the things of sense; and therefore memory-knowledges are vessels of spiritual things; and affections that are from good pleasures of the body are vessels of celestial things. All these are called “the substance gotten,” and indeed in Haran, by which is signified an obscure state, such as is that of infancy up to childhood.

sRef Gen@12 @5 S0′ 1436. And the soul that they had gained in Haran. That this signifies every living essential that was possible in that obscure state, is evident from the signification of “soul,” as being what is living essential; and from the signification of “Haran” as being an obscure state, concerning which see the preceding verse. The soul in the proper sense signifies that which lives in man, and thus his very life. That in man which lives is not the body, but the soul, and the body lives by means of the soul. The life itself of man, or the living part of him, is from celestial love; there cannot possibly be anything living which does not derive its origin from this; and therefore by “soul” is here signified the good which lives from celestial love, which good is the living essential itself. In the literal sense, by “soul” is here meant every man, and also every beast that was alive, and which they had procured for themselves; but in the internal sense nothing else is signified than what is living essential.

sRef Gen@12 @5 S0′ 1437. And they went forth to go into the land of Canaan. That this signifies that He thus advanced to the celestial things of love, is evident from the signification of “the land of Canaan.” That the land of Canaan represents the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens and on earth, is evident from many things in the Word. The reason is that the Representative Church was instituted there, in which all things both in general and in particular represented the Lord and the celestial and spiritual things of His kingdom. Not only were the rites representative, but everything connected with them, as well the persons who ministered, as the things by which they ministered, and also the places of the ministration. As the Representative Church was there, the land was called the Holy Land, although it was anything but holy, for it was inhabited by the idolatrous and the profane. This then is the reason why by “the land of Canaan,” here and in what follows, are signified the celestial things of love; for the celestial things of love, and these alone, are in the Lord’s kingdom, and constitute His Kingdom.

sRef Gen@12 @5 S0′ 1438. And into the land of Canaan they came. That this signifies that He attained to the celestial things of love, is evident from what has just been said concerning the land of Canaan. There is here described the first thing in the Lord’s life-from birth to childhood-namely, that He attained to the celestial things of love. The celestial things of love are the very essentials; the rest come from them. With these He was first of all imbued; for from these as from their seed were all things afterwards made fruitful. The seed itself in Him was celestial, because He was born of Jehovah; and therefore He was the only one who had this seed in Himself. All men whatever have no other seed than something filthy and infernal, in and from which is what is their own; and this is from what is inherited from the father, as is known to everyone; wherefore, unless they receive from the Lord a new seed and a new Own, that is, a new will and a new understanding, they cannot be otherwise than accursed to hell; from which all men, spirits, and angels, are drawn forth, and are continually withheld by the Lord.

sRef Gen@12 @6 S0′ 1439. Verse 6. And Abram passed through the land, even unto the place Shechem, even unto the oak-grove Moreh: and the Canaanite was then in the land. “Abram passed through the land, even unto the place Shechem” signifies the Lord’s second state, when the celestial things of love became apparent to Him, which are signified by “Shechem;” “even unto the oak-grove Moreh,” signifies the third state, namely, the first perception, which is “the oak-grove Moreh;” “and the Canaanite was then in the land,” signifies the evil heredity from the mother in His external man.

sRef Gen@12 @6 S0′ 1440. Abram passed through the land, even unto the place Shechem. That this signifies the Lord’s second state, when the celestial things of love became apparent to Him, is evident from what precedes and from the order of all these events-from what precedes, in that He advanced to the celestial things of love and attained to them, which is signified by “they went forth to go into the land of Canaan,” and by “they came into the land of Canaan;” and from the order of the events, in that after He had advanced to celestial things and had attained to them, they then became apparent to Him. In celestial things there is the very light of the soul; because the Divine itself, that is, Jehovah Himself, is in them; and as the Lord was to conjoin the Human Essence to the Divine Essence, when He attained to celestial things it could not be otherwise than that Jehovah appeared to Him.

sRef Gen@33 @17 S0′ sRef Gen@33 @20 S0′ sRef Ps@60 @6 S0′ sRef Gen@12 @6 S0′ sRef Gen@33 @18 S0′ sRef Gen@33 @19 S0′ sRef Ps@60 @8 S0′ sRef Ps@108 @9 S0′ sRef Ps@108 @7 S0′ sRef Ps@108 @8 S0′ sRef Ps@60 @7 S0′ 1441. That these things are signified by “Shechem,” is also evident from the fact that Shechem is as it were the first station in the land of Canaan, in journeying from Syria, or from Haran; and as the celestial things of love are signified by “the land of Canaan,” it is evident that their first appearing is signified by Shechem. When Jacob returned from Haran into the land of Canaan, he in like manner came to Shechem, as is evident from the following passage:
Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him a house, and made booths for his cattle; therefore he called the name of the place Succoth. And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan-aram, and encamped before the city. And he erected there an altar (Gen. 33:17-20);
where also by ” Shechem” is signified the first of light. In David:
God hath spoken in His holiness I will exult, I will divide Shechem, and will mete out the valley of Succoth; Gilead is Mine and Manasseh is Mine and Ephraim is the strength of Mine head; Judah is My lawgiver; Moab is My wash-pot; upon Edom will I cast My shoe; over Philistia will I sound in triumph (Ps. 60:6-8; 108:7-9);
where the signification of “Shechem” is similar. That names signify nothing else than actual things [res], and that so also does “Shechem,” may be plainly seen from these prophetic sayings of David; for otherwise they would be little but an accumulation of names. That Shechem was made a city of refuge (Josh. 20:7), and also a city of the priests (Josh. 21:21), and that a covenant was made there (Josh. 24:1, 25), involve also what is similar.

sRef Gen@12 @6 S0′ 1442. Unto the oak-grove Moreh. That this signifies the first perception, is also evident from the order. As soon as Jehovah appeared to the Lord in His celestial things it is evident that He attained perception; all perception is from celestial things. What perception is, has been declared and shown before (n. 104, 202, 371, 483, 495, 503, 521, 536, 865). Everyone receives perception from the Lord when he comes to celestial things. They who have become celestial men, such as those of the Most Ancient Church, have all received perception, as before shown (n. 125, 597, 607, 784, 895). They who become spiritual men, that is, who receive charity from the Lord, have something analogous to perception, or rather they have a dictate of conscience, more or less clear, in proportion as they are in the celestial things of charity. The celestial things of charity are attended with this; for in them alone the Lord is present, and in them He appears to man. How much more must this have been the case with the Lord, who from infancy advanced to Jehovah, and was conjoined and united to Him, so that they were One.

sRef Gen@12 @6 S0′ sRef Deut@11 @30 S0′ sRef Deut@11 @29 S0′ 1443. As regards “the oak-grove Moreh” being the first perception, the case is this. There are with man things intellectual, things rational, and things of memory [scientifica]; his inmost things are intellectual, his interior things are rational, and his exterior things are those of the memory [scientifica]; all these are called his spiritual things, which are in the order here given. The intellectual things of the celestial man are compared to a garden of trees of every kind; his rational things, to a forest of cedars and similar trees, such as there were in Lebanon; but his memory-knowledges [scientifica] are compared to oak-groves, and this from their intertwined branches such as are those of the oak. By trees themselves are signified perceptions; as by the trees of the garden of Eden eastward, inmost perceptions, or those of intellectual things (as before shown, n. 99, 100, 103) by the trees of the forest of Lebanon, interior perceptions, or those of rational things; but by the trees of an oak-grove, exterior perceptions, or those of memory-knowledges, which belong to the external man. Hence it is that “the oak-grove Moreh” signifies the Lord’s first perception; for He was as yet a child, and His spiritual things were not more interior than this. Besides, the oak-grove Moreh was where the sons of Israel also first came when they passed over the Jordan and saw the land of Canaan, concerning which in Moses:
Thou shalt put the blessing upon Mount Gerizim, and the curse upon Mount Ebal. Are they not beyond Jordan, behind the way of the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanite that dwelleth in the plain over against Gilgal, beside the oak-groves of Moreh (Deut. 11:29-30);
by which also is signified the first of perception, for the entrance of the sons of Israel represents the entrance of the faithful into the Lord’s kingdom.

sRef Gen@12 @6 S0′ 1444. And the Canaanite was then in the land. That this signifies the evil heredity from the mother, in His external man, is evident from what has been already said concerning that which was inherited by the Lord; for He was born as are other men, and inherited evils from the mother, against which He fought, and which He overcame. It is well known that the Lord underwent and endured the most grievous temptations (concerning which, of the Lord’s Divine mercy hereafter), temptations so great that He fought alone and by His own power against the whole of hell. No one can undergo temptation unless evil adheres to him; he who has no evil cannot have the least temptation; evil is what the infernal spirits excite.
[2] In the Lord there was not any evil that was actual, or His own, as there is in all men, but there was hereditary evil from the mother, which is here called “the Canaanite then in the land.” Concerning this, see what was said above, at verse 1 (n. 1414), namely, that there are two hereditary natures connate in man, one from the father, the other from the mother; that which is from the father remains to eternity, but that which is from the mother is dispersed by the Lord while the man is being regenerated. The Lord’s hereditary nature from His Father, however, was the Divine. His heredity from the mother was evil, and this is treated of here, and is that through which He underwent temptations (see Mark 1:12-13; Matt. 4:1; Luke 4:1-2). But, as already said, He had no evil that was actual, or His own, nor had He any hereditary evil from the mother after He had overcome hell by means of temptations; on which account it is here said that there was such evil at that time, that is, that the “Canaanite was then in the land.”
sRef Zech@14 @21 S3′ [3] The Canaanites were those who dwelt by the sea and by the coast of Jordan, as is evident in Moses. The spies on their return said:
We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey, and this is the fruit of it. Howbeit the people that dwelleth in the land is strong, and the cities are fenced, very great; and moreover we saw the children of Anak there; Amalek dwelleth in the south; and the Hittite and the Jebusite and the Amorite dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanite dwelleth by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan (Num. 13:27-29).
That the Canaanites dwelt by the sea and by the coast of Jordan, signified evil thence in the external man, such as is the heredity from the mother; for the sea and the Jordan were boundaries.
aRef Ex@33 @2 S4′ aRef Ex@34 @11 S4′ aRef Ex@23 @28 S4′ aRef Ex@23 @23 S4′ [4] That such evil is signified by “the Canaanite,” is also evident in Zechariah:
In that day there shall be no more a Canaanite in the house of Jehovah Zebaoth (Zech. 14:21);
where the Lord’s kingdom is treated of, and it is signified that the Lord will conquer the evil meant by the Canaanite and will expel it from His kingdom. All kinds of evils are signified by the idolatrous nations in the land of Canaan, among which were the Canaanites (see Gen. 15:18-21; Exod. 3:8, 17; 23:23, 28; 33:2; 34:11; Deut. 7:1; 20:17; Josh. 3:10; 24:11; Judges 3:5). What evil is signified by each nation specifically, shall of the Lord’s Divine mercy be told elsewhere.

sRef Gen@12 @7 S0′ sRef Gen@12 @7 S0′ 1445. Verse 7. And Jehovah was seen of Abram, and said, To thy seed will I give this land. And there he built an altar to Jehovah, who was seen of him. “Jehovah was seen of Abram,” signifies that Jehovah appeared to the Lord while yet a child; “and said, To thy seed will I give this land,” signifies that celestial things should be given to those who should have faith in Him; “and there he built an altar to Jehovah, who was seen of him,” signifies the first worship of His Father from the celestial of love.

sRef Gen@12 @7 S0′ 1446. Jehovah was seen of Abram. That this signifies that Jehovah appeared to the Lord while yet a child, is evident from the things that precede; also from the very representation of the Lord by Abram; and also from the order, in that He attained to celestial things, then to perception, from which there follows that Jehovah was seen.

sRef Gen@12 @7 S0′ 1447. And said, To thy seed will I give this land. That this signifies that celestial things should be given to those who should have faith in Him, is evident from the signification of “seed,” and from the signification of “land.” That “seed” signifies faith in the Lord, was shown above (n. 255, 256); and that “land” signifies celestial things, was also shown above, at verse 1 of this chapter (and also n. 620, 636, 662, 1066). In the sense of the letter, by “the seed of Abram” is meant his posterity from Jacob, and by “land” is meant the land of Canaan itself, which would be given them for a possession, so that they might represent the celestial and spiritual things of the Lord’s kingdom and church, and that the Representative Church might be instituted among them, and because the Lord was to be born there; but in the internal sense nothing else is signified by “seed” than faith in the Lord, and by “land” nothing else than celestial things, and in the present passage that celestial things should be given those who should have faith in Him. What is meant by having faith in the Lord has already been shown repeatedly.

sRef Gen@12 @7 S0′ 1448. And there he built an altar to Jehovah who was seen of him. That this signifies the first worship of His Father from the celestial of love, is evident from the signification of “an altar,” as being the principal representative of worship (n. 921).

sRef Gen@12 @8 S0′ 1449. Verse 8. And he removed from thence into the mountain on the east of Bethel, and spread his tent; having Bethel toward the sea, and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to Jehovah, and called on the name of Jehovah. “He removed from thence into the mountain on the east of Bethel,” signifies the Lord’s fourth state when a child, namely, the progression of the celestial things of love, signified by being transferred to a mountain on the east of Bethel; “and spread his tent,” signifies the holy things of faith; “having Bethel toward the sea, and Ai on the east,” signifies that His state was still obscure; “and there he built an altar to Jehovah,” signifies the external worship of His Father from that state; “and called on the name of Jehovah,” signifies the internal worship of His Father from that state.

sRef Gen@12 @8 S0′ 1450. And he removed from thence into the mountain on the east of Bethel. That this signifies the Lord’s fourth state when a child, is evident from what precedes and from what follows, and also from the order itself. The order was that the Lord should first of all be imbued from infancy with the celestial things of love. The celestial things of love are love to Jehovah and love to the neighbor, and innocence itself in these. From these, as from the veriest fountains of life, flow all other things both in general and particular, for all other things are merely derivations. These celestial things are insinuated into man chiefly in his state of infancy up to childhood, and in fact without knowledges; for they flow in from the Lord, and affect him, before the man knows what love is and what affection is; as may be seen from the state of infants, and afterwards from the state of early childhood. These things in man are the remains which have been spoken of several times; and which are insinuated by the Lord and stored up for use in afterlife (concerning which see n. 468, 530, 560, 561, 660, 661). As the Lord was born as are other men, He was also introduced according to order into celestial things, and in fact by degrees from infancy to childhood, and afterwards into knowledges; and how the case was with Him in regard to these is described in this verse, and is represented in what follows by Abraham’s sojourn in Egypt.

sRef Gen@12 @8 S0′ 1451. That to be “removed into the mountain on the east of Bethel” signifies the progression of the celestial things of love, is evident from the signification of a “mountain,” as being what is celestial, as has been shown above (n. 795, 796); and from the signification of “the east,” as being Jehovah Himself as to love; for He is the East itself, as has also been shown above (n. 101, and elsewhere); and also from the signification of “Bethel,” as being the knowledge of celestial things. Celestial things are insinuated into man both without knowledges, and with knowledges; celestial things without knowledges from infancy up to childhood, as said just above; but celestial things with knowledges from childhood onward to adult age. And as the Lord was to advance into the knowledges of celestial things, which are signified by “Bethel,” it is here said that Abram passed over thence to a mountain on the east of Bethel.

sRef Gen@12 @8 S0′ 1452. And spread his tent. That this signifies the holy things of faith, is evident from the signification of a “tent,” as being the holy of love, and consequently the holy of faith from love, as before shown (n. 414). That “he spread his tent,” there signifies that this was now beginning.

sRef Gen@12 @8 S0′ 1453. Having Bethel toward the sea, and Ai on the East, signifies that the Lord’s state was still obscure, that is to say, in regard to the knowledges of celestial and spiritual things; for it is one thing to be in celestial things, and another to be in the knowledges of celestial things. Infants and children are in celestial things more than adults, because they are in love toward their parents, and in mutual love, and also in innocence; but adults are in the knowledges of celestial things more than infants and children, while very many of them are not in the celestial things of love. Before man is instructed in the things of love and faith, he is in an obscure state, that is, in regard to knowledges; which state is here described by having Bethel toward the sea, that is on the west, and Ai on the east. By “Bethel,” as has been said, is signified the knowledges of celestial things; but by “Ai” the knowledges of worldly things. The knowledges of celestial things are said to be “on the west” when they are in obscurity, for in the Word “the west” signifies what is obscure; and the knowledges of worldly things are said to be “on the east” when they are in clearness, for relatively to the west, the east is clearness. That the west and the east have this signification needs no confirmation, for it is evident to everyone without confirmation.
sRef Gen@13 @3 S2′ sRef Gen@28 @19 S2′ sRef Gen@13 @4 S2′ sRef Gen@35 @1 S2′ [2] And that “Bethel” signifies the knowledges of celestial things, may be seen from other passages in the Word where Bethel is named; as in the next chapter, where it is said that
Abram went on his journeys from the south even to Bethel, unto the place where his tent was in the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, unto the place of the altar which he made there (Gen. 13:3-4);
where “on his journeys from the south to Bethel,” signifies progression into the light of knowledges, on which account it is not here said that Bethel was on the west and Ai on the east. When Jacob saw the ladder, he said:
This is none other but the House of God, and this is the gate of heaven; and he called the name of that place Bethel (Gen. 28:17, 19);
where the knowledge of celestial things is in like manner signified by “Bethel;” for man is a Bethel, that is a House of God, and also a gate of heaven, when he is in the celestial things of knowledges. When a man is being regenerated, he is introduced by means of the knowledges of spiritual and celestial things; but when he has been regenerated, he has then been introduced, and is in the celestial and spiritual things of the knowledges. Afterwards:
God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there; make there an altar to God who appeared unto thee (Gen. 35:1, 6-7);
where in like manner “Bethel” signifies knowledges.
sRef 2Ki@17 @28 S3′ sRef 2Ki@17 @27 S3′ sRef Amos@7 @12 S3′ sRef Judg@20 @18 S3′ sRef Judg@20 @26 S3′ sRef Amos@7 @13 S3′ sRef Gen@28 @17 S3′ sRef Judg@20 @27 S3′ [3] That the ark of Jehovah was in Bethel, and that the sons of Israel came thither and inquired of Jehovah (Judges 20:18, 26, 27; 1 Sam. 7:16, 10:3) signify similar things; also that the king of Assyria sent one of the priests whom he had brought from Samaria, and he dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear Jehovah (2 Kings 17:27, 28). In Amos:
Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and there shalt thou prophesy; but prophesy not again any more at Bethel, for this is the king’s sanctuary, and this is the house of the kingdom (Amos 7:12-13).
[4] After Jeroboam had profaned Bethel (1 Kings 12:32; 13:1-8; 2 Kings 23:15) it had an opposite representation (see Hosea 10:15; Amos 3:14-15; 4:5-7). But that “Ai” signifies the knowledges of worldly things, may also be confirmed from the historical and the prophetical parts of the Word (see Josh. 7:2; 8:1-28; Jer. 49:3-4).

sRef Gen@12 @8 S0′ 1454. And he built an altar to Jehovah. That this signifies the external worship of His Father from that state, is evident from the signification of “an altar,” as being the principal representative of worship (n. 921).

sRef Gen@12 @8 S0′ 1455. And called on the name of Jehovah. That this signifies the internal worship of His Father from that state, is evident from the signification of “calling on the name of Jehovah” (n. 440). Everybody can see that it is external worship to build an altar to Jehovah, and internal to call on the name of Jehovah.

sRef Gen@12 @9 S0′ 1456. Verse 9. And Abram journeyed, going and journeying toward the south. “And Abram journeyed, going and journeying,” signifies further progression; “toward the south,” signifies into goods and truths, and thus into a state of light as to the interiors.

sRef Luke@2 @40 S0′ sRef Luke@2 @46 S0′ sRef Luke@2 @48 S0′ sRef Luke@2 @52 S0′ sRef Luke@2 @47 S0′ sRef Luke@1 @80 S0′ sRef Gen@12 @9 S0′ sRef Luke@2 @49 S0′ 1457. And Abram journeyed, going and journeying. That this signifies further progression, is evident from the signification of “to go,” and “to journey.” Among the ancients, travels, journeys, and sojournings, signified nothing else; hence also in the internal sense they signify nothing else in the Word. Here commence the Lord’s advancements into knowledges. That the Lord was also instructed as are other men, may be seen in Luke:
The child* grew and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of His appearing to Israel (Luke 1:80).
The Child grew and waxed strong in spirit, and was filled with wisdom, and grace was upon Him (Luke 2:40).
Joseph and the mother of Jesus after three days found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them and asking them questions; and all that heard Him were amazed at His understanding and answers. Seeing Him they wondered; but He said unto them, How is it that ye sought Me? Knew ye not that I must be in the things that are My Father’s? (Luke 2:46-49).
That He was then twelve years old, is stated in verse 42, of the same chapter. Again:
Then Jesus advanced in wisdom and in age, and in grace with God and men (Luke 2:52).
* This was John the Baptist, the Lord’s forerunner. [Reviser.]

sRef Gen@12 @9 S0′ 1458. That “toward the south” signifies into goods and truths, and thus into a state of light as to the interiors, is evident from the signification of “the south.” That “the south” signifies a state of light, comes from the fact that there are neither quarters nor times in the other life, but states which are signified by quarters and times. The states of intellectual things are as the states of the times of the day and of the year, and also as the states of the quarters. The states of the day are those of evening, night, morning, and noon; the states of the year are those of autumn, winter, spring, and summer; and the states of the quarters are those of the sun, in its relation to the west, the north, the east, and the south. Similar to these are the states of intellectual things. And, what is wonderful, in heaven those are in light who are in a state of wisdom and intelligence, exactly according to their state; those being in the greatest light who are in a state of the highest wisdom and intelligence; but the wisdom there is that of love and charity, and the intelligence is that of faith in the Lord. That in the other life there is light to which the light of the world can scarcely be compared, is to me a fact established by much experience (concerning which, of the Lord’s Divine mercy hereafter), and because there is in heaven such a correspondence between light and intellectual things, therefore in the Word, in this and in other passages, nothing else is signified in the internal sense by “the south.” “The south” here signifies the intelligence which is procured by means of knowledges. These knowledges are celestial and spiritual truths, which in heaven are so many radiations of light, and they are also presented visibly by means of the light, as before stated. As the Lord was now to be imbued with knowledges in order that as to the Human Essence also He might become the very Light of heaven, it is here said that “Abram journeyed, going and journeying toward the south.”
sRef Isa@58 @10 S2′ sRef Isa@43 @6 S2′ [2] That this is the signification of “the south,” may be seen from similar passages in the Word, as in Isaiah:
I will say to the north, Give; and to the south, Keep not back; bring My sons from far, and My daughters from the end of the earth (Isa. 43:6);
“the north” denotes those who are in ignorance; “the south” those who are in knowledges; “sons” truths; and “daughters” goods. Again:
If thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall thy light rise in the darkness, and thy thick darkness as the noonday [or, south-meridies] (Isa. 58:10);
to “draw out the soul to the hungry and to satisfy the afflicted soul,” denotes the goods of charity in general; the “light rising in the darkness,” means that they shall have the intelligence of truth; and “the thick darkness as the south,” means that they shall have the wisdom of good; “the south,” from its heat, signifies good, and from its light, truth.
sRef Ps@91 @5 S3′ sRef Ps@91 @6 S3′ sRef Ezek@40 @2 S3′ sRef Ezek@20 @47 S3′ sRef Ps@37 @6 S3′ sRef Ezek@20 @46 S3′ [3] In Ezekiel:
In the visions of God brought He me into the land of Israel, and set me upon a very high mountain, whereon was as it were the building of a city on the south (Ezek. 40:2);
concerning the New Jerusalem, or the Lord’s kingdom, which, because it is in the light of wisdom and intelligence, is “on the south.” In David:
Jehovah shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday (Ps. 37:6).
Again:
Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror of the night, for the arrow that flieth by day, for the pestilence that walketh in the thick darkness, for the destruction that wasteth at noonday [or, in the south] (Ps. 91:5-6);
“not to fear for the destruction that wasteth in the south,” means not to be afraid because of the damnation which comes upon those who are in knowledges and pervert them. In Ezekiel:
Son of man, set thy face toward the south, and drop [thy word] to the south, and prophesy to the forest of the field of the south, and say to the forest of the south, All faces from the south to the north shall be burned in her (Ezek. 20:46-47);
“the forest of the south,” denotes those who are in the light of truths, and who extinguish it, and thus those of this character who are within the church.
sRef Jer@13 @16 S4′ sRef Dan@8 @9 S4′ sRef Obad@1 @20 S4′ sRef Jer@13 @19 S4′ sRef Dan@8 @10 S4′ [4] In Daniel:
Out of one of them there went forth a little horn, and it grew exceedingly toward the south, and toward the east, and toward beauty [decus], and it grew even to the army of the heavens (Dan. 8:9-10);
meaning those who fight against goods and truths. In Jeremiah:
Give glory to Jehovah your God, before He maketh it grow dark, and before your feet stumble upon the mountains of twilight; and ye look for light, and He turn it into the shadow of death, He shall make it thick darkness; the cities of the south shall be shut, and there is none to open (Jer. 13:16, 19);
“the cities of the south” denote the knowledges of truth and good. In Obadiah:
The captivity of Jerusalem which is in Sepharad shall inherit the cities of the south (Obad. 20);
“the cities of the south” denote in like manner truths and goods; hence the very truths and goods of which they are the heirs; the Lord’s kingdom is here treated of.
[5] That Abram’s journeying, going and journeying toward the south, signifies, as before said, the Lord’s progression into goods and truths, and thus into a state of light as to the interiors, is to be thus understood: knowledges are the things that open the way for seeing celestial and spiritual things; by means of knowledges the way is opened for the internal man to advance toward the external, in which latter are the receiving vessels, which are as many as are the knowledges of good and truth; into these knowledges, as into their vessels, do celestial things inflow.

1459. Verse 10. And there was a famine in the land. And Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; because the famine was grievous in the land. “There was a famine in the land,” signifies a scarcity of knowledges as yet with the Lord when a child; “and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn,” signifies instruction in knowledges from the Word; “Egypt” is the memory-knowledge of knowledges [scientia cognitionum]; “to sojourn” is to be instructed; “because the famine was grievous in the land,” signifies much scarcity in His external man.

1460. There was a famine in the land. That this signifies a scarcity of knowledges as yet with the Lord when a child, is evident from what has been already said. During childhood the knowledges in a man never come from that which is interior, but from the objects of the senses, especially from the hearing. For, as before said, there are in the external man receiving vessels, called the things of the memory, and these are formed by means of knowledges-as everybody may know-the internal man flowing in and helping; consequently knowledges are learned and are implanted in the memory in accordance with the influx of the internal man. Thus also was it with the Lord when He was a child-for He was born as are other men and was instructed as are other men-but with Him the interiors were celestial, which adapted the vessels for the reception of the knowledges, and in such a way that the knowledges should afterwards become vessels to receive the Divine. The interiors with Him were Divine, from Jehovah His Father; the exteriors were human, from Mary His mother. Hence it may be seen that with the Lord, equally as with other men, there was in His external man, during His childhood, a scarcity of knowledges.
sRef Jer@5 @12 S2′ sRef Isa@5 @13 S2′ sRef Isa@5 @12 S2′ sRef Jer@5 @13 S2′ [2] That “famine” signifies a scarcity of knowledges, is evident from the Word in other places, as in Isaiah:
They do not look into the work of Jehovah, and see not the doing of His hands. Therefore My people go into captivity because they have no knowledge [cognitio], and their glory are mortals of famine, and their multitude are parched with thirst (Isa. 5:12-13);
“mortals of famine” denote a scarcity of the knowledges of celestial things; a “multitude parched with thirst,” a scarcity of the knowledges of spiritual things. In Jeremiah:
They have lied against Jehovah, and have said, It is not He; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine; and the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them (Jer. 5:12-13);
“sword and famine” denote the deprivation of the knowledges of truth and of good; “the prophets” are those who teach, in whom the word is not. That “to be consumed by the sword and famine,” is to be deprived of the knowledges of truth and of good; and that vastation is denoted, by “the sword” as to spiritual things, and by “famine” as to celestial things, is evident in various places in the Word (as Jer. 14:13-16, 18; Lam. 4:9; and elsewhere).
sRef Ezek@34 @28 S3′ sRef Ezek@5 @16 S3′ sRef Ezek@34 @29 S3′ sRef Ps@105 @16 S3′ sRef Ps@107 @9 S3′ sRef Lam@2 @19 S3′ sRef Ezek@5 @17 S3′ [3] So too in Ezekiel:
And I will increase famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread; and I will send upon you famine, and the evil wild beast; and they shall bereave thee, and I will bring the sword upon thee (Ezek. 5:16-17);
“famine” denotes the deprivation of the knowledges of celestial things, or of the knowledges of good, whence come falsities and evils. In David:
And He called for a famine upon the land, He broke the whole staff of bread (Ps. 105:16);
“to break the staff of bread,” signifies to be deprived of heavenly food; for the life of good spirits and angels is sustained by no other food than the knowledges of good and truth, and the goods and truths themselves, whence comes the signification of “famine” and of “bread,” in the internal sense. Again:
He hath satisfied the longing soul, and hath filled the hungry soul with good (Ps. 107:9);
denoting those who desire knowledges. In Jeremiah:
Lift up thy hands for the soul of thy young children, who faint for hunger at the head of all the streets (Lam. 2:19);
“hunger” denotes the lack of knowledges; “the streets,” truths. In Ezekiel:
They shall dwell confidently, and none to make afraid.* And I will raise up for them a plant for a name, and they shall be no more consumed with famine in the land (Ezek. 34:28-29),
denoting that they shall no longer be made destitute of the knowledges of good and truth.
sRef Amos@8 @12 S4′ sRef Rev@7 @16 S4′ sRef Luke@1 @53 S4′ sRef John@6 @35 S4′ sRef Amos@8 @11 S4′ sRef Luke@6 @21 S4′ [4] In John:
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore (Rev. 7:16);
concerning the Lord’s kingdom, where there is an abundance of all celestial knowledges and goods, which is “not to hunger;” and of spiritual knowledges and truths, which is “not to thirst.” In like manner spoke the Lord in John:
I am the Bread of life he that cometh to Me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst (John 6:35).
And in Luke:
Blessed are ye that hunger now, for ye shall be filled (Luke 6:21).
And again:
He hath filled the hungry with good things (Luke 1:53);
where celestial goods and their knowledges are treated of. That “famine” signifies a scarcity of knowledges, is plainly said in Amos:
Behold, the days are coming, that I will send a famine upon the land; not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for waters, but of hearing the words of Jehovah (Amos 8:11-12).
* The Latin says, “None doing good,” but benefaciens is evidently a misprint for terrefaciens, as it reads correctly in Apocalypse Explained, 388:8, 650:51. [Reviser.]

1461. And Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn. That this signifies instruction in knowledges [cognitiones] from the Word is evident from the signification of “Egypt,” and from the signification of “sojourning.” That “Egypt” signifies the memory-knowledge of knowledges, and that “to sojourn” signifies to be instructed, will be seen presently. That in His childhood the Lord was instructed as are other men, is evident from the passages in Luke that were adduced in the explication of verse 9 (n. 1457); and also from what has been said just above concerning the external man, which cannot be reduced to correspondence and agreement with the internal except by means of knowledges. The external man is corporeal and sensuous; nor does it receive anything celestial and spiritual unless knowledges are implanted in it, as in ground; for in these celestial things can have their recipient vessels. But the knowledges must be from the Word. Knowledges from the Word are such that they are open from the Lord Himself; for the Word itself is from the Lord through heaven, and the Lord’s life is in all things of the Word, both in general and in particular, although it does not so appear in the external form. Hence it may be seen that in His childhood the Lord did not will to imbue Himself with any other knowledges than those of the Word, which was open to Him, as before said, from Jehovah Himself, His Father, with whom He was to be united and become One; and this the more, because nothing is said in the Word that does not in its inmosts have regard to Him, and that has not first come from Him; for the Human Essence was only a something that was added to His Divine Essence that was from eternity.

1462. That relatively to the Lord, “Egypt” is the memory-knowledge of knowledges, but relatively to all other men is memory-knowledge [scientia] in general, is evident from its signification in the Word (concerning which above in various places, especially in n. 1164, 1165). For the Ancient Church was in Egypt as well as in many other places (n. 1238); and when this church was there, memory-knowledges [scientiae] flourished there more than anything else; hence by Egypt has been signified memory-knowledge. But after the people desired to enter by means of memory-knowledges into the mysteries of faith, and thus from their own power to investigate the truth of Divine arcana, Egypt became addicted to magic, and signified things of memory-knowledge which pervert, whence come falsities, and from these evils, as is evident in Isaiah 19:11.
sRef Isa@19 @13 S2′ sRef Isa@19 @20 S2′ sRef Isa@19 @19 S2′ sRef Isa@19 @18 S2′ sRef Isa@19 @22 S2′ sRef Isa@19 @21 S2′ [2] That useful memory-knowledges are signified by “Egypt,” thus in the present passage the memory-knowledge of knowledges, which is able to serve as vessels for celestial and spiritual things, is evident from the following passages in the Word. In Isaiah:
They have seduced Egypt, the cornerstone of the tribes (Isa. 19:13),
where it is called “the cornerstone of the tribes,” as it should serve for a support to the things that are of faith, which are signified by “the tribes.” Again:
In that day there shall be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak with the lip of Canaan, and swear to Jehovah Zebaoth; each shall be called the city of the sun. In that day there shall be an altar to Jehovah in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to Jehovah at the border thereof. And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto Jehovah Zebaoth in the land of Egypt; for they shall cry unto Jehovah because of the oppressors, and He shall send them a Saviour and a Prince, and He shall deliver them; and Jehovah shall become known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know Jehovah in that day; and they shall offer sacrifice and meat-offering, and shall vow a vow to Jehovah, and shall perform it. And Jehovah shall smite Egypt in smiting and in healing, and they shall return unto Jehovah, and He shall be entreated of them, and shall heal them (Isa. 19:18-22).
Here Egypt is spoken of in a good sense, denoting those who are in memory-knowledges [scientifica], that is, in natural truths, which are the vessels of spiritual truths.
sRef Isa@19 @25 S3′ sRef Isa@19 @23 S3′ sRef Isa@19 @24 S3′ [3] Again:
In that day there shall be a path from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria shall come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve Assyria. In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the land, which Jehovah Zebaoth shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel Mine inheritance (Isa. 19:23-25).
Here by “Egypt” is signified the memory-knowledge of natural truths; by “Assyria,” reason or rational things; by “Israel,” spiritual things; all of which succeed one another; and therefore it is said that “in that day there shall be a path from Egypt to Assyria,” and that “Israel shall be the third with Egypt and with Assyria.”
sRef Ezek@27 @7 S4′ sRef Ezek@29 @14 S4′ sRef Zech@14 @18 S4′ sRef Ezek@29 @13 S4′ sRef Zech@14 @17 S4′ [4] In Ezekiel:
Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was thine expansion, that it might be to thee for an ensign (Ezek. 27:7);
concerning Tyre, by which is signified the possession of knowledges; “fine linen with broidered work” denotes the truths of memory-knowledges, that serve; for memory-knowledges, being of the external man, ought to serve the internal man. Again:
Thus saith the Lord Jehovih, At the end of forty years will I gather Egypt from the peoples whither they have been scattered, and I will bring back the captivity of Egypt (Ezek. 29:13-14);
denoting the same that is said in many places concerning Judah and Israel, in that they should be gathered from the peoples and brought back from captivity. In Zechariah:
And it shall come to pass that whoso of the families of the earth goeth not up unto Jerusalem to worship the King Jehovah Zebaoth, upon them there shall be no rain; and if the family of Egypt go not up and come not (Zech. 14:17-18);
also concerning Egypt in a good sense, and by which the like is meant.
sRef 1Ki@4 @30 S5′ [5] That memory-knowledge, or human wisdom, is signified by “Egypt,” is evident also in Daniel, where the memory-knowledges of celestial and spiritual things are called “the hidden things of gold and silver,” and also “the desirable things of Egypt” (Dan. 11:43). And it is said of Solomon that “his wisdom was multiplied above the wisdom of all the sons of the east, and above all the wisdom of the Egyptians” (1 Kings 4:30). The house built by Solomon for Pharaoh’s daughter represented nothing else (1 Kings 7:8, etc.).
sRef Matt@2 @13 S6′ sRef Matt@2 @14 S6′ sRef Matt@2 @15 S6′ sRef Hos@11 @1 S6′ [6] That the Lord when an infant was brought into Egypt, signified the same that is here signified by Abram; and it took place for the additional reason that He might fulfill all the things that had been represented concerning Him. In the inmost sense the migration of Jacob and his sons into Egypt represented the first instruction of the Lord in knowledges from the Word, as is also manifest from the following passages. It is said of the Lord in Matthew:
An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and His mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I tell thee. And he arose and took the young child and His mother by night, and departed into Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called My son (Matt. 2:13-15, 19-21);
concerning which it is said in Hosea:
When Israel was a child then I loved him, and called My son out of Egypt (Hos. 11:1);
from which it is evident that by the “child Israel,” is meant the Lord; and that His instruction when a child is meant by the words, “I called My son out of Egypt.”
sRef Ps@80 @7 S7′ sRef Hos@12 @13 S7′ sRef Hos@12 @12 S7′ sRef Ps@80 @8 S7′ [7] Again in Hosea:
By a prophet the Lord made Israel to go up out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he kept (Hos. 12:13-14);
where in like manner by “Israel” is meant the Lord; by “a prophet” is signified one who teaches, and thus the doctrine of knowledges. In David:
Turn us again, O God Zebaoth, cause Thy face to shine, and we shall be saved. Thou didst bring a vine out of Egypt, Thou didst drive out the nations, and planted it (Ps. 80:7-8);
where also the Lord is treated of, who is called “a vine out of Egypt” in regard to the knowledges in which He was being instructed.

1463. That “to sojourn” means to be instructed, is evident from the signification of “sojourning” in the Word, as being to be instructed; and this for the reason that sojourning and migration, or proceeding from place to place, is in heaven nothing but change of state, as before shown (n. 1376, 1379); and therefore, whenever traveling, sojourning, and passing from place to place, occur in the Word, nothing else is suggested to the angels than such change of state as exists with them. There are changes of state of both the thoughts and the affections; changes of the state of the thoughts are knowledges, and in the world of spirits these changes are presented by means of instructions; which also was the reason why the men of the Most Ancient Church, having communication with the angelic heaven, by sojourning perceived nothing else. So in the passage before us, Abram’s going down into Egypt to sojourn, signifies nothing else than the instruction of the Lord.
sRef Ezek@47 @23 S2′ sRef Ezek@47 @22 S2′ sRef Ezek@47 @21 S2′ sRef Isa@52 @4 S2′ [2] Similar, too, is the signification of Jacob and his sons’ going down into Egypt; as in Isaiah:
Thus hath said the Lord Jehovih, My people went down in the beginning into Egypt to sojourn there; and Assyria oppressed them without cause (Isa. 52:4);
where “Assyria” denotes reasonings. Hence also in the Jewish Church, those who were being instructed were called “sojourners, sojourning in the midst of them,” concerning whom it was commanded that they should be treated as the homeborn (Exod. 12:48-49; Lev. 24:22; Num. 15:13-16, 26, 29; 19:10). Of them it is thus written in Ezekiel:
Ye shall divide this land unto you according to the tribes of Israel. And it shall come to pass that ye shall divide it by lot, for an inheritance unto you and to the sojourners that sojourn in the midst of you; and they shall be unto you as the homeborn among the sons of Israel; with you shall they cast the lot for an inheritance in the midst of the tribes of Israel; and it shall come to pass that in what tribe the sojourner sojourneth, there shall ye give him his inheritance (Ezek. 47:21-23).
This is concerning the New Jerusalem, or the Lord’s kingdom; by “the sojourners sojourning” are meant those who suffer themselves to be instructed, consequently the Gentiles; that those are meant who are being instructed, is evident from its being said that in the tribe with which he has sojourned, there his inheritance should be given; “tribes” denote the things that are of faith.
sRef Gen@47 @9 S3′ [3] “Sojourning” has also nearly the same signification as “journeying,” and “dwelling.” By “journeying” are signified the arrangements and order of life, and by “dwelling” is signified to live (see above, n. 1293); on which account the land of Canaan is also called the land of the sojournings of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Gen. 28:4; 36:7; 37:1; Exod. 6:4); and Jacob said unto Pharaoh:
The days of the years of my sojournings, few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers, in the days of their sojournings (Gen. 47:9);
where “sojourning” denotes life and instructions.

1464. Because the famine was grievous in the land. That this signifies much scarcity in His external man, is evident from the signification of “famine,” as given above in this verse. The arcana here contained are more than can be briefly told. The Lord had the power of learning above every other man; but because, unlike other men, He was to be instructed in celestial things before He was instructed in spiritual things, this is here declared; and also for the further reason that there was hereditary evil from the mother in His external man, against which He was to fight, and which He was to overcome; and also for other reasons innumerable.

sRef Gen@12 @11 S0′ 1465. Verse 11. And it came to pass, when he drew nigh to come into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold I pray, I know that thou art a woman beautiful to look upon. “And it came to pass, when he drew nigh to come into Egypt,” signifies when He began to learn; “Egypt,” as before said, means the memory-knowledge of knowledges [scientia cognitionum]; “he said unto Sarai his wife,” signifies that He so thought concerning the truths to which celestial things were adjoined; “Sarai” as a wife is the truth adjoined to the celestial things that were in the Lord; “Behold I pray, I know that thou art a woman beautiful to look upon,” signifies that truth from a celestial origin is delightful.

sRef Gen@12 @11 S0′ 1466. And it came to pass, when he drew nigh to come into Egypt. That this signifies when He began to learn, is evident from the signification of “Egypt,” as being the memory-knowledge of knowledges; and when the expression “to draw nigh” is used with reference to this, it can mean nothing else.

sRef Gen@12 @11 S0′ 1467. That “Egypt” is the memory-knowledge of knowledges, is evident from what was said and shown concerning Egypt under the preceding verse.

sRef Gen@12 @11 S0′ 1468. He said to Sarai his wife. That this signifies that He so thought concerning the truths to which celestial things were adjoined, is evident from the signification of Sarai when she is called a wife. A “wife,” in the internal sense of the Word, signifies nothing else than truth conjoined with good; for the conjunction of truth with good is circumstanced precisely as is a marriage. In the Word, when a “husband” is mentioned, the husband signifies good, and the wife signifies truth; but when he is not called the husband, but the “man,” then he signifies truth, and the wife signifies good: this is the constant usage in the Word, as before said (n. 915). In the passage before us, as Abram is named, Sarai his wife signifies truth. To say thus to Sarai his wife is, in the internal sense, to think so concerning the truths with which celestial things were conjoined. It is historically true that Abram so said to his wife, when journeying into Egypt; but as before said, all the historicals of the Word are representative, and all the words are significative. No other historicals are recorded in the Word, and in no other order, and no other words are used to express them, than such as in the internal sense may express these arcana.

sRef Gen@12 @11 S0′ 1469. That “Sarai,” as a wife, is the truth that was adjoined to the celestial things which were in the Lord, is evident from what has just been said concerning the signification of Sarai his wife. It is said, “the truth that was adjoined to celestial things,” because the Lord possessed all truth previous to His instruction. What is celestial has truth with it, the one being inseparable from the other, as light is from flame; but this truth was stored up in the Lord’s internal man, which was Divine. The knowledges [scientifica et cognitiones] that He learned are not truths [vera seu veritates], but are only recipient vessels; just as whatever is in man’s memory is by no means truth, although it is so called; but the truth is therein, as in vessels. These vessels were to be formed, or rather to be opened, by the Lord, through instruction in knowledges from the Word; not only that celestial things might be insinuated into them, but also that the celestial things might in this way be made Divine; for the Lord conjoined the Divine Essence with the Human Essence in order that His Human things might likewise be made Divine.

sRef Gen@12 @11 S0′ 1470. Behold I pray, I know that thou art a woman beautiful to look upon. That this signifies that truth from a celestial origin is delightful, is evident from the signification of “a woman beautiful to look upon.” All truth that is celestial, or that is produced from the celestial, is happy in the internal man, and delightful in the external, and with the celestial angels is so perceived; but it is altogether otherwise when it is not from a celestial origin. There are two kinds of happiness in the internal man, to which correspond two kinds of delight in the external man; one is of good, the other is of truth; celestial happiness and delight are of good, spiritual happiness and delight are of truth. It is also known that truth itself is attended with happiness and delight, but these are essentially such only when the truth is from what is celestial, for then the truth itself also becomes celestial, and is called celestial truth. To speak comparatively, truth is then like the light of the sun in the springtime, which has heat in its bosom, from which all things on the earth are made to vegetate, and are as it were animated. This celestial truth is the beautiful itself, or beauty itself. This is the truth which is here called “a woman beautiful to look upon.” What further arcana are involved in these words, will be manifest from what follows.

sRef Gen@12 @12 S0′ 1471. Verse 12. And it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they will say, This is his wife, and they will kill me, and will make thee to live. “And it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee,” signifies the memory-knowledge of knowledges [scientia cognitionum], which is described as to what it is when they see celestial knowledges; “that they will say, This is his wife,” signifies that they will call the knowledges celestial; “and they will kill me, and will make thee to live,” signifies that they would not care for the celestial things, but only for the mere knowledges, which they would carry off.

sRef Gen@12 @12 S0′ 1472. And it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee. That this signifies the memory-knowledge of knowledges, which is described as to what it is when they see celestial knowledges, is evident from the signification of “Egypt,” which is the memory-knowledge of knowledges, as before shown; and from this it is evident what is signified by the words “when the Egyptians see,” namely, that this memory-knowledge is such as is described in this verse. The memory-knowledge of knowledges is attended with this, and it is something natural in it, as is manifested in children when they first begin to learn, namely, that the higher things are, the more they desire them; and still more when they hear that they are celestial and Divine. But this delight is natural, and arises from a desire that is of the external man. With other men this desire causes them to feel delight in the mere memory-knowledge of knowledges, without any further end; when yet the memory-knowledge of knowledges is nothing but an instrumental agency having for its end a use, namely, that the knowledges may serve celestial and spiritual things as vessels; and when they are thus serving, they are then for the first time in their use, and receive from the use their delight. Anyone can see, if he pays attention, that in itself the memory-knowledge of knowledges is nothing but a means whereby a man may become rational, and thence spiritual, and at last celestial; and that by means of the knowledges his external man may be adjoined to his internal; and when this is done, he is in the use itself.
The internal man regards nothing but the use. For the sake of this end also, the Lord insinuates the delight that childhood and youth perceives in memory-knowledges. But when a man begins to make his delight consist in memory-knowledge alone, it is a bodily cupidity which carries him away, and in proportion as he is thus carried away (that is, makes his delight consist in mere memory-knowledge), in the same proportion he removes himself from what is celestial, and in the same proportion do the memory-knowledges close themselves toward the Lord, and become material. But in proportion as the memory-knowledges are learned with the end of use,-as for the sake of human society, for the sake of the Lord’s church on earth, for the sake of the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens, and still more for the Lord’s own sake,-the more are they opened toward Him. On this account also the angels, who are in the memory-knowledge of all knowledges, and indeed to such a degree that scarcely one part in ten thousand can be presented to the full apprehension of man, yet esteem such knowledge as nothing in comparison with use.
From what has been said it may be seen what is signified by the words, “When the Egyptians shall see thee, they will say, This is his wife; and they will kill me, and will make thee to live.” These things were said because the Lord when a child knew this and thought in this way, namely, that if He should be carried away by a mere desire for the memory-knowledge of knowledges, this memory-knowledge is of such a character that it would care no more for celestial things, but only for the knowledges [cognitiones] which the desire for memory-knowledge would carry away. On these subjects more follows.

sRef Gen@12 @12 S0′ 1473. And they will say, This is his wife. That this signifies that they will call the knowledges celestial, is evident from the signification of a “wife,” as being the truth that was adjoined to celestial things; hence “this is his wife” signifies that which is celestial.

sRef Gen@12 @13 S0′ sRef Gen@12 @12 S0′ 1474. And they will kill me, and will make thee to live. That this signifies that they would not care for celestial things, but only for mere knowledges, is evident from what has just been said.
Verse 13. Say, I pray, thou art my sister, that it may be well with me for thy sake, and that my soul may live because of thee. “Say, I pray, thou art my sister,” signifies intellectual truth which is a “sister;” “that it may be well with me for thy sake,” signifies that so the celestial could have no violence done to it; “and that my soul may live because of thee,” signifies that so the celestial could be saved.

sRef Gen@12 @13 S0′ 1475. Say, I pray, thou art my sister. That this signifies intellectual truth, which is a “sister,” is evident from the signification of a “sister,” as being intellectual truth when celestial truth is a “wife,” concerning which hereafter. These things stand thus: it is the nature of memory-knowledge to desire nothing more than to introduce itself into celestial things and explore them; but this is contrary to order, for it thus does violence to celestial things. Order itself is that the celestial by means of the spiritual introduces itself into the rational, and thus into the memory-knowledge [in scientificum], and adapts this to itself; and unless this order is observed, there cannot possibly be any wisdom. In the passage before us are also contained the arcana as to how the Lord was instructed by His Father according to all order; and thus how His external man was conjoined with His internal, that is, how His external man was made Divine, like the internal; thus how He became Jehovah as to each essence; which was done by means of knowledges, which are the means. Without knowledges as means, the external man cannot even become man.

sRef Gen@12 @13 S0′ 1476. That it may be well with me for thy sake. That this signifies that so the celestial could have no violence done to it, is evident from what has been said above; for as has been repeatedly said, the order is that the celestial flows into the spiritual, the spiritual into the rational, and this into the faculty of memory-knowledge. When there is this order, then the spiritual is adapted by the celestial, the rational by the spiritual, and the memory-knowledge by the rational. The memory-knowledge in general then becomes the ultimate vessel; or what is the same, memory-knowledges, specifically and particularly, become the ultimate vessels which correspond to rational things, rational things to spiritual things, and spiritual things to celestial things. When this is the order, the celestial cannot suffer any violence; otherwise, it does so suffer. As in the internal sense the Lord’s instruction is here treated of, the method of His progress therein is here described.

sRef Gen@12 @13 S0′ 1477. That my soul may live because of thee. That this signifies that thus the celestial could be saved, is evident from the signification of the “soul,” as being the celestial; for this is the soul itself, because the very life itself. Hence it is evident what is signified by the words “that my soul may live because of thee.” It will be evident from what follows, that celestial or Divine things were not so adjoined to the Lord that they made one essence, until He endured temptations, and thus expelled the evil heredity from the mother. Here and in the following verses it is described how meanwhile the celestial itself suffered no violence, but was saved.

sRef Gen@12 @14 S0′ 1478. Verse 14. And it came to pass when Abram was come into Egypt, that the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very beautiful. “It came to pass when Abram was come into Egypt,” signifies when the Lord began to be instructed; “and the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very beautiful,” signifies that the memory-knowledge of knowledges is of such a nature as to be highly pleasing to itself.

sRef Gen@12 @14 S0′ 1479. It came to pass when Abram was come into Egypt. That this signifies when the Lord began to be instructed, is evident from the representation of Abram, which in the internal sense is the Lord when a child; and from the signification of “Egypt,” as being the memory-knowledge of knowledges, as before shown, at verse 10. Hence it is evident that “to come into Egypt” is to be instructed.

sRef Gen@12 @14 S0′ 1480. And the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very beautiful. That this signifies that the memory-knowledge of knowledges is of such a nature as to be highly pleasing to itself, is evident from what was before said, at verse 11, that such is the nature of memory-knowledge during childhood; for this is as it were innate in memory-knowledge, because it is innate in man, that at the very first it pleases for no other end than for the sake of knowing. Such is every man; his spirit is greatly delighted to know, so that there is scarcely anything it desires more; this is its food, by which it is sustained and refreshed, as the external man is by earthly food. This sustenance, which is that of his spirit, is communicated to the external man, to the end that this may be adapted to the internal man. But the various foods succeed one another in the following order: celestial food is all the good of love and charity from the Lord; spiritual food is all the truth of faith: on these foods the angels live; and from them comes forth the food, likewise celestial and spiritual, but of a lower angelic degree, on which angelic spirits live; from this again there comes a still lower celestial and spiritual food, which is that of reason and thence of memory-knowledge, on which good spirits live; and lastly comes corporeal food, which is proper to man while he lives in the body. These foods correspond to one another in a wonderful manner. From this it is also evident why and how memory-knowledge is very pleasing to itself; for the case therewith is the same as it is with appetite and taste; and therefore eating, with man, corresponds to memory-knowledges in the world of spirits; and appetite and taste themselves correspond to the desire for these knowledges; as is evident from experience, concerning which, of the Lord’s Divine mercy hereafter.

sRef Gen@12 @15 S0′ 1481. Verse 15. And the princes of Pharaoh saw her, and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken to Pharaoh’s house. “The princes of Pharaoh saw her,” signifies the primary precepts, which are “the princes of Pharaoh;” “and they praised her to Pharaoh,” signifies that they were pleasing; “and the woman was taken to Pharaoh’s house,” signifies that they captivated the lower mind [animus].

sRef Gen@12 @15 S0′ sRef Isa@19 @11 S0′ sRef Isa@19 @13 S0′ 1482. The princes of Pharaoh saw her. That this signifies the primary precepts, which are “the princes of Pharaoh,” is evident from the signification of “princes,” and of “Pharaoh.” In both the historical and prophetical parts of the Word, “princes” signify the things which are primary; and “Pharaoh” signifies the same as “Egypt;” and here “Egypt,” or “Pharaoh,” is used in the best sense, because predicated of the memory-knowledge of knowledges which the Lord first acquired in childhood. That they were primary precepts from the Word, is evident from the signification of these things in the internal sense. That, speaking generally, by “Pharaoh” in the Word is signified the same as by “Egypt,” may be confirmed from many passages; as also that by the kings of other kingdoms, who are named, the same is signified as by the names of the kingdoms; but by “princes” are signified their primary things, as in Isaiah:
The princes of Zoan are foolish, the wise counselors of Pharaoh; how say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings? The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of Noph are deceived (Isa. 19:11, 13).
Here “the princes of Zoan,” and “the wise counselors of Pharaoh,” denote the primary memory-knowledges; and as wisdom first flourished in Egypt, as before said, it is called “the son of the wise,” and “the son of ancient kings.” So “princes” frequently denote in the Word primary things.

sRef Gen@12 @15 S0′ 1483. And they praised her to Pharaoh. That this signifies that they were pleasing, may be seen without explication.

sRef Gen@12 @16 S0′ sRef Gen@12 @15 S0′ 1484. And the woman was taken to Pharaoh’s house. That this signifies that they captivated the lower mind, is evident from the signification of “woman,” and from the signification of “house.” A “woman” signifies truth, here the truth that was in the memory-knowledges with the delights of which the Lord was captivated in childhood. The delights of truth are those which come from the intellectual truth which is signified by a “sister.” A “house” signifies the things that are in man, especially those which are of his will, as before shown (n. 710); here therefore those which are of the lower mind, or of the affection of knowing and learning.
1484a. Verse 16. And he did well unto Abram for her sake; and he had flock and herd, and he-asses and menservants, and maidservants and she-asses, and camels. “He did well unto Abram for her sake,” signifies that memory-knowledges were multiplied with the Lord; “and he had flock and herd, and he-asses and menservants, and maidservants and she-asses, and camels,” signifies all the things in general that belong to memory-knowledges.

sRef Gen@12 @16 S0′ 1485. And he did well unto Abram for her sake. That this signifies that memory-knowledges were multiplied with the Lord, is evident from the signification of “doing well unto,” as being to enrich. This is said of the memory-knowledge that is signified by “Pharaoh,” that it did well unto Abram, that is to the Lord when a child; and this for her sake, that is, for the sake of the intellectual truth that He desired. It was this desire for truth from which the enriching came.

sRef Gen@12 @17 S0′ sRef Gen@12 @17 S0′ sRef Gen@12 @16 S0′ 1486. And he had flock and herd, and he-asses and menservants, and maidservants and she-asses, and camels. That these words signify all things in general that belong to memory knowledges, is evident from the signification of all these things in the Word. But it would be too tedious to show what is signified by each in particular, as what by the “flock and herd,” the “he-asses and menservants,” the “maidservants and she-asses,” and the “camels.” Each has its own peculiar signification. In general they signify all things that belong to the memory-knowledge of knowledges, and to memory-knowledges. Regarded in themselves, memory-knowledges are “he-asses and menservants;” their pleasures are “maidservants and she-asses;” “camels” are general things of service; “flock and herd” are possessions; and so in the Word throughout. All things whatever that are in the external man, are nothing but things of service, that is, they are for the service of the internal man. So it is with all memory-knowledges, which belong solely to the external man; for they are procured from earthly and worldly things by means of sensuous impressions, in order that they may serve the interior or rational man, and this the spiritual man, this the celestial, and this the Lord. Thus are they subordinated one to another, as are the more external things to the more internal, in their order; and thus all things whatever, both in general and in particular, are, in their order, subordinated to the Lord. Memory-knowledges are therefore the lowest and outermost things, in which are terminated in their order the things that are more interior; and because they are the lowest and outermost things, they must be pre-eminently things of service. Everyone may know for what such knowledges may be serviceable, if he reflects or inquires in himself for what use they are; and when he is thus reflecting upon their use, he can also apprehend the quality of the use. Every memory-knowledge must be for the sake of some use, and this is its service.
Verse 17. And Jehovah smote Pharaoh with great plagues, and his house, because of the word of Sarai, Abram’s wife. “Jehovah smote Pharaoh with great plagues,” signifies that the memory-knowledges were destroyed; “and his house,” signifies which He had collected; “because of the word of Sarai, Abram’s wife,” signifies because of the truth that was to be adjoined to the celestial.

sRef Gen@12 @17 S0′ 1487. And Jehovah smote Pharaoh with great plagues. That this signifies that the memory-knowledges were destroyed, is evident from the signification of “Pharaoh,” as being memory-knowledge in general, consequently the memory-knowledges that belong to such knowledge; and from the signification of being “smitten with plagues,” as being to be destroyed. As regards memory-knowledges the case is this. In childhood they are acquired for no other end than that of knowing; with the Lord, they were acquired from the delights and affection of truth. The memory-knowledges acquired in childhood are very numerous, but are disposed by the Lord into order so as to serve for use; first, to give the ability to think; then that they may be of use by means of thought; and lastly that this may take effect, that is to say that the very life may consist in use, and be a life of uses. These are the things performed by the memory-knowledges that are acquired in childhood; and without them the external man can never be conjoined with the internal, and at the same time become use. When man becomes use, that is, when he thinks all things from the end of use, and does all things for the end of use-if not by manifest reflection, still by tacit reflection from a nature acquired by so doing-then the memory-knowledges which have served the first use-that the man may become rational-being no longer of service, are destroyed; and so on. These are the things here meant by the words “Jehovah smote Pharaoh with great plagues.”

sRef Gen@12 @17 S0′ sRef Jer@29 @5 S0′ sRef Ps@112 @1 S1′ sRef Isa@65 @21 S1′ sRef Isa@65 @22 S1′ sRef Ps@112 @3 S1′ sRef Isa@65 @17 S1′ 1488. And his house. That this signifies which He had collected, is evident from the signification of a “house,” as being, in this place, the memory-knowledges that are collected. To collect memory-knowledges, and by their means frame the external man, and build it up, is not unlike building a house; and therefore such things are signified in many passages of the Word by “building,” and by “building houses,” as in Isaiah:
I create new heavens and a new earth; they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them; they shall not build and another inhabit (Isa. 65:17, 21-22);
here “houses” mean where there are wisdom and intelligence, thus where there are the knowledges of good and truth; for the Lord’s kingdom is here treated of, namely, the new heavens and the new earth. In Jeremiah:
Build ye houses and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them (Jer. 29:5);
where the meaning is similar. In David:
Blessed is the man that feareth Jehovah, that delighteth greatly in His commandments; wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endureth forever (Ps. 112:1, 3);
where “wealth and riches” denote the wealth and riches of wisdom and intelligence, thus knowledges; which are “in his house,” that is, are in him.
sRef Amos@6 @12 S2′ sRef Hag@1 @8 S2′ sRef Zeph@1 @12 S2′ sRef Amos@6 @11 S2′ sRef Isa@5 @9 S2′ sRef Isa@5 @8 S2′ sRef Hag@1 @10 S2′ sRef Isa@5 @7 S2′ sRef Hag@1 @9 S2′ sRef Zeph@1 @13 S2′ [2] “House” is used in the opposite sense in Zephaniah:
I will visit upon them that say in their heart, Jehovah hath not done good, and hath not done evil; and their wealth shall be for a spoil, and their houses a desolation; and they shall build houses and shall not inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards but shall not drink the wine thereof (Zeph. 1:12-13).
In Haggai:
Go up into the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house. Ye looked for much, and lo, it came to little; and ye brought it into the house, and I did blow it away. Why? saith Jehovah. Because of My house, which is deserted, while ye run everyone to his own house; therefore upon you are the heavens shut from dew (Hag. 1:8-10);
“houses” denote memory-knowledges by which, through reasoning, come falsities. In Isaiah:
Woe unto them that join house to house, that cause field to draw near to field, till there be no place, and ye dwell alone in the midst of the land. Shall not many houses be for a desolation, great and good, without an inhabitant? The vineyard of Jehovah is the house of Israel (Isa. 5:7-9);
also denoting memory-knowledges by means of which come falsities. In Amos:
Behold, Jehovah commandeth, and will smite the great house with breaches, and the little house with clefts. Shall horses run upon the rock? will one plow there with oxen? that ye have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood (Amos 6:11-12);
where “houses” denote in like manner falsities and the derivative evils; “horses,” reasoning; “judgment,” truths, which are “turned into gall;” and “the fruit of righteousness,” goods which are “turned into wormwood.”
[3] Thus throughout the Word, “houses” denote human minds, in which there should be intelligence and wisdom. In the passage before us, “the house of Pharaoh” denotes memory-knowledges by means of which comes intelligence, and thereby wisdom. The like is also signified by the house which Solomon built for the daughter of Pharaoh (1 Kings 7:8, etc.). Because “houses” denote minds, in which are intelligence and wisdom, and in which are affections belonging to the will, the word “house” in the Word is of a wide signification; but what its specific signification is, may be seen from the things of which it is predicated. Man himself is also called “a house.”

sRef Gen@12 @17 S0′ 1489. Because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. That this signifies because of the truth that was to be adjoined to what is celestial, is evident from the signification of a “wife,” and consequently of “Sarai the wife,” as being truth that is to be adjoined to the celestial, concerning which above, at verse 12. The case is this: unless the knowledges which in childhood have performed the use of making the man rational, are destroyed, so that they are as nothing, truth can never be conjoined with what is celestial. These first memory-knowledges are for the most part earthly, corporeal, and worldly. However Divine may be the precepts that a child learns, he still has no other idea concerning them than that which is obtainable from such knowledges; and therefore, so long as those lowest knowledges cling to him, from which are his ideas, his mind cannot be elevated. With the Lord it was the same, because He was born as are other men, and was to be instructed as are others, but according to Divine order, which is such as has been stated. In these things which are said concerning Abram in Egypt, there is described the Divine order-how in the Lord the external man was conjoined with the internal, so that the external also might become Divine.

sRef Gen@12 @18 S0′ 1490. Verse 18. And Pharaoh called Abram, and said, What is this that thou hast done unto me? Why didst thou not tell me that she is thy wife? “And Pharaoh called Abram,” signifies that the Lord bethought Himself; “and said, What is this that thou hast done unto me?” signifies that it grieved Him; “Why didst thou not tell me that she is thy wife?” signifies seeing that He knew that He ought not to have any other truth than that which would be conjoined with what is celestial.

sRef Gen@12 @18 S0′ 1491. And Pharaoh called Abram. That this signifies that the Lord bethought Himself, is evident from the signification of “Pharaoh,” as being memory-knowledge. The memory-knowledge itself [scientia], that is, the matters of memory-knowledge [scientifica], which the Lord acquired when a child, are here called “Pharaoh;” thus it is that knowledge itself which thus addresses the Lord, that is, it is Jehovah who does so by means of that knowledge. Hence it is evident that these things signify that the Lord bethought Himself. Mental advertence comes by means of memory-knowledge, thus by means of Pharaoh, by whom, as before said, this knowledge is signified.

sRef Gen@12 @18 S0′ 1492. And said, What is this that thou hast done unto me? That this signifies that it grieved Him, is also evident from the very indignation in which this is said: the grief itself is thus expressed. The internal sense is such that the affection itself that lies hidden in the words is what constitutes it; the words of the letter are not attended to, but are as if they had no existence. The affection in these words is the indignation as it were of the memory-knowledge, and the Lord’s grief; and in fact grief from this, that the memory-knowledges which He had learned with pleasure and delight should be thus destroyed. The case herein is like that of little children who when they love something their parents see to be hurtful to them, and it is taken away from them, are thereby grieved.

sRef Gen@12 @18 S0′ 1493. That she was thy wife. That this signifies that He ought to have no other truth than that which was to be conjoined with what is celestial, is evident from the signification of a “wife,” as being the truth that was to be conjoined with what is celestial (concerning which above, at verse 12). There is here described the order in which the Lord advanced to intelligence, and thus to wisdom; so that, as He was wisdom itself as to His Divine Essence, so He should become wisdom itself as to His Human Essence.

sRef Gen@12 @19 S0′ 1494. Verse 19. Why saidst thou, She is my sister? and I might have taken her to me for a woman. And now behold thy wife; take her and go. “Why saidst thou, She is my sister?” signifies that He then knew no otherwise than that He had intellectual truth; “and I might have taken her to me for a woman,” signifies that so He might have done violence to the truth that was to be conjoined with what is celestial; “and now behold thy wife; take her and go,” signifies that truth was to be conjoined with what is celestial.

sRef Gen@12 @19 S0′ 1495. Why saidst thou, She is my sister? That this signifies that He then knew no otherwise than that He had intellectual truth, is evident from the signification of a “sister,” as being intellectual truth; and also from the fact that Abram had said so (as is evident from verse 13), which was done to the end that the celestial might not suffer any violence, but might be saved. From all this it is evident that when the Lord as a child learned memory knowledges, He first of all knew no otherwise than that those knowledges were solely for the sake of the intellectual man, that is, in order that He might get to know truths from them; but it was afterwards disclosed that they had existed in order that He might attain to celestial things; and this took place to prevent celestial things from suffering violence, and in order that they might be saved. When man is being instructed, there is a progression from memory-knowledges to rational truths; further, to intellectual truths; and finally, to celestial truths, which are here signified by the “wife.” If the progression is made from memory knowledges and rational truths to celestial truths without intellectual truths as media, the celestial suffers violence, because there can be no connection of rational truths-which are obtained by means of memory-knowledges-with celestial truths, except by means of intellectual truths, which are the media. What celestial truths are, and what intellectual truths are, will be seen presently.
[2] That it may be known how these things stand, something shall be said respecting order. The order is for the celestial to inflow into the spiritual and adapt it to itself; for the spiritual thus to inflow into the rational and adapt it to itself; and for the rational thus to inflow into the memory-knowledge and adapt it to itself. But when a man is being instructed in his earliest childhood, the order is indeed the same, but it appears otherwise, namely, that he advances from memory-knowledges to rational things, from these to spiritual things, and so at last to celestial things. The reason it so appears is that a way must thus be opened to celestial things, which are the inmost. All instruction is simply an opening of the way; and as the way is opened, or what is the same, as the vessels are opened, there thus flow in, as before said, in their order, rational things that are from celestial spiritual things; into these flow the celestial spiritual things; and into these, celestial things. These celestial and spiritual things are continually presenting themselves, and are also preparing and forming for themselves the vessels which are being opened; which may also be seen from the fact that in themselves the memory-knowledge and rational are dead, and that it is from the inflowing interior life that they seem to be alive. This can become manifest to anyone from the thought, and the faculty of judgment.
[3] In these lie hidden all the arcana of analytical art and science, which are so many that they can never be explored even as to the ten-thousandth part; and this not with the adult man only, but also with children, whose every thought and derivative expression of speech is most full of them (although man, even the most learned, is not aware of this), and this could not possibly be the case unless the celestial and spiritual things within were coming forth, flowing in, and producing all these things.

sRef Gen@12 @19 S0′ 1496. I might have taken her to me for a woman. That this signifies that so the truth that was to be conjoined with what is celestial might have suffered violence, is evident from what has just been said; and also from what was said above at verse 13. As regards truth being conjoined with what is celestial, the case is this. Regarded in itself, the truth learned from childhood is nothing but a vessel adapted to the reception of what is celestial. Truth has no life from itself, but only from the celestial that flows in. The celestial is love and charity; all truth is thence, and because all truth is thence it is nothing but a kind of vessel; and so are truths themselves plainly presented in the other life; truths there are never regarded from truths, but from the life which is in them; that is, from the celestial things which are of love and charity in the truths; from these it is that truths become celestial, and are called celestial truths. We can now see what intellectual truth is, as also that with the Lord intellectual truth opened the way to celestial things. Truth in the memory [verum scientificum] is one thing; rational truth is another; and intellectual truth is another; they succeed one another. Truth in the memory is a matter of memory-knowledge; rational truth is this truth confirmed by reason; intellectual truth is conjoined with an internal perception that it is so. This intellectual truth existed with the Lord in His childhood, and with Him opened the way to celestial things.

sRef Gen@12 @19 S0′ 1497. And now behold thy wife; take her and go. That this signifies that truth was to be conjoined with what is celestial, is evident from the signification of a “wife,” as being truth that is to be conjoined with what is celestial (as before shown, at verses 11 and 12, and also from what has just been said).

sRef Gen@12 @20 S0′ 1498. Verse 20. And Pharaoh commanded the men concerning him; and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had. “And Pharaoh commanded the men concerning Him, [and they sent him away],” signifies that memory-knowledges left the Lord; “and his wife,” signifies that they also left the truths that were conjoined with celestial things; “and all that he had,” signifies that they left all things that belonged to celestial truths.

sRef Gen@12 @20 S0′ 1499. And Pharaoh commanded the men concerning Him, [and they sent him away]. That this signifies that memory-knowledges left the Lord, is evident from the signification of “Pharaoh,” as being memory-knowledge; and also from the signification of “men,” as being intellectual things (as before shown, n. 158). “The men” here, because attributed to Pharaoh, or to memory-knowledge, signify intellectual things adapted thereto. As regards memory-knowledges leaving the Lord, the case is this. When celestial things are being conjoined with intellectual truths, and these are becoming celestial, then all things that are empty are dissipated of themselves; this is in the nature of the celestial.

sRef Gen@12 @20 S0′ 1500. And his wife. That this signifies that they left the truths that were conjoined with celestial things, that is to say, that memory-knowledges left them, is evident from the signification of “wife,” as being truth conjoined with what is celestial (spoken of above), and also from what has just been said. Empty memory-knowledges leave celestial things, as vain things are wont to leave wisdom; they are as crusts and scales that separate themselves of their own accord.

sRef Gen@12 @20 S0′ 1501. And all that he had. That this signifies that they left all things that belonged to celestial truths, follows in the series.

sRef Matt@2 @15 S0′ sRef Gen@12 @20 S0′ sRef Hos@11 @1 S0′ 1502. From all this it is now evident that Abram’s sojourn in Egypt represents and signifies nothing else than the Lord, and in fact His instruction in childhood. This is also confirmed by what is said in Hosea:
Out of Egypt have I called My son (Hos. 11:1; Matt. 2:15);
and again from what is said in Moses:
The dwelling of the sons of Israel who dwelt in Egypt was thirty years and four hundred years; and it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, and it came to pass on the selfsame day, that all the armies of Jehovah went out from the land of Egypt (Exod. 12:40-41);
which years were not reckoned from Jacob’s going down into Egypt, but from the sojourning of Abram in Egypt, counting from which the years were four hundred and thirty. Thus by the “son out of Egypt” (in Hosea 11:1) in the internal sense is signified the Lord. This is further confirmed by the fact that in the Word “Egypt” signifies memory-knowledge (as shown, n. 1164, 1165, 1462).
[2] And that these arcana are contained is also evident from the fact that the same is said of Abram during his sojourn in Philistia, namely, that he called his wife his sister (Gen. 20:1-18); and similar things are said of Isaac when he also was sojourning in Philistia, in that he too called his wife his sister (Gen. 26:6-13). These things would not have been related in the Word, and with almost the same circumstances, unless these arcana had been concealed within them. Moreover this is the Word of the Lord, which can in no wise have any life, unless there is an internal sense that has regard to Him.
[3] The arcana which lie stored up in these things, as also in those said concerning Abram and Isaac in Philistia, are-how the Lord’s Human Essence was conjoined with His Divine Essence, or what is the same, how the Lord became Jehovah as to His Human Essence also; and that His inauguration went on from childhood, which inauguration is here treated of. Moreover these things also involve more arcana than man can ever believe; but those which can be told are so few as to be almost nothing. Besides the most profound arcana concerning the Lord, they also involve arcana concerning the instruction and regeneration of man, that he may become celestial; as also concerning his instruction and regeneration, that he may become spiritual; and not only concerning the instruction of the individual man, but also concerning that of the church in general. And, further, they involve arcana concerning the instruction of little children in heaven; in a word, concerning the instruction of all who become images and likenesses of the Lord. These things do not at all appear in the sense of the letter, for the reason that the historical narrative veils them over and obscures them; but they appear in the internal sense.

1504. CONTINUATION CONCERNING PERCEPTION; AND CONCERNING SPHERES IN THE OTHER LIFE
It has already been said that it is known in the other life what another is on his first approach, even though he does not speak. From this it may be known that a man’s interiors are in a kind of unconscious activity, and that from this the quality of the spirit is perceived. That it is so has been evidenced by the fact that this sphere of the activity not only extends itself to a distance, but that sometimes also, when the Lord permits, it is in various ways made perceptible to the senses.

1505. I have also been informed how these spheres, which in the other life become so perceptible to the senses, are acquired. Take as an example one who has formed a high opinion of himself and of his own preeminent excellence. He at last becomes imbued with such a habit, and as it were with such a nature, that wherever he goes, though he looks at others and speaks with them, he keeps himself in view; and this at first manifestly, but afterwards not manifestly, so that he is not aware of it; but still it is regnant, both in the particulars of his affection and thought, and in those of his bearing and speech. Men can see this in others. And this is the kind of thing that in the other life makes a sphere, which is perceived, but no more frequently than the Lord permits. The same is the case with other affections; and therefore there are as many spheres as there are affections and combinations of affections, which are innumerable. The sphere is as it were the man’s image extended outside of himself, the image in fact of all things that are in him. In the world of spirits that which is presented to the view or perception is only something general; what the man is as to particulars, is known in heaven; but what as to the least particulars is known to none but the Lord.

1506. In order that the nature of spheres may be known, I may adduce some things from experience. A certain spirit who had been known to me and with whom I had conversed while he lived in the body, appeared many times afterwards among the evil; and as he had a high opinion of himself, he had acquired a sphere of preeminent excellence, because of which the spirits suddenly fled away, so that none appeared but himself alone; and he filled the whole surrounding sphere, which was one of self-regard. Being deprived of companions, he presently fell into another state; for in the other life one who is deprived of the society in which he is, at first becomes as if he were half dead, for his life is then supported solely by the influx of heaven into his interiors. He then began to lament and feel torment. The other spirits afterwards said that they could not endure his presence, because he desired to be greater than others. Being at last brought into association with others, he was carried up on high, so that it seemed to him that he alone governed the universe; to such a degree does the love of self puff itself up when left to itself. He was then cast down among the infernals. Such a lot awaits those who think themselves greater than others. More than any other love is the love of self contrary to mutual love, which is the life of heaven.

1507. A certain person during his bodily life had seemed to himself to be greater and wiser than others; in other respects he was well disposed, and not much given to despising others in comparison with himself; but as he had been born of high rank, he had contracted a sphere of supereminence and authority. In this character he came to me, and for a long time spoke not, but I noticed that he was encompassed as with a mist, which going forth from him began to cover the other spirits; at which they began to be distressed. Thereupon, addressing me, they said that they could not possibly stay there, for they were deprived of all their freedom, so that they did not dare to say anything. He also began to speak to them, calling them his sons, and at times instructing them, but with the authority that he had contracted. This showed the nature in the other life of a sphere of authority.

1508. Many times has it been given me to observe that those who in the world had been endowed with high rank, could not help contracting thereby a sphere of authority, and therefore in the other life they could neither hide nor get rid of it. In those of them who had been endowed with faith and charity, the sphere of authority is in a wonderful way conjoined with a sphere of goodness, so that it is not troublesome to anyone; indeed a kind of corresponding subordination is shown them by well-behaved spirits; and in fact they have no sphere of commanding, but only a sphere that is natural to them from their high birth, and which after some delay they put off; for they are good, and strive to put it off.

1509. For several days such spirits were with me as during their life in this world had cared nothing for the good of society, but only for themselves, being useless members of the commonwealth, and who had had no end but to live sumptuously, to be clothed splendidly, and to grow rich; being well practiced in simulation, and in ways of insinuating themselves by various forms of flattering assent and a display of services, but only that they might seem devoted, and be intrusted with their master’s goods, while they looked down with contempt upon all who were earnestly employed. It was perceived that they had been courtiers. The effect of their sphere was to take from me the power of close application, and to make it so irksome for me to act and to think in serious matters, true and good, that at last I scarcely knew what to do. When such as these come among spirits, they induce on them a similar torpor. In the other life they are useless members, and are rejected wherever they come.

1510. Every spirit-and still more every society of spirits-has his own sphere from his principles and persuasions, which sphere is that of his principles and persuasions. Evil genii have a sphere of cupidities, and in their case the sphere of principles and persuasions is such that when acting upon another it makes truths to be as falsities and calls forth all things that are confirmatory, so as to induce a belief that falsities are truths, and that evils are goods.
[2] This has shown how easily a man may be confirmed in falsities and evils, if he has no belief in the truths which are from the Lord. Such spheres are dense in proportion to the nature of the falsities. These spheres can by no means agree with the spheres of spirits who are in truths. If they approach, there arises a repugnance; and if by permission the sphere of falsity prevails, the good come into temptation and into anxiety. I have also perceived the sphere of unbelief, which is such that those who are in it do not believe anything that is said, and scarcely what is presented to their sight. There is also the sphere of those who believe nothing but what they apprehend by the senses.
[3] A certain one was seen by me, clothed in something dark, sitting at a mill, as if grinding meal, and at the side were seen little mirrors, and I afterwards saw some things produced by phantasy,, but which were aerial. I wondered who he was; but he came to me and said that he was the one who sat at the mill; and that he had such ideas, as that all things whatsoever are only phantasies, and that nothing is real. For this reason he had become such as he was.

1511. It has been made known to me by much experience, so well known that nothing can be more so, that spirits who are in falsities flow into the thought, and induce a persuasion exactly as if what is false is true, so that it cannot possibly appear otherwise, and this they do from their sphere. In like manner genii, who are in evils, inflow in the same way into the will, and produce an effect exactly as if what is evil is good, so that it cannot possibly be felt otherwise; and this also from their sphere. This influx of spirits of both kinds it has been given me to plainly perceive a thousand times; also from whom it came, and how angels from the Lord removed such things; besides many other things that cannot so well be specifically narrated; so that I have become assured, with all possible certainty, whence come the falsities and evils with man; and also that such spheres as remain after the death of the body and manifest themselves so evidently, are from principles of falsity and cupidities of evil.

1512. The spheres of phantasies, when presented in visible form, appear like clouds, more or less dense according to the quality of the phantasy. There is a certain misty rock under the left foot, where the antediluvians are, and under which they stay. That cloudiness, by which they are kept apart from all others in the other life, arises from their phantasies. From those who have lived in hatred and revenge, there exhale such spheres as cause swooning, and excite vomiting. Such spheres are as it were poisonous; and it is usual to test how poisonous they are, and how dense, by fillets of a dull azure color: as these fade away, the sphere also is lessened.

1513. A certain spirit came to me of those called the lukewarm, who bore himself as if he had repented; nor did I perceive the deceit, although I thought that he was concealing something within. But the spirits said that they could not endure his presence, and that they felt within themselves such an effect as men feel when moved to vomit, and that he was among those who are to be spewed out. He afterwards spoke abominable things; nor could he desist, however much he was persuaded not to speak so.

1514. Spheres are also made susceptible to sense by odors, which spirits smell much more exquisitely than men; for, wonderful to say, odors correspond to spheres. When the sphere of those who have indulged in the practice of simulation and have thereby contracted a nature, is turned into an odor, there is a stench of vomit. When the sphere of those who have studied eloquence to the end that everything may redound to self-admiration, is made odoriferous, it is like the odor of burnt bread. With those who have indulged in mere pleasures, and have been in no charity and faith, the odor of their sphere is like that of excrement. So is the odor of those who have spent their lives in adulteries, but this is still more offensive. When the sphere of those who have lived in deep hatred and revenge, and in cruelty, is turned into odors, there is a cadaverous stench. The stench of mice is diffused around from those who have been sordidly avaricious; the stench of bedbugs* from those who persecute the innocent. These odors cannot be smelled by any man, except by one whose interior sensations are opened, so that he may be in company with spirits.
* Pediculi domestici, a literal translation into Latin of the Swedish name for the common cimex. [Reviser.]

1515. The sphere of the stench of a certain woman was perceived, who was afterwards associated with sirens; and that stench exhaled for some days wherever she went. The spirits said that the stench seemed deadly; yet she perceived nothing of it. The stench of sirens is similar, because their interiors are filthy, while their exteriors are for the most part becoming and fair (see n. 831). It is wonderful how quickly the sirens in the other life learn all things there, and know better than others how things are, even matters of doctrine; but all to the end that they may turn them into magic, and arrogate to themselves command over others. They enter into the affections of the good by the simulation of good and truth; but still their quality remains, which shows that what is doctrinal is nothing, unless the man becomes as it teaches, that is, unless he has the life as the end in view; and besides, there are many among the infernals who had been preeminently skilled in doctrinal things. But they who have lived a life of charity are all in heaven.

1516. I have spoken with spirits about the sense of taste, which they said that they do not possess, but a something from which they know what taste is, and which they likened to an odor, but which they could not describe. It was brought to my recollection that taste and smell meet in a kind of third sense, as is evident also from animals which examine their food by the smell, from which they know whether it is wholesome and suitable for them.

1517. A vinous odor was perceived, and I was informed that it came from those who compliment one another from friendship and rightful love, so that there is also truth in the compliments. This odor exists with much variety, and comes from the sphere of the beautiful in forms.

1518. When the celestial angels are with the body of a deceased person who is to be raised up, the smell of the body is turned into an aromatic odor; on perceiving which, evil spirits cannot approach.

1519. The spheres of charity and faith, when perceived as odors, are most delightful; the odors are pleasant, as of flowers, lilies, and spices of various kinds, with indefinite variety. Moreover, the spheres of the angels also are sometimes made visible as atmospheres or auras, which are so beautiful, so pleasant, and so various, that they cannot possibly be described.

1520. But in regard to what has been said of the possibility of perceiving the interiors of a spirit by spheres extended and projected outside of him, as also by odors, it is to be known that these are not always perceptible; and besides, they are tempered in various ways by the Lord, in order that the quality of spirits may not always be exposed before others.

1521. CHAPTER 13.
CONCERNING THE LIGHT IN WHICH THE ANGELS LIVE.
That spirits and angels possess every sense, except taste, far more exquisitely and perfectly than man ever does, has been made manifest to me in many ways. They not only see one another and converse together-the angels with the greatest happiness from mutual love-but in that world there is more to see than men could believe to be possible; the world of spirits and the heavens are full of representatives such as were seen by the prophets, and of so wonderful a nature that if a person’s sight were but opened so that for a few hours he might behold them, he would be astounded. The light in heaven is such as to incredibly surpass even the midday light of our solar world. They however have no light from this world, because they are above or within the sphere of this light; but their light is from the Lord, who to them is a Sun. Even the midday light of this world is dense darkness to the angels; and when they have an opportunity to see it, it is as if they were looking at mere darkness, as I have been given to know by experience. This shows what a difference there is between the light of heaven and the light of this world.

1522. I have so frequently seen the light in which spirits and angels live, that at last I have ceased to wonder at it, because it has become familiar. But to adduce all my experience would be too tedious; let what follows suffice.

1523. That I might know the nature of that light, I have often been conducted into the abodes of good and of angelic spirits, and have seen both the spirits and the objects there. I have also seen infants and mothers in light of so great a brightness and resplendence that there could not possibly be anything brighter.

1524. An intense flaming irradiation unexpectedly poured down before my eyes, dazzling them greatly-not merely the light of the eye, but the interior sight also. Presently there appeared a sort of obscurity, like a thick cloud, in which there was as it were something earthy. While I wondered at this it was given me to know that such is the light with the angels in heaven in comparison with that in the world of spirits; and that although the spirits live in light, yet still there is such a difference; and that, as does the light, so also do the intelligence and the wisdom of the angels surpass those of spirits; and not their intelligence and wisdom only, but also all things that belong to these, such as their speech, thought, joys, and felicities; for these correspond to the light. This evidenced to me how great and of what nature are the perfections of angels as compared with men, who are in greater obscurity even than spirits.

1525. The kind of light in which those live who belong to a certain internal province of the face, was shown me. It was beautifully varied by rays of golden flame for those who are in affections of good, and by rays of silver light for those who are in affections of truth. Sometimes they see the sky-not that which appears before our eyes, but one that is represented before them–beautifully studded with little stars. The reason for the difference in the light is that all good spirits who are in the first heaven, and all angelic spirits who are in the second, and all angels who are in the third, are distinguished in general into the celestial and the spiritual; the celestial being those who are in the love of good, and the spiritual those who are in the love of truth.

1526. I was withdrawn from the ideas of particular things,* or those of the body, so that I might be kept in spiritual ideas. There then appeared a vivid glow of diamond light, and this for a considerable time. I cannot describe the light in any other way; for in its least parts it was like the sparkling of the diamond. And while I was kept in that light, I perceived the particular things, which are worldly and corporeal, as it were below me, and remote; by which I was instructed how great light those are in who are withdrawn from material ideas into those which are spiritual. Moreover, the light of spirits and of angels has been seen by me so many times, that many pages would be filled if all the experiences were recounted.
* Compare n. 3885, and see note to n. 2481. [Reviser.]

1527. When the Lord pleases, good spirits appear before others, and also to one another, as bright stars that sparkle in accordance with the quality of their charity and faith; but evil spirits appear like little balls of coal fire.

1528. The life of cupidities and of the derivative pleasures sometimes appears among evil spirits like a coal fire. Into such a fieriness, as it were, is the life of the Lord’s love and mercy changed that flows in with them; and the life of their phantasies appears as the light from it, which is a dim light that extends to no great distance; but at the approach of the life of mutual love, that fieriness is extinguished and turned into cold, and that dim light is turned into darkness. For evil spirits pass their lives in darkness; and, wonderful to say, some also love darkness, and hate light.

1529. It is perfectly well known in heaven, but not so well in the world of spirits, whence comes the light that is so great, namely, from the Lord; and it is a remarkable fact that the Lord appears in the third heaven to the celestial angels as a Sun, and to the spiritual angels as a Moon. The very origin of the light is this and this alone. But the angels have light in proportion to what is celestial and spiritual with them, and the quality of this determines the quality of their light. Thus the Lord’s celestial and spiritual manifests itself before their external sight by means of light.

sRef Ex@24 @10 S0′ sRef Isa@30 @26 S0′ sRef Rev@21 @23 S0′ sRef Rev@22 @5 S0′ 1530. That this is so the Word has shown to all; as when the Lord was made manifest to Peter, James, and John; for His face then shone as the sun, and His garments became as the light (Matt. 17:2). He so appeared to them simply because their interior sight was opened. The same is confirmed also in the Prophets; as in Isaiah, where the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens is treated of:
The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days (Isa. 30:26).
And in John, where also the Lord’s kingdom, which is called the New Jerusalem, is spoken of:
The city hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it; for the glory of God doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the lamp thereof (Rev. 21:23).
And again:
There shall be no night there, and they have no need of a lamp, neither light of the sun, for the Lord God giveth them light (Rev. 22:5).
Besides that when the Lord appeared to Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders,
they saw the God of Israel, under whose feet was as it were a work of sapphire stone, and as it were the substance of heaven in clearness (Exod. 24:10).
As the Lord’s celestial and spiritual appear before the external sight of the angels as a Sun and a Moon, therefore “the sun” in the Word signifies what is celestial, and “the moon” what is spiritual.

sRef Isa@30 @26 S0′ 1531. That I might be confirmed in the truth that the Lord appears to the celestial angels as a Sun, and to the spiritual angels as a Moon, my interior sight was of the Lord’s Divine mercy so far opened that I plainly saw the Moon shining, which was encompassed by a number of smaller moons, the light of which was almost solar, according to the words in Isaiah:
The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun (Isa. 30:26).
But it was not granted me to see the Sun. The Moon appeared in front, to the right.

1532. Wonderful things appear in heaven from the Lord’s light, things so beyond number that they could never be told. They are continual representatives of the Lord and of His kingdom, such as are mentioned in the Prophets, and by John in Revelation; besides other significatives. With the bodily eyes no man can possibly see them, but the moment the interior sight or that of the spirit is opened by the Lord, such things become visible. The visions of the prophets were nothing else than openings of their interior sight; as when John saw the golden lampstands (Rev. 1:12-13); and the Holy City as pure gold, with its luminary like to a stone most precious (Rev. 21:2, 10-11); besides many things mentioned in the Prophets; from which it may be known, not only that the angels live in the brightest light, but also that there are countless things there which surpass belief.

1533. Before my sight was opened, the idea I cherished concerning the countless things that appear in the other life differed but little from that of others, that is to say, that in the other life there could be no light, and such things as exist from light, together with the things of sense; a notion derived from the phantasy entertained by the learned respecting the immateriality which they predicate so strongly of spirits and of all things pertaining to their life; from which no other conception could be had, than that, because it was immaterial, it was either so obscure that no idea of it could be grasped, or that it was nothing; for the immateriality involves such things. And yet the fact is just the reverse; for unless spirits were organized, and unless angels were organized substances, they could neither speak, nor see, nor think.

1534. That by the aid of the light from a celestial and spiritual origin from the Lord, there are in the other life presented before the sight of spirits and angels most wonderful objects, such as paradises, cities, palaces, dwellings, the most beautiful atmospheres, and others besides, see the “Continuation concerning Light” at the end of this chapter.

GENESIS 13
1. And Abram went up out of Egypt, he and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, toward the south.
2. And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.
3. And he went according to his journeys from the south and even to Bethel, unto the place where his tent was at the first, between Bethel and Ai.
4. Unto the place of the altar which he had made there in the beginning; and there Abram called on the name of Jehovah.
5. And Lot also, who went with Abram, had flock and herd, and tents.
6. And the land was not able to bear them that they might dwell together, for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together.
7. And there was strife between the herdmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdmen of Lot’s cattle; and the Canaanite and the Perizzite were then dwelling in the land.
8. And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no contention, I pray, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy
herdmen, for we are men brethren.
9. Is not the whole land before thee? Separate, I pray, from me; if to the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if to the right hand, then I will go to the left.
10. And Lot lifted up his eyes, and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was all well watered, before Jehovah destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the garden of Jehovah, like the land of Egypt in coming to Zoar.
11. And Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed from the east; and they were separated, a man from his brother.
12. Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent as far as Sodom.
13. And the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners against Jehovah exceedingly.
14. And Jehovah said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward.
15. For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed, forever.
16. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth; so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.
17. Arise, walk through the land, in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for unto thee will I give it.
18. And Abram pitched his tent, and came, and dwelt in the oak-groves of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built there an altar unto Jehovah.

sRef Gen@13 @0 S0′ 1535. THE CONTENTS
This chapter treats of the external man in the Lord which was to be conjoined with His internal man. The external man is the Human Essence, the internal is the Divine essence. The former is here represented by Lot, but the latter by Abram.

sRef Gen@13 @0 S0′ 1536. There is here described the state of the external man such as it was in childhood, when first imbued with knowledges [scientifica et cognitiones]-that it thence advanced more and more to conjunction with the internal man (verses 1 to 4).

sRef Gen@13 @0 S0′ 1537. But that there were still many things in His external man that impeded the conjunction (verses 5 to 7); from which, however, He desired to be separated (verses 8, 9).

sRef Gen@13 @0 S0′ 1538. That the external man appeared to the Lord such as it is in its beauty when conjoined with the internal; and also such as it is when not conjoined (verses 10 to 13).

sRef Gen@13 @0 S0′ 1539. A promise that when the external man was conjoined with the internal, that is, when the Lord’s Human Essence was conjoined with His Divine Essence, all power and authority [potestas] should be given to Him (verses 14 to 17). Concerning the Lord’s interior perception (verse 18).

sRef Matt@2 @15 S0′ 1540. THE INTERNAL SENSE
The true historicals of the Word began, as before said, with the foregoing chapter-the twelfth. Up to that point, or rather to Eber, they were made-up historicals. In the internal sense, the historicals here continued respecting Abram are significative of the Lord, and in fact of His first life, such as it was before His external man had been conjoined with the internal so as to make one thing; that is, before His external man had been in like manner made celestial and Divine. The historicals are what represent the Lord; the words themselves are significative of the things that are represented. But being historical, the mind of the reader cannot but be held in them; especially at this day, when most persons, and indeed nearly all, do not believe that there is an internal sense, and still less that it exists in every word; and it may be that in spite of the fact that the internal sense has been so plainly shown thus far, they will not even now acknowledge its existence, and this for the reason that the internal sense appears to recede so far from the sense of the letter as to be scarcely recognized in it. And yet that these historicals cannot be the Word they might know from the mere fact that when separated from the internal sense there is no more of the Divine in them than in any other history; whereas the internal sense makes the Word to be Divine.
[2] That the internal sense is the Word itself, is evident from many things that have been revealed, as, “Out of Egypt have I called My son” (Matt. 2:15); besides many others. The Lord Himself also, after His resurrection, taught the disciples what had been written concerning Him in Moses and the Prophets (Luke 24:27); and thus that there is nothing written in the Word that does not regard Him, His kingdom, and the church. These are the spiritual and celestial things of the Word; but the things contained in the literal sense are for the most part worldly, corporeal, and earthly; which cannot possibly make the Word of the Lord. At this day men are of such a character that they perceive nothing but such things; and what spiritual and heavenly things are, they scarcely know. It was otherwise with the men of the Most Ancient and of the Ancient Church, who, had they lived at this day, and had read the Word, would not have attended at all to the sense of the letter, which they would look upon as nothing, but to the internal sense. They wonder greatly that anyone perceives the Word in any other way. All the books of the Ancients were therefore so written as to have in their interior sense a different meaning from that in the letter.

sRef Gen@13 @1 S0′ 1541. Verse 1. And Abram went up out of Egypt, he and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, toward the south. In the internal sense, the things here stated, and those which follow in this chapter, also represent the Lord; there being a continuation of His life from childhood. “Abram went up out of Egypt,” signifies from memory-knowledges, which left the Lord. In the internal sense, “Abram” is the Lord, here the Lord when still a child; “Egypt,” here as before, is memory-knowledge; “he and his wife,” signifies the celestial truths that were then with the Lord; “and all that he had” signifies all things that were of the celestial “things; “and Lot with him” signifies what is sensuous; “toward the south,” signifies into celestial light.

sRef Gen@13 @1 S0′ 1542. That in the internal sense these things, and those that follow in this chapter, also represent the Lord, and that it is a continuation of His life from childhood, may be seen from what was said and shown in the preceding chapter, and also from what follows, but especially from the consideration that this is the Word of the Lord, and that it has come down from Him through heaven, and therefore that not even the least bit of a word has been written that does not involve heavenly arcana. That which comes from such an origin cannot possibly be of any other nature. It has been shown already that in the internal sense the Lord’s instruction when a child is treated of. There are two things with man which prevent his becoming celestial, one of which belongs to his intellectual, and the other to his will part: that which belongs to the intellectual part consists of the empty memory-knowledges he learns in childhood and youth; and that which belongs to the will part consists of pleasures from the cupidities which he favors. These are the hindrances that prevent his being able to attain to celestial things. These are first to be dispersed; and when they have been dispersed, he can then for the first time be admitted into the light of celestial things, and at last into celestial light.
[2] As the Lord was born as are other men, and was to be informed as others are, it was necessary for Him to learn memory-knowledges, which was represented and signified by Abram’s sojourn in Egypt; and that the empty memory-knowledges at last left Him, was represented by Pharaoh’s commanding his men respecting him, and by their sending him away, and his wife, and all that he had. (See the foregoing chapter, verse 20.) But that the pleasures which pertain to the things of the will, and which constitute the sensuous man, but the outermost of it, also left Him, is represented in this chapter by Lot, in that he separated himself from Abram; for Lot represents such a man.

sRef Gen@13 @1 S0′ 1543. And Abram went up out of Egypt. That this signifies from memory-knowledges, which left the Lord, is evident from the signification of “Abram,” as representing the Lord; and also from the signification of “Egypt,” which is memory-knowledge; and also from the signification of “going up,” for this expression is used of emerging from the lower things, which are the memory-knowledges, to the higher, which are the celestial things; and therefore, in the Word, “to go up from Egypt into the land of Canaan”-an expression which often occurs-involves the like things.

sRef Gen@13 @1 S0′ 1544. It has already been shown that here, in the internal sense, “Abram” is the Lord while still a child, and that “Egypt” is memory-knowledge.

sRef Gen@13 @1 S0′ 1545. He and he wife. That this signifies the celestial truths then in the Lord, may be seen from the signification of “he,” that is, of Abram, as being the Lord, and consequently the celestial that was in Him. A man is a man from the things that are in him; the Lord, from the celestial things; for He alone was celestial, so as to be the celestial itself; on which account celestial things are signified by “Abram,” and still more by “Abraham.” This may be further seen from the signification of a “wife,” as being truth adjoined to the celestial (as before shown, n. 1468). That the truths are celestial truths, or truths which are from celestial things, is evident from the fact that “he” is named first, and “his wife” afterwards. For celestial truth is one thing, and truth celestial is another; celestial truth is that which derives its origin from the celestial; truth celestial is that which is from the truth which is implanted in the celestial by means of knowledges [cognitiones].

sRef Gen@13 @1 S0′ 1546. And all that he had. That this signifies all things that were of the celestial things, is evident from what has now been said.

sRef Gen@13 @1 S0′ 1547. And Lot with him. That this signifies what is sensuous, has already been briefly stated (n. 1428); but as Lot is here specifically treated of, it must be known what it is in the Lord that he represents. Pharaoh represented the memory-knowledges that at last sent the Lord away; but Lot represents sensuous things, by which is meant the external man and its pleasures that pertain to sensuous things, thus those things which are outermost, and which are wont to captivate man in his childhood, and draw him away from goods. For so far as a man indulges the pleasures that originate from cupidities, he is drawn away from the celestial things that are of love and charity; because in those pleasures there is love from self and from the world, with which celestial love cannot agree.
There are, however, pleasures that agree perfectly with celestial things, and that likewise appear similar in external form (concerning which see above, n. 945, 994, 995, 997). But the pleasures that originate from cupidities are to be restrained and wiped out, because they block the way to celestial things. It is these pleasures, and not the others, that are treated of in this chapter-by Lot, in that he separated himself from Abram; and here it is said that such pleasures were present, which are signified by “Lot with him.” But in general by “Lot” is signified the external man, as will be evident from what follows.

sRef Gen@13 @1 S0′ 1548. Toward the south. That this signifies into celestial light, is evident from the signification of “the south,” as being a state of light as to the interiors (spoken of before, n. 1458). There are two states from which comes celestial light. The first is that into which man is introduced from infancy; for it is known that infants are in innocence and in the goods of love, which are the celestial things into which they are at first introduced by the Lord, and which are stored up in the child for use in later life, and for his use when he comes into the other life; these are what are called the first remains, spoken of in several places before. The other state is, that man is introduced into spiritual and celestial things by means of knowledges, which must be implanted in the celestial things given from infancy. With the Lord, these were implanted in His first celestial things, from which He had the light which is here called “the south.”

sRef Gen@13 @2 S0′ 1549. Verse 2. And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold. “Abram was very rich in cattle,” signifies the goods with which the Lord was then enriched; “in silver,” signifies the truths; “and in gold,” signifies the goods from truths.

sRef Gen@13 @2 S0′ 1550. Abram was very rich in cattle. That this signifies goods, is evident from the signification of “cattle,” and of “flock,” as being good (concerning which above, n. 343, 415).

sRef Dan@2 @32 S0′ sRef Gen@13 @2 S0′ sRef Dan@2 @33 S0′ 1551. In silver. That this signifies truths, is evident from the signification of “silver,” as being truth. The most ancient people compared the goods and truths in man to metals; the inmost or the celestial goods, which are of love to the Lord, to gold; the truths which are from these, to silver; but the lower or natural goods, to copper; and the lower truths, to iron; nor did they simply compare them, but they likewise called them so. Hence periods of time were also likened to the same metals, and were called the golden, the silver, the copper, and the iron ages; for the ages followed one another in this order. The golden age was the time of the Most Ancient Church, which was a celestial man; the silver age was the time of the Ancient Church, which was a spiritual man; the copper age was the time of the succeeding church; and to this succeeded the iron age. Similar things are also signified by the statue seen by Nebuchadnezzar in a dream, whose “head was of good gold, the breast and arms of silver, the belly and thighs of brass, the legs of iron” (Dan. 2:32-33). That this was to be the series, or that the periods of the church succeeded one another in this order, is evident from the same Prophet, and in the same chapter.
sRef Isa@60 @17 S2′ sRef Isa@55 @1 S2′ [2] That in the internal sense of the Word, “silver,” wherever named, signifies truth, and in the opposite sense falsity, is evident from the following passages. In Isaiah:
For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron; I will also make thine officers peace, and thine exactors righteousness (Isa. 60:17);
where it is evident what each metal means. The Lord’s coming, and His celestial kingdom and church, are there treated of; “gold for brass,” is celestial good instead of natural good; “silver for iron,” is spiritual truth instead of natural truth; “brass for wood,” is natural good instead of corporeal good; “iron for stones,” is natural truth instead of sensuous truth. In the same:
Ho, everyone that thirsteth, go ye to the waters; and he that hath no silver; go ye, buy and eat (Isa. 55:1);
“he that hath no silver,” is he who is in ignorance of truth, and yet in the good of charity, like many within the church, and the nations outside the church.
sRef Ezek@16 @13 S3′ sRef Isa@60 @9 S3′ sRef Ezek@28 @3 S3′ sRef Ezek@16 @17 S3′ sRef Ezek@28 @4 S3′ [3] In the same:
The isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish in the beginning, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of Jehovah thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel (Isa. 60:9).
Here a new church, or that of the Gentiles, is treated of specifically, and the Lord’s kingdom universally; “the ships from Tarshish” denote knowledges; “silver,” truths; and “gold,” goods; for these are the things which they shall “bring to the name of Jehovah.” In Ezekiel:
Thou didst take the vessels of thine adorning of My gold and of My silver, which I had given thee, and madest for thee images of a male (Ezek. 16:17).
Here “gold” denotes the knowledges of celestial things; “silver,” those of spiritual things. In the same:
Thou wast adorned with gold and silver, and thy raiment was fine linen and silk, and broidered work (Ezek. 16:13).
This is said of Jerusalem, by which the Lord’s church is signified, and the adornment of which is thus described. Again:
Behold, thou art wise, there is no secret that they have hidden from thee; in thy wisdom and in thine intelligence thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures (Ezek. 28:3-4).
This is said of Tyre, and it is plain that here “gold” is the wealth of wisdom, and “silver” the wealth of intelligence.
sRef Ex@3 @22 S4′ sRef Hag@2 @7 S4′ sRef Ps@12 @6 S4′ sRef Hag@2 @9 S4′ sRef Hag@2 @8 S4′ sRef Joel@3 @5 S4′ sRef Mal@3 @3 S4′ [4] In Joel:
Ye have taken My silver and My gold, and have carried into your temples My goodly desirable things (Joel 3:5).
This is said concerning Tyre, Zidon, and Philistia; by which are signified knowledges, which are “the gold and the silver” that they have carried into their temples. In Haggai:
The choice of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with glory; the silver is Mine and the gold is Mine; the glory of this latter house shall be greater than that of the former (Hag. 2:7-9);
where the Lord’s church is treated of, concerning which “gold” and “silver” are predicated. In Malachi:
He shall sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and shall purify the sons of Levi (Mal. 3:3);
where the Lord’s coming is treated of. In David:
The discourses of Jehovah are pure discourses, silver smelted in a crucible of earth, smelted seven times (Ps. 12:6);
the “silver purified seven times,” denotes Divine truth. In respect to the command given to the sons of Israel, when they were to go out of Egypt:
Every woman shall borrow of her neighbor, and of her that is a guest in her house, vessels of silver and vessels of gold, and garments; and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters, and shall spoil the Egyptians (Exod. 3:22; 11:2-3; 12:35-36);
everyone can see that the sons of Israel would by no means have been told thus to steal, and to spoil the Egyptians, unless some arcana were thus to be represented; but what the arcana are may be seen from the signification of “silver,” of “gold,” and of “garments,” and of “Egypt;” and it may also be seen that much the same was there represented as is here represented by Abram, who was rich in silver and gold from Egypt.
sRef Deut@7 @26 S5′ sRef Isa@31 @7 S5′ sRef Jer@10 @9 S5′ sRef Jer@10 @8 S5′ sRef Ex@20 @26 S5′ sRef Deut@7 @25 S5′ [5] As “silver” signifies truth, so in the opposite sense it signifies falsity; for they who are in falsity think that falsity is truth; as is also evident in the Prophets. In Moses:
Thou shalt not covet the silver and the gold of the nations, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein; for it is an abomination to Jehovah thy God; detesting thou shalt detest it (Deut. 7:25-26);
“the gold of the nations” denotes evils, and their “silver” falsities. Again:
Ye shall not make with Me gods of silver, and gods of gold shall ye not make unto you (Exod. 20:23);
by which in the internal sense nothing else is signified than falsities and cupidities; “gods of silver” are falsities; and “gods of gold” are cupidities. In Isaiah:
In that day shall they cast away every man his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which your own hands have made unto you for a sin (Isa. 31:7);
“idols of silver and idols of gold,” denote similar things as before; “your own hands have made them,” means that they are from man’s Own. In Jeremiah:
They are become brutish and foolish; a teaching of vanities is that stock; silver beaten out is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the artificer and of the hands of the founder; blue and crimson are their clothing, it is all the work of the wise (Jer. 10:8-9);
denoting the like things, as is very evident.

sRef Gen@13 @2 S0′ 1552. And in gold. That this signifies goods from truths, is evident from the signification of “gold,” as being celestial good, or the good of wisdom and of love, as is evident from the things just shown, and also from those shown before (n. 113). That the goods here are from truths, follows from what was said in the foregoing chapter, that the Lord conjoined intellectual truths with celestial things.

sRef Gen@13 @3 S0′ 1553. Verse 3. And he went according to his journeys, from the south and even to Bethel, unto the place where his tent was at the first, between Bethel and Ai. “He went according to his journeys,” signifies according to order; “from the south and even to Bethel,” signifies from the light of intelligence into the light of wisdom; “unto the place where his tent was before,” signifies to the holy things which there were before He was imbued with knowledges; “between Bethel and Ai,” signifies here, as before, the celestial things of knowledges, and worldly things.

sRef Gen@13 @3 S0′ 1554. He went according to his journeys. That this signifies according to order, is evident from the signification of “journeys,” as being further progressions (concerning which, see n. 1457); and as these were made according to order, “journeys” here signify nothing else. From His earliest infancy the Lord advanced according to all Divine order to celestial things, and into celestial things; and in the internal sense, the nature of this order is described by what is said concerning Abram. According to such order also are all led who are being created anew by the Lord; but this order is various with men, according to the nature and genius of each one. But the order by which a man is led while being regenerated is known to no man, and not even to the angels, except obscurely, but to the Lord alone.

sRef Gen@13 @3 S0′ 1555. From the south and even to Bethel. That this signifies from the light of intelligence into the light of wisdom, is evident from the signification of “the south,” as being the light of intelligence, or what is the same, a state of light as to the interiors (spoken of before, n. 1458); and from the signification of “Bethel,” as being celestial light arising from knowledges (concerning which before, n. 1453). That is called the light of intelligence which is procured by means of the knowledges of the truths and goods of faith; but the light of wisdom is that of the life which is thence acquired. The light of intelligence regards the intellectual part, or the understanding; but the light of wisdom regards the will part, or the life.
[2] Few, if any, know how man is brought to true wisdom. Intelligence is not wisdom, but leads to wisdom; for to understand what is true and good is not to be true and good, but to be wise is to be so. Wisdom is predicated only of the life-that the man is such. A man is introduced to wisdom or to life by means of knowing [scire et nosse], that is, by means of knowledges [scientiae et cognitiones]. In every man there are two parts, the will and the understanding; the will is the primary part, the understanding is the secondary one. Man’s life after death is according to his will part, not according to his intellectual part. The will is being formed in man by the Lord from infancy to childhood, which is effected by means of the innocence that is insinuated, and by means of charity toward parents, nurses, and little children of a like age; and by means of many other things that man knows nothing of, and which are celestial. Unless these celestial things were first insinuated into a man while an infant and a child, he could by no means become a man. Thus is formed the first plane.
[3] But as a man is not a man unless he is endowed also with understanding, will alone does not make the man, but understanding together with will; and understanding cannot be acquired except by means of knowledges [scientiae et cognitiones] and therefore he must, from his childhood, be gradually imbued with these. Thus is formed the second plane. When the intellectual part has been instructed in knowledges [scientiae et cognitiones], especially in the knowledges of truth and good, then first can the man be regenerated; and, when he is being regenerated, truths and goods are implanted by the Lord by means of knowledges in the celestial things with which he had been endowed by the Lord from infancy, so that his intellectual things make a one with his celestial things; and when the Lord has thus conjoined these, the man is endowed with charity, from which he begins to act, this charity being of conscience. In this way he for the first time receives new life, and this by degrees. The light of this life is called wisdom, which then takes the first place, and is set over the intelligence. Thus is formed the third plane. When a man has become like this during his bodily life, he is then in the other life being continually perfected. These considerations show what is the light of intelligence, and what the light of wisdom.

sRef Gen@13 @3 S0′ 1556. Unto the place where his tent was before. That this signifies to the holy things which there were before He was imbued with knowledges, is evident from the signification of a “tent,” which is the holy things of faith (concerning which, n. 414, 1452, and from what has just been said); it thus signifies to the celestial things which the Lord had before He was imbued with knowledges, as is evident from what was said in the preceding chapter: “and Abram removed from thence unto the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent” (verse 8); which was before he departed into Egypt, that is, before the Lord was imbued with knowledges.

sRef Gen@13 @3 S0′ 1557. Between Bethel and Ai. That this signifies the celestial things of knowledges, and worldly things, is evident from the signification of “Bethel,” which is the light of wisdom by means of knowledges (see n. 1453); and from the signification of “Ai,” which is the light from worldly things (also spoken of in n. 1453). From what is there said, it may be seen what the Lord’s state then was, namely, that it was childlike; and the state of a child is such that worldly things are present; for worldly things cannot be dispersed until truth and good are implanted in celestial things by means of knowledges; for a man cannot distinguish between celestial and worldly things until he knows what the celestial is, and what the worldly. Knowledges make a general and obscure idea distinct; and the more distinct the idea is made by means of knowledges, the more can the worldly things be separated.
[2] But still that childlike state is holy, because it is innocent. Ignorance by no means precludes holiness, when there is innocence in it; for holiness dwells in ignorance that is innocent. With all men, except with the Lord, holiness can dwell solely in ignorance; and if not in ignorance, they have no holiness. With the angels themselves, who are in the highest light of intelligence and wisdom, holiness also dwells in ignorance; for they know and acknowledge that of themselves they know nothing, but that whatever they know is from the Lord. They also know and acknowledge that all their memory-knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom, is as nothing in comparison with the infinite knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom of the Lord; thus that it is ignorance. He who does not acknowledge that there are infinite things with which he is not acquainted, beyond those with which he is acquainted, cannot be in the holiness of ignorance in which are the angels.
[3] The holiness of ignorance does not consist in being more ignorant than others; but in the acknowledgment that of himself a man knows nothing, and that the things he does not know are infinite in comparison with those he does know; and especially does it consist in his regarding the things of the memory and of the understanding as being of but little moment in comparison with celestial things; that is, the things of the understanding in comparison with the things of the life. As regards the Lord, as He was conjoining things human with things Divine, He advanced according to order; and He now for the first time arrived at the celestial state such as He had had when a child; in which state worldly things also were present. By advancing from this into a state still more celestial, He at length came into the celestial state of infancy, and in this He fully conjoined the Human Essence with the Divine Essence.

sRef Gen@13 @4 S0′ 1558. Verse 4. Unto the place of the altar which he had made there in the beginning; and there Abram called on the name of Jehovah. “Unto the place of the altar,” signifies the holy things of worship; “which he had made in the beginning,” signifies which He had when a child; “and there Abram called on the name of Jehovah,” signifies the internal worship in that state.

sRef Gen@13 @4 S0′ 1559. Unto the place of the altar. That this signifies the holy things of worship, is evident from the signification of an “altar,” as being the principal representative of worship (concerning which, see n. 921).

sRef Gen@13 @4 S0′ 1560. Which he had made in the beginning. That this signifies which He had when a child, is evident from what was said in the preceding chapter at verse 8. It is here said, “in the beginning,” and in the preceding verse, “at the first,” because that was before the Lord had been imbued with knowledges. All the state before a man is instructed, is “the first” [initium]; and when he begins to be instructed, it is “the beginning” [principium].

1561. And there Abram called on the name of Jehovah. That this signifies the internal worship in that state, is evident from the signification of “calling on the name of Jehovah” (explained above, n. 440, 1455). Here too, because of the similarity of the states, mention is made of an “altar,” and it is said that he “called on the name of Jehovah,” as was the case in the preceding chapter, verse 8; but there is this difference, that as compared with the former, the state here described is a lucid one. When knowledges are implanted in the state described above, they make it lucid; and when truth and good are conjoined with the former celestial state by means of knowledges, its activity is then described as in the words now before us; for worship itself is nothing but a certain activity coming forth from the celestial which is within. The celestial itself cannot possibly exist without activity. Worship is its first activity; for it puts itself forth in this way, because it perceives joy in it. All the good of love and of charity is essential activity itself.

sRef Gen@13 @5 S0′ 1562. Verse 5. And Lot also, who went with Abram, had flock and herd, and tents. “And Lot also, who went with Abram,” signifies the external man that was in the Lord; “had flock and herd, and tents,” signifies those things in which the external man abounds; “flock and herd” are the external man’s possessions; “tents” are his worship: these things were separating themselves from the internal man.

sRef Gen@13 @5 S0′ 1563. And Lot also, who went with Abram. That this signifies the external man that was in the Lord, is evident from the representation of Lot, as being the sensuous man, or what is the same, the external man. That there is an internal and an external in every man, or what is the same, that man is internal and external, is known to everyone within the church (concerning which see what has been said before, n. 978, 994, 995, 1015). The external man receives its life principally from the internal man, that is, from the spirit or soul. Thence comes its very life in general; but this life cannot be received in its particulars, or distinctly, by the external man, unless its organic vessels are opened, which must be the recipients of the particulars and the singulars of the internal man. These organic vessels, which are to be the recipients, are not opened except by means of the senses, especially those of hearing and sight; and, as they are opened, the internal man can flow in with its particulars and singulars. They are opened with the senses as the media, by means of knowledges [scientifica et cognitiones], and also by means of pleasures and delights; those belonging to the understanding by means of knowledges, and those belonging to the will by means of pleasures and delights.
[2] From these things it may be seen that it must necessarily happen that such knowledges as cannot agree with spiritual truths will insinuate themselves into the external man; and that such pleasures and delights will insinuate themselves as cannot agree with celestial goods; as is the case with all those things which regard corporeal, worldly, and earthly things as the ends; which, when regarded as ends, draw the external man outward and downward, and so remove it from the internal man. Wherefore, unless such things are first dispersed, the internal man cannot possibly agree with the external; so that before the internal man can agree with the external, such things must first be removed. That with the Lord these things were removed or separated, is represented and signified by the separation of Lot from Abram.

sRef Gen@13 @5 S0′ 1564. Had flock and herd, and tents. That this signifies the things with which the external man abounds, is evident from the signification of “flock,” “herd,” and “tents,” explained just below. They here signify the possessions of the external man; for by Lot, as before said, is represented the Lord’s external man. There are two classes of possessions in the external man, namely, such as can agree with the internal, and such as cannot agree. By “flock, herd, and tents” are here signified those things which cannot agree, as is evident from what follows-“and there was strife between the herdmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdmen of Lot’s cattle” (verse 7).

sRef Jer@49 @28 S0′ sRef Zeph@2 @7 S0′ sRef Gen@13 @5 S0′ sRef Zeph@2 @5 S0′ sRef Jer@51 @23 S0′ sRef Zeph@2 @6 S0′ sRef Jer@49 @29 S0′ 1565. That “flock and herd” signify the possessions of the external man, is evident from the signification of “flock” and “herd,” as being goods (see n. 343 and 415); but here they signify things that are to be separated, and thus things that are not good, because they are attributed to Lot, who was being separated from Abram. That “flock” and “herd” signify also things not good, is evident from the following passages of the Word. In Zephaniah:
I will destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant. And the sea coast shall be habitations dug out for shepherds, and folds for a flock (Zeph. 2:5-6).
In Jeremiah:
I will disperse in thee the shepherd and the flock; and I will disperse in thee the husbandman and his yoke (Jer. 51:23).
In the same:
Go ye up to Arabia, and lay waste the sons of the east; their tents and their flocks shall they take (Jer. 49:28-29).

sRef Jer@6 @3 S0′ sRef Hos@9 @6 S0′ sRef Gen@13 @5 S0′ sRef Hab@3 @7 S0′ sRef Hab@3 @8 S0′ sRef Ps@78 @51 S0′ sRef Ps@84 @10 S0′ 1566. That “tents” are the worship of that which was separating itself from the internal, is evident from the signification of “tent,” as being the holy of worship (n. 414); and also from the representation of Lot, as being the external man, of which “tents”-or worship-are predicated. That in the opposite sense “tents” signify worship not holy, is also evident from the following passages of the Word. In Hosea:
The nettle shall inherit them; thorns shall be in their tents (Hos. 9:6).
In Habakkuk:
I saw the tents of Cushan; the curtains of the land of Midian were greatly moved; Jehovah was angry against the rivers (Hab. 3:7-8).
In Jeremiah:
Shepherds with their flocks shall come unto the daughter of Zion; they shall pitch tents against her round about; they shall feed down everyone his space (Jer. 6:3).
In David:
He smote all the firstborn in Egypt, the beginning of strength in the tents of Ham (Ps. 78:51).
In the same:
I had rather stand at the threshold in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness (Ps. 84:10).

sRef Gen@13 @6 S0′ 1567. Verse 6. And the land was not able to bear them that they might dwell together, because their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together. “The land was not able to bear them that they might dwell together,” signifies that the things belonging to the internal celestial things could not be together with the others; “because their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together,” signifies that the things that had been acquired by the internal man could not agree with those acquired in the external man.

sRef Gen@13 @6 S0′ 1568. The land was not able to bear them that they might dwell together. This signifies that the things belonging to the internal celestial things could not be together with the others, that is, with those here signified by “Lot.” Abram, as before said, represents the Lord, here His internal man; but Lot represents His external man, here the things that were to be separated from the external man, with which the internal things could not dwell.
There are many things in the external man with which the internal man can dwell, such as affections of good, and the delights and pleasures thence originating; for these are the effects of the goods of the internal man, and of its joys and happiness; and when they are the effects, they altogether correspond; and they are then of the internal man and not of the external. For the effect, as is known, is not of the effect, but of the effecting cause; as, for example, the charity which shines forth from the face is not of the face, but is of the charity that is within, and which so forms the face, and presents the effect; or as the innocence of little children that shows itself in their looks, gestures, and play with each other, is not of the countenance or the gesture, but is of the innocence of the Lord that flows in through their souls; so that the manifestations of innocence are effects; and it is the same in all other cases.
[2] From this it is evident that there are many things in the external man that can dwell together and agree with the internal man. But there are also very many which do not agree, or together with which the internal man cannot dwell; this is the case with all things that spring from the love of self, and from the love of the world, for all such things regard self as the end, and the world as the end. With these the celestial things which are of love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor cannot agree; for these look to the Lord as the end, and to His kingdom and all things that are of Him and His kingdom as the ends. The ends of the love of self and the love of the world look outward or downward; but the ends of love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor look inward or upward; from all which it is evident that they disagree so much that they cannot possibly be together.
[3] That it may be known what makes the correspondence and agreement of the external man with the internal, and what makes the disagreement, one needs only to reflect upon the ends which reign; or what is the same, upon the loves which reign; for the loves are the ends; for whatever is loved is looked to as the end. It will thus be evident of what quality the life is, and what it will be after death; for, from the ends, or what is the same, from the loves which reign, the life is formed; the life of every man is nothing else. The things that disagree with eternal life-that is, with spiritual and celestial life, which is eternal life-if not removed in the life of the body, must be removed in the other life; and if they cannot be removed, the man cannot be otherwise than unhappy to eternity.
[4] These things are now said that it may be known that there are things in the external man which agree with the internal man, and things which disagree; and that those which agree cannot possibly be together with those that disagree; and further, that the things in the external man which agree, are from the internal man, that is, through the internal man from the Lord; like a face that beams from charity, or a face of charity; or like the innocence in the countenance and gestures of little children, as before said. But the things which disagree are of the man and what is his own. From what has been said it may be known what is signified by the words, “the land was not able to bear them that they might dwell together.” In the internal sense, the Lord is here treated of; and because the Lord, every likeness and image of Him is also treated of-His kingdom, the church, and every man of His kingdom or church; and it is for this reason that the things which are in men are here set forth. The things appertaining to the Lord, before He from His own power overcame evil, that is, the devil and hell, and so became celestial, Divine, and Jehovah, as to His Human essence also, are to be considered relatively to the state in which He then was.

sRef Gen@13 @6 S0′ 1569. Because their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together. That this signifies that the things that had been acquired by the internal man could not agree with those acquired in the external may be seen from what has just been said.

sRef Gen@13 @7 S0′ 1570. Verse 7. And there was strife between the herdmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdmen of Lot’s cattle; and the Canaanite and the Perizzite were then dwelling in the land. “There was strife between the herdmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdmen of Lot’s cattle,” signifies that the internal man and the external man did not agree; “the herdmen of Abram’s cattle,” are the celestial things; “the herdmen of Lot’s cattle,” are the sensuous things; “and the Canaanite and the Perizzite were then dwelling in the land,” signifies evils and falsities in the external man.

sRef Gen@13 @7 S0′ 1571. There was strife between the herdmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdmen of Lot’s cattle. That this signifies that the internal man and the external did not agree, is evident from the signification of the “herdmen [or shepherds-pastores] of cattle,” as being those who teach, and thus things that are of worship, as may be known to everyone; it is therefore unnecessary to confirm this from the Word. These things relate to what were called “tents” in the preceding verse 5; and it was there pointed out that these signify worship. What is said in verse 6, that immediately precedes these words, relates to what were called “flock and herd” in verse 5; and in the consideration of that verse it was also pointed out that these denote possessions or acquisitions. As worship is here treated of, namely, that of the internal man and of the external, and as these did not yet agree, it is here said that “there was strife between the herdmen;” for Abram represents the internal man, and Lot the external. In worship the nature and quality of the disagreement between the internal man and the external are especially discernible, and this even in every single thing of worship; for when in worship the internal man desires to regard the ends that belong to the kingdom of God, and the external man desires to regard the ends that belong to the world, there thus arises a disagreement which manifests itself in the worship, and that so plainly that the smallest bit of such disagreement is noticed in heaven. This is what is signified by the “strife between the herdmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdmen of Lot’s cattle.” The cause is also subjoined, namely, that “the Canaanite and the Perizzite were then dwelling in the land.”

sRef Gen@13 @7 S0′ 1572. That “the herdmen of Abram’s cattle” are the celestial things which are of the internal man, and that “the herdmen of Lot’s cattle” are the sensuous things which are of the external man, is evident from what has already been said. By the celestial things which are “the herdmen of Abram’s cattle,” are meant the celestial things in worship which are of the internal man. By “the herdmen of Lot’s cattle” are meant the sensuous things that are in worship, which are of the external man, and do not agree with the celestial things of the worship of the internal man. How these things stand, is evident from what has already been shown.

sRef Gen@13 @7 S0′ 1573. And the Canaanite and the Perizzite were then dwelling in the land. That this signifies evils and falsities in the external man, is evident from the signification of “the Canaanite,” as being the hereditary evil from the mother in the external man (as before shown, n. 1444); and from the signification of “the Perizzite,” as being the derivative falsity (concerning which see below). That there was with the Lord an evil heredity from the mother in His external man, may be seen above (n. 1414, 1444); and that there was falsity from this, is a necessary consequence; for where there is hereditary evil, there is also falsity; the latter being born of the former. But the falsity that is from evil cannot be born until the man has been imbued with knowledges [scientifica et cognitiones]. Evil has nothing but these into which it may operate or flow; for in this way the evil which is of the will part is turned into falsity in the intellectual part; so that this falsity also was hereditary, because it was born of what was hereditary, and yet was not the falsity that is derived from principles of falsity; but it was in the external man, and there the internal man could see it to be false.
[2] And because there was hereditary evil from the mother before the Lord had been imbued with knowledges, or before Abram sojourned in Egypt, it is said in the preceding chapter, verse 6, that “the Canaanite was in the land,” but not the Perizzite; but here, after He had been imbued with knowledges, it is said that “the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled in the land;” from which it is evident that by “the Canaanite” is signified evil, and by “the Perizzite” falsity. It is also evident from this, that the mention of the Canaanite and the Perizzite is not in any historical series, for in what goes before and in what follows they are not treated of at all; and the same is true of the mention of the Canaanite in the foregoing chapter, verse 6; from all which it is evident that some arcanum lies hidden here which cannot be known except from the internal sense.
[3] Its being said that there was with the Lord hereditary evil from the mother may cause surprise, but as it is here so plainly declared, and as the Lord is treated of in the internal sense, it cannot be doubted that so it was. For no human being can possibly be born of another human being without thence deriving evil. But the hereditary evil derived from the father is one thing, and that from the mother is another. The hereditary evil from the father is more internal, and remains to eternity, for it cannot possibly be eradicated; but the Lord had not such evil, because He was born of Jehovah the Father, and thus as to internals was Divine or Jehovah. But the hereditary evil from the mother is of the external man; this did exist with the Lord, and it is called “the Canaanite in the land;” and the falsity from this is “the Perizzite.” Thus was the Lord born as are other men, and had infirmities as have other men.
sRef Luke@4 @13 S4′ sRef Luke@4 @14 S4′ sRef Luke@4 @1 S4′ sRef Luke@4 @2 S4′ [4] That He derived hereditary evil from the mother is clearly evident from the fact that He underwent temptations; no one can possibly be tempted who has no evil; it is the evil in a man which tempts, and through which he is tempted. That the Lord was tempted, and that he underwent temptations a thousandfold more grievous than any man can ever endure; and that He endured them alone, and overcame evil, or the devil and all hell, by His own power, is also evident.
Concerning these temptations we read thus in Luke:
Jesus was led in the spirit into the wilderness, being forty days tempted by the devil, so that He did not eat in those days. But after the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him for a season. Thence He returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee (Luke 4:1-2, 13-14).
sRef Mark@1 @13 S5′ sRef Luke@22 @44 S5′ sRef Mark@1 @12 S5′ [5] And in Mark:
The Spirit impelling Jesus made Him go forth into the wilderness. And He was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted, and He was with the wild beasts (Mark 1:12-13);
where hell is signified by “the wild beasts.” Moreover, He was tempted even unto death, so that His sweat was drops of blood:
And being in an agony, He prayed the more earnestly; and His sweat became as drops of blood falling down upon the earth (Luke 22:44).
[6] No angel can ever be tempted of the devil; because, while he is in the Lord, evil spirits cannot approach him, even distantly, without being instantly seized with horror and terror. Much less would hell have been able to approach the Lord if He had been born Divine; that is, without evil adhering from the mother.
sRef John@8 @46 S7′ [7] It is likewise a common expression with preachers, that the Lord also bore the iniquities and evils of the human race; but for Him to admit into Himself iniquities and evils, except by the hereditary way, is utterly impossible; for the Divine is not susceptible of evil. And therefore in order that He might conquer evil by His own powers-which no man has been able to do, or is able to do-and so might alone become righteousness, He was willing to be born as are other men. If it had not been for this, there would have been no need of His being born; for the Lord could have assumed the Human Essence without birth, as He did sometimes assume it, when seen by the Most Ancient Church, and likewise by the prophets, but for the additional purpose of putting on evil, against which He might fight, and which He might conquer, and might thus conjoin in Himself the Divine Essence with the Human Essence, He came into the world.
[8] But the Lord had no evil that was actual, or His own, as He also says in John:
Which of you convicted Me of sin? (John 8:46).
From what has been said it is now clearly evident what is signified by there being “strife between the herdmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdmen of Lot’s cattle,” which words immediately precede. The reason was that “the Canaanite and the Perizzite were then dwelling in the land.”

sRef Gen@13 @7 S0′ sRef Gen@34 @30 S1′ 1574. That “the Canaanite” signifies the hereditary evil from the mother, in the external man, was before shown (n. 1444); but that “the Perizzite” signifies the falsity that is from evil, is evident from other passages in the Word where the Perizzite is named. As in the following concerning Jacob:
Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me, to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and I am mortals of number [i.e., few], and they will gather themselves together against me and smite me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house (Gen. 34:30);
where in like manner evil is signified by “the Canaanite,” and falsity by “the Perizzite.”
sRef Josh@17 @15 S2′ [2] In Joshua:
Joshua said to the sons of Joseph, If thou be much people, get thee up to the forest, and cut down for thyself there in the land of the Perizzite and of the Rephaim, if Mount Ephraim is too narrow for thee (Josh. 17:15);
where principles of falsity are signified by “the Perizzite,” and persuasions of falsity by “the Rephaim,” which they were to extirpate; for in the spiritual sense “Mount Ephraim” is intelligence.
sRef Judg@1 @5 S3′ sRef Judg@1 @2 S3′ sRef Judg@1 @3 S3′ sRef Judg@1 @4 S3′ sRef Judg@1 @1 S3′ [3] In the book of Judges:
After the death of Joshua, the sons of Israel also asked of Jehovah, Who shall go up for us first against the Canaanite, to fight against him? And Jehovah said, Judah shall go up; behold I have given the land into his hand. And Judah said unto Simeon his brother, Come up with me into my lot, and let us fight against the Canaanite; and I likewise will go with thee into thy lot. And Simeon went with him. And Judah went up; and Jehovah gave the Canaanite and the Perizzite into their hand (Judg. 1:1-4);
where by “Judah” likewise is represented the Lord as to celestial things, and by “Simeon” as to the derivative spiritual things; “the Canaanite” is evil, and “the Perizzite” falsity, which were overcome. This was the response, or Divine oracle, which, with this explanation, is understood.

sRef Gen@13 @8 S0′ 1575. Verse 8. And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no contention, I pray, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen, for we are men brethren. “Abram said unto Lot,” signifies that the internal man said thus to the external. “Let there be no contention, I pray, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen,” signifies that there ought to be no disagreement between the two; “for we are men brethren,” signifies that in themselves they were united.

sRef Gen@13 @8 S0′ 1576. Abram said unto Lot. That this signifies that the internal man said thus to the external, is evident from the representation of Abram, as being here the internal man; and from the representation of Lot, as being the external man that was to be separated. That Abram represents the internal man, is because he is spoken of relatively to Lot, who is that in the external man which was to be separated. There are in the external man, as before said, things that agree, and things that disagree. By “Lot” are here meant the things that disagree; by “Abram,” therefore, are meant those which agree, including those which are in the external man; for these together with the internal man constitute one thing, and they belong to the internal man.

sRef Gen@13 @8 S0′ 1577. Let there be no contention, I pray, between me and thee. That this signifies that there ought to be no disagreement between the two, is evident from what has already been said. The arcana relating to the agreement or union of the internal man with the external are more than can ever be told. With no man have the internal man and the external ever been united; nor could they be united, nor can they be, but with the Lord only, for which cause also He came into the world. With men who have been regenerated, it appears as if they were united; but these belong to the Lord; for the things which agree are the Lord’s, but those which disagree are man’s.
[2] There are two things in the internal man, namely, the celestial and the spiritual, which two constitute a one when the spiritual is from the celestial; or what is the same, there are two things in the internal man, good and truth; these two constitute a one when the truth is from good; or what is also the same, there are two things in the internal man, love and faith; these two constitute a one when the faith is from love; or what is again the same, there are in the internal man two things, the will and the understanding; and these two constitute a one when the understanding is from the will. This may be apprehended still more clearly by considering the sun, from which is light. If in the light from the sun there are both heat and illuminating power, as in the springtime, all things are thereby made to vegetate and to live; but if there is not heat from the sun in the light, as in the time of winter, then all things become torpid and die.
[3] From all this it is evident what constitutes the internal man; and what constitutes the external thence appears. In the external man all is natural; for the external man itself is the same as the natural man. The internal man is said to be united to the external when the celestial spiritual of the internal man flows into the natural of the external, and makes them act as a one. As a consequence of this the natural also becomes celestial and spiritual, but a lower celestial and spiritual; or what is the same, the external man becomes celestial and spiritual, but a more external celestial and spiritual.
[4] The internal man and the external are altogether distinct, because celestial and spiritual things are what affect the internal man, but natural things are what affect the external. But though distinct, they are still united, namely, when the celestial spiritual of the internal man flows into the natural of the external, and disposes it as its own. In the Lord alone the internal man was united to the external; this is not the case in any other man, except so far as the Lord has united and does unite them. Love and charity only, or good, is what unites; and there is never any love and charity, that is, any good, except from the Lord. Such is the union that is intended in these words of Abram: “Let there be no contention between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen.”
[5] It is said, “Between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen,” for the case is thus: as there are two things in the internal man, namely, the celestial and the spiritual, which as before said make a one, so also are there in the external man, its celestial being called natural good, and its spiritual natural truth. “Let there be no contention between me and thee,” has reference to good, meaning that the good of the internal man should not disagree with the good of the external man; and “Let there be no contention between my herdmen and thy herdmen,” has reference to truth, meaning that the truth of the internal man should not disagree with the truth of the external man.

sRef Gen@13 @8 S0′ 1578. For we are men brethren. That this signifies that they are united together, is evident from the signification of “man brother,” as being union, and in fact the union of truth and good.

sRef Gen@13 @9 S0′ 1579. Verse 9. Is not the whole land before thee? Separate, I pray, from me; if to the left hand, then I will go to the right; and if to the right hand, then I will go to the left. “Is not the whole land before thee?” signifies all good. “Separate, I pray, from me,” signifies that the good cannot appear unless what is discordant is made none; “if to the left hand, then I will go to the right; and if to the right hand, then I will go to the left,” signifies separation.

sRef Gen@13 @9 S0′ 1580. Is not the whole land before thee? That this signifies all good, is evident from the signification of “land” in a good sense, and here of the land of Canaan, which is the celestial, and therefore also good (concerning which see above, n. 566, 620, 636, 662). The internal man here addresses the external, but those things in the external man which disagree; as a man is wont to do when he perceives some evil in himself from which he desires to be separated, as is the case in temptations and combats. For it is known to those who have been in temptations and combats, that they perceive in themselves things which disagree; from which, so long as there is combat, they cannot be separated; but still they desire separation, and sometimes to such a degree that they are angry with the evil, and desire to expel it. These are the things that are here signified.

sRef Gen@13 @9 S0′ 1581. Separate, I pray, from me. That this signifies that the good cannot appear unless what is discordant is made null is evident from what has just been said; namely, that the internal man desires that which disagrees, in the external man, should separate itself; for until it has been separated, the good which continually flows in from the internal man, that is, from the Lord through the internal man, cannot appear. But as regards this separation, it is to be known that it is not separation, but quiescence. With no one, except the Lord, can the evil that is in the external man be separated. Whatever a man has once acquired, remains; but it seems to be separated when it is quiescent, for thus it appears to be none. Neither does it become quiescent so as to appear as none, except from the Lord; and when it does thus become quiescent, then for the first time do goods flow in from the Lord, and affect the external man. Such is the state of the angels; nor do they know otherwise than that evil has been separated from them; whereas there is only a withholding from the evil, thus a quiescence, so that it appears as none; consequently this is an appearance, as also the angels know when they reflect.

sRef Gen@13 @9 S0′ 1582. If to the left hand, then I will go to the right; and if to the right hand, then I will go to the left. That this signifies separation, is evident from the signification of “the right” and “the left.” Right and left are merely relative terms. They do not designate a fixed quarter, or a definite place; as is evident from the fact that the east as well as the west, the south as well as the north, may be on the right or on the left, according to the way in which one is looking. The same is true also of place. The land of Canaan could not be said to be on the right or on the left, except relatively. Wherever the Lord is, there is the center; and the right and the left are determined from that. Thus whether Abram, by whom the Lord was represented, withdrew this way or that way, still the representation was with him, and so also was the land; so that it was the same thing whether Abram was in the land of Canaan, or was elsewhere; just as it is with the one at table who is of the highest dignity, the highest place is wherever he sits, and the places to the right and the left are reckoned from that. To go to the right or the left, was therefore a form of offering the choice by which there was signified separation.

sRef Gen@13 @10 S0′ 1583. Verse 10. And Lot lifted up his eyes, and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was all well watered, before Jehovah destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the garden of Jehovah, like the land of Egypt in coming to Zoar. “And Lot lifted up his eyes,” signifies that the external man was illuminated by the internal; “and saw all the plain of Jordan,” signifies the goods and truths that are in the external man; “that it was all well watered,” signifies that these can increase there; “before Jehovah destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah,” signifies the external man destroyed by the cupidities of evil and the persuasions of falsity; “like the garden of Jehovah,” signifies its rational things; “like the land of Egypt in coming to Zoar,” signifies memory-knowledges from the affections of good. These things signify that the external man appeared to the Lord such as it is in its beauty when conjoined with the internal man.

sRef Gen@13 @10 S0′ 1584. Lot lifted up his eyes. That this signifies that the external man was illuminated by the internal, is evident from the signification of “lifting up the eyes,” as being to see, and, in the internal sense, to perceive, here, to be illuminated, because it is predicated of Lot, or the external man; for this, when it perceives what the external man is when conjoined with the internal, or what it is in its beauty, is then illuminated by the internal man, and is then in the Divine vision here treated of. Nor can it be doubted that the Lord when a child was as to His external man frequently in such Divine sight, because He alone was to conjoin the external man with the internal. The external man was His Human Essence; the internal man was the Divine Essence.

sRef Gen@13 @10 S0′ 1585. And saw all the plain of Jordan. That this signifies those goods and truths that were in the external man, is evident from the signification of a “plain,” and of “Jordan.” In the internal sense “the plain of Jordan” signifies the external man as to all its goods and truths. That “the plain of Jordan” signifies this, is because the Jordan was a boundary of the land of Canaan. The land of Canaan, as before said and shown, signifies the Lord’s kingdom and church, and in fact the celestial and the spiritual things thereof; on which account it has also been called the Holy Land, and the Heavenly Canaan; and because it signifies the Lord’s kingdom and church, it signifies in the supreme sense the Lord Himself, who is the all in all of His kingdom and of His church.
[2] Hence all things that were in the land of Canaan were representative. Those which were in the midst of the land, or which were the inmost, represented the Lord’s internal man-as Mount Zion and Jerusalem, the former the celestial things, the latter the spiritual things. Those which were further distant from the center, represented the things more remote from the internals. Those which were the furthest off, or which were the boundaries, represented the external man. The boundaries of Canaan were several; in general, the two rivers Euphrates and Jordan, and also the sea. Hence the Euphrates and the Jordan represented the externals. Here, therefore, “the plain of Jordan,” signifies, as it represents, all things that are in the external man. The case is similar when the expression “land of Canaan” is applied to the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens, or to the Lord’s church on earth, or again to the man of His kingdom or church, or, abstractly, to the celestial things of love, and so on.
sRef Jer@49 @19 S3′ sRef Jer@49 @17 S3′ sRef Ps@42 @6 S3′ [3] Hence it is that almost all the cities, and even all the mountains, hills, valleys, rivers, and other things, in the land of Canaan, were representative. It has already been shown (n. 120) that the river Euphrates, being a boundary, represented the things of sense and knowledge that belong to the external man. That the case is similar with the Jordan, and the plain of Jordan, may be seen from passages that now follow. In David:
O my God, my soul is bowed down within me; therefore will I remember Thee from the land of Jordan, and the Hermons, from the mountain of littleness (Ps. 42:6);
where “the land of Jordan” denotes that which is low, thus that which is distant from the celestial, as man’s externals are from his internals.
sRef Jer@12 @5 S4′ [4] That the sons of Israel crossed the Jordan when they entered the land of Canaan, and that it was then divided, likewise represented the access to the internal man through the external, and also man’s entrance into the Lord’s kingdom, besides other things. (See Josh. 3:14 to the end; 4:1 to the end.) And because the external man continually fights against the internal, and desires dominion, the “pride” or “swelling” of Jordan became a prophetic expression. As in Jeremiah:
How shalt thou offer thyself a match for horses? And in a land of peace thou art confident; but how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan? (Jer. 12:5).
“The swelling of Jordan” denotes the things that belong to the external man, which rise up and desire to dominate over the internal man, as reasonings do-which here are the “horses”- and the confidence that is from them.
sRef Zech@11 @3 S5′ sRef Zech@11 @2 S5′ [5] In the same:
Edom shall be for a desolation; behold he shall come up like a lion from the pride of Jordan to the habitation of Ethan (Jer. 49:17, 19);
“the pride of Jordan” denotes the rising of the external man against the goods and truths of the internal. In Zechariah:
Howl, O fir tree, for the cedar is fallen, because the magnificent ones are laid waste. Howl, O ye oaks of Bashan, for the defensed forest is come down. A voice of the howling of the shepherds, for their magnificence is laid waste; a voice of the roaring of young lions, for the swelling of Jordan is laid waste (Zech. 11:2-3).
That the Jordan was a boundary of the land of Canaan, is evident from Numbers 34:12; and of the land of Judah toward the east, from Joshua 15:5.

sRef Gen@13 @10 S0′ 1586. That it was all well watered. That this signifies that goods and truths can grow there, is evident from the signification of “well watered” (see above, n. 108).

sRef Gen@13 @10 S0′ 1587. Before Jehovah destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. That this signifies the external man destroyed by the cupidities of evil and the persuasions of falsity, is evident from the signification of “Sodom,” as being the cupidities of evil, and from the signification of “Gomorrah,” as being the persuasions of falsity; for these two are what destroy the external man, and separate it from the internal, and these two were what destroyed the Most Ancient Church before the flood. The cupidities of evil are of the will, and the persuasions of falsity are of the understanding; and when these two reign, the whole external man is destroyed; and when it is destroyed, it is also separated from the internal man. Not that the soul or spirit is separated from the body, but that good and truth are separated from man’s soul or spirit, so as not to flow in except remotely; concerning which influx, of the Lord’s Divine mercy elsewhere. And because the external man was so destroyed in the human race, and its bond with the internal, that is, with good and truth, was broken, the Lord came into the world in order that He might conjoin and unite the external man to the internal, that is, the Human Essence to the Divine. What the external man is when conjoined with the internal, is here described, namely, that before Jehovah destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, it was “like the garden of Jehovah, like the land of Egypt in coming to Zoar.”

sRef Ezek@28 @12 S0′ sRef Gen@13 @10 S0′ sRef Ezek@28 @13 S0′ sRef Isa@51 @3 S0′ 1588. Like the garden of Jehovah. That this signifies its rational things, is evident from the signification of “the garden of Jehovah,” as being intelligence (see n. 100), and consequently the rational, which is the medium between the internal and the external man. The rational is the intelligence of the external man. The expression “garden of Jehovah” is used when the rational is celestial, that is, from a celestial origin, as it was with the Most Ancient Church, concerning which in Isaiah:
Jehovah will comfort Zion; He will comfort all her waste places, and will make her wilderness as Eden, and her desert as the garden of Jehovah; joy and gladness shall be found in her, confession and the voice of a song (Isa. 51:3).
But the expression “garden of God” is used when the rational is spiritual, that is, from a spiritual origin, as it was in the Ancient Church, spoken of in Ezekiel:
Full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty, thou hast been in Eden the garden of God (Ezek. 28:12-13).
Man’s rational is compared to a “garden,” from the representative that is presented in heaven; it is man’s rational that appears as a garden when the celestial spiritual flows into it from the Lord; and even paradises are from this presented to the sight, which in magnificence and beauty surpass every idea of human imagination, which is the effect of the influx of celestial spiritual light from the Lord (spoken of before, n. 1042, 1043). The pleasant and the beautiful things of these paradises are not what affect the beholder, but the celestial spiritual things that live in them.

sRef Gen@13 @10 S0′ 1589. Like the land of Egypt in coming to Zoar. That this signifies memory-knowledges from the affections of good, is evident from the signification of “Egypt” (see n. 1164, 1165; in a good sense, n. 1462) as being memory-knowledge; and from the signification of “Zoar,” as being the affection of good. Zoar was a city not far from Sodom, whither also Lot fled when rescued by the angels from the burning of Sodom (described, Gen. 19:20, 22, 30). Zoar is also named in other places (Gen. 14:2, 8; Deut. 34:3; Isa. 15:5; Jer. 48:34), where also it signifies affection and as it signifies the affection of good, it also, in the opposite sense, as is common, signifies the affection of evil.
[2] There are three faculties which constitute the external man, namely, the rational, that of memory-knowledge, and the external sensuous. The rational is interior, the faculty of memory-knowledge is exterior, and this sensuous is outermost. It is the rational by means of which the internal man is conjoined with the external; and such as is the rational, such is the conjunction. The external sensuous, here, is the sight and the hearing. But in itself the rational is nothing, unless affection flows into it and makes it active, and causes it to live. It follows from this that the rational is such as is the affection. When the affection of good flows in, it becomes in the rational the affection of truth. The contrary is the case when the affection of evil flows in. As the faculty of memory-knowledge applies itself to the rational, and is an instrumentality for it, it follows that the affection inflows into this also, and disposes it; for nothing but affection ever lives in the external man. The reason of this is that the affection of good comes down from the celestial, that is, from celestial love, which vivifies everything into which it flows; it even vivifies the affections of evil, or cupidities.
[3] For the good of love from the Lord continually flows in through the internal man into the external; but the man who is in the affection of evil, or in cupidity, perverts the good; but still there remains life from it. This may be perceived by comparison with the objects which receive the rays of the sun. There are some that receive these rays most beautifully, and turn them into most beautiful colors, as do the diamond, the ruby, the jacinth, the sapphire, and other precious stones; but there are others which do not so receive them, but turn them into most disagreeable colors. The same may also be seen from the different genius of different men. There are those who receive goods from another with all affection; and there are those who turn them into evils. This shows what is that memory-knowledge from the affections of good that is signified by “the land of Egypt in coming to Zoar,” when the rational is “like the garden of Jehovah.”

sRef Gen@13 @10 S0′ 1590. That these things signify that to the Lord there appeared the external man such as it is in its beauty when conjoined with the internal, may be seen from the internal sense, in which the Lord as to His internal man is represented by Abram, and as to the external by Lot. What the beauty of the external man is when conjoined with the internal cannot be described, because it does not exist with any man, but with the Lord alone. What exists in man and angel is from the Lord. Only in a small degree can this appear, from the image of the Lord as to His external man that is presented in the heavens (see n. 553 and 1530). The three heavens are images of the Lord’s external man; but their beauty can never be described by anything so as to present to anyone’s apprehension an idea of what it is. As in the Lord everything is infinite, so in heaven everything is indefinite (or unlimited). The indefinite of heaven is an image of the infinite of the Lord.

sRef Gen@13 @11 S0′ 1591. Verse 11. And Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed from the east; and they were separated, a man from his brother. “And Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan,” signifies the external man, that it was such; “and Lot journeyed from the east,” signifies the things in the external man that recede from celestial love; “and they were separated, a man from his brother,” signifies that those things cause the separation.

sRef Gen@13 @11 S0′ 1592. Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan. That this signifies the external man, and that it was such, is evident from the signification of “the plain of Jordan,” explained in the preceding verse, which is the external man. In the preceding verse is described the beauty of the external man when it is conjoined with the internal, but its deformity when disjoined is described in this and the two following verses.

sRef Gen@13 @11 S0′ 1593. And Lot journeyed from the east. That this signifies those things in the external man that recede from celestial love, is evident from the signification of “the east,” as being the Lord, and thus all that is celestial (concerning which above, n. 101); and as the Lord is signified by the east, it follows that “the east” here is the Lord’s internal man, which was Divine. Thus that the external man receded from the internal, is here signified by “Lot journeyed from the east.”

sRef Gen@13 @11 S0′ 1594. And they were separated, a man from his brother. That this signifies that those things cause the separation, follows from what has been said. What “a man, a brother” signifies was stated above at verse 8, namely, union; and therefore “to be separated, a man from his brother,” signifies disunion. What disunites the external man from the internal man knows not, and this for many reasons. It is partly owing to his not knowing, or if told, to his not believing, that there is any internal man; and partly to his not knowing, or if told, to his not believing, that the love of self and its cupidities are what cause the disunion; and also the love of the world and its cupidities, but not so much as the love of self.
[2] The reason why man does not know, and if told, does not believe, that there is an internal man, is that he lives in corporeal and sensuous things, which cannot possibly see what is interior. Interior things can see what is exterior, but never exterior things what is interior. Take the case of sight: the internal sight can see what the external sight is; but the external sight cannot see what the internal sight is; or again, the intellectual and the rational can perceive what the faculty of memory-knowledge is, but not the reverse. A further cause is that man does not believe that there is a spirit which is separated from the body at death; and scarcely that there is an internal life which is called the soul; for when the sensuous and corporeal man thinks about the separation of the spirit from the body, it strikes him as an impossible thing, because he places life in the body, and confirms himself in this idea from the fact that brute animals also live, but still do not live after death; besides many other things. All this is a consequence of his living in corporeal and sensuous things; which kind of life, viewed in itself, scarcely differs from the life of brute animals, with the single exception that a man has ability to think and reason about the things he meets with; but upon this faculty, which brute animals have not, he does not then reflect.
[3] This cause, however, is not what most disunites the external man from the internal, for a very great part of mankind are in such unbelief, and the most learned more than the simple. But what disunites is principally the love of self; the love of the world, also, but not so much as the love of self. The reason why man does not know this is that he lives in no charity, and when he is living in no charity it cannot be apparent to him that a life of the love of self and its cupidities is so contrary to heavenly love. There is also in the love of self and its cupidities something glowing, and consequently delightful, which so affects the life that the man hardly knows otherwise than that therein consists eternal happiness itself; and therefore many place eternal happiness in becoming great after the life of the body, and in being served by others, even by angels; while they themselves desire to serve no one, except for the sake of self, with a hidden view to being served themselves. Their saying that they desire to serve the Lord alone is false, for they who are in the love of self desire to have even the Lord serve them, and so far as this is not done they fall back. Thus they carry in their heart the desire to become lords themselves, and to reign over the universe. It is easy to conceive what kind of government this would be, when many, nay, when all, were like this. Is not that government infernal in which everyone loves himself more than any other? This lies hidden in the love of self. From this we can see the nature of the love of self, and we can see it also from the fact that there is concealed within it hatred against all who do not subject themselves to it as slaves; and because there is hatred, there are also revenge, cruelties, deceits, and many other wicked things.
[4] But mutual love, which alone is heavenly, consists in a man’s not only saying of himself, but acknowledging and believing, that he is utterly unworthy, and that he is something vile and filthy, which the Lord from His infinite mercy continually withdraws and holds back from hell, into which the man continually strives, nay longs, to precipitate himself. His acknowledging and believing this, is because it is true; not that the Lord, or any angel, desires him to acknowledge and believe it for the sake of his submission; but that he may not exalt himself, seeing that he is even such; for this would be as if excrement should call itself pure gold, or a fly of the dunghill should say that it is a bird of paradise. So far therefore as a man acknowledges and believes himself to be such as he really is, he recedes from the love of self and its cupidities, and abhors himself. So far as he does this, he receives heavenly love from the Lord, that is, mutual love, which consists in the desire to serve all. These are they who are meant by “the least,” who become in the Lord’s kingdom the greatest (see Matt. 20:26-28; Luke 9:46-48).
[5] From what has been said we can see that what principally disjoins the external man from the internal is the love of self; and that what principally unites them is mutual love, which love is never possible until the love of self recedes, for these are altogether contrary to each other. The internal man is nothing else than mutual love. Man’s very spirit or soul is the interior man that lives after death; and it is organic, for it is adjoined to the body while the man is living in this world. This interior man, that is, the soul or spirit, is not the internal man; but the internal man is in it when mutual love is in it. The things that are of the internal man are the Lord’s; so that it may be said that the internal man is the Lord. But because to an angel or a man while he lives in mutual love, the Lord gives a heavenly Own, so that it appears no otherwise than that he does what is good of himself, the internal man is predicated of man, as if it were his. But he who is in mutual love acknowledges and believes that all that is good and true is not his, but the Lord’s; and his ability to love another as himself-and what is more, if he is like the angels, his ability to love another more than himself-he acknowledges and believes to be the Lord’s gift; from which gift and its happiness he recedes, so far as he recedes from the acknowledgment that it is the Lord’s.

sRef Gen@13 @12 S0′ 1595. Verse 12. Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent as, far as Sodom. “Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan,” signifies that the internal man was in the celestial things of love; “and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain,” signifies that the external man was in memory-knowledges; “and pitched his tent as far as Sodom,” signifies extension to cupidities.

sRef Gen@13 @12 S0′ 1596. Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan. That this signifies that the internal man was in the celestial things of love, is evident from the signification of “the land of Canaan,” as being the celestial things of love, spoken of several times before.

sRef Gen@13 @12 S0′ 1597. And Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain. That this signifies that the external man was in memory-knowledges, is evident from the representation of Lot, as being the external man; and from the signification of a “city,” or “cities,” as being doctrinal things, which in themselves are nothing but memory-knowledges when predicated of the external man while this is separated from the internal. (That “cities” signify doctrinal things, both true and false, was before shown, n. 402.)

sRef Gen@13 @12 S0′ 1598. And pitched his tent as far as Sodom. That this signifies extension to cupidities, is evident from the signification of “Sodom” (explained above, at verse 10), as being cupidity. These things correspond to those in the preceding verse (10)-that “the plain of Jordan was all well watered, like the garden of Jehovah, like the land of Egypt in coming to Zoar;” where the external man when united to the internal was treated of; and by “the land of Egypt in coming to Zoar” was signified memory-knowledges from the affections of good. But here, that “Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent as far as Sodom,” signifies the external man when not united to the internal; and by these things is signified memory-knowledges from the affections of evil, or from cupidities. For there was described the beauty of the external man when united to the internal; but here, its deformity when not united; and still more is this deformity described in the verse that follows, where it is said, “and the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners against Jehovah exceedingly.”
What the deformity of the external man is when separated from the internal, may be seen by everyone from what has been said concerning the love of self and its cupidities, which are what principally disunite. As great as is the beauty of the external man when united to the internal, so great is its deformity when disunited. For considered in itself the external man is as nothing else than a servant to the internal; it is a kind of instrumentality by means of which ends may become uses, and uses be presented in effect, so that there may thus be a perfection of all things. The contrary takes place when the external man separates itself from the internal, and desires to be of service to itself alone; and still more is this the case when it desires to rule over the internal man, which is principally the case from the love of self and its cupidities, as has been shown.

sRef Gen@13 @13 S0′ 1599. Verse 13. And the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners against Jehovah exceedingly. “The men of Sodom were wicked and sinners against Jehovah exceedingly,” signifies the cupidities to which the memory-knowledges extended themselves.

sRef Gen@13 @13 S0′ 1600. The men of Sodom were wicked and sinners against Jehovah exceedingly. That this signifies the cupidities to which the memory-knowledges extended themselves, is evident from the signification of “Sodom,” explained before, as being cupidities; and from the signification of “the men [viri],” as being intellectual and rational things, here, memory-knowledges, because they are predicated of the external man when separated from the internal. That “men” signify intellectual and rational things, was also shown above (n. 265, 749, 1007). Memory-knowledges are said to extend themselves to cupidities, when they are learned with no other end than that the man may become great; not that they may serve him for use, that he may thereby become good. All memory-knowledges are for the end that a man may become rational, and thus wise; and that thereby he may serve the internal man.

sRef Gen@13 @14 S0′ 1601. Verse 14. And Jehovah said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up, I pray, thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward. “Jehovah said unto Abram,” signifies that Jehovah spoke thus to the Lord; “after that Lot was separated from him,” signifies when the cupidities of the external man had been removed so as not to impede; “Lift up, I pray, thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art,” signifies the state in which the Lord then was, from which He could perceive things that were to come; “northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward,” signifies all men, as many as there are in the universe.

sRef John@14 @8 S0′ sRef John@14 @6 S0′ sRef Gen@13 @14 S0′ sRef John@14 @10 S0′ sRef John@14 @11 S0′ sRef John@14 @9 S0′ 1602. Jehovah said unto Abram. That this signifies that Jehovah thus spoke to the Lord, may be seen from the internal sense of the Word, in which the Lord is meant by “Abram;” and also from the state itself in which He then was, which is also described here, namely, that the external things that impeded had been removed, which is signified by the words “after that Lot was separated from him.” In respect to the internal man, the Lord was Divine, because born from Jehovah; and therefore when nothing impeded on the part of the external man, it follows that He saw all things that were to come; and that this then appeared as if Jehovah spoke is because it appeared before the external man. In respect to His internal man the Lord was one with Jehovah, as He Himself teaches in John:
Philip said, Show us the Father. Jesus said, Have I been so long time with you, and hast thou not known Me, Philip? He that seeth Me seeth the Father; how sayest thou, then, Show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me (John 14:6, 8-11).

sRef Gen@13 @14 S0′ 1603. After that Lot was separated from him. That this signifies when the cupidities of the external man had been removed so as not to impede, is evident from the representation of Lot, which is the external man, and from what precedes in regard to his being separated, that is, the things that would impede; and when these had been removed, the internal man, or Jehovah, acted as one with the external, or with the Lord’s Human Essence. The external things that do not agree, spoken of above, are what impede the internal man, while acting into the external, from making it a one with itself. The external man is nothing else than a kind of instrument, or something organic, having in itself no life; it receives life from the internal man, and then it appears as if the external man had life from itself.
sRef John@13 @32 S2′ sRef John@17 @1 S2′ sRef John@17 @5 S2′ sRef John@12 @28 S2′ sRef John@13 @31 S2′ [2] But with the Lord, after He had expelled the hereditary evil, and so had purified the organic things of His Human Essence, these too received life, so that the Lord, being already life in regard to His internal man, became life as to His external man also. This is what is signified by “glorification,” in John:
Jesus saith, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. If God is glorified in Him, God shall also glorify Him in Himself, and shall straightway glorify Him (John 13:31-32).
Again:
Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee. Now therefore O Father glorify Thou Me with Thine own self, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was (John 17:1, 5).
Again:
Jesus said, Father, glorify Thy name. There came therefore a voice from heaven, I have both glorified, and will glorify it again (John 12:28).

sRef Gen@13 @14 S0′ 1604. Lift up, I pray, thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art. That this signifies the state in which the Lord then was, is evident from the signification of “lifting up the eyes and looking,” which is to be illuminated and to perceive (as shown above, at verse 10); and from the signification of “place” in the internal sense, as being state. (That “place” is nothing else than state, was shown above, n. 1274, 1376-1379.)

sRef Gen@13 @14 S0′ 1605. Northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward. That this signifies all men, as many as there are in the universe, is evident from the signification of these quarters. In the Word, the “north,” “south,” “east,” and “west,” has each its own signification. The “north” signifies those who are out of the church, namely, those who are in darkness as regards the truths of faith; and it also signifies the darkness in man. But the “south” signifies those who are within the church, that is, who are in the light as regards knowledges; and it likewise signifies the light itself. The “east” signifies those who lived previously; and it also signifies celestial love, as before shown. But the “west” signifies those who are to come, and in like manner those who are not in love. The special signification of these words is seen from the connection in the internal sense. But when they are all mentioned, as here, “the north, south, east, and west,” they signify all in the whole world who are now living, and also those who have been, and those who are to come; they also signify the states of the human race in regard to love and faith.

sRef Gen@13 @15 S0′ 1606. Verse 15. For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever. “For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it,” signifies the heavenly kingdom, that it should be the Lord’s; “and to thy seed forever,” signifies those who should have faith in Him.

sRef Dan@7 @13 S0′ sRef Luke@22 @69 S0′ sRef Gen@13 @15 S0′ sRef Matt@28 @18 S0′ sRef Dan@7 @14 S0′ sRef Matt@11 @27 S0′ sRef Luke@10 @22 S0′ sRef John@17 @3 S1′ sRef John@17 @2 S1′ sRef Isa@9 @6 S1′ 1607. For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it. That this signifies the heavenly kingdom, that it should be the Lord’s, is evident from the signification of “the land,” and here of the land of Canaan-because it is said, “the land which thou seest”-as being the heavenly kingdom. For by the land of Canaan was represented the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens, that is heaven, and the Lord’s kingdom on earth, or the church; which signification of “land” or “earth” has been several times treated of before. That the kingdom in the heavens and on earth has been given to the Lord, is evident from various passages of the Word. As in Isaiah:
Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, God, Hero, Father of eternity, Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:6).
In Daniel:
I saw in the night visions, and behold one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven; and He came even to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. And there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a Kingdom; and all peoples, nations, and languages shall serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed (Dan 7:13, 14). The Lord Himself also says the same in Matthew:
All things are delivered unto Me of My Father (Matt. 11:27)
also in Luke (10:22). And again in Matthew:
All power [potestas] has been given unto Me in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18).
In John:
Thou gavest to the Son power [potestas] over all flesh, that whatsoever Thou hast given Him, to them He should give eternal life (Matt. 17:2, 3).
The same is also signified by His “sitting at the right hand,” as in Luke:
Now from henceforth shall the Son of man sit at the right hand of the power of God (Luke 22:69).
sRef John@17 @5 S2′ sRef John@8 @58 S2′ sRef Isa@9 @6 S2′ sRef John@5 @26 S2′ [2] As regards all power being given unto the Son of man in the heavens and on earth, it is to be known that the Lord had power over all things in the heavens and on earth before He came into the world; for He was God from eternity and Jehovah, as He plainly says in John:
Now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self, with the glow which I had with Thee before the world was (John 17:5);
and again:
Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am* (John 8:58);
for He was Jehovah and God to the Most Ancient Church that was before the flood, and was seen by them. He was also Jehovah and God to the Ancient Church that was after the flood. And it was He who has represented by all the rites of the Jewish Church, and whom they worshiped. But the reason He says that all power was given unto Him in heaven and on earth, as if it were then His for the first time, is that by “the Son of man” is meant His Human Essence; and this, when united to His Divine Essence, was also Jehovah, and at the same time had power; and this could not be the case until He had been glorified, that is, until by unition with the Divine Essence His Human Essence also had life in itself, and so became in like manner Divine and Jehovah; as He says in John:
As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself (John 5:26).
[3] It is His Human Essence, or external man, that is likewise called “Son of man” in Daniel, in the passage quoted above; and of which it is said in the passage quoted from Isaiah, “A Child is born and a Son is given to us.” That the heavenly kingdom should be given to Him, and all power in the heavens and on earth, He now saw, and it was now promised Him; and this is signified by the words, “all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed after thee forever.” This was before His Human Essence had been united to His Divine Essence, which was united when He had overcome the devil and hell, that is, when by His own power and His own might He had expelled all evil, which alone disunites.
* The Latin has fui, but elsewhere sum, as in n. 9315.

sRef Gen@13 @15 S0′ sRef John@3 @35 S1′ sRef John@3 @36 S1′ 1608. And to thy seed forever. That this signifies those who should have faith in Him, is evident from the signification of “seed,” as being faith, and indeed the faith of charity (spoken of before, n. 255, 256, 1025). That the heavenly kingdom should be given to His seed, that is, to those who have faith in Him, is clearly evident from the words of the Lord Himself in John:
The Father loveth the Son,, and hath given all things into His hand he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life (John 3:35-36).
sRef John@1 @13 S2′ sRef John@1 @12 S2′ [2] And again:
As many as received Him, to them gave He power [potestas] to become the sons of God, to those that believe in His name, who were born not of bloods, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man (John 1:12-13).
From these words it is evident what faith, or believing in Him, is, namely, that it is with those who receive Him and believe in Him, not from “the will of the flesh,” nor from “the will of man.” “The will of the flesh” is what is contrary to love and charity, for this is signified by “flesh” (n. 999); and “the will of man” is what is contrary to the faith that is from love or charity, for this is what is signified by “man.” For the will of the flesh and the will of man are what disjoin; but love and the derivative faith are what conjoin; therefore they in whom are love and the derivative faith, are they who are born of God. And because they are born of God, they are called “sons of God,” and are His “seed,” to whom is given the heavenly kingdom. These things are signified by the following words in this verse: “all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed, forever.”
[3] That the heavenly kingdom cannot be given to those who are in faith without charity, that is, to those who say that they have faith and yet hold the neighbor in hatred, may be seen by anyone who is willing to reflect; for there can be no life in such faith, when hatred, that is hell, constitutes the life. For hell consists of nothing but hatreds; not of the hatreds which a man has received hereditarily, but of those which he has acquired by actual life.

sRef Gen@13 @16 S0′ 1609. Verse 16. And I will make thy seed as the just of the earth; so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. “I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth,” signifies multiplication immeasurably; “so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered,” signifies asseveration.

sRef Gen@13 @16 S0′ 1610. I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth. That this signifies multiplication immeasurably, is evident without explication. It is here said that his seed should be made “as the dust of the earth;” in other places in the Word, “as the sand of the sea,” and in others, “as the stars of the heavens.” Each expression has its own peculiar signification. “The dust of the earth” refers to things that are celestial, for “the earth,” as before shown, signifies the celestial of love. “The sand of the sea” refers to things that are spiritual; for “the sea,” as has also been shown, signifies the spiritual of love. “As the stars of the heavens” signifies both of these, in a higher degree; and as none of these things can be numbered, it became a customary form of speaking to express by them immeasurable fructification and multiplication.
[2] That his seed (that is, the faith of love, or love) should be immeasurably multiplied, in the supreme sense, signifies the Lord, and in fact His Human Essence; for the Lord as to His Human Essence was called “the Seed of the woman” (see n. 256). And when the Lord’s Human Essence is signified, by immeasurable multiplication is meant the infinite celestial and spiritual; but when the faith of charity, or charity, in the human race, is signified by “seed,” it is meant that this seed in each one who lives in charity is immeasurably multiplied; as also comes to pass in the other life, with everyone who lives in charity. With such a one, charity and the derivative faith, and, together with these, happiness, are multiplied to such a degree, that it can only be described as immeasurable, and beyond words. When by “seed” there is signified the human race, the multiplication of this in the Lord’s Kingdom is also immeasurable, not only from those who are within the church and their children, but also from those who are without the church and their children. Hence the kingdom of the Lord, or heaven, is immeasurable. Concerning its immensity, of the Lord’s Divine mercy more will be said elsewhere.

sRef Gen@13 @17 S0′ 1611. Verse 17. Arise, walk through the land, in the length of it, and in the breadth of it; for unto thee will I give it. “Arise, walk through the land,” signifies that He should survey the heavenly kingdom; “in the length of it, and in the breadth of it,” signifies its celestial and its spiritual: “for unto thee will I give it,” signifies that it was to be His.

sRef Gen@13 @17 S0′ 1612. Arise, walk through the land. That this signifies that He should survey the heavenly kingdom, is evident from the signification of “the land,” as being the heavenly kingdom (spoken of several times before). To “arise and walk through the land,” in the sense of the letter, is to explore and see what it is; in the spiritual sense, therefore, in which by “the land,” that is, the land of Canaan, is signified the kingdom of God in the heavens, or heaven, and the kingdom of God on the earth, or the church, it signifies to survey, and also to perceive.

sRef Gen@13 @17 S0′ 1613. In the length of it and in the breadth of it. That this signifies the celestial and the spiritual, or what is the same, good and truth [may be seen from the signification of “length” and “breadth”]. That “length” signifies good, and “breadth” truth, may be seen explained before (n. 650). The reason is that “the land” signifies the heavenly kingdom, or the church, of which no length and breadth can be predicated, but only those things which are applicable and correspondent, which are goods and truths. The celestial, or good, being primary, is compared to length; and the spiritual or truth, being secondary, is compared to breadth.
sRef Hos@4 @16 S2′ sRef Ps@118 @5 S2′ sRef Hab@1 @6 S2′ sRef Isa@8 @8 S2′ sRef Ps@31 @8 S2′ [2] That “breadth” is truth, appears plainly enough in the prophetic Word. As in Habakkuk:
I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and swift nation, that walketh in the breadths of the land (Hab. 1:6);
“the Chaldeans” denote those who are in falsity; “to walk in the breadths of the land,” denotes to destroy truths, for this is predicated of the Chaldeans. In David:
O Jehovah, Thou hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy; Thou hast made my feet to stand in a broad place (Ps. 31:8);
“to stand in a broad place,” denotes in truth. Again:
Out of straightness have I called upon Jah; Jah answered me in a broad place (Ps. 118:5);
“to answer in a broad place,” denotes in the truth. In Hosea:
Jehovah will feed them as a lamb, in a broad place (Hos. 4:16);
“to feed in a broad place,” signifies to teach truth.
sRef Rev@21 @16 S3′ [3] In Isaiah:
Asshur shall go through Judah, he shall overflow and pass through, he shall reach even to the neck, and the stretchings out of his wings shall be the fullness of the breadth of thy land (Isa. 8:8);
“Asshur” denotes reasoning, which will overflow the land, or the church; “the wings” denote the reasonings whence falsities arise; “the fullness of the breadth,” denotes that it is full of falsities, or things contrary to truth. Because the “length” of a land signifies good, and its “breadth” truth, the New Jerusalem is said to have been measured, and to lie foursquare, and its length to be as great as its breadth (Rev. 21:16), from which everyone can see that the length and the breadth signify nothing else, since the New Jerusalem is nothing else than the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens and on earth. From the signification of things in the internal sense, modes of speaking concerning celestial and spiritual things by means of such things as are on earth, as by length and breadth, formerly became familiar; as the terms height and depth are used in common discourse at the present day, when predicated of wisdom.

sRef Gen@13 @17 S0′ 1614. For unto thee will I give it. That this signifies that it should be His, is evident without explication. That “the land,” or the heavenly kingdom, is the Lord’s alone, is evident from what has been shown so many times, namely, that no other is the Lord of heaven; and as He is the Lord of heaven, He is the Lord of the church also. It is also evident from the fact that all the celestial and the spiritual, or good and truth, are from the Lord alone, and from these the Lord is the all in all of His heaven, and this so completely that he who has no apperception of good and truth from the Lord, is no longer in heaven. This is the sphere that reigns in the universal heaven; this also is the soul of heaven; and this is the life that inflows into all who are in good.

sRef Gen@13 @18 S0′ 1615. Verse 18. And Abram pitched his tent, and came and dwelt in the oak-groves of Mamre that are in Hebron, and there he built an altar to Jehovah. “Abram pitched his tent, and came and dwelt in the oak-groves of Mamre that are in Hebron,” signifies that the Lord came to a perception still more internal; this is the sixth state; “and there he built an altar to Jehovah,” signifies worship from that state.

sRef Gen@13 @18 S0′ 1616. And Abram pitched his tent, and came and dwelt in the oak-groves of Mamre that are in Hebron. That this signifies that the Lord attained to a perception still more internal, is evident from the signification of “pitching a tent,” that is, of moving and fixing a tent, as being to be conjoined,-for a “tent” is the holy of worship (as shown before, n. 414, 1452), by which the external man is conjoined with the internal-and from the signification of an “oak-grove,” as being perception, as explained above (n. 1442, 1443), where it was “the oak-grove of Moreh,” which is the first perception; but here, “the oak-groves of Mamre,” in the plural, which signify more perception, that is, perception more internal. This perception is called “the oak-groves of Mamre that are in Hebron.” “Mamre” is also mentioned elsewhere (as in Gen. 14:13; 18:1; 23:17-19; 35:27), and Hebron likewise (as in Gen. 35:27; 37:14; Josh. 10:36, 39; 14:13-15; 15:13, 54; 20:7; 21:11, 13; Judges 1:10, 20; and in other places); but with what signification, will of the Lord’s Divine mercy be seen where these passages are explained.
[2] As to “the oak-groves of Mamre that are in Hebron” signifying a still more internal perception, the case is as follows. As the things that are of the external man are conjoined with the celestial things of the internal man, so perception increases and becomes more internal. Conjunction with celestial things gives perception; for in the celestial things that are of love to Jehovah is the very life of the internal man; or what is the same, in the celestial things that are of love, that is, in celestial love, Jehovah is present, which presence is not perceived in the external man until conjunction has been effected, all perception being from conjunction.
[3] From the internal sense it is here evident how the case was with the Lord, namely, that His external man, or the Human Essence, was conjoined with the Divine Essence by degrees, according to the multiplication and fructification of knowledges. In no way can anyone, as a man, be conjoined with Jehovah or the Lord, except by means of knowledges, for by means of knowledges a man becomes a man; and so the Lord, because born as are other men, was also instructed as they are, but into His knowledges as receptacles celestial things were constantly being insinuated, so that the knowledges continually became the recipient vessels of celestial things, and themselves also became celestial.
[4] He continually advanced in this way to the celestial things of infancy for, as before said, the celestial things that are of love are insinuated from the earliest infancy up to childhood, and also to youth, when being a man he is then and afterwards imbued with knowledges [scientiae et cognitiones]. If the man is such that he can be regenerated, these knowledges are then filled with the celestial things that are of love and charity, and are thus implanted in the celestial things with which he has been gifted from infancy up to childhood and youth; and thus his external man is conjoined with his internal man.
They are first implanted in the celestial things with which he was gifted in youth, next in those with which he was gifted in childhood, and finally in those with which he was gifted in infancy; and then he is a “little child,” of whom the Lord said that “of such is the kingdom of God.” This implantation is effected by the Lord alone; and for this reason nothing celestial is possible with man, nor can be, that is not from the Lord, and that is not the Lord’s.
[5] But the Lord from His own power conjoined His external man with His internal man, and filled His knowledges with celestial things, and implanted them in the celestial things, and this in fact according to Divine order; first in the celestial things of His childhood, next in the celestial things of the age between childhood and infancy; and finally in the celestial things of His infancy; and thus at the same time became, as to the Human Essence,, innocence itself and love itself, from which are all innocence and all love in the heavens and on earth. Such innocence is true infancy, because it is at the same time wisdom. But the innocence of infancy, unless by means of knowledges it becomes the innocence of wisdom, is of no use; and therefore in the other life infants are imbued with knowledges. As the Lord implanted knowledges in celestial things, so had He perception, for, as before said, all perception is from conjunction. He had His first perception when He implanted the memory-knowledges of childhood, which perception is signified by “the oak-grove of Moreh;” and His second, treated of here, which is more internal, when He implanted knowledges, which perception is signified by “the oak-groves of Mamre that are in Hebron.”

sRef Gen@13 @18 S0′ 1617. That this is the sixth state, is evident from the things contained in the preceding chapter.

sRef Gen@13 @18 S0′ 1618. And there he built an altar to Jehovah. That this signifies worship from that state, is evident from the signification of “an altar,” as being a representative of all worship in general (explained before, n. 921). By worship, in the internal sense, is meant all conjunction through love and charity. When a man is in love and charity he is continually in worship, external worship being merely the effect. The angels are in such worship; with them, therefore, there is a perpetual Sabbath; and from this the Sabbath, in the internal sense, signifies the Lord’s kingdom. But man, while in the world, ought not to be otherwise than in external worship also; for by external worship internal things are excited, and by means of external worship external things are kept in holiness, so that internal things can flow in. And besides, man is thus imbued with knowledges, and is prepared for receiving celestial things, and is also gifted with states of holiness, although he is unaware of this; which states of holiness are preserved to him by the Lord for the use of eternal life, for in the other life all the states of his life return.

1619.CONTINUATION CONCERNING THE LIGHT IN WHICH THE ANGELS LIVE: ALSO CONCERNING THEIR PARADISAL SCENES, AND THEIR DWELLINGS.
When man’s interior sight is opened, which is the sight of his spirit, the things in the other life appear, which cannot possibly be made visible to the sight of the body. The visions of the prophets were nothing else. In heaven, as has been said, there are continual representations of the Lord and His kingdom; and there are things that are significative; and this to such an extent that nothing exists before the sight of the angels that is not representative and significative. Thence come the representatives and significatives in the Word; for the Word is from the Lord through heaven.

1620. The things presented to view in the world of spirits and in heaven are more than can be told. In this place, as the light is treated of, it is proper to tell of the things that are immediately from the light; such as the atmospheres, the paradisal and rainbow scenes, the palaces and dwellings, which are there so bright and living before the outer sight of spirits and angels, and are at the same time perceived so fully by every sense, that they say that these are real, and those in the world comparatively not real.

1621. As regards the atmospheres in which the blessed live, which are of the light because from that light, they are numberless, and are of beauty and pleasantness so great that they cannot be described. There are diamond-like atmospheres, which glitter in all their least parts, as if they were composed of diamond spherules. There are atmospheres resembling the sparkling of all the precious stones. There are atmospheres as of great pearls translucent from their centers, and shining with the brightest colors. There are atmospheres that flame as from gold, also from silver, and also from diamond-like gold and silver. There are atmospheres of flowers of variegated hue that are in forms most minute and scarcely discernible; such, in endless variety, fill the heaven of infants. There are even atmospheres as of sporting infants, in forms most minute, indiscernible, and perceptible only to an inmost idea; from which the infants receive the idea that all the things around them are alive, and are in the Lord’s life; which affects their inmosts with happiness. There are other kinds besides, for the varieties are innumerable, and are also unspeakable.

1622. As regards the paradisal scenes, they are amazing. Paradisal gardens are presented to view of immense extent, consisting of trees of every kind, and of beauty and pleasantness so great as to surpass every idea of thought; and these gardens are presented with such life before the external sight that those who are there not only see them, but perceive every particular much more vividly than the sight of the eye perceives such things on earth. That I might not be in doubt respecting this, I was brought to the region where those are who live a paradisal life, and I saw it; it is in front of and a little above the corner of the right eye. Each and all things there appear in their most beautiful springtime and flower, with a magnificence and variety that are amazing; and they are living, each and all, because they are representatives; for there is nothing that does not represent and signify something celestial and spiritual. Thus they not only affect the sight with pleasantness, but also the mind with happiness.
[2] Certain souls, newcomers from the world-who from principles received while they lived, doubted the possibility of such things existing in the other life, where there is no wood and stone-being taken up thither and speaking thence with me, said in their amazement that it was beyond words, and that they could in no way represent the unutterableness of what they saw by any idea, and that joys and delights shone forth from every single thing, and this with successive varieties. The souls that are being introduced into heaven are for the most part carried first of all to the paradisal regions. But the angels look upon these things with different eyes; the paradises do not delight them, but the representatives; thus the celestial and spiritual things from which these come. It was from these representatives that the Most Ancient Church had what related to paradise.

1623. As regards the rainbow scenes, there is as it were a rainbow heaven, where the whole atmosphere throughout appears to be made up of minute rainbows. Those who belong to the province of the interior eye are there, at the right in front, a little way up. There the whole atmosphere, or aura, is made up of such flashes of light, irradiated thus, as it were, in all its origins. Around is the encompassing form of an immense rainbow, most beautiful, composed of similar smaller ones that are the beauteous images of the larger. Every color is thus made up of innumerable rays, so that myriads enter into the constitution of one general perceptible ray; and this is as it were a modification of the origins of the light from the celestial and spiritual things that produce it; and which at the same time present before the sight the representative idea. The varieties and varyings of the rainbows are innumerable; some of them I have been permitted to see; and that some idea may be conceived of their variety, and that it may be seen of what innumerable rays one visible ray consists, one or two of the varieties may be described.

1624. I saw the form of a certain large rainbow, in order that from it I might know what they are in their smallest forms. The light was the brightest white, encompassed with a sort of border or circumference, in the center of which there was a dimness as it were terrene, and around this it was intensely lucid, which intense lucidity was varied and intersected by another lucidity with golden points, like little stars; besides variegations induced by means of flowers of variegated hue, that entered into the intense lucidity. The colors of the flowers did not flow forth from a white, but from a flaming light. All these things were representative of things celestial and spiritual. All the colors seen in the other life represent what is celestial and spiritual; colors from flaming light, the things that are of love and of the affection of good; and colors from shining white light, those which are of faith and of the affection of truth. From these origins come all the colors in the other life; and for this reason they are so refulgent that the colors in this world cannot be compared to them. There are also colors that have never been seen in this world.

1625. A rainbow form was also seen in the midst of which there was a green space, as of herbage; and there was perceived the semblance of a sun which was itself unseen, at one side, illuminating it, and pouring in a light of such shining whiteness as cannot be described. At the outer border or circumference, there were the most charming variations of color, on a plane of pearly light. From these and other things it has been shown what are the forms of the rainbows in their minutest parts, and that there are indefinite variations, and this in accordance with the charity, and the derivative faith, of him to whom the representations are made, and who is as a rainbow to those to whom he is presented in his comeliness and in his glory.

sRef Rev@21 @20 S0′ sRef Rev@21 @12 S0′ sRef Rev@21 @10 S0′ sRef Rev@21 @18 S0′ sRef Rev@21 @19 S0′ 1626. Besides these paradisal scenes, cities are also presented to view, with magnificent palaces, contiguous to one another, resplendent in their coloring, beyond all the art of the architect. Nor is this to be wondered at; cities of similar appearance were seen also by the prophets, when their interior sight was opened, and this so clearly that nothing in the world could be more distinct. Thus was the New Jerusalem seen by John, which is also described by him in these words:
And he carried me away in the spirit upon a mountain great and high, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem; having a wall great and high, having twelve gates; and the building of the wall thereof was jasper; and the city was pure gold, like unto golden glass. The foundations of the wall there adorned with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprasus, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst (Rev. 21:10, 12, 18-20).
Such things were seen also by the prophets. Similar things, beyond number, are seen by angels and angelic spirits in clear day; and wonderful to say, they are perceived with all fullness of sense. These things cannot be credited by one who has extinguished spiritual ideas by the terms and definitions of human philosophy, and by reasonings; and yet they are most true. That they are true might have been apprehended from the fact that they have been seen so frequently by the saints.

1627. Besides the cities and palaces, I have sometimes been permitted to see their decorations, such as those of the steps and of the gates and these were moving as if alive, and continually changing, with a beauty and symmetry ever new. And I have been informed that the variations may thus succeed each other perpetually, even if it were to be to eternity, with new harmony continually, the succession itself also forming a harmony. And I have been told that these were among the very little things.

1628. All the angels have their own dwellings in the places where they are, and they are magnificent. I have been there, and have sometimes seen and marveled at them, and have there spoken with the angels. They are so distinct and clearly seen that nothing can be more so. In comparison with these, the habitations on earth amount to scarcely anything. They also call those which are on the earth dead, and not real; but their own, living and true, because from the Lord. The architecture is such that the art itself is derived from it, with a variety that knows no limit. They have said that if all the palaces in the whole world should be given them, they would not receive them in exchange for their own. What is made of stone, clay, and wood is to them dead; but what is from the Lord, and from life itself and light itself, is living; and this is the more the case that they enjoy them with all fullness of sense. For the things that are there are perfectly adapted to the senses of spirits and angels; for spirits cannot see at all by their sight the things that are in the light of the solar world; but things of stone and wood are adapted to the senses of men in the body. Spiritual things are in correspondence with those who are spiritual, and corporeal things with those who are corporeal.

1629. The habitations of good spirits and of angelic spirits commonly have porticos or long entrance halls, arched, and sometimes doubled, where they walk. The walls of these are formed with much variety, and are also decorated with flowers and garlands of flowers wonderfully woven together, and with many other ornaments, that are varied and succeed one another, as before said; these they see, now in a clearer light, and now in one less clear, but always with inward delight. Their dwellings are also changed into more beautiful ones, as the spirits who inhabit them are perfected. When they are changed, there appears something representing a window, at one side; this is enlarged, and it becomes darker within; and there opens as it were something of heaven, with stars, also a kind of cloud; which is an indication that their dwellings are to be changed into dwellings still more pleasant.

1630. Spirits are very indignant that men have no conception of the life of spirits and angels, and that they suppose them to be in an obscure state, which cannot but be most sad, and as it were in vacuity and emptiness; when yet they are in the greatest light, and in the enjoyment of all good things as to all the senses, and this with an inmost perception of them. There have also been souls who had lately come from the world, and who had brought with them, from the principles there accepted, the idea that there were no such things in the other life. They were therefore introduced into the homes of angels, and spoke with those who were there, and saw these things. When they returned, they said that they had perceived that it was so, and that the things were real; but that they had not at all believed this in the life of the body, and could not believe it; also that these must of necessity be among those wonderful things that are not believed because they are not comprehended. But as the experience is a thing of sense, but of the interior sense, this also was said to them-that still they are not to doubt because they do not apprehend; for if nothing were believed except that which is apprehended, nothing would be believed respecting the things of interior nature; still less concerning the things that are of eternal life. Hence comes the insanity of our age.

1631. They who had been rich in the life of the body, and had dwelt in magnificent palaces, placing their heaven in such things, and, being destitute of conscience and charity, had despoiled others of their goods under various pretenses, when they come into the other life, are, as before said, first introduced into the very same life that they had in the world. And there also they are sometimes allowed to dwell in palaces, as they had done in the world. For in the other life all are at first received as guests and as newcomers; and as their interiors and ends of life are not yet to be disclosed, angels from the Lord treat them with favor and kindness. But the scene is changed. The palaces are gradually dissipated, and become small houses, more and more mean, and at last none at all. And then they wander about, like those who ask alms, and beg to be received. But because they are of such a character, they are expelled from the societies; and at last they become excrementitious, and exhale a sphere of the stench of teeth.

1632. I have spoken with angels concerning representatives, to the effect that there is nothing in the vegetable kingdom on the earth that does not in some way represent the Lord’s kingdom. They said that all the beautiful and graceful things in the vegetable kingdom derive their origin from the Lord through heaven; and that when the celestial and spiritual things of the Lord inflow into nature, such things have actual existence; and that this is the source of the vegetative soul or life. Hence come representatives. And as this is not known in the world, it was called a heavenly secret.

1633. I have likewise been fully informed concerning the nature of the influx into the lives of animals, all of which are dissipated after death; but concerning this subject, of the Lord’s Divine mercy hereafter.

1634. CHAPTER 14
CONCERNING THE SPEECH OF SPIRITS AND ANGELS
It is known from the Word of the Lord that many persons formerly spoke with spirits and angels, and that they heard and saw many things that are in the other life; but that afterwards heaven was as it were shut, insomuch that at the present day the existence of spirits and angels is scarcely credited, and still less that anyone can speak with them; for men regard it as impossible to speak with the unseen, and with those whose existence they in their hearts deny. But as of the Lord’s Divine mercy I have now for some years been permitted to hold converse with spirits and angels almost continually, and to be in companionship with them as one of themselves, I may now relate what it has been given me to learn concerning their speech with one another.

1635. The speech of spirits with me has been heard and perceived as distinctly as the speech of man with man; indeed, when I have spoken with them while I have been in company with men, I observed that just in the same way as I heard the men speaking sonorously, so also did I hear the spirits; insomuch that the spirits sometimes wondered that others did not hear what they said to me; for as regards the hearing there was absolutely no difference. But as the influx into the internal organs of hearing is different from that of speech with men, it could be heard only by myself; to whom of the Lord’s Divine mercy these organs have been opened. Human speech passes in through the ear, by an external way, by means of the air; but the speech of spirits does not enter through the ear, nor by means of the air; but by an internal way, into the same organs of the head or brain. Consequently the hearing is the same.

1636. How difficult it is for men to be brought to believe in the existence of spirits and angels, and still more that anyone can speak with them, has been evidenced to me by the following example. There were certain spirits who when they lived in the body had been among the more learned, and had then been known to me (for I have spoken with nearly all with whom I was acquainted during their bodily life, with some for several weeks, with others for a year, exactly as if they had been living in the body). These spirits were once brought into a state of thought similar to that which they had had while they lived in the world: in the other life this is easily done. The inquiry was then suggested, whether they believed that any man can speak with spirits. They then said, in that state, that it was a phantasy to believe any such thing; and this they asserted very persistently. From this it was given to know with how much difficulty a man can be brought to believe that any speaking with spirits is possible to man, for the reason that men do not believe in the existence of spirits, and still less that they are themselves to come among them after death. And at this these same spirits then wondered greatly; and yet they were among the more learned, and had spoken much in public concerning the other life, and concerning heaven and the angels; so that this might have been thought to be most fully known to them as a matter of memory-knowledge, especially from the Word, where it is frequently met with.

1637. Among the wonderful things in the other life is the fact that the speech of spirits with a man is in his native tongue, which they speak as readily and skillfully as if they had been born in the same land, and had been brought up with the same language; and this whether they are from Europe, from Asia, or from any other part of the globe. The case is the same with those who lived thousands of years ago, before the language in question had come into existence. The spirits indeed know no otherwise than that the language in which they speak with a man is their own, and that of their native land. The case is the same with other languages in which the man is skilled; but beyond these languages, the spirits cannot utter a syllable of any language, unless to do this is given them by the Lord immediately. Even little children who had died before they had been taught any language, speak in the same way.
[2] But the reason is that the language with which spirits are familiar is not a language of words, but is a language of ideas of thought; and this language is the universal of all languages; and when they are with a man, their ideas of thought fall into the words that are in the man, and this in a manner so correspondent and fitting that the spirits know no otherwise than that the words themselves are theirs, and that they are speaking in their own language; when yet they are speaking in that of the man. I have occasionally spoken with spirits concerning these matters. All souls, as soon as they enter into the other life, are endowed with the gift of being able to understand the speech of all who are in the whole world, precisely as if it were their native tongue, for they perceive whatever a man thinks. They are endowed with other faculties also that are still more excellent. Hence it is that souls, after the death of the body, can converse and associate with all, of whatever region or language they may have been.

1638. The words which they speak, that is, which they call up or bring forth from the man’s memory, and suppose to be their own, are well chosen and clear, full of meaning, distinctly pronounced, and applicable to the subject; and, wonderful to say, they know how to choose the words better and more promptly than the man himself; and as has been shown, they are even acquainted with the various significations of the words, and instantly apply them, without any premeditation, for the reason, as before said, that the ideas of their language flow solely into words that are fitting. The case with this is nearly like that of a man who speaks without any thought of the words he is using, being simply in the meaning of the words; then, in accordance with the meaning, his thought falls readily and spontaneously into words; the inner meaning is that which calls forth the words. In such an internal meaning, only one still more subtle and excellent, does the speech of spirits consist; and through this a man communicates with spirits, although he is unaware of it.

1639. The speech of words, as has been said, is the speech proper to man, and in fact to his corporeal memory; but the speech of ideas of thought is the speech of spirits, and in fact of the interior memory, which is the memory of the spirit. Men are not aware that they have this memory, because the memory of particulars, or of material things, which is corporeal, is everything, and obscures the interior memory; when yet without the interior memory, which is proper to his spirit, man cannot think at all. From this memory I have often spoken with spirits, thus in their own language, that is, by ideas of thought. How universal and copious this language is, may be seen from the fact that every word contains an idea of great extension; for it is well known that the single idea of a word may be set forth by many words; and this is still more true of the idea of one whole subject, and still more so of the idea of a number of such subjects, which can be brought together into one compound idea that still appears as simple; from which may be seen what is the quality of the natural speech of spirits among themselves, and by means of which speech man is conjoined with spirits.

1640. I have been enabled to perceive distinctly not only what was said to me by spirits, but also where they were when speaking; whether above the head, or below; whether at the right hand, or at the left; at the ear, or at some other point near or within the body; at what distance, whether greater or less. For they spoke with me from the various places or positions in which they were, according to their position in the Grand Man,, that is, according to their state.
[2] I have also been enabled to perceive when they were coming, and when they were going away, and whither, and how far; also whether they were many or few; besides other things; and also from their speech to perceive their quality, for from their speech, in like manner as from their sphere, it is plainly manifest of what genius and of what natural disposition they are; also of what persuasion and what affection; so that if they are deceitful, even if there is no deceit while they are speaking, still the generic and specific character of their deceitfulness is perceived from every word and idea; and so with all other malignities and cupidities; so that there is no need of much exploration, for there is an image of the spirit in every word and idea.
[3] It is also perceived whether the idea of their speech is closed, or is open; also what is from themselves, what from others, and what from the Lord. This is much the same as it is with a man’s countenance, from which, without a word, it is often known whether there is present dissembling, or deceit, or gladness, or cheerfulness natural or affected, whether there is friendliness from the heart, whether modesty, and also whether there is insanity; sometimes also the same is apparent from the tone of the man’s speech. Why then should not this be the case in the other life, where the perception greatly exceeds such apperception? Indeed, before a spirit speaks, it is known from the thought alone what he intends to say; for thought flows in with greater rapidity than speech.

1641. Spirits in the other life converse among themselves as men do on earth; and they who are good, with all familiarity of friendship and love, as I have frequently heard; and this in their own speech, by which they express more in a minute than a man can in an hour. For their speech, as before said, is the universal of all languages, being by means of ideas, the primitives of words. They speak upon subjects with such acuteness and perspicuity, by so many series of reasons following one another in order, and exercising persuasion, that if a man knew of it he would be astounded. They join persuasion and affection to their discourse, and thus give it life.
[2] Sometimes also they discourse by means of simultaneous representations before the sight, and thus to the life. As for example: let the discourse be about shame, whether it can exist without reverence: among men this cannot be discussed except by means of many reasonings from evidence and examples, and still it remains in doubt; but with a spirit all would be done within a minute, by means of the states of the affection of shame varied in their order, and by means of those of reverence also; thus by perceiving the agreements and the disagreements, and at the same time beholding them in the representatives adjoined to the speech; from which they forthwith perceive the conclusion, which thus flows of itself from the disagreements thus reduced to agreement. So in all other cases. Souls come into this faculty directly after death; and good spirits then love nothing more than to instruct those who are newly arrived, and the ignorant.
[3] The spirits themselves are not aware that they speak with one another with speech of such surpassing excellence, and that they are furnished with an endowment so preeminent, unless it is given them by the Lord to reflect upon it; for this mode of speaking is natural to them, and is then inherent. The case in this respect is the same as it is with a man when he fixes his mind on the meaning of things, and not on the words and the mode of speaking, in that, without reflection, he sometimes does not know what kind of speech he is making use of.

1642. This then is the speech of spirits; but the speech of angelic spirits is still more universal and perfect; and the speech of angels is more universal and perfect still. For there are three heavens, as before said; the first is where good spirits are, the second is where angelic spirits are, and the third is where angels are. The perfections thus ascend, as from exterior things to things more interior. To use a comparison for the sake of illustration, it is almost like hearing relatively to sight, and sight relatively to thought; for what the hearing can receive through speech in an hour, can be presented before the sight in a minute, as, for example, a view of plains, palaces, and cities and all that can be seen by the eye in many hours, can be comprehended by the thought in a minute. In such a ratio does the speech of spirits stand to the speech of angelic spirits, and the speech of angelic spirits to the speech of angels; for angelic spirits distinctly comprehend more in one idea of speech or thought, than spirits by several thousand; and so it is with angels in comparison with angelic spirits. How then must it be with the Lord, from whom is all the life of affection, thought, and speech, and who alone is the Speech, and the Word!

1643. The speech of angelic spirits is beyond comprehension; so that it will be treated of in few words, and only that kind which is called representative. The subject of the discourse is itself presented representatively in a wonderful form, which is withdrawn from the objects of sense, and is varied by means of the most pleasant and beautiful representatives in ways innumerable, with a continual influx of affections from the happy current of mutual love inflowing through the higher heaven from the Lord; from which influx each and all things are as it were alive. Each subject is thus presented, and this through continuous series. Not one single representative in any series can possibly be described to the understanding. These are the things that flow into the ideas of spirits; but to them they are not apparent, except as something general that flows in and affects them, without their having a distinct perception of the things that are distinctly perceived by the angelic spirits.

1644. There are very many evil spirits of an interior kind, who do not speak as spirits do, but are also in the beginnings of ideas, and are thus more subtle than other spirits. There are many such spirits; but they are completely separated from the angelic spirits, and cannot even approach them. These more subtle evil spirits likewise attach their ideas to objects and things in an abstract way, but to such as are filthy; and in them they represent to themselves various things of a filthy nature; and they involve their ideas in such things. They are as it were silly. Their speech was made known to me, and was also represented by the unclean dregs from a vessel; and the intellectual element of their speech was represented by the hinder parts of a horse, whose forward parts did not appear; for in the world of spirits the intellectual is represented by horses. But the speech of angelic spirits was represented by a maiden of graceful carriage, becomingly attired in a robe of white, that was neatly fitted to a kind of vest.

1645. But the speech of angels is ineffable, far above the speech of spirits, for it is above that of angelic spirits, and is not intelligible in any way to man so long as he lives in the body. Nor can the spirits in the world of spirits form any idea of it, for it is above the perceptive power of their thought. This speech of angels is not of things represented by any ideas like those of spirits and angelic spirits; but it is a speech of ends and of the derivative uses, which are the primaries and the essentials of things. Into these are angelic thoughts insinuated, and are varied there with indefinite variety; and in each and all things of that speech there is an inward and happy delight from the good of mutual love from the Lord, and a beautiful and delightful one from the truth of faith from that good. Ends, and the uses from them, are as it were most delicate recipients, and are the delightful subjects of unnumbered variations; and this by means of celestial and spiritual forms that are beyond comprehension. In these they are kept by the Lord, for the Lord’s kingdom is simply a kingdom of ends and uses; and for this reason also the angels who are with a man attend to nothing else than the ends and uses, and elaborate nothing else from the man’s thought. All other things, which are ideal and material, they care nothing for; because these are far below their sphere.

1646. The speech of angels sometimes appears in the world of spirits, thus before the interior sight, as a vibration of light, or of resplendent flame; and this with variation according to the state of the affections of their speech. It is only the general things of their speech, as regards the states of affection, and which general things originate in numberless distinct things, that are thus represented.

1647. The speech of the celestial angels is distinct from that of the spiritual angels, and is even more ineffable and inexpressible. The celestial and good things of ends are what their thoughts are insinuated into, and they are therefore in happiness itself; and, wonderful to say, their speech is far more abounding, for they are in the very fountains and origins of the life of thought and of speech.

1648. There is a speech of good spirits, and also of angelic spirits, which is a simultaneous speech of many, especially in circles or choirs, concerning which of the Lord’s Divine mercy hereafter. The speech in choirs has often been heard by me; it has a cadence [labens], as if in rhythm. They have no thought about the words or ideas, for into these their sentiments flow spontaneously. No words or ideas flow in which multiply the sense, or draw it away to something else, or to which anything artificial adheres, or that seems to them elegant from self, or from self-love, for such things would at once cause disturbance. They do not inhere in any word; they think of the sense; the words follow spontaneously from the sense itself. They come to a close in unities, for the most part simple; but when in those which are compound, they turn by an accent to the next. These things are the result of their thinking and speaking in society; hence the form of the speech has a cadence in accordance with the connection and unanimity of the society. Such was once the form of songs; and such is that of the Psalms of David.

1649. Wonderful to say, this kind of speech, possessing the rhythmical or harmonic cadence of songs, is natural to spirits. They speak so among themselves, although they are not aware of it. Immediately after death souls come into the habit of speaking in this way. I have been initiated into the same, and it has at last become familiar. The reason their speech is of this nature, is that they speak in society, which for the most part they are not aware of: a very clear proof that they are all distinguished into societies, and that consequently all things fall into the forms of the societies.

1650. A continuation concerning the speech of spirits, and its diversities, will be found at the end of this chapter.

GENESIS 14
1. And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim,
2. That they made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and with the king of Bela, this is Zoar.
3. All these were gathered together at the valley of Siddim, this is the Salt Sea.
4. Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled.
5. And in the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer and the kings that were with him, and smote the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shavehkiriathaim;
6. And the Horites in their Mount Seir, even to El-paran which is over in the wilderness.
7. And they returned, and came to En-mishpat, this is Kadesh, and smote all the field of the Amalekites, and also the Amorite that dwelt in Hazazon-tamar.
8. And there went out the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, this is Zoar; and they set the battle in array with them in the valley of Siddim;
9. With Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, and Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar: four kings with five.
10. And the valley of Siddim was pits, pits of bitumen; and the king of Sodom and of Gomorrah fled, and they fell there, and they that remained fled to the mountain.
11. And they took all the wealth of Sodom, and of Gomorrah, and all their food, and departed.
12. And they took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son, and his substance, and departed; and he was dwelling in Sodom.
13. And there came one that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew; and he was dwelling in the oak-groves of Mamre the Amorite, the brother of Eshcol, and the brother of Aner; and these were men of the covenant of Abram.
14. And Abram heard that his brother was made captive; and he hastened his trained men that were born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued unto Dan.
15. And he divided himself against them by night, he and his servants, and smote then, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left of Damascus.
16. And he brought back all the substance, and also brought back his brother Lot and his substance, and the women also, and the people.
17. And the king of Sodom went out to meet him, after his return from smiting Chedorlaomer and the kings that were with him, at the valley of Shaveh, this is the king’s valley.
18. And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine, and he was priest to GOD MOST HIGH.
19. And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram to GOD MOST HIGH, Possessor of the heavens and the earth.
20. And blessed be GOD MOST HIGH, who hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.
21. And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the soul, and take the substance to thyself.
22. And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lifted up my hand to JEHOVAH GOD MOST HIGH, Possessor of the heavens and the earth;
23. That from a thread even to the thong of a shoe, I will not take aught that is thine; lest thou shouldest say, I have enriched Abram.
24. Save only that which the boys have eaten, and the portion of the men who went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion.

sRef Gen@14 @0 S0′ 1651. THE CONTENTS
This chapter treats of the Lord’s temptation combats, which are represented and signified by the wars here described.

sRef Gen@14 @0 S0′ 1652. The goods and truths in the external man, but which only appeared as goods and truths, were the things from which the Lord fought in His childhood against evils and falsities. The apparent goods and truths are signified by the kings named in verse 1; but the evils and falsities against which He fought are signified by the kings named in verse 2; and these were unclean (verse 3).

sRef Gen@14 @0 S0′ 1653. These evils and falsities against which He fought did not show themselves earlier than in childhood; and then they burst forth, which is signified by their previously serving Chedorlaomer (verse 4).

sRef Gen@14 @0 S0′ 1654. The Lord then warred against and conquered the persuasions of falsity of all kinds, which are the Rephaim, the Zuzim, the Emim, and the Horites (verses 5, 6); next, the falsities and evils themselves, which are the Amalekite and the Amorite (verse 7); afterwards the other falsities and evils, which are the kings named in verses 8 to 11.

sRef Gen@14 @0 S0′ 1655. Apparent truths and goods, which are not in themselves truths and goods, took possession of the external man (verse 12); and the rational man which is “Abram the Hebrew,” perceiving this, laid claim to it and liberated it (verses 13 to 16).

sRef Gen@14 @0 S0′ 1656. After these combats, evil and falsity submitted them-selves (verse 17).

sRef Gen@14 @0 S0′ 1657. The Lord’s internal man in the interior man, or the Divine in the rational, is Melchizedek, from whom came the benediction after the combats (verses 18 to 20). The tithes are the remains, or the states of good and truth from the combats (verse 20).

sRef Gen@14 @0 S0′ 1658. The evil and infernal spirits, being overcome, begged for life, and did not care for other things; but nothing was taken from them by the Lord, because He had no strength from their evils and falsities; but they were given into the power [potestas] of good spirits and angels (verses 21-24).

1659. THE INTERNAL SENSE
The things contained in this chapter appear as if they were not representative, for it treats only of wars between several kings, and the rescue of Lot by Abram; and finally concerning Melchizedek; and thus it seems as if they contained no heavenly arcanum. But still these things, like all the rest, conceal in the internal sense the deepest arcana, which also follow in a continuous series from those which go before, and connect themselves in a continuous series with those which follow.
[2] In those which precede, the Lord has been treated of, and His instruction, and also His external man, which was to be conjoined with the internal by means of knowledges [scientiae et cognitiones]. But as His external man was-as before said-of such a nature that it had in it by inheritance from the mother things that hindered conjunction, and yet that were to be expelled by means of combats and temptations, before His external man could be united to His internal man, or His Human Essence to the Divine Essence, therefore these combats are treated of in this chapter; and are represented and signified in the internal sense by the wars of which it treats. It is known within the church that Melchizedek represented the Lord, and therefore that the Lord is meant in the internal sense where Melchizedek is mentioned. It may be concluded from this, that not only the things concerning Melchizedek, but all the rest also, are representative; for not a syllable can have been written in the Word which was not sent down from heaven, and consequently in which the angels do not see heavenly things.
[3] In very ancient times also, many things were represented by wars, which they called the Wars of Jehovah, and which signified nothing else than the combats of the church, and of those who were of the church, that is, their temptations, which are nothing but combats and wars with the evils in themselves, and consequently with the diabolical crew that excite the evils, and endeavor to destroy the church and the man of the church. That nothing else is meant in the Word by “wars,” may be clearly seen from the fact that nothing can be treated of in the Word except the Lord and His kingdom, and the church; because it is Divine and not human, consequently heavenly and not worldly, and therefore by “wars,” in the sense of the letter, nothing else can be meant in the internal sense. This will be more evident from what follows.

sRef Gen@14 @1 S0′ sRef Gen@14 @2 S0′ sRef Gen@14 @2 S0′ sRef Gen@14 @1 S0′ 1660. Verses 1, 2. And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, that they made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, this is Zoar. “It came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim,” signifies so many kinds of apparent goods and truths, which in themselves are not goods and truths, in the Lord’s external man. Each of the kings and each of the nations signifies some such good and truth; “they made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, this is Zoar,” signifies so many kinds of cupidities of evil, and of persuasions of falsity, against which the Lord combated.

sRef Gen@14 @1 S0′ sRef Gen@14 @1 S0′ sRef Gen@14 @2 S0′ 1661. And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim. That these signify so many kinds of apparent goods and truths, which in themselves are not goods and truths, that were in the Lord’s external man, may be seen from the signification of all these in the internal sense, and also from what follows. For the Lord’s combat against evils and falsities is treated of; here, His first combat, which took place in his childhood and earliest youth; which He then first engaged in and sustained when He had been imbued with knowledges [scientiae et cognitiones], on which account it is here said, “in the days of these.”
[2] No one can ever fight against evils and falsities until he has learned to know what evil and falsity are, and therefore not until he has been instructed. A man does not know what evil is, still less what falsity is, until he has the full use of his understanding and judgment, which is the reason why a man does not come into temptations until he has arrived at adult age; thus every man in his age of manhood, but the Lord in His childhood.
[3] Every man combats first of all from the goods and truths he has received through knowledges; and from them and by them he judges about evils and falsities. Every man also, when he first begins to combat, supposes that the goods and truths from which he combats are his own; that is, he attributes them to himself, and at the same time attributes to himself the power by which he resists. This also is permitted; for the man cannot then know otherwise. Until a man has been regenerated, he cannot possibly know, so as to be able to say that he knows, acknowledges, and believes, that nothing of good and truth is from himself, but that all good and truth are from the Lord; or that he cannot resist any evil and falsity from his own power; for he does not know that evil spirits excite and infuse the evils and falsities; still less that by means of evil spirits he is in communication with hell; and that hell presses upon him as the sea does upon every part of a dike, which pressure of hell no man can possibly resist by his own powers. But as until he has been regenerated a man cannot but suppose that he resists by his own powers, this also is permitted; and thus he is introduced into combats or temptations; but afterwards he is more and more enlightened.
[4] When a man is in such a state that he supposes good and truth to be from himself, and that the power of resisting is his own, then the goods and truths from which he combats against evils and falsities are not goods and truths, although they appear so; for there is what is his own in them, and he places self-merit in victory, and glories as if it were he who had overcome the evil and falsity, when yet it is the Lord alone who combats and overcomes. That this is really the case, none can know but they who are being regenerated by means of temptations.
[5] And as in his earliest childhood the Lord was introduced into most grievous combats against evils and falsities, neither could He at that time suppose otherwise; and this not only because it was according to Divine order that His Human Essence should be introduced to the Divine Essence and be united to it by means of continual combats and victories, but also because the goods and truths from which He combated against evils and falsities were of the external man; and as these goods and truths were therefore not altogether Divine, they are therefore called appearances of good and truth. His Divine Essence introduced His Human in this manner, in order that it might overcome from its own power. But there are more arcana here than can possibly be described. In a word, in the first combats, the goods and truths in the Lord, from which he combated, were imbued with things inherited from the mother, and so far as they were imbued with things inherited from the mother, they were not Divine; but by degrees, as He overcame the evil and falsity, they were purified and made Divine.

sRef Gen@14 @1 S0′ sRef Gen@14 @2 S0′ sRef Gen@14 @1 S0′ 1662. That each of the kings, and each of the nations, signifies such good and such truth, is evident from their signification in the internal sense, as applied to the subject here treated of; for every nation, and every land, signifies some certain thing in general, and this both in the proper and in the opposite sense; but the general signification applies itself to the subject being treated of. That apparent goods and truths are signified by the names of these kings and these nations, can be confirmed by many passages; but as this has been done so many times before, and as so many names occur here, it would be too tedious thus to explain them all one by one.

sRef Gen@14 @2 S0′ sRef Gen@14 @2 S0′ sRef Gen@14 @1 S0′ 1663. They made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, this is Zoar. That these signify so many kinds of cupidities of evil and of persuasions of falsity, against which the Lord fought, may likewise be seen from the signification of the kings and nations here named, and also from what follows. What cupidity of evil and what persuasion of falsity is signified by each one, it would also be too tedious to set forth. Of the signification of Sodom and Gomorrah, of Admah and Zeboiim, and of Zoar, we have already briefly treated. They are the most general or the most universal kinds of evils and falsities; and these, being signified in the internal sense, here follow in their series.
[2] That the Lord underwent and endured the most grievous temptations-temptations more grievous than have ever been endured by anyone-is not so well known from the Word, where it is only mentioned that He was in the wilderness forty days, and was tempted by the devil. The temptations themselves which He then had, are described in a few words only; but these few involve them all; as that it is said in Mark (1:12, 13) that He was there with the beasts, by which are signified the worst of the infernal crew; and the things which are mentioned [in Matthew and in Luke], that He was taken by the devil upon the pinnacles of the temple, and upon a high mountain, are nothing but representatives of most grievous temptations which He had in the wilderness; concerning which, of the Lord’s Divine mercy hereafter.

sRef Gen@14 @2 S0′ sRef Gen@14 @2 S0′ sRef Gen@14 @1 S0′ sRef Rev@16 @14 S1′ 1664. That the wars here mentioned signify nothing else, in the internal sense, than spiritual wars, or temptations, was said above, at the beginning of this chapter. By the wars mentioned in the Word, especially in the Prophets, nothing else is signified. The wars of men can have no place in the internals of the Word; for such things are not spiritual and celestial, such as alone belong to the Word. That combats with the devil, or what is the same, with hell, are signified by the wars mentioned in the Word, may be seen from the passages that now follow, besides many others. In John:
They are spirits of demons, doing signs, to go forth to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them together unto the war of that great day of God Almighty (Rev. 16:14);
where everyone can see that no other war is signified, on the “great day of God Almighty.”
sRef Isa@2 @4 S2′ sRef Isa@21 @15 S2′ sRef Rev@13 @7 S2′ sRef Jer@49 @25 S2′ sRef Isa@21 @14 S2′ sRef Rev@12 @7 S2′ sRef Hos@2 @18 S2′ sRef Rev@11 @7 S2′ sRef Jer@49 @26 S2′ sRef Rev@12 @17 S2′ [2] Again:
The beast that cometh up out of the abyss shall make war (Rev. 11:7);
where “the abyss” is hell. Again:
The dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ (Rev. 12:17).
Again:
It was given unto him to make war with the saints (Rev. 13:7).
All of these “wars” are combats such as are those of temptations. The wars of the kings of the south and of the north, and the other wars mentioned in Daniel (chapters 10 and 11), also the things said of Michael (Dan. 10:13, 21; 12:1; Rev. 12:7), mean the same.
sRef Deut@1 @30 S3′ sRef Ezek@13 @5 S3′ sRef Deut@20 @4 S3′ [3] That “wars” signify nothing else is evident also from the other Prophets. As in Ezekiel:
Ye have not gone up into the breaches, neither have ye built up the fence for the house of Israel, to stand in the war in the day of Jehovah (Ezek. 13:5);
where this is said concerning the Prophets. In Isaiah:
They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more (Isa. 2:4);
where it is plain that no other wars are meant; and consequently that by the weapons of war, as by swords, spears, shields, and others, nothing else is meant in the Word than the things that pertain to such wars.
sRef Josh@5 @14 S4′ sRef Jer@6 @5 S4′ sRef Jer@6 @3 S4′ sRef Josh@5 @13 S4′ sRef Jer@6 @4 S4′ sRef Num@21 @14 S4′ sRef Isa@42 @13 S4′ sRef Isa@31 @4 S4′ [4] Again in Isaiah:
Bring ye water to him that is thirsty; ye inhabitants of the land of Tema, meet with his bread him that is wandering; for they shall wander before the swords, before the drawn sword, and before the bent bow, and before the grievousness of war (Isa. 21:14-15).
In Jeremiah:
Shepherds and their flocks shall come unto the daughter of Zion; they shall pitch their tents against her round about; they shall feed down everyone his space; sanctify a war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon (Jer. 6:3-5);
where no other war is meant, for it is against the daughter of Zion, that is, the church.
[5] Again:
How is the city of praise not forsaken, the city of my joy; therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day (Jer. 49:25-26);
“the city of praise and of joy” denotes the things which are of the church; “the men of war,” those who combat.
[6] In Hosea:
In that day will I make a covenant for them with the wild beast of the field, and with the fowl of the heavens, and with the creeping thing of the ground; and I will break the bow, and the sword, and war out of the land, and will make them to lie down in confidence (Hos. 2:18);
where in like manner “war” denotes combats, and the various arms of war those things which pertain to spiritual combat; these are “broken” when, yearnings and falsities ceasing, the man comes into the tranquillity of peace.
sRef Ps@76 @3 S7′ sRef Ps@46 @9 S7′ sRef Ps@76 @2 S7′ sRef Ps@46 @8 S7′ [7] In David:
Behold the works of Jehovah, who hath made solitudes in the earth, making wars to cease unto the end of the earth; He breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; He burneth the chariots in the fire (Ps. 46:8-9);
where the meaning is similar. Again:
In Salem is the habitation of God, and his dwelling place in Zion. There He brake the fiery shafts of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the war (Ps. 76:2-3).
As the priests represented the Lord, who alone combats for man, their service is called “warfare” (Num. 4:23, 35, 39, 43, 47).
[8] That Jehovah alone, that is, the Lord, combats and overcomes the devil that is with man when he is in the combats of temptations, although it does not so appear to the man, is a constant truth; for not even the smallest thing can be brought upon a man by evil spirits that is not by permission; and nothing, however small, can be averted by angels, except from the Lord; so that it is the Lord alone who sustains all the combat, and who overcomes; which also is everywhere represented by the wars waged by the sons of Israel against the nations. That it is the Lord alone, is also declared in Moses:
Jehovah your God who walketh before you, He shall fight for you (Deut. 1:30).
Again:
Jehovah your God is He that walketh with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you (Deut. 20:4; so too in Joshua, as chapter 23:3, 5).
[9] For the wars there that were carried on against the idolatrous inhabitants of the land of Canaan, all represented the Lord’s combats with hell; and consequently those of His church, and those of the men of His church. This also accords with the following words in Isaiah:
As the lion roareth, and the young lion, over his prey, when a multitude of shepherds come running against him, he will not be dismayed at their voice, nor afflicted by their tumult; so Jehovah Zebaoth shall come down to fight upon Mount Zion, and upon the hill thereof (Isa. 31:1).
sRef Ex@15 @3 S10′ [10] For this reason, also, Jehovah or the Lord is also called a “Man of War.” As in Moses:
Jehovah is a Man of War, Jehovah is His name (Exod. 15:9). And in Isaiah:
Jehovah shall go forth as a Hero, He shall stir up zeal like a Man of wars; He shall cry, yea, He shall shout aloud, He shall prevail against His enemies (Isa. 42:13).
This also is why many things that pertain to war are attributed to the Lord; as here to “cry” and “shout aloud.”
[11] Spirits and angels also appear as men of war when a representation is made. As in Joshua:
Joshua lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold there stood a man over against him, and his sword drawn in his hand. And he said unto Joshua, I am the prince of Jehovah’s army. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth (Josh. 5:13-14).
These things were so seen because they were representative; and for the same reason the posterity of Jacob called their wars the Wars of Jehovah.
[12] The same also was the case in the Ancient Churches; and among them were books which also were called The Wars of Jehovah; as is evident in Moses:
It is said in the Book of the Wars of Jehovah (Num. 21:14-15).
This was written in a manner not unlike that in which wars are treated of in this chapter; but the wars of the church were signified. Such a mode of writing was familiar in those times; for then there were interior men, and they thought of exalted things.

sRef Gen@14 @3 S0′ 1665. Verse 3. All these were gathered together at the valley of Siddim, this is the Salt Sea. “All these were gathered together at the valley of Siddim,” signifies that they were in the unclean things of cupidities; “this is the Salt Sea,” signifies the filthy things of the derivative falsities.

sRef Gen@14 @4 S0′ sRef Gen@14 @3 S0′ sRef Gen@14 @10 S1′ 1666. All these were gathered together at the valley of Siddim. That this signifies that they were in the unclean things of cupidities, may be seen from the signification of “the valley of Siddim,” concerning which see below (at verse 10), where it is said that “the valley of Siddim was pits, pits, of bitumen,” that is, that it was full of pits of bitumen, by which are signified the foul and unclean things of cupidities (see n. 1999). The same may be seen from the fact that by Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim were signified the cupidities of evil and the persuasions of falsity, which in themselves are unclean. That they are unclean may be seen by everyone within the church; and it also is actually seen in the other life. Such spirits desire nothing better than to pass their time in marshy, boggy, and excrementitious places, so that their nature carries such things with it. Such unclean things sensibly exhale from them when they approach the sphere of good spirits; especially when they desire to infest the good, that is, to gather together to attack them. From this it is evident what “the valley of Siddim” is. [2] That “this is the Salt Sea,” signifies the filthy things of the derivative falsities, may be seen from the signification of “the Salt Sea,” which is as it were the same as that of the valley of
Siddim; for it is said, “the valley of Siddim, this is the Salt Sea;” but these words are added for the reason that “the Salt Sea” signifies the falsities which burst forth from the cupidities; for there cannot possibly be any cupidity that does not produce falsities. The life of cupidities may be likened to a coal fire, and the falsities to the obscure light from it. As there cannot be fire without light, so neither can there be cupidity without falsity. All cupidity is of some foul love; for that which is loved is desired [cupitur], and hence is called cupidity and in cupidity itself there is the love in question in its continuity. Whatever favors or dissents to this love or cupidity is called falsity. Hence it is evident why the words “the Salt Sea” are here added to the words “the valley of Siddim.”
sRef Jer@17 @5 S3′ sRef Jer@17 @6 S3′ sRef Zeph@2 @9 S3′ sRef Ps@107 @33 S3′ sRef Ps@107 @34 S3′ sRef Deut@29 @23 S3′ sRef Ezek@47 @11 S3′ [3] As cupidities and falsities are what vastate or lay waste man, that is, deprive him of all the life of the love of good, and of the affection of truth, vastation is described in many passages by “saltiness.” As in Jeremiah:
He that maketh flesh his arm shall be like a bare shrub in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh, and shall inhabit the parched places In the wilderness, a salt land, and not inhabited (Jer. 17:5, 6).
In Ezekiel:
The miry places thereof and the marshes thereof shall not be healed; they shall be given up to salt (Ezek. 47:11). In David:
Jehovah turneth rivers into a wilderness, and water-springs into drought, a fruitful land into one of saltiness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein (Ps. 107:33, 34). In Zephaniah:
Moab shall he as Sodom, and the sons of Ammon as Gomorrah, a place left to the nettle, and a pit of salt, and a desolation forever (Zeph. 2:9).
[4] In Moses:
The whole land is brimstone and salt, a burning; it shall not be sown and shall not sprout, neither shall any herb spring up in it as in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, of Admah and Zeboiim (Deut. 29:23). “The whole land brimstone and salt, a burning,” denotes vastated goods and truths; “brimstone,” the vastation of good; “salt,” the vastation of truth; for parching and saltiness destroy the land and the products of the land just as cupidity destroys goods and as falsity destroys truths. As “salt” was significative of devastation, it was also customary to sow with salt the cities which were destroyed, that they might not be rebuilt (see Judges 9:45). “Salt” is used also in the opposite sense, signifying that which gives fertility, and as it were relish. Verse 4. Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled. “Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer,” signifies that the evils and falsities did not appear in childhood, but that they served the apparent goods and truths; “and in the thirteenth year they rebelled,” signifies the beginning of temptations in childhood.

sRef Gen@14 @4 S0′ 1667. Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer. That this signifies that the evils and falsities did not appear in childhood, but that they served the apparent goods and truths, is evident from the representation and signification of “Chedorlaomer,” and also of those who served (as explained above, verse 1); and also from the signification of “twelve.” “Chedorlaomer,” together with those named above (verse 2), signifies the apparent goods and truths in the Lord, thus His external man in respect to these things. “Chedorlaomer” here denotes all that are named above (verse 2) in the complex, as is evident also from what follows, as also from the circumstance that he was king of Elam, the signification of which has been given already, as being faith from charity; here therefore truth and good; for faith and the things of faith are nothing but truths, and charity and the things of charity are goods.
[2] But here the goods of infancy, which, although they appear good, are not good so long as hereditary evil contaminates them. That which is inherent and which adheres is from the love of self and the love of the world. Whatever is of the love of self and of the love of the world then appears as good, but is not good; but still it is to be called good so long as it is in an infant or a child who does not yet know what is truly good. The ignorance excuses, and the innocence makes it appear as good. But the case is different when the man has been instructed, and knows what good and evil are. Such good and truth as are in a child before he has been instructed, are signified by “Chedorlaomer.”
[3] By their “serving twelve years” is signified all the time that there are such good and truth; for in the internal sense “twelve” signifies all things that pertain to the faith of charity, or to faith from charity, much the same as “Elam” (Gen. 10:22). And so long as such good and truth are in a man, whether it be in his childhood or at any other age, evils and falsities can effect nothing; that is, evil spirits do not venture to do anything, or to introduce any evil; as is evident with infants, well disposed children, and the simple in heart; with whom, even though evil spirits, or the worst of the diabolic crew, were present, they could effect nothing at all, but are in subjection; which is here signified by their serving Chedorlaomer twelve years.
aRef Matt@24 @28 S4′ [4] The reason of their being then in subjection and serving is that the man has not yet acquired to himself a sphere of cupidities and falsities. For evil spirits and genii are not allowed to operate except into those things which a man has procured to himself by his acts, and not into those which are from inheritance; and therefore before the man procures such spheres to himself, the evil spirits serve; but as soon as he procures them, they pour themselves in upon him, and endeavor to rule; for they are then in his very sphere, and find there a certain delight, or their very life. Where the carcass is, there are the eagles [Matt. 24:28].

sRef Gen@14 @4 S0′ 1668. And in the thirteenth year they rebelled. That this signified the beginning of temptations in childhood, is evident from the signification of “the thirteenth year,” and from the signification of “rebelling.” The thirteenth year is intermediate between the twelfth and the fourteenth. What is signified by “twelve” has been stated; and what by “fourteen” will be stated presently. The intermediate between no temptation and temptation is “thirteen.” What “rebelling” signifies may be seen when it is predicated of the evils in a man, or of evil spirits, when they have been in subjection or are serving, and begin to rise up and infest.
[2] Evils or evil spirits rebel in proportion as the man who desires to be in good and truth confirms in himself any evils and falsities, that is, in proportion as cupidities and falsities insinuate themselves into his goods and truths. In cupidities and falsities is the life of evil spirits, and in goods and truths is the life of angels; and hence come infestation and combat. This is so with all who have conscience; and much more was it the case with the Lord when a child, who had perception. With those who have conscience there arises therefrom a dull pain; but with those who have perception, a sharp one, and the more interior the perception is, the sharper is the pain. From this we may see what was the nature of the Lord’s temptation in comparison with that of men, for He had interior and inmost perception.

sRef Gen@14 @5 S0′ 1669. Verse 5. And in the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer and the kings that were with him, and smote the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, and the Zuzim in Ham, and Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim. “In the fourteenth year,” signifies the first temptation; “came Chedorlaomer,” signifies the apparent good in the external man; “and the kings that were with him” signifies the apparent truth which is of that good; “and smote the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim,” signifies the persuasions of falsity, or the hells of such, which the Lord conquered.

sRef Gen@14 @5 S0′ 1670. In the fourteenth year. That this signifies the first temptation, may be seen from the signification of “fourteen,” or the end of the second week, concerning which, see above (n. 728), where the time of seven days or of one week signifies the beginning of temptation. “Fourteen,” or the term of two weeks, signifies the same. It is here said “in the fourteenth year,” in reference to the twelve years which precede; by which, as before said, is signified the time of childhood.

sRef Gen@14 @5 S0′ 1671. Came Chedorlaomer. That this signifies the apparent good in the external man, is evident from the signification of “Chedorlaomer,” explained in the preceding verse, as being apparent good and truth, here good only, because it is said also, “and the kings that were with him,” and by “the kings” is signified the truth.

sRef Gen@14 @5 S0′ 1672. And the kings that were with him. That this signifies the apparent truth which is of that good, is evident from the signification of “kings” in the Word. “Kings,” “kingdoms,” and “peoples,” in the historical and the prophetical parts of the Word, signify truths and the things which are of truths, as may be abundantly confirmed. In the Word an accurate distinction is made between a “people” and a “nation;” by a “people” are signified truths, and by a “nation” goods, as before shown (n. 1259, 1260). “Kings” are predicated of peoples, but not so much of nations. Before the sons of Israel sought for kings, they were a nation, and represented good, or the celestial; but after they desired a king, and received one, they became a people, and did not represent good or the celestial, but truth or the spiritual; which was the reason why this was imputed to them as a fault (see 1 Sam. 8:7-22, concerning which subject, of the Lord’s Divine mercy elsewhere). As Chedorlaomer is named here, and it is added, “the kings that were with him,” both good and truth are signified; by “Chedorlaomer,” good, and by “the kings,” truth. But what was the quality of the good and truth at the beginning of the Lord’s temptations has already been stated.

sRef Gen@14 @5 S0′ 1673. And smote the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim. That this signifies the persuasions of falsity, or the hells of such, which the Lord conquered, is evident from the signification of “the Rephaim,” “the Zuzim,” and “the Emim,” as being of similar kind with “the Nephilim,” who are mentioned in Genesis 6:4; and in the exposition of that passage (see n. 581) it was sufficiently and abundantly shown that by “the Nephilim” are signified persuasions of falsity, or those who from a persuasion of their own exaltation and preeminence have made nothing of all holy and true things, and who have infused falsities into their cupidities; as is also plain from the passages there adduced (Num. 13:33; Deut. 2:10-11; Isa. 14:9; 26:14, 19; Ps. 88:10). The different kinds of persuasions of falsity are what are here signified by these three and by “the Horites in Mount Seir;” for there are many kinds of persuasions of falsity, not only according to the falsities, but also according to the cupidities to which they are adjoined, or into which they are infused, or from which they flow forth and are produced. The nature of these persuasions of falsity can never appear to any man, who scarcely knows more than that there is such a thing as persuasion of falsity and cupidity of evil; but in the other life they are most distinctly arranged into their genera and into their species.
sRef Isa@26 @14 S2′ [2] The most direful persuasions of falsity existed with those who lived before the flood, especially with those who were called “Nephilim.” These Nephilim are of such a character that in the other life they by their persuasions take away from the spirits to whom they come all faculty of thinking, so that these spirits seem to themselves scarcely to live, much less to be able to think anything true. For, as before shown, there is in the other life a communication of the thoughts of all, and therefore when such a persuasiveness flows in, it cannot do otherwise than as it were murder all power of thought in others. Such were the wicked tribes against whom the Lord combated in His earliest childhood, and whom He conquered; and unless the Lord had conquered them by His coming into the world, not a man would have been left at this day upon the earth; for every man is governed by the Lord through spirits. These same Nephilim are at this day enclosed by their phantasies by what seems like a misty rock, out of which they are continually striving, but in vain, to rise up (concerning whom see n. 1265- 1272, and in many other places above). These, and others like them, were also meant in Isaiah:
The dead shall not live, the Rephaim shall not rise, because Thou hast visited and hast destroyed them, and hast made all their memory to perish (Isa. 26:14).
sRef Ps@88 @10 S3′ [3] Also in David:
Wilt Thou show a wonder to the dead? shall the Rephaim arise and praise Thee? (Ps. 88:10),
where by “the dead” are not meant the dead, but the damned. There are also those at this day, especially from the Christian world, who likewise have persuasions, but not so direful as the antediluvians had. There are certain persuasions of falsity which take possession of both the will part and the intellectual part of man; such were those of the antediluvians, and of those who are here signified by the Rephaim, the Zuzim, and the Emim. But there are other persuasions of falsity which take possession of the intellectual part only, and which arise from the principles of falsity that are confirmed in one’s self. These are not so powerful, nor so deadly, as the former; but still they cause much annoyance to spirits in the other life, and take away in part their ability to think. Spirits of this kind excite in a man nothing but confirmations of what is false, so that the man sees no otherwise than that falsity is truth, and evil good. It is their sphere which is of such a character. As soon as anything of truth is called forth by angels, they suffocate and extinguish it.
[4] A man can perceive whether he is governed by such as these simply by observing whether he thinks the truths of the Word to be false, and confirms himself so that he cannot see otherwise; if such be the case, he may be pretty sure that such spirits are with him, and that they have the dominion. In like manner they who persuade themselves that their private advantage is the common good, and who regard nothing as being for the common good but what is also to their own advantage; in this case also the evil spirits who are present suggest so many things in confirmation that they see no otherwise. They who are such that they regard every advantage to themselves as the common good, or who veil it over with the appearance of being the common good, do much the same in the other life in regard to the common good there. That such is the nature of the influx of spirits with man, it has been given me to know by continual experience to the life.

sRef Gen@14 @6 S0′ 1674. Verse 6. And the Horites in their Mount Seir, even to El-paran, which is over in the wilderness. “The Horites in their Mount Seir,” signifies the persuasions of falsity that are from the love of self; “even to El-paran, which is over in the wilderness,” signifies their extension.

sRef Gen@14 @6 S0′ 1675. The Horites in their Mount Seir. That this signifies the persuasions of falsity that are from the love of self, is evident from the signification of “the Horites,” and from the signification of “Seir.” As regards the Horites, they were those who dwelt in Mount Seir, as is evident from Genesis 36:8, 20, etc., where Esau is spoken of, who is called Edom. By “Esau” or “Edom,” in the genuine sense, is signified the Lord as to His Human Essence; and He is also represented by Esau or Edom, as may be seen from many passages of the Word both historical and prophetical; concerning which, of the Lord’s Divine mercy hereafter. And as they who are in persuasions of falsity were represented by the Horites, and as at that time representatives came forth into actual realization, therefore the driving out of the Horites from Mount Seir by the descendants of Esau had a similar representation.
sRef Deut@33 @2 S2′ sRef Deut@33 @3 S2′ sRef Deut@2 @21 S2′ sRef Deut@2 @22 S2′ sRef Deut@2 @20 S2′ [2] Of this it is said in Moses:
That also is accounted a land of Rephaim; Rephaim dwelt therein aforetime; and the Ammonites call them Zamzummim, a people great and many, and tall as the Anakim; and Jehovah destroyed them from before them, and they had them in possession, and dwelt in their place. As He did for the sons of Esau, that dwelt in Seir, in that He destroyed the Horites from before them; and they had them in possession, and dwelt in their place (Deut. 2:20-22).
These things represent and signify the same as what is here related concerning Chedorlaomer, namely, that Chedorlaomer and the kings with him smote the Horites in Mount Seir; for by Chedorlaomer, as before said, are represented the Lord’s good and truth in His childhood, thus the Lord’s Human Essence in respect to good and truth at that time, by which He destroyed the persuasions of falsity, that is, the hells filled with such a crew of the devil, that attempted to destroy the world of spirits, and consequently the human race, by persuasions of falsity.
sRef Num@24 @18 S3′ sRef Num@24 @17 S3′ [3] And as Esau or Edom represented the Lord in respect to His Human Essence, Mount Seir also, and Paran represented the things that belonged to His Human Essence, namely, the celestial things of love. This is evident from the blessing of Moses:
Jehovah came from Sinai, and arose to them from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran, and He came from the ten thousands of holiness; from His right hand was a fire of law unto them, yea, He loveth the peoples (Deut. 33:2-3);
that “Jehovah arose from Mount Seir, and shone forth from Mount Paran,” signifies nothing else than the Lord’s Human Essence. Everyone may know that to rise from Mount Seir, and to shine forth from Mount Paran, signifies neither mountains nor their inhabitants, but Divine realities, thus the celestial things of the Lord’s Human Essence, of which it is predicated that Jehovah arose and shone forth from it.
sRef Judg@5 @5 S4′ sRef Judg@5 @4 S4′ [4] That “Seir” has this signification is evident from the Song of Deborah and Barak, in the book of Judges:
O Jehovah, when Thou wentest forth out of Seir, when Thou departedst out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, the heavens also dropped drops, the clouds also dropped waters, the mountains flowed down, this Sinai before Jehovah the God of Israel (5:4-5);
where to “go forth out of Seir,” and to “depart out of the field of Edom,” have no other signification.
[5] This is even more manifest in the prophecy of Balaam (who was one of the sons of the east, or from Syria, where there was a remnant of the Ancient Church), as given in Moses:
I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not nigh; there shall arise a star out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise up out of Israel, and Edom shall be an inheritance, Seir also shall be an inheritance, belonging to His enemies (Num. 24:17-18);
where “to see Him, but not now,” to “behold Him, but not nigh,” is the Lord’s coming into the world; whose Human Essence is called “a star out of Jacob,” which is to arise, and also “Edom,” and “Seir”; that Edom and Seir were not to be the inheritance, is plain to everyone. That “Seir, belonging to His enemies,” or the mountain of His enemies, should be an inheritance, means the same as in many other places, where it is said that the enemies were to be expelled, and their land possessed.
sRef Hab@3 @3 S6′ [6] That Mount Paran also, or El-paran, named in this verse, signifies the same, is evident likewise in Habakkuk:
God will come from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His honor covered the heavens, and the earth was filled with His praise (Hab. 3:3).
But it is to be known that mountains and lands have and take a signification from those who inhabit them; from the Horites when the Horites dwelt there; and when these were expelled, from those who expelled them, as from Esau or Edom, and also from other sources; and therefore the signification exists in two senses, the genuine and the opposite; in the genuine the places in question denote the Lord’s Human Essence; in the opposite, the love of self. The Lord’s Human Essence is celestial love itself, and the opposite to celestial love is the love of self. So the Horites here signify the persuasions of falsity from the love of self.
[7] There are persuasions of falsity from the love of self, and there are persuasions of falsity from the love of the world; the persuasions that are from the love of self are most foul; but the persuasions from the love of the world are not so foul. The persuasions of falsity from the love of self are opposite to the celestial things of love; but the persuasions of falsity from the love of the world are opposite to the spiritual things of love. Persuasions from the love of self carry with them a desire to exercise command over all things; and so far as restraints are relaxed to them, they rush on, even to desire to exercise command over the universe, and even over Jehovah Himself, as has been shown. Therefore persuasions of this kind are not tolerated in the other life. But persuasions from the love of the world do not rush on so far; but only to the insanity of not being contented with one’s lot. They vainly affect a heavenly joy, and desire to appropriate the goods of others, but not so much with the disposition to exercise command. But the differences that exist among these persuasions are innumerable.

sRef Gen@14 @6 S0′ 1676. Even to El-paran which is in the wilderness. That this signifies their extension, may be seen from the fact that the Horites were smitten and were compelled to flee thus far. The wilderness of Paran is mentioned in Gen. 21:21; Num. 10:12; 12:16; 13:3, 26; Deut. 1:1. What is here signified by “El-paran which is in the wilderness,” cannot so well be explained, except insofar as to say that the Lord’s first victory over the hells signified by those nations did not as yet extend any further, but how far it did extend is signified by “El-paran in the wilderness.”
[2] He to whom it has not been given to know heavenly arcana, may suppose that there was no need of the Lord’s coming into the world to fight against the hells, and by means of temptations admitted into Himself to vanquish and conquer them, when they might have been subjugated at any time by the Divine Omnipotence, and shut up in their hells; but that still the fact is really so, is a certain truth. To unfold the arcana themselves merely as to the most general things would fill a whole work; and it would also give occasion for reasonings about such Divine mysteries as human minds would not comprehend, however fully they might be unfolded; and most people would not desire to comprehend them.
[3] Therefore it is sufficient for men to know, and, because it is so, to believe, that it is an eternal truth that unless the Lord had come into the world and subjugated and conquered the hells by means of temptations admitted into Himself, the human race would have perished; and that otherwise those who have been on this earth even from the time of the Most Ancient Church could not possibly have been saved.

sRef Gen@14 @7 S0′ 1677. Verse 7. And they returned and came to En-mishpat, this is Kadesh, and smote all the field of the Amalekites, and also the Amorite that dwelt in Hazezon-tamar. “They returned and came to En-mishpat, this is Kadesh,” signifies a continuation; “and smote all the field of the Amalekites,” signifies the kinds of falsities; “and also the Amorite that dwelt in Hazezon-tamar,” signifies the kinds of evils that were derived from them.

sRef Gen@14 @7 S0′ 1678. They returned and came to En-mishpat, this is Kadesh. That this signifies a continuation, is evident from what goes before, and from what follows. Here now the falsities and the evils derived from them are treated of. The falsities are signified by “the Amalekite,” and the evils that were derived from them are signified by “the Amorite in Hazezon-tamar.” By “Kadesh” are signified truths, and also contentions about truths. Because the falsities, and the evils derived from them which the Lord conquered in His first combat, are here treated of, it is here said, “En-mishpat, this is Kadesh,” because there was contention about truths.
sRef Ezek@47 @19 S2′ [2] That “Kadesh” signifies truths concerning which there is contention, is evident in Ezekiel, where the boundaries of the Holy Land are described:
The corner of the south southward from Tamar as far as the waters of Meriboth (contentions) Kadesh, an inheritance to the great sea, and the corner of the south southward (Ezek. 47:19; 48:28)
where “the south” denotes the light of truth; its boundary, by which is signified contention about truths, is called “Kadesh.”
[3] Kadesh also was where Moses smote the rock, out of which waters came forth, which waters were called Meribah, from contention (Num. 20:1-2, 11, 13). By a “rock,” as is known, the Lord is signified; by “waters,” in the internal sense of the Word, are signified spiritual things, which are truths; they were called “the waters of Meribah” because there was contention about them. That they were also called “the waters of the contention of Kadesh,” is evident in Moses:
Ye rebelled against My mouth in the wilderness of Zin, in the contention of the assembly, to sanctify Me by the waters in their eyes. These are the waters of contention of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin (Num. 27:14; Deut. 32:51).
So too it was to Kadesh that the spies returned from the land of Canaan, and Kadesh was the place where the Israelites murmured and contended, not being willing to enter into the land (Num. 13:26).
[4] It is evident from these things that “En-mishpat,” or “the Fountain of Judgment,” or “the Fountain of Mishpat-Kadesh,” signifies contention about truths, and thus a continuation. As these are true historicals, and this occurred just as is here stated, it may appear as if such things were not represented and signified by the places to which Chedorlaomer came, and by the nations that he smote; but all the historicals in the Word are representative and significative, both those relating to places and nations, and also those relating to things done; as may be clearly seen from all things in both the historical and the prophetical parts of the Word.

sRef Gen@14 @7 S0′ 1679. And smote all the field of the Amalekites. That this signifies the kinds of falsities, is evident from the representation and signification of the Amalekite nation. By all the nations that were in the land of Canaan there were represented different kinds of evils and falsities, as will be evident, of the Lord’s Divine mercy, from what follows. Falsities were signified by “the Amalekites,” and evils derived from the falsities, by “the Amorites in Hazezon-tamar.” That falsities by which truths are attacked are signified by the Amalekites, may be seen from the things that are related concerning them (see Exod. 17:13-16; Num. 13:29; 24:20; Deut. 25:17-19; Judges 5:13-14; 1 Sam. 15:1-35; 27:8; Ps. 83:7-8).
[2] By the Rephaim, Zuzim, Emim, and Horites, spoken of in verses 5 and 6, were signified the persuasions of falsity that arise from cupidities of evil, that is, from evils; but by the Amalekites and the Amorite in Hazezon-tamar, are signified the falsities from which come evils. Falsity from evil is one thing, and falsity and the evil derived from it is another. Falsities spring either from cupidities, which are of the will, or from received principles, which are of the understanding. Falsities that are from the cupidities of the will are foul, nor do they suffer themselves, like others, to be easily rooted out, for they cohere with the man’s very life. The very life of man is that which desires, that is, loves. While a man is confirming in himself this life, or cupidity, or love, all the things which confirm are falsities, and are implanted in his life. Such were the antediluvians.
[3] But the falsities from received principles, which are of the understanding, cannot be thus rooted in the will part of man. False or heretical doctrines, for instance, have their origin outside of the will, from the man’s being imbued with such things from infancy, and afterwards from confirmation in adult age. But as they are false, they cannot but produce evils of life; as for instance in the case of a man who believes in meriting salvation by works, and confirms himself in this belief,-the merit itself, self-justification, and confidence, are the evils that come from it; or on the other hand one who believes that it is impossible to have piety of life without placing merit in works,-the evil from this is that he extinguishes in himself all piety of life, and gives himself up to cupidities and pleasures. So in many other cases. Such are the falsities and the evils derived from them that are treated of in this verse.

sRef Gen@14 @7 S0′ 1680. And also the Amorite that dwelt in Hazezon-tamar. That this signifies the kinds of evils derived from those falsities, is evident from what has just been said, and also from the representation and signification of the Amorites, spoken of in the next chapter, verse 16. As regards the evils and falsities against which the Lord combated, it is to be known that what He fought against was the infernal spirits who were in the evils and falsities, that is, it was the hells filled with such spirits, which continually infested the human race. The infernals desire nothing else than to destroy everyone; and they perceive no greater pleasure than in torturing others.
[2] All spirits in the other life are distinguished in the following manner: those who desire evil against others are infernal or diabolical spirits; but those who desire good to others are good and angelic spirits. A man can know among which he is, whether among the infernal or among the angelic: if he intends evil to his neighbor, thinks nothing but evil concerning him, and actually does it when he can, and takes delight therein, he is among the infernals, and also becomes infernal in the other life; whereas the man who intends good to his neighbor, and thinks nothing but good respecting him, and actually does it when he can, is among the angelic spirits, and also becomes an angel in the other life. This is the distinctive characteristic. Let everyone examine himself by this, in order to learn what he is.
[3] That a man does no evil when he is unable or afraid to do it, amounts to nothing; or that he does good for the sake of self; for these are external things that are removed in the other life. A man there is such as he thinks and intends. There are many who can speak well from a habit formed in the world; but it is instantly perceived whether the mind or intention agrees therewith; if not, they are rejected among the infernals of their own genus and species.

sRef Gen@14 @9 S0′ sRef Gen@14 @8 S0′ sRef Gen@14 @8 S0′ sRef Gen@14 @9 S0′ 1681. Verses 8, 9. And there went out the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, this is Zoar; and they set the battle in array with them in the valley of Siddim; with Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, and Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar; four kings with five. “There went out the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, this is Zoar,” signifies, as before, the evils and falsities that reign generally; “and they set the battle in array with them,” signifies that they began the attack; “in the valley of Siddim,” signifies here as before, uncleanness; “with Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, and Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar,” signifies the truths and goods in the external man; “Chedorlaomer king of Elam,” signifies the truth; “Tidal king of Goiim,” the good; and the others the things derived from these; “four kings with five,” signifies the union of the last named, and the disunion of the others.

sRef Gen@14 @8 S0′ sRef Gen@14 @9 S0′ sRef Gen@14 @8 S0′ 1682. There went out the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, this is Zoar. That these signify the evils and falsities that reign generally, is evident from what was said above, at verse 2, concerning these kings, namely, that they are cupidities of evil and persuasions of falsity. In that verse by the same kings are signified all evils and all falsities in general, or what is the same, cupidities of evil and persuasions of falsity, and therefore it is said that war was made with them. Afterwards the war with the Rephaim, Zuzim, Emim, and Horites, was treated of; also the war with the Amalekite and the Amorite; and finally with these kings who were named in the beginning. Here therefore by the same kings are signified only the reigning evils and falsities that are of a less degree.

sRef Gen@14 @8 S0′ sRef Gen@14 @8 S0′ sRef Gen@14 @9 S0′ 1683. They set the battle in array with them. That this signifies that they began the attack, is evident from the signification of “setting the battle in array,” as meaning to fight against; for it is said above (verse 3) that they rebelled. The same is evident also from the fact that evil spirits are those who make the assault. For it is the case that the Lord never began the combat with any hell, but the hells assaulted Him; as is also the case with every man who is in temptation, or In combat with evil spirits. In man’s case the angels never make the assault, but always and continually the evil or infernal spirits do so; the angels only ward off and defend. This comes from the Lord, who never desires to bring evil upon anyone, or to thrust him down into hell, even if he were the worst and the most bitter enemy of all; but it is he who brings the evil upon himself, and precipitates himself into hell. This also follows from the nature of evil, and from the nature of good. It is the nature of evil to desire to maltreat everyone; but that of good to desire to maltreat no one. The evil are in their very life when they are assaulting; for they continually desire to destroy. The good are in their very life when they are assaulting no one, and when they can be of use in defending others from evils.

sRef Gen@14 @8 S0′ sRef Gen@14 @9 S0′ sRef Gen@14 @8 S0′ 1684. In the valley of Siddim. That this signifies uncleanness, is evident from what was before said (verse 3) concerning the valley of Siddim and the Salt Sea.

sRef Gen@14 @9 S0′ sRef Gen@14 @9 S0′ sRef Gen@14 @8 S0′ 1685. With Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, and Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar. That this signifies the truths and goods in the external man, is evident from the signification of the same in verse 1 of this chapter.
That “Chedorlaomer king of Elam” signifies truths, and “Tidal king of Goiim” goods, and the others the things derived from these, is evident from the fact that the same kings are here enumerated in a different order from that of verse 1 above. There “Chedorlaomer king of Elam” stands in the third place, but here in the first; and there “Tidal king of Goiim” is in the fourth place, but here in the second. It is truth that is first in combat, for combat is from truth; for from truth it is known what falsity is and what evil is; on which account such combats never arise until the man has been imbued with knowledges [scientiae et cognitiones] of truth and good. Hence by “Chedorlaomer,” who is here named in the first place, is signified the truth that was in the Lord; which is also evident from the signification of “Elam,” as being faith from charity, which is the same thing as truth (as has been shown before, Gen. 10:22). It follows from this that “Tidal king of Goiim” or “of nations” signifies good; and that the other kings signify the truths and goods that are derived from these.

sRef Gen@14 @9 S0′ sRef Gen@14 @9 S0′ sRef Gen@14 @8 S0′ 1686. Four kings with five. That this signifies the union of the last named, and the disunion of the first named, may be seen from the signification of “four,” and of “five.” “Four” signifies union, because it is made up of pairs, as also does two when it has relation to marriages of things (as was also observed, n. 720). But “five” signifies disunion, because it means but little (as shown n. 649). The signification of all things is in accordance with the subject of which they are predicated.

sRef Gen@14 @10 S0′ 1687. Verse 10. And the valley of Siddim was pits, pits [or, full of pits] of bitumen; and the king of Sodom and of Gomorrah fled, and fell there, and they that remained fled to the mountain. “The valley of Siddim was pits, pits, of bitumen,” signifies the uncleanness of the falsities and cupidities; “and the king of Sodom and of Gomorrah fled, and fell there,” signifies that those evils and falsities were overcome; “and they that remained fled to the mountain,” signifies but not all of them; “the mountain” is the love of self and of the world.

sRef Gen@14 @10 S0′ 1688. The valley of Siddim was pits, pits [or, full of pits] of bitumen. That this signifies the uncleanness of the falsities and cupidities, is evident from the signification of “Siddim,” which is uncleanness (as stated above at verse 3); also from the signification of “pits,” as being falsities and of “bitumen,” as being cupidities. Falsities are called “pits,” from the unclean water in them; and cupidities are called “bitumen,” from the foul sulphurous smell in such water.

sRef Gen@14 @10 S0′ 1689. The king of Sodom and of Gomorrah fled, and fell there. That this signifies that these evils and falsities were overcome, is evident from the signification of “Sodom” and of “Gomorrah,” as being the evils of cupidities and the falsities of persuasions spoken of above. Here “the king of Sodom and of Gomorrah” denotes all the evils and falsities, even those signified by the other kings; and also from the signification of “fleeing and falling,” as being to be overcome.

sRef Luke@4 @13 S0′ sRef Gen@14 @10 S0′ 1690. They that remained fled to the mountain. That this signifies that not all were overcome, is evident without explication, from the fact that there was a residue that fled away. In the internal sense the temptations are treated of that the Lord sustained in His childhood, concerning which nothing is related in the Word of the New Testament, except concerning His temptation in the wilderness, or soon after He came out of the wilderness, and finally concerning His last temptation in Gethsemane and what then followed. That the Lord’s life, from His earliest childhood even to the last hour of His life in the world, was continual temptation and continual victory, is evident from many things in the Word of the Old Testament; and that it did not cease with the temptation in the wilderness is evident from what is said in Luke:
And when the devil had completed every temptation, he departed from Him for a season (Luke 4:13);
as also from the fact that He was tempted even to the death on the cross, and thus to the last hour of His life in the world. Hence it is evident that the whole of the Lord’s life in the world, from His earliest childhood, was continual temptation and continual victory. The last was when He prayed on the cross for His enemies, and thus for all in the whole world.
[2] In the Word of the Lord’s life, in the Gospels, none but the last is mentioned, except His temptation in the wilderness. More were not disclosed to the disciples. The things that were disclosed appear in the sense of the letter so slight as to be scarcely anything; for to speak and to answer in this manner is no temptation, when yet His temptation was more grievous than can ever be comprehended and believed by any human mind. No one can know what temptation is except the one who has been in it. The temptation that is related in Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:12-13; Luke 4:1-13, contains all temptations in a summary; namely, that from love toward the whole human race, the Lord fought against the loves of self and of the world, with which the hells were filled.
sRef Luke@4 @4 S3′ sRef Matt@4 @3 S3′ sRef Matt@4 @2 S3′ sRef Luke@4 @3 S3′ sRef Matt@4 @4 S3′ sRef Luke@4 @2 S3′ [3] All temptation is an assault upon the love in which the man is, and the temptation is in the same degree as is the love. If the love is not assaulted, there is no temptation. To destroy anyone’s love is to destroy his very life; for the love is the life. The Lord’s life was love toward the whole human race, and was indeed so great, and of such a quality, as to be nothing but pure love. Against this His life, continual temptations were admitted, as before said, from His earliest childhood to His last hour in the world. The love which was the Lord’s veriest life is signified by His “hungering,” and by the devil’s saying,
If Thou art the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread and by Jesus answering that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God (Luke 4:2-4; Matt. 4:2-4).
sRef Luke@4 @6 S4′ sRef Luke@4 @7 S4′ sRef Luke@4 @8 S4′ sRef Luke@4 @5 S4′ [4] That He fought against the love of the world, or all things that are of the love of the world, is signified by:
The devil took Him up into a high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said unto Him, All this power will I give Thee and the glory of them, for it hath been delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will, I give it; if Thou therefore wilt worship before me, all shall be Thine. But Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind Me, Satan; for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve (Luke 4:5-8; Matt 4:8-10).
sRef Matt@4 @6 S5′ sRef Matt@4 @7 S5′ sRef Matt@4 @11 S5′ sRef Matt@4 @5 S5′ [5] That He fought against the love of self, and all things that are of the love of self, is signified by this:
The devil took Him into the holy city, and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said unto Him, If Thou art the Son of God, cast Thyself down for it is written, He shall give His angels charge concerning Thee, and upon their hands they shall bear Thee up, lest Thou dash Thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God (Matt. 4:5-7; Luke 4:9-12).
Continual victory is signified by its being said that after the temptations, “angels came and ministered unto Him” (Matt. 4:11; Mark 1:13).
[6] In brief, the Lord from His earliest childhood up to the last hour of His life in the world, was assaulted by all the hells, against which He continually fought, and subjugated and overcame them, and this solely from love toward the whole human race. And because this love was not human but Divine, and because such as is the greatness of the love, such is that of the temptation, it may be seen how grievous the combats were, and how great the ferocity on the part of the hells. That all this was so, I know of a certainty.

sRef Gen@14 @10 S0′ 1691. That “the mountain” means the love of self and the love of the world, may be seen from the signification of a “mountain,” concerning which presently. All evil and falsity come forth from the love of self and the love of the world; they have no other origin; for the love of self and the love of the world are the opposites of celestial love and spiritual love; and because they are the opposites, they are what are continually endeavoring to destroy the celestial and spiritual things of the kingdom of God. From the love of self and of the world come forth all hatreds; from hatreds, all revenges and cruelties; and from these, all deceits; in short, all the hells.
sRef Isa@42 @15 S2′ sRef Isa@2 @15 S2′ sRef Deut@32 @22 S2′ sRef Isa@2 @14 S2′ sRef Isa@2 @11 S2′ sRef Isa@2 @12 S2′ sRef Isa@40 @4 S2′ [2] That in the Word by “mountains” there is signified the love of self and the love of the world, may be seen from the following passages. In Isaiah:
The proud eyes of man shall be humbled and the loftiness of men shall be brought low. The day of Jehovah Zebaoth is upon all that is proud and lofty, upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up, and upon every lofty tower (Isa. 2:11-12, 14-15);
the “high mountains” plainly denote the love of self; and the “hills that are lifted up,” the love of the world.
sRef Ezek@38 @20 S3′ [3] Again:
Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low (Isa. 40:4);
here also “mountain and hill” manifestly denote the love of self and the love of the world. Again:
I will lay waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbage (Isa. 42:15);
where also “mountains” denote the love of self, and “hills” the love of the world. In Ezekiel:
The mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the earth (Ezek. 38:20).
sRef Jer@51 @25 S4′ [4] In Jeremiah:
Behold I am against thee, O destroying mountain, which destroyest all the earth; and I will stretch out mine hand against thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a mountain of burning (Jer. 51:25);
where Babel and Chaldea are spoken of, by which is signified the love of self and of the world, as before shown. In the Song of Moses:
A fire is kindled in Mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall devour the earth and her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains (Deut. 32:22);
“the foundations of the mountains” mean the hells, as is plainly said; these are called the foundations of the mountains, because the love of self and the love of the world reign in them, and are from them.
sRef Jonah@2 @5 S5′ sRef Jonah@2 @6 S5′ [5] In Jonah:
The waters compassed me about, even to the soul; the deep was round about me; the seaweed was wrapped about my head; I went down to the cuttings-off of the mountains; the bars of the earth were upon me forever; yet hast Thou brought up my lives from the pit, O Jehovah my God (Jonah 2:5-6);
the Lord’s temptations against the hells are thus prophetically described by Jonah, when he was in the belly of the great fish. So likewise in other passages of the Word, especially in David. He who is in temptations is in the hells; place has nothing to do with being in the hells, but state.
[6] As “mountains” and “towers” signify the love of self and of the world, it may be seen what is signified by the Lord’s being taken by the devil “upon a high mountain,” and “upon a pinnacle of the temple,” namely, that He was led into temptation combats, the most extreme of all, against the loves of self and of the world, that is, against the hells. “Mountains” also, in the opposite sense, signify celestial and spiritual love, as before shown (n. 795, 796).

sRef Gen@14 @10 S0′ 1692. Scarcely anyone can know what temptations, or combats of temptations, effect. They are the means by which evils and falsities are broken up and dispersed, and by which horror of them is induced; and not only is conscience given, but it is also strengthened thereby, and so the man is regenerated, which is the reason why they who are being regenerated are let into combats, and undergo temptations; and they who do not undergo them in the life of the body, do so in the other life, if they are capable of being regenerated, on which account the Lord’s church is called militant. But the Lord alone sustained the most cruel combats of temptations by His own strength or His own power; for He was surrounded by all the hells, and continually conquered them.
[2] It is the Lord alone also who fights in the men who are in the combats of temptations, and who overcomes. Man from his own power can effect nothing at all against evil or infernal spirits; for they are so connected with the hells that if one were overcome, another would rush in, and so on forever. They are like the sea which presses upon every part of a dike; and if the dike should be broken through by a cleft or a crack, the sea would never cease to burst through and overflow, until nothing was left standing. So would it be with man unless the Lord alone sustained in him the combats of temptations.

sRef Gen@14 @11 S0′ 1693. Verse 11. And they took all the wealth of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their food, and departed. “They took all the wealth of Sodom and Gomorrah,” signifies that these were deprived of the power of doing evil; “and all their food,” signifies that they were deprived of the power of thinking falsity; “and departed,” signifies that so they were left.

sRef Gen@14 @11 S0′ 1694. They took all the wealth of Sodom and Gomorrah. That this signifies that these were deprived of the power of doing evil, is evident from the signification of taking away anyone’s wealth. By the wealth of Sodom and Gomorrah nothing else is meant in the internal sense but evil and falsity. Evil is here signified by “the wealth,” and falsity by “the food.” Relatively to the good, spiritual wealth and riches are nothing but the goods and truths with which they are gifted and enriched by the Lord; and therefore relatively to the evil, wealth and riches are nothing but the evils and falsities they have acquired to themselves. Such things are also signified in the Word by “riches.” From this it is evident that to take the wealth of Sodom and Gomorrah is to deprive them of the power of doing evil.

sRef Gen@14 @11 S0′ 1695. And all their food. That this signifies that they were deprived of the power of thinking falsity, is evident from the signification of “food.” What the celestial, spiritual, and natural food are that are enjoyed in the other life, has been shown before (n. 56-58, 680, 681). These also correspond to the food of the body; and therefore are represented in the Word by food, and are called “food.” But the food of evil and infernal spirits is that which is contrary to wisdom, intelligence, and true knowledge, which is all falsity; and wonderful to say, evil spirits are sustained by this food. The reason that it sustains them is that it is their life. Unless there is given them the means of vilifying the truth, and indeed of blaspheming it, they cannot live. But still license is given them to think and speak only that falsity which is from their evil, and not that which is contrary to their evil, for this would be deceit for insofar as they speak falsity from their evil, it is from their life; and then it is forgiven them, because their nature is such that otherwise they could not live.
[2] As to their being deprived of the power of doing evil and of thinking falsity, the case is this: In the combats of temptations the evil spirits are permitted to draw forth all the evil and falsity that are in the man, and to battle from the evil and falsity of the man; but when they have been overcome, they are no longer permitted to do so, for they instantly perceive in the man that good and truth have been confirmed. Spirits, more than men, are gifted with such perception; from the very sphere of a man who has been confirmed in truth and good, they know at once how the case is, what answer they will get, and more besides. This is plainly evident with the spiritual regenerate man, with whom there are evil spirits equally as well as with the non-regenerate, but they are subjugated and serve. This is what is meant by their being deprived of the power of doing evil and of thinking falsity.

sRef Gen@14 @11 S0′ 1696. And departed. That this signifies that they were left, is evident without explication.

sRef Gen@14 @12 S0′ 1697. Verse 12. And they took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son, and his substance, and departed; and he was dwelling in Sodom. “They took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son, and his substance, and departed,” signifies that the apparent goods and truths, which in themselves are not goods and truths, took possession of the external man, and of all things therein; “and he was dwelling in Sodom,” signifies the state of the external man.

sRef Gen@14 @12 S0′ 1698. And they took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son, and his substance, and departed. That this signifies that the apparent goods and truths, which in themselves are not goods and truths, took possession of the external man, and of all things therein, is evident from the signification of “Lot.” That “Lot” signifies the sensuous or external man in the Lord, has already been frequently stated and shown; but here by “Lot” is signified the external man in respect to the apparent goods and truths, which are Lot’s “substance.” That in the Lord’s earliest childhood these goods and truths appeared to be goods and truths, but in themselves were not so, has been already explained; but that they were by degrees purified, and this in fact by means of the combats of temptations, may be seen from what has been said concerning temptations.

sRef Gen@14 @12 S0′ 1699. And he was dwelling in Sodom. That this signifies the state of the external man, is evident from the signification of “Sodom.”

sRef Gen@14 @13 S0′ 1700. Verse 13. And there came one that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew, and he was dwelling in the oak-groves of Mamre the Amorite, the brother of Eshcol, and the brother of Aner; and these were men of the covenant of Abram. “There came one that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew,” signifies that the Lord perceived from His interior man; “Abram the Hebrew” is the interior man to which the internal or Divine man is adjoined; “and he was dwelling in the oak-groves of Mamre the Amorite,” signifies the state of perception from the rational man; “the brother of Eshcol, and the brother of Aner, and these were men of the covenant of Abram,” signifies the state of the rational man in respect to the external man as regards the quality of its goods and truths.

sRef Gen@14 @13 S0′ 1701. And there came one that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew. That this signifies that the Lord perceived from His interior man, is evident from the signification of “Abram the Hebrew,” as being the interior man conjoined with the internal, explained just below. And as in the internal sense these things are predicated of the Lord, and the historicals are representative, it is evident that the coming of one who had escaped, and his telling, signifies nothing else than that the Lord perceived. The interior man perceives what is going on in the external man just as if one were to tell it. The Lord, who had a perception of all things that were taking place, knew very clearly the quality and the source of all that took place in connection with Himself, as for example if anything of evil were taking possession of the affections of His external man, or anything of falsity of its thoughts, He could not but know what it was, and whence; and also what evil spirits were exciting the evil and the falsity; and how they were exciting them, besides other things; for such things, and others beyond number, are not concealed from the angels, and scarcely from men who have celestial perception, still less from the Lord.

sRef Gen@14 @13 S0′ 1702. That “Abram the Hebrew” is the interior man to which the internal or Divine man was adjoined, may be seen from the signification of “Abram the Hebrew,” or from the surnaming of Abram, in that he is here called “the Hebrew.” In what goes before, and in what follows, where Abram is spoken of, he is not called the Hebrew; he is so called in this passage only; and therefore some distinct thing in the Lord is represented and signified by “Abram the Hebrew.” What is represented and signified may be seen from the internal sense, namely, that it is the interior man adjoined to the internal or Divine man, as may likewise be seen from the series of things in the internal sense. The Hebrews are named in the Word when anything of servitude is signified, whatever it may be; as may be seen from what follows. The interior man is such that it serves the internal or Divine man; and for this reason the interior man is here called “Abram the Hebrew.”
[2] What the interior man is, scarcely anyone knows, and it must therefore be briefly stated. The interior man is intermediate between the internal and the external man. By the interior man the internal man communicates with the external; without this medium, no communication at all is possible. The celestial is distinct from the natural, and still more from the corporeal, and unless there is a medium by which there is communication, the celestial cannot operate at all into the natural, and still less into the corporeal. It is the interior man which is called the rational man; and this man, because it is intermediate, communicates with the internal man, where there is good itself and truth itself; and it also communicates with the exterior man, where there are evil and falsity. By means of the communication with the internal man, a man can think of celestial and spiritual things, or can look upward, which beasts cannot do. By means of the communication with the exterior man, a man can think of worldly and corporeal things, or can look downward; in this differing little from the beasts, which have in like manner an idea of earthly things. In a word, the interior or middle man is the rational man himself, who is spiritual or celestial when he looks upward, but animal when he looks downward.
[3] It is well known that a man can know that he speaks in one way while thinking in another, and that he does one thing while willing another; and that there exist simulation and deceit; also that there is reason, or the rational; and that this is something interior, because it can dissent; and also that with one who is to be regenerated there is something interior which combats with that which is exterior. This that is interior, and that thinks and wills differently from the exterior, and that combats, is the interior man. In this interior man there is conscience with the spiritual man, and perception with the celestial. This interior man, conjoined with the Divine internal man that was in the Lord, is what is here called “Abram the Hebrew.”

sRef Gen@14 @13 S0′ sRef 1Sam@4 @9 S1′ sRef Deut@15 @12 S1′ 1703. That the term “Hebrew” is predicated in the Word of some form of servitude, is evident from the following passages. In Moses:
When thy brother, a Hebrew, or a Hebrewess, shall be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years, then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee (Deut. 15:12);
where it is said “a Hebrew” and “a Hebrewess,” because servitude is treated of. In Jeremiah:
At the end of seven years ye shall let go every man his brother that is a Hebrew, who hath been sold unto thee, and hath served thee six years (Jer. 34:9, 14);
where in like manner the term “Hebrew” is used, because servitude is treated of; otherwise the sons of Jacob are not in the Prophets called “Hebrews.” In Samuel:
The Philistines said, Be strong, and be men, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews as they have been to you (1 Sam. 4:9);
where the word is used for the same reason.
sRef Ex@9 @13 S2′ sRef Gen@41 @12 S2′ sRef Gen@39 @14 S2′ sRef Ex@9 @1 S2′ [2] In Moses:
Jehovah said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, and say to him, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews, Let My people go, that they may serve Me (Exod. 9:1, 13; 10:3);
where they are called “Hebrews” from serving. The wife of Potiphar, speaking of Joseph:
Called unto the men of her house, and said unto them, See, he hath brought in a Hebrew unto us to mock us (Gen. 39:14).
Joseph is here called “a Hebrew” because he was a servant there. The chief of the butlers said unto Pharaoh:
There was with us a young man, a Hebrew, servant to the captain of the guard, and he interpreted to us our dreams (Gen.
Moreover, the Egyptians called the sons of Israel “Hebrews,” because they were servants, or in servitude, as is known (see Exod. 1:15-16, 19, and other places).

sRef Gen@14 @13 S0′ 1704. And he was dwelling in the oak-groves of Mamre the Amorite. That this signifies the state of perception from the rational man, is evident from the signification of an “oak-grove,” and of “the oak-groves of Mamre the Amorite,” spoken of before (n. 1442, 1443, 1616).

sRef Gen@14 @13 S0′ 1705. The brother of Eshcol, and the brother of Aner, and these were men of the covenant of Abram. That by these is signified the state of the rational man in respect to the external man, as regards the quality of its goods and truths, may be seen from their signification as explained below at verse 24, where also they are named. In brief, by Mamre, Eshcol, and Aner, are represented and signified the angels who were with the Lord when He fought in His earliest childhood, and who were adapted to the goods and truths then with the Lord. They are named from these goods and truths. In no case does an angel in heaven have any name; it is goods and truths from which names are predicated of them; for instance, “Michael” and the other angels named in the Word are not angels with such names; but they bear these names from the office they fill, whatever it may be. It is the same here with Mamre, Eshcol, and Aner; but representatively.

sRef Gen@14 @14 S0′ 1706. Verse 14. And Abram heard that his brother was taken captive; and he hastened his trained men that were born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued unto Dan. “Abram heard that his brother was taken captive,” signifies that the interior man perceived in what state was the external man; “and he hastened his trained men that were born in his house,” signifies those goods in the external man that were now delivered from the yoke of servitude; “three hundred and eighteen,” signifies their quality; “and pursued unto Dan,” signifies the commencement of purification.

sRef Gen@14 @14 S0′ 1707. Abram heard that his brother was taken captive. That this signifies that the interior man perceived in what state the external was, is evident from the signification of “Abram” in the verse that immediately precedes this, as being the interior man to which the internal or Divine man was adjoined; and from the signification of “Lot,” as being the external man, as has been shown before; also from the signification of “hearing that his brother was captive,” as being to perceive in what state the external man was, namely, as was said in verse 12, that apparent goods and truths had possession of it.
[2] The case is this: When the interior man (meant by “Abram the Hebrew”) perceived that the goods and truths from which the combat was waged were not goods and truths except apparently, and that they had possession of the whole of the external man (signified by “Lot, his brother’s son”), then the interior man, or the Divine internal man through the interior, purified them. How this is done, no one can possibly know but he to whom it has been revealed; for the influx of the internal man, through the interior or middle man, into the external man, is an arcanum, especially at the present time, when few, if any, know what the interior man is, and still less what the internal man is. What the internal man is, and what the interior man, may be seen just above, at verse 13. But here it shall be briefly stated what is the nature of the influx.
[3] The internal man in everyone belongs to the Lord alone; for there the Lord stores up the goods and truths with which He gifts man from infancy. Thence through these He flows into the interior or rational man, and through this into the exterior; in this way it is given to the man to think, and to be a man. But the influx from the internal man into the interior or middle man, and so into the exterior man, is twofold; it is either by celestial things, or by spiritual things or what is the same, it is either by goods, or by truths. By celestial things, or goods, it flows in only with regenerate men, who have been gifted either with perception or with conscience; thus it flows in by perception or by conscience; for which reason the influx by celestial things has no existence except with those who are in love to the Lord and in charity toward the neighbor. But by spiritual things, or truths, the Lord flows in with every man; and unless there were this influx the man could not think, and therefore could not speak. When a man is such that he perverts the goods and truths, and when he cares nothing for celestial and spiritual things, there is then no influx of celestial things, or goods, but the way for these is closed; and yet there is an influx of spiritual things, or truths, for a way for them is continually kept open. Hence may be seen what is the nature of the interior or middle, that is, of the rational man.
[4] The internal man in the interior or middle man is here signified by “Abram.” When the celestial things, or goods, flow in from the internal man into the interior man, the internal man then appropriates to itself the interior or middle man, and makes it its own; but the interior or middle man is still distinct from the internal man. The case is similar when the internal man flows in through the interior or middle man into the exterior man, for then it likewise appropriates the exterior man to itself, and makes it its own; but yet the exterior man is distinct from the interior man. So now, when the internal man perceived in the interior or middle man that the state of the external man was such, namely, that the external man was made captive, that is, that not genuine but apparent goods and truths had taken possession of it, from which it had fought against so many enemies, it then flowed in, and reduced all things to order, and liberated it from the things which infested it, and thus purified it, that is to say, so that its goods and truths were not apparent but genuine goods and truths, and were thus conjoined with the internal or Divine man; and this, as before said, by means of the interior or middle man.
[5] In this the Lord was not like any man for His interior man as to celestial things or goods was Divine, and was adjoined to His internal man even from birth. His internal man, together with this interior man, was Jehovah Himself, His Father. But He was similar to other men in this, that His interior man as to spiritual things or truths had been adjoined to His external man, and thus was Human; but this also was made Divine, that is, Jehovah, by means of combats of temptations and continual victories from its own power. The external man is what is called “Lot;” in the former state however this is called “Abram’s brothers son,” but in this “Abram’s brother;” for it was called his brother’s son when possessed by apparent goods and truths, but his brother when possessed by genuine goods and truths.

sRef Gen@14 @14 S0′ 1708. And he hastened his trained men that were born in his house. That this signifies these goods and truths in the external man which were now delivered from the yoke of servitude, is evident from the signification of the “trained men,” as also of those “born in Abram’s house.” Abram’s “men in training,” or novitiates, in the internal sense, are those goods in the external man which can be conjoined with the interior man; those “born in the house,” in the internal sense, are the same goods and also truths, as being proper to that man. But these things contain more arcana that can be told; in the first place these-how, after the combats of temptations, apparent goods become genuine goods, and that they can then be conjoined with the interior or middle man, and through this with the internal man, and be made in like manner Divine. For the Lord adjoined His Human Essence to His Divine Essence by degrees, and this by means of combats of temptations and victories, as before said. These goods that were made genuine are what are called Abram’s “men in training,” or novitiates; for these goods were in training, and were novitiates; and as they were procured by His own power, they are called “born in his house.”

sRef Gen@14 @14 S0′ 1709. Three hundred and eighteen men. That this signifies their quality, namely, that they are the holy things of combat, is involved in the number “eighteen,” and also in the number “three hundred;” for these numbers are composed of three and six. “Three” signifies what is holy (as shown n. 720, 901); and “six” combat (as shown n. 737, 900). That Abram hastened so many, is an historical truth but still it was representative, as is all the history in the Word in the five books of Moses, in Joshua, in Judges, in Samuel, in the Kings, in Daniel, and in Jonah, where the numbers in like manner involve arcana; for nothing has been written in the Word which was not of this nature, otherwise it would not be the Word, and otherwise it would not have been related that Abram hastened three hundred and eighteen; and also that these were in training, and born in his house; besides many other things which are said in this chapter.

sRef Gen@14 @14 S0′ sRef 1Ki@4 @25 S0′ sRef 2Sam@24 @15 S0′ sRef 2Sam@17 @11 S0′ sRef 2Sam@24 @2 S0′ sRef 2Sam@3 @10 S0′ 1710. And pursued even to Dan. That this signifies a state of purification, is evident from the connection of the things in the internal sense. To “pursue the enemies” is here to expel the evils and falsities which were with the goods and truths, and that caused them to merely appear to be goods and truths, and thus to liberate and purify them. “Even to Dan,” signifies to the farthest limit of Canaan, thus to the uttermost boundaries whither they had fled. That “Dan” signifies the farthest limits, or the extreme boundaries of Canaan, is evident in many places in the Word. As in 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).
Again:
In gathering, all Israel shall be gathered together, from Dan even to Beersheba (2 Sam. 17:11).
Again:
David said to Joab, Go now to and fro through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba (2 Sam. 24:2, 15).
In the book of Kings:
Judah and Israel dwelt in safety, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba (1 Kings 4:25).
From these passages it is evident that Dan was the farthest boundary of Canaan, whither the enemies were pursued which infested the goods and truths of the external man. But as Dan was a boundary of Canaan, and therefore within Canaan, lest they should stay there, they were driven further, namely, “to Hobah on the left of Damascus,” as is evident from the things stated in the verse next following, and in this way purification was effected. By the land of Canaan, in a holy sense, as before said, is signified the Lord’s kingdom, thus the celestial of love, or good; primarily, the good with the Lord.

sRef Gen@14 @15 S0′ 1711. Verse 15. And he divided himself against them by night, he and his servants, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left of Damascus. “He divided himself against them by night,” signifies the shade in which the apparent goods and truths were; “he and his servants,” signifies the rational man, and the things in the external man which obeyed; “and smote them,” signifies vindication; “and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left of Damascus,” signifies as far as this extended.

sRef Gen@14 @15 S0′ 1712. He divided himself against them by night. That this signifies the shade in which the apparent goods and truths were, is evident from the signification of “night,” as being a state of shade. There is said to be a state of shade when it is not known whether the good and truth are apparent or are genuine. When anyone is in apparent good and truth, he supposes them to be genuine good and truth; the evil and falsity that are in apparent good and truth are what cause the shade, and make them appear genuine. They who are in ignorance can know no otherwise than that the good which they do is their own, and that the truth which they think is their own, and it is the same with those who attribute to themselves the goods they do, and place merit in them, not knowing that in this case they are not good, although they appear so; and that the Own and self-merit which they place in them are the evils and falsities which obscure and darken. So in many other cases.
[2] The kind and the measure of the evil and falsity which lie concealed in them, cannot possibly be so well seen in the life of the body as in the other life, where they are presented to view as in clear light. But the case is different if this is done from ignorance that is not confirmed, for in this case those evils and falsities are easily dispersed. But if men confirm themselves in the belief that they can do good and resist evil by their own powers, and that they thus merit salvation, in this case this idea remains attached, and causes the good to be evil, and the truth to be falsity. But still it is according to order for a man to do good as of himself; and therefore he ought not to slacken his hand, with the thought, “If I can do nothing of good from myself, I ought to wait for immediate influx,” and thus remain in a passive state, for this would be contrary to order; but he must do good as of himself; yet, when he reflects upon the good which he does or has done, let him think, acknowledge, and believe that the Lord has done the work in him.
[3] If he slackens his effort, thinking as has been said, he is then not a subject into which the Lord can operate. The Lord cannot flow into anyone who deprives himself of everything into which power can be infused. It is as if one were not willing to learn anything without a revelation to himself; or as if one would teach nothing unless the words were put into him; or as if one would attempt nothing unless he were put into action as one without will. But if these things were done, he would be still more indignant at being like an inanimate thing; when yet that which is animated by the Lord in a man is that which appears as if it were from himself. It is thus an eternal truth that a man does not live from himself, but that if he did not appear to live from himself he could not live at all.

sRef Gen@14 @15 S0′ 1713. He and his servants. That this signifies the rational man, and the things in the external man which obeyed, is evident from the signification of “he,” that is, of Abram, as being the interior man (explained above); and from the signification of “servants,” as being the things which obey. All the things that are in the external man before it has been liberated and vindicated, are called “servants,” for they do nothing but render obedience to the interior man. For example: in the exterior man there are affections and there are memory-knowledges; the former are from the goods of the interior man, and the latter are from the truths of the same. When these are made to act so that they accord with the interior man, they are said to serve and obey; and therefore by “servants” nothing else is here signified than those things in the external man which obeyed.

sRef Gen@14 @15 S0′ 1714. And smote them. That this signifies vindication, is evident from the connection, and without explication.

sRef Gen@14 @15 S0′ sRef Amos@5 @27 S0′ sRef Amos@5 @26 S0′ 1715. And pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left of Damascus. That this signifies as far as this extended, is evident from the signification of “Hobah, which is on the left of Damascus.” It is not known where Hobah was situated, as there is no further mention of it in the Word. But Damascus was the principal city of Syria (as is evident from 2 Sam. 8:5, 6; Isa. 7:8); and by it is signified almost the same as by Syria (spoken of before, Gen. 10:22). The farthest boundary of the land of Canaan, beyond Dan, is described as being Damascus, as in Amos:
Ye have taken up Siccuth your king, and Chiun your images; the star of your gods which ye made to yourselves, and I will cause you to go away beyond Damascus (Amos 5:26-27).
The boundary of the holy land, or of the Lord’s kingdom, toward the north, is also called the “boundary of Damascus” (Ezek. 47:16-18, 48:1). Here, where it is said that they were smitten and driven as far as Hobah, which is on the left of Damascus, there is signified the extent to which the apparent goods and truths were purified. But unless it is known what was the character of the apparent goods and truths, and by what means they were purified so as to be made genuine, it cannot be explained what is properly meant here by Hobah, on the left of Damascus; except in a general way, that they were purified.

sRef Gen@14 @16 S0′ 1716. Verse 16. And he brought back all the substance, and also brought back his brother Lot and his substance, and the women also, and the people. “He brought back all the substance,” signifies that the interior man reduced all things in the external man into a conforming state; “and also brought back his brother Lot and his substance,” signifies the external man and all the things belonging to it; “the women and the people,” signifies both the goods and the truths.

sRef Gen@14 @16 S0′ 1717. And he brought back all the substance. That this signifies that the interior man reduced all things in the external man into a conforming state, may be seen from the signification of “bringing back all the substance.” The “substance” here is the things which Chedorlaomer and the kings with him took from their enemies; as told in what goes before. By Chedorlaomer and the kings with him, are signified the goods and truths of the exterior man. The substance they took from their enemies was nothing else than their being deprived of the power of doing evil and thinking falsity, which was signified by the wealth of Sodom and Gomorrah, and by all the food which they took (treated of above, at verse 11).
[2] This matter is of such a nature that it cannot be set forth in few words; but what here follows may be sufficient to give some notion of it. He who is in the combats of temptations, and overcomes, acquires to himself more and more a power [potestas] over the evil spirits, or over the diabolical crew, till at last they do not dare to tempt at all. But as often as a victory is gained, so often does the Lord reduce into order the goods and truths from which the combat was waged; and so often are they thus purified; and so far as they are purified, so far are the celestial things of love insinuated into the exterior man, and a correspondence effected. These are the things that are signified by bringing back all the substance.
[3] He who supposes that the external man can be reduced into correspondence without combats of temptations is mistaken; for temptations are the means of dissipating evils and falsities, as also of introducing goods and truths, and of reducing the things which are of the external man into obedience, so that it may serve the interior or rational man, and through this the internal, that is, the Lord operating through the internal man. That these things are effected by temptations, no one can know but he who has been regenerated through temptations. But how this is done can scarcely be described even in the most general manner, since it is done without the man’s knowing whence and how; for it is the Lord’s Divine operation.

sRef Gen@14 @16 S0′ 1718. And also brought back his brother Lot and his substance. That this signifies the external man and all that belongs to it, is evident from the signification of “Lot,” which is the external man, as has been stated several times before. What the external man is, is scarcely known at this day; for it is thought that only that which belongs to the body constitutes the external man; as the faculties of sense, namely, the touch, taste, smell, hearing, and sight; and also the appetites and pleasures. But these constitute the outermost man, which is merely corporeal. The knowledges that belong to the memory, and the affections that are of the love, with which the man has been imbued, properly constitute the external man; also those faculties of sense which properly belong to the spirit, together with the pleasures that the spirit enjoys. That these properly constitute the external or exterior man, is evident from men in the other life, that is, spirits. These in like manner possess an external man, and in like manner an interior man, and consequently an internal man. The body is only as it were a covering, a crust, which is dissolved in order that the man may truly live, and that all things belonging to him may become more excellent.

sRef Gen@14 @16 S0′ 1719. The women and the people. That this signifies both the goods and the truths, may be seen from the signification of “wives” and of “daughters,” as being what is good (spoken of before, n. 489-491, 568, 915)-here the word “women” is used instead of wives and daughters; and from the signification of “people,” as being truth (also explained before, n. 1259, 1260).

sRef Gen@14 @17 S0′ 1720. Verse 17. And the king of Sodom went out to meet him, after his return from smiting Chedorlaomer and the kings that were with him, at the valley of Shaveh, this is the king’s valley. “The king of Sodom went out to meet him,” signifies that the evil and falsity submitted themselves; “after his return from smiting Chedorlaomer and the kings that were with him,” signifies the liberation and vindication of the apparent goods and truths; “at the valley of Shaveh, this is the king’s valley,” signifies the state of the external man as to goods and truths at that time.

sRef Gen@14 @17 S0′ 1721. The king of Sodom went out to meet him. That this signifies that the evil and falsity submitted themselves, is evident from the signification of “the king of Sodom,” as being the evil and falsity against which was the combat; and from the signification of “going out to meet,” as being to submit one’s self. The king of Sodom is here spoken of, because the fact that evil and falsity submitted themselves occurs here in the series; but he is [specially] treated of in verse 21, which follows.

sRef Gen@14 @17 S0′ 1722. After his return from smiting Chedorlaomer and the kings that were with him. That this signifies the liberation and vindication of the apparent goods and truths, is evident from the things which precede, and from what was said above concerning Chedorlaomer and the kings that were with him.

sRef Gen@14 @17 S0′ 1723. At the valley of Shaveh, this is the king’s valley. That this signifies the state of the external man as to goods and truths at that time, may be seen from the signification of “the valley of Shaveh,” and also of “the king’s valley.” “The valley of Shaveh” signifies the goods of the external man; and “the king’s valley” signifies the truths of the same. The external man is called a “valley” from the fact that it is below. That which is more external is also lower, as that which is more internal is also higher. That a “king” signifies truth, has been said before (n. 1672).

sRef Gen@14 @18 S0′ 1724. Verse 18. And Melchizedek king of Salem bought forth bread and wine; and he was priest to God Most High. “Melchizedek” signifies the celestial things of the interior man in the Lord; “king of Salem,” signifies a state of peace as to interior or rational things; “brought forth bread,” signifies celestial things and the refreshment from them; “and wine,” signifies spiritual things and the refreshment from them; “and he was priest,” signifies the holy of love; “to God Most High,” signifies the internal man, which is Jehovah.

sRef Gen@14 @18 S0′ 1725. Melchizedek. That this signifies the celestial things of the interior man in the Lord, may be seen from the signification of the name “Melchizedek,” to be explained presently; and also from the things that precede and from those which follow. What the internal man is, and what the interior man, and what the external, has been sufficiently shown above; also that the internal man flows in through the interior man into the external; as also that the internal man flows into the interior man either by celestial things or by spiritual things; by celestial things with every regenerate man, that is, with those who live in love to the Lord and in love toward the neighbor; but by spiritual things with every man, whatever his quality may be; thence is his light from heaven, that is, his ability to think and speak, and to be a man. On this subject see what was said before (n. 1707).
[2] The celestial things of the interior man are all those which are of celestial love, as has often been said before. These celestial things in the Lord’s interior man, or the Lord’s interior man as to these celestial things, is called “Melchizedek.” The internal man in the Lord was Jehovah Himself. The interior man, when purified after the combats of temptations, was also made Divine and Jehovah; in like manner also the external; but now, when the interior man was in the state of the combats of temptation, and was not yet much purified by the combats of the temptations, it is called as to the celestial things “Melchizedek,” that is, “King of holiness and righteousness.”
sRef Ps@110 @5 S3′ sRef Ps@110 @4 S3′ sRef Ps@110 @3 S3′ sRef Ps@110 @1 S3′ sRef Ps@110 @2 S3′ [3] That this is really so, may also be seen in David, where the Lord’s combats of temptations are in like manner treated of, and at last His interior man as to celestial things is called “Melchizedek.” Thus in David:
Jehovah said unto my Lord, Sit Thou at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool. Jehovah shall send forth the scepter of Thy strength out of Zion; rule Thou in the midst of Thine enemies. Thy people are willing offerings in the day of Thy might; in honors of holiness; from the womb of the morning Thou hast the dew of Thy birth.* Jehovah hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever, after My word** Melchizedek. The Lord at Thy right hand smote through kings in the day of His anger (Ps. 110:1-5).
Here the Lord’s combats of temptations with the hells are treated of, as in the chapter before us, as may be seen from every word. That the Lord is here treated of He Himself teaches (see Matt. 22:41-43; Mark 12:36; Luke 20:42-44); to “make His enemies His footstool,” to “rule in the midst of His enemies,” the “day of might,” to “smite kings in the day of His anger,” signify the combats of temptations, and victories.
* Nativitatis; but elsewhere juventutis, as T.C.R. 764 [Rotch ed.]
* Juxta verbum meum; but elsewhere juxta modum, as n. 6148. [Idem.]

sRef Ps@76 @2 S0′ sRef Gen@14 @18 S0′ sRef Ps@76 @1 S0′ 1726. King of Salem. That this signifies a state of peace as to interior or rational things, is evident from the signification of “Salem.” In the original language “Salem” means “peace,” and also “perfection;” thus it signifies a state of peace, and a state of perfection. A state of peace is the state of the Lord’s kingdom; in that state the Lord’s celestial and spiritual things are as in their morning, and in their spring; for peace is like the dawn in the early morning, and like the spring in the springtime. The dawn and the spring cause all things that then meet the senses to be full of joy and gladness; every object draws an affection from the general one of the dawn and of the springtime. So is it with the state of peace in the Lord’s kingdom: in the state of peace all celestial and spiritual things are as it were in their morning or springtide flower and smile, that is, in their happiness itself. So does the state of peace affect everything, for the Lord is peace itself. This is signified by Salem also in David:
In Judah is God known, His name is great in Israel, in Salem also is His tabernacle, and His dwelling place in Zion (Ps. 76:1, 2).
When a man is in the combats of temptations, he is by turns gifted by the Lord with a state of peace, and is thus refreshed. A state of peace is here signified by “Salem;” and presently also by the “bread and wine,” by which celestial and spiritual things are signified; thus a state of celestial and spiritual things in peace, which state is refreshment itself.

sRef Gen@14 @18 S0′ 1727. Brought forth bread and wine. That to “bring forth bread” signifies celestial things and refreshment from them, and to “bring forth wine” signifies spiritual things and refreshment from them, is evident from the signification of “bread,” as being what is celestial (spoken of n. 276, 680); and from the signification of “wine,” as also of the “vine” and the “vineyard,” as being what is spiritual (explained n. 1069, 1071). And because “bread” signifies celestial things, and “wine” spiritual things, they were made symbols also in the Holy Supper. That Melchizedek brought forth bread and wine, has here a similar signification; for bread in the Ancient Church was the representative of all celestial things, and wine the representative of all spiritual things; thus here of the Lord Himself, from whom is all that is celestial and all that is spiritual.

sRef Gen@14 @18 S0′ 1728. And he was priest. That this signifies the holy of love, is evident from the signification of “priest” in the Word. There are two things which are predicated of the Lord, namely, that He is King, and that He is Priest. A king, or the royalty, signifies the holy which is true; and a priest, or the priesthood, signifies the holy which is good; the former is the Divine spiritual, the latter the Divine celestial. The Lord as King governs each and all things in the universe from Divine truth; and as Priest, from Divine good. Divine truth is the very order of His universal kingdom, all the laws of which are truths, or eternal verities; Divine good is the very essential of order, all things of which are of mercy. Both of these are predicated of the Lord. If Divine truth alone were His, no mortal could be saved, for truths condemn everyone to hell; but Divine good, which is of mercy, uplifts from hell to heaven. These are what the kings and priests in the Jewish Church represented and these likewise Melchizedek represented, as king of Salem, and priest to God Most High.

sRef Gen@14 @18 S0′ sRef John@14 @6 S0′ sRef John@14 @9 S0′ sRef John@14 @11 S0′ sRef John@14 @8 S0′ sRef John@14 @10 S0′ 1729. To God Most High. That this signifies the internal man, which is Jehovah, is evident from what has been said already several times concerning the Lord’s internal man, that it is Jehovah Himself, and thus that the Lord is the same as Jehovah the Father; as He Himself says in John:
I am the way, and the truth, and the life. Philip saith, Show us the Father. Jesus saith unto him, Am I so long time with you, and dost thou not know Me, Philip? He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? Believe Me, that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me (John 14:6, 8-11).
sRef Luke@24 @38 S2′ sRef Luke@24 @39 S2′ sRef Luke@24 @40 S2′ [2] It is the Lord’s Human Essence which is called the “Son of man;” which also, after the combats of the temptations, was united to His Divine Essence, so that it was itself also made Jehovah; wherefore in heaven they know no other Jehovah the Father than the Lord (see above, n. 15). With the Lord all is Jehovah; not only His internal and His interior man, but also the external man, and the very body; and therefore He alone rose into heaven with the body also; as is sufficiently evident in the Gospels, where His resurrection is treated of; as also from the words of the Lord Himself:
Wherefore do thoughts arise in your hearts? See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; handle Me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see Me have. And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet (Luke 24:38-40).

sRef Gen@14 @19 S0′ sRef Gen@14 @19 S0′ 1730. Verse 19. And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram to God Most High, Possessor of the heavens and the earth. “And he blessed him,” signifies the enjoyment of celestial and spiritual things; “and said, Blessed be Abram to God Most High,” signifies the Lord’s interior man, that it came into the enjoyment of goods from His internal man; “Possessor of the heavens and the earth,” signifies the conjunction of the internal man, or Jehovah, with the interior and the exterior man.

sRef Gen@14 @19 S0′ 1731. He blessed him. That this signifies the enjoyment of celestial and spiritual things, may be seen from the signification of “blessing,” as being to enjoy all goods (see n. 981, 1096). They are in the enjoyment of all goods who enjoy celestial and spiritual goods; for all goods, of whatever name, are from these. The things which are contained in this verse declare and proclaim the conjunction of the Lord’s Human Essence with His Divine Essence the blessing itself involves this.

sRef Gen@14 @19 S0′ 1732. Blessed be Abram to God Most High. That this signifies the Lord’s interior man, that it came into the enjoyment of goods from His internal man, is in like manner evident from the signification of “blessing” as being the enjoyment of goods, as before said; also from the signification of “Abram” here, as being the interior or rational man, treated of above (at verse 13); and also from the signification of “God Most High,” as being the Lord’s internal, which subject also has been treated of before. By “Abram,” as before said, is signified the interior or rational man which is to be united to the internal man or Jehovah, and this by the combats of temptations and victories. For with the interior man the case is as follows. The interior man, as before said, is intermediate between the internal and the external man, and enables the internal man to flow into the external; for without the interior man there is no communication. There is thus effected a communication of celestial things, and of spiritual. When the communication was of celestial things, the interior man was called “Melchizedek;” but when there is a communication of spiritual things, it is called “Abram the Hebrew.”

sRef Gen@14 @19 S0′ 1733. Possessor of the heavens and the earth. This signifies the conjunction of the internal man or Jehovah with the interior and the exterior man, as appears from the signification of “heaven and earth.” That which is interior in man is called “heaven;” and that which is exterior is called “earth.” The reason why “heaven” signifies that which is interior in man, is that a man as to his interiors is an image of heaven, and so is a kind of little heaven. Primarily the Lord’s interior man is heaven, because the Lord is the all in all of heaven, and thus is heaven itself. It follows from this that the exterior man is called the earth. For the same reason also, by the “new heavens” and the “new earth,” spoken of in the Prophets and in Revelation, nothing else is meant than the Lord’s kingdom, and everyone who is a kingdom of the Lord, or in whom the Lord’s kingdom is. That “heaven and earth” signify these things may be seen, as to “heaven,” n. 82, 911; and as to “earth,” n. 82, 620, 636, 913.
[2] That here “God Most High, Possessor of the heavens and earth,” signifies the conjunction in the Lord of the internal man with the interior and exterior man, may be seen from the fact that as to His internal man the Lord was Jehovah Himself; and because the internal man or Jehovah led and instructed the external, as a father his son, therefore relatively to Jehovah He is called, as to the external man, the “Son of God;” but relatively to the mother, He is called the “Son of Man.” The Lord’s internal man, which is Jehovah Himself, is what is here called “God Most High;” and before plenary conjunction or union was effected, it is called “Possessor of the heavens and earth,” that is, Possessor of all things which are in the interior and the exterior man; for these, as before said, are here meant by “the heavens and the earth.”

sRef Gen@14 @20 S0′ 1734. Verse 20. And blessed be God Most High, who hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all. “Blessed be God Most High,” signifies the Lord’s internal man; “who hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand,” signifies victory. “And he gave him tithes of all,” signifies remains derived from victory.

sRef Gen@14 @20 S0′ 1735. Blessed be God Most High. That this signifies the Lord’s internal man, is evident from the things which were said just above concerning the internal man. In the Ancient Church, Jehovah was called “God Most High” for the reason that “height” represented and therefore signified what is internal, and thus “the Most High” signified what is inmost. Hence the worship of the Ancient Church was upon high places, mountains, and hills. The inmost also has the same relation to the exterior and the outermost, as the highest bears to the lower and the lowest. The Most High or the Inmost is the Celestial of Love, or Love, itself. Jehovah, or the Lord’s internal man, was the very Celestial of Love, that is, Love itself, to which no other attributes are fitting than those of pure Love, thus of pure Mercy toward the whole human race which is such that it wills to save all and make them happy to eternity, and to bestow on them all that it has; thus out of pure mercy to draw all who are willing to follow, to heaven, that is, to itself, by the strong force of love. This Love itself is Jehovah.
[2] Of nothing can Am or Is be predicated except of Love. From this Love-because in Love, or of Love itself-is the very Being [Esse] of all life, that is, Life itself; and because Jehovah alone is Being of life, or Life itself, as He alone is Love, each and all things have thence their being and their life; nor can anyone be and live of himself except Jehovah alone, that is, the Lord alone; and as no one can be and live of himself except the Lord alone, it is a fallacy of sense that men seem to themselves to live of themselves. The angels plainly perceive that they do not live of themselves, but from the Lord, since they live in the very being of the Lord’s life, because in His love. But yet to them above all others there is given the appearance as of living from themselves, together with ineffable happiness. This therefore is to live in the Lord, which is never possible unless we live in His love, that is, in charity toward the neighbor.

sRef Gen@14 @20 S0′ sRef Isa@48 @17 S1′ sRef Ex@24 @10 S1′ sRef Isa@54 @5 S1′ sRef Isa@41 @14 S1′ 1736. That the Lord is Jehovah, who is here called “God Most High,” is plainly evident from the Word. In Isaiah:
Jehovah Zebaoth is His name, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; the God of the whole earth is He called (Isa. 54:5);
where it is plain that the Redeemer and the Holy One of Israel, who is the Lord alone, is “Jehovah Zebaoth” and “the God of the whole earth.” Again:
Thus said Jehovah thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, I am Jehovah thy God (Isa. 48:17).
Again:
I do help thee, saith Jehovah, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel (Isa. 41:14).
The expressions “the Holy One of Israel,” and “the God of Israel” occur many times. That the Lord is the Holy One of Israel and the God of Israel is clearly evident in that:
They saw the God of Israel, and there was under His feet as it were a work of sapphire stone, and as it were the substance of heaven for clearness (Exod. 24:10).
sRef Isa@40 @10 S2′ sRef Isa@25 @8 S2′ sRef Isa@40 @11 S2′ sRef Isa@25 @9 S2′ [2] No other was acknowledged and called Jehovah by the Jewish Church, for it worshiped the one God Jehovah, and this was the more fully the case for the reason-which was unknown to most of them-that all the rites of that church represented the Lord, and all the things of the Word in the internal sense were significative of Him. In Isaiah:
He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord Jehovih will wipe away the tear from off all faces. And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us; this is Jehovah, we have waited for Him; let us exult and be glad in his salvation (Isa. 25:8-9);
treating of the coming of the Lord.
sRef Isa@45 @21 S3′ sRef Isa@63 @16 S3′ sRef Isa@45 @18 S3′ sRef Isa@63 @15 S3′ sRef Isa@45 @22 S3′ [3] In the same:
Behold the Lord Jehovih will come in strength, and His arm shall rule for Him. He shall feed His flock like a shepherd, He shall gather the little lambs in His arm, He shall carry them in His bosom, He shall lead the sucklings (Isa. 40:10-11).
Here the Lord is plainly spoken of, who is “the Lord Jehovih.” That He “shall come in strength,” and “His arm rule for Him,” signifies that He would conquer the hells by His own power; to “feed His flock, gather the little lambs in His arm, carry them in His bosom, and lead the sucklings,” are predicated of His love or mercy.
sRef Isa@9 @6 S4′ sRef Isa@9 @7 S4′ [4] Again:
Thus said Jehovah that created the heavens, God Himself that formed the earth and made it, He established it, He created it not an emptiness, He formed it to be inhabited: I am Jehovah, and there is none else. Am not I Jehovah, and there is no God else besides Me? a just God, and a Saviour, there is none besides Me. Look unto Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else (Isa. 45:18, 21-22).
Here the Lord is manifestly spoken of as being alone Jehovah and God. That to “create the heavens and form the earth” is to regenerate, thus that the Creator of heaven and earth is the Regenerator, may be seen above at n. 16, 88, 472, and elsewhere; and therefore the Lord is often called the Creator, Former, and Maker.
sRef Ex@23 @21 S5′ [5] Again:
Thou art our Father, for Abraham knoweth us not, and Israel doth not acknowledge us. Thou, O Jehovah, art our Father, our Redeemer, Thy name is from everlasting (Isa. 63:16).
Here the Lord is plainly meant, who alone is the “Redeemer.” In Moses:
Take heed of His face, and hear His voice, provoke Him not, for He will not bear your transgression, for My name is in the midst of Him (Exod. 23:21). That “name” means essence, see above (n. 144, 145); and “in the midst” means the inmost (n. 1074).
sRef Zech@14 @9 S6′ sRef Jer@23 @6 S6′ sRef Jer@23 @5 S6′ [6] In Isaiah:
Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, God, Hero, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:6),
plainly said of the Lord. In Jeremiah:
Behold the days come that I will raise unto David a righteous offshoot, and He shall reign a King, and shall act intelligently, and shall do judgment and justice in the earth; in His days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell in confidence; and this is His name whereby they shall call Him, Jehovah our Righteousness (Jer. 23:5-6),
plainly meaning the Lord. In Zechariah:
Jehovah shall be King over all the earth; in that day there shall be one Jehovah, and His name one (Zech. 14:9),
plainly speaking of the Lord. The “name” denotes the essence.

sRef Gen@14 @20 S0′ 1737. Who hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. That this signifies victory, may be seen without explication. The conjunction of the Human Essence with the Divine Essence was procured and effected by the Lord by continual combats of temptations and victories, and this from His own power. He who apprehends the mode of the conjunction and union in any other way is much mistaken. By this He became righteousness. The conjunction or union was effected with the Celestial of Love, that is, with Love itself, which, as before said, is Jehovah. The conjunction of men with the Lord is also effected by temptations, and by the implanting of faith in love. Unless faith is implanted in love, that is, unless a man by the things that are of faith receives the life of faith, that is, charity, there is no conjunction. This alone is to follow Him, namely, to be conjoined with the Lord just as the Lord as to His Human Essence was conjoined with Jehovah. Hence also all such are called “sons of God,” from the Lord who was the only Son of God, and hence they become images of Him.

sRef Gen@14 @20 S0′ 1738. And he gave him tithes of all. That this signifies remains derived from victory, is evident from the signification of “tithes” as being remains (spoken of before, n. 576). But what remains are may be seen above (n. 468, 530, 560, 561, 661, 1050), namely, that they are all the states of love and charity, and consequently all the states of innocence and peace, with which a man is gifted. These states are given to man from infancy, but less by degrees as the man advances into adult age. But when a man is being regenerated, he then receives new remains also, besides the former, thus new life. For it is from remains, or by remains, that a man is a man; for without the state of love and charity, and without the state of innocence-which states insinuate themselves into the other states of his life-a man is not a man, but is worse than any wild beast. The remains acquired in the combats of temptations are those which are here meant. These remains are what are signified by the tithes given to Melchizedek by Abram; and they are all the celestial things of love which the Lord procured to Himself by the continual combats and victories by which He was continually being united to His Divine Essence, until His Human Essence in like manner became Love, or the Being of life, that is, Jehovah.

sRef Gen@14 @21 S0′ 1739. Verse 21. And the king of Sodom said to Abram, Give me the soul, and take the substance to thyself. “The king of Sodom said,” signifies the evil and falsity which were overcome; “unto Abram” signifies the Lord’s rational; “Give me the soul, and take the substance to thyself,” signifies that He should give them life, and they would not care for other things.

sRef Gen@14 @21 S0′ 1740. The king of Sodom said. That this signifies the evil and falsity which were overcome, is evident from the signification of “Sodom,” which is evil and falsity, as was shown above in this chapter. It is said above (in verse 17), that the king of Sodom went out to meet Abram, by which is signified that evil and falsity submitted themselves; it is now added that they are suppliants.
[2] That evil and falsity were conquered, or that evils and falsities are conquered by the combats of temptations, and that goods and truths are thereby put on, comes from the fact that evils and falsities are thus dissipated; and when these have been dissipated, goods and truths succeed in their place; and these are afterwards confirmed more and more, and are thus strengthened. For it is by evil spirits that evils and falsities are excited; and unless they are excited, the man scarcely knows that they are evils and falsities; but when excited they are manifest. And the longer the combats of temptations last, the more manifest do the evils and falsities become, until at last they are held in abhorrence.
[3] And as evils and falsities are dissipated, goods and truths take their place; and the greater the horror that is conceived for evils and falsities, the more of love for goods and truths is insinuated by the Lord. And further, the greater the horror for evils and falsities, the less do evil spirits dare to approach, for they cannot endure aversion and horror for the evils and falsities in which their life consists, and are sometimes seized with terror on their first approach. And the more of love there is for goods and truths, the more do the angels love to be with the man, and together with the angels, heaven; for they are in their own life when in the goods of love and truths of faith.

sRef Gen@14 @21 S0′ 1741. To Abram. That this signifies the Lord’s rational, is evident from the representation of Abram. In the two chapters which precede, Abram represented the Lord or His state in childhood; here in this chapter, he represents the Lord’s rational, and is then called “Abram the Hebrew;” as is evident from what has been said and shown above at verse 13; and here the representation is the same; for in this chapter no other Abram is meant than Abram the Hebrew. The Lord’s spiritual which is adjoined to His internal man is Abram the Hebrew but the celestial which is adjoined to His internal man is represented and signified by Melchizedek, as before said.

sRef Gen@14 @21 S0′ 1742. Give me the soul, and take the substance to thyself. That this signifies that He should give them life, and they would not care for other things, is evident from the signification of “soul,” as being life (treated of before, n. 1000, 1005, 1040); and from the signification of the “substance,” as being the other things that are not so properly of life, of which more will be said presently.
[2] The life which evil spirits have, and which they love extremely, is the life of the cupidities of the love of self and of the world, hence a life of hatreds, revenge, and cruelties; and they suppose that there can be no delight in any other life. They are like men-for they have been men, and they retain this belief from their life when they were men-who place all life in the delights of such cupidities, not knowing but that such life is the only life, and that when they lose it they will utterly die. But of what nature is that life which they love, is plain from those of this character in the other life, where it is turned into a fetid and excrementitious life, and wonderful to say, they perceive the stench as most enjoyable; as may be seen from what is related from experience in n. 820, 954.
[3] It was the same with the demons, who, when the Lord cast them out of the maniac, fearing for their life, asked that they might be sent into the swine (Mark 5:7-13). That these demons were those who in the life of the body had been given up to filthy avarice, may be seen from the fact that such seem to themselves in the other life to pass their time among swine, for the reason that the life of swine corresponds to avarice, and is therefore delightful to them; as is evident from what is related from experience in n. 939.

sRef Gen@14 @22 S0′ 1743. Verse 22. And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lifted up my hand to Jehovah God Most High, Possessor of the heavens and the earth. “Abram said to the king of Sodom,” signifies the reply; “I have lifted up my hand to Jehovah,” signifies the state of mind in the Lord; “Possessor of the heavens and the earth,” signifies conjunction.

sRef Gen@14 @22 S0′ 1744. Abram said to the king of Sodom. That this signifies the reply, is evident without explication.

sRef Gen@14 @22 S0′ 1745. I have lifted up my hand to Jehovah. That this signifies the state of mind in the Lord, is evident from the signification of “lifting up the hands.” The lifting up of the hand to Jehovah is a gesture of the body corresponding to an affection of the mind, as is well known. In the sense of the letter, those things which are interior, or of the mind, are expressed by external things which correspond; but in the internal sense it is internal things that are meant; here therefore the lifting up of the hand means the mind, or an affection of the mind.
[2] So long as the Lord was in a state of temptations, He spoke with Jehovah as with another; but so far as His Human Essence was united to, He spoke with Jehovah as with Himself; which is evident from many passages in the Gospels, as also from many in the Prophets and in David. The cause is clearly evident from what has been said before concerning the inheritance from the mother. So far as this remained, He was as it were absent from Jehovah; but so far as this was extirpated, He was present, and was Jehovah Himself.
[3] This may be illustrated by the conjunction of the Lord with the angels. Sometimes an angel does not speak from himself, but from the Lord, and he then does not know but that he is the Lord; but then his externals are quiescent. It is otherwise when his externals are active. The reason is, that the internal man of the angels is the Lord’s possession; and so far then as there are no obstructions on the part of what is their own, it is the Lord’s, and even is the Lord. But in the Lord, a plenary conjunction or an eternal union with Jehovah was wrought, so that His very Human Essence also is Jehovah.

sRef Gen@14 @22 S0′ 1746. Possessor of the heavens and the earth. This signifies conjunction, as appears from what was said above, at verse 19; where the same words occur, with the same signification.

sRef Gen@14 @23 S0′ 1747. Verse 23. That from a thread even to the thong of a shoe, I will not take aught that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have enriched Abram. “That from a thread even to the thong of a shoe,” signifies all natural and corporeal things that were unclean; “I will not take aught that is thine,” signifies that in celestial love here was nothing of the kind; “lest thou shouldest say, I have enriched Abram,” signifies that the Lord derived no strength whatever from such things.

sRef Gen@14 @23 S0′ 1748. That from a thread even to the thong [or latchet] of a shoe. That this signifies all natural and corporeal things that were unclean, is evident from the signification of “the thong of a shoe.” In the Word the sole of the foot and the heel signify the ultimate natural (as before shown, n. 259). A shoe is that which covers the sole of the foot and the heel; a “shoe” therefore signifies what is natural still further, thus the corporeal itself. The signification of a “shoe” is according to the subject. When predicated of goods it is taken in a good sense; and when of evil, in a bad sense; as here in treating of the substance of the king of Sodom, by whom evil and falsity are signified, the “thong of a shoe” signifies unclean natural and corporeal things. By the “thread of a shoe” falsity is signified, and by the “thong of a shoe” evil, and this the most worthless of all, because the word is a diminutive.
sRef Ex@3 @5 S2′ [2] That such things are signified by a “shoe,” is evident also from other passages in the Word; as when Jehovah appeared to Moses out of the midst of the bush, and said to Moses:
Draw not nigh hither; put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground (Exod. 3:5).
The prince of the army of Jehovah said in like manner to Joshua:
Put off thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holiness (Josh. 5:15).
Here everyone can see that the shoe would take away nothing from the holiness, provided the man were holy in himself; but that it was said for the reason that the shoe represented the ultimate natural and corporeal which was to be put off.
sRef Ps@60 @8 S3′ sRef Matt@10 @14 S3′ [3] That it is the unclean natural and corporeal, is also plain in David:
Moab is my washpot, upon Edom will I cast My shoe (Ps. 60:8).
The command to the disciples involves what is similar:

Whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, as ye go out of that house or that city, shake off the dust of your feet (Matt. 10:14; Mark 6:11; Luke 9:5);
where the “dust of the feet” has a signification like that of a “shoe,” namely, uncleanness from evil and falsity, because the sole of the foot is the ultimate natural. They were commanded to do this because they were at that time in representatives, and thought that heavenly arcana were stored up in these alone, and not in naked truths.
sRef Deut@25 @6 S4′ sRef Deut@25 @7 S4′ sRef Deut@25 @5 S4′ sRef Deut@25 @10 S4′ sRef Deut@25 @9 S4′ sRef Deut@25 @8 S4′ [4] Because a “shoe” signified the ultimate natural, the putting off of the shoe, or the shoe-loosing, signified that one should be divested of the ultimate things of nature; as in the case of him who was not willing to fulfill the duty of brother-in-law, spoken of in Moses:
If the man is not willing to fulfill the duties of a husband’s brother, then his brother’s wife shall come unto him in the eyes of the elders, and draw his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face; and she shall answer and say, So shall it be done to the man that doth not build up his brother’s house. And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that hath his shoe taken off (Deut. 25:5-10);
meaning that which is devoid of all natural charity.
sRef Luke@3 @16 S5′ sRef Deut@33 @24 S5′ sRef Deut@33 @25 S5′ [5] That a “shoe” signifies the ultimate natural, in a good sense also, is likewise evident from the Word; as in Moses, concerning Asher:
Blessed be Asher above the sons; let him be acceptable unto his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil; iron and brass shall thy shoe be (Deut. 33:24, 25);
where the “shoe” denotes the ultimate natural; a “shoe of iron” natural truth, a “shoe of brass” natural good, as is evident from the signification of iron and brass (see n. 425, 426). And because a “shoe” signified the ultimate natural and corporeal, it became a symbol of what is least and most worthless; for the ultimate natural and corporeal is the most worthless of all things in man. This was meant by John the Baptist, when he said,
There cometh One that is mightier than I, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose (Luke 3:16; Mark 1:7; John 1:27).

sRef Gen@14 @23 S0′ 1749. I will not take aught that is thine. That this signifies that in celestial love there was nothing of the kind, may be seen from the fact that it was Abram who said that he would not take aught from the king of Sodom. Abram represented the Lord, now victorious, and thus the things which were of celestial love, which He procured to Himself by the victories; and the king of Sodom represented evil and falsity, from which there was nothing in the Lord as a victor, or in celestial love.
[2] What is meant by these things in the internal sense cannot be made evident unless it be known how the case is in the other life. With evil and infernal spirits there reigns the love of self and of the world. Hence they think that they are the gods of the universe, and that they can do much. When they are vanquished, although they perceive that they can do nothing at all, there still remains the notion of power and dominion; and they think that they can contribute much to the Lord’s power and dominion, and therefore in order that they may reign together with the good spirits, they offer them their services. But as the things by which they think that they can effect anything are nothing but evil and falsity; and in the Lord, or in celestial love, there is nothing but good and truth, the king of Sodom, by whom such are represented, is here told in reply that there was nothing of the kind in the Lord, or that the Lord had no power from evil and falsity.
[3] Dominion from evil and falsity is altogether contrary to dominion from good and truth. Dominion from evil and falsity consists in desiring to make all slaves; dominion from good and truth in desiring to make all free. Dominion from evil and falsity consists in destroying all; but dominion from good and truth in saving all. From which it is evident that dominion from evil and falsity is of the devil, and that dominion from good and truth is of the Lord. That the two kinds of dominion are altogether contrary to each other may be seen from the Lord’s words in Matthew 12:24-30; also from His saying that no one can serve two masters (Matt. 6:24; Luke 16:13).

sRef Gen@14 @23 S0′ 1750. Lest thou shouldest say, I have enriched Abram. That this signifies that the Lord derived no strength whatever from such things, may be seen from the signification of “being enriched,” which is to acquire power and strength. How these things are, is evident from what has just been said.

sRef Gen@14 @24 S0′ 1751. Verse 24. Save only that which the lads have eaten, and the portion of the men who went with me; Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre, let them take their portion. “Save only that which the lads have eaten,” signifies the good spirits; “and the portion of the men who went with me,” signifies the angels; “Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre,” signifies the things that appertained to them; “let them take their portion,” signifies that they have been given into their power [potestas].

sRef Gen@14 @24 S0′ 1752. Save only that which the lads have eaten. That this signifies the good spirits, is evident from what precedes, and from what follows. It is evident from what precedes, for Mamre, Eshcol, and Aner are mentioned above (verse 13) as being allies of the covenant of Abram, by whom was signified the state of the Lord’s rational man as to His external man, in respect to the quality of its goods and truths; and thus it is evident that by them were signified the angels who were with the Lord when He was combating, as is plain from the explication there given. The same is evident from what follows, as will presently appear. Those who went with Abram are here called “the lads” or “children,” by whom no others are meant than good spirits; but by “the men,” who are spoken of immediately afterwards, are meant angels. That there were angels with the Lord when He fought against the hells, is evident from the Word; as also from the consideration that when He was in the combats of temptations, it could not be otherwise than that angels should be present, to whom the Lord from His own power gave strength, and as it were power, to fight together with Him, for all the power that the angels have is from the Lord.
[2] That angels fight against the evil, may be seen from what has occasionally been said before concerning the angels with man-that they protect man, and avert the evils which are threatened by infernal spirits (see above, n. 50, 227, 228, 697, 968) but all their power is from the Lord. The good spirits also are angels, but lower ones, for they are in the first heaven; the angelic spirits are in the second; and the angels, properly so called, are in the third (see n. 459, 684). Such is the form of government in the other life that the good spirits are subordinate to the angelic spirits, and the angelic spirits to the real angels; so that they constitute one angelic society. The good spirits and the angelic spirits are those who are here called “the lads;” but the real angels, “the men.”

sRef Gen@14 @24 S0′ 1753. And the portion of the men who went with me. That this signifies the angels, is evident from what has just been said; and also from the fact that angels, when they have appeared to men, are in the Word called “men.”

sRef Jer@23 @5 S0′ sRef Jer@23 @6 S0′ sRef Gen@14 @24 S0′ sRef Isa@9 @6 S1′ sRef Isa@9 @7 S1′ 1754. Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre. That these signify the things appertaining to them, is evident from what is said above in this chapter (at verse 13) concerning the same, namely, that by their names are signified the goods and truths from which the combat was waged, and not so much the angels themselves, for the angels are meant by “the lads,” and “the men,” as has been said. For the angels never have any name given them, but are distinguished in respect to their quality by goods and truths; and on this account nothing else is signified in the Word by a name but the essence and its quality (as before shown, n. 144, 145, 340). This may be seen also in Isaiah, where the Lord is spoken of:
His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, God, Hero, Father of eternity, Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:6),
where by the “name” is meant of what quality He is, that is, that He is Wonderful, Counselor, God, a Hero, Father of eternity, Prince of Peace.
sRef Ex@23 @21 S2′ [2] In Jeremiah, where also the Lord is spoken of:
This is His name whereby they shall call Him, Jehovah our Righteousness (Jer. 23:5, 6)
where it is plainly evident that the name is “Righteousness.” So too in Moses, where likewise the Lord is spoken of:
He will not bear your transgression, for My name is in the midst of Him (Exod. 23:21),
where also the “name” denotes the essence, as being Divine. So also in many other passages of the Word, where it is said that “they called on the name of Jehovah;” that “they should not take the name of Jehovah in vain;” and in the Lord’s Prayer, “Hallowed be Thy name.” The case is similar with the names of angels; and is so here with the names of Eshcol, Aner, and Mamre, who represent angels, in that these names signify the things appertaining to the angels.

sRef Gen@14 @24 S0′ 1755. Let them take their portion. That this signifies that they had been given into their power, is evident from what was said above (at verses 21-33), namely, that it was the Lord’s will to receive nothing from them, because He derived no strength from any such thing. That they had been given into the power of the angels stands thus: It is the angels who rule over evil and infernal spirits, as has been made evident to me from much experience. But the Lord foresees and sees all things in both general and particular, and provides and disposes for them; but some things from permission, some from sufferance, some from leave, some from good pleasure, some from will. The desire to rule is itself something of man’s own which differs from anything that the angels receive from the Lord; but still all their dominion is of love and mercy, apart from any desire to rule. But these things, being deeper arcana, cannot be stated to the understanding in a few words. It is sufficient to know that the evil and infernal spirits have been delivered into the power [potestas] of the angels, and that the Lord governs all things, both in general and in particular, down to the veriest singulars, concerning which, of the Lord’s Divine mercy hereafter, where Providence and Permissions are treated of.

sRef Gen@14 @24 S0′ 1756. The foregoing are the things that are in general involved in the internal sense of this chapter; but the series or connection itself of the things, and its beauty, cannot appear when each separate thing is explained in detail according to the signification of the words, as they would if they were embraced in a single idea, for when they are all apprehended under a single idea the things that had been scattered appear beautifully coherent and connected. The case herein is like that of one who hears another speaking, and gives his attention to the words; in which case he does not so well apprehend the idea of the speaker as he would if he paid no attention to the words or their signification. For the internal sense of the Word holds nearly the same relation to the external or literal sense as speech does to its words when these are scarcely heard, still less attended to, and when the mind is kept exclusively in the sense of the things signified by the words of the speaker.
[2] The most ancient mode of writing represented subjects by using persons and words which were understood as meaning things that were quite different. Profane writers then composed their historicals in this way, even those matters which pertained to civic and moral life; and in fact so that nothing was exactly the same as it was written in the letter, but under this something else was meant; they even presented affections of every kind as gods and goddesses, to whom the heathen afterwards instituted Divine worship, as may be known to every man of letters, for such ancient books are still extant. They derived this mode of writing from the most ancient people who existed before the flood, who represented heavenly and Divine things to themselves by such as were visible on the earth and in the world, and so filled their minds and souls with joys and delights while beholding the objects of the universe, especially such as were beautiful in their form and order; and therefore all the books of the church of those times were written in this way. Such is the book of Job; and, in imitation of those books, such is Solomon’s Song of Songs. Such were the two books mentioned by Moses in Num. 21:14, 27; besides many that have perished.
[3] At a later period this style of writing was venerated on account of its antiquity, both among the Gentiles and the posterity of Jacob, to such a degree that whatever was not written in this style they did not venerate as Divine, and therefore when they were moved by the prophetic Spirit, they spoke in a similar manner; and this for many hidden reasons. This was the case with Jacob (Gen. 49:3-17); with Moses (Exod. 15:1-21; Deut. 33:2-29); with Balaam, who was of the sons of the East, from Syria where the Ancient Church still existed (Num. 23:7-10, 19-24; 24:5-9, 17-24); with Deborah and Barak (Judges 5:2-31); with Hannah (1 Sam. 2:2-10); and with many others. And though very few understood or knew that their words signified the heavenly things of the Lord’s kingdom and church, still, being touched and penetrated with the awe of admiration, they felt that what was Divine and holy was in them.
[4] But that the historicals of the Word are similar-that is, that in respect to every name and every word they are representative and significative of the celestial and the spiritual things of the Lord’s kingdom-has not yet become known to the learned world, except in that the Word is inspired as to the smallest iota, and that there are heavenly arcana in all things of it in both general and particular.

1757. CONTINUATION CONCERNING THE SPEECH OF SPIRITS, AND ITS DIVERSITIES.
The speech of spirits with man, as before said, is effected by words; but the speech of spirits among themselves, by ideas-the origins of words-such as are the ideas of thought; these however are not so obscure as are man’s ideas while he lives in the body, but are distinct, like those of speech. Human thought, after the decease of the body, becomes more distinct and clear; and the ideas of thought become discrete, so as to serve for distinct forms of speech; for obscurity has been dissipated together with the body; and so the thought-being liberated from the shackles in which it was as it were entangled, and consequently from the shade in which it was involved-becomes more instantaneous; and hence the mental view, perception, and utterance of each thing is more prompt.

1758. The speech of spirits is diverse: each society or family of spirits, and even every spirit, can be distinguished from others by their speech (much as is the case with men), not only by the affections which make the life of the speech and which fill or give impulse to the words, and by the accents, but also by the tones, and by other characteristics not so easily described.

1759. The speech of celestial spirits cannot easily flow into the articulate sounds or words that appertain to man; for it cannot be suited to a word in which there is anything that sounds harshly, or in which there is a rough doubling of consonants, or in which there is an idea that is derived from memory-knowledge; on which account they rarely flow into the speech otherwise than by affections which, like a flowing stream or a gentle breeze, soften the words. The speech of spirits who are intermediate between the celestial and the spiritual is sweet, flowing like the gentlest atmosphere, soothing the recipient organs, and softening the words themselves; it is also rapid and sure. The flow and the pleasantness of the speech come from the fact that the celestial good in their ideas is of this character, and there is nothing in the speech that dissents from the thought. All the sweet harmoniousness in the other life comes from goodness and charity. The speech of the spiritual also is flowing, but is not so soft and gentle. It is chiefly these who speak.

1760. There is also a flowing speech of evil genii; yet it is so only to the outward hearing; but inwardly it is grating, because from a pretense of good, and no affection of it. There is also a speech of these genii that is devoid of the flowing character, in which the dissent of the thoughts is perceived as something that silently creeps along.

1761. There are spirits who do not inflow in a stream-like manner, but by vibrations and movements to and fro, as it were in lines, and more or less sharp. The same inflow not only with the speech, but also with the reply. They are those who from many causes reject the interior things of the Word; looking upon man as their tool, and as of little account; and caring for themselves alone.

1762. There are spirits who do not speak, but who have expressed the sentiments of their mind by changes induced on my face, and have presented their ideas so vividly that their thought was thus made manifest as it were in a form. This was done by changes about the region of the lips, passing thence to the face; also about the eyes, while they were communicating the interior sentiments of their mind; around the left eye when they were communicating truth and affections of truth, and around the right eye when communicating good and affections of good.

1763. I have also heard a simultaneous speech of many spirits speaking together, that undulated like a roll, and flowed into the brain in varying directions. Also a speech of certain spirits that terminated in a quadruple movement, as if to the tone and sound of men threshing. These spirits are separated from others. They induce a pain in the head, as if from the suction of an air-pump. Some have been heard who spoke with a sonorous voice, but as if within, in themselves but still it came to the hearing as speech.
[2] Others who spake by a belching forth of the words as from the belly; these are such as wish to give no attention to the sense of a thing, but are forced to speak by others. I have heard some who spoke with a rough or cracked sound; these apply themselves to the left side, under the elbow; also to the left external ear. Some I heard who could not speak aloud, but as if they had a cold; these belong to the class of those who by insinuations into the delights of others worm out their secrets for the purpose of doing harm.
[3] There are spirits of low stature, who, although few, speak like a great multitude, with a sound like thunder; they were heard above the head, and I thought that there was a multitude; but one of them came to me at the left side beneath the arm, and spoke in the same way with a thundering voice; he also moved away, and did the same. Whence such spirits come, will of the Lord’s Divine mercy be told elsewhere. But these kinds of speech are comparatively rare. It is a remarkable fact that what is said in these various ways is heard as loudly and sonorously by one whose interior organs of hearing are opened, and also by spirits, as are sounds and the speech of men on earth; but they are not heard at all by one in whom these organs are not opened.

1764. Once also spirits conversed with me simply by representatives shown before the sight, by representing flames of various colors; lights clouds rising and falling;, small houses and platforms for speaking of different kinds; vessels; persons variously dressed, and many other things, which were all significative; and merely from these it could be known what they desired to convey.

1767. CHAPTER 15

CONCERNING THE HOLY SCRIPTURE OR WORD, IN WHICH ARE STORED UP DIVINE THINGS, WHICH ARE OPEN BEFORE GOOD SPIRITS AND ANGELS
When the Word of the Lord is being read by a man who loves the Word and lives in charity, or by a man who from simplicity of heart believes what is written and has not formed principles contrary to the truth of faith which is in the internal sense, it is presented by the Lord before the angels in such beauty and in such pleasantness, with representatives also, and this with inexpressible variety in accordance with all their state at the time, that every particular is perceived as if it had life, which life is that which is in the Word, and from which the Word had birth when it was sent down from heaven. From this cause the Word of the Lord is such, that although in the letter it appears crude, there are stored up in it spiritual and celestial things which lie open before good spirits, and before angels, when the Word is being read by man.

1768. That the Word of the Lord is so presented before good spirits and before angels, it has been given me to hear and to see; and I am therefore permitted to relate the experiences themselves.

1769. A certain spirit came to me not long after his departure from the body, as I was able to infer from the fact that he did not yet know that he was in the other life, but supposed that he was living in the world. It was perceived that he had been devoted to studies, concerning which I spoke with him. But he was suddenly taken up on high; and, surprised at this, I imagined that he was one of those who aspire to high things, for such are wont to be taken up on high; or else that he placed heaven at a great height, for such likewise are often carried up on high, that they may know from experience that heaven is not in what is high, but in what is internal.
[2] But I soon perceived that he was taken up to the angelic spirits, who were in front, a little to the right, at the entrance to heaven. He then spoke with me from thence, saying that he saw things more sublime than human minds could at all comprehend. While this was taking place, I was reading the first chapter of Deuteronomy, about the Jewish people, in that men were sent to explore the land of Canaan and what was in it. While I was reading this, he said that he perceived nothing of the sense of the letter, but the things in the spiritual sense, and that these were wonders which he could not describe. This was in the first entrance to the heaven of angelic spirits; what wonders then would be perceived in that heaven itself! and what in the angelic heaven!
[3] Certain spirits who were with me, and who before had not believed that the Word of the Lord is of such a nature, then began to repent of their unbelief; they said, in that state, that they believed because they heard the spirit say that he heard, saw, and perceived that it was so.
[4] But other spirits still persisted in their unbelief, and said that it was not so, but that these things were fancies; and therefore they too were suddenly taken up, and spoke with me from thence; and they confessed that it was anything but fancy, because they really perceived that it was so; and by a more exquisite perception indeed than can ever be given to any sense during the life of the body.
[5] Soon others also were taken up into the same heaven, and among them one whom I had known in the life of the body, who testified to the same effect, saying also, among other things, that he was too much amazed to be able to describe the glory of the Word in its internal sense. Then, speaking from a kind of pity, he said that it was strange that men knew nothing at all of such things. He said further that from where he then was he could look most deeply into my thoughts and my affections, and perceived in them more things than he could tell; such as causes, influxes, whence they came, and from whom; the ideas, and how they were mixed with earthly things, and that these were to be wholly separated; besides other things.

1770. On two occasions afterwards I saw others taken up into the second heaven, among the angelic spirits; and they spoke with me thence while I was reading the third chapter of Deuteronomy from beginning to end. They said that they were solely in the interior sense of the Word; at the same time asserting that there was not a tittle in which there was not a spiritual sense that coheres most beautifully with all the rest, and further that the names signify real things. Thus they too were confirmed; because they had not believed before that each and all things in the Word have been inspired by the Lord; and this they wished to confirm before others by an oath, but it was not permitted.

1771. Certain spirits also were in unbelief concerning the Word of the Lord, as to there being such things stored up in its bosom, or within it; for in the other life spirits are in unbelief like that in which they had been in the life of the body; and this is not dissipated except by means provided by the Lord, and by living experiences. On this account, while I was reading some of the Psalms of David, the deeper insight or mind of these spirits was opened. These were not taken up among angelic spirits. They then perceived the interior things of the Word in those Psalms; and being amazed at them said that they had never believed such things.
[2] The same portion of the Word was then heard by many other spirits; but they all apprehended it in different ways. With some it filled the ideas of their thought with many pleasant and delightful things, thus with a kind of life in accordance with the capacity of each one, and at the same time with an efficacy that penetrated to their inmosts, and this to such a degree with some that they seemed to be uplifted toward the interiors of heaven, and nearer and nearer to the Lord, according to the degree in which they were affected by the truths and the goods therewith injoined.
[3] The Word was then at the same time brought to some who had no apprehension of its internal sense, but only of the external or literal sense; and to them the letter appeared to have no life. From all this it was manifest what the Word is when the Lord fills it with life-that it is of such efficacy that it penetrates to the inmosts; also what it is when He does not fill it with life-that it is then the letter only, with scarcely any life.

1772. Of the Lord’s Divine mercy I too have been permitted in the same way to see the Lord’s Word in its beauty in the internal sense, and this many times; not as it is while the words are being explained as to the internal sense in detail, but with all things both in general and particular brought together into a single series or connection, which may be said to be the seeing of a heavenly paradise from an earthly one.

1773. Spirits who had found delight and joy in the Word of the Lord during their life in the body, have in the other life a kind of joyous heavenly warmth which it has also been permitted me to feel. The warmth of those who had some measure of this delight was communicated to me. It was like a vernal heat, beginning in the region of the lips, and diffusing itself about the cheeks, and thence as far as the ears, ascending also to the eyes, and descending toward the middle region of the breast.
[2] The warmth of those who had been still more affected by delight in the Word of the Lord, and by the interior things of it which the Lord Himself had taught, was also communicated to me; beginning at the breast it ascended thence toward the chin, and descended toward the loins. The warmth of those who had been even more delighted and affected, was still more interiorly joyous and vernal, extending indeed from the loins upward toward the breast, and thence through the left arm to the hands. I was instructed by the angels that this is really the case, and that the approach of those spirits brings such warmths, although they themselves do not feel them, because they are in them, just as infants, children, and youths are not commonly sensible of their own warmth which they have in greater measure than adults and old people, because they are in it.
[3] I was also made sensible of the warmth of some, who had indeed been delighted with the Word, but had not been solicitous about the understanding of it; their warmth was felt in the right arm only. As regards the warmth: evil spirits also can by their artifices produce a warmth which counterfeits delight, and can communicate it to others; but it is only an external warmth, without an origin from internals. Such warmth is that which putrefies and converts food into excrement, like the heat of adulterers, and that of those who have been immersed in filthy pleasures.

1774. There are spirits who do not desire to hear anything about the interior things of the Word; and even should they understand them, they are still unwilling. They are chiefly those who have placed merit in works, and who therefore have done goods from the love of self and of the world, or for the sake of the rank or wealth to be gained for themselves, and the consequent reputation, thus not for the sake of the Lord’s kingdom. In the other life such desire more than others to enter heaven; but they remain outside of it; for they are unwilling to be imbued with the knowledges of truth, and thereby to be affected with good. They interpret the meaning of the Word from the letter according to their fancies, and by advancing whatever favors their cupidities with its approval. Such were represented by an old woman who had a face not comely, but of even snowy paleness, with irregular features [cui inerant inordinata], which made her ugly. But those who admit and love the interior things of the Word, were represented by a girl in early maidenhood, or in the flower of youth, handsomely dressed, and adorned with garlands and heavenly ornaments.

1775. I have conversed with certain spirits concerning the Word, saying that it has been necessary that of the Lord’s Divine Providence some revelation should come into existence, for a revelation or Word is the general recipient vessel of spiritual and celestial things, thus conjoining heaven and earth; and that without it they would have been disjoined, and the human race would have perished. And besides it is necessary that there should be heavenly truths somewhere, by which man may be instructed, because he was born for heavenly things, and, after the life of the body, ought to come among those who are heavenly; for the truths of faith are the laws of order in the kingdom in which he is to live forever.

1776. It may seem a paradox, but still it is most true, that the angels understand the internal sense of the Word better and more fully when little boys and girls are reading it, than when it is read by adult persons who are not in the faith of charity. The cause has been told me, and is that little boys and girls are in a state of mutual love and innocence, and thus their most tender vessels are almost heavenly, and are simply capacities for receiving, which therefore can be disposed by the Lord; although this does not come to their perception, except by a certain delight suited to their genius. It was said by the angels that the Word of the Lord is a dead letter; but that in him that reads it is vivified by the Lord according to the capacity of each one; and that it becomes living according to the life of his charity and his state of innocence, and this with inexpressible variety.

1777. A continuation follows at the end of this chapter.
GENESIS 15
1. After these words, the word of Jehovah came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram; I am a shield to thee, thy exceeding great reward.
2. And Abram said, Lord Jehovih, what wilt Thou give me, and I am walking childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer the Damascene?
3. And Abram said, Lo to me Thou hast not given seed, and behold a son of my house is mine heir.
4. And behold the word of Jehovah came unto him, saying, This one shall not be thine heir; but he that shall go forth out of thy bowels shall be thine heir.
5. And He led him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and number the stars, if thou be able to number them; and He said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
6. And he believed in Jehovah, and He imputed it to him for righteousness.
7. And He said unto him, I am Jehovah who led thee forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land, to inherit it.
8. And he said, Lord Jehovih, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?
9. And He said unto him, Take thee a heifer of three years, and a she-goat of three years, and a ram of three years, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.
10. And he took unto him all these and divided them in the midst, and laid each part over against the other; and the birds he did not divide.
11. And the fowls came down upon the bodies, and Abram drove them away.
12. And it came to pass when the sun was going down that a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold a terror of great darkness falling upon him.
13. And He said unto Abram, Knowing thou shalt know that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years.
14. And also that nation whom they shall serve will I judge; and after that shall they go out with great substance.
15. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.
16. And in the fourth generation they shall return hither, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet consummated.
17. And it came to pass that the sun went down, and there was thick darkness; and behold a furnace of smoke, and a torch of fire that passed between those pieces.
18. In that day Jehovah made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:
19. The Kenite, and the Kenizzite, and the Kadmonite;
20. And the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Rephaim;
21. And the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Girgashite, and the Jebusite.

sRef Gen@15 @0 S0′ 1778. THE CONTENTS
Here in the internal sense are continued the things concerning the Lord after He had endured in childhood the most severe combats of temptations, which were directed against the love which He cherished toward the whole human race, and in particular toward the church; and therefore being anxious concerning their future state a promise was made Him; but it was shown at the same time what the state of the church would become toward its end when it would begin to expire; but that still a new church should revive, which would take the place of the former, and the heavenly kingdom would be immensely increased.

sRef Gen@15 @0 S0′ 1779. The Lord’s consolation after the combats of temptations described in the foregoing chapter (verse 1).

sRef Gen@15 @0 S0′ 1780. The Lord’s complaint respecting the church, that it was in externals only (verses 2, 3). A promise concerning an internal church (verse 4). Concerning its multiplication (verse 5). That the Lord is righteousness (verse 6). And unto Him alone belongs the kingdom in the heavens and on earth (verse 7).

sRef Gen@15 @0 S0′ 1781. And as He desired to be assured that the human race would be saved (verse 8), it was shown Him how the case is with the church, in general, specifically, and in particular (verses 9 to 17).

sRef Gen@15 @0 S0′ 1782. The “heifer,” “she-goat,” and “ram,” are the representatives of the celestial things of the church; the “turtledove” and the “young pigeon” are the representatives of its spiritual things (verse 9). The church was on one side, and the Lord on the other (verse 10). The Lord would dissipate evils and falsities (verse 11). But the falsities would still infest it (verses 12, 13). From these there should be deliverance (verse 14). Thus the Lord received consolation (verse 15). But that evils would take possession (verse 16). And at last nothing but falsities and cupidities would reign (verse 17). Then would come the Lord’s kingdom, and a new church, the extension of which is described (verse 18). The falsities and evils to be expelled from it are the nations named (verses 19-21).

1783. THE INTERNAL SENSE
The things which are here contained, are as before said true historicals, namely, that Jehovah spoke thus with Abram, and that the land of Canaan was promised him as an inheritance; that he was commanded so to place the heifer, the she-goat, ram, turtledove, and young pigeon; that the fowls came down upon the bodies; that a deep sleep fell upon him, and in the sleep a terror of darkness; and that when the sun had set, there was seen by him as it were a furnace of smoke with a torch of fire between the parts; besides the other historicals. These are true historicals, but still each and all of them, even to the least of what was done, are representative; and the words themselves by which they are described, are, as to the smallest iota, significative. That is to say, in each and all of these things there is an internal sense; for each and all of the things contained in the Word are inspired, and being inspired they cannot but be from a heavenly origin; that is, they must necessarily store up within them celestial and spiritual things, for otherwise it could not possibly be the Word of the Lord.
[2] These are the things contained in the internal sense; and when this sense lies open, the sense of the letter is obliterated, as if there were none; and on the other hand, when attention is given solely to the historical sense or that of the letter, the internal sense is obliterated, as if there were none. These two are related as is heavenly light to the light of the world; and, conversely, as is the light of the world to heavenly light. When heavenly light appears, then the light of the world is as thick darkness; as has been made known to me by experience; but when anyone is in the light of the world, then heavenly light, if it appeared, would be as thick darkness; the same as with human minds: to him who places everything in human wisdom, or in memory-knowledges, heavenly wisdom appears as an obscure nothing; but to him who is in heavenly wisdom, human wisdom is as a kind of obscure general affair, which, if there were not heavenly rays in it, would be as thick darkness.

sRef Gen@15 @1 S0′ 1784. Verse 1. After these words, the word of Jehovah came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram, I am a shield to thee, thy exceeding great reward. “After these words, the word of Jehovah came unto Abram in a vision,” signifies that after the combats in childhood there was revelation; “a vision” denotes inmost revelation, which is that of perception; “Fear not, Abram, I am a shield to thee,” signifies protection against evils and falsities, which is to be trusted; “thy great reward,” signifies the end or purpose of the victories.

sRef Gen@15 @1 S0′ 1785. After these words, the word of Jehovah came to Abram in a vision. That this signifies that after the combats in childhood there was revelation, is evident from the signification of “words,” also of “the word of Jehovah to Abram,” and also from the signification of “a vision.” By “words,” in the Hebrew language, are signified actual things; here the things accomplished, which are the Lord’s combats of temptations, treated of in the preceding chapter. “The word of Jehovah to Abram” is nothing else than the Lord’s word with Himself but in childhood, and in the combats of temptations, when the Essences were not yet united as a one, it could not appear otherwise than as a revelation. What is internal, when it acts into what is external, in a state and at moments when this is far away, is presented in no other manner. This is the state which is called the Lord’s state of humiliation.

sRef Gen@15 @1 S0′ 1786. That “a vision” denotes inmost revelation, which is that of perception, may be seen from the nature of visions, which take place in accordance with the man’s state. To those whose interiors are closed, a vision is very different from what it is to those whose interiors are open. For example: when the Lord appeared to the whole congregation in Mount Sinai, the appearing was a vision that was different to the people from what it was to Aaron, and that was different to Aaron from what it was to Moses; and again, visions were different to the prophets from what they were to Moses. There are many kinds of visions, concerning which, of the Lord’s Divine mercy hereafter. The more interior the visions, the more perfect they are. With the Lord they were the most perfect of all; because He then had perception of all things in the world of spirits and in the heavens, and also had immediate communication with Jehovah. This communication is represented, and in the internal sense is signified, by the vision in which Jehovah appeared to Abram.

sRef Gen@15 @1 S0′ 1787. Fear not, Abram, I am a shield to thee. That this signifies protection against evils and falsities, which is to be trusted, is evident from the signification of “a shield,” to be explained presently. These words, namely, that Jehovah is a shield, and that He is an exceeding great reward, are words of consolation after temptations. Every temptation is attended with some kind of despair (otherwise it is not a temptation), and therefore consolation follows. He who is tempted is brought into anxieties, which induce a state of despair as to what the end is to be. The very combat of temptation is nothing else. He who is sure of victory is not in anxiety, and therefore is not in temptation.
sRef Matt@26 @44 S2′ sRef Luke@22 @40 S2′ sRef Mark@14 @41 S2′ sRef Mark@14 @40 S2′ sRef Mark@14 @39 S2′ sRef Matt@26 @41 S2′ sRef Mark@14 @33 S2′ sRef Matt@26 @42 S2′ sRef Luke@22 @45 S2′ sRef Mark@14 @34 S2′ sRef Luke@22 @43 S2′ sRef Mark@14 @35 S2′ sRef Luke@22 @42 S2′ sRef Mark@14 @37 S2′ sRef Matt@26 @43 S2′ sRef Matt@26 @40 S2′ sRef Matt@26 @38 S2′ sRef Mark@14 @38 S2′ sRef Luke@22 @41 S2′ sRef Matt@26 @39 S2′ sRef Luke@22 @44 S2′ sRef Matt@26 @37 S2′ sRef Mark@14 @36 S2′ [2] The Lord also, as He endured the most dire and cruel temptations of all, could not but be driven into states of despair, and these He dispelled and overcame by His own power; as may be clearly seen from His temptation in Gethsemane, thus recorded in Luke:
When Jesus was at the place, He said unto the disciples, Pray that ye enter not into temptation. But He was parted from them about a stone’s cast; and kneeling down He prayed, saying, Father, if Thou be willing let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not My will, but Thine, be done. And there appeared unto Him an angel from heaven, strengthening Him; and being in an agony, He prayed more earnestly; and His sweat became as drops of blood falling down upon the ground (Luke 22:40-45).
In Matthew:
He began to be sorrowful and sore troubled. Then saith He unto the disciples, My whole soul is sorrowful even unto death. And going forward a little, He fell on His face, praying, and saying, My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt. Again a second time He went away, and prayed, saying, My Father, if this cup cannot pass except I drink it, Thy will be done. And He prayed a third time, saying the same word (Matt. 26:37-44).
In Mark:
He began to be terrified, and sore troubled, and said to the disciples, My soul is encompassed with sorrow even unto death. He went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass away from Him. He said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto Thee; remove this cup from Me; howbeit, not as I will, but as Thou wilt: and He spake thus a second time and a third (Mark 14:33-41).
[3] From these passages we may see what was the nature of the Lord’s temptations-that they were the most terrible of all; and that He felt anguish from the very inmosts, even to the sweating of blood; and that He was then in a state of despair concerning the end and the event; and also that He had consolations. The words now under consideration, “I, Jehovah, am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward,” involve in like manner consolation after the combats of temptations treated of in the foregoing chapter.

sRef Gen@15 @1 S0′ 1788. That a “shield” means protection against evils and falsities, which is trusted in, is evident without explication; for from common usage the expression has become familiar that Jehovah is a shield and a buckler. But what is specifically signified by “a shield,” may be seen from the Word, in that as regards the Lord it signifies protection, and as regards man, trust in the Lord’s protection. As “war” signifies temptations (as before shown, n. 1664), so all the weapons of war signify some specific thing belonging to temptation, and to defend against evils and falsities, that is, against the diabolical crew that induce the temptation, and that tempt. Therefore a “shield” signifies one thing, a “buckler” signifies another, and a “target” another, a “helmet” another, a “spear” and a “lance” another, a “sword” another, a “bow and arrows” another, a “coat of mail” another; concerning each of which of the Lord’s Divine mercy hereafter.
sRef Ps@144 @1 S2′ sRef Ps@144 @2 S2′ [2] The reason why a “shield” in relation to the Lord signifies protection against evils and falsities, and in relation to man trust in the Lord; is that it was a protection to the breast; and by the breast good and truth are signified-good because the heart is there, and truth because the lungs are there. That this is the signification of a “shield,” is evident in David:
Blessed be Jehovah my rock, who teacheth my hands combat, my fingers war; my mercy and my fortress, my fortified citadel and my deliverer, my shield, and He in whom I trust (Ps. 144:1-2),
where the “combat” and “war” are those of temptations, and in the internal sense, the Lord’s temptations; the “shield,” with reference to Jehovah, is protection; and with reference to man is trust, as is plainly evident.
sRef Deut@33 @29 S3′ sRef Ps@115 @11 S3′ sRef Ps@115 @10 S3′ sRef Ps@91 @4 S3′ sRef Ps@91 @2 S3′ sRef Ps@115 @9 S3′ [3] In the same:
O Israel, trust thou in Jehovah; He is their help and their shield. O house of Aaron, trust ye in Jehovah; He is their help and their shield. Ye that fear Jehovah, trust in Jehovah; He is their help and their shield (Ps. 115:9-11),
where the meaning is similar. Again:
Jehovah is my fortress, my God in whom I trust. He shall cover thee with His wing; and under His wings shalt thou trust; His truth is a shield and a buckler (Ps. 91:2, 4),
where “a shield” and “a buckler” denote protection against falsities.
sRef Ps@18 @30 S4′ sRef Ps@7 @10 S4′ sRef Ps@7 @9 S4′ sRef Ps@18 @35 S4′ sRef Ps@18 @2 S4′ sRef Ps@47 @9 S4′ [4] Again:
Jehovah is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my strong rock in whom I trust, my shield, and the horn of my salvation. Jehovah is a shield unto all that trust in Him (Ps. 18:2, 30),
where the meaning is similar. Again:
Thou that provest the hearts and reins, a just God; my shield is upon God who saveth the upright in heart (Ps. 7:9-10),
meaning trust. Again:
Thou hast given me the shield of Thy salvation, and Thy right hand will hold me up (Ps. 18:35),
also signifying trust. Again:
The shields of the earth belong unto God; He is greatly exalted (Ps. 47:9),
where trust is again meant.
sRef Ps@84 @11 S5′ [5] Again:
Jehovah God is a sun and a shield; Jehovah will give grace and glory; good shall not be withheld from them that walk in integrity (Ps. 84:11),
signifying protection. In Moses:
Thy blessings, O Israel; who is like unto thee, a people saved in Jehovah, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency, and thine enemies shall be mistaken in regard to thee (Deut. 33:29);
“the shield” denoting protection.
sRef Jer@46 @3 S6′ sRef Jer@46 @4 S6′ [6] As weapons of war are spoken of with reference to those who are in the combats of temptations, so also the same weapons of war are attributed to the enemies who assail and tempt, and then they signify the contrary things; thus a “shield” signifies the evils and falsities from which they fight, and which they defend, and in which they trust. As in Jeremiah:
Make ye ready the shield and buckler, and draw near to battle. Harness the horses, and go up, ye horsemen, and stand forth in helmets, furbish the lances, put on the coats of mail (Jer. 46:3-4).
Besides many other passages.

sRef Gen@15 @1 S0′ 1789. Thy great reward. That this signifies the end and purpose of the victories, is evident from the signification of “reward,” as being the prize after the combats of temptations; here the end and purpose of the victories, because the Lord never looked for any prize of victory for Himself. His prize of victories was the salvation of the whole human race; and it was from love toward the entire human race that He fought. He who fights from this love demands for himself no prize, because this love is such that it wills to give and transfer all its own to others, and to have nothing for itself; so that it is the salvation of the whole human race that is here signified by the “reward.”

sRef Gen@15 @2 S0′ 1790. Verse 2. And Abram said, Lord Jehovih, what wilt Thou give me, and I am walking childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer the Damascene? “Abram said, Lord Jehovih,” signifies the Lord’s perception; “Abram” is the interior man; the “Lord Jehovih” is the internal man relatively to the interior; “what wilt Thou give me, and I am walking childless?” signifies that there was no internal church; “and the steward of my house,” signifies an external church; “is this Eliezer the Damascene” denotes the external church.

sRef Gen@15 @2 S0′ 1791. Abram said, Lord Jehovih. That this signifies the Lord’s perception, may be seen from the fact that the Lord had the most interior and perfect perception of all things. This perception, as before said, was a perceptive sensation and knowledge of all things that were taking place in heaven, and was a continual communication and internal conversation with Jehovah, which the Lord alone had. This is meant in the internal sense by the words “Abram said to Jehovah;” this was represented by Abram when he spoke with Jehovah; and the like is signified in what follows wherever the expression “Abram said to Jehovah” occurs.

sRef Gen@15 @2 S0′ 1792. That “Abram” denotes the interior man, or that Abram represented the Lord’s interior or rational man, has been stated before. What the Lord’s interior man is, was shown in the foregoing chapter.

sRef Gen@15 @2 S0′ 1793. That the “Lord Jehovih” is the internal man relatively to the interior, is evident from what has been said concerning the Lord’s internal man, namely, that it was Jehovah Himself, from whom He was conceived, and whose only Son He was, and to whom the Lord’s Human became united after He had by the combats of temptation purified the maternal human, that is, that which He derived from the mother. The appellation “Lord Jehovih” occurs very often in the Word; indeed, as often as Jehovah is called “Lord” He is not called “Lord Jehovah,” but “Lord Jehovih,” and this especially where temptations are treated of.
sRef Isa@40 @11 S2′ sRef Isa@40 @10 S2′ [2] As in Isaiah:
Behold, the Lord Jehovih cometh in strength, and His arm shall rule for Him; behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him. He shall feed His flock like a shepherd, He shall gather the lambs in His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall lead those that give suck (Isa. 40:10-11),
where “the Lord Jehovih cometh in strength,” relates to His victory in the combats of temptations; “His arm shall rule for Him,” means that it is from His own power. What the reward is that is mentioned in the first verse of this chapter is here declared, namely, that it is the salvation of the whole human race, that is to say, “He feeds His flock like a shepherd, gathers the lambs in His arm, carries them in His bosom, and leads those that give suck;” all of which things pertain to inmost or Divine love.
sRef Isa@50 @9 S3′ sRef Isa@50 @5 S3′ sRef Isa@50 @6 S3′ sRef Isa@50 @7 S3′ [3] Again in the same Prophet:
The Lord Jehovih hath opened Mine ear, and I was not rebellious; I have not turned away backward. I gave My body to the smiters, and My cheeks to them that plucked off the hair; I hid not My face from shame and spitting; and the Lord Jehovih will help Me; behold the Lord Jehovih will help Me (Isa. 50:5-7, 9),
where temptations are manifestly treated of. Besides other passages.

sRef Gen@15 @2 S0′ 1794. What wilt Thou give me, and I am walking childless? That this signifies that there is no internal church, may be seen from the signification of “walking childless.” To “walk,” in the internal sense, is to live (as before shown, n. 519); but one who is childless is one who has no seed, or no posterity of his own. This is treated of in the following verses (3-5), where it is explained what is meant by one who is childless, or one who has no seed.

sRef Gen@15 @2 S0′ 1795. And the steward of my house. That this signifies an external church, is evident from the signification of the “steward of a house,” in the internal sense, that is, in respect to the church. The external church is called “the steward of a house,” when the internal church itself is the house, and the father of the family is the Lord. The external church is circumstanced no otherwise, for all stewardship belongs to the external of the church; as the administration of rituals, and of many things that pertain to the place of worship and to the church itself, that is, to the House of Jehovah or of the Lord.
[2] The externals of the church without the internals are things of naught; they have their being from the internals, and are such as the internals are. The case herein is the same as it is with man: his external or corporeal is in itself a thing of no account unless there is an internal which gives it soul and life. Such therefore as is the internal, such is the external; or such as is the mind [animus et mens], such is the worth of all things which come forth by means of the external or corporeal. The things which are of the heart make the man; not those which are of the mouth and the gestures; and such is the case with the internals of the church. But still the externals of the church are like the externals of a man, in that they take charge of and administer; or what is the same, the external or corporeal man may in like manner be called the steward or administrator of the house, when the house means the interiors. From this it is evident what “childless” means, namely, the state in which there is no internal of the church, but only an external; as was the case at the time of which the Lord complained.

sRef Gen@15 @2 S0′ 1796. Is this Eliezer the Damascene. From what has just been said it is now evident that these words denote the external church; and the same appears from the signification of a “Damascene.” Damascus was the principal city of Syria, where there were remains of the worship of the Ancient Church, and whence came Eber, or the Hebrew nation, with which there was nothing but the external of the church (as before said, n. 1238, 1241), thus nothing but the stewardship of the house. That there is in these words something of despair, and consequently of the Lord’s temptation, is evident from the words themselves, and also from the consolation that follows respecting the internal church.

sRef Gen@15 @3 S0′ 1797. Verse 3. And Abram said, Lo to me Thou hast not given seed, and behold a son of my house is mine heir. “Abram said, Lo to me Thou hast not given seed,” signifies that there was no internal of the church, which is love and faith; “behold a son of my house is mine heir,” signifies that there would be in the Lord’s kingdom only what is external.

sRef Gen@15 @3 S0′ 1798. Abram said, Lo to me Thou hast not given seed. That this signifies that there was no internal of the church, is evident from the signification of “seed,” which is love and faith, spoken of above (n. 255, 256, 1025), and from the signification of an heir, as explained in what follows. That love and the faith derived from it are the internal of the church, has already been several times said and shown. No other faith is meant as being the internal of the church than that which is of love or charity, that is, which is from love or charity.
[2] Faith, in a general sense, is all the doctrinal teaching of the church. But doctrine [doctrinale] separated from love or charity, by no means makes the internal of the church, for doctrine is only knowledge which is of the memory, and this exists also with the worst men, and even with infernals. But the doctrine that is from charity, or that is of charity, does make the internal of the church, for this is of the life. The life itself is the internal of all worship; and so is all doctrine that flows from the life of charity and it is this doctrine that is of faith which is here meant. That it is this faith which is the internal of the church, may be seen from this consideration alone, that he who has the life of charity is acquainted with all things of faith. If you will, just examine all doctrinal things, and see what and of what quality they are; do they not all pertain to charity, and consequently to the faith that is from charity?
[3] Take only the Precepts of the Decalogue. The first of these is to worship the Lord God. He who has the life of love or of charity worships the Lord God, because this is his life. Another precept is to keep the Sabbath. He who is in the life of love, or in charity, keeps the Sabbath holy, for nothing is more sweet to him than to worship the Lord, and to glorify Him every day. The precept, “Thou shalt not kill,” is altogether of charity. He who loves his neighbor as himself, shudders at doing anything that injures him, still more at killing him. So too the precept, “Thou shalt not steal;” for he who has the life of charity would rather give of his own to his neighbor, than take anything away from him. And so with the precept, “Thou shalt not commit adultery;” he who is in the life of charity the rather guards his neighbor’s wife, lest anyone should offer her such injury, and regards adultery as a crime against conscience, and such as destroys conjugial love and its duties. To covet the things that are the neighbor’s is also contrary to those who are in the life of charity; for it is of charity to desire good to others from one’s self and one’s own; such therefore by no means covet the things which are another’s.
[4] These are the precepts of the Decalogue which are more external doctrinal things of faith; and these are not only known in the memory by him who is in charity and its life, but are in his heart; and he has them inscribed upon himself, because they are in his charity, and thus in his very life; besides other things of a dogmatic nature which he in like manner knows from charity alone; for he lives according to a conscience of what is right. The right and the truth which he cannot thus understand and explore, he believes simply or from simplicity of heart to be so because the Lord has said so; and he who so believes does not do wrong, even though what he thus accepts is not true in itself, but apparent truth.
[5] As for example, if anyone believes that the Lord is angry, punishes, tempts, and the like. Or if he holds that the bread and wine in the Holy Supper are significative, or that the flesh and blood are present in some way in which they explain it-it is of no consequence whether they say the one thing or the other, although there are few who think about this matter, or even if they do think about it, provided this is done from a simple heart, because they have been so instructed, and nevertheless live in charity: these, when they hear that the bread and wine in the internal sense signify the Lord’s love toward the whole human race, and the things which are of this love, and man’s reciprocal love to the Lord and the neighbor, they forthwith believe, and rejoice that it is so. Not so they who are in doctrinal things and not in charity; these contend about everything, and condemn all whoever they may be that do not say (they call it “believe”) as they do. From all this everyone can see that love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor are the internal of the church.

sRef Gen@15 @3 S0′ 1799. Behold a son of my house is mine heir. That this signifies that there would be only what is external in the Lord’s kingdom, is evident from the signification in the internal sense of an “heir” and of “inheriting.” To become an heir, or to inherit, signifies eternal life in the Lord’s kingdom. All who are in the Lord’s kingdom are heirs; for they live from the Lord’s life, which is the life of mutual love; and from this they are called sons. The Lord’s sons or heirs are all who are in His life, because their life is from Him, and they are born of Him, that is, are regenerate. They who are born of anyone are heirs; and so are all who are being regenerated by the Lord, for in this case they receive His life.
[2] In the Lord’s kingdom there are those who are external, those who are interior, and those who are internal. Good spirits, who are in the first heaven, are external; angelic spirits, who are in the second heaven, are interior; and angels, who are in the third, are internal. They who are external are not so closely related or so near to the Lord, as they who are interior; nor are these so closely related or so near to the Lord, as they who are internal. The Lord, from the Divine love or mercy, wills to have all near to Himself; so that they do not stand at the doors, that is, in the first heaven; but He wills that they should be in the third; and, if it were possible, not only with Himself, but in Himself. Such is the Divine love, or the Lord’s love; and as the church was then only in externals, He in these words complained, saying, “Behold, a son of my house is mine heir,” by which is signified that there would thus be only what is external in His kingdom. But consolation follows, and a promise concerning what is internal, in the verses that follow.
[3] What the external of the church is, has been stated before (see n. 1083, 1098, 1100, 1151, 1153). What pertains to doctrine does not itself make the external, still less the internal, as before said; nor with the Lord does it distinguish churches from each other, but that which does this is a life according to doctrinals, all of which, provided they are true, look to charity as their fundamental. What is doctrine but that which teaches how a man must live?
[4] In the Christian world it is doctrinal matters that distinguish churches; and from them men call themselves Roman Catholics, Lutherans, and Calvinists, or the Reformed and the Evangelical, and by other names. It is from what is doctrinal alone that they are so called; which would never be if they would make love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor the principal of faith. Doctrinal matters would then be only varieties of opinion concerning the mysteries of faith, which truly Christian men would leave to everyone to hold in accordance with his conscience, and would say in their hearts that a man is truly a Christian when he lives as a Christian, that is, as the Lord teaches. Thus from all the differing churches there would be made one church; and all the dissensions that come forth from doctrine alone would vanish; yea, all hatreds of one against another would be dissipated in a moment, and the Lord’s kingdom would come upon the earth.
sRef Gen@11 @1 S5′ [5] The Ancient Church just after the flood, although spread through many kingdoms, was yet of this character, that is, men differed much among themselves as to doctrinal matters, but still made charity the principal; and they looked upon worship, not from doctrinal matters which pertain to faith, but from charity which pertains to life. This is meant where it is said (Gen. 11:1), that they all had one lip, and their words were one; concerning whom see above (n. 1285).

sRef Gen@15 @4 S0′ 1800. Verse 4. And behold the word of Jehovah came unto him, saying, This one shall not be thine heir; but he that shall go forth out of thy bowels shall be thine heir. “Behold the word of Jehovah came unto him,” signifies an answer: “saying, This one shall not be thine heir” signifies that what is external shall not be the heir of His kingdom; “but he that shall go forth out of thy bowels,” signifies those who are in love to Him and in love toward the neighbor; “he shall be thine heir,” signifies that they shall be made heirs.

sRef Gen@15 @4 S0′ 1801. Behold the word of Jehovah came unto him. That this signifies an answer, namely that there should not be what is external of the church, but that there should be what is internal, is evident from what follows. “The word of Jehovah,” or this answer, is the consolation.

sRef Gen@15 @4 S0′ 1802. Saying, This one shall not be thine heir. That this signifies that what is external shall not be the heir of His kingdom, is evident from the signification of becoming an heir, or inheriting, explained just above. The heir of the Lord’s kingdom is not what is external, but what is internal. What is external is so too, but through what is internal, for they then act as a one. That it may be known how the case herein is, it is to be kept in mind that all who are in the heavens-as well those who are in the first and in the second, as those who are in the third,-that is, as well those who are external and those who are interior, as those who are internal-are heirs of the Lord’s kingdom; for they all make one heaven. In the Lord’s heavens, the internals and the externals are circumstanced exactly as they are in man. The angels in the first heaven are subordinate to those in the second, and these are subordinate to the angels in the third heaven. The subordination, however, is not that of command, but is, as in a man, the influx of things internal into things more external; that is, the Lord’s life inflows through the third heaven into the second, and through this into the first, in the order of their succession, besides that it inflows immediately into all the heavens. The inferior or subordinate angels do not know that this is so unless reflection is given them by the Lord; thus there is no subordination of command.
[2] In proportion to the existence of what is internal in an angel of the third heaven is he an heir of the Lord’s kingdom; and in proportion to the same in an angel of the second heaven is he an heir; and in like manner, in proportion to the existence of what is internal in an angel of the first heaven, is he too an heir. It is that which is internal that causes anyone to be an heir. With the interior angels there is more of what is internal than there is with the more external angels, and therefore the former are nearer to the Lord, and are more fully heirs. That which is internal is love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor; in proportion therefore to the love and the charity which they have, in the same proportion are they sons and heirs, for in the same proportion are they partakers of the Lord’s life.
[3] But no one can possibly be taken up from the first or external heaven into the second or interior heaven until he has been instructed in the goods of love and the truths of faith. So far as he has been instructed, so far he can be taken up, and can come among angelic spirits. It is the same with angelic spirits before they can be taken up or come into the third heaven, or among angels. By instruction the interiors are formed, and thereby the internals, and are adapted to receiving the goods of love and the truths of faith, and thereby the perception of what is good and true. No one can perceive what he does not know and believe, consequently he cannot be gifted with the faculty of perceiving the good of love and the truth of faith except by means of knowledges, so as to know what they are and of what nature. It is so with all, even with infants, who are all instructed in the Lord’s kingdom. But these are easily instructed, because they are imbued with no principles of falsity; they are however instructed in general truths only; and when they receive these they perceive things without number or limit.
[4] The case in this respect is the same as it is with one who has been persuaded respecting any truth in general: the particulars of the general truths, and the singulars of the particulars, which are confirmatory, he easily learns, as it were of himself, or spontaneously; for he is affected by the truth in general, and thence also by the particulars and singulars of the same truth, which confirm; for these enter into the general affection with delight and pleasantness, and thus constantly perfect it. These are the internal things on account of which they are called “heirs,” or by means of which they can inherit the Lord’s kingdom. But they first begin to be heirs, or to have a heritage, when they are in the affection of good, that is, in mutual love, into which they are introduced by the knowledges of good and truth, and by the affections of them; and in proportion as they are in the affection of good, or in mutual love, in the same proportion are they “heirs,” or have an inheritance. For mutual love is the veriest life [vitale] which they receive from the Lord’s essence, as from their Father. These things may be seen from what follows in the next verse.

sRef Gen@15 @4 S0′ 1803. But he that shall go forth out of thy bowels. That this signifies those who are in love to the Lord and in love toward the neighbor, is evident from the signification of “bowels,” and of “going forth out of the bowels,” which is to be born; and here it means those who are being born of the Lord. They who are being born of the Lord, that is, who are being regenerated, receive the Lord’s life. The Lord’s life, as before said, is the Divine love, that is, love toward the whole human race; or His will to eternally save, if possible, the whole of it, or all men. They who have not the Lord’s love, that is, who do not love the neighbor as themselves, never have the Lord’s life, and therefore are never born of Him, that is, have not “come forth out of His bowels;” and therefore they cannot be heirs of His kingdom.
sRef Isa@63 @15 S2′ sRef Isa@48 @18 S2′ sRef Isa@48 @17 S2′ sRef Isa@48 @19 S2′ sRef Jer@31 @20 S2′ [2] From which it is evident that by “to go forth out of the bowels,” in the internal sense, are here signified those that are in love to Him and in love toward the neighbor. So in Isaiah:
Thus said Jehovah thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am Jehovah thy God, who teacheth thee to profit, who leadeth thee in the way that thou shouldest walk. Oh that thou hadst hearkened to My commandments, and thy peace had been as a river, and thy righteousness as the billows of the sea, and thy seed had been as the sand, and those who go forth out of thy bowels as the gravel thereof (Isa. 48:17-19).
The “seed as the sand,” denotes good; and “those who go forth out of the bowels as the gravel,” truth; thus those who have love, for these alone are in the love of good and truth.
[3] Moreover, in the Word “bowels” signify love or mercy for the reason that the bowels of generation, especially the mother’s womb, represent and thus signify chaste conjugial love, and the love for children that is derived from it. As in Isaiah:
The stirring of Thy bowels and of Thy compassions toward me have restrained themselves (Isa. 63:15).
In Jeremiah:
Is not Ephraim a dear son onto Me? Is he not a child of delights? Therefore My bowels are troubled for him; in mercy I will have mercy upon him (Jer. 31:20).
[4] It is evident from this that the Lord’s love itself, or mercy itself, and compassion toward the human race, are what are signified in the internal sense by “bowels,” and by “going forth out of the bowels;” consequently by “them that go forth out of the bowels” are signified those who have love. (That the Lord’s kingdom is mutual love, may be seen above, n. 548, 549, 684, 693, 694.)

sRef Gen@15 @4 S0′ 1804. He shall be thine heir. That this signifies that they shall become heirs, is evident from the signification of an “heir,” already treated of.

sRef Gen@15 @5 S0′ 1805. Verse 5. And He led him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and number the stars, if thou be able to number them; and He said unto him, So shall thy seed be. “He led him forth abroad,” signifies the sight of the interior man which from external things sees internal; “and said, Look now toward heaven,” signifies a representation of the Lord’s kingdom in a mental view of the universe; “and number the stars,” signifies a representation of things good and true in a mental view of the constellations; “if thou canst number them,” signifies the fruitfulness of love and the multiplication of faith; “and He said unto him, So shall thy seed be,” signifies the heirs of the Lord’s kingdom.

sRef Gen@15 @5 S0′ 1806. He led him forth abroad. That this signifies the sight of the interior man which from things external sees things internal, may be seen from the signification of “leading forth abroad,” in connection with what follows. Things internal are led forth, when with the eyes of the body a man contemplates the starry heaven, and thence thinks of the Lord’s kingdom. Whenever a man sees anything with his eyes, and sees the things that he looks upon as if he saw them not, but from them sees or thinks of the things which are of the church or of heaven, then his interior sight, or that of his spirit or soul, is “led forth abroad.” The eye itself is properly nothing but the sight of his spirit led forth abroad, and this especially to the end that he may see internal things from external; that is, that he may, from the objects in the world, reflect continually upon those which are in the other life; for this is the life for the sake of which he lives in the world. Such was the sight in the Most Ancient Church; such is the sight of the angels who are with man; and such was the Lord’s sight.

sRef Gen@15 @5 S0′ 1807. And said, Look now toward heaven. That this signifies a representation of the Lord’s kingdom in a mental view of the universe, may be seen from the signification of “heaven.” “Heaven” in the Word, in the internal sense, does not signify the heavens which appear to the eyes; but the Lord’s kingdom, universally and particularly. When a man who is looking at internal things from external sees the heavens, he does not think at all of the starry heaven, but of the angelic heaven; and when he sees the sun, he does not think of the sun, but of the Lord, as being the Sun of heaven. So too when he sees the moon, and the stars also; and when he sees the immensity of the heavens, he does not think of their immensity, but of the immeasurable and infinite power of the Lord. It is the same when he sees all other things, for there is nothing that is not representative.
[2] In like manner as regards the things on the earth; as when he beholds the dawning of the day he does not think of the dawn, but of the arising of all things from the Lord, and of progression into the day of wisdom. So when he sees gardens, groves, and flower-beds, his eye remains not fixed on any tree, its blossom, leaf, and fruit; but on the heavenly things which these represent; nor on any flower, and its beauty and pleasantness; but on what they represent in the other life. For there is nothing beautiful and delightful in the skies or on the earth, which is not in some way representative of the Lord’s kingdom (concerning which see what is said, n. 1632). This is the “looking toward heaven” which signifies a representation of the Lord’s kingdom in a mental view of the universe.
[3] The reason why all things in the sky and on earth are representative, is that they have come forth and do continually come forth, that is, subsist, from the influx of the Lord through heaven. It is with these things as it is with the human body, which comes forth and subsists by means of the soul; on which account all things in the body both in general and in particular are representative of the soul. The soul is in the use and the end; but the body is in the performance of them. All effects, whatever they may be, are in like manner representatives of the uses which are the causes; and the uses are representative of the ends which belong to the first principles.
[4] They who are in Divine ideas never come to a stand in the objects of the external sight; but from them and in them constantly see internal things. The veriest internal things themselves are those which are of the Lord’s kingdom, thus those which are in the veriest end itself. It is the same with the Word of the Lord; he who is in Divine things never regards the Lord’s Word from the letter; but regards the letter and the literal sense as being representative and significative of the celestial and spiritual things of the church and of the Lord’s kingdom. To him the literal sense is merely an instrumental means for thinking of these. Such was the Lord’s sight.

sRef Gen@15 @5 S0′ 1808. And number the stars. That this signifies a representation of what is good and true in a mental view of the constellations, is evident from what has just been said; and also from the representation and signification of “the stars,” as being things good and true. The “stars” are frequently mentioned in the Word, and everywhere they signify things good and true, and also, in the contrary sense, things evil and false; or what is the same, they signify angels or societies of angels, and also in the contrary sense evil spirits and their associations. When they signify angels or societies of angels, they are then fixed stars; but when evil spirits and their associations, they are wandering stars, as I have very frequently seen.
[2] That all things in the skies and on the earth are representative of celestial and spiritual things, has been evidenced by this plain indication, that things similar to those which appear before the eyes in the sky and on the earth, are also presented to view in the world of spirits, and this as plainly as in clear day; and there they are nothing but representatives. For instance, when the starry heaven appears, and the stars therein are fixed, it is instantly known that they signify things good and true; and when the stars appear wandering, it is instantly known that they signify things evil and false. From the very glow and sparkle of the stars it may also be known of what kind they are; besides numberless other things. Hence, if one is willing to think wisely, he may know what is the origin of all things on the earth, namely, that it is the Lord; and the reason why they come forth on the earth not ideally but actually, is that all things, both celestial and spiritual, which are from the Lord, are living and essential, or as they are called substantial, and therefore they come forth into actual existence in ultimate nature (see n. 1632).
sRef Isa@13 @11 S3′ sRef Isa@13 @10 S3′ [3] That the stars represent and signify things good and true, may be seen from the following passages in the Word. In Isaiah:
The stars of the heavens and the constellations thereof shine not with their light; the sun has been darkened in his going forth, and the moon doth not cause her light to shine; and I will visit evil upon the world, and their iniquity upon the wicked (Isa. 13:10-11);
where the day of visitation is treated of. Everyone can see that by “the stars” and “constellations” here are not meant the stars and constellations, but things true and good; and by “the sun,” love; and by “the moon,” faith; for the evils and falsities which cause darkness are treated of.
sRef Ezek@32 @8 S4′ sRef Ezek@32 @7 S4′ sRef Ps@148 @3 S4′ sRef Joel@2 @10 S4′ sRef Ps@148 @4 S4′ [4] In Ezekiel:
When I shall extinguish thee I will cover the heavens, and make the stars thereof black; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not make her light to shine; all the luminaries of light I will make black over thee, and will set darkness upon thy land (Ezek. 32:7-8),
where the meaning is similar. In Joel:
The earth quaked before Him, the heavens trembled, the sun and the moon were blackened, and the stars withdrew their shining (Joel 2:10; 3:15),
where the meaning is similar. In David:
Praise Jehovah, sun and moon; praise Him, all ye stars of light; praise Him, ye heavens of heavens (Ps. 148:3-4),
meaning the same.
sRef Rev@1 @20 S5′ sRef Rev@1 @16 S5′ [5] That by the “stars” are not meant the stars, but things good and true, or what is the same, those who are in things good and true, as the angels are, is plainly said in John:
I saw the Son of man; and He had in His right hand seven stars. The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest upon My right hand, and the seven candlesticks: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches (Rev. 1:13, 16, 20).
sRef Dan@8 @9 S6′ sRef Dan@8 @10 S6′ sRef Rev@8 @12 S6′ [6] Again:
The fourth angel sounded, so that the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; that the third part of them should be darkened, and the day shone not for the third part of it, and the night in like manner (Rev. 8:12),
where it is clearly evident that what is good and true was darkened. In Daniel:
There came forth a little horn, which grew exceedingly toward the south and toward the east and toward adornment [decus] and it grew even to the army of the heavens; and some of the army and of the stars it cast down to the earth, and trampled upon them (Dan. 8:9-10),
which words plainly show that “the army of the heavens” and “the stars” are things good and true, which were trampled upon.
sRef Luke@21 @25 S7′ sRef Matt@24 @29 S7′ [7] From these passages may be seen what is meant by the words of the Lord in Matthew:
In the consummation of the age, immediately after the affliction of those days, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken (Matt. 24:29).
And in Luke:
There shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations in despair, the sea and the waves roaring (Luke 21:25);
where by “the sun” the sun is not meant at all, nor by “the moon” the moon, nor by “the stars” the stars, nor by “the sea” the sea; but the things which they represent, namely, by “the sun” the celestial things of love, by “the moon” the spiritual things, by “the stars” things good and true, that is, the knowledges of what is good and true, which are thus darkened near the consummation of the age, when there is no faith, that is, no charity.

sRef Gen@15 @5 S0′ 1809. If thou canst number them. That this signifies the fruitfulness of love and the multiplication of faith, or what is the same, the fruitfulness of good and the multiplication of truth, may be seen without explication; for the words plainly mean that they cannot be numbered.

sRef Gen@15 @5 S0′ 1810. So shall thy seed be. That this signifies the heirs of the Lord’s kingdom, is evident from the signification of “seed,” as being love and the faith derived from it, or what is the same, those who are in love and faith, both angels and men. That “seed” has this signification has already in various places been stated and shown. These words signify in general the Lord’s kingdom, which is so vast and numerous that no one can ever credit it; so that it can only be expressed by IMMENSE. Its immensity will of the Lord’s Divine mercy be treated of elsewhere; it is what is here signified by the words of this verse, “Look now toward heaven, and number the stars, if thou canst number them; and He said unto him, so shall thy seed be.” These words also signify the innumerable goods and truths of wisdom and intelligence, together with their attendant happiness, in every angel.

sRef Gen@15 @6 S0′ 1811. Verse 6. And he believed in Jehovah, and He imputed it to him for righteousness. “He believed in Jehovah,” signifies the Lord’s faith at that time; “and He imputed it to him for righteousness,” signifies that herein the Lord first became righteousness.

sRef Gen@15 @6 S0′ 1812. He believed in Jehovah. That this signifies the Lord’s faith at that time, is evident from the very words, and also from the connection of things in the internal sense; which is that while He lived in the world the Lord was in continual combats of temptations, and in continual victories, from a constant inmost confidence and faith that because He was fighting for the salvation of the whole human race from pure love, He could not but conquer; which is here meant by “believing in Jehovah.” From the love from which anyone fights it is known what his faith is. He who fights from any other love than love toward the neighbor and toward the Lord’s kingdom, does not fight from faith, that is, does not “believe in Jehovah,” but in that which he loves, for the love itself for which he fights is his faith. For example: he who fights from the love of becoming the greatest in heaven, does not believe in Jehovah, but rather in himself; for to desire to become the greatest is to desire to command others; thus he fights for command; and so in all other cases. And thus from the love itself from which anyone fights, it may be known what his faith is.
sRef Mark@10 @44 S2′ sRef Mark@10 @42 S2′ sRef Mark@10 @43 S2′ sRef Mark@10 @35 S2′ sRef Mark@10 @37 S2′ sRef Mark@10 @45 S2′ [2] But in all His combats of temptations the Lord never fought from the love of self, or for Himself, but for all in the universe, consequently, not that He might become the greatest in heaven, for this is contrary to the Divine Love, and scarcely even that He might be the least; but only that all others might become something, and be saved. As He also says in Mark:
The two sons of Zebedee said, Grant unto us that we may sit, one on Thy right hand, and the other on Thy left, in Thy glory. Jesus said, Whoever would be great among you shall be your minister; and whoever would be first among you, shall be servant of all. For the Son of man also came not to be ministered onto, but to minister, and to give His soul a ransom for many (Mark 10:37, 43-45).
This is the love, or this is the faith, from which the Lord fought, and which is here meant by “believing in Jehovah.”

sRef Gen@15 @6 S0′ 1813. He imputed it to him for righteousness. That this signifies that herein the Lord first became righteousness, may also be seen from the connection of things in the internal sense, in which the Lord is treated of. That the Lord alone became righteousness for the whole human race, may be seen from the fact that He alone fought from Divine love, namely, from love toward the whole human race, whose salvation was what in His combats He solely desired and burned for. In regard to His Human Essence the Lord was not born righteousness, but became righteousness through combats of temptations and victories, and this from His own power. As often as He fought and overcame, this was imputed to Him for righteousness, that is, it was added to the righteousness that He was becoming, as a continual increase, until He became pure righteousness.
[2] A man who is born of a human father, or of the seed of a human father, when fighting from himself cannot fight from any other love than the love of self and of the world, thus not from heavenly love, but from infernal love, for such is the character of his Own from his father, in addition to the Own acquired by his own conduct. Therefore he who supposes that he fights from himself against the devil is hugely mistaken. In like manner he who desires to make himself righteous by his own powers-that is, to believe that the goods of charity and the truths of faith are from himself, consequently that he merits heaven by them-acts and thinks against the good and truth of faith; for it is a truth of faith, that is, it is the truth itself, that the Lord fights. And therefore because he then acts and thinks against the truth of faith, he takes away from the Lord what is His, and makes what is the Lord’s to be his own, or what is the same, he puts himself in the Lord’s place, and thereby puts that which is infernal in himself. Hence it is that such men desire to become great, or the greatest, in heaven; and hence it is that they falsely believe that the Lord fought against the hells in order that He might be the greatest. What is man’s own is attended with such phantasies,, which appear as if they were truths, but are just the reverse.
sRef Jer@23 @6 S3′ sRef Jer@31 @23 S3′ sRef Isa@59 @16 S3′ sRef Isa@59 @17 S3′ [3] That the Lord came into the world in order to become righteousness, and that He alone is righteousness, was also foretold by the prophets; and therefore this could have been known before His coming; and also that He could not become righteousness except through temptations, and victories over all evils and all the hells. As in Jeremiah:
In His days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell in confidence, and this is His name whereby they shall call Him, Jehovah our righteousness (Jer. 23:6).
In the same:
In those days and in that time will I cause an Offshoot of righteousness to grow onto David, and He shall do judgment and righteousness in the land. In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell in confidence; and this is what they shall call Him, Jehovah our righteousness (Jer. 33:15-16).
In Isaiah:
He saw, and there was no man; and He wondered that there was none to intercede; and His arm brought salvation unto Him, and His righteousness it upheld Him. And He put on righteousness as a coat of mail, and a helmet of salvation upon His head (Isa. 59:16-17; see especially Isa. 63:3, 5).
“His arm” means His own power. Because the Lord alone is righteousness, the “habitation of righteousness” also is mentioned in Jeremiah 31:23; 50:7.

sRef Gen@15 @7 S0′ 1814. Verse 7. And He said unto him, I am Jehovah, who led thee forth out of Ur of the Chaldees to give thee this land to inherit it. “He said unto him, I am Jehovah,” signifies the Lord’s internal man, which was Jehovah, and from which He had perception; “who led thee forth out of Ur of the Chaldees,” signifies the first state of the external man; “to give thee this land to inherit it,” signifies the Lord’s kingdom, of which He alone is the possessor.

sRef Gen@15 @7 S0′ 1815. He said unto him, I am Jehovah. That this signifies the Lord’s internal man, which is Jehovah, and from which He had perception, is evident from what has been already said, namely, that the Lord’s Internal, that is, whatever the Lord received from the Father, was Jehovah in Him, for He was conceived from Jehovah. What a man receives from his father is one thing, and what he receives from his mother is another. From his father a man receives all that is internal, his soul itself or life being from the father; but he receives from his mother all that is external. In a word, the interior man, or spirit itself, is from the father; but the outer man, or body itself, is from the mother; which everyone can comprehend merely from the fact that the soul itself is implanted by the father, and this begins to clothe itself in a little bodily form in the ovum. Whatever is afterwards added, whether in the ovum or in the womb, is of the mother, for it has no increase from anywhere else.
[2] It may be seen from this that as to His internals the Lord was Jehovah. But because the external, which the Lord received from the mother, was to be united to the Divine or Jehovah, and this through temptations and victories, as before said, it could not appear otherwise to Him in those states, than that when He spoke with Jehovah it was as it were with another; when yet He spoke with Himself, that is, so far as He was in a state of conjunction. The Lord’s perception, which He had in the highest perfection above all who have been born, was from His Internal, that is, from Jehovah Himself, which is here signified in the internal sense by the words, “Jehovah said unto him.”

sRef Gen@15 @7 S0′ 1816. Who led thee forth out of Ur of the Chaldees. That this signifies the first state of His external man, may be seen from the signification of “Ur of the Chaldees.” The maternal which the Lord received from birth, or the inheritance from the mother, is what is here signified by “Ur of the Chaldees.” The nature of this has been described before. It was out of this maternal, or inheritance from the mother, that He was led forth whenever He conquered evils and falsities, that is, the hells.

sRef Gen@15 @7 S0′ 1817. To give thee this land, to inherit it. That this signifies the Lord’s kingdom, of which He alone is the possessor, is evident from the signification of the “land,” here the Holy Land or Land of Canaan, as being the heavenly kingdom; and also from the signification of “inheriting,” spoken of several times before. To “inherit the land,” signifying to possess the heavenly kingdom, is here predicated of the Lord’s Human Essence; for as to the Divine Essence He was the Possessor of the universe, consequently of the heavenly kingdom, from eternity.

sRef Gen@15 @8 S0′ 1818. Verse 8. And he said, Lord Jehovih, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? “He said, Lord Jehovih,” signifies a conversation, as it were, of the Interior man with the Internal; “whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?” signifies a temptation against the Lord’s love, which desired to be fully assured.

sRef Gen@15 @8 S0′ 1819. He said, Lord Jehovih. That this signifies a conversation, as it were, of the Interior man with the Internal, is evident from what was said in the preceding verse in connection with the words, “Jehovah said unto him;” and also from what was said (at verse 2 of this chapter) concerning the Lord Jehovih, as denoting the conversation of the Interior man with the Internal, or Jehovah, especially when He was in temptation.

sRef Gen@15 @8 S0′ 1820. Whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? That this signifies a temptation against the Lord’s love, which desired to be fully assured, may be seen from the doubt that is implied in the words themselves. He who is in temptation is in doubt concerning the end in view. The end in view is the love, against which the evil spirits and evil genii fight, and thereby put the end in doubt; and the greater the love is, the more do they put it in doubt. If the end which is loved were not put in doubt, and indeed in despair, there would be no temptation. Assurance respecting the result precedes the victory, and belongs to the victory.
[2] As few know how the case is with temptations, it may here be briefly explained. Evil spirits never fight against other things than those which the man loves; the more ardently he loves them, the more fiercely do they wage the combat. It is evil genii who fight against the things that pertain to the affection of good, and evil spirits that fight against those which pertain to the affection of truth. As soon as they notice even the smallest thing which a man loves, or perceive as it were by scent what is delightful and dear to him, they forthwith assault it and endeavor to destroy it, and thereby the whole man, for man’s life consists in his loves. Nothing is more delightful to them than to destroy a man in this way, nor would they desist, even to eternity, unless they were driven away by the Lord. They who are malignant and crafty insinuate themselves into man’s very loves by flattering them, and thus bring the man among themselves; and presently, when they have brought him in, they attempt to destroy his loves, and thereby murder the man, and this in a thousand ways that cannot be comprehended.
[3] Nor do they wage the combat simply by reasoning against things good and true, because such combats are of no account, for if they were vanquished a thousand times they would still persist, since reasonings against goods and truths can never be wanting. But they pervert the goods and truths, and inflame with a certain fire of cupidity and of persuasion, so that the man does not know otherwise than that he is in the like cupidity and persuasion; and at the same time they enkindle these with delight that they snatch from the man’s delight in something else, and in this way they most deceitfully infect and infest him; and this they do with so much skill, by leading him on from one thing to another, that if the Lord did not aid him, the man would never know but that the case was really so.
[4] They act in a similar way against the affections of truth that make the conscience: as soon as they perceive anything of conscience, of whatever kind, then from the falsities and failings in the man they form to themselves an affection; and by means of this they cast a shade over the light of truth, and so pervert it; or they induce anxiety and torture him. They also hold the thought persistently in one thing, and thus fill it with phantasies; and at the same time they clandestinely clothe the cupidities with the phantasies; besides innumerable other arts, which cannot possibly be described to the apprehension. These are a few of the means, and only the most general, by which they can make their way to man’s conscience, for this above all else they take the greatest delight in destroying.
[5] From these few statements, and they are very few, it may be seen what temptations are, and that they are, in general, such as the loves are, and from this we may see what was the nature of the Lord’s temptations, that they were the most terrible of all, for such as is the greatness of the love, such is the fearful character of the temptation. The Lord’s love was the salvation of the whole human race, and was most ardent; consequently it was the whole sum of the affection of good and affection of truth in the highest degree. Against these, with the most malignant wiles and venom, all the hells waged the combat; but still the Lord conquered them all by His own power. Victories are attended with the result that the malignant genii and spirits afterwards dare not do anything; for their life consists in their being able to destroy, and when they perceive that a man is of such a character that he can resist, then at the first onset they flee away, as they are wont to do when they draw near to the first entrance to heaven, for they are at once seized with horror and terror, and hurl themselves backward.

sRef Gen@15 @9 S0′ 1821. Verse 9. And He said unto him, Take thee a heifer of three years, and a she-goat of three years, and a ram of three years, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. “He said unto him,” signifies perception; “take a heifer of three years, and a she-goat of three years, and a ram of three years,” signifies the representatives of the celestial things of the church; a “heifer” being representative of exterior celestial things, a “she-goat” of interior celestial things, and a “ram” of spiritual celestial things; they were to be “three years” old, because they were to involve all things of the church as to times and states; “and a turtledove and a young pigeon,” signifies the representatives of the spiritual things of the church; a “turtledove” those which are exterior, and a “young pigeon” those which are interior.

sRef Gen@15 @9 S0′ 1822. He said unto him. That this signifies perception, is evident from what was said above at verses 2 and 7. Perception itself is nothing else than a kind of internal speech, which internal speech manifests itself by being perceived. All interior dictate, and even conscience, is nothing else; but perception is a higher or more interior degree of it.

sRef Gen@15 @9 S0′ sRef Lev@1 @14 S0′ sRef Lev@1 @17 S0′ 1823. Take a heifer of three years, and a she-goat of three years, and a ram of three years. That this signifies the representatives of the celestial things of the church, is evident from the signification of the same animals in the sacrifices. No one who thinks sanely can believe that the various animals which were sacrificed signified nothing but sacrifices; or that an ox and a bullock or a calf signified the same as a sheep, a kid, and a she-goat, and these the same as a lamb; and that a turtledove signified the same as young pigeons; the fact being that every animal had its own special signification. This may be sufficiently evident from the fact that in no case was one offered instead of another; and that those are expressly named which were to be used in the daily burnt-offerings and sacrifices, those on the Sabbaths and festivals, those used in free-will offerings, vows, and peace-offerings, those in expiation of guilt and sin, and those in purifications; which would never have been so unless something special had been represented and signified by each animal.
[2] But what was signified by each particular kind would be too tedious to explain here; it is sufficient to know now that celestial things were signified by the animals, and spiritual things by the birds; and by each kind, some special celestial or spiritual thing. The Jewish Church itself, and all things relating to it, were representative of such things as are of the Lord’s kingdom, where there is nothing but what is celestial and spiritual, that is, nothing but what is of love and of faith; as may also be sufficiently evident from the signification of the clean and useful beasts, explained above (n. 45, 46, 142, 143, 246, 714, 715, 776). As in the Most Ancient Churches these were significative of heavenly goods, they afterwards became representative in the church, when worship merely external, which was also representative, was valued and acknowledged.
[3] As the state of the church is here treated of, and it is foretold what that state is to be, this was shown to Abram by similar representatives, exactly as is here related; but still such things are signified in the internal sense, as indeed everyone may know and think; for what would be the need of taking a heifer three years old, a she-goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon, of dividing them into two parts, and placing them so, unless everything had been significative? But what these things signified may be seen from what follows.

sRef Gen@15 @9 S0′ 1824. That “a heifer” signifies the representatives of exterior celestial things, “a she-goat” the representatives of interior celestial things, and “a ram” those of spiritual celestial things, may be seen from the sacrifices, concerning which, of the Lord’s Divine mercy hereafter, where the sacrifices are treated of. There are exterior celestial things, and interior celestial things, as well as spiritual celestial things. Exterior celestial things are those which are of the external man, interior celestial things are those which are of the internal man, and spiritual celestial things are those which are derived from these. The celestial itself is love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor. This celestial flows in from the Lord, and in fact through the internal man into the external. In the interior man this is called the interior celestial; in the external man the exterior celestial. The exterior celestial is all affection of good; nay, it is also all the pleasure which comes from the affection of good. So far as the good of love and of charity is in these, that is, in the affection of good and in the pleasure derived from it, so far the celestial is in them, and also happiness. But the spiritual celestial is all the affection of truth in which there is the affection of good, or the affection of truth which is begotten by the affection of good; thus it is faith in which is charity, or faith which is begotten by charity.

sRef Gen@15 @9 S0′ 1825. That “three years old” involves all things of the church as to times and states, is evident from the signification of “three” in the Word. By “three” is signified the full time of the church, from its origin even to its end, and thus all its state. The last time of the church is therefore signified by the third day, the third week, the third month, the third year and the third age, which are all the same. As the state of the church is signified by the number three, so also is the state of everyone who is a church, and everything which is of the church, as may be seen from the signification of this number in the passages adduced from the Word (n. 720, 901).
sRef Isa@15 @5 S2′ sRef Jer@48 @34 S2′ sRef Jer@48 @33 S2′ [2] That “a heifer of three years” thus signifies the time or state of the church even to the last, that is, when it has been vastated or made desolate, may also be seen in Isaiah:
My heart crieth out upon Moab; her fugitives are unto Zoar, a heifer of three years old; for by the ascent of Luhith, with weeping he shall go up in it; for in the way of Horonaim they shall raise up a cry of breaking to pieces (Isa. 15:5).
Also in Jeremiah:
Gladness and exultation are gathered from Carmel, and from the land of Moab; and I will make* wine to cease from the winepresses; none shall tread with shouting; the shouting shall be no shouting. From the cry of Heshbon even unto Elealeh, even unto Jahaz have they uttered their voice, from Zoar even unto** Horonaim, a heifer of three years old; for the waters of Nimrim also shall become desolations (Jer. 48:33-34).
No one could possibly perceive what these things mean unless he knew what is signified by “Moab,” by “Zoar,” “the ascent of Luhith,” “the cry of Heshbon unto Elealeh,” by “Jahaz,” by “Horonaim,” “the waters of Nimrim,” and by “a heifer three years old.” That this is an uttermost vastation is plain.
* Cessare faciam; but elsewhere feci, as Apocalypse Explained 376. [Rotch ed.]
** Latin here has a, doubtless a misprint for ad, as in n. 9391. [Ibid.]

sRef Gen@15 @9 S0′ 1826. And a turtle-dove and a young pigeon. That this signifies the representatives of the spiritual things of the church, is evident from the signification of birds in general and of turtle-doves and pigeons in particular. That “birds” signify spiritual things, which are those of faith or of truth, and therefore are intellectual and rational things, was shown above (n. 40, 745, 776, 991); also that “doves” signify the goods and truths of faith (n. 870). What they signified in the sacrifices shall of the Lord’s Divine mercy be stated in what follows, where the sacrifices are treated of. In the Word, especially in the prophetic part, when celestial things are spoken of, spiritual things also are spoken of, and in this way they are conjoined; because the one is from the other, so that the one is the other’s (as before said, n. 639, 680, 683, 707, 793, 801).

sRef Gen@15 @9 S0′ 1827. That “a turtle-dove” signifies the representatives of exterior spiritual things, and “a young pigeon” the representatives of interior spiritual things, may be seen from what has been said respecting celestial things, of which the exterior were signified by the “heifer,” the interior by the “she-goat,” and the intermediate by the “ram.”

sRef Gen@15 @10 S0′ 1828. Verse 10. And he took unto him all these and divided them in the midst, and laid each part over against the other; and the birds he did not divide. “He took unto him all these,” signifies that it was so done; “and divided them in the midst,” signifies the church and the Lord; “and laid each part over against the other,” signifies a parallelism and correspondence as to celestial things; “and the birds he did not divide,” signifies spiritual things, wherein there was not such parallelism and correspondence.

sRef Gen@15 @10 S0′ 1829. He took unto him all these. That this signifies that it was so done, is evident without explication.

sRef Gen@15 @10 S0′ 1830. And divided them in the midst. That this signifies the church and the Lord, is evident from what follows; for celestial things were signified by the heifer, the she-goat, and the ram, and spiritual things by the turtle-dove and the young pigeon; and these, when divided and placed opposite to each other, can have no other signification.

sRef Gen@15 @10 S0′ 1831. And laid each part over against the other. That this signifies a parallelism and correspondence as to the celestial things, may be seen from the consideration that the parts on one side signify the church, and the parts on the other the Lord; and when these are placed opposite to each other, this is nothing else than a parallelism and correspondence; and as the heifer, the she-goat, and the ram were so divided and placed, and by these celestial things are signified (as said just above at verse 9), it is evident that there is a parallelism and correspondence as to celestial things. It is otherwise with spiritual things, concerning which presently. Celestial things, as has often been said, are all that pertain to love to the Lord and to love toward the neighbor. It is the Lord who gives love and charity; it is the church that receives. What unites is conscience, in which the love and charity are implanted; and therefore the middle space between the parts signifies that in man which is called perception, internal dictate, and conscience. The things which are above the perception, dictate, and conscience, are the Lord’s; those which are below, are in man. Because they thereby mutually regard each other, there is said to be a parallelism; and because they correspond to each other, as the active and the passive, there is said to be correspondence.

sRef Gen@15 @10 S0′ 1832. And the birds he did not divide. That this signifies spiritual things, and that in them there is not such a parallelism and correspondence, is evident from the signification of “birds,” as being what is spiritual [as distinguished from what is celestial], and as treated of in verse 9, just above; and from the statement that he did not divide the birds in the midst; consequently that there is not such a parallelism and correspondence. By spiritual things are signified, as often said before, all the things of faith, consequently all doctrinal things, for these are called things of faith, although they are not of faith until they have been conjoined with charity. Between these and the Lord there is not a parallelism and correspondence, for they are such things as do not flow in by internal dictate and conscience, as do those which are of love and charity, but they flow in by instruction, and so by hearing, thus not from the interior, but from the exterior, and in this way they form their vessels or recipients in man.
[2] The greater part of them appear as if they were truths, but are not truths, such as those things which are of the literal sense of the Word, and are representatives of truth and significatives of truth, and thus are not in themselves truths; some of them even being falsities, which however can serve as vessels and recipients. But in the Lord there are none but truths that are essentially such; and therefore with these there is no parallelism and correspondence on the part of those apparent truths, but still they may be so adapted as to serve as vessels for the celestial things which are of love and charity. These apparent truths are what constitute the cloud of the intellectual part, before spoken of, into which the Lord insinuates charity, and so makes conscience.
[3] For example: with those who remain in the sense of the letter of the Word, and suppose that it is the Lord who leads into temptation and who then torments man’s conscience, and who suppose that because He permits evil He is the cause of evil, and that He thrusts the evil down into hell, with other similar things: these are apparent truths, but are not truths; and because they are not truths that are such in themselves, there is no parallelism and correspondence. Still the Lord leaves them intact in man, and miraculously adapts them by means of charity so that they can serve celestial things as vessels. So also with the worship, the religious teachings and morals, and even with the idols, of the well-disposed Gentiles; these likewise the Lord leaves intact, and yet adapts them by means of charity so that they also serve as vessels. The case was the same in regard to the very numerous rites in the Ancient Church, and afterwards in the Jewish Church; which in themselves were nothing but rituals in which there was not truth, but which were tolerated and permitted, and indeed commanded, because they were held as sacred by parents, and so were implanted in the minds of children and impressed upon them from infancy as truths.
[4] These and other such things are what are signified by the statement that the birds were not divided. For the things that are once implanted in a man’s opinion, and are accounted as holy, the Lord leaves intact, provided they are not contrary to Divine order; and although there is no parallelism and correspondence, still He adapts them. These same things are what was signified in the Jewish Church by the birds not being divided in the sacrifices; for to divide is to place the parts opposite to each other in such a manner that they may adequately correspond; and because the things which have been spoken of are not adequately in correspondence, they are obliterated in the other life with those who suffer themselves to be instructed, and truths themselves are implanted in their affections of good. That in the Jewish Church for the sake of this representation and signification the birds were not divided, is evident in Moses:
If his offering to Jehovah be a burnt-offering of birds, then he shall bring his offering of turtle-doves or of the sons of the pigeon. And he shall cleave it with its wings, he shall not divide it (Lev. 1:14, 17).
And the same in the case of the sacrifices for sin (Lev. 5:7-8).

sRef Gen@15 @11 S0′ 1833. Verse 11. And the fowls came down upon the bodies, and Abram drove them away. “The fowls came down upon the bodies,” signifies evils and the falsities thence derived, that were desirous to destroy; “and Abram drove them away,” signifies that the Lord put them to flight.

sRef Gen@15 @11 S0′ 1834. The fowls came down upon the bodies. That this signifies evils and the falsities thence derived that were desirous to destroy, is evident from the signification of “fowls,” as being falsities. “Fowls” in the Word signify truth-as shown above-and also in the opposite sense falsity (for almost all such things in the Word are thus used in both senses); that “fowls” signify falsity also has been shown before (n. 778, 866, 988). Everyone can see that this signifies arcana; otherwise it would not have been worthy of mention. What the arcanum is has also been already stated, and is evident from the series or connection of things in the internal sense, namely, that it is concerning the state of the church.
[2] When a church is raised up by the Lord, it is in the beginning blameless, and the one then loves the other as his brother, as is known from the case of the primitive church after the Lord’s coming. All the church’s children then lived together as brethren, and likewise called one another brethren, and loved one another; but in process of time charity grew cold and vanished away and as it vanished, evils succeeded, and together with these falsities insinuated themselves. Hence came schisms and heresies, which would never be the case if charity were regnant and alive, for then they would not even call schism schism, nor heresy heresy, but a doctrinal matter in accordance with each person’s opinion; and this they would leave to each person’s conscience, provided such doctrinal matter did not deny first principles, that is, the Lord, eternal life, and the Word; and provided it was not contrary to the Divine order, that is, to the precepts of the Decalogue.
sRef Isa@63 @16 S3′ [3] The evils and the falsities thence derived which succeed in the church when charity vanishes, are what are here meant by the fowls which Abram drove away, that is, which the Lord, who is here represented by Abram, put to flight. Abram drove away nothing but the fowls, and nothing at all of evil and falsity; nor is Abraham known in heaven except as is any other man, who can do nothing at all of himself; but the Lord alone; as also is said by Isaiah:
Thou art our Father, for Abraham knoweth us not, and Israel doth not acknowledge us; Thou O Jehovah art our Father, our Redeemer; Thy name is from everlasting (Isa. 63:16).

sRef Gen@15 @11 S0′ 1835. And Abram drove them away. That this signifies that the Lord put them to flight, is evident from what has been said. And such also is the case with a church when it is beginning to recede from charity. Evils and the falsities thence derived are then more easily put to flight, for as yet the church is in a state that is not so far removed from charity, and thus men’s minds are more easily bent. But in process of time evils and the falsities derived from them increase, and so are confirmed and strengthened; and this is treated of in what follows.
[2] So far as possible the Lord is continually putting evils and falsities to flight, but through conscience. When conscience is relaxed, there is no medium through which the Lord can flow in, for the Lord’s influx with man is by means of charity into his conscience. But in place of this charity a new medium succeeds and is formed, which is external, namely, the fear of the law, fear for life, for honors and wealth, and the reputation from these. But these are not of conscience; they are only external bonds which enable a man to live in society with others, and to appear as a friend, whatsoever he may be inwardly.
[3] But this medium, or these bonds, are of no account in the other life, for there externals are removed, and everyone remains as he is internally. There are very many who have lived a moral and a civic life, have injured no one, have performed acts of friendship and civility, nay, have done good to many, but only for the sake of self, with a view to honors, gain, and the like. In the other life these are among the infernals, because they have nothing of good and truth within, but only evil and falsity, nay, hatred, revenge, cruelty, adulteries, which do not appear before man, that is to say insofar as the fears just referred to, which are external bonds, prevail.

sRef Gen@15 @12 S0′ 1836. Verse 12. And it came to pass when the sun was going down, that a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and behold a terror of great darkness falling upon him. “The sun was going down,” signifies the time and the state before the consummation; “that a deep sleep fell upon Abram,” signifies that the church was then in darkness; “and behold a terror of great darkness falling upon him,” signifies that the darkness was terrible; “darkness” means falsities.

sRef Gen@15 @12 S0′ 1837. The sun was going down. That this signifies the time and the state before the consummation, is evident from the signification of “the sun.” In the internal sense “the sun” signifies the Lord, and thence it signifies the celestial things which are of love and charity, consequently love itself and charity (spoken of above, n. 30-38, and n. 1053). From this it is evident that the “going down of the sun” denotes the last time of the church, which is called the consummation, when there is no longer any charity. The Lord’s church is also compared to the times of the day; its first period to the rising of the sun, or to the dawn and the morning; its last to the setting of the sun, or to the evening and the shades then prevailing, for the two things are similarly circumstanced. The church is also compared to the times of the year; its first period to the spring, when all things are in bloom; that which is before the last to the autumn, when they begin to become inactive. It is even compared to the metals; its first period is called golden; its last, iron and clay; as in Daniel (2:31-33). From all this it is evident what is signified by “the going down of the sun,” namely, that it signifies the time and the state before the consummation, seeing that the sun had not yet set. In what follows, the state of the church when the sun has set is treated of, in that there was then thick darkness and the smoke of a furnace, and that a torch of fire passed between the pieces.

sRef Gen@15 @12 S0′ 1838. A deep sleep fell upon Abram. That this signifies that the church was then in darkness, is evident from the signification of “a deep sleep.” A “deep sleep,” relatively to one of wakefulness, denotes a dark state; and this state is here attributed to the Lord, who is represented by Abram; not that there was ever with Him a deep sleep or a state of darkness, but that there was with the church. The case herein is the same as it is in the other life, where the Lord is always the Sun, and Light, itself; but where before the evil He appears as darkness; for the Lord appears according to the state of each person. So here this is said of the church when it is in a state of darkness.
[2] Also take as an example, vastation, punishment, and condemnation, which are attributed to the Lord in many passages of the Word; when nevertheless they belong to the man of the church, who vastates, punishes, and condemns himself. It appears before man as if the Lord vastated, punished, and condemned; and because it appears so, it is so expressed according to the appearances; for if man were not instructed by appearances, he would not suffer himself to be instructed at all. What is contrary to the appearance he does not believe or comprehend, except at a later period, when he possesses judgment and has been gifted with the faith of charity.
[3] So with the church; when it is in a state of darkness, the Lord is then obscured before its people, so that He does not appear, that is, is not acknowledged; although the Lord is not at all obscured, but man, in whom and with whom the Lord should be; but still the obscuration is predicated of the Lord. So is it here with the “deep sleep,” by which there is signified a dark state of the church.

sRef Gen@15 @12 S0′ 1839. Behold a terror of great darkness falling upon him. That this signifies that the darkness was terrible, and that “darkness” means falsities, is evident from the signification of “darkness,” as being falsities, to be explained presently. The state of the church before its consummation, when the sun was “going down,” is described by the “terror of great darkness;” but its state when the sun had gone down is described by the “thick darkness” and the other things mentioned in verse 17.
sRef Matt@24 @29 S2′ sRef Isa@60 @2 S2′ [2] The same is thus described by the Lord in Matthew:
The sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken (Matt. 24:29).
This does not mean that the sun of the world will be darkened, but the celestial which is of love and charity; nor the moon, but the spiritual which is of faith; nor that the stars will fall from heaven, but that the knowledges of good and truth with the man of the church will do so, for these are “the powers of the heavens;” nor will these things take place in heaven, but on earth; for heaven is never darkened.
[3] That “a terror of great darkness fell upon him,” means that the Lord was horrified at so great a vastation. So far as anyone is in the celestial things of love, so far does he feel horror when he perceives a consummation. So it was with the Lord, above all others; for He was in love itself, both celestial and Divine.
[4] That “darkness” signifies falsities is evident from very many passages in the Word; as in Isaiah:
Woe unto them that put darkness for light, and light for darkness (Isa. 5:20);
“darkness” denotes falsities, and “light” truths. In the same:
He shall look onto the land, and behold darkness, distress, and the light is darkened (Isa. 5:30);
“darkness” denoting falsities, and “the light darkened” the truth not appearing.
sRef Zeph@1 @14 S5′ sRef Zeph@1 @15 S5′ sRef Amos@5 @20 S5′ sRef Amos@5 @18 S5′ [5] In the same:
Behold, darkness covereth the earth, and thick darkness the peoples (Isa. 60:2).
In Amos:
The day of Jehovah, it is darkness, and not light. Shall not the day of Jehovah be darkness, and not light? and thick darkness and no brightness in it? (Amos 5:18, 20).
In Zephaniah:
The great day of Jehovah is near; that day is a day of wrath, a day of straitness and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and thick darkness, a day of cloud and shade (Zeph. 1:14-15).
In these passages, the “day of Jehovah” denotes the last time and state of the church; “darkness and thick darkness” falsities and evils.
sRef Matt@6 @23 S6′ [6] The Lord likewise calls falsities “darkness” in Matthew:
If thine eye be evil, thy whole body is* darkened. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness (Matt. 6:33).
“Darkness” here denotes the falsities which take possession of those who are in knowledges; and the meaning is, how great is this darkness above that of others, or of the Gentiles,, who have not knowledges.
sRef John@1 @5 S7′ sRef John@1 @4 S7′ sRef Matt@8 @12 S7′ [7] Again in Matthew:
The sons of the kingdom shall be cast out into the outer darkness (Matt. 8:12; 22:13).
“The outer darkness” denotes the more direful falsities of those who are in the church; for they darken the light, and bring up falsities against truths, which Gentiles cannot do. In John:
In Him was life, and the life was the light of men; and the light appeareth in the darkness, but the darkness comprehended it not (John 1:4-5).
“The darkness” here denotes falsities within the church.
sRef Matt@4 @16 S8′ [8] Falsities outside of the church are also called “darkness,” but such as can be illuminated. Such are spoken of in Matthew:
The people that sat in darkness saw a great light, and to them that sat in the region and shadow of death, did light spring up (Matt. 4:16);
“darkness” here denoting the falsities of ignorance, such as are those of the Gentiles. sRef John@3 @19 S9′ [9] In John:
And this is the judgment, that the Light is come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their works were evil (John 3:19);
“the Light” denotes truths, and “the darkness” falsities; and “the Light” denotes the Lord, because all truth is from Him; and “the darkness” the hells, because all falsity is from them.
sRef John@12 @35 S10′ sRef John@12 @36 S10′ sRef John@8 @12 S10′ sRef John@12 @46 S10′ sRef John@12 @35 S10′ [10] Again:
Jesus said, I am the Light of the world; he that followeth Me shall not walk in the darkness (John 8:12).
And again:
Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness seize upon you, for he that walketh in the darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth in Me may not abide in the darkness (John 12:35, 46).
“The light” denotes the Lord, from whom are all good and truth; “the darkness” falsities, which are dispersed by the Lord alone.
[11] The falsities of the last times, which are called “darkness” in the verse before us, or of which the “terror of great darkness” is predicated, were represented and signified by the darkness that came upon the whole earth, from the sixth hour to the ninth [at the crucifixion], and also by the sun being then darkened, by which was represented and signified that there was then no longer either love or faith (Matt. 27:45; Mark 15:33; Luke 23:44-45).
* Est: but elsewhere erit, as n. 9051.

sRef Gen@15 @13 S0′ 1840. Verse 13. And He said unto Abram, Knowing thou shall know that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them, and they shall afflict them four hundred years. “He said unto Abram,” signifies a perception; “knowing thou shalt know,” signifies that it is certain; “thy seed shall be a stranger,” signifies that charity and faith shall be rare; in a land that is not theirs,” signifies where there is a church that is as it were not composed of those who are in charity and faith; “and they shall serve them,” signifies oppression; “and they shall afflict them,” signifies their severe temptations; “four hundred years,” signifies the duration and state.

sRef Gen@15 @13 S0′ 1841. He said unto Abram. That this signifies a perception, is evident from what has been already said (at verse 9 and elsewhere), where the same words have the same signification.

sRef Gen@15 @13 S0′ 1842. Knowing thou shalt know. That this signifies that it is certain, is evident without explication.

sRef Gen@15 @13 S0′ 1843. Thy seed shall be a stranger. That this signifies that charity and faith shall be rare, is evident from the signification of “a stranger,” and of “seed.” A “stranger” or “sojourner” signifies one that is not born in the land, so that he is not acknowledged as a native, and thus is looked upon as an alien. But “seed” signifies charity and its faith (as before shown, n. 255, 1025; and just above at verse 3). Because that is called “strange” which is looked upon as alien, and alien is that which is not in the land or of the land, it follows that it is that which is rare; and consequently it here means that charity and the faith of charity, which are the “seed,” will be rare. It is the time before the consummation that is here treated of, when there shall be “great darkness,” that is, falsities; the seed shall then be a stranger, that is, charity and faith will then be rare.
[2] That faith would be rare in the last times was foretold by the Lord when He spoke of the consummation of the age (Matt. 24:4-51; Mark 13:3-37; Luke 21:7-38), where everything that is said implies that charity and faith will be rare at those times, and that at last there will be none. The like is said by John in Revelation, and also in many passages of the Prophets, besides what is said in the historical parts of the Word.
[3] But by the faith that will perish in the last times there is meant nothing but charity, for there cannot possibly be any faith but the faith of charity. He who has not charity cannot have any faith at all, for charity is the very soil in which faith is implanted; it is its heart, from which it exists and lives. The ancients therefore compared love and charity to the heart, and faith to the lungs, both of which are in the breast. This comparison involves a real likeness, seeing that if a man should pretend to a life of faith without charity, it would be like having life from the lungs alone without the heart, which is manifestly impossible; and therefore the ancients called all things that pertain to charity things of the heart, and all things that pertain to faith without charity they said were of the mouth only, or of the lungs by the influx of the breathing into the speech. Thence came the ancient forms of speech concerning good and truth; that they must go forth from the heart.

sRef Gen@15 @13 S0′ 1844. In a land which is not theirs. That this signifies where there is a church that is as it were not composed of those who are in charity and faith, is evident from the signification of “a land,” as being the church (see n. 566, 662, 1066, 1067). At this day men speak of the church as existing from the mere doctrinals of faith, and thereby distinguish the churches of the Lord, not caring what life men live-whether they cherish inward hatreds, and tear one another like wild beasts, rob one another, and deprive others of reputation, honor, and wealth, and at heart deny whatever is holy. And yet with such there is no church at all; but the church is with those who love the Lord, and who love the neighbor as themselves, who have conscience, and are averse to such hatreds as have been mentioned. But among those previously described these men are like strangers, and are treated with the utmost possible abuse and persecution, or else are regarded as being simple, mean, and of no account. This then is what is meant by “thy seed shall be a stranger in the land.”

sRef Ex@12 @9 S0′ sRef Ex@12 @10 S0′ sRef Ex@12 @11 S0′ sRef Ex@12 @8 S0′ sRef Gen@15 @13 S0′ sRef Ex@12 @7 S0′ 1845. And they shall serve them. That this signifies oppression, may be seen from what has just been said.

sRef Gen@15 @13 S0′ sRef Deut@8 @2 S1′ sRef Isa@48 @10 S1′ sRef Deut@8 @16 S1′ 1846. And they shall afflict them. That this signifies their severe temptations, may be seen from the signification of “afflicting,” or of “affliction,” as being persecution, consequently temptation. In the Word of the Lord nothing else is signified by “affliction.” As in Isaiah:
I will purge thee, and not with silver; I will choose thee in the furnace of affliction (Isa. 48:10),
“affliction” denoting temptation. In Moses:
Thou shalt remember all the way by which Jehovah thy God hath led thee these forty years in the wilderness, that He might afflict thee, to tempt thee. Jehovah, who fed thee in the wilderness with manna which thy fathers knew not, that He might afflict thee, and that He might tempt thee, to do thee good at thy latter end (Deut. 8:2, 16);
to “afflict” manifestly denotes to tempt.
sRef Isa@53 @4 S2′ sRef Isa@53 @3 S2′ sRef Deut@26 @7 S2′ sRef Deut@26 @6 S2′ [2] In the same:
When the Egyptians did evil unto us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard servitude; and we cried unto Jehovah, the God of our fathers, and Jehovah heard our voice, and saw our affliction, and our toil, and our oppression (Deut. 26:6-7).
Here we find the same things as in the present verse: that they “served” and were “afflicted,” by which in like manner are signified the temptations of the faithful, as likewise by their afflictions in the wilderness, by which also there were represented the temptations of the Lord.
[3] As in Isaiah:
He was despised, a man of sorrows, and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. But truly He hath borne our diseases, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted (Isa. 53:3-4).
By these words are signified the Lord’s temptations; by His “bearing our sicknesses, and carrying our sorrows,” is not meant that the faithful are to undergo no temptations, nor is it meant that He took their sins upon Himself, and so bore them; but it means that by the combats and victories of temptations He overcame the hells, and in this way would alone, even as to His Human Essence, endure the temptations of the faithful.
sRef Mark@4 @16 S4′ sRef John@16 @33 S4′ sRef Mark@4 @17 S4′ [4] Temptations are also called by the Lord “afflictions;” as in Mark:
They that are sown upon stony places, when they have heard the Word have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; afterwards, when affliction and persecution arise because of the Word, straightway they are offended (Mark 4:16-17).
“Affliction” here manifestly denotes temptation; to “have no root in themselves” is to have no charity, for in this is faith rooted, and they who have not the support of this root yield in temptations. In John:
In the world ye have affliction; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world (John 16:33).
“Affliction” here denotes temptation.
sRef Matt@24 @8 S5′ sRef Matt@24 @9 S5′ sRef Matt@24 @7 S5′ sRef Matt@24 @29 S5′ sRef Matt@24 @21 S5′ [5] In Matthew:
Nation shall be stirred up against nation and kingdom against kingdom; all these things are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up unto affliction. Then shall be great affliction, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world. Immediately after the affliction of those days the sun shall be darkened (Matt. 24:7-9, 21, 29).
Here the consummation of the age, or the last times of the church, are treated of; “affliction” denotes temptations, both external and internal, the external being persecutions from the world, and the internal being persecutions from the devil. That there will be no charity, is signified by “nation being stirred against nation, and kingdom against kingdom;” also by “the sun,” that is, the Lord and love and charity, being “darkened.”

sRef Gen@15 @13 S0′ 1847. Four hundred years. That this signifies the duration and state, namely, of the temptations, is evident from the signification of “four hundred,” which number signifies the same as “forty,” namely, the durations and states of temptations (see n. 730, 862). The durations of temptations, both the shorter and the more lasting, are described in the Word by “forty.” In the literal sense the words before us relate to the stay of the sons of Jacob in Egypt; and that this was four hundred and thirty years is evident from Exodus 12:40; though the time was not so great as reckoned from Jacob’s coming into Egypt, but it was reckoned from Abram’s sojourn there, as has been observed before. The number four hundred and thirty is mentioned, from Abram’s sojourn, for the reason that this number involves the temptations which they represented by their servitude in Egypt, and afterwards also by the forty years’ afflictions in the wilderness.

sRef Gen@15 @14 S0′ 1848. Verse 14. And also that nation whom they shall serve will I judge, and after that shall they go out with great substance. “And also that nation whom they shall serve,” signifies the evil who oppress; “will I judge” signifies visitation and judgment; “and after that shall they go out with great substance,” signifies deliverance, and that they will have celestial and spiritual goods.

sRef Gen@15 @14 S0′ 1849. And also that nation whom they shall serve. That this signifies the evil who oppress, is evident from the signification of a “nation” and of “serving.” In the genuine sense a “nation” signifies goods, or what is the same, good persons; for when goods are spoken of in the abstract, they are in a subject; and this is a man, a spirit, or an angel. But in the opposite sense a “nation” signifies evils, or what is the same, the evil (see n. 1159, 1258-1260). But to “serve,” or “servitude,” signifies oppression, as in the preceding verse.

sRef Gen@15 @14 S0′ 1850. Will I judge. That this signifies visitation and judgment, may be seen without explication. By “judging,” or “judgment,” there is not signified any last judgment, as people in general suppose, that is, that the heaven and the earth are to perish, and that so a new heaven and a new earth will be created, as spoken of in the Prophets and in Revelation; and thus that all things are to perish, which opinion has spread itself so widely that it has even taken possession of the minds of those who are best instructed; and this to such a degree that they do not believe that the dead are to rise except at that time. And therefore because this time was foretold, and still, after so many centuries have since passed by, they see that it has not come and is not at hand, feeling safe they confirm themselves in their assurance that there is no such thing, and therefore that they will not rise again. But it is to be known that by the last judgment, or by the destruction of heaven and earth, no such thing is meant. According to the sense of the letter it is so; but not at all according to the internal sense: in this sense the last judgment means the last time of the church; the heaven and earth that will perish, mean the church as to internal and external worship, which becomes no church when there is no charity.
[2] There was a last judgment of the Most Ancient Church when all charity and faith had failed, and when there was no perception, as was the case just before the flood. The flood itself, treated of above, was the last judgment of that church; heaven and earth, that is, the church, then perished; and a new heaven and a new earth, that is, a new church, were created, which was called the Ancient Church, and which also has been treated of. This church likewise had its last time, namely, when all charity grew cold and all faith was darkened, which was about the time of Eber. This time was the last judgment of that church; which was the heaven and earth that had perished.
[3] The Hebrew Church was a new heaven and a new earth, and this too had its last time, or last judgment, when it became idolatrous; and then a new church was raised up among the descendants of Jacob, which was called the Jewish Church, and which was a church that was merely representative of charity and faith. In this church, that is, among the descendants of Jacob, there was neither charity nor faith, and therefore no church, but only the representative of a church, for the reason that it had become impossible for there to be immediate communication of the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens with any true church on earth, and therefore a mediate communication was effected by means of representatives. The last time of this so-called church, or its last judgment, was when the Lord came into the world; for the representatives then ceased, that is, the sacrifices and similar rites; and in order that these might cease, the Jews were cast out of the land of Canaan.
[4] After this a new heaven and a new earth were created, that is, a new church, which is to be called the Primitive Church, which was commenced by the Lord, and afterwards gradually became stronger, and which at first was in charity and faith. The destruction of this church is foretold by the Lord in the Gospels, and by John in Revelation; and this destruction is what is called the Last Judgment. Not that heaven and earth are now to perish, but that in some quarter of the globe a new church will be raised up, the present one remaining in its external worship, as the Jews do in theirs, in whose worship it is well known that there is nothing of charity and faith, that is, nothing of the church. So far as regards the last judgment in general.
[5] In particular, there is a last judgment for everyone immediately after he dies; for he then passes into the other life, in which, when he comes into the life that he had had in the body, he is adjudged either to death or to life. There is also a last judgment in the singular, for with a man who is adjudged to death, every single thing condemns him, for there is nothing in his thought and will, not even the least thing, that does not resemble his last judgment, and that does not drag him to death. In like manner with the man who is adjudged to life: in him every single thing of his thought and of his will presents an image of his last judgment, and all carry him on to life. For such as is man in general, such is he in the singulars of his thought and of his affection. These are the things that are signified by the last judgment.

sRef Gen@15 @14 S0′ 1851. And after that shall they go out with great substance. That this signifies deliverance, and that they will have celestial and spiritual goods, is evident from the signification of “going out,” which is to be liberated, and from the signification of “substance,” which is celestial and spiritual goods, for this is the substance of those who suffer the persecutions, and undergo the temptations, oppressions, afflictions, or servitudes, that are treated of in this and the preceding verses. These goods are also represented and signified by the substance of the sons of Jacob when they went out of Egypt (Exod. 11:2; 12:36); and also by their substance in the land of Canaan when the nations had been driven out; and in the Prophets, whenever the spoils taken from their enemies are treated of, by which they were enriched.

sRef Gen@15 @15 S0′ 1852. Verse 15. And thou shall go to thy fathers in peace, thou shall be buried in a good old age. “Thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace,” signifies that nothing of the goods and truths shall be harmed; “thou shalt be buried in a good old age,” signifies the enjoyment of all goods by those who are the Lord’s.

sRef Gen@15 @15 S0′ 1853. Thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace. That this signifies that nothing of the goods and truths shall be harmed, may be seen from the signification of “fathers,” also of “going to one’s fathers,” and of “peace.” In the internal sense, “fathers” here signify the same as “daughters” and “sons” taken together. That “daughters” signify goods, and “sons” truths, has been shown before (n. 489-491, 533, 1147); hence “fathers” signify the things which belong to daughters and sons together. To “go to one’s fathers” is to pass from the life of the body into the life of the spirit, or from the world into the other life. “In peace,” signifies that he shall lose nothing, and thus that nothing shall be harmed, for he who passes into the other life loses nothing of the things that belong to him as a man; he retains and has with him everything except the body, which had been an impediment to the interior exercise of his faculties. That no death, or passing to the fathers by death, is here meant, will be evident from what next follows.

sRef Gen@15 @15 S0′ 1854. Thou shalt be buried in a good old age. That this signifies the enjoyment of all goods by those who are the Lord’s, is evident from the fact that those who die and are buried do not die, but pass from an obscure life into a clear one. For the death of the body is merely the continuation and also the perfection of the life, and they who are the Lord’s then first come into the enjoyment of all goods, which enjoyment is signified by “a good old age.” The expressions that they “died,” were “buried,” and were “gathered to their fathers,” are often met with, but in the internal sense these do not signify the same as in the sense of the letter. In the internal sense are such things as are of the life after death and are eternal; but in the sense of the letter are such as are of the life in the world and belong to time.
[2] Consequently they who are in the internal sense (as the angels are) when such expressions are met with never abide in ideas of death and burial, but in such as relate to the continuance of life, for they regard death as nothing but the putting off of those things which are of grossest nature and of time, and as being a continuation of the real life; in fact they do not know what death is, for they think nothing about it. And the like is the case with the ages of man, so that when it is here said “in a good old age,” the angels have no perception at all of old age, indeed they do not know what old age is, for they are constantly verging toward the life of early manhood and of youth. Such life, and consequently the celestial and spiritual things of it, are what are meant when “a good old age” and similar expressions occur in the Word.

sRef Gen@15 @16 S0′ 1855. Verse 16. And in the fourth generation they shall return hither, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet consummated. “In the fourth generation they shall return hither,” signifies the time and state of restoration; “for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet consummated,” signifies the last time, when there is no longer any good.

sRef Gen@15 @16 S0′ 1856. In the fourth generation they shall return hither. That this signifies the time and state of restoration, is evident from the signification of “the fourth generation.” “The fourth generation” signifies the same as “forty” and as “four hundred;” namely, the duration and the state of temptation, spoken of at verse 13; it is a sort of diminutive from these. Whether a number be larger or smaller, provided it be of the same stock, it involves the same; as has already been stated several times. That “the fourth generation” does not signify any generation from Abram, or from Isaac, or from Jacob, is evident from the historicals of the Word; for there were more generations, and these people were very different from their fathers when they returned. “The fourth generation” is an expression that occurs likewise in other places, yet in the internal sense it never signifies any generation; and here it signifies the time and state of restoration, because it signifies the end of those things which are signified by “forty” or by “four hundred” (see n. 862, 1847).

sRef Gen@15 @16 S0′ 1857. For the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet consummated. That this signifies the last time, when there is no longer any good, is evident from the signification of “the Amorite,” and also from the signification of “consummation.” By “the Amorite” in the Word, is signified evil in general, for the reason that the land of Canaan was called the land of the Amorites (as is evident in Ezek. 16:3, 4; Amos 2:9, 10). And therefore by “the Amorite” in this passage are signified all the nations of the land of Canaan; and by these, as before said, were signified evils and falsities specifically; and consequently by “the Amorite” are signified all evils in general. By “consummation” is signified the last time, when there is no longer any good.
[2] But what is meant in the internal sense by the fact that the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet consummated, is an arcanum. For the state of the case with the evil in the other life is that they are not punished until their evils have reached their height, and this both in general and in particular. For such is the equilibrium in the other life that evil punishes itself, that is to say those who are evil run into the punishment of their evil, but only when it has reached its height. Every evil has its limit that varies in each individual case, beyond which it is not allowable to pass. When an evil person passes beyond this limit he precipitates himself into the penalty, and this is so in every particular.
[3] It is the same in general, the wicked thrust themselves down into hell, not in a moment, but successively. This has its origin in the universal law of order established by the Lord, that the Lord never casts anyone down into hell; but that evil casts itself down, or that the evil person casts himself down, and this successively, until the evil has been consummated, and nothing of good any longer appears. So long as there is any good, he is uplifted above hell; but when there is nothing but evil, of himself he is thrust down into it. Good and evil must first be separated from each other, for they are opposites; and no one is allowed to incline both ways. This is what is signified by the iniquity of the Amorites having to be consummated. But with the good the case is otherwise; they are continually uplifted by the Lord toward heaven, and their evil is successively wiped away.
sRef Isa@28 @22 S4′ sRef Jer@51 @13 S4′ sRef Dan@9 @24 S4′ sRef Dan@9 @27 S4′ [4] The same is the case with the state of a church. The visitation does not come until its evil has been consummated, that is, until there is no longer any good of charity and truth of faith. This consummation is very often spoken of in the Prophets. As in Isaiah:
A consummation and a decree have I heard from the Lord Jehovih Zebaoth upon the whole earth (Isa. 28:22).
In Jeremiah:
O Babel, that dwellest upon many waters, great in treasures, thine end is come, the measure of thy gain (Jer. 51:13).
In Daniel:
Seventy weeks are decreed upon thy people and upon the city of thy holiness, to consummate the transgression, and to seal up sins, and to expiate iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophet, and to anoint the holy of holies (Dan. 9:24).
At length upon the bird of abominations shall be desolation, and even unto the consummation and the decree shall it pour itself out upon the devastation (Dan. 9:27).
sRef Luke@21 @24 S5′ [5] The consummation is also foretold by the Lord Himself in these words of Luke:
They shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led captive among all the nations; and at length Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the nations, until the times of the nations shall be fulfilled (Luke 21:24).
To “fall by the edge of the sword,” signifies by falsities, for “a sword” in the Word is the punishment of what is false; “Jerusalem” denotes the Lord’s kingdom and the church (see n. 402); “nations” evils (see n. 1260). Thus the signification is that there would be a consummation when the church should be possessed by evils and falsities, and so be destroyed of itself.

sRef Gen@15 @17 S0′ 1858. Verse 17. And it came to pass that the sun went down, and there was thick darkness; and behold a furnace of smoke, and a torch of fire, which passed between those pieces. “And it came to pass that the sun went down,” signifies the last time, when the consummation came; “and there was thick darkness,” signifies when hatred was in the place of charity; “and behold a furnace of smoke,” signifies the densest falsity; “and a torch of fire,” signifies the burning heat of cupidities; “which passed between those pieces,” signifies that it separated those who were of the church from the Lord.

sRef Gen@15 @17 S0′ 1859. And it came to pass that the sun went down. That this signifies the last time, when the consummation came, is evident from what was said above (at verse 12) concerning the setting of the sun and its signification, namely, that it is the last time of the church.

sRef Gen@15 @17 S0′ 1860. And there was thick darkness. That this signifies when hatred was in the place of charity, is evident from the signification of “thick darkness.” In the Word “darkness” signifies falsities, and “thick darkness” evils (as shown just below). There is “darkness” when falsity is in the place of truth; and there is “thick darkness” when evil is in the place of good, or what is precisely the same, when hatred is in the place of charity. When hatred is in the place of charity, the thick darkness is so great that the man is quite unaware that it is evil, still less that it is so great an evil as in the other life to thrust him down to hell, for they who are in hatred perceive a kind of delight and as it were a kind of life in it, and this delight and life themselves cause him scarcely to know but that it is good, for whatever favors a man’s pleasure and cupidity, because it favors his love, he feels as good, and this to such a degree that when he is told that it is infernal he can scarcely believe it, still less when he is told that such delight and life are in the other life turned the stench of excrement and cadavers. And still less does he believe that he is becoming a devil and a horrible image of hell; for hell consists of nothing but hatreds and such diabolical forms.
[2] Yet anyone might know this who possesses any faculty for thinking, for if he should describe or represent, or if he could in any manner picture, hatred, he would do it no otherwise than by diabolical forms, such as those who are in hatred also become after death, and, wonderful to say, such men are capable of declaring that in the other life they shall come into heaven; some merely for saying that they have faith, when yet there are in heaven none but forms of charity, and what these are may be seen from experience (n. 553). Let all such therefore consider how these two forms, of hatred and of charity, can agree together in one place.
sRef Joel@2 @2 S3′ sRef Joel@2 @1 S3′ sRef Zeph@1 @15 S3′ sRef Amos@5 @20 S3′ sRef Isa@60 @2 S3′ [3] That “darkness” signifies falsity, and “thick darkness” evil, may be seen from the following passages in the Word. In Isaiah:
Behold, darkness covereth the earth, and thick darkness the peoples (Isa. 60:2).
In Joel:
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of Jehovah cometh, a day of darkness and thick darkness (Joel 2:1-2).
In Zephaniah:
That day is a day of wrath, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and thick darkness (Zeph. 1:15).
In Amos:
Shall not the day of Jehovah be darkness and not light, and thick darkness and no brightness in it? (Amos 5:20).
In these passages “the day of Jehovah” denotes the last time of the church, which is here treated of; “darkness” denotes falsities, “thick darkness” evils; both therefore are mentioned; otherwise it would be a repetition of the same thing, or an unmeaning amplification. But the word in the original language that in this verse is rendered “thick darkness” involves falsity as well as evil, that is, dense falsity from which is evil, and also dense evil from which is falsity.

sRef Gen@15 @17 S0′ 1861. And behold a furnace of smoke and a torch of fire. That “a furnace of smoke” signifies the densest falsity, and “a torch of fire” the burning heat of cupidities, is evident from the signification of “a furnace of smoke” as being dense falsity, and from the signification of “a torch of fire” as being the burning heat of cupidities. It is said “a furnace of smoke,” because a man, especially a man of the church, who has a knowledge of the truth and still does not acknowledge, but in heart denies it, and indeed passes his life in things contrary to the truth, appears no otherwise than as a furnace of smoke-himself as the furnace, and the falsity from his hatreds as the smoke. The cupidities from which are the falsities appear as torches of fire from such a furnace, as is evident also from the representatives in the other life (described from experience, n. 814, 1528). It is cupidities of hatred, revenge, cruelties, adulteries-and still more when these are mingled with deceits-that appear and become such things.
sRef Isa@9 @18 S2′ sRef Isa@9 @17 S2′ sRef Isa@9 @19 S2′ [2] That by a “furnace,” “smoke,” and “fire” such things are signified in the Word may be seen from the following passages. In Isaiah:
Everyone is a hypocrite and a wicked one, and every mouth speaketh folly. For wickedness burneth as the fire, it devoureth the briars and thorns, and kindleth in the thickets of the forest, and they mount up as the rising of smoke. In the wrath of Jehovah Zebaoth is the land darkened, and the people is become like food for fire; a man shall not spare his brother (Isa. 9:17-19).
Here “fire” denotes hatreds and “the rising of smoke” from it such falsities; hatred is described by “no man sparing his brother;” for when such men are looked upon by the angels they appear no otherwise than as here described.
sRef Isa@34 @10 S3′ sRef Joel@2 @31 S3′ sRef Isa@34 @9 S3′ sRef Joel@2 @30 S3′ [3] In Joel:
I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of Jehovah come (Joel 2:30-31).
Here “fire” denotes hatred; “pillars of smoke” falsities; “the sun” charity; and “the moon” faith.
sRef Isa@1 @31 S4′ [4] In Isaiah:
The land shall become burning pitch; it shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up to eternity (Isa. 34:9-10).
“Burning pitch” denotes direful cupidities; and “smoke” falsities.
sRef Mal@4 @1 S5′ [5] In Malachi:
Behold the day cometh burning as a furnace, and all the proud and everyone that worketh wickedness shall be stubble, and the day that cometh shall set them on fire, it shall leave them neither root nor branch (Mal. 4:1).
A “burning furnace” here denotes the same as before; the “root” denotes charity; the “branch” truth, which shall not be left.
sRef Hos@13 @1 S6′ sRef Hos@13 @3 S6′ [6] In Hosea:
Ephraim became guilty in Baal, he shall be as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the threshing-floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney (Hos. 13:1, 3).
“Ephraim” denotes an intelligent man who becomes such.
sRef Rev@18 @18 S7′ sRef Rev@18 @2 S7′ [7] In Isaiah:
The strong shall be as tow, and his work as a spark; and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them (Isa. 1:31);
meaning those who are in the love of self, or what is the same, in hatred against the neighbor, in that they shall be thus kindled by their own cupidities. In John:
Babylon is become a habitation of demons. They cried out when they saw the smoke of her burning. Her smoke goeth up for ever and ever (Rev. 18:2, 18; 19:3).
sRef Jer@21 @12 S8′ sRef Rev@9 @17 S8′ sRef Rev@9 @18 S8′ sRef Rev@14 @9 S8′ sRef Rev@16 @9 S8′ sRef Rev@16 @8 S8′ sRef Rev@19 @20 S8′ sRef Rev@14 @10 S8′ sRef Rev@9 @2 S8′ [8] In the same:
He opened the pit of the abyss, and there went up a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun was darkened, and the air, from the smoke of the pit (Rev. 9:2).
In the same:
Out of the mouths of the horses went forth fire and smoke and brimstone. By these was the third part of men killed, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone, that went forth out of their mouth (Rev. 9:17-18).
In the same:
He that worshipeth the beast shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, poured out unmixed in the cup of His anger, and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone (Rev. 14:9-10).
In the same:
The fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun, and it was given to him to scorch men with fire; and men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God (Rev. 16:8-9).
In like manner it is said that
They were cast into the lake of fire burning with brimstone (Rev. 19:20; 20:14-15; 21:8).
sRef Deut@32 @22 S9′ [9] In these passages “fire” denotes the cupidities, and “smoke” the falsities that will reign in the last times. These things were seen by John when his interior sight was opened, just as they appear in the other life. Similar things are also seen by spirits, and by souls after death. Hence it may be seen what hell fire is, that it is nothing but hatred, revenge, and cruelty, or what is the same, the love of self; for such do these become. During his life in the body, any man of such a quality, however he might appear outwardly, if inspected closely by the angels would appear no otherwise in their eyes, that is, his hatreds would appear as torches of fire, and the falsities derived from them as furnaces of smoke.
sRef Deut@5 @25 S10′ sRef Matt@13 @50 S10′ sRef Matt@13 @42 S10′ sRef Matt@3 @10 S10′ sRef Matt@25 @41 S10′ sRef Deut@5 @23 S10′ sRef Deut@4 @12 S10′ sRef Deut@4 @11 S10′ sRef Deut@5 @24 S10′ sRef Matt@13 @41 S10′ [10] Concerning this fire the Lord thus speaks in Matthew:
Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire (Matt. 3:10; Luke 3:9);
by “good fruit” is meant charity: he who deprives himself of this cuts himself down, and casts himself into such fire. Again:
The Son of man shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that cause stumbling, and them that do iniquity, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire (Matt. 13:41-42, 50),
with a like meaning. And again:
The king saith unto those on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into the eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels (Matt. 25:41).
sRef Luke@16 @24 S11′ [11] That they should be “sent into the eternal fire,” “the Gehenna of fire,” and that “their worm should not die, and their fire should not be quenched” (Matt. 18:8-9; Mark 9:43-49), have a like meaning. In Luke:
Send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame (Luke 16:24),
with a like meaning.
[12] They who are not acquainted with the arcana of the Lord’s kingdom suppose that the Lord casts the wicked into hell, or into such fire, which, as before said, is that of hatreds; but the case is very different, for it is the man himself, or the diabolical spirit himself, who casts himself down. But because it so appears it has been expressed in the Word according to the appearance, and indeed according to the fallacies of the senses; and especially was this necessary in the case of the Jews, who were unwilling to accept anything at all unless it were in accordance with the senses, whatever might be the fallacies thus involved. On this account the sense of the letter, especially in the prophecies, is full of such things.
[13] As in Jeremiah:
Thus said Jehovah, Judge judgment in the morning, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, lest My fury go forth like fire, and burn, and there be none to quench it, because of the wickedness of their works (Jer. 21:12).
To “judge judgment” is to speak truth; to “deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor,” is to do the good of charity; “fire” denotes the infernal punishment of those who do not do these things, that is, who pass their lives in the falsity of hatred. In the sense of the letter such “fire” and “fury” are attributed to Jehovah, but in the internal sense it is quite the contrary.
sRef Ps@18 @8 S14′ sRef Joel@2 @1 S14′ sRef Joel@2 @3 S14′ sRef Ps@18 @9 S14′ [14] In like manner in Joel:
The day of Jehovah: a fire devoureth before Him, and behind Him a flame burneth (Joel 2:1, 3).
In David:
There went up a smoke out of His nostrils, and fire out of His mouth devoured, coals did burn from Him, and thick darkness was under His feet (Ps. 18:8-9).
In Moses:
A fire is kindled in Mine anger, and it shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall devour the earth and her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains (Deut. 32:22),
where “fire” denotes the hatreds, and “smoke” the falsities which are in men, which are attributed to Jehovah or the Lord for the reasons that have been given. In the hells also the appearance is that Jehovah or the Lord does this, but it is quite the contrary; they do it to themselves, because they are in the fires of hatred. Hence it is manifest how easily a man may fall into phantasies if the internal sense of the Word is not known.
[15] It was similar with the “smoke” and “fire” that were seen by the people on Mount Sinai when the law was promulgated. For Jehovah, or the Lord, appears to everyone according to his quality-to celestial angels as a Sun, to spiritual angels as a Moon, to all the good as a Light of varied delight and pleasantness but to the evil as a smoke and as a consuming fire. And as when the Law was promulgated, the Jews had nothing of charity, but the love of self and of the world prevailed in them, and thus nothing but evils and falsities, He therefore appeared to them as a smoke and fire, when at the same instant He appeared to the angels as the Sun and Light of heaven.
sRef Ex@24 @17 S16′ sRef Ex@19 @18 S16′ sRef Ex@19 @18 S16′ sRef Ex@24 @16 S16′ [16] That He so appeared to the Jews because they were of such a character, is evident in Moses:
The glory of Jehovah abode upon Mount Sinai, and the appearance of the glory of Jehovah was like devouring fire on the top of the mount, in the eyes of the sons of Israel (Exod. 24:16-17).
Again:
And Mount Sinai was all of it smoking, because Jehovah descended upon it in fire, and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly (Exod. 19:18).
And elsewhere:
Ye came near and stood under the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire, even to the heart of heaven; darkness, cloud, and thick darkness and Jehovah spake unto you out of the midst of the fire (Deut. 4:11-12; 5:22).
Also:
It came to pass when ye heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, while the mountain did burn with fire, that ye came near unto me, and ye said, Now therefore why should we die? for this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of Jehovah our God any more, then we shall die (Deut. 5:23-25).
[17] Just so would it be with anyone else who should see the Lord, and who has passed his life in hatred and in the foul things of hatreds, for he could see Him no otherwise than from his hatred and its foulnesses, these being the recipients of the rays of good and truth from the Lord, and they would turn these rays into such fire, smoke, and thick darkness. From the same passages it is also plain what the “smoke of the furnace” is, and what the “torch of fire,” namely, the most dense falsity and most filthy evil, that would in the last times take possession of the church.

sRef Jer@34 @20 S0′ sRef Jer@34 @19 S0′ sRef Jer@34 @18 S0′ sRef Jer@34 @14 S0′ sRef Gen@15 @17 S0′ 1862. That passed between those pieces. That this signifies that it separated those who were of the church from the Lord, may be seen from what was said above (at verse 10) concerning the partition of the animals in the midst, as signifying a parallelism and correspondence in respect to celestial things; and that one part being placed opposite the other signified the church and the Lord; and that the intermediate space or interspace signified that which comes in between the Lord and the church, or between the Lord and the man of the church, which is conscience, in which goods and truths have been implanted by means of charity. When hatreds succeed in place of charity, and evils and falsities in place of goods and truths, there is then no conscience of what is good and true; but this middle space or interspace appears to be filled with a furnace of smoke and with torches of fire, that is, with persuasions of falsity and with hatreds, which are what altogether separate the Lord from the church.
[2] These are the things signified by the passing between the pieces; chiefly that of the torch of fire, for this is the love of self, or what is the same, the evil of hatred. This may also be seen in Jeremiah, where we find nearly the same words:
I will give the men who have transgressed My covenant, who have not established the words of the covenant which they made before Me, the calf which they cut in twain and passed between the parts thereof; the princes of Judah, and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land, that passed between the parts of the calf; I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their souls; and their carcass shall be for food to the fowl of the heavens and to the beast of the earth (Jer. 34:14, 18-20).

sRef Gen@15 @18 S0′ 1863. Verse 18. In that day Jehovah made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land, from the river of Egypt, even to the great river, the river Euphrates. “In that day Jehovah made a covenant with Abram,” signifies the conjunction of the Lord’s interior man with His Internal or Jehovah; “saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land,” signifies the consolations after these temptations and horrors, in that they who are in charity and in faith in Him will become heirs; “from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates,” signifies the extension of spiritual and celestial things; “to the river of Egypt,” is the extension of spiritual things; “to the river Euphrates,” is the extension of celestial things.

sRef Gen@15 @18 S0′ 1864. In that day Jehovah made a covenant with Abram. That this signifies the conjunction of the Lord’s interior man with His Internal, is evident from the signification of a “covenant,” as being conjunction (explained before, n. 665, 666, 1023, 1038). And as the Lord is here treated of in the internal sense, it signifies interior conjunction. For the Lord advanced more and more to conjunction and union with Jehovah His Father, until He became One, that is, the Human Essence itself also became Jehovah, who was the Lord’s Internal itself. These things were represented by the covenant which Jehovah made with Abram. Everyone can see that Jehovah never makes a covenant with a man, for this would be contrary to the Divine. What is a man but something vile and filthy, which of itself thinks and does nothing but evil? All the good that he does is from Jehovah; from which it may be seen that this covenant, like other covenants with Abram’s posterity, was nothing but a representative of the Divine, and of the celestial things of the kingdom of God; in the present case that the covenant was representative of the conjunction of the Lord’s Human Essence with His Divine Essence, that is, with Jehovah. That it was representative of the conjunction of the Lord’s interior man with His Internal, that is, Jehovah, is evident from what has been said before, namely, that by the combats and victories of temptations the Lord conjoined and united Himself more and more. What His interior man was, has been told before, namely, that it was intermediate between the internal man and the external.

sRef Gen@15 @18 S0′ 1865. Saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land. That this signifies the consolation after these temptations and horrors, in that they who are in charity and faith in Him should become heirs, is evident from the signification of “seed,” and from the signification of the “land.” By the “seed of Abram” are signified love and the faith derived therefrom, as has been shown before (n. 255, 256, 1025), consequently all those who are in charity and in faith in the Lord. But by the land of Canaan is signified the Lord’s kingdom; therefore to “give the land unto thy seed” signifies that the heavenly kingdom should be given as an inheritance to those who from charity have faith in Him.
[2] That these things were a consolation to the Lord after His temptations and horrors, may be seen without explication. For after those hard and adverse eventualities which the Lord had seen, that is to say, after he had put to flight evils and falsities-which were signified by the fowls that came down upon the bodies and that Abram drove away (mentioned in verse 11)-and yet after all dense falsities infused themselves, at which He shuddered (which were signified by the “terror of great darkness” that fell upon Abram in the deep sleep, spoken of in verse 12), and yet at last mere falsities and evils took possession of the human race (which are signified by “the furnace of smoke” and “the torch of fire” which passed between the pieces, mentioned in verse 17, that precedes this), the Lord could not but be in distress and grief; and therefore consolation now follows, such as was given above (verses 4 and 5); namely, that His seed should inherit the land, that is, that they who are in charity and in faith in Him should become heirs of His kingdom. To Him the salvation of the human race was the only consolation, for He was in Divine and celestial love, and became, even as to His Human Essence, the Divine and celestial Love itself, in which the love of all is alone regarded and is at heart.
[3] That the Divine love is such may be seen from the love of parents toward their children, which increases according to the degree in which it descends, that is, it becomes greater toward the more remote descendants than it is toward the immediate children. Nothing ever exists without a cause and an origin, consequently neither does this love in the human race that is characterized by a constant increase toward the descendants in succession. The cause and origin of this cannot but be from the Lord, from whom inflows all conjugial love, and that of parents toward their children, and the source of which is that His love for all is like that of a father for his sons, who desires to make all His heirs, and provides an inheritance for those who are to be born, as He does for those already born.

sRef Gen@15 @18 S0′ 1866. From the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates. That this signifies the extension of spiritual and celestial things-to “the river of Egypt” being the extension of spiritual things, and “to the river Euphrates” being the extension of celestial things-is evident from the signification of “the river of Egypt,” and from the signification of “the great river,” or “the Euphrates.” That these “rivers” signify the extension of spiritual and celestial things, may be seen from the signification of the land of Canaan, as being the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens and on the earth, in which there is nothing but the spiritual things which are of faith and the celestial things which are of mutual love; and therefore nothing but the extension of these can be meant by the boundaries of the land of Canaan. For what the land of Canaan is, what the river of Egypt is, and what the great river Euphrates is, and indeed what the boundaries of any land are, they who are in the heavens do not know at all; but they well know what the extension of spiritual and celestial things is, and also the determinations and the limitations of the states of these things. These things they have in mind while the others are being read by man; and so the letter vanishes and together with it that historical sense which has served as an objective form for the heavenly ideas.
[2] That “the river of Egypt” signifies the extension of spiritual things, is because “Egypt” signifies memory-knowledges [scientifica], which, together with a man’s rational and intellectual things, constitute spiritual things (as before said, n. 1443 and in other places; and that “Egypt” in the internal sense signifies memory-knowledges may be seen n. 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462). That “the river Euphrates” signifies the extension of celestial things, may be seen from a consideration of the lands which that river bounds and separates from the land of Canaan, and by which likewise in many passages are signified the knowledges [scientifica et cognitiones] of celestial things but here, because it is called “the river” and “the great river,” celestial things and the knowledges [cognitiones] of them are what alone are signified; for a “great river” and “greatness” are predicated of these.

sRef Gen@15 @19 S0′ sRef Gen@15 @19 S0′ sRef Gen@15 @21 S0′ sRef Gen@15 @20 S0′ sRef Gen@15 @21 S0′ sRef Gen@15 @20 S0′ 1867. Verses 19, 20, 21. The Kenite, and the Kenizzite, and the Kadmonite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Rephaim, and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Girgashite, and the Jebusite. “The Kenite, and the Kenizzite, and the Kadmonite,” signify falsities which are to be expelled from the Lord’s kingdom; “the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Rephaim,” signify persuasions of falsity; “the Amorite and the Canaanite,” signify evils; “the Girgashite and the Jebusite,” signify falsities from evils.

sRef Gen@15 @20 S0′ sRef Gen@15 @21 S0′ sRef Gen@15 @21 S0′ sRef Gen@15 @20 S0′ sRef Gen@15 @19 S0′ sRef Gen@15 @19 S0′ 1868. That these things are signified by these nations it would be too tedious to confirm from the Word; and there is no need to do so here, because they are merely named. Some of them have been treated of above; the “Rephaim” as signifying the persuasions of falsity (n. 567, 581, 1673); the “Amorite” as signifying evils (n. 1680); the “Canaanite” as signifying evils (above at verse 16); the “Perizzite” as signifying falsities (n. 1574). What is the specific signification of the other nations, shall of the Lord’s Divine mercy be told in what follows, as they occur.
[2] As regards the nations which are to be expelled from the Lord’s kingdom, the case is this. In the other life the evil and diabolical spirits desire nothing more than to come up into the world of spirits and infest the good spirits, but as often as they do so they are cast out, in like manner as in a man who is being regenerated the falsities and evils which have taken possession of him are subjugated and dissipated, and the goods and truths of the Lord’s kingdom are implanted in their place.
[3] These were represented by the nations that were expelled from the land of Canaan by the sons of Jacob; and the same were represented by the Jews themselves, who were afterwards expelled from the land. The same occurred with many nations of old that represented similar things, as the Horites who were driven from Mount Seir by the descendants of Esau (spoken of in Deut. 2:12, 22); and the Avvim who were expelled by the Caphtorim (mentioned in Deut. 2:23); also the Emim or Rephaim who were driven out by the Moabites (spoken of in Deut. 2:9-11); and also the Zamzummim who were expelled by the Ammonites (mentioned in Deut. 2:19-21); besides many others spoken of in the Prophets.

1869. CONTINUATION CONCERNING THE HOLY SCRIPTURE OR WORD
How many things there are in a single word of the Word has been shown me by the opening of the ideas of thought. It is a remarkable fact that in the other life this can be done so to the very life that the ideas themselves appear visible in form, and thus like pictured images. One who during his life in this world had lived in charity or mutual love, and had taken great delight in the Word, had his ideas thus opened. There then appeared beautiful things beyond number, together with delicious and delightful things of an affecting nature, and it was said that the things which thus appear visible can be opened again as to their interiors, and that when these have been opened things still more beautiful and delightful are presented that are attended with happiness itself. Such are all angelic ideas, for they are open from the Lord Himself. [2] To spirits who wondered that ideas of thought could be so opened in the other life, this was illustrated by taking the case of the sight of the eye, the rays of vision of which are so dull and obscure that the smaller things in nature (which contain things innumerable) they see only as something opaque, black, and shapeless; but when the same objects are viewed through a microscope, things more interior are presented to view, connected in beautiful series and flowing in delightful order; and it is seen that these might in like manner be opened still more by a more powerful microscope. In this way such spirits have been shown how the case is with the internal sight, the rays of which are nothing but ideas, in that in themselves these ideas are so gross that anything more gross can scarcely exist in that sphere, although men think differently. But concerning ideas, of the Lord’s Divine mercy hereafter.

1870. The case is similar with the Word of the Lord; each of its words presents in form its own idea, for a word is nothing but an idea so presented in form that the sense may be perceived; and in the ideas are things so innumerable, and which cannot come to man’s perception, but only to that of angels, that it can never be believed. And when these are opened by the Lord, more internal forms are presented to the perception by delightful and happy things, and to the sight by representative and paradisal things; the former from the celestial and spiritual things of the Lord’s love or mercy, and the latter from the rays of light thence derived.
[2] It has been shown me by wonderful experience that the Word has been inspired not only as to each of its words, but also as to the little letters of each word, and thus exactly as is said, as to the smallest jot; for in every jot there is something from that affection and life which is common to the whole expression, and which therefore has been insinuated in a correspondent manner into its smallest particulars. But this can by no means be explained to the understanding without a previous knowledge of many other things.

1871. How the Word of the Lord appears before the angels cannot be described, but some idea can be formed by those who have seen in museums the optical cylinders in which beautiful images are represented from things roughly projected. Although the things which are round about in the projection appear to have no form, series, or order, and to be merely confused projections, still when they are concentrated toward the cylinder, they there present a lovely image. So it is with the Word of the Lord, especially with the prophetic Word of the Old Testament. In the literal sense there is scarcely anything that does not appear destitute of order, but when it is being read by a man, and especially by a little boy or girl, it becomes more beautiful and delightful by degrees as it ascends, and at last it is presented before the Lord as the image of a human being, in which and by which heaven is represented in its whole complex, not as it is, but as the Lord wills it to be, namely, a likeness of Himself.

1872. There appeared to me a beautiful girl with a radiant face, passing quickly upward toward the right, and making some haste. In age she seemed to be in the first bloom-not a child nor yet a young woman-becomingly clothed with a dress of shining black; so she was hastening on with gladness from light to light. It was said that the interiors of the Word are such in their first ascent; the black dress was the Word in the letter. Afterwards the young girl flew to my right cheek, but was perceivable only by the interior sight. It was said that such are the things from the internal sense of the Word which do not come to the comprehension.

1873. Spirits spoke respecting the internal sense of the Word; and in order that the nature of it might be presented to the understanding, it was illustrated by the example, What is the fruit of faith? And it was said that good works are the fruit of faith in the external sense or that of the letter, but that these good works have no life unless they proceed from charity; and that thus the fruit of faith in the proximate interior sense is charity. But as charity or love toward the neighbor ought to proceed from love to the Lord, this love is the fruit of faith in the internal sense; and as all love is from the Lord, it is the Lord Himself. For thus in the good work is charity; in charity is love to the Lord; and in love to the Lord is the Lord Himself.

1874. In conversation with good spirits, I said that in the Word many things, even more than one can believe, are said according to appearances and according to the fallacies of the senses, as that Jehovah is in anger, wrath, and fury against the wicked; that He takes pleasure in bringing them to ruin and destruction, and even that He kills them. But these things have been said in order that persuasions and cupidities might not be broken, but that they might be bent; for to speak otherwise than as man apprehends (that is, from appearances, fallacies, and persuasions) would have been to sow seed in the waters, and to say that which would be at once rejected. Nevertheless such forms of speech are able to serve as general vessels in which spiritual and celestial things may be contained, for into them it may be insinuated that all things are from the Lord; then that the Lord permits, but that evil is wholly from diabolical spirits; afterwards that the Lord provides and disposes that evils should be turned into goods; and at last that nothing but good is from the Lord. Thus the sense of the letter perishes as it ascends and becomes spiritual, then celestial, and at last Divine.

sRef Matt@6 @13 S0′ 1875. It was granted me to have a perception of angelic ideas about these words in the Lord’s Prayer: “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Temptation and evil were rejected by the nearest good spirits, by a certain idea perceptible within me, and this even until what is purely angelic, namely, Good,, remained, without any idea of temptation and evil; the literal sense thus perishing altogether. In the first rejection innumerable ideas were being formed respecting this Good-how good may come from man’s affliction while the affliction still is from the man and his evil, in which there is punishment, and this with a kind of indignation joined with it that it should be thought that temptation and its evil come from any other source, and that anyone should have any thought of evil in thinking of the Lord. These ideas were purified in the degree of their ascent. The ascents were represented by rejections (spoken of also n. 1393), which were made with a rapidity and in a manner that were inexpressible, until they passed into the shade of my thought. They were then in heaven, where there are only ineffable angelic ideas concerning the Lord’s good.

1876. The names of men, of kingdoms, and of cities, that occur in the Word, like the words of human speech, perish at the very threshold of the ascent; for these are earthly, corporeal, and material; and the souls that come into the other life successively put these things off, and those who come into heaven do so altogether. The angels retain not even the least of an idea of any person, nor consequently of his name. What Abram is, what Isaac, and Jacob, they no longer know. They form an idea for themselves from the things which are represented and signified by them in the Word. Names and words are to them like dust, or like scales, which fall off when they enter heaven. Hence it may be seen that by the names in the Word nothing is signified except actual things. I have frequently spoken with angels about these matters, and have been fully instructed by them concerning the truth. The speech of spirits with one another is not a speech of words, but of ideas, such as are those of human thought without words, on which account it is the universal of all languages. But when they speak with a man, their speech falls into the words of the man’s language (as before said, n. 1635, 1637, 1639).
[2] When I have spoken with spirits about this, it has been given me to say that when they are conversing with one another, they cannot utter even one single word of human language, still less any name. Some of them, wondering at this, retired and tried; but returning they said that they were not able to pronounce them because the words were so grossly material that they were below their sphere, as they were formed from the sound of air, made articulate by the bodily organs, or by influx into such organs by an internal way leading to the organ of hearing. From this it may likewise be clearly seen that no part of a word that is in the Word can pass to spirits, still less to angelic spirits, whose speech is still more universal (see n. 1642), and least of all to the angels (see n. 1643), with whom remains nothing of the first ideas of spirits, but in place of them spiritual truths and celestial goods, which are varied in an ineffable manner in the least forms, continued and connected in a unanimous series, with the originaries of representatives that are most pleasant and beautiful from the happiness of mutual love, and that are happy from pleasantnesses and beauties, because they are inspired with the life of the Lord.

1877. The souls or spirits who are in the world of spirits, especially the wicked, retain at first the things which they had in their life of the body, that is, things earthly, corporeal, and worldly, and with them the principles which they had taken up. Among these spirits are those who are not willing to hear anything concerning the internal sense of the Word, but only concerning the literal sense, which they carry so far as to believe that the twelve apostles are to sit upon twelve thrones and to judge the twelve tribes of Israel; and also that none but the poor, the miserable, and they that have suffered persecutions can enter into heaven; when yet both the rich and the powerful who have lived in charity and in faith in the Lord are there. As such persons claim heaven for themselves on account of their merits, I have seen them running hither and thither, and wherever they went they derided the things which are of the internal sense of the Word, for the reason that these are contrary to their persuasions and cupidities, in that they desire to merit heaven and to be preferred before all others. But they are like the corrupt and noxious things that flow into the blood, and pervade the veins and arteries, and pollute the mass of the blood.

1878. There are also those who in the life of the body had despised the Word; and there are those who had abused the things that are in the Word to give point to a joke. There are those who had supposed that the Word was of no account, but that it might serve to keep the common people in some restraint. There are those who had blasphemed the Word; and there are those who had profaned it. The lot in the other life of all these persons is miserable, in accordance with the quality and degree of their contempt, derision, blasphemy, and profanation. For, as before said, the Word is so holy in the heavens that it is itself as it were heaven to those who are there; and as there exists there a communion of the thoughts of all, such spirits cannot possibly be with them, but are separated.

1879. On one occasion while in bed I was told that evil spirits were conspiring against me with the intention of suffocating me, but as I was safe and felt secure under the Lord’s keeping, I disregarded the threats and went to sleep. But awaking in the middle of the night, I felt that I was not breathing of myself, but from heaven, for there was nothing of my own respiration, as I plainly perceived. It was then said that the band of conspirators was present, and that it was composed of those who hold in hatred the interior things of the Word (that is, the very truths of faith, for these are the interiors of the Word), and who thus hate them because they are contrary to their fallacies, persuasions, and cupidities, which the sense of the letter might be brought to support.
[2] After their attempt had failed, their leaders tried to enter into the viscera of my body, and to penetrate even to the heart, and to this also they were admitted. This was all the time perceived by manifest sensation, for one to whom the interiors of the spirit are opened, gets at the same time a sensible perception of such things. But I was then introduced into a kind of celestial state, which was that I made no effort to repel these visitors, still less to avenge the injury. They then said that there was peace; but soon they were as if deprived of rationality, breathing out vengeance, and striving to carry out their purpose, but in vain. They afterwards dispersed of themselves.

1880. As regards spirits and angels in general, who all are human souls living after the death of the body, I may say here that they have much more exquisite senses than men-that is, sight, hearing, smell, and touch-but not taste. Spirits however are not able, and angels are still less able, to see anything that is in the world by their own sight, that is, by the sight of the spirit; for the light of the world or of the sun is to them as thick darkness; just in the same way as man by his sight, that is, by the sight of the body, cannot see anything that is in the other life; for the light of heaven, or the Lord’s heavenly light, is to man as thick darkness.
[2] But still when the Lord pleases, spirits and angels can see the things in this world through the eyes of a man. But the Lord does not grant this except in the case of one whom He enables to speak with spirits and angels, and to be together with them. Spirits and angels have been permitted to see the things in this world through my eyes as plainly as I could see them myself, and also to hear men talking with me. It has sometimes happened that to their great astonishment, some through me have seen their friends whom they had had in the life of the body, just as they had seen them before. Some have also seen their married partners, and their children, and have desired me to tell them that they were close by and saw them, and to give an account of their state in the other life, but I had been forbidden to tell them or reveal to them that they were seen in this way, and this partly for the reason that they would have called me insane, or would have thought such things to be delirious fancies of the mind; for I was well aware that although they would acknowledge it with the lips, they did not believe in heart in the existence of spirits, or that the dead are risen.
[3] When my interior sight was first opened, and through my eyes spirits and angels saw the world and the things that are in it, they were so amazed that they called it the miracle of miracles; and they were affected with a new joy, in that in this way communication was opened of earth with heaven, and of heaven with earth. This delight lasted for months, but afterwards it became familiar, and now they do not wonder at all. I have been instructed that the spirits and angels who are present with other men do not in the slightest degree see the things of this world, but only perceive the thoughts and affections of those with whom they are.
[4] These things have shown that man was so created that while living on earth among men, he might at the same time also live in heaven among angels, and the converse; so that heaven and earth might be together, and might act as a one, and that men might know what is going on in heaven, and angels what in the world; and therefore that when men depart this life they would pass from the Lord’s kingdom on earth into the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens, not as into another kingdom, but as into the same as that in which they had been when living in the body. But in consequence of man’s becoming so corporeal, he has closed heaven against himself.

1881. Spirits are exceedingly indignant, indeed are angry, when told that men do not believe that they see, that they hear, that they feel by the touch. They have said that surely men ought to know that without sense there is no life, and that the more exquisite the sense the more excellent the life; also that the objects of their sense are suited to the excellence of their senses, and that the representatives which are from the Lord are real, for all the things that are in nature and the world are derived from them (see n. 1632). The words in which they express their indignation are that they perceive by the senses much better and more excellently than men do.

1882. There are two kinds of visions that are not of the ordinary kind, into which I have been let solely that I might know their nature, and what is meant by its being said in the Word that men were “withdrawn from the body,” and that they were “carried by the spirit into another place.”

1883. As regards the first, namely, being withdrawn from the body, the case is this. The man is brought into a certain state that is midway between sleep and wakefulness, and when he is in this state he cannot know but that he is wholly awake. All his senses are as fully awake as in the highest wakefulness of the body; the sight, the hearing, and, wonderful to say, the touch, which is then more exquisite than it can ever be in the wakefulness of the body. In this state also spirits and angels have been seen to the very life, and also heard, and, wonderful to say, have been touched, and almost nothing of the body then intervened. This is the state of which it is said that they are “withdrawn from the body,” and that they “do not know whether they are in the body or out of it.”* I have been let into this state only three or four times, merely that I might know how the case is with it, and that spirits and angels are in the enjoyment of every sense, even touch in a form more delicate and more exquisite than that of the body.
* See 2 Cor. 12:3.

aRef Luke@2 @27 S0′ aRef 1Ki@18 @12 S0′ aRef Ezek@3 @12 S0′ 1884. As regards the other kind of vision-being carried away by the spirit into another place-it has been shown me by living experience what it is, and how it is done, but only two or three times. One single experience I may mention. Walking through the streets of a city and through the country, and being at the same time also in conversation with spirits, I did not know but that I was wide awake and saw as at other times, so that I walked on without mistake, and all the time being in vision, seeing groves, rivers, palaces, houses, men, and many other things. But after I had thus walked for hours, suddenly I was in the sight of the body, and became aware that I was in another place. Greatly amazed at this, I perceived that I had been in such a state as they were in of whom it is said that they were “led away by the spirit into another place;”* for while this state lasts there is no reflection concerning the way, even if it be many miles; nor is there reflection concerning the time, even if it be many hours or days; nor is there any feeling of fatigue. Moreover the person is led through ways of which he has no knowledge, even to the appointed place. This took place that I might know that a man can be led by the Lord without his knowing whence and whither.
* See 1 Kings 18:12; 19:8; Ezek. 3:12, 14; Acts 8:39.

1885. These two kinds of visions, however, are extraordinary, and were shown me merely to the end that I might know their nature. But the things I have habitually “seen” [as mentioned in the title to this work] are all those which of the Lord’s Divine mercy you may see related in this First Part, and which are placed at the beginning and end of the several chapters. These are not visions, but things seen in the highest wakefulness of the body, and this for several years.*

Preface
[to Volume 2 of the Original Latin]

In the First Part of this work fifteen chapters of Genesis have been explained, and the things contained in the internal sense have been stated; and to each chapter there have been added things that of the Lord’s Divine mercy I have been permitted to see and hear in the world of spirits and in the heaven of angels. The Second Part** now follows, and in this likewise similar things will be added to the several chapters. To this sixteenth chapter will be appended such as relate to Visions and Dreams, including those of a prophetical character found in the Word. I know that few will believe that anyone can see things that exist in the other life, and bring therefrom any report respecting the state of souls after death, for few believe in the resurrection, and fewer of the learned do so than of the simple. With the lips indeed they say that they will rise again, because so to speak is according to the doctrine of their faith, but still they deny it in heart.
[2] Some go so far as to say openly that if anyone were to rise from the dead and they were to see, hear, and touch him, then they would believe. But if this were done, it would have to be done for each individual, and still no such person as denies in heart would be persuaded by it, for thousands of objections would flow in that would harden his heart in denial. Some however say that they believe that they will rise, but on the day of the last judgment; and respecting this they have formed the opinion that all things in the visible world will then perish, and because that day has been expected in vain for so many centuries they too are in doubt. But what is meant by the last judgment spoken of in the Word shall of the Lord’s Divine mercy be briefly told at the end of the seventeenth chapter.
[3] From this we may see what kind of people there are in the Christian world at this day. The Sadducees (of whom we read in Matt. 22:23, etc.) openly denied the resurrection, but did better than those at the present day who say they do not deny it because it is according to the doctrine of faith, as said above, and yet do deny in heart; so that they say what is contrary to what they believe, and believe what is contrary to what they say. But lest they should confirm themselves further in this false opinion, of the Lord’s Divine mercy I have been permitted, while still in the body in this world, to be in the spirit in the other life (for a man is a spirit clothed with a body), and to speak there with souls who had risen not long after their death, in fact with nearly all with whom I have been acquainted in the life of the body, and who have died. For some years also I have been permitted to speak with spirits and angels every day, and to see amazing things there, which have never come into anyone’s idea, and this without any fallacious appearance.
[4] As very many say that they will believe if anyone comes to them from the other life, it will now be seen whether they will be persuaded against the hardness of their hearts. This I can aver, that they who come into the other life from the Christian world are the worst of all, hating the neighbor, hating faith, and denying the Lord (for in the other life hearts speak, not mouths), besides the fact that above all others are they addicted to adultery. And because heaven is thus beginning to be removed from those who are within the church, we can see that its last time is at hand; the truth of which I have been permitted to know with certainty.
Concerning the internal sense of the Word, what it is, and what is its nature, see what has been said and shown in Part First n. 1-5, 64-66, 167, 605, 920, 937, 1143, 1224, 1404, 1405, 1408, 1409, 1502 at the end, 1540, 1659, 1756, especially 1767-1777 and 1869-1879, 1783, 1807; and in this Part, n. 1886-1889 inclusive.
* The first “Part” or volume of the original Latin work, in quarto, published in London in 1749, ends here, and the second “Part” follows.
** Published in London in 1750.

1886. CHAPTER 16
This chapter treats of Hagar and Ishmael. But what is represented and signified in the internal sense by Hagar and Ishmael has not hitherto been known to anyone, nor could be, because the world, even the learned world, has hitherto supposed the histories of the Word to be nothing but histories, and to involve nothing deeper. And although they have said that every iota is Divinely inspired, they have meant nothing further than that the historical facts have been disclosed, and that something of a doctrinal nature that could be applied to the doctrine of faith may be deduced from them and be of use to both teachers and learners; and that because these have been Divinely inspired they have Divine power in the mind, and work for good above all other history. Regarded in themselves, however, historical matters effect but little toward man’s amendment, and nothing at all for his eternal life, since in the other life they are forgotten. For what would it amount to there to know respecting the maid Hagar that she was given by Sarai to Abram? Or to know about Ishmael, or even about Abram? Nothing but what belongs to the Lord and is from the Lord is necessary to souls in order that they may enter into heaven and enjoy its happiness, that is, eternal life. It is for the sake of these things that the Word exists, and these are the things that are contained in its interiors.

1887. Inspiration implies that in every particular of the Word (as well in the historicals as in the other parts) there are celestial things which are of love or good, and spiritual things which are of faith or truth, thus Divine things. For that which is inspired by the Lord descends from Him, and does so through the angelic heaven, and so through the world of spirits down to man, with whom it is presented such as it is in the letter; but in its first origin it is altogether different. In heaven there is never any worldly history, but all is representative of Divine things, and there is no perception there of anything else, as may also be known from the fact that the things which are there are unutterable. Unless therefore the historicals were representative of Divine things, and in this way were heavenly, they could not possibly be Divinely inspired. The Word as it exists in the heavens can be known solely from the internal sense, for the internal sense is the Word of the Lord in the heavens.

sRef Ezek@37 @25 S0′ sRef Hos@3 @5 S0′ sRef Ezek@37 @24 S0′ 1888. That the sense of the letter of the Word is representative of Divine arcana, and that it is the receptacle and thus the repository of the Lord’s celestial and spiritual things, may be illustrated by two examples: first, that by “David” is not meant David, but the Lord; second, that the names signify nothing but actual things, and therefore it must be the same with all the rest of the Word. Concerning David it is said in Ezekiel:
My servant David shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd; they shall dwell upon the land, they and their sons and their sons’ sons, even to eternity; and David my servant shall be their prince to eternity (Ezek. 37:24-25).
And in Hosea:
The sons of Israel shall return, and shall seek Jehovah their God, and David their king (Hos. 3:5).
These things were written by the prophets after the time of David, and yet it is plainly said that he shall be their king and prince, from which all may see that in the internal sense it is the Lord who is meant by “David.” And the case is the same in all other passages, even those which are historical, where David is named.
sRef Isa@10 @28 S2′ sRef Isa@10 @29 S2′ sRef Isa@10 @27 S2′ sRef Isa@10 @26 S2′ sRef Isa@10 @24 S2′ sRef Isa@10 @34 S2′ sRef Isa@10 @33 S2′ sRef Isa@10 @32 S2′ sRef Isa@10 @30 S2′ sRef Isa@10 @31 S2′ [2] That the names of kingdoms, regions, cities, and men, signify actual things, may be clearly seen in the Prophets. Take merely this example in Isaiah:
Thus said the Lord, Jehovih Zebaoth, O My people, thou inhabitant of Zion, be not afraid of Asshur; he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff upon thee in the way of Egypt. Jehovah of Armies shall stir up a scourge for him according to the plague of Midian at the rock of Horeb; and as His rod was upon the sea, so shall He lift it up in the way of Egypt. He shall come against Aiath, He shall pass over to Migron, at Michmash shall He command His arms; they* shall pass over Mabarah; Geba* is a lodging-place for us; Ramah* shall tremble; Gibeah of Saul shall flee; cry aloud with thy voice, O daughter of Gallim; hearken, O Laish; O thou poor Anathoth; Madmenah shall wander; the inhabitants of Gebim shall gather themselves together; as yet there is a day for a stand at Nob; the mountain of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem, shall shake her hand; He shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a magnificent one (Isa. 10:24, 26-34).
[3] Here there is almost nothing but names, from which no sense would appear unless all the names signified actual things; and if the mind were to abide in the names, this would never be acknowledged to be the Word of the Lord. But who will believe that in the internal sense they all contain arcana of heaven? and that by them is described the state of those who are endeavoring to enter into the mysteries of faith by reasonings from memory-knowledges? Some special thing belonging to that state are described by each name; and that the meaning is that these reasonings are dispersed by the Lord by means of the celestial things of love and the spiritual things of faith. That the reasoning here treated of is signified by “Asshur,” may be clearly seen from what has been already shown concerning Asshur (n. 119, 1186); also that memory-knowledges are signified by “Egypt” (n. 1164, 1165, 1462); which see and examine. The case is the same with all other names, and also with all the several words.
* The Latin had transibit, Gibea, Chormah: but in the Doctrine of the Holy Scripture, n. 15, we find transibunt, Geba, and Ramah, like the Hebrew. [Rotch. ed.]

1889. In this chapter it is the same with the names Abram, Sarai, Hagar, and Ishmael; and what they involve may be seen from the CONTENTS, and further on from the explication of each name in its place. But these matters are of a nature that does not admit of easy explication, for the subject treated of in connection with these names is the Lord’s rational, and how it was conceived and born, and what its quality was before it was united to the Lord’s Internal, which was Jehovah. The reason why this subject is not of easy explication, is that at this day it is not known what the internal man is, what the interior, and what the exterior. When the rational is spoken of, or the rational man, some idea can be formed of it; but when it is said that the rational is the intermediate between the internal and the external, few if any comprehend it. Yet as the subject here treated of in the internal sense is the Lord’s Rational Man, and how it was conceived and born by the influx of the internal man into the external, and as it is these very matters that are involved in the historical facts stated concerning Abram, Hagar, and Ishmael, therefore in order to prevent what we have to say in the following explication from being utterly unintelligible, be it known that in every man there is an internal man, a rational man which is intermediate, and an external man, and that these are most distinct from one another. (Concerning this subject see what was said above, n. 978.)

GENESIS 16
1. And Sarai, Abram’s wife, did not bear unto him; and she had a handmaid, an Egyptian, and her name was Hagar.
2. And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold I pray, Jehovah hath shut me up from bearing; go in I pray unto my handmaid; it may be that I shall be built up by her. And Abram harkened to the voice of Sarai.
3. And Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her handmaid, after ten years of Abram’s dwelling in the land of Canaan, and gave her to Abram, her man, for a woman to him.
4. And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived; and she saw that she had conceived, and her mistress was despised in her eyes.
5. And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee; I gave my handmaid unto thy bosom; and she saw that she conceived, and I am despised in her eyes; Jehovah judge between me and thee.
6. And Abram said unto Sarai, Behold thy handmaid is in thy hand, do to her that which is good in thine eyes; and Sarai humbled her, and she fled from her face.
7. And the Angel of Jehovah found her by a fountain of waters in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.
8. And he said, Hagar, Sarai’s handmaid, whence comest thou? and whither goest thou? And she said, From the face of Sarai, my mistress, am I fleeing.
9. And the Angel of Jehovah said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and humble thyself under her hands.
10. And the Angel of Jehovah said unto her, In multiplying I will multiply thy seed, and it shall not be numbered for multitude.
11. And the Angel of Jehovah said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and thou shalt call his name Ishmael; because Jehovah hath heard thine affliction.
12. And he will be a wild-ass man; his hand against all, and the hand of all against him and he shall dwell against the faces of all his brethren.
13. And she called the name of Jehovah that was speaking unto her, Thou God seest me; for she said, Have I also here seen after Him that seeth me?
14. Therefore she called the fountain, The fountain of the Living One who seeth me; behold it is between Kadesh and Bared.
15. And Hagar bare Abram a son; and Abram called the name of his son that Hagar bare, Ishmael.
16. And Abram was a son of eighty years and six years, when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram.

sRef Gen@16 @0 S0′ 1890. THE CONTENTS
The subject treated of in this chapter is the Lord’s first rational, which was conceived by the influx of the internal man into the affection of memory-knowledges [scientiae] of the external. The internal man is “Abram;” the affection of memory-knowledges in the external is “Hagar the Egyptian handmaid;” the rational thence derived is “Ishmael.” The nature of this rational is here described; and it is afterwards said (chapter 21) that it was expelled from the house, after the Lord’s Divine rational, represented by Isaac, had been born.

sRef Gen@16 @0 S0′ 1891. The Lord’s first rational was conceived according to order by the influx or conjunction of the internal man with the life of the affection of memory-knowledges belonging to the external (verses 1-3). But as this affection was of the external man, its nature was such that it held intellectual truth in low esteem (verse 4). On which account the Lord thought concerning the subjugation of it (verses 5-9), and that when subjugated, it would become spiritual and celestial (verses 10, 11). What it would be if not subjugated, is described (verse 12); the Lord’s insight into the cause from His interior man (verses 13, 14). The rational is thus described in respect to its quality; also the Lord’s state when it originated (verses 15, 16).

sRef Gen@16 @1 S0′ 1892. THE INTERNAL SENSE
Verse 1. And Sarai, Abram’s wife, did not bear unto him; and she had a handmaid, an Egyptian, and her name was Hagar. “Sarai, Abram’s wife, did not bear unto him,” signifies that as yet there was no rational man; “Sarai” is truth adjoined to good; “Abram” is the Lord’s internal man, which was Jehovah. “And she had a handmaid, an Egyptian,” signifies the affection of memory-knowledges; “and her name was Hagar,” signifies the life of the exterior or natural man.

sRef Gen@16 @1 S0′ 1893. Sarai, Abram’s wife, did not bear unto him. That this signifies that the rational man was not yet, will be evident from what follows, where Isaac is treated of. For, as has been said, there are in every man an internal man, a rational man that is intermediate, and an external, which is properly called the natural man. With the Lord these were represented by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; the internal man by Abraham, the rational by Isaac, and the natural by Jacob. The internal man in the Lord was Jehovah Himself, for He was conceived of Jehovah; on this account He so often called Him His “Father,” and in the Word He is called the “Only-begotten of God,” and the only “Son of God.” The rational man is not born with man, but only the capacity for becoming rational, as all may see from the fact that new-born infants are not endowed with any reason, but become rational in process of time by means of things of sense external and internal, as they are imbued with knowledges [scientiae et cognitiones]. In children indeed there is an appearance of rationality, yet it is not rationality, but is only a kind of rudiment of it, which is known from the fact that reason belongs to adults and men of years.
[2] The rational man in the Lord is treated of in this chapter. The Divine Rational itself is represented by Isaac; but the first rational before it was made Divine, by Ishmael; and therefore that “Sarai, Abram’s wife, did not bear unto him” here signifies that hitherto there was no Divine rational. As before said, the Lord was born as are other men, and as regards all that He drew from Mary the mother He was like other men; and as the rational is formed by means of knowledges [scientifica et cognitiones], which enter through things of the external senses, or those of the external man, therefore His first rational was born as with any other man; but as by His own power He made Divine all the human things that appertained to Him, so did He also make the rational Divine. His first rational is described in this chapter, and also in chapter 21, where Hagar and Ishmael are likewise treated of (from verses 9 to 21), and it is said that Ishmael was expelled when Isaac grew up, by whom is represented the Divine rational.

sRef Gen@16 @1 S0′ 1894. That Sarai is truth adjoined to good, has been said and shown before (n. 1468 and elsewhere), as also that Abram is the Lord’s internal man, which is Jehovah. The Lord’s internal man, which is Jehovah, is called Man, because no one is man except Jehovah alone; for man, in the genuine sense, signifies that Esse from which man is. The Esse itself from which man is, is the Divine, consequently the celestial and the spiritual. Without the Divine celestial and spiritual, there is nothing human in man, but only a sort of animal nature, such as there is in beasts. It is from the Esse of Jehovah, or of the Lord, that every man is man; and from this also he is called man. The celestial which makes the man is that he loves the Lord and loves the neighbor; in this way is he man, because he is an image of the Lord, and because he has this from the Lord; otherwise he is a wild beast.
[2] That Jehovah or the Lord is the only Man, and that men have it from Him that they are called men, also that one is more man than another, may be seen above (n. 49, 288, 477, 565); and the same may also be seen from the fact that Jehovah, or the Lord, appeared as Man to the fathers of the Most Ancient Church, and afterwards also to Abraham and to the prophets; and on this account also the Lord, after there was no man any longer on the earth, or no longer anything celestial and spiritual among men, deigned to assume the human nature by being born as are other men, and to make that nature Divine; and in this way also He is the only Man. Besides, the universal heaven presents before the Lord the image of a man, because it presents Himself. From this, heaven is called the Grand Man, and this especially from the fact that the Lord there is all in all.

sRef Gen@16 @1 S0′ 1895. And she had a handmaid, an Egyptian. That this signifies the affection of memory-knowledges [scientiae], is evident from the signification of a “handmaid,” and from the signification of “Egypt.” Sarai, who was the mistress or lady, represents and signifies truth adjoined to good, as already said. Truth adjoined to good is intellectual truth in the genuine sense, but rational truth is beneath this and therefore is lower; and this rational truth is born from knowledges [scientiae et cognitiones] vivified by the affection that corresponds to them, and this affection, being of the exterior man, ought to serve the intellectual truth that appertains to the inmost man, as a handmaid serves her lady, or a household servant her mistress; and therefore this affection is what is represented and signified by the “handmaid Hagar.”
[2] How these things stand cannot well be stated to the apprehension, for it must first be known what intellectual truth in the genuine sense is, and also how the rational is born, namely, from the internal man as a father, and from the exterior or natural man as a mother, for without the conjunction of these two nothing rational can possibly come forth. The rational is not born (as is supposed) of knowledges [scientiae et cognitiones], but of the affection of these knowledges, as may be seen from the mere fact that no one can ever become rational unless some delight or affection of these knowledges aspires thereto. The affection is the maternal life itself; and the celestial and spiritual itself, in the affection, is the paternal life; therefore in proportion to the affection, and in accordance with the quality of the affection, in the same proportion, and in the same quality, does the man become rational. In themselves these knowledges are nothing but dead things, or instrumental causes, which are vivified by the life of affection; and such is the conception of the rational man in everyone. The reason why the handmaid was an Egyptian, and the reason why this fact is stated, is that “Egypt” signifies memory-knowledges [scientiae], as before shown (n. 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462).

sRef Gen@16 @1 S0′ 1896. And her name was Hagar. That this signifies the life of the exterior or natural man, may be seen from what has been said, and also from the meaning of “Hagar,” which is “a stranger” or “sojourner.” Strangers represented those who were to be instructed, and sojourning represented instruction and also principles of life [vitae instituta], as shown above (n. 1463). When anyone’s name is stated in the Word, as here that “her name was Hagar,” it signifies that something is involved in the name to which attention should be given, for to “call by name” means to know a person’s quality (as before shown, n. 144, 145, 340). No syllable in the Word is there without a cause, or without a signification in the internal sense of some actual thing.

sRef Gen@16 @2 S0′ 1897. Verse 2. And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold I pray, Jehovah hath shut me up from bearing; go in I pray unto my handmaid; it may be that I shall be built up by her; and Abram harkened to the voice of Sarai. “Sarai said unto Abram,” signifies that it was so perceived; “Behold I pray, Jehovah hath shut me up from bearing,” signifies the state before the interior or Divine rational man was born; “go in I pray unto my handmaid,” signifies conjunction with the exterior man; “it may be that I shall be built up by her,” signifies that in this way the rational could be born. “And Abram harkened to the voice of Sarai,” signifies that it could not be done in any other way.

sRef Gen@16 @2 S0′ 1898. Sarai said unto Abram. That this signifies that it was so perceived, is evident from the signification of “Sarai” and of “Abram,” namely, that “Sarai” is truth adjoined to good, and “Abram” is the internal man; and therefore that “Sarai said to Abram,” in the internal sense cannot signify any conversation, but perception. The Lord’s perception at that time was from truth adjoined to good, which dictated to Him how the case was. There is something similar with a celestial man who receives perception; for there is something of truth adjoined to good which dictates; afterwards there is good from which or through which the truth is perceived. (That “to say,” in the internal sense, signifies to perceive, may be seen above, n. 1791, 1815, 1819, 1822.)

sRef Gen@16 @2 S0′ 1899. Behold I pray, Jehovah hath shut me up from bearing. That this signifies the state before the interior or Divine rational man was born, is evident from what has been already said about the conception and birth of the rational man, namely, that the Lord’s Divine rational man is represented by Isaac, but His first rational man, which was to become Divine, by Ishmael. In order that these things might be represented, Sarai remained so long barren, even until Ishmael had become a lad (spoken of in Genesis 21); on which account it is here said that “Jehovah shut her up from bearing.”

sRef Gen@16 @2 S0′ 1900. Go in I pray unto my handmaid. That this signifies conjunction with the exterior man, is also evident from what has been said before, namely, that man’s rational is conceived and born of the internal man as a father, and of the exterior man as a mother. Man’s very life is from the internal man, which cannot have communication with the external, except a most obscure communication, until the receiving vessels that are of the memory have been formed, which is effected by means of knowledges [cognitiones et scientiae].
[2] The influx of the internal man goes into the knowledges of the exterior man; affection being the means. Meanwhile, before there are these knowledges, there is indeed a communication, but through affections alone, by which the external man is governed; but from this there exist only the most general motions, and certain appetites, also certain blind inclinations, such as show themselves in infants. But this life becomes by degrees more distinct in proportion as the vessels of the memory are formed by means of knowledges, and the vessels of the interior memory by means of rational things. As these vessels are formed, and are arranged in series-and indeed in such series that they mutually regard each other, comparatively like relationships by blood and by marriage, or like societies and families-thereby is perfected the correspondence of the external man with the internal, and still better is this done by means of rational things, which are intermediate.
[3] But still there is a want of congruity unless the knowledges by which the vessels are formed are truths; for the celestial and spiritual things of the internal man find no correspondence for themselves except in truths. These are the genuine vessels in the organic forms of each memory, and to which the celestial things of love and the spiritual things of faith can be fitted in; for they are there arranged by the Lord according to the idea and image of the societies of heaven, or of His kingdom, insomuch that the man becomes, in least form, a heaven, or a kingdom of the Lord, as also the minds of those who are in the celestial things of love and the spiritual things of faith are called in the Word. But these things have been said for those who love to think more deeply.

sRef Gen@16 @2 S0′ 1901. It may be that I shall be built up by her. That this signifies that in this way the rational could be born, may be seen from the signification of being “built up,” when predicated of generation, and thus without explication. By “Sarai,” as has been said, is signified intellectual truth which has been adjoined as a wife to good. Intellectual truth, which appertains to the inmost, is altogether barren, or like a childless mother, when as yet there is not any rational into which and through which it may inflow; for without the rational as a medium intellectual truth cannot inflow with any truth into the exterior man, as may be seen from the case of little children, who can know nothing whatever of truth until they have been imbued with knowledges; but, as before said, the better and more perfectly they are imbued with knowledges, so much the better and more perfectly can intellectual truth which appertains to the inmost, or to good, be communicated.
[2] This intellectual truth, represented by Sarai, is the spiritual itself which flows in through heaven, and this by an internal way, and with every man; and it continually meets the knowledges that are insinuated by means of the things of sense, and are implanted in the memory. Man is not aware of this intellectual truth because it is too pure to be perceived by a general idea. It is like a kind of light that illuminates the mind, and confers the faculty of knowing, thinking, and understanding. As the rational cannot come into existence except by means of the influx of the intellectual truth represented by Sarai, it stands related to this truth as a son. When the rational is being formed from truths that have been adjoined to good, and still more when it is being formed from the goods from which are truths, it is then a genuine son. Before this it is indeed acknowledged as a son, yet not as a genuine son, but as coming from a handmaid; and still it is adopted, which is the reason why it is here said that she might be built up by her.

sRef Gen@16 @2 S0′ 1902. And Abram harkened to the voice of Sarai. That this signifies that it could not be done in any other way, may be seen from the connection in the internal sense, and from the necessity that exists for the rational to be born in this way. If man were imbued with no hereditary evil, the rational would then be born immediately, from the marriage of the celestial things of the internal man with its spiritual things, and the faculty of knowing would be born through the rational, so that on coming into the world a man would at once have in himself all the faculty of reason and of knowing, for this would be in accordance with the order of influx, as may be inferred from the fact that all animals whatever are born into all the faculty of knowing that is necessary and helpful in securing food, safety, habitation, and procreation, because their nature is in accordance with order. Why then is man not born into it, except for the reason that order has been destroyed in him, for he alone is born into no knowledge?
[2] The cause of his being so born is evil inherited from his father and mother. By reason of this all his faculties are turned in a contrary direction in regard to truths and goods, and therefore cannot be reduced into correspondent forms by the immediate influx of what is celestial and spiritual from the Lord. This is the reason why man’s rational must be formed by an altogether different process, that is, in a different way, namely, by means of knowledges [scientifica et cognitiones] introduced through the senses, thus flowing in by an external way, and so in inverted order. Man is thus made rational by the Lord in a miraculous manner. This is meant by “going in unto the handmaid,” by which is signified the conjunction of the internal man with the exterior man; and also by “Abram’s hearkening to the voice of Sarai,” which signifies that it could not be done in any other way.
[3] The Lord, being born as are other men, and because He had a nature inherited from the mother, was like other men also in respect to the miraculous formation of the rational by means of knowledges, to the end that by combats of temptations and by victories He might reduce all things into order. Therefore was His rational conceived and born in the same way as with other men, but with the difference that inmostly in all things that were His, in both general and particular, there was the Divine, or Jehovah, and thus the life of love toward the whole human race, for whom and for whose salvation He fought in all His temptations.

sRef Gen@16 @3 S0′ 1903. Verse 3. And Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her handmaid, after ten years of Abram’s dwelling in the land of Canaan, and gave her to Abram, her man, for a woman to him. “Sarai, Abram’s wife, took,” signifies the affection of truth, which in the genuine sense is “Sarai the wife;” “Hagar the Egyptian, her handmaid,” signifies the life of the exterior man, and the affection of memory-knowledges; “after ten years of Abram’s dwelling in the land of Canaan,” signifies the remains of good and of the derivative truth which the Lord procured to Himself, and by means of which that rational was conceived; “and gave her to Abram, her man, for a woman to him,” signifies conjunction through the incitation of the affection of truth.

sRef Gen@16 @3 S0′ 1904. Sarai, Abram’s wife, took. That this signifies the affection of truth, which in the genuine sense is “Sarai the wife,” is evident from the signification of “Sarai,” as being truth adjoined to good, and from the signification of a “wife,” as being affection (explained above, n. 915, 1468). There are two affections distinct from each other,-affection of good, and affection of truth. When a man is being regenerated the affection of truth has the lead, for he is affected with truth for the sake of good; but when he has been regenerated the affection of good has the lead, and from good he is affected with truth. The affection of good is of the will; the affection of truth is of the understanding. Between these two affections the most ancient people instituted as it were a marriage. Good, or the love of good, they called man as a husband; truth, or the love of truth, they called man as a wife. The comparison of good and truth with marriage has its origin in the heavenly marriage.
[2] Regarded in themselves, good and truth have no life, but they derive their life from love or affection. They are only instrumentalities of life; and such as is the love that affects the good and truth, such is the life; for the whole of life is of love, or affection. Hence it is that “Sarai the wife,” in the genuine sense, signifies the affection of truth. And because in the case before us the intellectual desired the rational as an offspring, and because that which she speaks is of this desire or affection, it is therefore expressly said in this verse, “Sarai, Abram’s wife, gave to Abram, her man,” which there would have been no need of repeating if it did not involve such things in the internal sense, for in themselves these words would be superfluous.
[3] Intellectual truth is distinguished from rational truth, and this from truth in the form of memory-knowledge, as are what is internal, what is intermediate, and what is external. Intellectual truth is internal, rational truth is intermediate, truth of memory-knowledge is external. These are most distinct from each other, because one is more internal than another. With any man whatever, intellectual truth, which is internal, or in his inmost, is not the man’s, but is the Lord’s with the man. From this the Lord flows into the rational, where truth first appears as belonging to man; and through the rational into the memory-knowledge; from which it is evident that man cannot possibly think as of himself from intellectual truth, but only from rational truth and truth of memory-knowledge, because these appear as if they were his.
[4] The Lord alone, when He lived in the world, thought from intellectual truth, for this was His Divine truth in conjunction with Good, or the Divine spiritual in conjunction with the Divine celestial, and herein was the Lord distinguished from every other man. To think from what is Divine as from himself is never possible to man, nor in man, but only in Him who was conceived of Jehovah. Because He thought from intellectual truth, that is, from the love or affection of intellectual truth, from it also He desired the rational, and this is why it is here said that “Sarai, Abram’s wife” (by whom is meant the affection of intellectual truth) “took Hagar the Egyptian, and gave her to Abram her husband, for a woman to him.”
[5] The rest of the arcana that are herein cannot be unfolded and explained to the apprehension, because man is in the greatest obscurity, and in fact has no idea at all of the internal things within him, for he makes both the rational and the intellectual to consist in memory-knowledge, and is not aware that these are distinct from each other, so distinct indeed that the intellectual can exist apart from the rational, and also the rational that is derived from the intellectual, apart from the memory-knowledge. This cannot but seem a paradox to those who are in memory-knowledges, but still it is the truth. It is however impossible for anyone to be in the truth that is in the form of memory-knowledge (that is, in the affection of this and the belief in it), unless he is in rational truth, into which and through which the Lord inflows from the intellectual. These arcana do not open to man except in the other life.

sRef Gen@16 @3 S0′ 1905. Hagar the Egyptian, her handmaid. That this signifies the life of the exterior man, and the affection of memory-knowledges, is evident from the signification of “Hagar,” as given above, n. 1895, 1896; and from the signification of an “Egyptian,” and also of a “handmaid,” likewise explained there.

sRef Gen@16 @3 S0′ 1906. After ten years of Abram’s dwelling in the land of Canaan. That this signifies the remains of good and of the derivative truth which the Lord procured to Himself, and by means of which that rational was conceived, is evident from the signification of “ten,” as being remains, spoken of before (n. 576). What remains are, has been stated and shown above (n. 468, 530, 560, 561, 661, 798, 1050), namely, that they are all the states of the affection of good and truth with which a man is gifted by the Lord, from earliest infancy even to the end of life; which states are stored up for him for the use of his life after death; for in the other life all the states of his life return in succession, and are then tempered by the states of good and truth with which he has been gifted by the Lord. The more remains therefore that a man has received in the life of the body, that is, the more of good and truth, the more delightful and beautiful do the rest of his states appear when they return. That this is really so may be evident to everyone, if he will consider. When a man is born he has not a particle of good of himself, but is wholly defiled throughout with hereditary evil, and all that is good flows in, such as his love for his parents, his nurses, his companions; and this from innocence. Such are the things that flow in from the Lord through the heaven of innocence and peace, which is the inmost heaven, and thus is man imbued with them in his infancy.
[2] Afterwards, when he grows up, this good, innocent, and peaceful state of infancy recedes little by little; and so far as he is introduced into the world, he comes into its pleasures, and into cupidities, and thus into evils; and so far the celestial or good things of the age of infancy begin to disappear; but still they remain, and the states which the man afterwards puts on or acquires are tempered by them. Without them a man can never be a man, for the states of the cupidities, or of evil, if not tempered by states of the affection of good, would be more atrocious than those of any animal. These states of good are what are called remains, given by the Lord and implanted in one’s natural disposition, and this when the man is not aware of it.
[3] In after life he is also gifted with new states; but these are not so much states of good as states of truth, for as he is growing up he is imbued with truths, and these are in like manner stored up in him in his interior man. By these remains, which are those of truth, born of the influx of spiritual things from the Lord, man has the ability to think, and also to understand what the good and the truth of civic and moral life are, and also to receive spiritual truth or faith; but he cannot do this except by means of the remains of good that he had received in infancy. That there are remains, and that they are stored up in a man in his interior rational, is wholly unknown to man; and this because he supposes that nothing flows in, but that everything is natural to him, and born with him, thus that it is all in him when an infant, when yet the real case is altogether different. Remains are treated of in many parts of the Word, and by them are signified those states by which man becomes a man, and this from the Lord alone.
[4] But the remains that appertained to the Lord were all the Divine states which He procured for Himself, and by which He united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence. These cannot be compared to the remains that pertain to man, for the latter are not Divine, but human. It is the remains appertaining to the Lord that are signified by the “ten years in which Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan.” When angels hear the Word, they do not know what the number ten is, but as soon as it is named by man the idea of remains occurs to them; for by “ten” and “tenths” in the Word are signified remains, as is evident from what was shown above (n. 576, 1738); and when a perception comes to them based on the idea of the end of the ten years that Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, the idea of the Lord comes to them, and at the same time innumerable things that are signified by the remains in the Lord during the time that He was in the world.

sRef Gen@16 @3 S0′ 1907. And gave her to Abram her man for a woman to him. That this signifies conjunction through the incitation of the affection of truth, is evident from what has already been said concerning Sarai, the wife of Abram, as being the affection of truth in the genuine sense; and from what has been said respecting the conjunction of the internal man with the life and affection of the exterior man, whence comes the rational. Hagar was not given to Abram for a wife, but for a woman; and this because it is according to a law of Divine order that it is not marriage unless it is that of one man and one wife. Conjugial love can never be divided. The love that is divided among a number is not conjugial love, but is that of lasciviousness, on which subject, of the Lord’s Divine mercy hereafter.

sRef Gen@16 @4 S0′ 1908. Verse 4. And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived; and she saw that she had conceived, and her mistress was despised in her eyes. “He went in unto Hagar,” signifies the conjunction of the internal man with the life which is of the affection of memory-knowledges; “and she conceived” signifies the first life of the rational; “and she saw that she had conceived, and her mistress was despised in her eyes,” signifies that this rational at its conception lightly esteemed the truth itself that was adjoined to good.

sRef Gen@16 @4 S0′ 1909. He went in unto Hagar. That this signifies the conjunction of the internal man with the life which is of the affection of memory-knowledges, is evident from the signification of “Hagar,” as being the life of the exterior or natural man (explained above at verse 1) and that this life is the life of the affection of memory-knowledges, is evident from the signification of the “Egyptian handmaid” (also explained above). There are many affections belonging to the exterior man, all dedicated to their uses; but the affection of knowledges [cognitiones et scientiae] stands preeminent above them all, when it has for its end that we may become truly rational, for thus it has good and truth for its end. The very life of the internal man flows into all the affections of the natural man, but is varied there according to the ends; when it flows into affections which have the world for their end, this end is vivified by that life, and there results worldly life; when into affections which have self for their end, this end is vivified by that life, and there results corporeal life; and so in all other cases. It is from this that cupidities and phantasies live, but a life contrary to the affection of good and truth.
[2] The inflowing life is applied to no other object than the end, because with everyone his end is his love, and it is the love alone that lives. All other objects are only derivations from this, and they all draw their life from the end. Everyone may see what kind of life he has, if he will only search out what his end is; not what all his ends are-for he has numberless ones, as many as intentions, and almost as many as judgments and conclusions of thoughts, which are only intermediate ends, variously derived from the principal one, or tending to it-but let him search out the end he prefers to all the rest, and in respect to which all others are as nothing. If he has for his end himself and the world, let him know that his life is infernal; but if he has for his end the good of his neighbor, the common good, the Lord’s kingdom, and especially the Lord Himself, let him know that his life is heavenly.

sRef Gen@16 @4 S0′ 1910. And she conceived. That this signifies the first life of the rational, is evident from the signification of “conception,” as being the first life. As regards the rational, it receives its life, as before said, from the life of the internal man flowing into the life of the affection of knowledges [cognitiones et scientiae] in the exterior man. The life of the affection of these knowledges gives a sort of body to the rational, or clothes the life of the internal man as the body clothes the soul; for this is precisely the case with these knowledges. In everything appertaining to man, in everything of his affection and in everything of his thought, there is the idea or likeness of soul and body, for there is nothing, however simple it may appear, that is not composite, and that does not come forth from what is prior to itself.

sRef Gen@16 @4 S0′ 1911. And she saw that she had conceived, and her mistress was despised in her eyes. That this signifies that this rational, at its conception, lightly esteemed the truth itself that was adjoined to good, is evident from the signification of the “mistress,” or Sarai, as being truth adjoined to good. The rational first conceived cannot acknowledge intellectual or spiritual truth as truth, because there adhere to this rational many fallacies from the memory-knowledges drawn from the world and from nature, and many appearances from the knowledges taken from the literal sense of the Word, and these are not truths.
[2] For example: it is an intellectual truth that all life is from the Lord; but the rational first conceived does not apprehend this, and supposes that if it did not live from itself it would have no life; nay, it is indignant if the contrary is said, as has been many times perceived from the spirits who still cling to the fallacies of the senses.
[3] It is an intellectual truth that all good and truth are from the Lord; but the rational first conceived does not apprehend this, because it has the feeling that they are as from itself; and it also supposes that if good and truth were not from itself, it could have no thought of good and truth, and still less do anything good and true; and that if they are from another it should let itself go, and wait all the time for influx.
[4] It is an intellectual truth that nothing but good is from the Lord, and not even the least of evil; and this too the rational first conceived does not believe, but supposes that because the Lord governs everything, evil also is from Him; and that because He is omnipotent and omnipresent, and is good itself, and does not take away the punishments of the evil in hell, He wills the evil of punishment; when yet He does evil to no one, nor does He will that anyone should be punished.
[5] It is an intellectual truth that the celestial man has from the Lord a perception of good and truth; but the first rational either denies the existence of perception altogether, or supposes that if a man were to perceive from another, and not from himself, he would be as if inanimate, or devoid of life. In fact the more the rational thinks from memory-knowledges that originate from sensuous things and from philosophical reasonings, the less does it apprehend the foregoing and all other intellectual truths, for the fallacies therefrom are involved in so much the darker shades. Hence it is that the learned believe less than others.
[6] Since the rational first conceived is such, it is evident that it despises its mistress, that is, it lightly esteems intellectual truth. Intellectual truth does not become manifest, that is, is not acknowledged, except insofar as fallacies and appearances are dispersed, and these are not dispersed so long as the man reasons about truths themselves from things of sense and from memory-knowledges, but it for the first time becomes manifest when he believes from a simple heart that it is truth because so said by the Lord. Then the shades of fallacies are dispersed, and then nothing in him prevents him from apprehending it.
[7] In the Lord however there were no fallacies, but when His rational was first conceived there were appearances of truth that in themselves were not truths, as is evident from what has been already said (n. 1661). Hence also His rational at its first conception lightly esteemed intellectual truth; but gradually, as His rational was made Divine, the clouds of the appearances were dispersed, and intellectual truths lay open to Him in their light; and this is represented and signified by Ishmael being expelled from the house when Isaac grew up. That the Lord did not lightly esteem intellectual truth, but that He perceived and saw that His new rational did so, will be seen from what follows (n. 1914).

sRef Gen@16 @5 S0′ 1912. Verse 5. And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee; I gave my handmaid into thy bosom, and she saw that she conceived, and I am despised in her eyes; Jehovah judge between me and thee. “Sarai said unto Abram,” signifies that the affection of truth so perceived; “My wrong be upon thee; I gave my handmaid into thy bosom,” signifies unwillingness to take blame to itself; “and she saw that she conceived,” signifies the first life of the rational; “and I am despised in her eyes,” signifies here as before that this rational at its conception lightly esteemed truth adjoined to good; “Jehovah judge between me and thee,” signifies the Lord’s indignation.

sRef Gen@16 @5 S0′ 1913. Sarai said unto Abram. That this signifies that the affection of truth so perceived, is evident from the signification of “Sarai,” as being the affection of truth (see n. 1904); and of saying, as being in the internal sense perceiving-as before said (n. 1898) where the same words occur.

sRef Gen@16 @5 S0′ 1914. My wrong be upon thee; I gave my handmaid into thy bosom. That this signifies unwillingness to take blame upon itself, is evident without explication. In the internal sense there is involved in these words that the Lord perceived this first rational to be such as to lightly esteem intellectual truth, on which account He rebuked it. For the Lord thought from intellectual truth, as before said (n. 1904); and because this truth is above the rational, it could perceive and see the quality of this rational, namely, that it held that truth in low esteem.
[2] That the Lord could perceive and see from the interior man what was the quality of the new rational in Himself, may be seen from the fact that the interior can perceive what takes place in the exterior, or what is the same, that the higher can see what is in the lower; but not the reverse. Moreover they who have conscience can do this and are accustomed to do it, for when anything contrary to the truth of conscience flows into the thought, or into the endeavor of the will, they not only perceive it, but also find fault with it; and it even grieves them to be of such a character. Still more can those do this who have perception, as perception is more interior in the rational. What then could not the Lord do, who had Divine celestial perception, and thought from the affection of intellectual truth, which is above the rational! Therefore He could not but be indignant, knowing that nothing of evil and falsity was from Himself, and that from the affection of truth He took the greatest pains that His rational should be pure. This shows that the Lord did not lightly esteem intellectual truth, but that He perceived the first rational in Himself to be thinking lightly of it.
[3] What it is to think from intellectual truth cannot be explained to the apprehension, and the less so because no one but the Lord ever thought from this affection and from this truth. He who thinks therefrom is above the angelic heaven, for even the angels of the third heaven do not think from intellectual truth, but from the interior of the rational. But so far as the Lord united His Human Essence to His Divine Essence, He thought from the Divine good itself, that is, from Jehovah.
[4] The fathers of the Most Ancient Church who had perception, thought from the interior rational. The fathers of the Ancient Church, who had not perception but conscience, thought from the exterior or natural rational. But all who are without conscience do not think at all from the rational, since they have not the rational, although they appear to have it; but they think from the sensuous and corporeal natural. The reason why they who have no conscience cannot think from the rational, is that they have no rational, as just said. The rational man is he who thinks the good and truth of faith, and by no means he who thinks contrary thereto. They who think evil and falsity are insane in their thought, and therefore the rational can by no means be predicated of them.

sRef Gen@16 @5 S0′ 1915. And she saw that she conceived. That this signifies the first life of the rational, is evident from the signification of “conception” as being the first life (here as before, n. 1910).

sRef Gen@16 @5 S0′ 1916. I am despised in her eyes. That this signifies that this rational at its conception lightly esteemed the truth itself that was adjoined to good, is evident from what was said just above (n. 1911, 1914).

sRef Gen@16 @5 S0′ 1917. Jehovah judge between me and thee. That this signifies the Lord’s indignation, is evident from what has just been said, and thus without explication. No further idea of these things can be had, except by those who have been in the combats of temptations. In temptations there are vastations and desolations, and there are states of despair, and of consequent grief and indignation, besides other interior painful emotions; and this with variety and alternation, according to the states of evil and falsity which are excited by evil genii and spirits, and against which the combat is being waged. The diabolical spirits desire nothing more than to find some falsity, in fact it is common with them to induce a falsity from themselves, and then at the same time to make it the subject of accusation. Hence the Lord’s indignation was so great, in whose first rational there was no falsity, but an appearance of truth that in itself was not true (spoken of before, n. 1661, 1911 at the end).

sRef Gen@16 @6 S0′ 1918. Verse 6. And Abram said unto Sarai, Behold thy handmaid is in thy hand, do to her that which is good in thine eyes; and Sarai humbled her, and she fled from her face. “Abram said unto Sarai,” signifies perception; “Behold thy handmaid is in thy hand,” signifies that the rational that was conceived was in the power of truth adjoined to good; “do to her that which is good in thine eyes,” signifies absolute control; “and Sarai humbled her,” signifies subjugation; “and she fled from her face,” signifies the indignation of this rational that was first conceived.

sRef Gen@16 @6 S0′ 1919. Abram said unto Sarai. That this signifies perception, is evident from what was said above (n. 1898). The Lord’s perception was represented and is here signified by this which Abram said to Sarai; but His thought from the perception, by that which Sarai said to Abram. The thought was from the perception. They who are in perception think from nothing else; but still perception is one thing and thought another. To show that this is the case, take conscience as an illustration.
[2] Conscience is a kind of general dictate, and thus an obscure one, of the things that flow in through the heavens from the Lord. Those which flow in present themselves in the interior rational man and are there as in a cloud, which cloud is from appearances and fallacies concerning the truths and goods of faith. But thought is distinct from conscience, and yet it flows from conscience; for they who have conscience think and speak according to it, and the thought is little else than an unfolding of the things which are of conscience, and thereby the partition of them into ideas and then into words. Hence it is that they who have conscience are kept by the Lord in good thoughts respecting the neighbor, and are withheld from thinking evil; and therefore conscience can have no place except with those who love their neighbor as themselves, and think well concerning the truths of faith. From what has been advanced we may see what the difference is between conscience and thought; and from this we may know what the difference is between perception and thought.
[3] The Lord’s perception was immediately from Jehovah, and thus from the Divine good; but His thought was from intellectual truth and the affection of it, as before said (n. 1904, 1914). The Lord’s Divine perception cannot be apprehended by any idea, not even of angels, and therefore it cannot be described. The perception of the angels (spoken of n. 1354, etc., 1394, 1395) is scarcely anything in comparison with the perception which the Lord had. The Lord’s perception, being Divine, was a perception of all things in the heavens, and therefore also of all things on earth, for such is the order, connection, and influx, that he who is in the perception of the former is also in the perception of the latter.
[4] But after the Lord’s Human Essence had been united to His Divine Essence, and at the same time had become Jehovah, the Lord was then above that which is called perception, because He was above the order that is in the heavens and thence on the earth. It is Jehovah who is the source of order, and hence it may be said that Jehovah is Order itself, for He from Himself governs order; not as is supposed in the universal only, but also in the veriest singulars, for the universal comes from these. To speak of the universal, and to separate from it the singulars, would be nothing else than to speak of a whole in which there are no parts, and therefore to speak of a something in which there is nothing. So that to say that the Lord’s Providence is universal, and is not a Providence of the veriest singulars, is to say what is utterly false, and is what is called an ens rationis [that is, a figment of the imagination]. For to provide and govern in the universal, and not in the veriest singulars, is to provide and govern absolutely nothing. This is true philosophically, and yet wonderful to say, philosophers themselves, even those who soar the highest, apprehend the matter differently, and think differently.

sRef Gen@16 @6 S0′ 1920. Behold thy handmaid is in thy hand. That this signifies that the rational that was conceived was in the power of the affection of truth that is adjoined to good, is evident from the signification of the “hand,” as being power (explained before, n. 878); and from the signification of “Hagar the Egyptian,” as being the affection of memory-knowledges (also spoken of above). After the rational had been conceived by the influx of the internal man into the life of the affection of memory-knowledges of the exterior man, then by the “handmaid” is also meant that tender rational which was in the womb, but which when born and grown, is represented by Ishmael, who is treated of in what follows. That the Lord had sovereign control over the rational that was in Him, and that He subjugated it by His own power, will be seen from what will be said presently.

sRef Gen@16 @6 S0′ 1921. Do to her that which is good in thine eyes. That this signifies absolute control, is evident without explication. In the internal sense these words represent and signify that the Lord, from His own power, conquered, subjugated, and expelled the evil which from His hereditary nature had insinuated itself also into this first rational, for as has been said the rational was conceived of the internal man, which was Jehovah, as a father, and was born of the exterior man as a mother. Whatever was born from the exterior man had the hereditary nature with it, and therefore it had evil with it. It was this that the Lord conquered, subjugated, and expelled, and at last made Divine [His rational] by His own power. That it was by His own power is evident from everything contained in this verse, as from its being said, “Thy handmaid is in thy hand,” by which is signified that that rational was in His sovereign power; and now, “Do to her that which is good in thine eyes,” by which is signified absolute control over it; and then, “Sarai humbled her,” by which is signified subjugation.
[2] The words now under consideration were said to Sarai, by whom is represented the intellectual truth that belonged to the Lord Himself, and from which He thought (as before said, n. 1904, 1914), and from which He had absolute control over the rational and also over the natural that was of the exterior man. He who thinks from intellectual truth, and perceives from Divine good-which good also was His, because the Father’s, for the Father was His soul and He had no other-cannot do otherwise than act from His own power. And therefore, because by His own power He subdued and cast out the evil of His hereditary nature, He also by His own power united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence, for the one is a consequence of the other.
[3] He who is conceived of Jehovah has no other internal, that is no other soul, than Jehovah; and therefore as to His veriest life the Lord was Jehovah Himself. Jehovah, or the Divine Essence, cannot be divided, as can the soul of a human father, from which offspring is conceived. So far as this offspring recedes from the likeness of the father, so far it recedes from the father, and this it does more and more as age advances. It is from this that a father’s love for his children diminishes with their advance in age. It was not so with the Lord; as age advanced He did not recede as to the Human Essence, but continually drew nearer, even to perfect union. Hence it is evident that He is the same as Jehovah the Father, as He also clearly teaches (John 14:6, 8-11).

sRef Gen@16 @6 S0′ 1922. And she humbled her. That this signifies subjugation, follows from what has been said.

sRef Gen@16 @6 S0′ 1923. And she fled from her face. That this signifies the indignation of this rational that was first conceived, is also evident without explication, for to flee from anyone’s face is nothing else than not to endure his presence, and pertains to indignation. Here is described the indignation of this rational against intellectual truth, because intellectual truth, or the Lord, willed to humble or subjugate it. When the rational rises up against the intellectual, an intestine combat arises, together with indignation on the part of that which is being subjugated, as is the case in temptations, which are nothing but intestine combats, being disputes and contentions about sovereign power and control, between evils on the one side and goods on the other.

sRef Gen@16 @7 S0′ 1924. Verse 7. And the Angel of Jehovah found her by a fountain of waters in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur. “The Angel of Jehovah found her,” signifies the thought of the interior man; “the Angel of Jehovah” is here the interior thought from the Lord’s internal; “by a fountain of waters in the wilderness,” signifies natural truth that had not as yet attained to life; “by the fountain in the way to Shur,” signifies that that truth was from those things which proceed from memory-knowledges.

sRef Gen@16 @7 S0′ 1925. The Angel of Jehovah found her. That this signifies the thought of the interior man, namely, in the Lord, may be seen from the representation and signification of “the Angel of Jehovah.” “The Angel of Jehovah” is occasionally mentioned in the Word, and everywhere, when in a good sense, represents and signifies some essential in the Lord and from the Lord; but what he represents and signifies may be seen from the connection. They were angels who were sent to men, and who spoke through the prophets; yet what they spoke was not from the angels, but through them, for the state of the latter was then such that they knew not but that they were Jehovah, that is, the Lord; but as soon as they had done speaking, they returned into their former state, and spoke as from themselves.
sRef Ex@3 @14 S2′ sRef Ex@3 @15 S2′ sRef Ex@3 @4 S2′ sRef Ex@3 @2 S2′ [2] This was the case with the angels who spoke the Word of the Lord, as has been given me to know from much similar experience in the other life, concerning which, of the Lord’s Divine mercy hereafter. This is the reason why the angels were sometimes called “Jehovah;” as is very evident from the angel who appeared to Moses in the bush, of whom it is written:
And the Angel of Jehovah appeared unto Moses in a Flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. Jehovah saw that he turned aside to see, and God called unto him out of the midst of the bush. God said unto Moses, I am that I am. And God said moreover to Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the sons of Israel, Jehovah, the God of your fathers hath sent me unto you (Exod. 3:2, 4, 14-15).
from which it is evident that it was an angel who appeared to Moses as a flame in the bush, and that he spoke as Jehovah because the Lord or Jehovah spoke through him.
sRef Judg@6 @12 S3′ sRef Rev@21 @12 S3′ sRef Judg@6 @23 S3′ sRef Judg@2 @1 S3′ sRef Judg@6 @14 S3′ sRef Judg@6 @16 S3′ sRef Judg@6 @13 S3′ sRef Judg@6 @22 S3′ [3] For in order that the speaking may come to man by words of articulate sound and in ultimate nature, the Lord makes use of the ministry of angels, filling them with the Divine, and lulling the things which are their own; so that at the time they do not know but that they themselves are Jehovah. In this way the Divine of Jehovah, which is in the highest things, passes down into the lowest of nature, in which lowest is man in respect to sight and hearing. So it was with the angel who spoke to Gideon, of whom it is thus said in the book of Judges:
The Angel of Jehovah appeared unto Gideon, and said unto him, Jehovah is with thee, thou mighty man of strength. And Gideon said unto him, In me, my Lord; why then is all this befallen us? And Jehovah looked upon him, and said, Go in thy might; and Jehovah said unto him, Surely I will be with thee (Judg. 6:12, 14, 16);
and it is afterwards said:
And Gideon saw that he was the Angel of Jehovah, and Gideon said, Ah, Lord Jehovah, forasmuch as I have seen the Angel of Jehovah face to face. And Jehovah said unto him, peace be unto thee; fear not (Judg. 6: 22-23).
In this case also it was an angel, but he was then in such a state that he did not know otherwise than that he was Jehovah or the Lord.
sRef Matt@1 @22 S4′ sRef Matt@1 @23 S4′ sRef Gen@16 @13 S4′ [4] So in another place in the book of Judges:
The Angel of Jehovah went up from Gilgal to Bochim, and he said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you into the land which I sware unto your fathers, and I said, I will not make void My covenant with you to eternity (Judg. 2:1);
where in like manner an angel speaks in the name of Jehovah, saying that he had led them up out of the land of Egypt, when yet the angel did not lead them out, but Jehovah, as is declared many times elsewhere. From all this we may see how angels spoke through the prophets, namely, that Jehovah Himself spoke, but through angels, and the angels spoke nothing from themselves. That the Word is from the Lord, is evident from many passages, as in Matthew:
That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son (Matt. 1:22-23),
besides other passages. As when the Lord speaks with men He speaks through angels, therefore sometimes in the Word the Lord is also called an “Angel,” and then by “Angel,” as already said, there is signified some essential thing in the Lord and from the Lord; as, in the present case, the Lord’s interior thought; and therefore also the angel is called in this chapter “Jehovah” and also “God,” as in verse 13: “and Hagar called the name of Jehovah that was speaking unto her, Thou God seest me.”
sRef Rev@14 @6 S5′ sRef Rev@1 @20 S5′ [5] In other places likewise some special attribute of the Lord is signified by “angels.” As in John:
The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches (Rev. 1:20).
There are no angels of churches, but by the “angels” is signified that which is of the church, thus that which is of the Lord in respect to the churches. And again:
I saw the wall of the Holy Jerusalem great and high, having twelve gates, and upon the gates twelve angels, and names written which are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel (Rev. 21:12) where by the “twelve angels” the same is signified as by the “twelve tribes,” namely, all things of faith, and thus the Lord, from whom is faith and all that is of faith. And again:
And I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the eternal gospel (Rev. 14:6) where by the “angel” is signified the gospel, which is the Lord’s alone.
sRef Gen@48 @16 S6′ sRef Ex@23 @21 S6′ sRef Ex@23 @20 S6′ sRef Isa@63 @9 S6′ sRef Mal@3 @1 S6′ [6] In Isaiah:
The Angel of His faces saved them* in His love and in His pity He redeemed them and He bare them and carried them all the days of eternity (Isa. 63:9)
where by “the Angel of His faces” is meant the Lord’s mercy toward the whole human race, in redeeming them. So too it was said by Jacob when he blessed the sons of Joseph:
The Angel who redeemed me from all evil bless the lads (Gen. 48:18)
where also redemption, which is the Lord’s, is signified by the “Angel.” In Malachi:
The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to His temple, even the Angel of the covenant whom ye desire (Mal. 3:1)
it is here plainly evident that the Lord is signified by the “Angel,” since He is called “the Angel of the covenant” on account of His advent. And even more plainly does it appear that the Lord is signified by an “Angel” in Exodus:
Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee by the way, and to bring thee to the place which I have prepared. He will not endure your transgression, for My name is in the midst of him (Exod. 23:20, 21).
Hence now it is evident that by “Angel” in the Word is meant the Lord; but what of the Lord, appears from the series and connection in the internal sense.
* The Latin reads nos, us, which may be a misprint for eos, them. [Rotch ed.]

sRef Gen@16 @7 S0′ 1926. That in the passage before us “the Angel of Jehovah” denotes the interior thought that came from the Lord’s Internal, is evident, as before said, from the connection. By that which is “interior” is here meant that in the Lord which was united to Jehovah, or to His Internal. The unition was not effected all at once and by a single alternation, but successively from His earliest childhood to the end of His life in the world, and this chiefly by means of temptations and victories. Each temptation and victory effected union, and in proportion as He united Himself with His Internal or Jehovah, in the same proportion His thought became interior, and in the same proportion intellectual truth was united to Divine good. This is the thought that is here meant by the interior thought which was from the Lord’s Internal, and which is properly and peculiarly represented and signified in the present case by “the Angel of Jehovah.”

sRef Gen@16 @7 S0′ sRef Luke@1 @80 S0′ 1927. By a fountain of waters in the wilderness. That this signifies natural truth that had not as yet attained to life, is evident from the signification of “a fountain of waters,” as being truth; and from the signification of “the wilderness,” as being that which as yet has but little vitality. Such also is the signification of this term in the internal sense in Luke, where the Lord is treated of:
The child [John] grew, and waxed strong in spirit and was in the wilderness until the day of his showing unto Israel (Luke 1:80).
That “a fountain of waters” and “the wilderness” signify these things, may be confirmed by very many passages from the Word; but as mention is very often made of “fountains” in what follows, and also of the “wilderness,” where their signification is the same as here, of the Lord’s Divine mercy the proof will there be given. What it is for truth not yet to have attained to life, will be evident from what is to be said presently.

sRef Gen@16 @7 S0′ 1928. By the fountain in the way to Shur. That this signifies that that truth was from those things which proceed from memory-knowledges, is evident from the signification of a “fountain,” also of a “way,” and likewise of “Shur.” A “fountain,” as before said, signifies truth. A “way” signifies that which leads to truth and which proceeds from truth (as before shown, n. 627). But “Shur” signifies such memory-knowledge as is still as it were in the wilderness, that is, which has not yet attained to life. Truths that come from memory-knowledges are said to attain to life, when they join or associate themselves with the truths into which flows the celestial of love, for the very life of truth comes thence. There are conjunctions of actual things, thus of truths, like those of the societies in heaven, to which also they correspond; for a man as to his interiors is a kind of little heaven. The actual things, or truths, that have not been conjoined in accordance with the form of the heavenly societies, have not yet attained to life; for before this the celestial of love from the Lord cannot flow in with adaptation. They first receive life when the form is similar on both sides, or when the man’s little heaven is a correspondent image of the Grand Heaven; previous to this, no one can be called a heavenly man.
[2] The Lord, who was to govern the universal heaven from Himself, did when in the world reduce the truths and goods in His external man, or in His Human Essence, into such order; but as He perceived that His rational that was first conceived was not of this character (as said above, at verses 4 and 5), He thought out the cause, and perceived that the natural truths that sprung from memory-knowledges had not as yet attained to life, that is, were not as yet reduced into that heavenly order. And besides, the truths of faith have no life at all, unless the man lives in charity, for all the truths of faith flow from charity and are in charity; and when they are in charity and from charity, then they have life. In charity there is life, but never in truths apart from charity.
sRef Gen@25 @18 S3′ sRef Ex@15 @22 S3′ sRef 1Sam@15 @7 S3′ sRef 1Sam@27 @8 S3′ [3] That “Shur” signifies memory-knowledge that has not yet attained to life, is evident from its meaning, for Shur was a wilderness not far from the Red Sea, thus toward Egypt, as is evident in Moses:
Moses made Israel to journey from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water (Exod. 15:22).
That it was toward Egypt is evident also in Moses, where the posterity of Ishmael are spoken of:
They dwelt from Havilah unto Shur, that is toward the faces of Egypt (Gen. 25:18).
Also in Samuel:
Saul smote Amalek from Havilah, as thou comest to Shur, that is toward the faces of Egypt (1 Sam. 15:7).
And again:
David made a raid against the Geshurite, and the Gizrite, and the Amalekite, for they were the inhabitants of the land who were of old, as thou goest to Shur, even to the land of Egypt (1 Sam. 27:8).
From these passages it may be seen that by “Shur” is signified the first memory-knowledge, and in fact such as is still in the wilderness, or that is not as yet conjoined with the rest in accordance with the order of heavenly association; for by “Egypt,” before which it was, is signified memory-knowledge in every sense as before shown, n. 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462).

sRef Gen@16 @7 S0′ 1929. That these things are signified by “the Angel of Jehovah finding Hagar at a fountain of waters in the wilderness, at the fountain in the way to Shur,” can by no means appear from the literal sense, and the less so seeing that it is historical; for this sense seems very remote from signifying such things. But still this is the meaning that comes into the ideas of the angels when these things are read by man, for the angels have no idea of Hagar, nor of a fountain of waters, nor of a wilderness, nor of a way, nor of Shur. None of these things penetrate to the angels, but perish at the first threshold. But what is signified by “Hagar,” by “a fountain,” by “a wilderness,” by “a way,” and by “Shur,” this they understand, and thereby form heavenly ideas, and in this way they perceive the Lord’s Word; for the internal sense is the Word to them.

sRef Gen@16 @8 S0′ 1930. Verse 8. And he said, Hagar, Sarai’s handmaid, whence comest thou? and whither goest thou? And she said, From the face of Sarai, my mistress, am I fleeing. “He said, Hagar, Sarai’s handmaid,” signifies information; “whence comest thou, and whither goest thou?” signifies respecting the state; “and she said, From the face of Sarai, my mistress, am I fleeing,” signifies response and indignation.

sRef Gen@16 @8 S0′ 1931. He said, Hagar, Sarai’s handmaid. That this signifies information, is evident from the series, for Hagar is addressed by the angel as if he were to be informed. It is a common thing in the Word for Jehovah to question a man, and for men to reply, although Jehovah knew all before, not only what is done, but also the causes and the ends, and thus all the least and inmost things. But as man is not aware of this, and believes that no one can possibly know what he does in secret when no one sees it, and still less what he thinks, therefore the matter takes place according to the man’s belief. But still it is really true that even ordinary spirits perceive a man’s thoughts better than does the man himself; angelic spirits still more interior things of his thoughts; and angels things even more interior, namely, the causes and the ends, of which the man knows but little. It has been given me to know this by much and continual experience lasting many years. As spirits and angels perceive these things, what must be the case with the Lord, or Jehovah, who is infinite, and who gives to all their ability to perceive.

sRef Gen@16 @8 S0′ 1932. Whence comest thou? and whither goest thou? That this signifies information respecting the state, is evident from the words themselves.

sRef Gen@16 @8 S0′ 1933. And she said, From the face of Sarai, my mistress, am I fleeing. That this signifies response and indignation is evident from what has been said. Respecting the indignation see above at verse 6, where the same words occur. As the “face” signifies the interiors (as before shown, n. 358), so it signifies indignation and other things.

sRef Gen@16 @9 S0′ 1934. Verse 9. And the Angel of Jehovah said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and humble thyself under her hands. “The Angel of Jehovah said,” signifies the response of the Lord’s interior man; “Return to thy mistress,” signifies that it was observed that it ought not to trust to itself, but to interior truth and to the affection of it; “and humble thyself under her hands,” signifies that it ought to compel itself to be under its sovereign power.

sRef Gen@16 @9 S0′ 1935. The Angel of Jehovah said. That this signifies the response of the Lord’s interior man, is evident from the signification of “the Angel of Jehovah,” as being the Lord’s interior thought (spoken of above, n. 1925); and because it is thought, it is also response. The Lord’s interior thought was from the affection of intellectual truth, and this affection was from the Divine good itself. Such thought, as before said, never exists in any man, nor can do so. In man also there is interior thought that flows in from the Lord through his internal man into the interior rational, with those who have conscience, as may be seen from the fact that they can observe the evil and falsity in their external man that is in conflict with the good and truth in the interior man. This thought is much lower and is not in any way to be compared to that of the Lord, which was from the affection of intellectual truth and was proper and peculiar to Him. But they who have not conscience cannot have interior thought, and therefore there is no conflict, the reason of which is that their rational acts as one and the same with the corporeal sensual; and though there is in them also a continual influx of good and truth from the Lord, yet they have no perception of it, because they forthwith extinguish and suffocate it, and this is why they do not believe any truth of faith.

sRef Gen@16 @9 S0′ 1936. Return to thy mistress. That this signifies that it was observed that it ought not to trust to itself, but to interior truth and the affection of it, is evident from the signification of her “mistress,” as being the affection of interior truth. But what is specially signified by “Sarai” (by Sarai as a “wife,” and by Sarai as a “mistress”) cannot be described, for it can be grasped by no idea; the things signified are, as before said, above the understanding, even that which is angelic. It is only suggested here how the Lord thought concerning the appearances that had engaged the attention of His first rational, namely, that they were not to be trusted, but Divine truths themselves, however incredible these might appear in the view of that rational. For such is the case with all truths Divine; if the rational be consulted respecting them, they cannot possibly be believed, for they surpass all its comprehension. For example: that no man, spirit, or angel, lives from himself, but the Lord only; and that the life of a man, spirit, or angel is an appearance of life in him; this is repugnant to the rational, which judges from fallacies, but still it is to be believed because it is the truth.
[2] It is a truth Divine that in every expression of the Word, which appears so simple and rude to man, there are things illimitable, nay, more than the universal heaven; and that the arcana which are therein may be presented before the angels by the Lord with perpetual variety to eternity. This is so incredible to the rational that it is unwilling to give it any credence at all; but still it is true.
[3] It is a truth Divine that no one is ever rewarded in the other life for good deeds, if he placed merit in them, or if he did them for the sake of gain, honor, and reputation; also that no one is ever punished for evil deeds if he acted from a truly good end; the ends being what are regarded, and from them the deeds. This too cannot be believed by the rational; but as it is true, the rational is not to be trusted, for it does not form its conclusions from internal things, but from external things.
[4] It is a truth Divine that he who aspires to the least joy in the other life, receives from the Lord the greatest, and that he who aspires to the greatest has the least, also that in heavenly joy there is never anything connected with being preeminent to others, and that in proportion as there is this, there is hell; also that in heavenly glory there is nothing whatever of worldly glory. These things also are repugnant to the rational, but still are to be believed, because they are true.
[5] It is also a truth Divine that the more anyone believes nothing of wisdom to be from himself, the wiser he is; and that the more he believes it to be from himself, and thus the more he attributes prudence to himself, the more insane he is. This also the rational denies, because it supposes that what is not from itself is nothing. There are innumerable such things. From these few examples it may be seen that the rational is not to be trusted; for the rational is in fallacies and appearances, and it therefore rejects truths that are stripped of fallacies and appearances; and it does this the more, the more it is in the love of self and its cupidities, and the more it is in reasonings, and also in false principles respecting faith. (See also the examples adduced above, n. 1911.)

sRef Gen@16 @9 S0′ 1937. Humble thyself under her hands. That this signifies that it ought to compel itself to be under its sovereign power, is evident without explication. “To humble oneself” is expressed in the original tongue by a word which signifies “to afflict.” That “to afflict oneself” is, in the internal sense, to compel oneself, may be seen from very many passages in the Word, and will be treated of in what follows. That man ought to compel himself to do what is good, to obey the things commanded by the Lord, and to speak truths, which is to “humble himself under” the Lord’s hands, or to submit himself to the sovereign power of the Divine good and truth, involves more arcana than can be explained in a few words.
[2] There are certain spirits who during their life in the world, because they had been told that all good is from the Lord, and that a man can do nothing of himself, had held it as a principle not to compel themselves in anything, but to cease from all effort, thinking that as the case was so, all effort would be in vain; and therefore they had waited for immediate influx into the effort of their will, and did not compel themselves to do anything good, going so far that when anything evil crept in, as they felt no resistance from within, they resigned themselves to it also, supposing that it was permissible to do so. But these spirits are as it were devoid of what is their own, so that they have no determination to anything, and are therefore among the more useless, for they suffer themselves to be led alike by the evil and by the good, and suffer much from the evil.
[3] But they who have compelled themselves to resist what is evil and false-although at first they supposed that this was from themselves or from their own power, but were afterwards enlightened to see that their effort was from the Lord, even to the least of all the particulars of the effort-these in the other life cannot be led by evil spirits, but are among the happy. Thus we may see that a man ought to compel himself to do what is good and to speak what is true. The arcanum herein contained is that a man is thus gifted by the Lord with a heavenly Own, for this heavenly Own of man is formed in the effort of his thought; and if he does not maintain this effort by compelling himself (as the appearance is), he certainly does not maintain it by not compelling himself.
[4] That we may see how this is, let it be observed that in all self-compulsion to what is good there is a certain freedom, which is not discerned as such while the man is engaged in this self-compulsion, but still it is within. For instance, in one who is willing to undergo the risk of death for the sake of a certain end, or in one who is willing to suffer bodily pain for the sake of health, there is a willingness and thus a certain freedom from which the man acts, although the dangers and the pains, while he is in them, take away his perception of this willingness or freedom; and such is the case also with those who compel themselves to do what is good: there is a willingness within, and thus a freedom, from which and for the sake of which they compel themselves, that is to say, they do so for the sake of obedience to what the Lord has commanded, and for the sake of the salvation of their souls after death, within which although the man is not aware of it, there is still more interiorly a regard for the Lord’s kingdom, and even for the Lord Himself.
[5] This is the case most of all during temptations, for in these-when the man compels himself to resist the evil and falsity which are infused and suggested by evil spirits, there is more of freedom than is possible in any state out of temptations-although at the time the man cannot comprehend this-for there is an interior freedom, from which he wills to subjugate evil, and which is so great as to equal the force and strength of the evil that is assailing him, for otherwise he could not possibly wage the combat. This freedom is from the Lord, who insinuates it into the man’s conscience, and by means of it causes him to overcome the evil as from what is his own. Through this freedom man acquires an Own in which the Lord can work what is good. Without an Own acquired, that is, given, through freedom, no man can possibly be reformed, because he cannot receive the new will, which is conscience. The freedom thus given is the very plane into which there is an influx of good and truth from the Lord. Hence it is that they who in temptations do not resist from their own will, or in freedom, give way.
[6] In all freedom there is man’s life, because there is his love. Whatever a man does from love appears to him free. But in this freedom, when the man is compelling himself to resist what is evil and false, and to do what is good, there is heavenly love, which the Lord then insinuates, and through which He creates the man’s Own; and therefore the Lord wills that it should appear to the man as his, although it is not his. This Own which man during his bodily life thus receives through what is apparently compulsory, is filled by the Lord in the other life with illimitable delights and happinesses. Such persons are also by degrees enlightened to see and even to be confirmed in the truth, that of themselves they have not compelled themselves one atom, but that all things of the effort of their will, even the smallest, had been from the Lord; and that the reason why it had appeared as if it was of themselves was in order that a new will might be given them by the Lord as their own, and that in this way the life of heavenly love might be appropriated to them. For the Lord wills to communicate to everyone what is His, and therefore He wills to communicate what is heavenly, so that it may appear as the man’s, and in him, although it is not his. The angels are in such an Own; and in proportion as they are in the truth that all good and truth are from the Lord, they are in the delight and happiness of this Own.
[7] But they who despise and reject all good and truth, and who are willing to believe nothing that is repugnant to their cupidities and reasonings, cannot compel themselves; and thus cannot receive this Own of conscience, or new will. From what has been said above it is also evident that to compel oneself is not to be compelled; for no good ever comes from compulsion, as when a man is compelled by another man to do what is good; but it is evident that in the case we are now considering the self-compulsion comes from a certain freedom that is unknown to the man, since from the Lord there is never any compulsion. Hence it is a universal law that all that which is good and true is inseminated in freedom, for otherwise the ground cannot possibly receive and cherish that which is good, and in fact there is no ground in which the seed can grow.

sRef Gen@16 @10 S0′ 1938. Verse 10. And the Angel of Jehovah said unto her, In multiplying I will multiply thy seed, and it shall not be numbered for multitude. “The Angel of Jehovah said,” signifies the thought of the interior man; “In multiplying I will multiply thy seed,” signifies the fruitfulness of the rational man when it submits itself to the sovereign control of intellectual truth which is adjoined to good; “and it shall not be numbered for multitude,” signifies multiplication beyond measure.

sRef Gen@16 @10 S0′ 1939. The Angel of Jehovah said. That this signifies the thought of the interior man, is evident from the preceding verse, where the same words occur.

sRef Gen@16 @10 S0′ 1940. In multiplying I will multiply thy seed. That this signifies the fruitfulness of the rational man when it submits itself to the sovereign control of the interior man when this is adjoined to good, is evident from the signification of “seed,” as being love and faith (spoken of before, n. 1025, 1447, 1610), but in the present case by “multiplying seed” is signified the fruitfulness of the celestial things of love in the rational, when the rational has submitted itself to interior or Divine truth. “Multiplication” is predicated of truth, and “fruitfulness” of good, as may be seen from what has already been said and shown (n. 43, 55, 913, 983). But as the Lord is here treated of, “multiplying” signifies becoming fruitful, because all the truth in His rational was made good, and thereby Divine, as is here declared concerning Him. It is otherwise in man, whose rational is formed by the Lord from truth or the affection of truth. This affection is his good, from which he acts.
[2] How the case is with man’s rational in regard to multiplication and fruitfulness cannot be understood unless we know how the case is with influx, of which it may be said in a general way that in everyone there is an internal man, a rational man which is intermediate, and an external man, as before said. It is the internal man that is his inmost from which he is man, and by which he is distinguished from brute animals, which have not such an inmost; and it is as it were the door or entrance for the Lord, that is, for what is celestial and spiritual from the Lord, into man. What is going on there cannot be comprehended by the man, because it is above all his rational, from which he thinks. That rational which appears as man’s own is subject to this inmost, or to this internal man, and into this rational through the internal man there inflow from the Lord the heavenly things of love and of faith, and through this rational they inflow into the memory-knowledges that are in the external man; but the things that inflow are received in accordance with the state of each person.

[3] Now unless the rational submits itself to the Lord’s goods and truths, it either suffocates, or rejects, or perverts the things that flow in; and this is still more the case when they flow into the sensuous knowledges of the memory. This is what is meant by seed falling on a highway, or upon a rocky place, or among thorns, as the Lord teaches (Matt. 13:3-7; Mark 4:3-7; Luke 8:5-7). But when the rational submits itself and believes the Lord, that is, His Word, the rational is then like good ground or earth, into which the seed falls and bears much fruit.

sRef Gen@16 @10 S0′ 1941. And it shall not be numbered for multitude. That this signifies multiplication beyond measure, is evident without explication. By these words is signified the truth that, from good, will thus grow multitudinously. In the case of the Lord-who in the internal sense is here treated of-these things cannot be fully expressed in words, because in Him all things are Divine and Infinite, and therefore in order that we may form some idea of how the case is with the multiplication of truth from good, we must speak concerning man. With a man who is in good, that is, in love and charity, the seed that comes from the Lord is made fruitful and multiplied to such an extent that it cannot be numbered for multitude; not so much while he is living in the body, but in the other life to an incredible degree; for so long as a man is living in the body the seed is in corporeal ground, and is there in the midst of jungles and thickets, which are memory-knowledges and pleasures, and also cares and anxieties; but when these are put off, which is done when he passes into the other life, the seed is freed from them and grows, just as the seed of a tree uprising from the ground grows into a sapling, then into a great tree, which is afterwards multiplied into a garden of trees. For all memory-knowledge [scientia], intelligence, and wisdom, together with their delights and happiness, are thus made fruitful and multiplied, and thereby increase to eternity, and this from the smallest seed, as the Lord teaches respecting the grain of mustard seed (Matt. 13:31). This may be seen very clearly from the knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom of the angels, which while they were men had been to them unutterable.

sRef Gen@16 @11 S0′ 1942. Verse 11. And the Angel of Jehovah said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and thou shalt call his name Ishmael; because Jehovah hath hearkened to thine affliction. “The Angel of Jehovah said unto her,” signifies the thought of the interior man; “Behold, thou art with child,” signifies the life of the rational man; “and shalt bear a son,” signifies the truth of the same; “and thou shalt call his name Ishmael,” signifies the state of its life; “because Jehovah hath hearkened to thine affliction,” signifies while it was submitting itself.

sRef Gen@16 @11 S0′ 1943. The Angel of Jehovah said. That this signifies the thought of the interior man, is evident from what is said above at verses 7, 9, and 10.

sRef Gen@16 @11 S0′ 1944. Behold, thou art with child. That this signifies the life of the rational man, is evident from what is said above concerning the conception of this and from what follows concerning Ishmael, namely, that by him is signified the first rational in the Lord. It is to be known concerning the rational man in general that it is said to receive life, to be in the womb, and to be born, when the man begins to think that the evil and falsity in himself is that which contradicts and is opposed to truth and good, and still more is this the case when he wills to remove and subjugate this evil and falsity. Unless he can perceive and become sensible of this, he has no rational, however much he may imagine that he has. For the rational is the medium that unites the internal man with the external, and thereby perceives from the Lord what is going on in the external man, and reduces the external man to obedience, nay, elevates it from the corporeal and earthly things in which it immerses itself, and causes the man to be man, and to look to heaven to which he belongs by birth; and not, as do brute animals, solely to the earth in which he is merely a sojourner, still less to hell. These are the offices of the rational, and therefore a man cannot be said to have any rational unless he is such that he can think in this manner; and whether the rational is coming into existence is known from his life in his use or function.
[2] To reason against good and truth, while they are denied at heart, and only known by hearing about them, is not to have a rational, for many can do this who openly rush without any restraint into all wickedness. The only difference is that those who suppose that they have a rational and have it not, maintain a certain decorum in their discourse and act from a pretended honorableness, in which they are held by external bonds, such as fear of the law, of the loss of property, of honor, of reputation, and of life. If these bonds, which are external, were to be taken away, some of these men would rave more insanely than those who rush into wickedness without restraint, so that no one can be said to have a rational merely because he can reason. The fact is that those who have no rational usually discourse from the things of sense and of memory-knowledge much more skillfully than those who have it.
[3] This is very clearly evident from evil spirits in the other life, who although accounted as being preeminently rational while they have lived in the body, yet when the external bonds which caused their decorum of discourse and their pretended honorableness of life are taken away, as is usual with all in the other life, they are more insane than those who in this world are openly so, for they rush into all wickedness without horror, fear, or shame. Not so those who while they lived in this world had been rational, for when the external bonds are taken away from them, they are still more sane, because they have had internal bonds-bonds of conscience-by which the Lord kept their thoughts bound to the laws of truth and good, which were their rational principles.

sRef Gen@16 @11 S0′ 1945. And shalt bear a son. That this signifies the truth, namely, of the rational here referred to, and which is signified by “Ishmael,” is evident from the signification of a “son,” as being truth (shown before, n. 264, 489, 491, 533, 1147). This truth is described in the next verse.

sRef Gen@16 @11 S0′ 1946. And thou shalt call his name Ishmael. This signifies the state of the life. In ancient times names were bestowed on sons and daughters that were significant of the state in which the parents were, especially the mothers when they conceived, or while they were with child, or when they brought forth; or the state in which the infants were when born, so that the names were significative. From what Ishmael had his name is here explained, namely, “because Jehovah hearkened to the affliction,” referring to his mother’s state. But what Ishmael represents is described in the verse following.

sRef Gen@16 @11 S0′ 1947. Because Jehovah hath hearkened to thine affliction. That this signifies while it was submitting itself, is evident from what was said above (n. 1937), in that to “humble and afflict oneself” denotes to submit to the sovereign control of the internal man, which submission was there treated of, and it is shown that this is to compel oneself; also that in compelling oneself there is freedom, that is, what is spontaneous and voluntary, by which compelling oneself is distinguished from being compelled. It was also shown that without this freedom, that is, spontaneity or willingness, man cannot possibly be reformed and receive any heavenly Own; and further that there is more of freedom in temptations than out of them, although the contrary appears to be the case, for the freedom is then stronger in proportion to the assaults of evils and falsities, and is strengthened by the Lord in order that a heavenly Own may be conferred upon the man; and for this reason the Lord is more present with us while we are in temptations. It was shown further that the Lord never compels anyone; for he who is compelled to think what is true and do what is good is not reformed, but thinks falsity and wills evil all the more. All compulsion has this effect, as we may see from the records and examples of life, for from them we know these two things: that consciences do not suffer themselves to be compelled, and that we strive after what is forbidden. Moreover everyone desires to pass from non-freedom into freedom, for this belongs to man’s life.
sRef John@8 @32 S2′ sRef John@8 @36 S2′ [2] Hence it is evident that anything which is not from freedom, that is, which is not from what is spontaneous or voluntary, is not acceptable to the Lord; for when anyone worships the Lord from what is not free, he worships from nothing that is his own, and in this case it is the external which moves, that is, which is moved, from being compelled, while the internal is null, or resistant, or is even contradictory to it. While man is being regenerated, he, from the freedom with which he is gifted by the Lord, exercises self-compulsion, and humbles and even afflicts his rational, in order that it may submit itself, and thereby he receives a heavenly Own, which is afterwards gradually perfected by the Lord, and is made more and more free, so that it becomes the affection of good and thence of truth, and has delight, and in both the freedom and the delight there is happiness like that of angels. This freedom is what the Lord speaks of in John:
The truth shall make* you free; if the Son makes you free, you shall be* free indeed (John 8:32, 36).
sRef John@8 @34 S3′ [3] The nature of this freedom is utterly unknown to those who do not possess conscience, for they make freedom consist in doing as they please and in the license of thinking and speaking what is false, of willing and doing what is evil, and of not compelling and humbling, still less of afflicting such desires; when yet the very reverse is the case, as the Lord also teaches in the same gospel:
Everyone that committeth sin is the servant of sin (John 8:34).
This slavish freedom they receive from the infernal spirits who are with them and who infuse it, and when they are in the life of these spirits they are also in their loves and cupidities, and an impure and excrementitious delight breathes upon them, and when they are being as it were carried away by the torrent, they suppose themselves to be in freedom, but it is infernal freedom. The difference between this infernal freedom and heavenly freedom is that the one is that of death, and drags them down to hell, while the other, or heavenly freedom, is of life and uplifts them to heaven.
sRef Ex@35 @5 S4′ sRef Ex@25 @2 S4′ sRef Ps@54 @6 S4′ [4] That all true internal worship comes from freedom, and none from compulsion, and that if worship is not from freedom it is not internal worship, is evident from the Word, as from the sacrifices that were freewill offerings or vows, or offerings of peace or of thanksgiving; which were called “gifts” and “offerings” (concerning which see Num. 15:3, etc.; Deut. 12:6; 16:10-11; 23:23-24). So in David:
With a free-will offering will I sacrifice unto Thee; I will confess to Thy name, O Jehovah, for it is good (Ps. 54:6).
So again from the contribution or collection which they were to make for the Tabernacle, and for the garments of holiness, spoken of in Moses:
Speak unto the sons of Israel, and let them take for Me an offering; from every man whom his heart impels willingly ye shall take My offering (Exod. 25:2).
And again:
Whosoever is of a willing heart let him bring it, Jehovah’s offering (Exod. 35:5).
sRef Lev@23 @27 S5′ sRef Lev@23 @29 S5′ sRef Lev@16 @29 S5′ [5] Moreover the humiliation of the rational man, or its affliction (from freedom, as before said), was also represented by the affliction of souls on days of solemnity, as mentioned in Moses:
It shall be a statute of eternity unto you; in the seventh month, on the tenth of the month, ye shall afflict your souls (Lev. 16:29).
And again:
On the tenth of the seventh month, this is the day of expiations; there shall be a holy convocation unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls; every soul that shall not have afflicted itself in that same day, shall be cut off from his peoples (Lev. 23:27, 29).
It was for this reason that the unleavened bread, in which there was nothing fermented, is called the “bread of affliction” (Deut. 16:2-3).
sRef Ps@15 @1 S6′ sRef Ps@15 @2 S6′ sRef Ps@15 @4 S6′ [6] “Affliction” is thus spoken of in David:
Jehovah, who shall sojourn in Thy tent? who shall dwell in the mountain of Thy holiness? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness; he that sweareth to afflict himself, and changeth not (Ps. 15:1-2, 4).
That “affliction” denotes the mastering and subjugation of the evils and falsities that rise up from the external man into the rational, may be seen from what has been said. Thus “affliction” does not mean that we should plunge ourselves into poverty and wretchedness, or that we should renounce all bodily delights, for in this way evil is not mastered and subjugated; and moreover some other evil may be aroused, namely, a sense of merit on account of the renunciation; and besides, man’s freedom suffers, in which alone, as in ground, the good and truth of faith can be inseminated. (Concerning “affliction” as denoting also temptation, see above, n. 1846.)
* Facit and estis; but faciet and eritis n. 9096. [Rotch ed.]

sRef Gen@16 @12 S0′ 1948. Verse 12. And he shall be a wild-ass [onager] man; his hand against all, and the hand of all against him; and he shall dwell against the faces of all his brethren. “He shall be a wild-ass man,” signifies rational truth, which is described; “his hand against all,” signifies that it will wage war upon whatever is not true; “and the hand of all against him,” signifies that falsities will fight back; “and he shall dwell against the faces of all his brethren,” signifies that there will be continual contentions about matters of faith; but that nevertheless it will be a conqueror.

sRef Gen@16 @12 S0′ 1949. He shall be a wild-ass [onager] man. That this signifies rational truth, which is described, is evident from the signification of “a wild-ass,” as being rational truth. In the Word there is frequent mention of horses, horsemen, mules, and asses; and as yet no one has known that these signify things of the intellect, of the reason, and of memory-knowledge. That these animals and their riders have such a signification will of the Lord’s Divine mercy be fully confirmed in the proper places. Of the same class is the “onager,” for this is the mule of the wilderness or wild-ass, and it signifies man’s rational; not however the rational in its whole complex, but only rational truth. The rational consists of good and truth, that is, of things belonging to charity and of things belonging to faith, and it is rational truth that is signified by the “wild-ass.” This then is what is represented by Ishmael, and is what is described in this verse.
[2] It seems incredible that rational truth when separated from good should be of such a character, neither should I have known this to be the case unless I had been instructed by living experience. Whether you say rational truth; or the man whose rational is of this kind, amounts to the same. The man whose rational is of such a character that he is solely in truth-even though it be the truth of faith-and who is not at the same time in the good of charity, is altogether of such a character. He is a morose man, will bear nothing, is against all, regards everybody as being in falsity, is ready to rebuke, to chastise, and to punish; has no pity, and does not apply or adapt himself to others and study to bend their minds; for he looks at everything from truth, and at nothing from good. Hence it is that Ishmael was driven out, and afterwards dwelt in the wilderness, and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt (Gen. 21:9-21); all of which things are representative of one who is endowed with such a rational.
sRef Isa@32 @14 S3′ sRef Jer@14 @6 S3′ [3] Mention is made of “wild-asses” in the prophetical parts of the Word, as in Isaiah:
The palace shall be forsaken, the multitude of the city shall be deserted; the high place and the watchtower shall be for dens, even forever a joy of wild-asses, a pasture of flocks (Isa. 32:14);
where the devastation of intellectual things is treated of, which, when laid waste as regards truths, are called “a joy of wild- asses;” and when as regards goods, “a pasture of flocks;” so that there is no rational. In Jeremiah:
The wild-asses stood upon the hills, they snuffed up the wind like whales, their eyes perished because there was no herbage (Jer. 14:6);
where the subject treated of is drought, that is, the absence of what is good and true. It is said of the wild-asses that they “snuff up the wind,” when empty things are seized on instead of real things, which are truths; “their eyes perished” means that there is no apprehension of what truth is.
sRef Hos@8 @9 S4′ sRef Hos@13 @15 S4′ sRef Ps@104 @11 S4′ sRef Ps@104 @10 S4′ [4] In Hosea:
For they have gone up to Assyria, a wild-ass alone by himself; Ephraim hath sought loves with a harlot’s hire (Hos. 8:9).
Here “Israel,” or the spiritual church, is treated of; “Ephraim” denotes its intellectual; “going up into Assyria,” reasoning about truth, as to whether it is truth; the “solitary wild-ass,” the rational thus destitute of truths. In the same:
For he shall be among his brethren as a wild-ass; an east wind shall come, the wind of Jehovah coming up from the wilderness; and his spring shall become dry, and his fountain shall be dried up; he shall make a spoil of the treasure of all vessels of desire (Hos. 13:15),
speaking of Ephraim, by whom is signified the intellectual of the spiritual church, whose rational is “as a wild-ass;” and the destruction of which is here treated of. In David:
Jehovah God shall send forth springs into rivers, they shall run among the mountains; they shall supply drink to every beast of the fields; the wild-asses shall quench their thirst (Ps. 104:10, 11).
“Springs” denote knowledges; the “beasts of the fields,” goods; the “wild-asses,” the truths of reason.

sRef Gen@16 @12 S0′ 1950. His hand against all. That this signifies that it will wage war upon whatever is not true, and that “the hand of all against him” signifies that falsities will fight back, is evident from the fact that by “Ishmael,” as before said, is signified rational truth separated from good; and when it is said of this truth that “its hand is against all, and the hand of all against it,” it is evident that such is the signification of these words. It was stated above that by Abram is represented the Lord’s internal man, or what is the same, His Divine celestial and spiritual; by Isaac the Lord’s interior man, or His Divine rational; and by Jacob the Lord’s exterior man, or His Divine natural. The words before us treat of the rational as it would be if not united to the internal, that is, to the Divine celestial and spiritual. Because this rational had its nature from the life of affection of memory-knowledges, that is, from Hagar the Egyptian, Sarai’s handmaid, and because this life pertained to the external man, which had an hereditary nature from the Lord’s mother that was to be fought against and expelled, therefore the rational is here described such as it would be if devoid of rational good. But after the Lord had humbled, that is, had afflicted and subjugated that hereditary nature by means of the combats of temptations and by victories, and had vivified His rational itself with Divine good, it then became “Isaac,” that is, it is represented by Isaac; Ishmael, together with Hagar his mother, being cast out of the house.
[2] All the genuine rational consists of good and truth, that is, of the celestial and the spiritual. Good, or the celestial, is its very soul or life; truth, or the spiritual, is what receives its life from this. Without life from celestial good, the rational is such as is here described, that is, it fights against all, and all fight against it. Rational good never fights, however it is assailed; because it is mild and gentle, patient and yielding; for its character is that of love and mercy. Yet although it does not fight, it conquers all, nor does it ever think about combat, or glory on account of victory; and this because it is Divine, and is safe of itself. For no evil can attack good; it cannot even continue to exist in the sphere where good is, for when this merely approaches, evil withdraws and falls back of itself; for evil is infernal, and good is heavenly. Very similar is the case with the celestial spiritual, that is, with truth from a celestial origin, or with truth which is from good, for this truth is truth that is formed by good, so that it may be called the form of good.
[3] But truth separated from good, which is here represented by Ishmael and is described in this verse, is altogether different, being like a wild-ass, and fighting against all, and all against it; in fact it thinks of and breathes scarcely anything but combats; its general delectation, or reigning affection, is to conquer, and when it conquers it glories in the victory; on which account it is described as an “onager,” or mule of the wilderness, that is, the wild-ass, which cannot be with others. Such a life is a life of truth without good, yea, a life of faith without charity, and therefore when a man is being regenerated, this is indeed effected by means of the truth of faith, but still at the same time by means of a life of charity, which the Lord insinuates in accordance with the increments of the truth of faith.

sRef Gen@16 @12 S0′ sRef Gen@25 @18 S0′ 1951. He shall dwell against the faces of all his brethren. That this signifies that there will be continual contentions about matters of faith, but that nevertheless it will be a conqueror, is evident from what has just been said; which is yet more fully described where the Word tells of the posterity of Ishmael, in these words:
They dwelt from Havilah unto Shur, that is toward the faces of Egypt, as one comes to Asshur, (his lot) fell toward the faces of all his brethren (Gen. 25:18),
of which words the internal sense is evident from the signification of Havilah, Shur, Egypt, and Assyria. “Havilah” signifies that which is of intelligence (as appears from what has been shown in n. 115); “Shur” signifies truth proceeding from memory-knowledges (spoken of above, n. 1928); “Egypt,” all that is of memory-knowledge (n. 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462); and “Assyria,” that which belongs to reason (n. 119, 1186); from the significations of all which, when reduced into one general meaning, it is evident that by Ishmael is represented such a rational. This very kind of truth is represented in the other life in various ways, and always as what is strong, powerful, and hard; insomuch that it cannot be resisted at all. When spirits merely think of such truth, something of terror comes over them, because it is its nature not to yield, and thus not to recede; from which also we may see what is meant by “dwelling against the faces of all his brethren.” Anyone may know that an arcanum lies hidden in this description, but of what nature has hitherto been unknown.

sRef Gen@16 @14 S0′ sRef Gen@16 @13 S0′ 1952. Verses 13, 14. And she called the name of Jehovah who was speaking unto her, Thou God seest me; for she said, Have I also here seen after Him that seeth me? Therefore she called the fountain, The fountain of the Living One who seeth me; behold it is between Kadesh and Bared. “And she called the name of Jehovah who was speaking unto her,” signifies the state of the Lord’s interior man when it thought about these things. “Thou God seest Me,” signifies influx; “for she said, Have I also here seen after Him that seeth me?” signifies influx into the life of the exterior man without the rational as a medium; “therefore she called the fountain,” signifies the derivative state of truth; “the fountain of the Living One who seeth me,” signifies truth thus clearly seen; “behold it is between Kadesh and Bared,” signifies its quality.

sRef Gen@16 @14 S0′ sRef Gen@16 @13 S0′ 1953. And she called the name of Jehovah who was speaking unto her. That this signifies the state of the Lord’s interior man when it thought about these things, is evident from what precedes and what follows, and also from the signification of “calling a name,” which is to know what is the quality (explained before, n. 144, 145, 1754). This state is described in regard to its quality, or the state in which the Lord was when He thus thought about the rational. The rational could not think this, but the interior or higher man could (spoken of before, n. 1926). For the rational can by no means think about itself in regard to its quality, for nothing can look into itself; but it must be something more internal or higher that thinks about it, for this can look into it. For example: the ear cannot know, and still less perceive the speech that it receives into itself: this is done by a more interior hearing. The ear merely discerns articulate sounds or words: it is the interior hearing that apprehends what is said, and then it is an interior sight or mental view that perceives it, and in this way there is through the hearing a perception of the meaning of the speech. The case is similar with the things of sight: the first ideas received from the objects of sight are material, as they are also called; but there is a sight still more interior that views the objects mentally, and thereby thinks. And such is the case with man’s rational. The rational can by no means look into itself, still less explore its own quality: there must be something more internal that does this; and therefore when a man is able to do it-that is, perceive anything false in his rational, or any truth that shines there, and especially if he is able to perceive anything that is battling and overcoming-he may know that his ability to do this comes from the Lord’s influx through the internal man. The Lord’s interior man, spoken of above (n. 1926) and meant here, was that which had been conjoined with His internal man, which was Jehovah, and was therefore far above that rational. From that interior man, as in celestial light, He saw and perceived of what quality the rational would become if it were in truth alone, and not in good.

sRef Gen@16 @14 S0′ sRef Gen@16 @13 S0′ 1954. Thou God seest me. That this signifies influx, is evident from what has just been said. Mental view from the higher into the lower, or what is the same, from the interior into the exterior, is termed influx, for it takes place by influx; just as in the case of man’s interior sight: unless this continually inflowed into his outer sight, which is that of the eye, this latter could not possibly apprehend and discern any object; for it is the interior sight which, through the eye, apprehends the things which the eye sees; and by no means is it the eye, although it so appears. From all this we may also see how much that man is in the fallacies of the senses who believes that the eye sees; when in fact it is the sight of his spirit, which is the interior sight, that sees through the eye.
[2] Spirits who were with me have seen through my eyes things in the world as well as I did (concerning which see n. 1880); yet some of them who were still in the fallacies of the senses supposed that they had seen through their own eyes; but they were shown that it was not so, for when my eyes were closed they saw nothing in this atmospheric world. It is the very same with man: it is his spirit that sees, not his eye: the spirit sees through the eye. The same thing may be seen from dreams, in which a man sometimes sees as in the day. The case is the very same in regard to this interior sight, or that of the spirit; this again does not see from itself, but from a still more interior sight, or that of man’s rational. Nay, neither does this see of itself, but does so from a still more internal sight, which is that of the internal man (concerning which, n. 1940). And even this does not see of itself, for it is the Lord who sees through the internal man, and He is the Only One who sees because He is the Only One who lives, and He it is who gives man the ability to see, and this in such a manner that it appears to him as if he saw of himself. Such is the case with influx.

sRef Gen@16 @13 S0′ sRef Gen@16 @14 S0′ 1955. For she said, Have I also here seen after Him who seeth me? That this signifies influx into the life of the exterior man without the rational as a medium, is evident from the signification of “seeing after Him that seeth.” “To see after Him that seeth” is to see from what is interior, or higher, for in the internal sense that which is within or above is expressed in the sense of the letter by “after,” when that which is within or above appears in that which is without or below. It is Hagar who speaks here; and by Hagar, as before shown, is signified the life of memory-knowledges, which belongs to the exterior man. As the first rational originated from this life, the Lord saw the reason for its so doing, and He saw it from His interior man in His exterior man, and did so without the rational as a medium. That the words before us involve arcana, everyone can see from the single consideration that no one can know what it is to “see after Him that seeth me,” except from an internal sense, in which also there must be such things as cannot be explained to the apprehension, except by means of ideas like those of angels, which do not fall into words, but only into the sense of the words; and this quite apart from the material ideas out of which come the ideas of the sense of the words. Concerning the things before us, which appear so obscure to man, the angels have ideas so clear and distinct, and enriched with so many representations, that were only a small part of them described, they would fill a volume.

sRef Gen@16 @14 S0′ sRef Gen@16 @13 S0′ 1956. Therefore she called the fountain. That this signifies the derivative state of truth, is evident from what has been said; and also from the signification of a fountain,” as being truth (explained above, n. 1927). As this truth was not seen in the rational, but below the rational, the word in the original language that is here rendered “fountain” is a different word from that rendered “fountain” above, and from the common word for fountain.

sRef Gen@16 @13 S0′ sRef Gen@16 @14 S0′ 1957. The fountain of the Living One who seeth me. That this signifies truth thus clearly seen, is also evident from what has been already said, namely, that the Lord clearly saw how the case was with the truth of this rational-that it was not good. The Lord’s interior man, from which He saw this, is called “The Living One who seeth,” because it was conjoined with the internal man, which was Jehovah, who alone lives and alone sees (as shown just above, n. 1954).

sRef Gen@16 @14 S0′ sRef Gen@16 @13 S0′ 1958. Behold it is between Kadesh and Bared. That this signifies the quality-that is that He saw of what quality this truth was, and thus what the quality of the rational was-is evident from the signification of “Kadesh” and of “Bared.” That “Kadesh” signifies truth, and also contentions about truths, has been shown before (n. 1678); but “Bared” signifies what is below, and thus truth in the form of memory-knowledge,* from which also comes the rational. (That names in the Word signify actual things, may be seen above, n. 1876, 1888, 1889; also n. 1224, 1264.)
* Verum scientificum – that is, truth in the external memory [REVISER.]

sRef Gen@16 @15 S0′ 1959. Verse 15. And Hagar bare Abram a son; and Abram called the name of his son that Hagar bare, Ishmael. “Hagar bare Abram a son,” signifies the rational man born from this conjunction and conception; “and Abram called the name of his son that Hagar bare, Ishmael,” signifies the quality of it.

sRef Gen@16 @15 S0′ 1960. Hagar bare Abram a son. That this signifies the rational man born from this conception and conjunction, is evident from the representation and signification of “Hagar,” of “Abram,” and of “a son.” That “Hagar” signifies the life of the affection of memory-knowledges in the exterior man, has been said above (n. 1895, 1896); also that “Abram” signifies the Lord’s internal man (n. 1893, 1950); and that “a son” signifies truth, and thus the truth that was of this rational (n. 264, 489, 491, 533, 1147). Hence that “Hagar bare a son to Abram,” signifies the rational man that was born from this conception and conjunction. Into this sense is the sense of the letter changed when it reaches the angels, or is in the presence of the angels.

sRef Gen@16 @15 S0′ sRef Gen@16 @11 S0′ sRef Gen@16 @12 S0′ 1961. And Abram called the name of his son that Hagar bare, Ishmael. That this signifies its quality, is evident from the signification of “calling a name,” as being to know what is the quality of the thing in question (explained n. 144, 145, 1754); and also from the representation and signification of “Ishmael,” as being rational truth, which is described in verses 11 and 12 in the words: “Thou shalt call his name Ishmael, because Jehovah hath heard thine affliction; and he will be a wild-ass man; his hand against all, and the hand of all against him; and he shall dwell against the faces of all his brethren;” and for the meaning of these words, see the explication of the verses that contain them. It is the quality of this rational that is there described.

sRef Gen@16 @16 S0′ 1962. Verse 16. And Abram was a son of eighty years and six years, when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram. “Abram was a son of eighty years and six years,” signifies the Lord’s state in respect to the celestial good acquired by combats of temptations; “when Hagar bare Ishmael,” signifies when the life of the affection of memory-knowledges brought forth the rational.

sRef Gen@16 @16 S0′ 1963. Abram was a son of eighty years and six years. That this signifies the Lord’s state in respect to the celestial good acquired by means of the combats of temptations, is evident from the signification of “eighty,” in which number is involved much the same as in “forty;” and that these numbers signify temptations has been already shown (n. 730, 862); and from the signification of “six,” as being combat, also explained before (n. 720, 737, 900); and further from the signification of “ten,” as being remains (treated of, n. 576); which remains in the Lord’s case were the possessions of celestial goods by which He united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence (n. 1906, at the end). These three numbers are components of the number eighty-six, in which such things are involved, and which thus signifies the Lord’s state in regard to the celestial good acquired by means of the combats of temptations; for all numbers in the Word signify actual things (as before shown, n. 482, 487, 575, 647, 648, 755, 813). As in this case the numbers mentioned are numbers of years, and as they are also mentioned in historical connection with Abram, it appears as if they were not significative of such things. But there is nothing written in the Word which does not pass into a spiritual and a celestial sense when it passes over to the angels; for angels are in none other than spiritual and celestial ideas, and when the Word is being read by a man, the angels neither know nor perceive what “eighty-six” is, nor do they care of what age Abram was when Hagar bare Ishmael to him; but from such a number, when read, the things involved in the numbers immediately come to them; and the same is the case with all the other expressions, as they have been explained in the internal sense.

sRef Gen@16 @16 S0′ 1964. When Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram. That this signifies when the life of the affection of memory-knowledges brought forth the rational, is evident from the signification of “Hagar” as being the life of the affection of memory-knowledges; and from the signification of “Ishmael,” as being the rational first conceived, treated of above. As in this chapter the subject treated of is man’s rational, and as there is described the quality of the rational when constituted solely of truths, and also when of goods and of truths derived from goods, be it known that the rational cannot possibly be conceived and born, that is, formed, apart from knowledges [scientifica et cognitiones] but these knowledges must have use as their end, and when they have use, they have life as their end, for all life belongs to uses, because it belongs to ends, and therefore unless knowledges are learned for the sake of a life of uses, they are of no moment, because of no use.
[2] From these knowledges alone, without a life of use, the rational becomes as here described, resembling a wild-ass, morose, pugnacious, and characterized by a parched and dry life, from a kind of love of truth that is defiled with the love of self. But when these knowledges have use as their end, they receive life from uses, yet life of such a quality as is that of the uses. They who learn knowledges in order that they may be perfected in the faith of love-for true and real faith is love to the Lord and toward the neighbor-are in the use of all uses, and receive spiritual and celestial life from the Lord; and when they are in this life, they have a capacity to perceive all things of the Lord’s kingdom. In this life are all angels; and because they are in this life they are in intelligence itself and wisdom itself.

sRef Gen@16 @16 S0′ 1965. This then is the internal sense of the things contained in this chapter concerning Abram, Hagar, and Ishmael. But how copious this sense is, that is, what illimitable things it contains, may be seen from the mere consideration that as in the internal sense all things in the Word both in general and in particular regard the Lord, and treat of the Lord-for the life of the Word, because the Word itself, is from this-they also, in the internal sense, treat at the same time of His kingdom in the heavens, and of His kingdom on earth, which is the church; and in the same way they treat of everyone in whom is the Lord’s kingdom; and besides this they treat in general of all that is celestial and spiritual, for all these are from the Lord. Hence it is that by Abram is also represented the celestial church, the celestial man, and the celestial itself, and so on. But to extend the explication to all these would make it too tedious.

1966. CONCERNING VISIONS AND DREAMS, INCLUDING THE PROPHETIC ONES CONTAINED IN THE WORD.
Few know how the case is with visions, and what visions are genuine; but as for some years I have been almost continually with those who are in the other life-as may be sufficiently evident from Part First*-and have there seen amazing things, I have in this way been informed by experience itself in regard to visions and dreams, concerning which I may relate what follows.
* See note to 419.

1967. Much has been said about the visions of certain persons who have declared that they have seen many things, and who did see them, but in phantasy. I have been instructed about them, and it was likewise shown how they take place. There are spirits who by means of phantasies induce appearances that seem to be real. For example, if anything is seen in shadow, or in moonlight, or even in daylight, if the object be in a dark place, these spirits keep the mind of the beholder fixedly and continually in the thought of someone thing, be it an animal, a monster, a forest, or any other thing; and so long as the mind is held in this thought, the phantasy is increased, and it grows to such a degree that the person is persuaded, and sees just as if the things themselves were there, whereas they are nothing but illusions. Such things befall those who indulge much in fancies, and are subject to infirmity of mind, and have thereby become credulous. These are visionaries.

1968. Enthusiastic spirits are similar, but these have visions about things to be believed, of which they are persuaded and persuade others so strongly as to be ready to swear that what is false is true, and that a fallacy is a reality. Concerning this nature of spirits, many things might be related from experience; but of the Lord’s Divine mercy they will be treated of specifically. They have contracted this nature from persuasions and false principles, while they lived in the world.

1969. Evil spirits in the other life are scarcely anything but cupidities and phantasies. They have acquired to themselves no other life. Their phantasies are such that they have no perception whatever but that the case is so. Men’s phantasies cannot be compared with theirs, for their state surpasses that of men even in regard to such things. Such phantasies are perpetual with the infernals, among whom one miserably torments another by means of phantasies.

1970. By genuine visions are meant visions or sights of such things in the other life as have real existence, and are nothing but actual things that can be seen by the eyes of the spirit and not by the eyes of the body, and that appear to a man when his interior sight is opened by the Lord (that is, the sight which his spirit has), and into which he comes when, separated from the body, he passes into the other life; for a man is a spirit clothed with a body. Such were the visions of the prophets.
When this sight is opened, then those things which have actual existence with spirits are seen in clearer day than that of noon in this world, not only the representatives, but also the spirits themselves, together with a perception of who they are, also what they are, where they are, whence they come, whither they are going; also of what affection, what persuasion, nay of what faith they are (n. 1388, 1394), all confirmed by living speech, exactly as if it were human speech, and this free from all fallacy.

1971. The visions that come forth before good spirits are representatives of the things that are in heaven; for when that which exists in heaven before the angels passes down into the world of spirits, it is turned into representatives, from which and in which it may be plainly seen what they signify. Such things are perpetual with good spirits, and are attended with a beauty and pleasantness than can hardly be expressed.

1972. As regards the visions, or rather sights, that appear before the eyes of the spirit, not before the eyes of the body, they are more and more interior. Those which I have seen in the world of spirits I have seen in clear light, but those in the heaven of angelic spirits I have seen more obscurely, and still more obscurely those in the heaven of angels, for the sight of my spirit has rarely been opened to me so far, but it has been given me to know what they were saying, by a certain perception, the nature of which cannot be described, and frequently through intermediate spirits; the things which are there have sometimes appeared in the shade of the light of heaven, which is not like the shade of the light of the world, for it is light growing thin and faint from its incomprehensibility equally as discerned by the understanding and by the sight.

1973. To describe all the kinds of visions would be too tedious, for there are many. For the sake of illustration, I may describe two visions, from which their character may be seen; and also at the same time how spirits are affected by the things which they see, and how evil spirits are tormented when the ability to see the things that others are seeing and hearing is stolen away from them, for they cannot bear to have any such thing taken away from them; for spirits have not the sense of taste, but in place of it they have a desire, or a kind of appetite, for knowing and learning. This is as it were their food by which they are nourished (see n. 1480). The nature of their distress, therefore, when this food is taken away may be seen from the example that follows.

1974. After a troubled sleep, about the first watch, a very pleasant sight was presented. There were wreaths as of laurel, quite fresh, in most beautiful order, with motion as if alive: of such form and elegance of arrangement that description fails to express their beauty and harmony, and the affection of bliss that flowed forth from them. They were in a double series, at a little distance from each other, and running on together to a considerable length, and constantly varying the state of their beauty. This was plainly seen by spirits, even by evil ones. This was afterwards followed by another sight still more beautiful, in which there was heavenly happiness, but it was only dimly visible: there were infants in their heavenly sports, that affected the mind in a manner inexpressible.
[2] I afterwards spoke with spirits concerning these sights, who confessed that they saw the first as much as I did, but the second only so dimly that they could not tell what it was. This caused them to feel indignation, and afterwards by degrees envy, from the fact that it was said that angels and little children had seen it; and this envy of theirs it was given me to perceive sensibly, so that nothing escaped me so far as concerned my instruction. The envy was of such a nature as to cause in them not merely the utmost annoyance, but also a feeling of anguish and interior pain and this merely because they did not see the second vision also, and the consequence was that they were led through varieties of envy until they were in pain in the region of the heart.
[3] While they were in this state I spoke with them about the envy, telling them that they might be content with having seen the first vision, and that they would have been able to see the second also if they had been good; but this excited in them a feeling of indignation which intensified their envy, causing it to increase further to such a degree that they could not afterwards bear the least recollection of the matter without being affected with pain. The states and progressions of the envy, together with its degrees, aggravations, and varied and mingled distresses of mind and heart, cannot be described. It was thus shown how much the wicked are tormented by envy merely, when they see from afar the blessedness of the good, and even when they merely think of it.

1975. As regards dreams, it is known that the Lord revealed the arcana of heaven to the prophets, not only by visions, but also by dreams, and that the dreams were as fully representative and significative as the visions, being almost of the same class; and that to others also as well as the prophets things to come were disclosed by dreams; as by the dreams of Joseph, and of those who were in prison with him, and by those of Pharaoh, of Nebuchadnezzar, and others, from which it may be seen that dreams of this kind, equally with visions, flow in from heaven; with this difference, that dreams occur when the corporeal is asleep, and visions when it is not asleep. How prophetic dreams, and such as are found in the Word, flow in, nay, descend from heaven, has been shown me to the life; concerning which I may relate the following particulars, from experience.

1976. There are three kinds of dreams. The first kind come from the Lord mediately through heaven; such were the prophetic dreams that are treated of in the Word. The second kind come through angelic spirits, especially those who are in front above at the right, where there are paradisal scenes; from this source the men of the Most Ancient Church had their dreams, which were instructive (see n. 1122). The third kind come through the spirits who are near when man is sleeping, which are likewise significative. But fantastic dreams come from a different source.

1977. In order that I might fully know how dreams flow in, I was put to sleep, and I dreamed that a ship came laden with delicacies and savory food of every kind. The things in the ship were not seen, but were stowed away. Upon the ship stood two armed guards, besides a third who was its captain. The ship passed into a kind of arched dock. So I awoke and thought about the dream. The angelic spirits, who were above in front to the right, then addressed me, and told me that they had introduced this dream; and in order that I might know with certainty that it was from them, I was put into a state as of sleep and at the same time of wakefulness; and they introduced in the same way various things that were pleasant and delightful; for instance, an unknown little animal which was dispersed in a likeness of blackish and shining rays, that darted with marvelous quickness into my left eye. They also presented men and also little children adorned in various ways; and other things besides, with inexpressible pleasantness, about which I also spoke with them. This was done, not once, but many times, and each time I was instructed by them with the living voice.
[2] The angelic spirits who are at the entrance to the paradisal scenes, are they who insinuate such dreams; and to them is also intrusted the duty of watching over certain men when they sleep, lest they should then be infested by evil spirits. They perform this duty with the greatest delight, so that there is rivalry among them as to who shall be present, and they love to affect the man with the enjoyable and delightful things which they see in his affection and genius. They who have become angelic spirits are from those who in the life of the body had delighted and had loved in every way and with the utmost pains, to make the life of others delightful. When the hearing is opened sufficiently far, there is heard from them, as from a distance, a sweetly modulated sound, as it were of singing. They said that they do not know whence such things, and representatives so beautiful and pleasant, come to them in a moment; but it was said that it was from heaven. They belong to the province of the cerebellum; for, as I have been informed, the cerebellum is awake in time of sleep, when the cerebrum sleeps. From this source the men of the Most Ancient Church had their dreams, together with a perception of what they signified; from whom in great part came the representatives and significatives of the ancients, under which were set forth things that are deeply hidden.

1978. Moreover there are other spirits, who belong to the province of the left side of the chest, by whom they are often interfered with; as well as by others whom they disregard.

1979. After such dreams I have very frequently been permitted to speak with the spirits and angels who had introduced them; and they told what they had introduced, and I what I had seen. But it would be too tedious to relate all my experience of these matters.

1980. It is worthy of mention that when after waking I related what I had seen in a dream, and this in a long series, certain angelic spirits (not of those spoken of above) then said that what I related wholly coincided, and was identical, with the subjects they had been conversing about, and that there was absolutely no difference; but still that they were not the very things they had discoursed about, but were representatives of the same things, into which their ideas were thus turned and changed in the world of spirits; for in the world of spirits the ideas of the angels are turned into representatives; and therefore each and all things they had conversed about were so represented in the dream. They said, further, that the same discourse could be turned into other representatives, nay, into both similar and dissimilar ones, with unlimited variety. The reason they were turned into such as have been described, was that it took place in accordance with the state of the spirits around me, and thus in accordance with my own state at the time. In a word, very many dissimilar dreams might come down and be presented from the same discourse, and thus from one origin; because, as has been said, the things that are in a man’s memory and affection are recipient vessels, in which ideas are varied and received representatively in accordance with their variations of form and changes of state.

1981. I may relate one more instance of a similar kind. I dreamed a dream, but a common one. When I awoke, I related it all from beginning to end. The angels said that it coincided exactly with what they had spoken of together; not that the things seen in the dream were the same, for they were wholly different, being things into which the thoughts of their conversation were turned, but in such a way that they were representative and correspondent; and this in every particular, so that nothing was wanting. I then spoke with them about influx, as to how such things flow in and are varied. There was a person of whom I had the idea that he was in natural truth, which idea I had gathered from the acts of his life. There was a conversation among the angels about natural truth, and on this account that person was represented to me; and the things he said to me, and did, in my dream, followed in order representatively and correspondently from the discourse of the angels with one another. But still there was nothing precisely alike, or the same.

1982. Some souls recently from the world who long to see the glory of the Lord before they are qualified to be admitted, are lulled in regard to the exterior senses and lower faculties in a kind of sweet sleep, and then their interior senses and faculties are aroused into a high degree of wakefulness, and thereby they are admitted into the glory of heaven, but when wakefulness is restored to their exterior senses and faculties, they return into their former state.

1983. Evil spirits most vehemently desire and burn to infest and attack man when he is sleeping, but man is then especially guarded by the Lord, for love does not sleep. The spirits who infest are miserably punished. I have heard their punishments oftener than I can tell; they consist in rendings (spoken of, n. 829, 957, 959), under the heel of the left foot, and this sometimes for hours together. Sirens, who are interior enchantresses, are they who are especially insidious in the night time, and then try to insinuate themselves into a man’s interior thoughts and affections, but are as often driven away by the Lord by means of angels, and are at last deterred by the severest punishments. They have also spoken with others in the night time, exactly as if they spoke from me, and as it were with my speech, so like that it could not be distinguished, pouring in filthy things, and persuading false ones.
[2] I was once in a very sweet sleep, in which I had nothing but soft repose. When I awoke, some good spirits began to chide me for having (as they said) infested them so atrociously that they supposed they were in hell-throwing the blame upon me. I answered them that I knew nothing whatever about the matter, but had been sleeping most quietly, so that by no possibility could I have been troublesome to them. Astonished at this, they at last had a perception that it had been done by the magic arts of sirens. The like was also shown afterwards, in order that I might know the quality of the crew of sirens.
[3] They are chiefly of the female sex, who in the life of the body had studied to allure male companions to themselves by interior artifices; insinuating themselves by means of outward things, captivating their lower minds in every possible way, entering into each one’s affections and delights, but with an evil end, especially that of exercising command. Hence they have such a nature in the other life that they seem able of themselves to do all things, imbibing and inventing various arts, which they absorb as easily as sponges do waters, whether clean or filthy. So do they imbibe and put into act things profane as well as holy, with the end, as before said, of exercising command. It has been granted me to perceive their interiors, and to see how foul they are, being defiled by adulteries and hatreds. It has also been granted me to perceive how powerful in its effects is their sphere. They reduce their interiors into a state of persuasion, in order that these may conspire with their exteriors toward such things as they intend. They thus compel and violently draw spirits to think exactly as they do.
[4] No reasonings appear in connection with them, but they make use of a kind of simultaneous rush of reasonings that are breathed into the person’s evil affections and so they work by applying themselves to the natural inclinations, and thereby they get into the lower minds of others, whom they lead on, and by persuasion either overwhelm or captivate them. They study nothing more than to destroy the conscience, and when it is destroyed they get possession of men’s interiors, and even obsess the men, although these are ignorant of it. At this day there are not as formerly external obsessions, but there are internal ones, by spirits of this class. They who have no conscience have become obsessed in this way. The interiors of their thoughts are insane in a manner not unlike this, but are concealed and veiled over by an external decorum and a pretended honorableness, for the sake of their own honor, gain, and reputation. And this such men may know, if they pay attention to their thoughts.

1984. Chapter 17
Few persons can bring themselves to believe that the Word has within it an internal sense that from the letter is not apparent, because it is so remote from the sense of the letter that it is as it were distant from it as heaven is from earth. But that the sense of the letter contains such things within itself, and that it is representative and significative of arcana that no one sees except the Lord, and angels from Him, is evident from what has been stated in various places in the first Part of this work. The sense of the letter bears a relation to the internal sense like that of the human body to the soul. While a man is in the body, and thinks from bodily things, he knows almost nothing about the soul; for the functions of the body are different from those of the soul, so different that if the functions of the soul were disclosed, they would not be acknowledged as such. The case is the same with the internals of the Word: its soul, that is, its life, is in its internals, and these have regard solely to the Lord, His kingdom, the church, and to those things in man that belong to His kingdom and church; and when these are regarded, it is the Word of the Lord, for in this case there is life itself therein. That this is really the case has been confirmed by many things in the first Part, and has been given me to know as a certainty; for no ideas concerning bodily and worldly things can by any possibility pass to the angels, but they are put off and altogether removed at the first threshold, as they leave man; as may be seen in the first Part, from experience itself (n. 1769-1772 inclusive), and also how they are changed (n. 1872-1876).
sRef Gen@49 @11 S2′ sRef Gen@49 @19 S2′ sRef Gen@49 @21 S2′ sRef Gen@49 @12 S2′ sRef Gen@49 @17 S2′ [2] This may also be sufficiently evident from very many things in the Word that are not at all intelligible in the sense of the letter, and that would not be acknowledged as the Word of the Lord if there were not such a soul and life in them; nor would they appear as Divine to anyone who has not been imbued from infancy with the belief that the Word is inspired and thereby holy. Who would know from the sense of the letter what those things signify which Jacob spoke to his sons just before his death (Gen. 49):
That Dan shall be a serpent upon the way, an adder upon the path, biting the horse’s heels, and his rider shall fall backward (verse 17); that a troop shall ravage Gad, and he shall ravage the heel (verse 19); that Naphtali is a hind let loose, giving discourses of elegance (verse 21); that Judah shall bind his young ass to the vine, and the son of his she-ass to the noble vine; he shall wash his garment in wine, and his vesture in the blood of grapes; his eyes are redder than wine, and his teeth are whiter than milk (Gen. 49:11-12);
and the case is the same with very many passages in the Prophets. But what these things signify cannot possibly appear except in the internal sense, in which all things both in general and in particular are coherent in the most beauty order.
sRef Matt@24 @30 S3′ sRef Matt@24 @29 S3′ [3] The case is the same again with all that the Lord said concerning the last times:
In the consummation of the age, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken; and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man, and then shall all the tribes of the earth wail (Matt. 24:29-30).
These words by no means signify the darkening of the sun and moon, nor the falling of the stars from heaven, nor the wailing of the tribes; but they signify charity and faith, for in the internal sense these are “the sun and the moon,” and these will be darkened; and they also signify the knowledges of good and truth, for these are “the stars,” which are here called “the powers of the heavens,” and which will thus fall down and vanish; and that so also will all things of faith, which are “the tribes of the earth.” This was shown also in Part First (n. 31, 32, 1053, 1529-1531, 1808). From these few things the nature of the internal sense of the Word may be seen, and also that it is remote, and in some places very remote, from the sense of the letter. But still the sense of the letter represents truths; and sets forth appearances of truth, in which a man can be when not in the light of truth.

GENESIS 17
1. And Abram was a son of ninety years and nine years; and Jehovah appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am God Shaddai; walk thou before Me, and be thou perfect.
2. And I will give My covenant between Me and thee, and will multiply thee very exceedingly.
3. And Abram fell upon his faces; and God spoke with him saying:
4. I, behold, My covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be for a father of a multitude of nations.
5. And thy name shall no more be called Abram; and thy name shall be Abraham, for a father of a multitude of nations have I made thee.
6. And I will make thee fruitful very exceedingly, and I will make thee nations, and kings shall go forth from thee.
7. And I will set up My covenant between Me and thee and thy seed after thee, unto their generations, for an eternal covenant, to be to thee for God, and to thy seed after thee.
8. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land of thy sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be to them for God.
9. And God said unto Abraham, And thou shalt keep My covenant, thou and thy seed after thee, unto their generations.
10. This is My covenant, which ye shall keep, between Me and you and thy seed after thee, that every male be circumcised unto you.
11. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and you.
12. And a son of eight days shall be circumcised unto you, every male in your generations, he that is born in the house, and he that is bought with silver from every son that is a stranger, who is not of thy seed.
13. Circumcising he shall be circumcised that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy silver; and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an eternal covenant.
14. And the uncircumcised male, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that soul shall be cut off from his peoples, he hath made vain My covenant.
15. And God said unto Abraham, Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, for Sarah is her name.
16. And I will bless her, and will also give thee a son from her; and I will bless her, and she shall be for nations; kings of peoples shall be from her.
17. And Abraham fell upon his faces, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall there be born to a son of a hundred years? And shall Sarah, that is a daughter of ninety years, bear?
18. And Abraham said unto God, Would that Ishmael might live before Thee!
19. And God said, Truly Sarah, thy wife, shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name Isaac; and I will set up My covenant with him for an eternal covenant, to his seed after him.
20. And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee; behold I will bless him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him very exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.
21. And My covenant will I set up with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the following year.
22. And He left off speaking with him; and God went up from over Abraham.
23. And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his silver, every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God spoke with him.
24. And Abraham was a son of ninety and nine years, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
25. And Ishmael his son was a son of thirteen years, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
26. In the self-same day was Abraham circumcised, and
Ishmael his son.
27. And all the men of his house, he that was born in the house, and he that was bought with silver from the stranger, were circumcised with him.

sRef Gen@17 @0 S0′ 1985. THE CONTENTS
The subject here treated of is the union of the Lord’s Divine Essence with the Human Essence, and of the Human Essence with the Divine Essence; and also the conjunction of the Lord, through the Human Essence, with the human race.

sRef Gen@17 @0 S0′ 1986. Jehovah was manifested to the Lord in His Human (verse 1). Foretelling the union (verses 2, 3); namely, of the Divine with the Human, and of the Human with the Divine (verses 4, 5). And that all good and truth is from Him (verse 6). The conjunction of the Divine with the human race would thus be effected through Him (verse 7). And the heavenly kingdom would be His, which He would give to those who should have faith in Him (verses 8, 9). But man must first remove his loves and their foul cupidities, and so be purified; this is what was represented and is signified by circumcision (verses 10, 11). Thus conjunction would be effected, both with those who are within the church, and with those who are without it (verse 12).
[2] Purification must by all means precede; otherwise there is no conjunction, but condemnation; and yet after all the conjunction cannot take place except in man’s impurity (verses 13, 14). The union of the Human Essence with the Divine Essence, or of truth with good, is foretold (verses 15-17). Also conjunction with those who are in the truths of faith, namely, as with those who are of the celestial church, so with those who are of the spiritual church (verses 18, 19). And that the latter also would be imbued with the goods of faith (verse 20). In conclusion, these things will be effected through the union in the Lord of the Human Essence with the Divine Essence (verse 21). The end of the prediction (verse 22). It was so to be done, and it was so done (verses 23-27).

sRef Gen@17 @1 S0′ 1987. THE INTERNAL SENSE
Verse 1. And Abram was a son of ninety years and nine years; and Jehovah appeared unto Abram, and said unto him, I am God Shaddai; walk thou before Me and be thou perfect [integer]. “Abram was a son of ninety years and nine years,” signifies the time before the Lord had fully conjoined the internal man with the rational; “Abram” signifies the Lord in that state and in that age; “and Jehovah appeared to Abram,” signifies manifestation; “and said unto him,” signifies perception; “I am God Shaddai,” in the sense of the letter signifies the name of Abram’s God, by which name the Lord was first represented before them; “walk thou before Me,” signifies the truth of faith; “and be thou perfect,” signifies good.

sRef Gen@17 @1 S0′ 1988. Abram was a son of ninety years and nine years. That this signifies the time before the Lord had fully conjoined the internal man with the rational, is evident from the signification of “nine” when regarded as coming before ten; or what is the same, of “ninety-nine” before a hundred, for Abram was a hundred years old when Isaac was born to him. The nature of the internal sense of the Word may be seen in an especial manner from the numbers, as well as from the names, that occur in the Word; for the numbers therein, whatever they may be, signify actual things, as do the names also; for there is absolutely nothing in the Word that has not what is Divine within it, or that does not possess an internal sense; and how remote this is from the sense of the letter is especially manifest from the numbers and the names; for in heaven no attention is given to these, but to the things that are signified by them. For example, whenever the number “seven” occurs, instead of seven there at once comes to the angels what is holy, for “seven” signifies what is holy, and this from the fact that the celestial man is the “seventh day,” or “Sabbath,” and thus the Lord’s “rest” (n. 84-87, 395, 433, 716, 881). The case is similar with the other numbers, as for example with twelve. Whenever “twelve” occurs, there comes to the angels the idea of all things that belong to faith, for the reason that these were signified by the “twelve tribes” (n. 577). That in the Word numbers signify actual things, may be seen demonstrated in Part First (n. 482, 487, 488, 493, 575, 647, 648, 755, 813, 893).
[2] The case is the same with the number “ninety-nine;” and that this number signifies the time before the Lord had fully conjoined the internal man with the rational, is evident from the signification of a “hundred years,” which was Abram’s age when Isaac was born to him; for by Isaac is represented and signified the Lord’s rational man that is conjoined with His internal man, that is, with the Divine. In the Word, a “hundred” signifies the same as “ten,” for it is formed by the multiplication of ten into ten and “ten” signifies remains (as shown in Part First, n. 576). What the remains in man are, may be seen above (n. 468, 530, 561, 660, 1050), also what the remains in the Lord were (n. 1906). These arcana cannot be set forth further, but everyone may form a conclusion on the subject after he has first made himself acquainted with what remains are (for what they are is at this day unknown), provided it be known that in the Lord’s case remains mean the Divine goods that He procured for Himself by His own power, and by means of which He united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence.
[3] From all this we may see what is signified by “ninety-nine,” for this number, because it precedes a hundred, signifies the time before the Lord had fully conjoined the internal man with the rational. In the Lord’s case, the first rational was represented by Ishmael; and the nature of this rational has been sufficiently shown above (in the preceding chapter 16). But by Isaac is represented the Lord’s Divine rational, as will appear in what follows. From Abram’s staying so long in the land of Canaan (now twenty-four years, that is, ten years before Ishmael was born, and thirteen years after that) without his as yet having a son by his wife Sarai, and from the promise of a son being first given when he was ninety-nine years old, everyone can see that some arcanum is involved. The arcanum was, that he might thereby represent the union of the Lord’s Divine Essence with His Human Essence; and in fact the union of His internal man, which is Jehovah, with His rational.

sRef Gen@17 @1 S0′ 1989. That “Abram” signifies the Lord in that state and at that age, is evident from what has already been said concerning Abram. In the internal sense Abram represents the Lord, for when he is mentioned in the Word no other Abram is understood in heaven. Those who have been born within the church, and have heard about Abram from the Word, on their entrance into the other life do indeed have some knowledge of him; but as he is like any other man, and cannot render them any aid, they no longer care about him; and they are informed that by “Abram” in the Word there is meant no other than the Lord. But the angels, who are in heavenly ideas and do not fix them on any man, know nothing about Abram; and therefore when the Word is being read by man and Abram is mentioned they perceive no other than the Lord; and when the words now before us are read, they perceive the Lord in that state and at that age; for Jehovah here speaks with Abram, that is, with the Lord.

sRef Gen@17 @1 S0′ sRef John@5 @37 S1′ sRef John@1 @18 S1′ sRef John@6 @46 S1′ 1990. Jehovah appeared unto Abram. That this signifies manifestation, is evident without explication, for as before said the Lord is represented by Abram. No man in the whole world has seen Jehovah, the Father of the Lord; but the Lord alone saw Him, as He Himself has said in John:
No one hath seen God at any time the Only-Begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath set Him forth (John 1:18).
Again:
Ye have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His shape (John 5:37).
And again:
Not that anyone hath seen the Father save He that is with the Father; He hath seen the Father (John 6:46).
sRef John@8 @56 S2′ sRef John@8 @58 S2′ sRef Dan@7 @13 S2′ [2] The Infinite Itself, which is above all the heavens, and is over the inmost things that appertain to man, cannot be made manifest, except through the Divine Human which appertains to the Lord alone. No communication of the Infinite with those who are finite is possible from any other source, and this is also the reason that when Jehovah appeared to the men of the Most Ancient Church, and afterwards to the Ancient Church that was after the flood, and then again to Abraham and the prophets, He was manifested to them as a man. That this was the Lord, He teaches openly in John:
Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it, and was glad; verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am (John 8:56, 58).
Also in the Prophets-as in Daniel, by whom He was seen as the Son of man (Dan. 7:13).
[3] From these passages it may be seen that the Infinite Esse, which is Jehovah, could not possibly be manifested to man except through the Human Essence, thus except through the Lord; and therefore that it has been manifested to no one save the Lord alone. That He might also be present and be conjoined with man, after man had completely removed himself from the Divine, and had immersed himself in foul cupidities, and thereby in mere bodily and earthly things, He assumed in actuality the Human Essence itself by birth, that so He might still adjoin the Infinite Divine to man now so far removed; otherwise men would have perished to eternity with the death of the damned. The other arcana concerning the manifestation of Jehovah in the Lord’s Human, when He was in a state of humiliation, before He had fully united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence, and had glorified it, will of the Lord’s Divine mercy be set forth in what follows, so far as they can be comprehended.

sRef Gen@17 @1 S0′ 1991. And said unto him. That this signifies perception, is evident from the Lord’s perception, which was from Jehovah, spoken of before (n. 1919); also because in the internal sense “Jehovah’s saying,” or “God’s saying,” signifies to perceive (n. 1602, 1791, 1815, 1819, 1822).

sRef Gen@17 @1 S0′ 1992. I am God Shaddai. That in the sense of the letter this signifies the name of Abram’s God, by which name the Lord was first represented before them, is evident from the things contained in the Word concerning Abram, and concerning the house of his father, in that they adored other gods. In Syria, whence Abram came, there still existed remains of the Ancient Church, and many families there retained its worship-as is evident from Eber who was of that country, from whom came the Hebrew nation-and they in like manner retained the name “Jehovah,” as is evident from what has been shown in Part First (n. 1343), and also from the case of Balaam, who was from Syria and offered sacrifices and called Jehovah his God. That Balaam was from Syria may be seen in Numbers 23:7; that he offered sacrifices, Num. 22:39-40; 23:1-3, 14, 29; that he called Jehovah his God, Num. 22:8, 13, 18, 31; 23:8, 12, 16.
sRef Josh@24 @2 S2′ sRef Ex@6 @3 S2′ sRef Josh@24 @15 S2′ sRef Josh@24 @14 S2′ sRef Ex@6 @2 S2′ [2] But this was not the case with the house of Terah, the father of Abram and Nahor, for this was one of the families of the nations there that had not only lost the name “Jehovah” but had also served other gods, and instead of Jehovah had worshiped Shaddai, whom they called their god. That they had lost the name “Jehovah,” is evident from the things adduced in Part First (n. 1343). And that they served other gods is openly stated in Joshua:
Joshua said unto all the people, Thus hath said Jehovah, the God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt of old time beyond the River, Terah the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods; now fear Jehovah, and serve Him in entirety and in truth; and put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River, and in Egypt, and serve ye Jehovah. And if it be evil in your eyes to serve Jehovah, choose ye this day whom ye will serve, whether the gods that your fathers served that were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites (Josh. 24:2, 14-15).
That Nahor also, the brother of Abram, and the nation descended from him, served other gods, is evident from Laban the Syrian, who was in the city of Nahor and worshiped images or teraphim, which Rachel carried away (Gen. 24:10; 31:19, 26, 32, 34). See also what is said on this subject in Part First (n. 1356). That instead of Jehovah they worshiped Shaddai, whom they called their god, is distinctly stated in Moses:
I (Jehovah) appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, as God Shaddai; and by My name Jehovah was I not known to them (Exod. 6:3).
[3] From all this we may see that in his early manhood, Abram, like other Gentiles, was an idolater, and that up to this time, while living in the land of Canaan, he had not rejected from his mind the god Shaddai-by which is meant in the sense of the letter the name of Abram’s god-and that by this name the Lord was first represented before them (that is, before Abram, Isaac, and Jacob), as is evident from the passage just quoted.
[4] The reason why the Lord was willing to be first represented before them by the name “Shaddai” is that the Lord by no means desires to destroy suddenly (still less in a single moment) the worship that has been inseminated in anyone from his infancy; for this would be to tear up the root, and thereby destroy the holy state of adoration and of worship that has been deeply implanted, and which the Lord never breaks, but bends. The holy state of worship, that has been rooted in from infancy is of such a nature that it cannot endure violence, but only a gentle and kindly bending. The case is the same with those Gentiles who in their bodily life had worshiped idols, and yet had lived in mutual charity. As the holy state of their worship has been inrooted from their infancy, in the other life it is not taken away in a moment, but successively; for in those who have lived in mutual charity, the goods and truths of faith can be easily implanted, and they receive them afterwards with joy; for charity is the very soil. And such also was the case with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in that the Lord suffered them to retain the name “God Shaddai,” insomuch that He said He was God Shaddai; and this from the meaning of the name.
sRef Joel@1 @15 S5′ sRef Job@37 @23 S5′ sRef Job@6 @4 S5′ sRef Job@21 @20 S5′ sRef Job@13 @3 S5′ sRef Job@6 @14 S5′ sRef Job@5 @17 S5′ [5] Some translators render Shaddai “the Almighty;” others, “the Thunderer;” but it properly signifies “the Tempter” or “Tester,” and “the Benefactor,” after the temptations” or “trials,” as is evident from the book of Job, which mentions “Shaddai” so frequently because Job was in trials or temptations; as may be seen from the following passages:
Behold, happy is the man whom God chastiseth; and reject not thou the chastening of Shaddai (Job 5:17). The arrows of Shaddai are with me, the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me (Job 6:4). He shall forsake the fear of Shaddai (Job 6:14). I will speak to Shaddai, and I desire to contend with God (Job 13:3). He hath stretched out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against Shaddai His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the fury of Shaddai (Job 21:20). Shaddai, thou shalt not find Him out; He is great in power, and in judgment, and in the greatness of righteousness. He will not afflict (Job 37:23).
Also in Joel:
Alas for the day! for the day of Jehovah is near, and as devastation from Shaddai shall it come (Joel 1:15).
The same may also be seen from the word shaddai itself, which signifies vastation, and thus temptation, for temptation is a kind of vastation. But as this name took its rise from nations in Syria, He is not called “Elohim Shaddai,” but “El Shaddai;” and in Job simply “Shaddai,” and “El” or “God” is named separately.
sRef Ezek@10 @4 S6′ sRef Ezek@1 @24 S6′ sRef Job@33 @4 S6′ sRef Job@32 @8 S6′ sRef Job@22 @26 S6′ sRef Job@22 @23 S6′ sRef Job@22 @17 S6′ sRef Ezek@10 @5 S6′ sRef Job@22 @25 S6′ [6] As after temptations there is consolation, those people also attributed the good resulting from them to the same Shaddai (as in Job 22:17, 23, 25-26); as well as the understanding of truth, which also results from temptations (Job 32:8; 33:4). And as Shaddai was thus esteemed as the god of truth-for vastation, temptation, chastening, and rebuking, are not of good, but of truth-and because the Lord was represented by him before Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the name was retained even in the Prophets; but in them by “Shaddai” is meant truth. As in Ezekiel:
I heard the voice of the wings of the cherubim, like the voice of many waters, like the voice of Shaddai, when they went; the voice of tumult, like the voice of a camp (Ezek. 1:24).
And again:
The court was filled with the brightness of the glory of Jehovah; and the voice of the wings of the cherubim was heard even to the outer court, as the voice of God Shaddai when He speaketh (Ezek. 10:4-5);
where “Jehovah” denotes good, and “Shaddai” truth. In the internal sense of the Word “wings” in like manner signify things that belong to truth.
sRef Gen@28 @3 S7′ sRef Gen@49 @25 S7′ sRef Gen@43 @14 S7′ sRef Gen@35 @11 S7′ [7] Moreover Isaac and Jacob also make mention of the God Shaddai in a similar sense, that is, as of one who tempts, and delivers from temptation, and afterwards confers benefits. When Jacob was fleeing because of Esau, Isaac said to him,
God Shaddai bless thee, and make thee fruitful and multiply thee (Gen. 28:3).
And when the sons of Jacob were about to go into Egypt to buy corn, and when they feared Joseph so greatly, Jacob said to them,
God Shaddai give you mercies before the man, that he may release unto you your other brother, and Benjamin (Gen. 43:14).
Jacob, then called Israel, blessing Joseph, who had been in the evils of temptations, or trials, more than his brethren, and had been delivered from them, said,
By the God of thy father, and He shall help thee, and with Shaddai, and he shall bless thee (Gen. 49:25).
All this shows why the Lord was at first willing to be represented by the god Shaddai whom Abram worshiped, and why He said “I am God Shaddai;” as in like manner He afterwards said to Jacob, “I am God Shaddai; be fruitful and multiply” (Gen. 35:11); and a further reason was that in what goes before, temptations were treated of in the internal sense.
[8] The worship of Shaddai among those people originated from the fact that, as was the case with a certain nation that of the Lord’s Divine mercy will be spoken of in what follows, so with those who were of the Ancient Church, there were often heard spirits who reproved them and who also afterwards comforted them. The spirits who reproved them were perceived at the left side, beneath the arm. Angels were present at such times, at the head, who governed the spirits and moderated the reproof. And as there was nothing that was said to them by the spirits which they did not regard as Divine, they named the reproving spirit “Shaddai;” and because he afterwards administered consolation, they called him “the god Shaddai.” The men at that time, as also the Jews, because they did not understand the internal sense of the Word, were in the religious belief that all evil and thus all temptation, like all good and thus all consolation, come from God; but that it is not so, may be seen in Part First (n. 245, 592, 696, 1093, 1874, 1875).

sRef Gen@17 @1 S0′ 1993. Walk thou before Me. That this signifies the truth of faith, is evident from the signification of “walking,” as being to live according to the truth of faith (see n. 519); and also from the signification of a “way” in relation to which walking is predicated, as being truth (see n. 627).

sRef Gen@17 @1 S0′ 1994. And be thou perfect. That this signifies the good of charity, is evident from the signification of “being perfect” [integer], which is from truth to do what is good, that is, to do what is good from a conscience of truth, and thus from charity, for charity makes conscience (concerning which signification, see n. 612). But as the Lord is here treated of in the internal sense, by “perfect” is signified the good of charity, for good proceeds from charity, insomuch that the truth which is derived from charity is itself good.

sRef Job@15 @25 S0′ sRef Gen@17 @2 S0′ 1995. Verse 2. And I will give My covenant between Me and thee, and will multiply thee very exceedingly. “I will give My covenant between Me and thee,” signifies the union of the internal man, which was Jehovah, with the interior man; “and will multiply thee very exceedingly,” signifies the fruitfulness to infinity of the affection of truth.

sRef Gen@17 @2 S0′ 1996. I will give My covenant between Me and thee. That this signifies the union of the internal man, which was Jehovah, with the interior man, is evident from the signification of a “covenant,” as being conjunction; for whenever a covenant between Jehovah and man is mentioned in the Word, in the internal sense nothing else is signified by the “covenant” than the conjunction of the Lord with man. The covenants so often made between Jehovah and the descendants of Jacob represented nothing else; but as this was confirmed in Part First (n. 665, 666, 1023, 1038, 1864), it would be superfluous to confirm it again here. The Lord’s internal man was Jehovah, because conceived of Him; but the interior man is here represented by Abram; and therefore the “covenant between Me and thee” signifies the union of the internal man, or Jehovah, with the interior man, and thus with the Lord’s Human Essence.

sRef Gen@17 @2 S0′ 1997. I will multiply thee very exceedingly. That this signifies the fruitfulness to infinity of the affection of truth, may be seen from the signification of “to be multiplied,” as being predicated of truth (explained, n. 43, 55, 913, 983); and as the Lord is treated of, it signifies the fruitfulness to infinity of the truth that is from good (as before, n. 1940). There are two affections, namely, the affection of good, and the affection of truth. The affection of good is to do what is good from the love of good, and the affection of truth is to do what is good from the love of truth. At the first view these two affections appear to be the same; but in reality they are distinct from each other both as to essence and as to origin. The affection of good, or doing what is good from the love of good, is properly of the will; but the affection of truth, or doing what is good from the love of truth, is properly of the understanding. Thus these two affections are distinct from each other in the same way as are the will and the understanding. The affection of good is from celestial love, but the affection of truth is from spiritual love.
[2] The affection of good can be predicated solely of the celestial man, but the affection of truth, of the spiritual man. What the celestial or the celestial man is, and what the spiritual or the spiritual man, has been sufficiently shown in Part First. The Most Ancient Church, which existed before the flood, was in the affection of good; but the Ancient Church, which existed after the flood, was in the affection of truth; for the former was a celestial church, but the latter a spiritual church. All the angels in the heavens are distinguished into the celestial and the spiritual. The celestial are they who are in the affection of good, the spiritual are they who are in the affection of truth; to the former the Lord appears as a sun, but to the latter as a moon (n. 1529-1531, 1838). This latter affection, of truth, the Lord united to the affection of good, which is to do what is good from the love of good, when He united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence. Hence by “multiplying very exceedingly,” is signified the fruitfulness to infinity of the truth that is from good.

sRef Gen@17 @3 S0′ sRef Gen@17 @3 S0′ 1998. Verse 3. And Abram fell upon his faces, and God spoke with him, saying. “Abram fell upon his faces,” signifies adoration; “and God spoke with him, saying,” signifies a degree of perception; the expression “God” is used for the reason that the Lord is represented by the God Shaddai whom Abram worshiped; also because truth is treated of, which was to be united to good.

sRef Gen@17 @3 S0′ 1999. Abram fell upon his faces.* That this signifies adoration, is evident without explication. To fall upon the face was a rite of adoration in the Most Ancient Church, and thence in that of the Ancients, for the reason that the face signified the interiors, and the state of their humiliation was represented by falling upon the face; hence in the Jewish representative church it became a customary ceremonial. True adoration, or humiliation of heart, carries with it prostration to the earth upon the face before the Lord, as a gesture naturally flowing from it. For in humiliation of heart there is the acknowledgment of self as being nothing but filthiness, and at the same time the acknowledgment of the Lord’s infinite mercy toward that which is such; and when the mind is kept in these two acknowledgments, the very mind droops in lowliness toward hell, and prostrates the body; nor does it uplift itself until it is uplifted by the Lord. This takes place in all true humiliation, with a perception of being uplifted by the Lord’s mercy. Such was the humiliation of the men of the Most Ancient Church; but very different is the case with that adoration which comes not from humiliation of the heart. (See n. 1153.)
[2] That the Lord adored and prayed to Jehovah His Father, is known from the Word of the Gospels; and also that He did so as if to one different from Himself, although Jehovah was in Him. But the state in which the Lord was at these times was His state of humiliation, the nature of which has been stated in Part First, namely, that He was then in the infirm human that was from the mother; but insofar as He put this off, and put on the Divine, He was in another state, which is called His state of glorification. In the former state He adored Jehovah as one different from Himself, although in Himself; for, as has been said, His internal was Jehovah; but in the latter, that is, in His state of glorification, He spoke with Jehovah as with Himself, for He was Jehovah Himself.
[3] But how the case is with these matters cannot be apprehended unless it is known what the internal is, and how the internal acts into the external; and further, in what manner the internal and the external are distinct from each other, and yet are conjoined. This, however, may be illustrated by something that is similar, namely, by the internal in man, and by its influx and operation into the external. That man has an internal, an interior or rational, and an external, may be seen above (n. 1889, 1940). Man’s internal is that from which he is man, and by which he is distinguished from brute animals. By means of this internal he lives after death, and to eternity a man, and by means of it he can be uplifted by the Lord among the angels. This internal is the very first form from which a man becomes and is man, and by means of it the Lord is united to man. The very heaven that is nearest the Lord is composed of these human internals; but this is above even the inmost angelic heaven, and therefore these internals belong to the Lord Himself. By this means the whole human race is most present under the Lord’s eyes, for there is no distance in heaven, such as appears in the sublunary world, and still less is there any distance above heaven. (See what is said from experience, n. 1275, 1277.)
[4] These internals of men have no life in themselves, but are forms recipient of the Lord’s life. Insofar therefore as a man is in evil, whether actual or hereditary, so far has he been as it were separated from this internal which is the Lord’s and with the Lord, and thereby so far has he been separated from the Lord; for although this internal has been adjoined to man, and is inseparable from him, nevertheless insofar as he recedes from the Lord, so far he as it were separates himself from it. (See n. 1594.) But the separation is not an absolute sundering from it, for then the man could no longer live after death; but it is a dissent and disagreement on the part of those faculties of his which are below, that is, of his rational and of his external man. Insofar as there is dissent and disagreement, there is disjunction from the Lord; but insofar as there is not dissent and disagreement, the man is conjoined with the Lord through the internal, which takes place insofar as the man is in love and charity, for love and charity conjoin. Such is the case with man.
sRef John@5 @26 S5′ aRef John@1 @4 S5′ [5] But the Lord’s internal was Jehovah Himself, because He was conceived from Jehovah, who cannot be divided and become another’s, as is the case with a son who is conceived from a human father; for the Divine is not divisible, like the human, but is and remains one and the same. To this internal the Lord united the Human Essence; and because the Lord’s internal was Jehovah, it was not a form recipient of life, like the internal of man, but was life itself. His Human Essence also in like manner was made life by the unition, on which account the Lord so often said that He is Life, as in John:
As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself (John 5:26);
besides other passages in the same gospel (John 1:4; 5:21; 6:33, 35, 48; 11:25). Insofar therefore as the Lord was in the human which He received by inheritance from the mother, so far did He appear distinct from Jehovah and adore Jehovah as one different from Himself. But insofar as the Lord put off this human, He was not distinct from Jehovah, but was one with Him. The former state, as before said, was the Lord’s state of humiliation; but the latter was His state of glorification.
* “Faces” is in the plural in both the Hebrew and the Latin because man has really as many faces as affections and it is the same with the Lord, and with a country, and the sea and sky. All these have many faces. Even in English we speak of a person having two faces, or being double-faced, and of “making faces” [Reviser.]

sRef Gen@17 @3 S0′ 2000. And God spake with him, saying. That this signifies a degree of perception, is evident from the signification of Jehovah’s “saying,” which is to perceive (n. 1898, 1899). Here it signifies a degree of perception, because He was in a state of humiliation or of adoration, in which He was conjoined and united to Jehovah in proportion to the degree of the humiliation; for humiliation carries this with it. (That perceptions are more and more interior may be seen above, n. 1616.)

sRef Gen@17 @3 S0′ 2001. That the expression “God” is used for the reason that the Lord is represented by the God Shaddai whom Abram worshiped, and also because truth is treated of, which was to be united to good, is evident from what has been said before. In the Word the Lord is sometimes called “Jehovah,” sometimes “Jehovah God,” also the “Lord Jehovih,” and sometimes “God,” and always for a secret reason in the internal sense. Where love or good; and the celestial church, are treated of, He is called “JEHOVAH;” but when faith or truth, and the spiritual church, are treated of, He is called “God,” and this constantly; and the reason is, that the Lord’s very Being itself is of love, and the Being thence derived is of faith (n. 709, 732). Here therefore the Lord is called “God,” because the truth which is to be united to good is treated of. Another reason is that the Lord willed to be represented by the God Shaddai that Abram worshiped, on which account the name God is retained in what follows; for in this chapter He is called “Jehovah” only once, and “God” several times (as in verses 7-8, 15, 18-19, 22-23).

sRef Gen@17 @4 S0′ 2002. Verse 4. I, behold, My covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be for a father of a multitude of nations. “I, behold, My covenant is with thee,” signifies the union of the Divine Essence with the Human Essence; “and thou shalt be for a father of a multitude of nations,” signifies the union of the Human Essence with the Divine Essence; “father” signifies that it would be from the Lord Himself; “a multitude” signifies truth; “of nations” signifies the good thence derived.

sRef Gen@17 @4 S0′ 2003. I, behold, My covenant is with thee. That this signifies the union of the Divine Essence with the Human Essence, is evident from the signification of a “covenant,” as being conjunction (see n. 665, 666, 1023, 1038). That here “covenant” signifies the union of the Divine Essence with the Human Essence, is evident from this signification, and also from the internal sense of what precedes, consequently from the very words, “My covenant is with thee.”

sRef Gen@17 @4 S0′ 2004. And thou shalt be for a father of a multitude of nations. That this signifies the union of the Human Essence with the Divine Essence, cannot be seen so well from an unfolding of the several words in the internal sense, unless they are viewed in a kind of general idea, by which this sense is presented, for such is sometimes the nature of the internal sense, and when it is so, it may be called more universal, because more remote. From the explication of the several words there results this proximate sense: that all truth and all good come from the Lord, for, as we shall see presently, the expression “father” here signifies from Him, that is, from the Lord; “multitude” signifies truth; and “of nations” signifies the good thence derived. But because these-that is, truths and goods-are the means through which the Lord united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence, there arises from this that more universal and more remote sense. The angels perceive these words in this way, and have at the same time a perception of reciprocal union, namely, that of the Lord’s Divine Essence with the Human Essence and of the Human Essence with the Divine Essence; for, as before said, “I, My covenant is with thee” signifies the union of the Divine Essence with the Human Essence; and consequently the words now under consideration signify the union of the Human Essence with the Divine Essence.
[2] That the union was effected reciprocally, is an arcanum which has not yet been disclosed, and it is such an arcanum as can scarcely be explained to the apprehension; for as yet no one knows what influx is, and without a knowledge of influx no idea can possibly be formed in regard to what is reciprocal union. Yet this may in some measure be illustrated from the influx in the case of man, for with man too there is a reciprocal conjunction. From the Lord, through man’s internal (treated of just above, n. 1999), life continually flows into man’s rational, and through this into his external, and in fact into his knowledges [scientifica et cognitiones], and this life not only adapts them to receive the life, but also disposes them into order, and so enables the man to think, and finally to be rational. Such is the conjunction of the Lord with man, without which man could not think at all, still less be rational, as everyone can see from the fact that there are in man’s thoughts numberless arcana of science and analytical art-too numerous to render their exploration possible to all eternity-and which do by no means flow in through the senses or through the external man, but through the internal. Man however, on his part, by means of knowledges [scientifica et cognitiones], advances to meet this life which is from the Lord, and thereby reciprocally conjoins himself.
sRef John@12 @46 S3′ sRef John@12 @45 S3′ sRef John@12 @44 S3′ [3] But as regards the union of the Lord’s Divine Essence with His Human Essence, and of His Human Essence with His Divine Essence, this infinitely transcends the reciprocal conjunction between man and the Lord, for the Lord’s internal was Jehovah Himself and therefore was life itself; whereas man’s internal is not the Lord, and therefore is not life but a recipient of life. Between the Lord and Jehovah there was union, but between man and the Lord there is not union, but conjunction. The Lord united Himself to Jehovah by His own power, and He therefore also became Righteousness; whereas man by no means conjoins himself by his own power, but by the power of the Lord; so that the Lord conjoins man with Himself. It is this reciprocal union that is meant by the Lord, where He attributes what is His own to the Father, and what is the Father’s to Himself, as in John:
Jesus said, He that believeth on Me, believeth not on Me, but on Him that sent Me: I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth in Me may not abide in the darkness (John 12:44-46), in which words lie hidden the deepest arcana-arcana concerning the union of good with truth, and of truth with good; or what is the same, concerning the union of the Divine Essence with the Human Essence, and of the Human Essence with the Divine Essence; and therefore the Lord says, “He that believeth on Me, believeth not on Me, but on Him that sent Me;” and then almost immediately adds, “He that believeth on Me;” with words between that refer to this union, namely, “he that seeth Me seeth Him that sent Me.”
sRef John@14 @11 S4′ sRef John@14 @10 S4′ sRef John@14 @12 S4′ [4] Again in the same gospel:
The words that I speak unto you I speak not from Myself; the Father that abideth in Me, He doeth the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me. Verily I say unto you, He that believeth in Me, the works that I do shall he do also (John 14:10-12).
In these words are contained the same arcana, namely, those concerning the union of good with truth, and of truth with good; or what is the same, of the Lord’s Divine Essence with His Human Essence, and of His Human Essence with His Divine Essence; and He therefore says, “The words that I speak unto you I speak not from Myself; the Father who is in Me doeth the works;” and then He almost immediately adds, “the works that I do;” and here, as before, there are intervening words concerning the union, which declare, “I am in the Father, and the Father in Me.” This is the mystical union of which many speak.
sRef John@14 @10 S5′ sRef John@8 @19 S5′ sRef John@14 @10 S5′ sRef John@12 @45 S5′ sRef John@10 @30 S5′ sRef John@14 @11 S5′ sRef John@14 @9 S5′ sRef John@14 @7 S5′ sRef John@14 @8 S5′ [5] From all this it is evident that the Lord was not another than the Father, although He spoke of the Father as of another, and this on account of the reciprocal unition that was to be effected and that was effected; for He so many times openly says that He is one with the Father, as in the passages just cited: “He that seeth Me seeth Him that sent Me” (John 12:45) also, “The Father that abideth in Me; believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me” (John 14:10, 11); and in the same, “If ye had known Me, ye would have known My Father also” (John 8:19); and again, “If ye have known Me, ye have known My Father also; and from henceforth ye have known Him, and have seen Him; Philip saith unto Him, Lord, show us the Father; Jesus saith unto him, Am I so long time with you, and hast thou not known Me, Philip? He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in Me?” (John 14:7-10) and again, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). Hence it is that in heaven they know no other Father than the Lord, because the Father is in Him, and He is one with the Father; and when they see Him, they see the Father, as He Himself says (see n. 15).

sRef Isa@63 @16 S0′ sRef John@14 @10 S0′ sRef Gen@17 @4 S0′ sRef John@10 @30 S0′ sRef Mal@2 @10 S0′ sRef John@14 @11 S0′ sRef Isa@9 @6 S0′ sRef John@14 @9 S0′ 2005. That “father” signifies that it would be from the Lord Himself, is evident from the signification of “father,” as just explained, namely, that whatever was from the Father was from Him, because they were one. Every man’s internal is from his father, and his external from his mother; or what is the same thing, the soul itself is from the father, and the body with which the soul is clothed is from the mother. The soul together with the body, although two, make a one; for the soul is the body’s, and the body is the soul’s; and therefore they are inseparable. The Lord’s internal was from the Father, and therefore was the Father Himself, and hence it is that the Lord says that “the Father is in Him;” also, “I am in the Father and the Father in Me;” also, “He that seeth Me seeth the Father; I and the Father are one;” as may be seen in the passages cited above. In the Word of the Old Testament also the Lord is called “the Father,” as in Isaiah:
Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, God, Hero, the Father of Eternity, the Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:6).
It is evident to everyone that the “Child” born to us and the “Son” given to us is the Lord, who is called the “Father of Eternity.” Again in Isaiah:
Thou art our Father, for Abraham knoweth us not, and Israel doth not acknowledge us. Thou, O Jehovah, art our Father, our Redeemer, from eternity is Thy name (Isa. 63:16);
where also it is the Lord who is called “Jehovah our Father,” for there is no other “Redeemer.” In Malachi:
Have we not all one Father? Hath not one God created us? (Mal. 2:10).
To “create” denotes to regenerate (as shown in Part First, n. 16, 88, 472). Besides that everywhere in the Word of the Old Testament, by “Jehovah” is meant the Lord, because all the rites of the church represented Him; and in the internal sense all things in the Word regard Him.

sRef Gen@17 @4 S0′ 2006. That “a multitude” signifies truth, is evident from the signification of “multitude” as being truth (explained before, n. 1941); and from the signification of “being multiplied,” which is predicated of truth (see n. 43, 55, 913, 983).

sRef Gen@17 @4 S0′ 2007. Of nations. That this signifies the good thence derived, is evident from the signification of “nations” as being good (explained in Part First, n. 1159, 1258-1260, 1416, 1849).

sRef Gen@17 @5 S0′ 2008. Verse 5. And thy name shall no more be called Abram; and thy name shall be Abraham, for a father of a multitude of nations have I made thee. “Thy name shall no more be called Abram,” signifies that He will put off the human; “and thy name shall be Abraham,” signifies that He will put on the Divine; “for a father of a multitude of nations have I made thee,” signifies here, as before, that all truth and the good thence derived come from Him.

sRef Num@6 @27 S0′ sRef Num@6 @25 S0′ sRef Num@6 @24 S0′ sRef Num@6 @26 S0′ sRef Gen@17 @5 S0′ 2009. Thy name shall no more be called Abram, and thy name shall be Abraham. That “thy name shall no more be called Abram,” signifies that He will put off the human; and that “thy name shall be Abraham,” signifies that He will put on the Divine, is evident from the signification of “name;” also from the signification of “Abram;” and, afterwards, of “Abraham.” The expression “this shall be thy name,” when used in the Word, signifies the quality, that is, that the person will be of such a quality, as is evident from what has been adduced in Part First (n. 144, 145, 1754). And as the “name” signifies the quality, the name comprehends in one complex whatever is in the man. For in heaven no attention is paid to anyone’s name; but when anyone is named, or when the word name is spoken, there is presented the idea of the person’s quality, that is, of all things that are his, that are connected with him, and that are in him; hence in the Word “name” signifies quality. That this may be evident to the understanding we may adduce from the Word a number of additional confirmatory passages. As in the Benediction in Moses:
Jehovah bless thee, and keep thee; Jehovah make His faces to shine upon thee and have compassion on thee; Jehovah lift up His faces upon thee and give thee peace. So shall they put My name upon the sons of Israel (Num. 6:24-27).
From this it is evident what is denoted by “name,” and by “putting the name” of Jehovah upon the sons of Israel, namely, that Jehovah blesses, guards, enlightens, is pitiful, gives peace; and thus that Jehovah or the Lord is such.
sRef Luke@11 @2 S2′ sRef Ex@20 @7 S2′ [2] In the Decalogue:
Thou shalt not take the name of thy God in vain; for Jehovah will not hold him guiltless who taketh His name in vain (Exod. 20:7; Deut. 5:11);
where to “take the name of God in vain” does not signify the name, but all things in general and particular that are from Him, and therefore all things in general and particular that belong to the worship of Him, none of which are to be despised, still less blasphemed and contaminated with what is filthy. In the Lord’s Prayer:
Hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come Thy will be done, as in heaven so also in the earth (Luke 11:2);
where also by “name” is not meant the name, but all things of love and faith; for these are God’s or the Lord’s, and are from Him; and as these are holy, the Lord’s kingdom comes and His will is done on earth as in the heavens when they are held to be so.
sRef Isa@12 @4 S3′ sRef Isa@24 @15 S3′ [3] That “name” signifies such things is evident from all the passages in the Word of the Old and of the New Testament where “name” is mentioned. As in Isaiah:
In that day shall ye say, Confess to Jehovah, call upon His name, make known His works among the peoples, make mention that His name is exalted (Isa. 12:4);
where to “call upon the name of Jehovah,” and to “make mention that His name is exalted,” does not at all mean to place worship in the name, or to believe that Jehovah is invoked by using His name, but by knowing His quality, and thus by means of all things in general and particular that are from Him. In the same:
Therefore honor ye Jehovah in the Urim the name of Jehovah the God of Israel in the isles of the sea (Isa. 24:15);
where to “honor Jehovah in the Urim,” is to honor Him from the holy things of love; and to “honor the name of Jehovah the God of Israel in the isles of the sea,” is to honor Him from the holy things of faith.
sRef Isa@41 @25 S4′ sRef Isa@26 @13 S4′ [4] In the same:
O Jehovah our God, only in Thee will we make mention of Thy name (Isa. 26:13). I will raise up one from the north, and he shall come; from the rising of the sun, he shall call upon My name (Isa. 41:25);
where to “make mention of the name of Jehovah,” and to “call upon His name,” means to worship from the goods of love and the truths of faith. They who are from the north are they who are outside the church and ignorant of the name of Jehovah, who nevertheless “call upon His name” when they live in mutual charity and adore as the Deity the Creator of the universe; for the “calling upon Jehovah” consists in worship and the quality of it, and not in the name. (That the Lord is present with the Gentiles also may be seen above, n. 932, 1032, 1059.)
sRef Micah@4 @5 S5′ sRef Mal@1 @11 S5′ sRef Isa@62 @2 S5′ [5] In the same:
The nations shall see* thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory and thou shalt be called by a new name which the mouth of Jehovah shall name (Isa. 62:2);
where “thou shalt be called by a new name,” denotes to become another person, that is, to be created anew or regenerated, and thus to be such. In Micah:
All the peoples will walk everyone in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of Jehovah our God forever and to eternity (Micah 4:5);
to “walk in the name of his god,” plainly denotes profane worship; and to “walk in the name of Jehovah,” true worship. In Malachi:
From the rising of the sun and even to its going down, My name shall be great among the nations; and in every place incense is offered unto My name, and a clean offering for My name shall be great among the nations (Mal. 1:11);
where by “name” is not signified the name, but the worship; which is the quality of Jehovah or the Lord, by reason of which He wills to be adored.
sRef Deut@12 @11 S6′ sRef Deut@12 @14 S6′ sRef Jer@7 @12 S6′ sRef Deut@12 @5 S6′ [6] In Moses:
The place which Jehovah your God shall choose out of all the tribes to put His name there, and to cause His name to dwell there, thither shall ye bring all that I command you (Deut. 12:5, 11, 14; 16:2, 6, 11);
where also by “putting His name,” and “making His name dwell there,” is not signified the name, but the worship, and thus the quality of Jehovah or the Lord by reason of which He is to be worshiped. His quality is the good of love and the truth of faith; and “the name of Jehovah dwells” with those who are in these. In Jeremiah:
Go ye unto My place which was in Shiloh, where I caused My name to dwell in the beginning (Jer. 7:12);
where in like manner “name” denotes worship, and thereby the doctrine of true faith. Everyone can see that Jehovah does not dwell with him who merely knows and speaks His name, for the name alone, without any idea, knowledge, or faith concerning His quality is a mere word. Hence it is evident that the “name” is the quality, and the knowledge of the quality.
sRef Deut@10 @8 S7′ sRef Jer@23 @6 S7′ sRef Isa@49 @1 S7′ [7] In Moses:
At that time Jehovah separated the tribe of Levi, to minister unto Him, and to bless in His name (Deut. 10:8);
where to “bless in the name” of Jehovah is not to do so through the name, but by means of the things which appertain to the name of Jehovah, spoken of above. In Jeremiah:
This is His name whereby they shall call Him, Jehovah our righteousness (Jer. 23:6);
where the “name” denotes righteousness, which is the quality of the Lord, of whom these words are said. In Isaiah:
Jehovah hath called Me from the womb, from the bowels of My mother hath He made mention of** My name (Isa. 49:1);
also said of the Lord; to “make mention of His name,” is to instruct in respect to His quality.
sRef Rev@3 @12 S8′ sRef Rev@13 @8 S8′ sRef Rev@3 @5 S8′ sRef Rev@3 @4 S8′ [8] That “name” signifies quality, is still more clearly evident in John, in Revelation:
Thou hast a few names in Sardis that did not defile their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. He that overcometh shall be clothed in white raiment, and I will not blot his name out of the book of life; and I will confess his name before My Father and before the angels. He that overcometh, I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from My God, and My new name (Rev. 3:4, 5, 12); where that the “name” is not the name, but the quality, is plainly evident; the “name in the book of life” is nothing else; and the quality is also meant by “confessing his name before the Father,” and by “writing upon him the name of God, and of the city, and the new name;” and the same is true of the names which are said elsewhere to be written in the book of life, and in heaven (Rev. 13:8, 17:8; Luke 10:20).
sRef Rev@19 @12 S9′ sRef Rev@19 @13 S9′ [9] In heaven it is solely by the quality that anyone is known from another; and in the sense of the letter this is expressed by the name, as everyone can see from the consideration that on earth whoever is named is presented in the listener’s idea in accordance with his quality, and it is by this idea that he is known and distinguished from others. In the other life the ideas remain, but the names perish; and this is still more the case among the angels. Hence it is that in the internal sense the “name” is the quality, or to know the quality. Again:
Upon the head of Him who sat upon the white horse were many diadems; and He hath a name written which no one knoweth but He Himself. He was clothed in a garment dipped in blood; and His name is called the Word of God (Rev. 19:12, 13);
where that the “name” is the Word of God, and thus is the quality of Him who sat upon the white horse, is said in plain words.
[10] That the “name of Jehovah” is to know His quality, namely, that He is all the good of love and all the truth of faith, is clearly evident from these words of the Lord:
O righteous Father I have known Thee, and these also have known that Thou hast sent Me for I have made known unto them Thy name, and will make it known; that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them (John 17:25, 26).
sRef Matt@24 @10 S11′ sRef John@14 @13 S11′ sRef Matt@24 @9 S11′ sRef John@17 @26 S11′ sRef Matt@18 @20 S11′ sRef John@15 @16 S11′ sRef John@14 @14 S11′ sRef John@15 @17 S11′ sRef John@17 @25 S11′ sRef John@14 @15 S11′ sRef John@1 @12 S11′ [11] And that the “name of God” or of the Lord is all the doctrine of faith concerning love and charity, which is signified by “believing in His name,” is evident from these words in the same gospel:
As many as received Him, to them gave He the power [potestas] to be sons of God, to them that believe in His name (John 1:12).
If ye shall ask anything in My name, I will do it. If ye love Me, keep My commandments (John 14:13-15).
Whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My name, He giveth you. These things I command you, that ye love one another (John 15:16, 17).
In Matthew:
Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them (John 18:20).
By those who are “gathered together in the name of the Lord,” are here signified those who are in the doctrine of faith concerning love and charity, and thus who are in love and charity. Again Ye shall be hated of all nations for My name’s sake (Matt. 10:22 24:9, 10; Mark 13:10);
where “for My names sake” plainly means for the sake of His doctrine.
sRef Matt@7 @23 S12′ sRef Matt@7 @22 S12′ [12] That the name itself effects nothing, but that everything is effected by that which the name involves, namely, everything of charity and faith, is clearly evident from these words in Matthew:
Have we not prophesied by Thy name, and by Thy name cast out demons, and in Thy name done many mighty works? But then will I profess unto them, I never dew you; depart from Me, ye that work iniquity (Matt. 7:22, 23);
from which it is evident that they who place worship in a name, as did the Jews in the name of Jehovah, and as do Christians in the name of the Lord, are not on that account the more worthy, because the name avails nothing; but that which does avail is that they be of such a character as the Lord has commanded; for this is to “believe in His name;” and further, that its being said that there is no salvation in any other name than the Lord’s, means that there is none in any other doctrine, that is, in no other than mutual love, which is the true doctrine of faith, and thus in no other than the Lord, because all love and the derivative faith are from Him alone.
* Viderunt; probably a misprint for videbunt, as we find it read in the True Christian Religion, n. 782. [Rotch ed.]
** Et memorare fecit Nomen meum; but elsewhere, meminit Nominis mei; as n. 3305.

sRef Gen@17 @5 S0′ 2010. Since therefore the “name” signifies the quality and to know what the quality is, we can see what is signified by the words in this verse, “thy name shall no more be called Abram, and thy name shall be Abraham;” to wit, that he was not to be such in quality as in the past, but such as he was about to be. That Abram served other gods, and worshiped the god Shaddai, was shown above (n. 1992); but because he was to represent the Lord, and in fact His internal man, and thus the Celestial of His Love, his former quality was to be blotted out, that is, the name “Abram” was to be so changed in character that the Lord could be represented by it. Therefore the letter H was taken from the name of Jehovah-which letter is the only one in the name “Jehovah” that involves the Divine, and which signifies I AM or BEING (Esse)-and was inserted in his name, and he was called “Abraham.” The case is similar with “Sarai,” spoken of in what follows; to whose name the same letter was also added, and she was called “Sarah.” From this also we can see that in the internal sense of the Word Abraham represents Jehovah or the Lord.
[2] Be it known however that in representations it matters not what a man’s quality is, for in them no attention is paid to the person, but to the thing which he represents (as was said and shown before, n. 665, 1097 at the end, 1361). Therefore in the internal sense the signification of these words is that the Lord will put off the human, and will put on the Divine; which also is in a series with what goes before, and likewise with what follows; for a promise is now made concerning the son Isaac, by whom was to be represented the Lord’s Divine rational.

sRef Gen@17 @5 S0′ 2011. For a father of a multitude of nations have I made thee. That this signifies, here as before, that all truth and the good thence derived come from Him, is evident from the signification of his being “a father,” as denoting that they are from Him; from the signification of “a multitude,” as being truth; and also from that of “nations,” as being the good thence derived (concerning which see above, n. 2005-2007). That in a more universal or more remote sense these same words signify the union of the Lord’s Human Essence with His Divine Essence, may be seen above (n. 2004); for the union of the Lord’s Human Essence with His Divine Essence is circumstanced as is that of truth with good; and the union of His Divine Essence with His Human Essence as is that of good with truth, which is reciprocal. Nay, in the Lord it was Truth itself that united itself to Good, and Good that united itself to Truth; for the Infinite Divine can be spoken of in no other way than as being Good itself and Truth itself, and therefore the human mind is in no fallacy when it thinks that the Lord is Good itself and Truth itself.

sRef Gen@17 @6 S0′ 2012. Verse 6. And I will make thee fruitful very exceedingly, and I will make thee nations, and kings shall go forth from thee. “I will make thee fruitful very exceedingly,” signifies the fruitfulness of good to infinitude; “and I will make thee nations,” signifies that all good is from Him; “and kings shall go forth from thee,” signifies that from Him is all truth.

sRef Gen@17 @6 S0′ 2013. I will make thee fruitful very exceedingly. That this signifies the fruitfulness of good to infinitude, is evident from the signification of being “made fruitful,” as being predicated of good (explained before, n. 43, 55, 913, 983); and because it is said “very exceedingly,” and the Lord is treated of, it signifies fruitfulness to infinitude.

sRef Gen@17 @6 S0′ 2014. I will make thee nations. That this signifies that all good is from Him, is evident from the signification of “nations” in its genuine and primitive sense, as being good (spoken of in Part First, n. 1259, 1260, 1416, 1849).

sRef Gen@17 @6 S0′ 2015. Kings shall go forth from thee. That this signifies that all truth is from Him, is evident from the signification of a “king,” in both the historical and the prophetic Word, as being truth (stated above, n. 1672, but not yet fully shown). From the signification of “nations” as being goods, and from the signification of “kings” as being truths, we can see the nature of the internal sense of the Word, and also how remote it is from the sense of the letter. He who reads the Word, especially the historical portion, has no other belief than that the nations there are nations, and the kings kings, and thus that nations and kings are treated of in the very Word itself. But the idea of nations, as well as that of kings, altogether perishes when it is received by the angels, and in their place there succeed good and truth. This cannot but appear as strange and indeed as a paradox, but still it is really so, and the truth of it may appear to everyone from considering that if, in the Word, nations were signified by “nations,” and kings by “kings,” then the Word of the Lord would involve scarcely anything more than any other history, or any other writing, and thus would be a merely worldly affair, when yet there is nothing in the Word that is not Divine, and therefore celestial and spiritual.
[2] Take as a single instance what is said in this verse, that Abraham should be made fruitful and should be made nations, and that kings should go forth from him-what is this but a merely worldly matter, and in no respect heavenly? For in these things there is only the glory of the world, which is nothing at all in heaven; but if this is the Word of the Lord, there must be in it the glory of heaven, and none of the world’s glory. Therefore the sense of the letter is altogether obliterated and vanishes when it passes into heaven; and it is so purified that nothing that is worldly is intermingled. For by “Abraham” is not meant Abraham, but the Lord; by his being “made fruitful” is not meant that his posterity should increase exceedingly, but that the good of the Lord’s Human Essence should increase to infinitude; by the “nations” are not meant nations, but goods; and by the “kings,” not kings but truths. Still the history according to the sense of the letter remains true; for it is true that it was so said to Abraham; also that he was made fruitful, and that nations and kings came from him.
sRef Isa@60 @16 S3′ sRef Jer@17 @25 S3′ sRef Isa@60 @10 S3′ [3] That “kings” signify truths, may be seen from the following passages. In Isaiah:
The sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee; thou shalt suck the milk of the nations, and the breast of kings shalt thou suck (Isa. 60:10, 16);
what it is to “suck the milk of nations” and “the breast of kings,” is by no means plain from the letter, but it is from the internal sense, in which it signifies to be gifted with goods, and instructed in truths. In Jeremiah:
There shall enter in by the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses (Jer. 17:25; 22:4);
to “ride in chariots and on horses” is a prophetical saying which signifies an abundance of intellectual things, as may appear from very many passages in the Prophets; and thus by “kings entering in by the gates of the city” is signified in the internal sense that they should be imbued with truths of faith. This is the heavenly sense of the Word, into which the worldly literal sense passes.
sRef Isa@7 @16 S4′ sRef Lam@2 @6 S4′ sRef Lam@2 @9 S4′ [4] Again, in the same Prophet:
Jehovah hath despised in the indignation of His anger the king and the priest; the gates of Zion have sunk into the earth; He hath destroyed and broken her bars; her king and her princes are among the nations; the law is not (Lam. 2:6, 9);
“the king” here denotes the truth of faith; “the priest” the good of charity; “Zion” the church which is being destroyed, and whose bars are being broken; hence “the king and the princes are among the nations,” that is, truth and the things which are of truth will be banished to such an extent that there will be no “law,” that is, nothing of the doctrine of faith. In Isaiah:
Before the child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the ground shall be forsaken, which thou loathest in the presence of her two kings (Isa. 7:16);
where the Lord’s coming is treated of; the “ground which shall be forsaken” denotes faith, of which there would then be none, and the truths of which are the “kings that would be loathed.”
sRef Isa@49 @22 S5′ sRef Isa@49 @23 S5′ [5] In the same Prophet:
I will lift up My hand to the nations, and raise up My ensign to the peoples; and they shall bring thy sons in their bosom, and thy daughters shall be carried upon the shoulder; and kings shall be thy nourishers, and their queens those that give thee suck (Isa. 49:22, 23);
“the nations” and “the daughters” denote goods; and “the peoples” and “the sons” truths (as shown in Part First, where it may be seen that “nations” denote goods, n. 1259, 1260, 1416, 1849; and that “daughters” have a similar signification, n. 489-491; also that “peoples” denote truths, n. 1259, 1260; and “sons” likewise, n. 489, 491, 533, 1147). “Kings” therefore denote truths in general, by which they will be nourished, and their “queens” the goods from which they will be “suckled.” Whether you say goods and truths, or those who are in goods and truths, it is the same.
sRef Ps@2 @10 S6′ sRef Isa@52 @15 S6′ sRef Ps@2 @11 S6′ sRef Ps@2 @12 S6′ [6] Again in the same Prophet:
He shall sprinkle many nations, upon him kings shall shut their mouth-for that which was [not] told them have they seen; and that which they did not hear have they understood (Isa. 52:15),
where the Lord’s coming is spoken of; the “nations” denote those who are affected by goods, and “kings” those who are affected by truths. In David:
Now, O ye kings, be intelligent; be instructed, ye judges of the earth; serve Jehovah with fear, and exult with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish in the way (Ps. 2:10-12).
“Kings” denote those who are in truths; who also from their truths are often called “king’s sons;” “the Son” here denotes the Lord, who is here called “the Son” because He is the truth itself, and because all truth is from Him.
sRef Rev@5 @10 S7′ sRef Matt@13 @37 S7′ sRef Rev@5 @9 S7′ sRef Rev@16 @12 S7′ sRef Matt@13 @38 S7′ [7] In John:
They shall sing a new song, Worthy art Thou who takest the book, and openest the seals thereof; Thou hast made us unto our God kings and priests, that we may reign upon the earth (Rev. 5:9-10);
where they who are in truths are called “kings.” The Lord also calls such persons “the sons of the kingdom,” in Matthew:
He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; the field is the world; the seed is the sons of the kingdom, and the tares are the sons of the evil one (Matt. 13:37-38).
In John:
The sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the Kings that are from the sun rising might be prepared (Rev. 16:12).
That by the “Euphrates” is not meant the Euphrates, nor by “the kings from the sun-rising” any kings therefrom, is evident (what is meant by the “Euphrates” may be seen above, n. 120, 1585, 1866); so that “the way of the kings that are from the sun-rising” means the truths of faith that are from the goods of love.
sRef Rev@18 @9 S8′ sRef Rev@18 @3 S8′ sRef Rev@17 @2 S8′ sRef Rev@17 @1 S8′ sRef Rev@21 @24 S8′ sRef Rev@17 @2 S8′ [8] In the same:
The nations that are saved shall walk in the light of it, and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory and honor into it (Rev. 21:24);
where “the nations” denote those who are in goods, and “the kings of the earth” those who are in truths, as may be inferred from the fact that these words are prophetic, and not historical. In the same:
With the great harlot that sitteth upon many waters the kings of the earth have committed whoredom, and have been made drunken with the wine of her whoredom (Rev. 17:1-2).
And again:
Babylon hath made all the nations drink of the wine of her whoredom, and the kings of the earth have committed whoredom with her (Rev. 18:3, 9);
where in like manner it is evident that kings are not meant by “the kings of the earth;” for the falsification and adulteration of the doctrine of faith, that is, of truth, is treated of, and this is the “whoredom;” ” the kings of the earth” denote the truths that are falsified and adulterated.
sRef Rev@17 @13 S9′ sRef Rev@17 @12 S9′ sRef Rev@19 @19 S9′ [9] In the same:
The ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, that have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority [potestas] as kings with the beast for one hour. These shall have one mind, and shall give their power and authority to the beast (Rev. 17:12-13);
that these “kings” are not kings, is evident to everyone; for if so it would be wholly unintelligible that the ten kings should receive authority as kings one hour. So too in another passage:
I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war with him that sat upon the horse, and with his army (Rev. 19:19);
that “he that sat upon the horse” is “the Word of God,” is openly stated in verse 13; and it is against this that the kings of the earth are said to have been gathered together. “The beast” denotes the goods of love, profaned; and “the kings” denote the truths of faith, adulterated; these are called “the kings of the earth,” because they are within the church. (That “the earth” is the church may be seen above, n. 662, 1066, 1067, 1262.) The “white horse” denotes the understanding of truth; and “he that sat upon the horse,” the Word. This meaning is still more manifest in Daniel (chapter 11), where the war between “the king of the south” and “the king of the north” is treated of; by which terms are signified the truths and falsities that had fought, the combats being described here also in an historical manner by this “war.”
[10] As “a king” signifies truth, it may be seen what is meant in the internal sense when the Lord is called a King and also a Priest; and also what it was in the Lord that was represented by kings, and what by priests. Kings represented His Divine truth, and priests His Divine good. All the laws of order by which the Lord governs the universe as King, are truths; but all the laws by which He governs the universe as and by which also He rules truths themselves, are goods; for government from truths alone would condemn everyone to hell; but government from goods lifts everyone out thence and uplifts him into heaven (see n. 1728). Because in the Lord’s case these two are conjoined, they were anciently represented by kingship conjoined with priesthood; as with Melchizedek, who was king of Salem and at the same time priest to God Most High (Gen. 14:18); and afterwards with the Jews, among whom the representative church was instituted in its own form, by judges and priests, and afterwards by kings.
[11] But as the kings represented truths, which ought not to have command, for the reason, as before said, that they condemn, therefore the desire to have kings was so displeasing as to call for rebuke, and the nature of truth as regarded in itself was described by the rights [jus] of the king (1 Sam. 8:11-18); and at an earlier day it was commanded by Moses (Deut. 17:14-18) that they should choose genuine truth which is from good, and not spurious; and that they should not defile it by reasonings and memory-knowledges [scientifica]. This is what is involved in the directions concerning a king, given in Moses in the place just cited; which no one can possibly see from the sense of the letter, but yet is evident from the several points contained in the internal sense; so that “king” and “kingship” evidently represented and signified nothing else than truth.

sRef Gen@17 @6 S0′ 2016. As regards the fact that all good and the derivative truth are from the Lord: this is a constant verity. The angels are in the perception of it to such a degree that they perceive that insofar as anything is from the Lord, it is good and true, and that insofar as it is from themselves, it is evil and false. They also confess this before novitiate souls, and before spirits who are in doubt of it, nay, they go so far as to say that it is by the Lord that they are withheld from the evil and falsity that come from what is their own, and are kept in good and truth. Moreover the very withholding and the very influx are perceptible to them (see n. 1614). But as to man’s supposing that he does good from himself and thinks truth from himself, this is an appearance, because he is in a state of no perception, and in a state of the greatest obscurity in respect to influx; and therefore he infers this from the appearance, nay, from the fallacy, from which he by no means suffers himself to be withdrawn so long as he has belief in nothing but the senses, and so long as he reasons from them whether it be so. But although the case is as stated, man nevertheless ought to do good and to think truth as from himself; for in no other way can he be reformed and regenerated (the reason of which may be seen above, n. 1937, 1947).
[2] The verse now before us treats of the Lord’s Human Essence that was to be united to the Divine Essence; and that all good and truth would thereby come to man from His Divine Essence through His Human Essence, is a Divine arcanum which few believe, because they do not apprehend it, for they suppose that the Divine good is able to reach to man without the Lord’s Human united to the Divine; but that this cannot be done, has been already shown in a few words (n. 1676, 1990), to this effect, that man has removed himself so far from the Supreme Divine, by the cupidities in which he has immersed himself and by the falsities with which he has blinded himself, that there could not possibly be any influx of the Divine into the rational part of his mind except through the Human which the Lord united in Himself to the Divine. Through His Human, communication has been effected; for thereby the Supreme Divine has been able to come to man. This the Lord says openly in many places, for He says that He is “the way,” and that “no one cometh to the Father but by Him.” This then is what is here affirmed: that from Him, namely, from the Human united to the Divine, is all good and all truth.

sRef Gen@17 @7 S0′ 2017. Verse 7. And I will set up My covenant between Me and thee and thy seed after thee unto their generations, for an eternal covenant, to be to thee for God, and to thy seed after thee. “I will set up My covenant between Me and thee,” signifies union; “and thy seed after thee,” signifies conjunction with those who have faith in Him; “unto their generations,” signifies those things which are of faith; “for an eternal covenant,” signifies conjunction with these; “to be to thee for God,” signifies the Lord’s Divine in Himself; “and to thy seed after thee,” signifies the Divine thence derived with those who have faith in Him.

sRef Gen@17 @7 S0′ 2018. I will set up My covenant between Me and thee. That this signifies union, is evident from the signification of a “covenant,” as being union (explained before, n. 665, 666, 1023, 1038); which union has been treated of in this chapter, and many times before; and it has been shown that Jehovah, who here speaks, was in the Lord, because He was one with Him from first conception and from birth; for the Lord was conceived from Jehovah, and hence His internal was Jehovah. This has been further illustrated by what is similar in man (n. 1999), namely, that his soul is one with his body, or his internal with his external, although they are distinct from each other, and sometimes so distinct that the one fights with the other, as is wont to be the case in temptations, in which the internal reproves the external and desires to reject the evil that is in it; and still they are conjoined, or are a one, because both soul and body belong to the same man. Take for example one whose thought differs from what he shows in his looks, speaks with his mouth, and acts by his gesture. There is in him an interior which is at variance with the external, but still they are one; for the thought is the man’s as much as are the external looks, mouth, and gestures; but there is a union when the look, the speech of the lips, and the gestures accord with the thought. So much for illustration.

sRef Gen@17 @7 S0′ 2019. And thy seed after thee. That this signifies conjunction with those who have faith in Him, is evident from the signification of “seed,” as being faith (treated of, n. 1025, 1447, 1610); and also from the signification of “after thee,” as being to follow. To “walk after” someone is an expression that is often made use of in the Word (as in Jer. 7:6; 8:2; Ezek. 20:16; also Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23, 14:27). In this passage therefore “thy seed after thee,” signifies those who are in faith and follow Him; in the internal sense, who are born of Him.

sRef Gen@17 @7 S0′ 2020. Unto their generations. That this signifies the things that are of faith, is evident from the signification of “generations,” as being the things which are generated and born of charity, that is, all the things of faith, or what is the same, all who are regenerated by the Lord, and thus in whom there is the faith of charity; concerning which, of the Lord’s Divine mercy hereafter. That in the internal sense “generations,” and also “births,” are such things, was shown in Part First (n. 613, 1041, 1145, 1330).

sRef Gen@17 @7 S0′ 2021. For an eternal covenant. That this signifies conjunction with these, is evident from the signification of a “covenant,” as being conjunction (explained before, n. 665, 666, 1023, 1038) and that it is with those who are called his “seed” is evident from its immediately following, and because a “covenant” is spoken of a second time in this verse. The “covenant” first spoken of refers to the union of Jehovah with the Human Essence, and the second mention of a “covenant” refers to the conjunction with those who are the seed. In order that a more distinct idea may be formed concerning the union of the Lord’s Divine Essence with His Human Essence, and concerning the Lord’s conjunction with the human race through the faith of charity, it may be well here and in what follows to call the former Union, but the latter Conjunction. Between the Lord’s Divine Essence and His Human Essence there was a Union; but between the Lord and the human race there is a Conjunction, through the faith of charity, as is evident from the fact that Jehovah or the Lord is Life, and that His Human Essence also was made Life, as shown above, and between Life and Life there is Union. Whereas man is not Life, but a recipient of life, as also has been shown before; and when Life flows into a recipient of life, there is conjunction; for it is adapted to the recipient as is the active to the passive, or as that which is in itself alive to that which is in itself dead, and which lives therefrom. The principal and the instrumental-as they are termed-do indeed appear to be conjoined together as if they were a one, but still they are not a one; for the former is by itself, and the latter is by itself. Man does not live from himself, but the Lord in mercy adjoins man to Himself and thereby causes him to live to eternity; and because the Lord and man are thus distinct, it is called conjunction.

sRef Gen@17 @7 S0′ 2022. To be to thee for God. That this signifies the Lord’s Divine in Himself, is evident from what has been said above respecting the Lord’s Divine Essence, that it was in Himself.

sRef Gen@17 @7 S0′ 2023. And to thy seed after thee. That this signifies the Divine thence derived with those who have faith in Him, is evident from the signification of “seed,” as being the faith of charity (see n. 1025, 1447, 1610); and also from the signification of “after thee,” as being to follow Him (explained just above, n. 2019). The Divine with those who have faith in the Lord is love and charity. By Love is meant love to the Lord; by Charity,” love toward the neighbor. Love to the Lord cannot possibly be separated from love toward the neighbor; for the Lord’s love is toward the universal human race, which He wills to save eternally and to adjoin wholly to Himself, so that not one of them may perish. He therefore who has love to the Lord, has the Lord’s love, and thereby can do no otherwise than love his neighbor.
[2] But they who are in love toward the neighbor are not all for that reason in love to the Lord, as for example the well-disposed Gentiles who are in ignorance respecting the Lord, but with whom the Lord is nevertheless present in charity (as shown in Part First, n. 1032, 1059), and also others within the church; for love to the Lord is in a higher degree. They who have love to the Lord are celestial men, but they who have love toward the neighbor, or charity, are spiritual men. The Most Ancient Church, which was before the flood, and was celestial, was in love to the Lord, but the Ancient Church, which was after the flood, and was spiritual, was in love toward the neighbor, or in charity. This distinction between Love and Charity will be observed when they are mentioned hereafter.

sRef Gen@17 @8 S0′ 2024. Verse 8. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land of thy sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an eternal possession; and I will be to them for God. “I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land of thy sojournings,” signifies that the Lord acquired to Himself all things by His own forces or powers, which are “the land of the sojournings;” “I will give unto thee,” signifies that the things which are in the heavens and on the earth are His; “and to thy seed after thee,” signifies that He would give them to those who should have faith in Him; “all the land of Canaan,” signifies the celestial or heavenly kingdom; “for an eternal possession,” signifies to eternity; “and I will be to them for God,” signifies that God is one.

sRef Gen@17 @8 S0′ 2025. I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land of thy sojournings. That this signifies that the Lord acquired to Himself all things by His own forces or powers, which are “the land of the sojournings,” is evident from the signification of “sojourning,” as being to be instructed (see n. 1463). And as a man acquires life to himself especially by means of instruction in memory-knowledges, doctrinal matters, and the knowledges of faith, therefore “sojourning,” signifies the life so acquired. As applied to the Lord, “sojourning” signifies the life which He procured to Himself by means of knowledges, combats of temptations, and victories therein; and as He procured for Himself that life by His own forces, this is here signified by “the land of the sojournings.”
sRef Isa@63 @5 S2′ sRef Isa@63 @3 S2′ sRef Isa@63 @1 S2′ [2] That the Lord procured all things to Himself by His own forces, and by His own forces united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence, and the Divine Essence to the Human Essence; and that He alone thus became righteousness, is clearly evident in the Prophets. As in Isaiah:
Who is this that cometh from Edom, marching in the multitude of his strength? I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the peoples there was none with Me; I looked around, and there was no one helping; and I was amazed, and there was no one upholding; therefore Mine arm brought salvation unto Me (Isa. 63:1, 3, 5)
“Edom” denotes the Lord’s Human Essence; “strength,” and “arm,” power that this was from what was His own is clearly said, in that “there was no one helping,” “no one upholding,” and that “His own arm brought salvation unto Him.”
sRef Isa@59 @16 S3′ sRef Isa@59 @17 S3′ sRef Dan@9 @24 S3′ sRef Jer@23 @6 S3′ sRef Jer@23 @5 S3′ [3] In the same Prophet:
He saw that there was not anyone, and He was amazed that there was none to intercede; and His arm achieved salvation unto Him, and His righteousness supported Him; and He put on righteousness as a coat of mail, and a helmet of salvation upon His head (Isa. 59:16, 17)
meaning in like manner by His own power, and that thereby He became righteousness. That the Lord is righteousness is stated in Daniel:
Seventy weeks are decreed to expiate iniquity, and to bring in the righteousness of the ages, and to seal up vision and prophet, and to anoint the holy of holies (Dan 9:24). And in Jeremiah:
I will raise unto David a righteous offshoot, and He shall reign as King, and shall act intelligently, and shall do judgment and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell in confidence; and this is His name whereby they shall call Him, Jehovah our righteousness (Jer. 23:5, 6; 33:15, 16).
For this reason He is also called “the Habitation of righteousness,” in Jeremiah (31:23; 50:7); and in Isaiah (9:6), “Wonderful,” and “Hero.”
sRef John@16 @15 S4′ sRef John@17 @11 S4′ sRef John@17 @10 S4′ [4] The reason why the Lord so often attributes to the Father that which is His own, has been explained above (n. 1999, 2004); for Jehovah was in Him, and consequently in everything that was His. This can be illustrated by what is similar, though not equal, in man. A man’s soul is in him; and as it is in him, it is in the veriest singulars of him, that is in the veriest singulars of his thought, and of his action. Whatever has not his soul in it, is not his. The Lord’s soul was Life itself, or Being [Esse] itself, which is Jehovah, for He was conceived from Jehovah; and consequently Jehovah or Life itself was in His veriest singulars; and as Life itself, or Being itself, which is Jehovah, was His, as the soul is man’s, so that which was Jehovah’s was His, which is what the Lord says: that He “is in the bosom of the Father” (John 1:18), and that “all things whatsoever that the Father hath are His” (John 16:15, 17:10, 11).
[5] From good, which is Jehovah’s, He united the Divine Essence to the Human Essence; and from truth He united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence; thus He did all things both in general and in particular from Himself; in fact His Human was left to itself, in order that He might fight of Himself against all the hells, and overcome them; and as He had life in Himself that was His own-as already said-He overcame them by His own power and by His own forces, as is also clearly stated in the Prophets, in the passages that have been cited. Consequently, as He acquired all things for Himself by His own forces, He became righteousness, emancipated the world of spirits from infernal genii and spirits, and thereby delivered the human race from destruction-for the human race is ruled by means of spirits-and so redeemed it. For this reason He is so often called in the Word of the Old Testament the Deliverer and the Redeemer, and the Saviour, which is the meaning of His name Jesus.

sRef Gen@17 @8 S0′ 2026. That by “I will give unto thee” is meant that the things which are in the heavens and on the earth are His, follows from what has just been said. In the sense of the letter, the words “I will give unto thee” mean that God or Jehovah would give to the Lord; just as it is said in the Word of the Evangelists that the Father gave unto Him all things that are in heaven and on the earth. But in the internal sense, in which the truth itself is presented in its purity, it means that the Lord acquired them for Himself, because Jehovah was in Him, and in everything belonging to Him, as before said. This may be further illustrated by that which is like it; for it is as if the interior or rational man, or the thought, should say that the corporeal would have rest or tranquillity if it would desist from doing this or that: in this case he that speaks is the same man as he that is spoken to, for both the rational and the corporeal belong to the man, and therefore when mention is made of the former, the latter also is understood.
[2] Moreover that the things in the heavens and on the earth are the Lord’s, is evident from very many passages in the Word, both in the Old Testament, and also in the Evangelists (as Matt. 11:27; Luke 10:22; John 3:34, 35, 17:2; Matt. 28:18); and also from what has been shown in Part First (n. 458, 551, 552, 1607). And as the Lord rules the universal heaven, He also rules all things on earth; for they have been so connected together that He who rules the one rules all things; for on the heaven of angels depends the heaven of angelic spirits, on this the world of spirits, and on this again the human race. And in like manner on the heavens depend all things that are in the world and in nature, for without influx from the Lord through the heavens, nothing that is in nature and its three Kingdoms would come forth and endure (see n. 1632).

sRef Gen@17 @8 S0′ 2027. That “to thy seed after thee” signifies that He would give all these things to those who should have faith in Him, is evident from the signification of “seed,” as being faith (see n. 1025, 1447, 1610), and in fact the faith of charity (see n. 379, 389, 654, 724, 809, 916, 1017, 1162, 1176, 1258). They who place merit in the actions of their lives have not the faith of charity, and therefore are not the seed here meant; for thereby they desire to be saved, not because of the Lord’s righteousness, but because of their own. That there is no faith of charity in them, that is, no charity, is evident from the fact, that they set themselves before others, and thus regard themselves and not others, except insofar as they are of service to them; and they either despise or hate those who are not willing to render them service. Thus by the love of self they dissociate, and never associate; and thus destroy what is heavenly, namely, mutual love, which gives heaven its stability; for heaven itself is in it, and all its consociation and unanimity subsist and consist in it; for in the other life whatever destroys unanimity is contrary to the order of heaven itself, and thus conspires to the destruction of the whole. Such are they who place merit in the actions of their lives, and claim righteousness for themselves. Of these there are many in the other life.
[2] They sometimes shine in the face like little torches, but from an illusive fire that proceeds from self-justification, and in fact they are cold. They are sometimes seen running about and confirming self-merit from the literal sense of the Word, for they hate the truths which are of the internal sense (n. 1877). Their sphere is a sphere of self-regard, and is thus destructive of all ideas that do not regard self as a kind of deity. The sphere of many of this sort together is so conflicting that there is nothing there but enmity and hostility; for when everyone desires the same thing, namely, to be served, he murders others in his heart.
[3] Some of them are among those who say that they have labored in the Lord’s vineyard, whereas they have at the same time continually had in mind their own preeminence, glory, and honors, as well as gain; and even that they might become the greatest in heaven and be served by the angels, in heart despising others in comparison with themselves, and thus being imbued with no mutual love, in which heaven consists, but with the love of self, in which they place heaven; for they know not what heaven is. (Respecting such see above, n. 450-452, 1594, 1679.) These are of those who desire to be first, but become last (Matt. 19:30; 20:16; Mark 10:31); and who say that they have prophesied by the name of the Lord, and have done many wonderful works; but to whom it is said, “I know you not” (Matt. 7:22, 23).
[4] Very different is the case with those who from simplicity of heart have supposed that they merit heaven, and have lived in charity; these have looked upon meriting heaven as something that is promised, and they easily acknowledge it to be of the Lord’s mercy; for the life of charity is attended with this, because true charity loves all truth.

sRef Gen@17 @8 S0′ 2028. All the land of Canaan. That this signifies the heavenly kingdom, is evident from the signification of the “land of Canaan,” as being the heavenly kingdom, as explained before (n. 1413, 1437, 1607).

sRef Gen@17 @8 S0′ 2029. For an eternal possession. That this signifies what is eternal, is evident without explication. They are called “possessors,” and also “heirs,” not from merit, but from mercy.

sRef Gen@17 @8 S0′ 2030. And I will be to them for God. That this signifies that God is one, is evident from the fact that the subject here treated of is the Lord’s Human Essence that was to be united to His Divine Essence, and thereby itself likewise become God. Thus “I will be to them for God,” signifies in the internal sense that God is one.

sRef Gen@17 @9 S0′ 2031. Verse 9. And God said unto Abraham, And thou shalt keep My covenant, thou and thy seed after thee, unto their generations. “God said unto Abraham,” signifies perception; “and thou shalt keep My covenant,” signifies still closer union; “thou and thy seed after thee,” signifies that from Him there is conjunction with all who have faith in Him; “unto their generations,” signifies the things which are of faith.

sRef Gen@17 @9 S0′ 2032. God said unto Abraham. That this signifies perception, is evident from the signification of “God said,” in the historic Word as being to perceive (explained before, n. 1602, 1791, 1815, 1819, 1822).

sRef John@12 @28 S0′ sRef Gen@17 @9 S0′ 2033. Thou shalt keep My covenant. That this signifies still closer union, is evident from the signification of a “covenant,” as being union and conjunction (treated of before, at verses 2, 4, and 7; also in Part First, n. 665, 666, 1023, 1038). The repeated mention here of “covenant,” so frequently mentioned before, denotes a closer union. In the historical sense, which relates to Abraham, nothing else can be said than that he is to keep the covenant; but in the internal sense, in which the Lord is treated of, what is historical vanishes, and the things that can be predicated of Him succeed in its place, which relate to a closer union. The unition of the Lord’s Human Essence with His Divine Essence was not effected all at once, but through the whole course of His life, from infancy to the last of His life in the world. Thus He ascended continuously to glorification, that is, to union; according to what is said in John:
Jesus said, Father glorify Thy name; there came a voice from heaven: I have both glorified and will glorify it again (John 12:28).
(See what was said above, n. 1690, 1864.)

sRef Gen@17 @9 S0′ 2034. Thou and thy seed after thee. That this signifies that from Him there is conjunction with all who have faith in Him, is evident from the signification of “seed,” as being faith, spoken of several times before; and from the signification of “after thee,” as being to follow Him (explained above, n. 2019). The union of the Divine Essence with the Human Essence, and of the Human Essence with the Divine Essence, has already been treated of; and the subject here treated of is the conjunction of the Lord with those who believe in Him, and therefore there is a repetition of the word “thou;” for it is said, “Thou shalt keep My covenant, thou and thy seed;” and from this repetition of the words in connection with “seed” it is evident that in the internal sense conjunction is signified, and in fact with those who are the seed, by which is signified the faith of charity, as shown above (n. 1025, 1447, 1510; and that faith is charity itself may be seen in Part First, n. 30-38, 379, 389, 654, 724, 809, 916, 1017, 1076, 1077, 1162, 1176, 1258, 1798, 1799, 1834, 1844).
sRef John@17 @22 S2′ sRef John@17 @21 S2′ sRef John@17 @23 S2′ sRef John@17 @26 S2′ [2] Moreover when speaking of His union with the Father, the Lord speaks immediately and without a break of His conjunction with the human race; because this was the cause of the union, as is evident in John:
That they all may be one, as Thou Father art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us; the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one, I in them, and Thou in Me, for I have made known unto them Thy name, and will make it known, that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them (John 17:21, 22, 26) from which it is evident that in the union of Himself with the Father the Lord had in view the conjunction of Himself with the human race, and that He had this at heart, because it was His love; for all conjunction is effected by means of love, love being conjunction itself.
sRef John@14 @19 S3′ sRef John@14 @20 S3′ sRef John@14 @21 S3′ [3] Again in the same gospel:
Because I live, ye shall live also in that day ye shall know that I am in the Father, and ye in Me, and I in you; he that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me (John 14:19-21);
from which in like manner it is evident that in the union of His Human Essence with His Divine Essence the Lord had in view the conjunction of Himself with the human race, and that this was His end, and this His love, which was such that the salvation of the human race, as held in the union of Himself with His Father, was to Him the inmost joy. There is also here described that which unites, namely, to have and to do His commandments, and thereby to love the Lord. sRef John@12 @30 S4′ sRef John@12 @32 S4′ sRef John@12 @28 S4′ [4] Again:
Father, glorify Thy name; there came therefore a voice from heaven, I have both glorified and will glorify it again. Jesus said, This voice hath not come for My sake, but for your sakes. But I, when I shall be lifted up from the earth, will draw all after Me (John 12:28, 30, 32) by “glorification” is meant union, as before said; and that in the union of Himself with the Father He regarded the conjunction of Himself with the human race, is openly said in the words, “when I shall be lifted up, I will draw all after Me.”
[5] That conjunction of the Infinite or Supreme Divine with the human race was effected through the Lord’s Human made Divine, and that this conjunction was the cause of the Lord’s coming into the world, is an arcanum into which many inquire in their own minds, and because they do not comprehend, they do not believe it; and as they do not believe for the reason that they do not comprehend, it becomes a scandal or stumbling-block to them. That this is so, I have learned from much experience from those who come into the other life. Very many of these-almost the greater part of those who had been men of talent in the world-when they merely think that the Lord became a man, and in external form was like other men, that He suffered, and that nevertheless He rules the universe, at once fill the sphere with scandals, because this had been a scandal or stumbling-block to them in the life of the body; although at that time they had divulged nothing about it, and had adored Him with outward sanctity. For in the other life the interiors are open, and are made manifest by the sphere diffused from them (treated of in Part First, n. 1048, 1053, 1316, 1504). In this way it is plainly perceived of what faith they had been, and what they had thought concerning the Lord.
[6] Seeing that such is the case, it may be well to explain the matter a little further. After all the celestial in man had perished, that is, all love to God, so that there was no longer any will of good, the human race had then been separated from the Divine; for nothing effects conjunction except love, and when this had been annihilated, there was disjunction; and when there is disjunction, then destruction and extirpation follow. Therefore the promise was then made respecting the Lord’s coming into the world, who should unite the Human to the Divine, and by this union should effect in Himself the conjunction of the human race by means of the faith of love and of charity.
[7] From the time of the first promise (spoken of in Gen. 3:15) the faith of love in the Lord who was to come effected conjunction. But when there was no longer any faith of love remaining in the whole world, then the Lord came and united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence, so that they were altogether one, as He Himself clearly says; and at the same time He taught the way of truth, that everyone who should believe in Him-that is, who should love Him and the things that are His, and who should be in His love which is love toward the universal human race, thus in love toward the neighbor-should be conjoined and saved.
[8] When, in the Lord, the Human was made Divine, and the Divine Human, the result was an influx of the Infinite or Supreme Divine with man that otherwise could not possibly have existed; and an additional result was the dispersion of the direful persuasions of falsity and the direful cupidities of evil with which the world of spirits was brimful, and with which it was continually being filled full from the souls arriving from the world; and they who were in those persuasions and cupidities were cast into hell, and thereby were separated. Unless this had been done, the human race would have perished, for the Lord rules the human race by means of spirits. Nor could they have been dispersed in any other way, for no operation of the Divine was possible through man’s rational things into those of internal sense, because these are far below the Supreme Divine when not so united; not to mention still deeper arcana that cannot be explained to the apprehension of any man. (See what was said above, n. 1676, 1990, that in the heaven of the celestial angels the Lord appears as a sun, and in the heaven of the spiritual angels as a moon; and that the Sun is the celestial of His love, and the Moon the spiritual of His love, n. 1053, 1521, 1529-1531 and that all things both in general and in particular are under His view, n. 1274e, 1277e.)

sRef Gen@17 @9 S0′ 2035. Unto their generations. That this signifies the things which are of faith, is evident from the signification of “generations,” and of “births,” as being the things that are of faith (concerning which see above, n. 613, 1145, 1255, 1330; and that those which are of love and faith are related as by blood and marriage, n. 685, 917).

sRef Gen@17 @10 S0′ 2036. Verse 10. This is My covenant, which ye shall keep between Me and you, and thy seed after thee, that every male be circumcised unto you. “This is My covenant which ye shall keep between Me and you,” signifies a token of the conjunction of all with the Lord; “and thy seed after thee,” signifies those who have faith in Him; “that every male be circumcised unto you,” signifies purity.

sRef Gen@17 @10 S0′ sRef Gen@17 @11 S0′ 2037. This is My covenant, which ye shall keep between Me and you. That this signifies a token of the conjunction of all with the Lord, is evident from the signification of a “covenant,” as being conjunction, as explained before. That it is here the token of conjunction, is evident from the next verse, where it is called “a sign of a covenant:” “Ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and you.” All the external rites of the church were signs of the covenant, and were to be sacredly observed, because internal things were signified by them. Circumcision-which is treated of here-was nothing but a representative and significative rite, and as such is explained in what follows; nevertheless in various passages of the Word such rites are called the “covenant,” for the reason that external things represented and thereby signified internal things. The internal things are what belong to the covenant, because they are effective of conjunction, and the external things are not so except by means of the internal ones. The external things were merely signs of the covenant, or tokens of the conjunction, by means of which they might call to mind the internal things and thereby be conjoined by means of these. (Respecting the signs of the covenant, see above, n. 1308.) All the internal things that belong to the covenant, or that are effective of conjunction, relate to love and charity, and proceed from love and charity; for on these two things, namely, loving God more than one’s self, and loving the neighbor as one’s self, “hang all the law and the prophets,” that is, the universal doctrine of faith (Matt. 22:34-39; Mark 12:28-35).

sRef Gen@17 @10 S0′ 2038. And thy seed after thee. That this signifies those who have faith in Him, is evident from the signification of “seed,” as being the faith of charity, concerning which above.

sRef Gen@17 @10 S0′ 2039. That every male be circumcised. That this signifies purity, is evident from the representation and derivative signification in the internal sense of “circumcising.” Circumcision, or the cutting off of the foreskin, signified the removal and wiping away of those things that were impeding and defiling celestial love, and which are the evils of cupidities (especially the evils of the cupidities of the love of self) and the derivative falsities. The reason of this signification is that the organs of generation, in both sexes, represent celestial love. There are loves of three kinds that constitute the celestial things of the Lord’s kingdom, namely, conjugial love, love for infants, and the love for society, or mutual love. Conjugial love is the principal love of all, because it has within it the end of greatest use, namely, the propagation of the human race, and thereby of the Lord’s kingdom, of which it is the seminary. Love toward infants follows next, being derived from conjugial love; and then comes the love for society, or mutual love. Whatever covers up, obstructs, and defiles these loves, is signified by the foreskin; and the cutting off of this, or circumcision, was therefore made representative; for insofar as the evils of cupidities, and the falsities derived from them are removed, insofar the man is purified; and insofar celestial love can appear. How contrary to celestial love, and how filthy, is the love of self, has been stated and shown above (n. 760, 1307, 1308, 1321, 1594, 2045, 2057). From what has now been said, it is clear that in the internal sense “circumcision” signifies purity.
sRef Deut@30 @6 S2′ [2] That circumcision is only a sign of covenant, or of conjunction, may be plainly seen from considering that the circumcision of the foreskin amounts to nothing at all without the circumcision of the heart; and that it is the circumcision of the heart, or purification from the filthy loves above referred to that is signified by it, as is plainly evident from the following passages in the Word. In Moses:
Jehovah thy God will circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love Jehovah thy God in thy whole heart, and in thy whole soul, that thou mayest live (Deut. 30:6);
from which it is evident that to “circumcise the heart” is to be purified from filthy loves, in order that Jehovah God, or the Lord, may be loved with all the heart and with all the soul.
sRef Jer@4 @4 S3′ sRef Deut@10 @16 S3′ sRef Jer@4 @3 S3′ sRef Deut@10 @18 S3′ [3] In Jeremiah:
Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns; circumcise yourselves unto Jehovah, and take away the foreskin of your heart, O man of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem (Jer. 4:3-4);
to “circumcise one’s self to Jehovah, and remove the foreskin of the heart,” is to remove such things as obstruct heavenly love; all which shows that the circumcision of the heart is an interior thing that is signified by the circumcision of the foreskin. In Moses:
Ye shall circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and shall no longer harden your neck, doing the judgment of the orphan and the widow, and loving the stranger to give him bread and raiment (Deut. 10:16, 18);
where also it is clear that to “circumcise the foreskin of the heart” is to be purified from the evils of filthy loves and from the falsities derived from them. The celestial things of love are described by these works of charity, namely, “doing the judgment of the orphan and the widow,” and “loving the stranger to give him bread and raiment.”
sRef Jer@9 @25 S4′ sRef Lev@26 @41 S4′ sRef Jer@9 @26 S4′ [4] In Jeremiah:
Behold, the days come in which I will visit upon everyone that is circumcised in the foreskin, upon Egypt, and upon Judah, and upon Edom, and upon the sons of Ammon, and upon Moab, and upon all that are cut off at the corner, that dwell in the wilderness; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart (Jer. 9:25-26);
where it is evident that circumcision is significative of purification, for they are called the “circumcised in the foreskin,” but still are reckoned among the uncircumcised nations, as are even the Jews; and Israel is said to be “uncircumcised in heart.” And it is the same in Moses:
If then their uncircumcised heart be humbled (Lev. 26:41).
sRef Isa@52 @1 S5′ [5] That by the “foreskin” and by “one that is uncircumcised” is signified uncleanness, is evident in Isaiah:
Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion; put on the garments of thy beauty, O Jerusalem, the city of holiness; for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean (Isa. 52:1).
By “Zion” is meant the celestial church, and by “Jerusalem” the spiritual church, into which what is “uncircumcised,” that is, the “unclean,” shall not enter.
sRef Lev@19 @23 S6′ sRef Lev@19 @24 S6′ [6] That circumcision is a sign of a covenant, or a token of conjunction, is clearly evident from the fact that the like was represented by means of the fruits of trees, which also were to be circumcised, concerning which in Moses:
When ye shall have come into the land, and shall have planted all manner of trees of food, ye shall circumcise the foreskin thereof, its fruit; three years shall they be unto you as uncircumcised, it shall not be eaten; and in the fourth year all the fruit thereof shall be holiness for praises unto Jehovah (Lev. 19:23-24);
“fruits,” like the “heart,” represent and signify charity, as may be seen from many passages in the Word; and thus their “foreskin” signifies the uncleanness which obstructs and contaminates charity.
[7] Wonderful to say, when the angels who are in heaven have the idea of purification from natural defilements, with the utmost rapidity there is represented in the world of spirits something like circumcision; for the angelic ideas pass over into representatives in the world of spirits. In the Jewish Church some of the representative rites originated in this source, and some did not. Those with whom that quick circumcision was represented in the world of spirits, were in the desire to be admitted into heaven; and before they were admitted, there was this representation. This shows why Joshua was commanded to circumcise the people, when, having passed over Jordan, they were entering the land of Canaan; for the entrance of the people into the land of Canaan represented this very admission of the faithful into heaven.
sRef Josh@5 @9 S8′ sRef Josh@5 @3 S8′ sRef Josh@5 @2 S8′ [8] For this reason circumcision was commanded a second time, concerning which in Joshua:
Jehovah said unto Joshua, Make thee swords of rocks, and circumcise the sons of Israel the second time; and Joshua made him swords of rocks, and circumcised the sons of Israel at the hill of the foreskins; and Jehovah said unto Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you; and he called the name of that place Gilgal [Rolling off] (Joshua 5:2-3, 9);
the “swords of rocks” signify the truths with which they were to be imbued, in order that thereby they might castigate and disperse filthy loves; for without the knowledges of truth no purification is possible. (That a “stone” or “rock” signifies truths, has been shown before, n. 643, 1298; and that a “sword” is predicated of the truths by which evils may be castigated, is evident from the Word.)

sRef Gen@17 @11 S0′ 2040. Verse 11. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and you. “Ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin,” signifies the removal of the love of self and of the world; “and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and you,” signifies a representative and significative of purity.

sRef Gen@17 @11 S0′ 2041. Ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin. That this signifies the removal of the love of self and of the world, is evident from the representation and signification of “circumcision,” as being purification from filthy loves (explained above, n. 2039); and from the signification of “flesh,” as being what is man’s own (treated of before, n. 999). That which is man’s own is nothing but the love of self and of the world, thus is all the derivative cupidity; and how filthy this is has been shown in Part First (n. 141, 150, 154, 210, 215, 694, 731, 874-876, 987, 1047). As this Own of man which is to be removed is signified, the expression “flesh of the foreskin” is made use of.
[2] There are two so-called loves and their cupidities that obstruct the influx of heavenly love from the Lord; for when these loves reign in the interior and in the external man, and take possession thereof, they either reject or suffocate, and also pervert and contaminate, the inflowing heavenly love; for they are utterly contrary to heavenly love, as will of the Lord’s Divine mercy be shown hereafter. But insofar as these loves are removed, so far the heavenly love flowing in from the Lord begins to appear, nay, to give light in the interior man; and so far he begins to see that he is in evil and falsity; next that he is actually in uncleanness and filthiness; and finally that this has been his Own. They who are becoming regenerate are those with whom these loves are being removed.
[3] Observation of this removal is possible also with the unregenerate, for when the cupidities of these loves are quiescent in them, as sometimes occurs when they are in holy meditation, or when the cupidities are lulled, as happens when they are in misfortunes, in sicknesses, and diseases, and especially at the moment of death, then, because bodily and worldly things are lulled and as it were dead, they observe something of heavenly light and the consequent comfort. But with these persons there is not removal of the cupidities in question, but only a lulling of them, for when they return into their former state, they at once relapse into the same cupidities. [4] With the evil also, bodily and worldly things can be lulled, and they can then be as it were uplifted into a kind of heavenliness, as sometimes takes place with souls in the other life, especially those newly arrived, who intensely desire to see the glory of the Lord, because they had heard so much about heaven while they lived in the world. The external things above referred to are then lulled in them, and in this way they are carried into the first heaven and enjoy their desire. But they cannot remain long, because there is only a quiescence of the bodily and worldly things, and not a removal of them, as with the angels (concerning which, see n. 541, 542). Be it known that heavenly love is continually inflowing into man from the Lord, and that nothing else obstructs and impedes it, and causes its reception by the man impossible, except the cupidities of those loves and the falsities derived from them.

sRef Gen@17 @11 S0′ 2042. And it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and you. That this signifies a representative and significative of purity, is evident from what has been shown just above (n. 2039), namely, that circumcision was nothing but a representative of purification from filthy loves. And as it was only an external rite which represented and signified something internal, it was not a covenant, but a sign of a covenant.

sRef Gen@17 @12 S0′ 2043. Verse 12. And a son of eight days shall be circumcised unto you, every male in your generations, he that is born in the house, and he that is bought with silver from every son that is a stranger who is not of thy seed. “A son of eight days,” signifies any beginning of purification whatever; “shall be circumcised unto you,” signifies the purification; “every male,” signifies those who are in the truth of faith “in your generations,” signifies the things which are of faith; “he that is born in the house,” signifies those who are celestial; “he that is bought with silver,” signifies those who are spiritual, who are within the church; “from every son that is a stranger who is not of thy seed,” signifies those who are outside the church.

sRef Gen@17 @12 S0′ 2044. And a son of eight days. That this signifies any beginning of purification whatever, is evident from the signification of “the eighth day.” A “week,” which is seven days, signifies an entire period of any state or time, as of reformation, of regeneration, of temptation, whether of man in particular, or of the church in general; thus a period is called a “week,” whether it be one of a thousand years, of a hundred, of ten, or of as many days, hours, minutes, and so on (as may be seen from the passages cited in Part First, n. 728). And as the eighth day is the first day of a new week, it signifies any beginning whatever. This shows also that, as circumcision was itself a representative of purification, so also was the time of it, namely, the eighth day; not that they then entered into a purer state, and were purified on that account, but for the reason that, as “circumcision” signified purification, so “the eighth day” signified that this ought to be effected at all times, and thus always, as from a new beginning.

sRef Gen@17 @12 S0′ 2045. Shall be circumcised unto you. That this signifies purification, is evident from the representation and signification of “circumcision,” as being purification from filthy loves (explained above, n. 2039). They who are in the loves of self and of the world cannot possibly believe that they are in things so filthy and unclean as they actually are in, for there is a certain pleasure and delight that soothes, favors, and allures, and causes them to love that life, to prefer it to all other life, and thereby to suppose that there is nothing of evil in it; for whatever favors anyone’s love and the life thence derived is believed to be good. Hence also the rational consents, and suggests falsities which confirm and cause such blindness that they see nothing of the nature of heavenly love; and if they were to see it they would say in their hearts that it is a wretched affair, or a thing of naught, or something of the nature of a phantasy that takes hold of the mind, as in sickness.
[2] But that the life of the love of self and of the world, together with its pleasures and delights, is filthy and unclean, may be seen by everyone who is willing to think from the rational faculty with which he is gifted. The love of self is the source of all the evils that destroy civic society. From it as from an unclean pit spring all hatreds, all revenges, all cruelties, nay, all adulteries; for he who loves himself, despises, vituperates, or hates, all others who do not serve him, or do him honor, or favor him; and when he hates, he breathes nothing but revenges and cruelties, and this in proportion to the degree in which he loves himself, so that this love is destructive of society and of the human race. (That such is its nature may be seen also from what is said of it in Part First, n. 693, 694, 760, 1307, 1308, 1321, 1506, 1594, 1691, 1862.) That in the other life the love of self is most filthy, and that it is diametrically opposite to the mutual love in which heaven consists, shall of the Lord’s Divine mercy be told in what follows.
[3] And as the love of self is the source of hatreds, revenges, cruelties, and adulteries, it is the source of all things that are called sins, wickednesses, abominations, and profanations, and therefore when this love is in the rational part of man, and is in the cupidities and phantasies of his external man, the influx of heavenly love from the Lord is continually repelled, perverted, and contaminated. It is like foul excrement, which dissipates, nay, defiles, all sweet odor; it is like an object that turns the continually inflowing rays of light into dark and repulsive colors; and it is like a tiger, or a serpent, which repels all fondling, and kills with bite and poison those who offer it food; or like a vicious man who turns even the best intentions of others, and their very kindnesses, into what is blameworthy and malicious. Hence it is evident that these loves-of self and of the world-are what are represented and signified by the foreskins that were to be cut off.

sRef Gen@17 @12 S0′ 2046. Every male. That this signifies those who are in the truth of faith, is evident from the signification of a “male,” as being truth (concerning which, see n. 672, 749). The “male:”,” by which is signified the truth of faith, is named here because no one can be purified from those filthy loves except one who is in truth. From truth he knows [cognoscit] what is pure and what impure, and what is holy and what profane. Before he has learned this, there are no mediums into which and through which the heavenly love continually flowing in from the Lord can operate, as this cannot be received except in truths; and therefore man is reformed and regenerated by means of the knowledges of truth, and this not until he has been imbued with them. Conscience itself is formed by means of the truths of faith; for the conscience with which the regenerate man is gifted is a conscience of what is true and right (see n. 977, 986 at the end, 1033, 1076, 1077). This also is the reason why knives of stone, or “swords of rocks,” as they are called, were employed in circumcising. (That these signify truths may be seen above, n. 2039, at the end.)

sRef Gen@17 @12 S0′ 2047. Throughout your generations. That this signifies the things which are of faith, is evident from the signification of “generations” and of “births,” as being the things that are of faith (see n. 613, 1145, 1255, 2020, 2035).

sRef Gen@17 @12 S0′ 2048. That “he that is born in the house” signifies those who are celestial, and that “he that is bought with silver” signifies those who are spiritual, and that they thus signify those who are within the church, is evident from the signification of one “born in the house,” as being those who are within the house. A “house,” in the Word, signifies what is celestial, because this is the inmost; whence by the “house of God” in a universal sense is signified the Lord’s kingdom; in a sense less universal, His church; and in a particular sense, the man himself in whom there is the Lord’s kingdom or church. When man is called a “house,” the celestial of faith in him is signified; and when he is called a “temple,” the truth of faith in him is signified; thus here by one “born in the house” those who are celestial are signified. But that “he that is bought with silver” signifies those who are spiritual, is evident from the signification of “silver,” as being truth, thus the spiritual of faith (see Part First, n. 1551).
[2] Those are called celestial who are in love to the Lord; and as the Most Ancient Church, which was before the flood, was in this love, it was a celestial church. Those are called spiritual who are in love toward the neighbor and thereby in the truth of faith, as was the Ancient Church, which was after the flood. The distinction between the celestial and the spiritual has been treated of many times in Part First. Everyone can see that there are heavenly arcana in what is here said, namely, that those born in the house were to be circumcised, and those bought with silver, and also the sons that were strangers; and also from their being repeatedly mentioned (as in verses 13, 23, and 27, which follow); which arcana do not appear except from the internal sense, which shows that by those born in the house and those bought with silver are signified the celestial and the spiritual, thus those who are within the church; and that by “a son that is a stranger who is not of thy seed” are signified those who are outside the church.

sRef Gen@17 @12 S0′ 2049. From every son that is a stranger who is not of thy seed. That this signifies those who are outside the church, is evident from the signification of “son that is a stranger,” as being those who are not born within the church, thus are not in the goods and truths of faith, because not in the knowledges of them. “Sons that are strangers” also signify those who are in external worship (concerning whom, n. 1097); but where this is the meaning, those who are within the church are treated of, whereas in the passage before us the Lord’s church in the universal is treated of, and therefore “sons that are strangers” signify those who are not born within the church, as is the case with the Gentiles. Gentiles, who are outside the church, may be in truths, but not in the truths of faith. Their truths, like the precepts of the Decalogue, are that parents are to be honored, that men are not to kill, steal, commit adultery, or covet things that belong to others; also that the Deity is to be worshiped. But the truths of faith are all doctrinal things concerning eternal life, the Lord’s kingdom, and the Lord Himself, which cannot be known to the Gentiles because they have not the Word.
[2] These are they who are signified by “sons that are strangers who are not of thy seed,” and yet were to be circumcised, that is purified, together with them. This shows that they can be purified, equally with those within the church; as was represented by their being circumcised. They are purified when they reject filthy loves, and live with one another in charity; for then they live in truths, since all truths are of charity; but in the truths already mentioned. They who live in these truths readily imbibe the truths of faith, if not in the life of the body, yet in the other life, because the truths of faith are the interior truths of charity, and they then love nothing more than to be admitted into the interior truths of charity. The interior truths of charity are those in which the Lord’s kingdom consists (see n. 932, 1032, 1059, 1327, 1328, 1366)
[3] In the other life a memory-knowledge of the knowledges of faith is of no avail, for the worst, nay, the infernals, can be in the memory-knowledge of them, sometimes more than others; but that which avails is a life according to the knowledges, for all knowledges have life as their end. Unless knowledges were learned for the sake of life, they would be of no use except that men might talk about them, and thereby be esteemed learned in the world, be exalted to honors, and gain reputation and wealth. From this it is evident that a life of the knowledges of faith is no other than a life of charity; for the Law and the Prophets, that is, the universal doctrine of faith together with all its knowledges, consists in love to the Lord and in love toward the neighbor; as is manifest to all from the Lord’s words in Matthew 22:34-39 and Mark 12:28-35.
[4] But still doctrinal things, that is, the knowledges of faith, are most necessary for forming the life of charity, which cannot be formed without them. This is the life that saves after death, and by no means any life of faith without it; for without charity there cannot be any life of faith. They who are in the life of love and charity are in the Lord’s life, and by no other life can anyone be conjoined with Him. Hence also it is evident that the truths of faith can never be acknowledged as truths, that is, the acknowledgment of them so much talked of is impossible, except outwardly, and by the mouth, unless they are implanted in charity; for inwardly or in the heart they are denied, since, as already said, they all have charity as their end; and if this is not within them they are inwardly rejected. When the exteriors are taken away-as is done in the other life-the interiors are manifest in their true character, in that they are utterly contrary to all the truths of faith. When men have had no life of charity-that is, no mutual love-during their bodily life, it is utterly impossible to receive it in the other life, because they are averse to and hate it, for after death the same life remains with us that we have lived here. When such persons merely approach a society where there is the life of mutual love, they tremble, shudder, and feel torture.
sRef Ezek@44 @7 S5′ sRef Ezek@31 @18 S5′ sRef Ezek@44 @9 S5′ [5] Such persons, although born within the church, are called “sons that are strangers, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh,” who are not to be admitted into the sanctuary, that is, into the Lord’s kingdom; and who are also meant in Ezekiel:
No son that is a stranger, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into My sanctuary (Ezek. 44:7, 9).
Again:
To whom art thou thus become like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? and thou shalt be brought down with the trees of Eden into the lower earth, thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that are slain by the sword (Ezek. 31:18);
where Pharaoh is treated of, by whom are signified memory-knowledges in general (n. 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462); by “the trees of Eden” with which they should go down into the lower earth, are also signified memory-knowledges, but those of the knowledges of faith. All this shows what “the uncircumcised” is in the internal sense, namely, one who is in filthy loves and the life of them.

sRef Gen@17 @13 S0′ 2050. Verse 13. Circumcising he shall be circumcised that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy silver; and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an eternal covenant. “Circumcising he shall be circumcised” signifies that they must wholly remove from themselves the loves of self and of the world; “that is born in thy house, and that is bought with thy silver,” signifies those within the church, of both kinds; “and My covenant shall be in your flesh,” signifies the conjunction of the Lord with man in his impurity, and also a significative rite; “for an eternal covenant,” signifies conjunction.

sRef Gen@17 @13 S0′ 2051. Circumcising he shall be circumcised. That this signifies that they must wholly remove from themselves the loves of self and of the world, that is, that they must do this who are within the church and who are signified by him “that is born in the house,” and by him “that is bought with silver,” is evident from the representation of circumcision,” as being purification from the loves of self and of the world (see above, n. 2039). It is here repeated that they are to be circumcised, and it is said, “circumcising he shall be circumcised,” by which is expressed the necessity, that is, for their being wholly purified from those loves. And as those are signified who are within the church, the “sons that are strangers” are not mentioned here, because by them (as shown above, n. 2049) are signified those who are outside the church.
[2] From the repetition of what was said in the preceding verse concerning those born in the house and those bought with silver, everyone can see that there is a Divine arcanum which is not seen from the sense of the letter. The arcanum is, that purification from those filthy loves is necessary most of all within the church, and this for the reason that they who are within the church are able to render holy things themselves impure, which they who are outside the church-that is, the Gentiles cannot do; so that the danger of damnation is greater in the case of the former. Moreover those who are within the church are able to form principles of falsity contrary to the very truths of faith, and to become imbued with them; whereas those who are outside the church cannot do this, because they are ignorant of these truths. Thus the former can profane holy truths, but not the latter (concerning which more may be seen in Part First, n. 1059, 1327, 1328).

sRef Gen@17 @13 S0′ 2052. That is born in thy house, and that is bought with thy silver. That this signifies those who are within the church, of both kinds-that is, the celestial, meant by “him that is born in the house,” and the spiritual, meant by “him that is bought with silver,” was shown above (n. 2048).

sRef Gen@17 @13 S0′ 2053. My covenant shall be in your flesh. That this signifies the conjunction of the Lord with man in his impurity, is evident from the signification of a “covenant,” as being conjunction (explained above); and from the signification of “flesh,” as being what is man’s own (also explained above, n. 2041: how impure what is man’s own is was also stated there, and was shown in Part First, n. 141, 150, 154, 210, 215, 694, 731, 874-876, 987, 1047). As regards the words “my covenant in your flesh” denoting the conjunction of the Lord with man in his impurity, the case is this: With man there is no pure intellectual truth, that is, truth Divine; for the truths of faith appertaining to man are appearances of truth, to which fallacies of the senses adjoin themselves, and to these the falsities that belong to the cupidities of the love of self and of the world. Such are the truths appertaining to man. How impure these are may be seen from the fact that such things are adjoined to them.
[2] But still the Lord conjoins Himself with man in these impure truths, for He animates and vivifies them with innocence and charity, and thereby forms conscience. The truths of conscience are various, that is, they are according to each person’s religion; and these truths, provided they are not contrary to the goods of faith, the Lord will not do violence to, because the man has been imbued with them, and has regarded them as holy. The Lord breaks no one, but bends him, as may be seen from the fact that in every dogma within the church there are some who are being gifted with conscience, which conscience is a better one in proportion as its truths approach more closely to the genuine truths of faith. As conscience is formed from truths of faith of this kind, it is evident that it has been formed in the intellectual part of man, for it is the intellectual part that receives these truths; and therefore the Lord has miraculously separated this part from the will part-an arcanum not previously known, and concerning which see Part First (n. 863, 875, 895, 927, 1023). That a “covenant in your flesh” also denotes what is significative, namely, of purification, is evident from what has been shown in respect to circumcision in n. 2039.

sRef Gen@17 @13 S0′ 2054. For an eternal covenant. That this signifies conjunction, is evident from the signification of a “covenant,” as being conjunction, explained before. As those are here treated of who are within the church, the “covenant” is again spoken of; and it is here called an eternal covenant, both because it is most especially necessary for those within the church to be “circumcised,” that is, purified from the loves of self and of the world (as shown above, n. 2051); and also because with them there is the nearest conjunction of the Lord and His heaven, since this is effected by means of the goods and truths of faith. There is indeed a conjunction with those also who are outside of the church, but a more remote one, because they are not in the goods and truths of faith (as before said, n. 2049). The church, in the Lord’s kingdom, is circumstanced as are the heart and lungs in man. Man’s interior things are conjoined with his external things by means of the heart and lungs, and from these live all the surrounding viscera. Such also is the case with the human race: the conjunction of the Lord and His heaven is nearest with the church, but more remote with those who are outside of the church, who are circumstanced as are the organs that live by means of the heart and lungs. The celestial are like the heart, and the spiritual are like the lungs. Because of the necessity for the purification of both of these, they who are within the church are here treated of specifically, and the “covenant” is stated twice.

sRef Gen@17 @14 S0′ 2055. Verse 14. And the uncircumcised male, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that soul shall be cut off from his peoples; he hath made vain My covenant. “The uncircumcised male,” signifies one who is not in the truth of faith; “who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin,” signifies who is in the love of self and of the world; “that soul shall be cut off from his peoples,” signifies eternal death; “he hath made vain My covenant,” signifies that he cannot be conjoined.

sRef Gen@17 @14 S0′ sRef Jer@6 @10 S0′ 2056. And the uncircumcised male. That this signifies one who is not in the truth of faith, is evident from the signification of a “male,” as being the truth of faith (see above, n. 2046); the “uncircumcised male” therefore here signifies one who is not in the truth of faith, and who is thereby in what is false. That is said to be “uncircumcised” which obstructs and defiles, as before said. When said of the “male,” it is that which obstructs and defiles truth; and in like manner when it is said of any other subject, it signifies the darkening and contamination of that subject. Thus an “uncircumcised ear” is mentioned in Jeremiah:
Upon whom shall I speak and testify, and they will hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken; behold the Word of Jehovah is become unto them a reproach; they do not desire it (Jer. 6:10);
their “ear being uncircumcised” means that there was no hearkening, and that the Word was a reproach unto them.
[2] Moreover the verse before us treats of those who are within the church, and who are not only in falsity, but also in the impurity of the loves of self and of the world; for these things are said in continuation of what was said before. It is therefore said “the uncircumcised male, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin,” and thus the meaning is falsity conjoined with impurity of life. How great a danger of eternal damnation these are incurring may be seen from what was said above (n. 2051). These words especially signify those within the church who profane the goods and truths of faith, of whom it is said, “that soul shall be cut off from his people;” for these can commit profanation, but not those who are outside the church (as has been shown in Part First, n. 593, 1008, 1010, 1059).

sRef Gen@17 @14 S0′ 2057. Who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. That this signifies who is in the love of self, is evident from what was said above in regard to the signification of being “circumcised,” and of the “foreskin” (n. 2039, 2049, at the end), also as to the signification of “flesh” (n. 2041). The “flesh of the foreskin” here signifies the love of self. Those within the church who are in falsity, and at the same time are in the love of self, are most especially those who profane holy things; but they who are in any other love whatever not so much, for the love of self is the most foul of all, because it is destructive of society, and thus of the human race, as before shown (n. 2045). That it is also diametrically opposed to mutual love, in which heaven consists, and thus is destructive of heavenly order itself, may be seen from the evil spirits and genii in the other life; and also from the hells, in which nothing reigns but the love of self; and because the love of self reigns there, so do all kinds of hatreds, revenges, and cruelties, because these are derived from it.
[2] Mutual love in heaven consists in the fact that they love the neighbor more than themselves, the effect of which is that the whole heaven represents as it were one man; for by means of mutual love all are so consociated by the Lord, and hence it is that the happinesses of all are communicated to each one, and those of each one to all. Consequently the heavenly form is such that everyone is as it were a kind of center, thus a center of communications, and consequently of happinesses, from all; and this in accordance with all the differences of mutual love, which are innumerable. And because those who are in that love perceive the highest happiness in being able to communicate to others that which flows into them, and this from the heart, the communication becomes perpetual and eternal; and on this account, as the Lord’s kingdom increases, so the happiness of each angel increases. As the angels are in distinct societies and abodes, they do not think of this; but the Lord thus disposes all things both in general and in particular. Such is the kingdom of the Lord in the heavens.
[3] Nothing else endeavors to destroy this form and this order than the love of self, and therefore all in the other life who are in the love of self are more deeply infernal than others, for the love of self communicates nothing to others, but extinguishes and suffocates their delights and happinesses. Whatever delight flows into them from others, they receive to themselves, concentrate it within themselves, turn it into the filthiness of self, prevent its going any further, and thus destroy all that tends to unanimity and consociation. From this comes disunion, and consequently destruction. And as every such person desires to be served, courted, and adored by others, and loves no one but himself, hence comes dissociation, which is determined and puts itself forth into lamentable states, so that they perceive nothing to be more delightful than to torture others, in direful modes and by phantasies, from hatred, revenge, and cruelty. When such persons come to any society where mutual love resides, they are cast down of their own accord, like impure and dead weights in a pure and living aura, because all the influent delight is terminated in themselves; and because they exhale a foul idea of self, their delight is there turned into a cadaverous stench, by which they are made sensible of the hell of self, besides being seized with terrible anguish.
[4] From this we can see that it is the nature of the love of self to be destructive not only of the human race (as shown above, n. 2045), but also of heavenly order; and thus that there is nothing in it but impurity, filthiness, profaneness, and hell itself; however little this may appear to those who are in it. They are in the love of self who despise others in comparison with themselves, and hate those who do not favor, serve, and pay a kind of worship to them; and who find a cruel delight in revenge, and in depriving others of honor, reputation, wealth, and life. They who are in the love of self are in these evils; and they who are in these evils may know that they are in the love of self.

sRef Gen@17 @14 S0′ 2058. That soul shall be cut off from his peoples. That this signifies eternal death, is evident from the signification of “soul,” as being life (n. 1000, 1040, 1742); and from the signification of “peoples,” as being truths (see n. 1259, 1260). Thus “peoples” are they who live in truths, that is, angels; and for a “soul to be cut off” from these, is to be damned, or to perish in eternal death.

sRef Gen@17 @14 S0′ 2059. He hath made vain My covenant. That this signifies that he cannot be conjoined, is evident from the signification of a “covenant,” as being conjunction, explained before. Thus to “make the covenant vain,” is to disjoin himself to such an extent that he cannot be conjoined.

sRef Gen@17 @15 S0′ 2060. Verse 15. And God said unto Abraham, Sarai, thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, for Sarah is her name. “God said unto Abraham,” signifies perception; “Sarai thy wife,” signifies here as before truth conjoined with good; “thou shalt not call her name Sarai,” signifies that He will put off the human; “for Sarah is her name,” signifies that He will put on the Divine.

sRef Gen@17 @15 S0′ 2061. God said unto Abraham. That this signifies perception, is evident from the signification of “God’s saying,” in the historical sense, as being in the internal sense to perceive (explained before, n. 1791, 1815, 1819, 1822, 1898, 1919). As another subject here begins to be treated of, namely, that signified by “Sarai” and “Sarah,” and also that signified by the promise of a “son” from Sarah, and by Ishmael’s becoming a “great nation,” it is introduced by a new perception of the Lord, which is expressed by “God said unto Abraham,” as in other places.

sRef Gen@17 @15 S0′ 2062. Sarai thy wife. That hereby is signified truth conjoined with good, is evident from the signification of “Sarai,” as being intellectual truth; and as “wife” is here added, the meaning is, this truth conjoined with good. (That “Sarai,” and “Sarai the wife,” signifies truth conjoined with good, has been shown before, n. 1468, 1901, and in several other places.)

sRef Gen@17 @15 S0′ 2063. Thou shalt not call her name Sarai, for Sarah is her name. That this signifies that He will put off the human, and will put on the Divine, is evident from what was said of Abraham above (verse 5), where occur the words, “thy name shall no more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham,” by which in like manner there is signified that He will put off the human, and will put on the Divine (see n. 2009). For the letter H which was added to the name “Sarah,” was taken from the name “Jehovah,” so that Sarah, like Abraham, should represent the Lord’s Divine; and that thus should be represented the Divine marriage of Good with Truth in the Lord-Abraham representing the Divine Good, and Sarah the Divine Truth-from which should be born the Divine Rational, which is Isaac.
[2] The Divine Good, which is Love, and which in regard to the whole human race is Mercy, was the Lord’s Internal, that is, Jehovah, who is itself: this is represented by Abraham. The truth that was to be conjoined with the Divine Good was represented by Sarai; and this truth when also made Divine is represented by Sarah; for the Lord advanced to union with Jehovah successively, as already said. The truth not yet Divine represented by Sarai, was such when it was not yet so united to good as to be truth from good. But when it was so united to good as to proceed from good, it was then Divine; and the truth itself was then also good, because it was the truth of good. The truth which tends to good in order that it may be united to good, is one thing; and that which is so united to good as to proceed wholly from good, is another. The truth which is tending to good still derives something from the human; but that which is wholly united to good has put off all that is human, and has put on the Divine.
[3] This may be illustrated as before, by what is similar with man. When a man is being regenerated, that is, when he is to be conjoined with the Lord, he proceeds to the conjunction by means of truth, that is, by means of the truths of faith; for no one can be regenerated except by means of the knowledges of faith, which are the truths by means of which he proceeds to conjunction. The Lord goes to meet these by means of good, that is, by means of charity, and adjusts and fits this in to the knowledges of faith, that is, to its truths; for all truths are recipient vessels of good, and therefore the more genuine the truths are, and the more they are multiplied, the more abundantly can good accept them as vessels, reduce them to order, and finally manifest itself; so that at last the truths do not appear, except insofar as good shines through them. In this way truth becomes the celestial spiritual.
As the Lord is present solely in the good which is of charity, the man is in this way conjoined with the Lord, and by means of good, that is, by means of charity, is gifted with conscience, from which he afterwards thinks what is true and does what is right; but this conscience is in accordance with the truths and right things into which the good or charity is adjusted and fitted.

sRef Gen@17 @16 S0′ 2064. Verse 16. And I will bless her, and I will give thee a son from her also; and I will bless her, and she shall be for nations; kings of peoples shall be from her. “I will bless her,” signifies the multiplication of truth; “and I will give thee a son from her also,” signifies the rational; “and I will bless her,” signifies its multiplication; “and she shall be for nations,” signifies the goods thence derived; “kings of peoples shall be from her,” signifies truths from the conjoined truths and goods, which are the “kings of peoples.”

sRef Gen@17 @16 S0′ 2065. I will bless her. That this signifies the multiplication of truth, is evident from the signification of “being blessed,” which is to be enriched with all good and truth (see Part First, n. 981, 1096, 1420, 1422). As it is here said to Sarah that God would bless her, the enrichment or multiplication of truth is signified; for by Sarah, as before shown, is represented and signified the truth of good, which is intellectual truth; and this truth and its multiplication are here treated of. (What intellectual truth is may be seen above, n. 1904.)

sRef Gen@17 @16 S0′ 2066. And I will give thee a son from her also. That this signifies the rational, is evident from the signification of a “son,” as being truth (see n. 489, 491, 533, 1147); and as all that is rational begins from truth, the rational is here signified by a “son.” The Lord’s first rational was represented and signified by Ishmael, born of Hagar the handmaid treated of in the preceding chapter (16). The second rational, treated of here, is represented and signified by Isaac who was to be born from Sarah. The former, that is, the rational represented by Ishmael, was the rational that was afterwards expelled from the house; but this second rational, represented by Isaac, is that which remained in the house, because it was Divine. But concerning this rational, of the Lord’s Divine mercy we shall speak in the following chapter, where Isaac is treated of.

sRef Gen@17 @16 S0′ 2067. And I will bless her. That this signifies its multiplication, that is, the multiplication of the rational meant by the “son,” is evident from the signification of being “blessed,” which is to be enriched with all good and truth (as said just above).

sRef Gen@17 @16 S0′ 2068. And she shall be for nations. That this signifies the goods thence derived, is evident from the signification of “nations,” as being goods (see Part First, n. 1259, 1260, 1416, 1849).

sRef Gen@17 @16 S0′ 2069. Kings of peoples shall be from her. That this signifies truths from the conjoined truths and goods, which are the “kings of peoples,” is evident from the signification of “kings,” as being in general all truths (see above, n. 2015); and from the signification of “peoples,” as also being truths, and in general all things spiritual; for “kings” are predicated of peoples, and not of nations except when nations signify evils (see n. 1259, 1260). In the prophetic Word there is frequent mention of “kings” and “peoples;” but by these are never meant kings and peoples; for in the very Word itself, which is the internal sense, kings and peoples are not treated of at all, but the celestial and spiritual things which belong to the Lord’s kingdom, thus goods and truths. The sense of the letter simply furnishes objective forms (as is done by human words) for causing its meaning to be understood.
[2] As it is here said of Sarah that “kings of peoples shall be from her,” and as by “Sarah” is signified the Divine truth which the Lord had, it is evident that by “kings of peoples” are signified truths from the conjoined truths and goods, which are all truths of the internal church, or the interior truths of faith. These truths, being from the Lord, are called “kings” in various passages of the Word, and also “king’s sons,” as shown above (n. 2015).
[3] Everyone can see that some internal Divine thing lies hidden in the words that “kings of peoples shall be from her”- for in this verse Isaac is treated of, and in reference to him it is said, “I will bless her and she shall be for nations;” but of Sarah, that “kings and peoples shall be from her”-and also in nearly the same thing being said of Abraham (verse 6), in that “kings should come forth” from him; but it is not said of him as of Sarah, that “kings of peoples” should be from him. The arcanum that is herein lies too deeply hidden to be unfolded and described in a few words. From the representation and signification of Abraham as being the Divine Good, and from the representation and signification of Sarah as being the Divine Truth, the arcanum is in some measure evident to the effect that all celestial truth will go forth and will be from the Lord’s Divine Good, meant by “Abraham;” and that all spiritual truth will go forth and will be from the Lord’s Divine Truth, meant by “Sarah.” Celestial truth is that which is with the celestial angels, and spiritual truth is that which is with the spiritual angels; or what is the same thing, celestial truth is that which was with the men of the Most Ancient Church, which was before the flood, and which was a celestial church; and spiritual truth is that which was with the men of the Ancient Church, which was after the flood, and which was a spiritual church. For angels, as well as men of the church, are distinguished into the celestial and the spiritual. The celestial are distinguished from the spiritual by love to the Lord; and the spiritual are distinguished from the celestial by love toward the neighbor.
[4] But concerning celestial truth and spiritual truth no more can be said until it is known what the distinction is between the celestial and the spiritual, or what is the same, between the celestial church and the spiritual church (concerning which see Part First, n. 202, 337, 1577; also what was the quality of the Most Ancient Church, and what that of the Ancient Church, n. 597, 607, 640, 765, 1114-1125, and in many other places; and that to have love to the Lord is celestial, and to have love toward the neighbor is spiritual, n. 2023).
[5] These considerations will suffice to open the arcanum that by the “kings” who should go forth from Abraham, spoken of in the sixth verse, are signified the celestial truths that inflow from the Lord’s Divine Good; and that by the “kings of peoples” who should be from Sarah, spoken of in the present verse, are signified the spiritual truths that inflow from the Lord’s Divine Truth. For the Lord’s Divine good cannot inflow except with the celestial man, because it inflows into the will part, as it did in the case of the Most Ancient Church; but the Lord’s Divine truth inflows with the spiritual man, because it inflows solely into his intellectual part, which in him has been separated from his will part (see n. 2053, at the end); or what is the same, celestial good inflows with the celestial man, and spiritual good with the spiritual man; and on this account the Lord appears to the celestial angels as a Sun, but to the spiritual as a Moon (see n. 1529, 1530).

sRef Gen@17 @17 S0′ 2070. Verse 17. And Abraham fell upon his faces, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall there be born to a son of a hundred years? and shall Sarah that is a daughter of ninety years bear? “Abraham fell upon his faces,” signifies adoration; “and laughed,” signifies the affection of truth; “and said in his heart,” signifies that He so thought; “shall there be born to a son of a hundred years?” signifies that the rational of the Lord’s Human Essence should then be united to His Divine Essence; “and shall Sarah that is a daughter of ninety years bear?” signifies that truth conjoined with good will do this.

sRef Gen@17 @17 S0′ 2071. Abraham fell upon his faces. That this signifies adoration, is evident from the signification of “falling upon the faces,” as being to adore (see above, n. 1999).

sRef Gen@17 @17 S0′ 2072. And laughed. That this signifies the affection of truth, may be seen from the origin and essence of laughter, for its origin is nothing but the affection of truth, or else the affection of what is false, from which come the gladness and merriment that in laughter display themselves in the face, which shows that the essence of laughter is nothing else. Laughter is indeed an external thing that belongs to the body because to the face; but in the Word interior things are expressed and signified by exterior things; just as all the interior affections of the mind are expressed and signified by means of the face, interior hearing and obedience being signified by the ear, interior sight or understanding by the eye, power and strength by the hand and arm, and so on, and in the same way the affection of truth by laughter.
[2] In man’s rational there is truth, which is its chief characteristic, and there is also the affection of good, but this is in the very affection of truth as its soul. The affection of good which is in the rational does not display itself by means of laughter, but by means of a certain joy and consequent pleasurable delight which does not laugh; for in laughter there is usually something that is not so good. The reason why truth is the chief characteristic in man’s rational, is that the rational is formed by means of the knowledges of truth, for by no other means can anyone ever become rational. The knowledges of good are truths, equally as much as are the knowledges of truth.
sRef Gen@18 @13 S3′ sRef Gen@18 @10 S3′ sRef Gen@21 @6 S3′ sRef Gen@21 @3 S3′ sRef Gen@18 @15 S3′ sRef Gen@18 @12 S3′ [3] That “laughter” here signifies the affection of truth, may be seen from its being related that Abraham laughed; and in like manner Sarah, both before Isaac was born, and afterwards; and also from Isaac’s being named from “laughter,” for the word “Isaac” means “laughter.” That Abraham laughed when he heard about Isaac, is evident from this verse, for it is said that Abraham laughed when he heard about a son from Sarah. That Sarah also laughed before Isaac’s birth, when she heard from Jehovah that she should bear a son, is told in the words, “When Sarah heard at the door of the tent, Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am grown old shall I have pleasure? and my lord old? And Jehovah said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, and I am become old? Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was, afraid. And He said, Nay, but thou didst laugh” (Gen. 18:12, 13, 15). And later, when Isaac had been born, “Abraham called the name of his son Isaac” (meaning “laughter”); and Sarah said, “God hath made laughter for me; everyone that heareth shall laugh with me” (Gen. 21:3, 6). Unless “laughing” and the name “Isaac,” meaning “laughter,” involved such things, these matters would never have been related.

sRef Gen@17 @17 S0′ 2073. And said in his heart. That this signifies that he so thought, is evident without explication.

sRef Gen@17 @17 S0′ 2074. Shall there be born to a son of a hundred years? That this signifies that the rational of the Lord’s Human Essence should then be united to the Divine Essence, is evident from the signification of “a hundred” (concerning which see above, n. 1988).

sRef Gen@17 @17 S0′ 2075. And shall Sarah that is a daughter of ninety years bear? That this signifies that truth conjoined with good will do this, is evident from the representation and signification of “Sarah,” as being truth conjoined with good, that is, truth Divine; and from the signification of the number “ninety,” or what is the same, of “nine.” One cannot but wonder that the number “a hundred years,” which was Abraham’s age, signifies that the rational of the Lord’s Human Essence should be united to His Divine Essence; and that the number “ninety years,” which was Sarah’s age, signifies that truth conjoined with good would do this. But as there is nothing in the Lord’s Word which is not heavenly and Divine, so must it be with the very numbers contained in it. It was shown in Part First that in the Word all numbers whatever signify actual things, equally as do all the names (see n. 482, 487, 488, 493, 575, 647, 648, 755, 813, 893, 1988).
sRef 2Ki@25 @4 S2′ sRef 2Ki@25 @1 S2′ sRef Lev@23 @27 S2′ sRef Lev@23 @32 S2′ [2] Now that the number “nine” signifies conjunction, and still more the number “ninety,” which is the product of the multiplication of nine into ten (for “ten” signifies the remains by which conjunction is effected, as is evident from what was said above, n. 1988, at the end), may also be seen from the representatives and significatives which now follow. It was commanded that on the tenth day of the seventh month there should be a day of expiations, and that this should be a Sabbath of a Sabbath; and on the ninth day of the seventh month at evening, from evening even to evening, they should celebrate a Sabbath (Lev. 23:27, 32).
[3] In the internal sense these things signify conjunction by means of remains-“nine” signifying conjunction, and “ten” signifying remains. That a Divine arcanum lies hidden in these numbers, is clearly evident from the months and the days of the year that were to be held holy; as that every seventh day there was a Sabbath; and that every seventh month, as just stated, there should be a Sabbath of a Sabbath; in like manner the seventh year; and also that on the seven times seventh year the jubilee should commence. The case is the same with all other numbers in the Word; as with “three,” the signification of which is nearly the same as that of “seven;” and with “twelve,” which signifies all things of faith; and with “ten,” which signifies the same as “tenths,” that is, remains (see n. 576); and so on. Thus in the passage here quoted from Leviticus, unless the number “ten” and the number “nine” involved arcana, it would by no means have been commanded that this Sabbath of a Sabbath should be on the tenth day of the seventh month, and that on the ninth of the month they should celebrate it. Such is the Word of the Lord in the internal sense, although in the historical sense nothing of the kind appears.
[4] In the same way it is related of Jerusalem that it was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar in the ninth year of Zedekiah, and that a breach was made in the eleventh year, on the ninth day of the month; concerning which we read as follows in the second book of Kings:
It came to pass in the ninth year of the reign of Zedekiah, in the tenth month, in the tenth of the month, came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged until the eleventh year of king Zedekiah; on the ninth of the month the famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land, and a breach was made in the city (2 Kings 25:1, 3-4).
By the “ninth year” and the “tenth month,” and by the “eleventh year” and the “ninth of the month,” when the famine prevailed in the city and there was no bread for the people of the land, is signified in the internal sense that there was no longer any conjunction by means of the things of faith and of charity; “famine in the city and no bread for the people of the land,” signifies that there was nothing of faith and nothing of charity left. This is the internal sense of these words, which does not at all appear in the letter; and such things shine forth from the historical portions of the Word still less than from the prophetical, because the histories so captivate the mind that it is scarcely believed that anything deeper lies hidden within; when yet all things are representative, and the words themselves are everywhere significative. These things are hard to believe, but still they are true (see n. 1769-1772).

sRef Gen@17 @18 S0′ 2076. Verse 18. And Abraham said unto God, Would that Ishmael might live before Thee! “Abraham said unto God,” signifies the Lord’s perception from love; “Would that Ishmael might live before Thee,” signifies that others who are rational from truth should not perish.

sRef Gen@17 @18 S0′ 2077. Abraham said unto God. That this signifies the Lord’s perception from love, is evident from the signification of “saying unto God,” as being to perceive, which has often been explained before. That “Abraham” here signifies the Lord in such a state and at such an age, has been stated above (n. 1989). That the Lord said this from love, is evident, for the affection of love shines forth from the very words when it is said, “Would that Ishmael might live before Thee!” The Lord’s affection or love was Divine, being toward the universal human race, which He willed to completely adjoin to Himself, and to save to eternity, by means of the union of His Human Essence with His Divine Essence (concerning which love, see Part First, n. 1735; and that from this love the Lord continually fought against the hells, n. 1690, 1789, 1812; also that in the union of His Human with His Divine, He regarded nothing but the conjunction of the Divine with the human race, n. 2034).
[2] Love such as the Lord had transcends all human understanding, and is in the highest degree incredible to those who do not know what the heavenly love is in which the angels are. To save a soul from hell, the angels would regard death as nothing, nay, if it were possible they would undergo hell for that soul. Hence it is the inmost of their joy to translate into heaven one who is rising from the dead. But they confess that this love is not one whit from themselves, but that all things of it both in general and in particular are from the Lord alone; nay, they manifest irritation if anyone thinks otherwise.

sRef Gen@17 @18 S0′ 2078. Would that Ishmael might live before Thee! That this signifies that others who are rational from truth should not perish, is evident from the representation and consequent signification of “Ishmael,” as being the rational (explained in the foregoing chapter, where Ishmael is treated of). There are two kinds of men within the church; the spiritual, and the celestial. The spiritual become rational from truth, but the celestial from good. What the distinction between them is may be seen above (n. 2069), and in many places in Part First. The spiritual, who become rational by means of truth, are here meant by “Ishmael;” for “Ishmael” denotes rational truth in its genuine sense, as before shown (n. 1893, 1950, 1951). When this rational truth is being adopted and desired by good, as here by the Lord who is meant by “Abraham,” it signifies what is spiritual, thus the spiritual man, or what is the same, the spiritual church, the salvation of which was desired by the Lord from Divine love (see just above, n. 2077). This is expressed by the words, “would that Ishmael might live before Thee.”

sRef Gen@17 @19 S0′ 2079. Verse 19. And God said, Truly Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name Isaac, and I will set up My covenant with him for an eternal covenant, to his seed after him. “God said,” signifies an answer perceived; “truly Sarah thy wife,” signifies the Divine truth conjoined with good; “shall bear thee a son,” signifies that the rational is from this; “and thou shalt call his name Isaac,” signifies the Divine rational; “and I will set up My covenant with him,” signifies union; “for an eternal covenant,” signifies an eternal union; “to his seed after him,” signifies those who should have faith in the Lord.

sRef Gen@17 @19 S0′ 2080. God said. That this signifies an answer perceived, is evident from the signification of “saying,” as being to perceive (explained just above, n. 2077). And as in the preceding verse we read that “Abraham said,” and this signified perception, and as here we read that “God said,” or answered, it follows that this signifies an answer perceived, or an answer of perception. In all perception whatever there is both a propounding and a reply. The perception of both of these is here expressed in the historical sense by the words “Abraham said unto God,” and “God said.” (That “God said” denotes to perceive, may be seen above, n. 1791, 1815, 1819, 1822, 1898, 1919; and also in this chapter repeatedly.)

sRef Gen@17 @19 S0′ 2081. Truly Sarah thy wife. That this signifies Divine truth conjoined with good, is evident from the representation and the consequent signification of “Sarah,” as being Divine truth conjoined with good, concerning which above (n. 2063).

sRef Gen@17 @19 S0′ 2082. Shall bear thee a son. That this signifies that the rational will be from this conjunction of Divine truth with Divine good, is evident from the signification of a “son,” as being truth, here rational truth (also spoken of above, n. 2066).

sRef Gen@17 @19 S0′ 2083. And thou shalt call his name Isaac. That this signifies the Divine rational, is evident from the representation of Isaac, and also from the signification of his “name” in the internal sense. First, from the representation of Isaac: Abraham, as said in various places before, represents the Lord’s internal man, but Isaac His rational man, and Jacob His natural man. The Lord’s internal man was Jehovah Himself. His rational man, because conceived from the influx of His internal man into the affection of memory-knowledges in the external man (see n. 1896, 1902, 1910), was from the Divine thus conjoined with the Human. Hence the first rational, represented by Ishmael, was human; but it was made Divine by the Lord, and then is represented by Isaac. Secondly, from the signification of his “name:” Isaac was named from “laughter;” and as in the internal sense “laughter” signifies the affection of truth, which affection belongs to the rational, as was shown above (n. 2072), “laughter” here signifies the Divine rational.
[2] The Lord from His own power made Divine all that was human with Him; thus not only the rational, but also the interior and the exterior sensuous part, and thereby the body itself. He thus united the Human to the Divine. That not only the rational, but also the sensuous part, and thus the whole body also, was made Divine and Jehovah, has been already shown, and may be seen by everyone from the fact that He alone rose from the dead as to the body, and sits at the right hand of the Divine power both as to all the Divine and as to all the human. To sit at the right hand of the Divine power, signifies to have all sovereign power in heaven and in earth.

sRef Gen@17 @19 S0′ 2084. And I will set up My covenant with him for an eternal covenant. That this signifies union, and in fact eternal union, is evident from the signification of a “covenant,” as being conjunction; and when it is predicated of the Lord, as being the union of His Divine Essence with His Human Essence, and of the Human Essence with the Divine Essence. (That a “covenant” signifies these things has been shown before, n. 665, 666, 1023, 1038, 1864, and occasionally in this chapter.)

sRef Gen@17 @19 S0′ 2085. To his seed after him. That this signifies those who should have faith in the Lord, is evident from the signification of “seed,” as being faith (explained before, n. 1025, 1447, 1610, 2034). Those are here signified by “seed” who have the faith of love, that is, who have love to the Lord; consequently the celestial, or those who are of the celestial church; for the seed from Isaac is treated of. But they who have the faith of charity, that is, who have charity toward the neighbor-consequently the spiritual, or those who are of the spiritual church-are signified by “Ishmael,” who is treated of in the verse that now follows. (What the distinction is between the celestial and the spiritual, may be seen above, n. 2069, 2078; and also what the distinction is between having love to the Lord and having charity toward the neighbor, n. 2023.)

sRef Gen@17 @20 S0′ 2086. Verse 20. And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: behold I will bless him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him very exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. “As for Ishmael, I have heard thee,” signifies those who are rational from truth, that they are to be saved; “behold I will bless him,” signifies that they would be imbued and gifted; “I will make him fruitful,” signifies with the goods of faith; “and will multiply him,” signifies with the truths thence derived; “very exceedingly,” signifies beyond measure; “twelve princes shall he beget,” signifies the primary precepts of the faith which is of charity; “and I will make him a great nation,” signifies the fruition of goods and their increase.

sRef Gen@17 @20 S0′ 2087. As for Ishmael, I have heard thee. That this signifies those who are rational from truth, that they are to be saved, is evident from the representation of Ishmael in this place, as being those who are rational from truth, or the spiritual (spoken of above, n. 2078); and that they are to be saved, is evident from the signification of “hearing thee,” as may be seen without explication.

sRef Gen@17 @20 S0′ 2088. Behold I will bless him; and will make him fruitful very exceedingly. That this signifies that they should be imbued and gifted with the goods of faith and with the derivative truths beyond measure, is evident from the signification of being “blessed,” of being “fruitful,” and of being “multiplied.” To be “blessed” signifies to be gifted with all goods (as shown in Part First, n. 981, 1096, 1420, 1422). To be “fruitful” denotes the goods of faith with which they should be gifted; and to be “multiplied” denotes the truths thence derived (as also shown in Part First, n. 43, 55, 913, 983).
[2] Who the celestial are, and who the spiritual, it would be too tedious to describe here, and they have been described already (as may be seen n. 81, 597, 607, 765, 2069, 2078, and in many other places). In general, the celestial are those who have love to the Lord, and the spiritual those who have charity toward the neighbor. (What the distinction is between having love to the Lord, and having charity toward the neighbor, may be seen above, n. 2023.) The celestial are those who are in the affection of good from good; but the spiritual are those who are in the affection of good from truth. In the beginning all were celestial, because they were in love to the Lord; and hence they received perception, by which they perceived good, not from truth, but from the affection of good.
sRef John@10 @16 S3′ sRef John@10 @9 S3′ sRef John@10 @14 S3′ [3] But afterwards, when love to the Lord was no longer such as it had been, spiritual men followed, those men being called spiritual who were in love toward the neighbor, or in charity. But love toward the neighbor, or charity, was implanted by means of truth; and thereby they received conscience, and acted in accordance with it, not from the affection of good, but from the affection of truth. Charity, with the spiritual, appears like the affection of good; but it is the affection of truth. From this appearance, charity is still called good; but it is the good of their faith. These are they who are meant by the Lord in John:
I am the door; by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and go out, and shall find pasture I am the good shepherd and I know Mine own, and am known of Mine; and other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice, and there shall be one flock, and one shepherd (John 10:9, 14, 16).

sRef Gen@17 @20 S0′ 2089. Twelve princes shall he beget. That this signifies the primary precepts which are of charity, is evident from the signification of “twelve,” as being all things of faith; and from the signification of “princes,” as being primary things. “King” and “princes” are mentioned in various parts of the Word; but in the internal sense they never signify king or princes, but the primary things of the matter in connection with which they are mentioned. (That “kings” signify truths in one complex has been already shown, n. 2015; also that “princes” are the primaries of truth, which are precepts, n. 1482.) Hence the angels-in fact the spiritual angels-are called “principalities,” because they are in truths. The term “princes” is predicated from the truths which are of charity; for, as before said (n. 1832), the spiritual, by means of the truths that appear to them as truths, receive charity from the Lord, and through this, conscience.
[2] That “twelve” signifies all the things of faith, has been hitherto unknown to the world; and yet whenever the number “twelve” occurs in the Word, whether in the historic or the prophetic part, it signifies nothing else. By the “twelve sons” of Jacob, and derivatively by the “twelve tribes” named from them, the same is signified; and also by the “twelve disciples” of the Lord. Each son of Jacob, and each of the twelve disciples, represented an essential and primary of faith. (What was represented by each son of Jacob, and so by each tribe, will of the Lord’s Divine mercy be told in what follows, where the sons of Jacob are treated of, Gen. 29 and 30.)

sRef Gen@17 @20 S0′ 2090. And I will make him a great nation. That this signifies the fruition of goods and their increase, is evident from the signification of “nations,” as being goods (explained in Part First, n. 1159, 1258-1260, 1416, 1849); and therefore to “make a great nation,” here signifies both the fruition and the increase of goods.

sRef Gen@17 @21 S0′ 2091. Verse 21. And My covenant will I set up with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the following year. “My covenant will I set up with Isaac,” signifies union with the Divine rational; “whom Sarah shall bear unto thee,” signifies the Divine truth conjoined with Good, from which it will come forth; “at this set time in the following year,” signifies a state of union then.

sRef Gen@17 @21 S0′ 2092. My covenant will I set up with Isaac. That this signifies union with the Divine rational, is evident from the signification of a “covenant,” as being union (explained before); and from the representation of “Isaac,” as being the Divine rational (spoken of above, n. 2083).

sRef Gen@17 @21 S0′ 2093. Whom Sarah shall bear unto thee. That this signifies the Divine truth conjoined with the Divine good, from which it will come forth, is evident from the representation of “Sarah,” as being the Divine truth (spoken of before, n. 2063, 2081); and from the representation of “Abraham,” as being the Divine good (treated of, n. 2063, and in several other places).
[2] How the Lord’s first rational was conceived and born, has been stated in the foregoing chapter, where “Ishmael” is treated of, by whom that rational was represented. But here, and also in the following chapter, that rational is treated of which was made Divine by the Lord, and this by the conjunction, as by marriage, of the Divine good with the Divine truth. The first rational cannot be conceived otherwise than by the influx of the internal man into the affection of memory-knowledges in the external man; nor can it be born otherwise than from the affection of memory-knowledges, which was represented by Hagar, Sarah’s handmaid (as shown in the preceding chapter, n. 1896, 1902, 1910, etc.).
[3] But the second or Divine rational is not conceived and born in this way, but by means of the conjunction of the truth of the internal man with the good of the same, and the influx thence derived. With the Lord this was effected of His own proper power from the Divine itself, that is, from Jehovah. As has been repeatedly stated above, His internal man was Jehovah; and the good itself that was represented by Abraham belonged to His internal man, as also did the truth itself that was represented by Sarah, and therefore both were Divine. From this source therefore was the Lord’s Divine rational conceived and born; and in fact from the influx of the good into the truth, and thus by means of the truth; for the chief characteristic of the rational is truth (as before said, n. 2072). On this account it is here said, “whom Sarah shall bear unto thee,” which signifies Divine truth conjoined with Good, from which that Divine rational will come forth; and above (at verse 17) it was said that Sarah was a “daughter of ninety years,” which signifies that the truth conjoined with good shall do this.
[4] With every man whatever because he has been created in the likeness and image of God, the like, but not the equal of this takes place, that is to say, his first rational is also conceived and born by means of the influx of his internal man into the life of the affection of memory-knowledges in his external man; but his second rational, from the influx of the good and truth from the Lord through his internal man. This second rational he receives from the Lord when he is being regenerated, for he then perceives in his rational what the good and the truth of faith are. In man the internal man is above his rational, and is the Lord’s (see n. 1889, 1940).

sRef Gen@17 @21 S0′ 2094. In the preceding chapter, and up to this point in the present one, the subject has been the conception and birth of the rational that appertained to the Lord; and how it was made Divine is also treated of in what follows. But some may suppose that to know these things does not conduce much to faith, provided it is known that the Lord’s Human Essence was made Divine, and that the Lord is God as to both the Human Essence and the Divine Essence. But the case is this: They who in simplicity believe this to be so, do not need to know how it was effected, for knowing how it was effected is simply for the end that they may believe it to be so.
[2] But at the present day there are many who believe nothing unless they know from reason that it is so, as may be clearly seen from the fact that few believe in the Lord, although they confess Him with the lips because this is according to the doctrine of faith. Yet still they say to themselves and to one another that if they knew it could be so they would believe. The reason why they do not believe and yet say this, is that the Lord was born as are other men, and in the external form was like others. These persons cannot possibly receive any faith unless they first comprehend in some measure how it can be so, and this is why these things have been explained. They who believe the Word in simplicity have no need to know all these things, for they are already in the end to which the others just described cannot come except by a knowledge [cognitio] of such things.
[3] Moreover these are the things that are contained in the internal sense, and the internal sense is the Word of the Lord in the heavens, and is so perceived by those who are there. When a man is in the truth, that is, in the internal sense, he can make one as to thought with those in heaven, even though he may be in a relatively very general and obscure idea. The celestial in heaven, who are in faith itself, look at these things from good, and see that they are so; but the spiritual look at them from truth and are also confirmed, and thus perfected, by such things as are contained in the internal sense; but this by thousands of interior reasons which cannot flow perceptibly into man’s idea.

sRef Gen@17 @21 S0′ 2095. At this set time in the following year. That this signifies a state of union then, is evident from what has been said concerning the age of Abraham, in that he was a “son of a hundred years;” and concerning that of Sarah, in that she was a “daughter of ninety years,” when Isaac was to be born; by which was signified that the rational of the Lord’s Human Essence would then be united to His Divine Essence, and that truth conjoined with good would effect this (concerning which see above, n. 1988, 2074, 2075). So that the “following year” is a state of union.

sRef Gen@17 @22 S0′ 2096. Verse 22. And He left off speaking with him; and God went up from over Abraham. “He left off speaking with him,” signifies the end of this perception; “and God went up from over Abraham,” signifies the Lord’s entrance into the former state.

sRef Gen@17 @22 S0′ 2097. He left off speaking with him. That this signifies the end of this perception, is evident from the signification of “speaking” and “saying,” as being in the internal sense to perceive (concerning which several times before); and therefore to “leave off speaking” is to be no longer in such perception.

sRef Gen@17 @22 S0′ 2098. And God went up from over Abraham. That this signifies the Lord’s entrance into the former state, follows from what has been said, and therefore without explication. That during His life in the world the Lord had two states, one of humiliation, and the other of glorification, has been shown before (n. 1603, 2033); and as He had two states, it is evident that He had two states of perception. He was in a state of glorification, that is, of union of the Human with the Divine, when He perceived the things that are contained in the internal sense of this chapter up to this point; but that He was no longer in such perception is expressed by the words, “He left off speaking with him, and God went up from over Abraham.”

sRef Gen@17 @23 S0′ 2099. Verse 23. And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his silver, every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God spoke with him. “Abraham took Ishmael his son,” signifies those who are truly rational; “and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his silver, and every male among the men of Abraham’s house,” signifies here as before those who are within the church, with whom the truths of faith are being conjoined with goods; “and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin,” signifies their purification and righteousness from the Lord; “in the selfsame day,” signifies the state that has been spoken of; “as God spoke with him” signifies in accordance with the perception.

sRef Gen@17 @24 S0′ sRef Gen@17 @23 S0′ 2100. Abraham took Ishmael his son. That this signifies those who are truly rational, is evident from the signification of “Ishmael,” as being those who are rational from truth, that is, the spiritual (see n. 2078, 2087, 2088).

sRef Gen@17 @24 S0′ sRef Gen@17 @23 S0′ 2101. All that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his silver, every male among the men of Abraham’s house. That this signifies those who are within the church, with whom the truths of faith are conjoined with goods, is evident from the signification of “those born in the house,” as being the celestial; from the signification of “those bought with silver,” as being the spiritual; and from these being within the church, as explained above (n. 2048, 2051, 2052); and also from the signification of a “male,” as being those who are in the truth of faith (spoken of above, n. 2046), from all which it is evident that they are meant who are within the church, with whom the truths of faith are conjoined with goods.

sRef Gen@17 @23 S0′ sRef Gen@17 @24 S0′ 2102. And circumcised the flesh of their foreskin. That this signifies their purification and righteousness from the Lord, is evident from the signification of being “circumcised,” as being to be purified from the loves of self and of the world (explained above, n. 2039); also from the signification of “circumcising the flesh of the foreskin,” as being the removal of these loves (also spoken of above, n. 2041, 2053, 2057; where it was further shown that those loves are the sole obstacle to the influx and operation of the good and truth from the Lord, and consequently to the application of the Lord’s righteousness to man).
[2] This whole chapter has treated of the union of the Lord’s Divine Essence with His Human Essence; and concerning the conjunction of the Lord with man by means of His Human Essence made Divine; and also concerning circumcision, that is, purification from the filthy things in man. All these things are in one series, and follow one from another; for the union of the Divine Essence with the Human Essence in the Lord was effected to the end that the Divine might be conjoined with man; and the conjunction of the Divine with man cannot be effected unless man is purified from those loves; but as soon as he is being purified from them, the Lord’s Divine Human flows in, and thus conjoins man with itself. This shows the nature of the Word, namely, that when what is signified in the internal sense is understood, the Word is all connected together in a becoming and beautiful series.

sRef Gen@17 @23 S0′ sRef Gen@17 @24 S0′ 2103. In the selfsame day. That this signifies the state that has been spoken of, is evident from the signification of “day,” as being in the internal sense state (see n. 23, 487, 488, 493, 893).

sRef Gen@17 @24 S0′ sRef Gen@17 @23 S0′ 2104. As God spoke with him. That this signifies in accordance with the perception, is evident from the signification of “God saying” and “speaking,” as being to perceive (see n. 1791, 1815, 1819, 1822, 1898, 1919, 2097).

sRef Gen@17 @24 S0′ sRef Gen@17 @24 S0′ sRef Gen@17 @25 S0′ sRef Gen@17 @26 S0′ sRef Gen@17 @25 S0′ sRef Gen@17 @24 S0′ sRef Gen@17 @26 S0′ 2105. Verses 24-26. And Abraham was a son of ninety and nine years when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. And Ishmael his son was a son of thirteen years when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. In the selfsame day was Abraham circumcised, and Ishmael his son. “Abraham was a son of ninety and nine years,” signifies the state and time before the union of the Lord’s Divine Essence with His Human Essence; “when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin,” signifies when He utterly expelled the evils of the external man; “and Ishmael his son,” signifies those who by virtue of the truths of faith are made rational by the Lord; “a son of thirteen years,” signifies holy remains; “when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin,” signifies, as before, purification; “in the selfsame day,” signifies that it was then; “was Abraham circumcised, and Ishmael his son,” signifies that when the Lord conjoined His Human Essence with His Divine Essence, He also conjoined with Himself all others who become rational from truth, and saved them.

sRef Gen@17 @26 S0′ sRef Gen@17 @25 S0′ sRef Gen@17 @24 S0′ sRef Gen@17 @24 S0′ 2106. Abraham was a son of ninety and nine years. That this signifies the state and time before the union of the Lord’s Divine Essence with His Human Essence, is evident from the signification of “ninety-nine years,” as being the time before the Lord fully conjoined the internal man with the rational (explained above, n. 1988). The Lord’s internal man, as already shown, was Jehovah Himself, that is, the Divine itself; which, when it was united to the Human, was united to the rational; for the human begins in the inmost of the rational, and extends itself thence to man’s external.

sRef Gen@17 @25 S0′ sRef Gen@17 @24 S0′ sRef Gen@17 @26 S0′ sRef Gen@17 @24 S0′ 2107. When he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. That this signifies when He utterly expelled the evils of His external man, is evident from the signification of “being circumcised,” as being to be purified from the loves of self and of the world, or what is the same, from evils; for all evils come from these loves (see above, n. 2039, 2041, 2053, 2057); and that the Lord expelled the evils by His own power, and thereby made His Human Essence Divine, has been abundantly shown in Part First, and now just above (n. 2025).

sRef Gen@17 @25 S0′ sRef Gen@17 @25 S0′ sRef Gen@17 @26 S0′ sRef Gen@17 @24 S0′ 2108. Ishmael his son. That this signifies those who become rational from the truths of faith, is evident from the representation of Ishmael here, as being those who become rational from truth, that is, who become spiritual (see also above, n. 2078, 2087, 2088).

sRef Gen@17 @25 S0′ sRef Gen@17 @25 S0′ sRef Gen@17 @24 S0′ sRef Gen@17 @26 S0′ 2109. A son of thirteen years. That this signifies holy remains, may be seen from the signification of “ten,” as being remains (explained above, n. 576, 1988); and from the signification of “three,” as being what is holy (see n. 720, 901). Thus the number “thirteen,” being composed of ten and three, signifies holy remains. (That numbers in the Word signify actual things, may be seen above, n. 482, 487, 488, 493, 575, 647, 648, 755, 813, 893. What the remains with man are, has been stated above, n. 468, 530, 561, 660, 1050, 1906.)

sRef Gen@17 @25 S0′ sRef Gen@17 @25 S0′ sRef Gen@17 @24 S0′ sRef Gen@17 @26 S0′ 2110. When he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. That this signifies purification, is evident from the signification of “being circumcised,” as being to be purified from the loves of self and of the world (see n. 2039); and from the signification of “circumcising the flesh of the foreskin,” as being the removal of those loves (n. 2041, 2053, 2057).

sRef Gen@17 @26 S0′ sRef Gen@17 @25 S0′ sRef Gen@17 @26 S0′ sRef Gen@17 @24 S0′ 2111. In the selfsame day. That this signifies that it was then, is evident from the signification of “day,” as being time and state (also explained before, n. 23, 487, 488, 493, 893).

sRef Gen@17 @24 S0′ sRef Gen@17 @25 S0′ sRef Gen@17 @26 S0′ sRef Gen@17 @26 S0′ 2112. Was Abraham circumcised, and Ishmael his son. That this signifies that when the Lord conjoined His Human Essence with His Divine Essence, He also conjoined with Himself all others who become rational from truth and saved them, is evident from the representation of Abraham in this chapter, as being the Lord in that state and at that age (see above, n. 1989); and from the representation of Ishmael here, as being those who become rational from truth (explained above, n. 2078, 2087, 2088); and also from the signification of “being circumcised,” as being to be purified (see above, n. 2039), and when predicated of the Lord, to be glorified, and thus to put off the human and to put on the Divine. (That to be glorified is to put on the Divine, may be seen above, n. 2033; and that the Lord then conjoined with Himself those who become rational from truth, that is, the spiritual, may also be seen above, n. 2034, 2078, 2088.)

sRef Gen@17 @27 S0′ 2113. Verse 27. And all the men of his house, he that was born in the house, and he that was bought with silver, from the son that is a stranger, were circumcised with him. “All the men of his house, he that was born in the house, and he that was bought with silver,” signifies all those who are within the church; “from the son that is a stranger,” signifies all who are rational outside the church; “were circumcised by him,” signifies that they were justified by the Lord.

sRef Gen@17 @27 S0′ 2114. All the men of his house, he that was born in the house, and he that was bought with silver. That this signifies all those who are within the church, is evident from the signification of “him that was born in the house,” as being the celestial; and from the signification of “those bought with silver,” as being the spiritual (concerning which above, n. 2048, 2051, 2052); and also that these are they who are within the church, for all who are within the church, that is, all who constitute the church, are either celestial or spiritual; but who the celestial and who the spiritual are, may be seen above (n. 2088). In this last verse of this chapter there is a summary of all that has been said above, namely, that they who have been purified from the loves of self and of the world, both those within the church and those outside the church, are justified by the Lord. Both these classes are called the “men of the house;” for in the internal sense “the house” signifies the Lord’s kingdom (n. 2048).

sRef Gen@17 @27 S0′ 2115. From the son that is a stranger. That this signifies all who are rational outside the church, is evident from the signification of a “stranger,” as being those who are outside the church (explained above, n. 2049), and thus the Gentiles who have not the Word and therefore have learned nothing about the Lord; and that these when rational are just as much saved, that is, when they live together in charity or mutual love, and have gained something of conscience in accordance with their own religion, has been shown in Part First (n. 593, 932, 1032, 1059, 1327, 1328).

sRef Gen@17 @27 S0′ 2116. That they “were circumcised by [ab] him” signifies that they are justified by the Lord, may be seen from the representation and thence the signification of “being circumcised,” as being to be purified (explained above, n. 2039). Their “being circumcised by him,” that is, by Abraham, was also representative, namely, that they are purified and thereby justified by the Lord. But in regard to justification, the case is not as is commonly supposed, namely, that all evils and sins are wiped away and utterly blotted out when men, as they imagine, believe-even if it were their last and dying hour-however they may have lived in evils and in misdeeds during the entire course of their lives; for I have been fully instructed that not the smallest evil which a man during his bodily life has thought and has carried out into act is wiped away and utterly blotted out; but that it all remains, even to the very least of it.
[2] The truth is that with those who have meditated and practiced acts of hatred, of revenge, of cruelty, and of adultery, and who thereby have lived in no charity, the life thence contracted awaits them after death, nay, so do all things of that life both in general and in particular, which return in succession; and from this comes their torment in hell. But with those who have lived in love to the Lord and in charity toward the neighbor, their evils of life also all remain, but they are tempered by the goods which during their life in the world they have received from the Lord by means of a life of charity; and thereby they are uplifted into heaven, nay, are withheld from the evils which they have appertaining to them, so that these do not appear. They who in the other life doubt their having evils with them, because the evils do not appear, are let into them until they know that the case is really so, and then are again uplifted into heaven.
[3] This then is what is meant by being justified; for in this way men come to acknowledge not their own righteousness, but that of the Lord. As to its being said that those are saved who have faith-this is true; but in the Word by “faith” nothing else is meant than love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor, and thus a life from these loves. The doctrinal things and dogmas of faith are not faith, but belong to faith; for they are one and all for the sake of the end that a man may become such as they teach him to be, as may be clearly seen from the Lord’s words that in love to God and love toward the neighbor consist all the law and the prophets, that is, the universal doctrine of faith (Matt. 22:34-39; Mark 12:28-35). (That there cannot possibly be any other faith that is faith, was shown in Part First, n. 30-38, 379, 389, 724, 809, 896, 904, 916, 989, 1017, 1076, 1077, 1121, 1158, 1162, 1176, 1258, 1285, 1316, 1608, 1798, 1799, 1834, 1843, 1844; and also that heaven itself consists in love to the Lord and in mutual love, n. 537, 547, 553, 1112, 2057.)

2117. CONCERNING THE LAST JUDGMENT.
Few at this day know what the Last Judgment is. They suppose that it will come together with the destruction of the world; and this gives rise to the notion that the whole globe will perish by fire, together with all things in the visible world; and that then for the first time the dead will rise again and will be brought to judgment, the evil being cast into hell, and the good ascending into heaven. These conjectures originate in the prophetical statements of the Word-where mention is made of a new heaven and a new earth, and also of the New Jerusalem-those who make them not being aware that in the internal sense such prophetical statements have a totally different meaning from that which appears in the sense of the letter; and that by “heaven” is not meant the sky, nor by “earth” the earth, but the Lord’s church in general, and with everyone in particular.

2118. By the Last Judgment is meant the last time of a church, and also the last state of each person’s life. As regards the last time of the church, it was the Last Judgment of the Most Ancient Church, which was before the flood, when their posterity perished; whose destruction is described by the flood The Last Judgment of the Ancient Church, which was after the flood, was when almost all who were of that church became idolaters, and were dispersed. The Last Judgment of the Representative Church, which succeeded among the posterity of Jacob, was when the ten tribes were carried away into captivity, and were dispersed among the nations; and when later, after the Lord’s coming, the Jews were driven out of the land of Canaan, and were scattered throughout the world. The Last Judgment of the present church, which is called the Christian Church, is what is meant by John in Revelation by the “New Heaven and the New Earth.”

2119. That the last state of each person’s life when he dies, is his Last Judgment, is not hidden from some, but still few believe it; when yet it is a constant truth that every man after death rises again into the other life, and is brought to judgment. But this Judgment takes place as follows. As soon as man’s corporeals grow cold, which takes place after a few days, he is resuscitated by the Lord, by means of the celestial angels, who at first are with him. But if the man is such that he cannot remain with those angels, he is received by the spiritual angels; and afterwards in succession by good spirits, for all who come into the other life are without exception welcome and accepted guests. But as everyone’s desires follow with him, he who had led an evil life cannot stay long with the angels and good spirits, but separates himself from them in succession, until at last he comes to spirits of a life similar in nature to that which he had had in the world. It then appears to him as if he were in the life of his body, and in fact it is in itself a continuation of that life. With this life his judgment begins. After periods of delay they who have lived an evil life go down into hell; while they who have lived a good life are by degrees uplifted by the Lord into heaven. Such is the last judgment of each person, as has been shown from experience in Part First.

2120. As to what the Lord said concerning the last times, that then the sea and the billows shall roar, the sun be darkened, the moon not give her light, the stars fall from heaven, nation rise up against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and more (see Matt. 24:7, 29; Luke 21:25)-these things both in general and in particular signify the state of the church, such as it would be at the time of its Last Judgment. And by the “roaring of the sea” and the “billows” nothing else is signified than that heresies and controversies within the church in general, and in everyone in particular, will be thus in uproar. By the “sun” is meant nothing else than love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor; by the “moon,” faith; and by the “stars,” the knowledges of faith; all of which, in the last times, will be thus darkened, will not give light, and will fall from heaven, that is, will vanish away. The like is said by the Lord also in Isaiah (chapter 13:10). So too by “nation against nation, and kingdom against kingdom,” nothing else is meant than evils against evils, and falsities against falsities, and so on. There were many secret reasons why the Lord spoke in this way. (That the “seas,” “sun,” “moon,” “stars,” “nations,” and “kingdoms” have such a signification, I know with certainty, and have shown in Part First.)

2121. That a Last Judgment is at hand,* cannot be so evident on the earth and within the church as in the other life, whither all souls arrive, and flock together. At this day the world of spirits is full of evil genii and evil spirits, mostly from the Christian world, among whom there reign nothing but hatreds, revenges, cruelties, obscenities, and deceitful machinations. Nor is this the case only with the world of spirits, where souls fresh from the world first arrive, but also with the interior sphere of that world, where those are who have been interiorly evil in respect to their intentions and ends. This likewise is at the present day so crowded that I have wondered there ever could be so great an abundance. For all are not instantly cast down into the hells, because it is according to the laws of order that every such person should return into his life which he had had in the body, and should in this way be brought down by degrees into hell. The Lord casts no one into hell, but everyone casts himself there. The result is that these Worlds of spirits are thronged with a crowd of such spirits, who gather and stay there for a time. By their means the souls who come from the world are frightfully infested. Moreover the spirits who are with man (for every man is governed by the Lord through spirits and angels) are more stirred up than heretofore to bring malign influences to bear upon man, and this to such a degree that the angels who are with him can scarcely avert them, but are compelled to inflow into man from a greater distance. In the other life it is from all this very evident that the last time is at hand.
* This was first published in 1750.

2122. As to what further regards the souls newly arriving from the world, those coming from the Christian world think and plan for scarcely anything else than to become the greatest, and to possess all things; so that all are devoured with the love of self and of the world, which loves are utterly contrary to heavenly order (n. 2057); besides that very many think of nothing but filthy, obscene, and profane things, and among themselves speak of nothing else. They also make nothing of and utterly despise all things that are of charity and faith; and do not acknowledge the Lord Himself; nay, they hate all who confess Him; for in the other life thoughts and hearts speak. Besides all this, on account of the infamous life of parents, hereditary evils are becoming more malignant, and like inward fires fostered in secret, stimulate man to greater profanation of what is honorable and pious than heretofore. At the present day such persons flock in crowds into the other life, and fill to repletion the exterior and interior spheres of the world of spirits, as already said. When evil thus begins to prevail, and the equilibrium begins to incline to the side of evil, it is thereby clearly perceived that the last time is at hand, and that the equilibrium is going to be restored by the rejection of those who are within the church, and the reception of others who are outside.

2123. That the last time is at hand may also be seen from this fact in the other life, that all the good which flows in from the Lord through heaven into the world of spirits, is there turned in a moment into what is evil, obscene, and profane, and that all the truth is turned in a moment into falsity; thus mutual love is turned into hatred, sincerity into deceit, and so on; so that those who are there are no longer capable of perceiving anything of what is good and true; and the like redounds upon man, who is governed through spirits with whom those who are in the world of spirits have communication. The certainty of this I have learned by much experience, which, if all advanced, would fill many pages. I have very frequently been permitted to perceive and hear how what is good and true from heaven is turned into what is evil and false, together with the amount and the nature of the change.

2124. I have been told that the good of the will [bonum voluntarium] that existed in the men of the Most Ancient Church, was destroyed in the antediluvians; and that at the present day, with the men of the Christian Church, the good of the intellect [bonum intellectuale] is beginning to perish, insomuch that there is but little of it left; the cause of which is, that they believe nothing except what they apprehend by the senses; and that at this day men not only reason from the senses, but also, by means of a philosophy unknown to the ancients, reason concerning Divine arcana; whereby intellectual light is altogether darkened; a darkening that is becoming so dense as scarcely to admit of being dispelled.

aRef Gen@2 @9 S0′ 2125. The present quality of the men of the Christian Church was exhibited to my view by means of representations. In a dark cloud there appeared spirits so black that I shuddered, and afterwards others not so horrible; and it was signified to me that I was about to see something. First, there appeared children who were being combed by their mothers so cruelly that the blood ran down; by which was represented that such is the bringing up of little children at this day. Afterwards there appeared a tree which seemed as if it were the tree of knowledge, into which there was seen to climb a great viper, such as to strike one with horror; it appeared to extend all along the trunk of the tree. When the tree with the viper vanished, there appeared a dog; and then a door was opened into an apartment where there was a yellow light as from coals, and there were two women there; it was perceived to be a kitchen, but I am not at liberty to mention what I saw therein. I was told that the tree into which the viper climbed represented the state of the men of the church as they are at this day, in that in place of love and charity they have deadly hatreds that are beset with pretenses of what is honorable, and with deceits, together with wicked thoughts concerning all matters that belong to the faith. But what was seen in the kitchen represented the same hatreds and thoughts in their further developments.

2126. It was further represented how opposed are those now within the church to innocence itself. There appeared a beautiful and innocent little child, at the sight of whom the external bonds by which evil genii and spirits are withheld from abominable deeds were slightly relaxed; and they then began to treat the little child in the most shocking manner-to trample on him, and to will the killing of him, one in one way, and another in another; for in the other life innocence is represented by infants. I remarked that during their bodily life such things do not appear in connection with these men, but it was answered that such are their interiors, and that if the civil laws did not hinder, and also other external bonds, such as the fear of the loss of property, of honor, of reputation, and of their life, they would rush insanely in the same way against all who are innocent. When they heard this answer, they made sport of it also. From what has been said we may see what is the quality of the men of the present day, and also that the last times are at hand.

2127. In the other life there sometimes appears a kind of Last Judgment to the evil when their societies are being broken up; and to the good, when they are being admitted into heaven. Concerning both of these I may relate some things from experience.

2128. The idea of a Last Judgment as presented to the evil, which I have seen two or three times, was as follows. When the spirits around me had combined into mischievous societies, so as to exercise predominance, and did not suffer themselves to be so governed by the law of equilibrium according to order as not to annoy other societies in an excessive manner, and to begin inflicting injury upon them by their overpowering force, there then appeared a band of spirits of considerable magnitude, coming from the quarter in front, a little to the right and above, at the approach of which there was heard a hubbub that as it were rose and fell with a loud roar; and as soon as the spirits heard it they were seized with consternation and terror, the result of which was a confusion; and then the spirits who were in those societies were dispersed, one this way and another that, so that they dissolved away from one another, and no one knew where his companion was. While this lasted, it appeared to the spirits just as if it were the Last Judgment with the destruction of all things. Some uttered lamentations; some from fright as it were lost all heart; in a word, a sense of danger as of a final crisis seized on all.
[2] The sound of those advancing from the quarter in front was heard by them variously; by some as the sound of armed horsemen, and by others otherwise, according to their state of fear and the phantasy it excited. It was perceived by me as a continuous murmur, with undulations rising and falling, and indeed as of many together. I was instructed by those near me that such bands come from that quarter when societies have been evilly combined in this way, and that they know how to dissociate and dissever the one from the other, and at the same time to strike terror, so that nothing is thought of but flight; and that by means of such disjunctions and dispersions all are at last reduced by the Lord into order. I was also told that this is what is signified in the Word by the “east wind.”

2129. There are likewise other kinds of tumults, or rather of conflicts, which also present the idea of a Last Judgment, and by which societies that have been evilly combined in respect to their interiors are dissolved, concerning which I may relate what follows. Such spirits are driven into a state in which they do not think in society or communion in the usual way, but each one for himself. From their thoughts thus at variance, and the confused sound of their jarring speech, an uproar is heard, as of many waters, and a conflict among them, such as cannot be described, that arises from the confusion of opinions concerning fixed and certain truths which are then the subjects of their thoughts and speech, and which uproar is of such a character that it may be called a spiritual chaos.
[2] The sound of the conflicting and confused roarings was threefold. One sound flowed in around the head, and was said to be that of the thoughts. Another sound flowed in toward the left temple, and was said to be the conflict of their reasonings about certain truths in which they were not willing to have faith. The third sound flowed in from above at the right, and was a gnashing one, but not so confused, and the gnashing was turned this way and that, and it was said that this was because the truths that were being turned in this manner this way and that by their reasonings, were in conflict. While these conflicts were going on there were other spirits besides who spoke to me and told me what each thing signified, and their speech penetrated distinctly through those sounds.
[3] The subjects of the reasonings were especially these: whether it is to be understood according to the letter that the twelve apostles are to sit upon twelve thrones and judge the twelve tribes of Israel; also, whether any others are to be admitted into heaven than those who have suffered persecutions and miseries. Each one reasoned according to his phantasy, which he had caught in the life of the body. But some of them who had been brought back into communion and order, were afterwards instructed that the statement concerning the apostles is to be understood in an entirely different manner; namely, by the “apostles” are not meant apostles, nor by “thrones,” thrones, nor by “tribes,” tribes, nor in fact by “twelve,” twelve; but by all these terms-“apostles,” “thrones,” “tribes,” and also by “twelve,” are signified the primary things of faith (see n. 2089); and it is from these and according to them that judgment is effected upon everyone. It was further shown that the apostles cannot judge even one man, but that all judgment is of the Lord alone.
[4] And as regards the other subject of reasoning, neither is this to be understood as meaning that those only are to come into heaven who have suffered persecutions and miseries; but that the rich will enter heaven just as much as the poor, those posted in dignity just as much as those in low condition; and that the Lord has mercy on all, especially on those who have been in spiritual miseries and temptations, which are persecutions by the evil-thus on those who acknowledge that of themselves they are wretched, and who believe that it is solely of the Lord’s mercy that they are saved.

2130. In regard to the second subject, namely, the idea of a Last Judgment as presented to the good when they are being intromitted into heaven, I may relate how the case is. It is said in the Word that the door was shut, so that they could no longer be admitted; and that they had no oil, and came too late, and therefore were not admitted; by which things also there is signified the state of the Let Judgment. How these matters are and are to be understood, has been shown me.
[2] I heard societies of spirits, one after another, saying in a clear voice that the wolf had wanted to carry them off, but that the Lord rescued them, and that so they were restored to the Lord, in consequence of which they rejoiced from the inmost heart, for they had been in despair, and thus in fear, that the door had been shut, and that they had come too late to be admitted. Such thought had been infused into them by those who are called “wolves ” but it vanished on their being admitted, that is, on their being received by angelic societies, for intromission into heaven is nothing else. The intromission was seen by me as though it were made and continued with one society after another up to twelve, and that the twelfth society was intromitted (that is, received) with more difficulty than the eleven that had preceded it. There were afterwards admitted eight additional quasi societies that I was told were of the female sex. When I had seen these things, it was said that this process of admission (that is, of reception) into the heavenly societies presents this appearance, and this continuously, in order, from one place to another; and also that heaven can never to eternity be filled, still less is the door shut; but the more there come thither, the more blessed and happy are those who are in heaven; because the harmoniousness is so much the stronger.
[3] After these had been admitted, it appeared as if heaven were shut; for there were a number more who desired to be intromitted (that is, received) next. But they were answered that they could not be received as yet; which is signified by those who came too late, by the door being shut, by their knocking, and by their lacking oil in their lamps. Their not being admitted was because they were not yet prepared to be capable of being among the angelic societies, where there is mutual love, for, as before said (n. 2119 at the end), they who in this world have lived in charity toward the neighbor are by degrees raised into heaven by the Lord.
[4] There were also other spirits who were ignorant of what heaven is, that it is mutual love, who also desired to be then admitted, supposing that admission is everything; but they were answered that it was not yet their time, but that they would be admitted at another time, when they were ready. The reason that the societies appeared to be twelve, was that by “twelve” are signified all things of the faith, as before said (n. 2129 at the end).

2131. Individuals who are being intromitted are received by the angelic societies with inmost charity and its joy, and all love and friendship are shown them. But when they do not willingly desire to be in the societies to which they first come, they are received by other societies, and this successively until they come to that society with which they are in agreement, in accordance with the life of mutual love which they have; and they remain there until the time when they go forth still more perfect, and are then elevated and exalted thereby into greater happiness-and this from the Lord’s mercy, in accordance with the life of love and charity which they had received in the world. But the transference from one society into another never takes place by their being rejected by the society where they are, but by a certain willingness in themselves, in accordance with a longing that is insinuated into them by the Lord; and because it takes place in accordance with their longings, there is nothing that is not done from freedom.

sRef Matt@22 @13 S0′ sRef Matt@22 @12 S0′ sRef Matt@22 @11 S0′ 2132. As to its being said in the Word that there entered also one who was not clothed in a wedding garment (Matt. 22:11-13), and that he was cast out, it was shown how the case is with this also. There are some persons who during their bodily life have been imbued with the deceit of being able to feign themselves angels of light; and in the other life, when in this hypocritical state, they are also able to insinuate themselves into the nearest heavenly societies. But they do not remain there long, for the moment they perceive the sphere of mutual love there, they are seized with fear and horror, and cast themselves down (and it then appears in the world of spirits as if they had been cast down), some toward the lake, some toward Gehenna, and some into some other hell.

2133. Of the Lord’s Divine mercy heaven has on two or three occasions been so far opened to me that I have heard a general glorification of the Lord, which is of such a nature that a number of societies glorified the Lord together and with one mind, and yet each society did so by itself, with distinct affections and the derivative ideas. It was a heavenly voice, heard far and wide, to an extent so immense that the hearing failed to reach its end (as fails the sight when it beholds the universe), and this was attended with inmost joy and inmost happiness. A glorification of the Lord has also been sometimes perceived like an irradiation flowing down and affecting the interiors of the mind. This glorification takes place when the angels are in a state of tranquillity and peace, for it then flows from their inmost joys, and from their happinesses themselves.

2134. At the end of the following chapter the state of little children in the other life will of the Lord’s Divine mercy be treated of.

sRef Matt@24 @30 S0′ sRef Luke@9 @36 S0′ sRef Luke@9 @35 S0′ sRef John@1 @18 S1′ 2135. PREFACE TO THE 18th CHAPTER.
At the end of the preceding chapter, the subject of the Last Judgment was treated of, and it was shown what is signified thereby, namely, not the destruction of the world, but the last time of the church. When this is at hand, the Lord says that He “will come in the clouds of the heavens, with power and glory” (Matt. 24:30; Mark 13:26; Luke 21:27).
Hitherto no one has known what is meant by the “clouds of the heavens.” But it has been disclosed to me that nothing else is meant than the literal sense of the Word; and by “power and glory” the internal sense of the Word, for in the internal sense of the Word there is glory, since whatever is there is concerning the Lord and His kingdom (see in volume 1, n. 1769-1772).
[2] Similar is the signification of the “cloud” which encompassed Peter, James, and John, when the Lord appeared to them in glory; of which it is said in Luke:
A voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is My beloved Son, hear ye Him; but when the voice had passed, Jesus was found alone (Luke 9:35-36),
where by “Moses and Elias,” who spoke with the Lord, was represented the Word of the Old Testament, which is also called “Moses and the Prophets” (by “Moses,” his books together with the other historical books, and by “Elias” the prophet, all the books of the Prophets); but by “Peter, James, and John,” as in all other places where they are named in the books of the Evangelists, were represented faith, charity, and the good of charity. That they only were present signifies that no others can see the glory of the Lord, which is in His Word than those who are in faith, in its charity, and in the good of charity. Others are indeed able to see, but still do not see, because they do not believe. This is the internal sense in regard to the foregoing two passages; and in various places in the Prophets also, a “cloud” signifies the Word in its letter, and “glory” the Word in its life.
sRef Ps@110 @1 S3′ sRef Matt@22 @44 S3′ [3] The nature and quality of the internal sense of the Word has already been frequently stated, and has been shown in the explication word by word. It was those skilled in the Law in the Lord’s time who least of all believed that there was anything written in the Word concerning the Lord. At the present day, those skilled in the Law know indeed, but it may be that they will believe least of all that there is any other glory in the Word than that which appears in the letter; when yet this is the cloud in which is the glory.

CHAPTER 18.
From this chapter we may see, in an especial manner, what is the nature of the internal sense of the Word, and how the angels perceive it when it is being read by man. From the historical sense of the letter we can understand nothing else than that Jehovah appeared to Abraham under the form of three men; and that Sarah, Abraham, and his lad prepared food for them, namely, cakes made of the meal of fine flour, a “son of an ox,” and also butter and milk; which things, though they are true historicals describing what really took place, are still not so perceived by the angels; but the things which they represent and signify are what are perceived, altogether abstractedly from the letter, in accordance with the explication given in the CONTENTS. Thus, instead of the things historically related in this chapter, the angels perceive the state of the Lord’s perception in the Human, and the communication with the Divine at that time, before the perfect union of His Divine Essence with the Human Essence, and of the Human Essence with the Divine Essence, which state is also that concerning which the Lord thus speaks:
No one hath seen God at any time; the Only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath set Him forth (John 1:18).
[2] And by the various kinds of food here mentioned, the angels perceive nothing but celestial and spiritual goods, concerning which see the explication. Moreover by what is afterwards said concerning the son that Sarah should bear at the set time of another year, they perceive nothing else than that the Lord’s human rational should be made Divine. Lastly, by the things which Abraham spoke with Jehovah concerning the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, the angels perceive nothing else than the Lord’s intercession for the human race; and by five, forty-five, forty, thirty, twenty, and ten, they perceive His intercession for those with whom truths should be adjoined to goods, and who should have goods by means of temptations and combats, or by means of other states. So it is with all other things in the Word, as may be more clearly seen from the explication word by word, where it is shown that in each word similar things are involved in the Word, both Historic and Prophetic.
sRef Ps@110 @1 S3′ sRef Matt@22 @44 S3′ [3] That there is such an internal sense everywhere in the Word, which treats solely of the Lord, of His kingdom in the heavens, of His church on earth and in particular with every man, thus treating of the goods of love and truths of faith, may also be seen by every one from the passages cited by the Evangelists from the Old Testament. As in Matthew:
The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on My right hand, until I made thine enemies thy footstool (Matt. 22:44; compare Ps. 110:1). That these words treat of the Lord, cannot be apparent in the literal sense of the passage cited, as found in David; but yet that no other than the Lord is meant, He Himself here teaches in Matthew.
sRef Micah@5 @2 S4′ sRef Matt@2 @6 S4′ [4] Again:
Thou Bethlehem, the land of Judah, art in no wise least among the leaders of Judah; for out of thee shall come forth a Leader, who shall feed My people Israel (Matt. 2:6; compare Micah 5:2).
They who abide in the literal sense, as do the Jews, know indeed from this passage that the Lord should be born there; but as they are expecting a leader and a king who will bring them back into the land of Canaan, they therefore explain the words found here according to the letter; that is, by the “land of Judah” they understand the land of Canaan; by “Israel” they understand Israel, although they know not where Israel now is; and by a “Leader” they still understand their Messiah; when yet other things are meant by “Judah” and “Israel;” namely, by “Judah” those who are celestial, by “Israel,” those who are spiritual, in heaven and on earth; and by the “Leader” the Lord.
sRef Jer@31 @15 S5′ sRef Hos@11 @2 S5′ sRef Hos@11 @1 S5′ sRef Hos@11 @3 S5′ sRef Matt@2 @15 S5′ sRef Matt@2 @18 S5′ [5] Again in the same:
A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, a cry, and great wailing; Rachel weeping for her children, and she would not be comforted, because they are not (Matt. 2:18; compare Jer. 31:15).
They who abide in the literal sense of these words cannot possibly gather from it what is the internal sense; and yet that there is an internal sense is evident in the Evangelist. Again: Out of Egypt have I called My Son (Matt. 2:15; compare Hos. 11:1).
In Hosea it is said:
When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called My son out of Egypt. They called them, so they went from their faces, and I made Ephraim to go (Hos. 11:1-3). They who know not that there is an internal sense, cannot know otherwise than that Jacob is here meant when he entered into Egypt, and his posterity when they went out from it, and that by Ephraim is meant the tribe of Ephraim, thus the same things that are in the historicals of the Word nevertheless it is evident from the Word of the Evangelist that they signify the Lord. But what the several particulars signify could not possibly be known unless it were disclosed by means of the internal sense.

GENESIS 18

1. And Jehovah appeared unto him in the oak-groves of Mamre, and he was sitting at the door of the tent, as the day was growing hot.
2. And he lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold three men standing over him; and he saw, and ran to meet them from the door of the tent, and bowed himself toward the earth.
3. And he said, My Lord, if I pray I have found grace in thine eyes, pass not I pray from over thy servant.
4. Let I pray a little water be taken, and wash ye your feet, and lie down under the tree.
5. And I will take a piece of bread, and support ye your heart; afterwards ye may pass on; for therefore have ye passed over unto your servant. And they said, So do as thou hast spoken.
6. And Abraham hastened toward the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of meal of fine flour, knead, and make cakes.
7. And Abraham ran unto the herd and took a son of an ox, tender and good, and gave it to the lad, and he hasted to make it.
8. And he took butter and milk, and the son of an ox that he had made, and set before them; and he stood before them under the tree, and they did eat.
9. And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold in the tent.
10. And he said, Returning I will return unto thee about this time of life, and behold Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard at the door of the tent, and it was behind him.
11. And Abraham and Sarah were old, entering into days; it had ceased to be with Sarah in the way as of women.
12. And Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am grown old shall I have pleasure? and my lord old?
13. And Jehovah said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I indeed truly bear, and I am become old?
14. Shall anything be wonderful for Jehovah? At the set time I will return unto thee, about this time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.
15. And Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And He said, Nay, for thou didst laugh.
16. And the men rose up thence, and looked toward the faces of Sodom; and Abraham went with them, to send them away.
17. And Jehovah said, Shall I hide from Abraham that which I do?
18. And Abraham shall surely be for a nation great and numerous, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him.
19. For I know him, because he will command his sons, and his house after him, and they will keep the way of Jehovah, to do righteousness and judgment; that Jehovah may bring upon Abraham that which He hath spoken concerning him.
20. And Jehovah said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah has become great, and because their sin has become very grievous.
21. I will go down I pray, and I will see whether they have made a consummation according to the cry thereof which is come unto Me, and if not I will know.
22. And the men looked forth thence, and went toward Sodom; and Abraham as yet he was standing before Jehovah.
23. And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt Thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
24. Peradventure there be fifty righteous in the midst of the city; wilt Thou also destroy and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous that are in the midst of it?
25. Be it far from Thee to do according to this thing, to cause the righteous to die with the wicked, so that the righteous be as the wicked; be it far from Thee; shall not the Judge of all the earth do judgment?
26. And Jehovah said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous in the midst of the city, I will spare all the place for their sake.
27. And Abraham answered and said, Behold I pray I have taken upon me to speak unto my Lord, and I am dust and ashes.
28. Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous; wilt Thou destroy all the city for five? and He said, I will not destroy it, if I find there forty and five.
29. And he added yet to speak unto Him, and said, Peradventure forty shall be found there; and He said, I will not do it for forty’s sake.
30. And he said, Oh let not my Lord be angry, and I will speak: peradventure thirty shall be found there; and He said, I will not do it if I find thirty there.
31. And he said, Behold I pray I have taken upon me to speak unto my Lord: peradventure twenty shall be found there; and He said, I will not destroy it for twenty’s sake.
32. And he said, Oh let not my Lord be angry, and I will speak but this once: peradventure ten shall be found there; and He said, I will not destroy it for ten’s sake.
33. And Jehovah went when He had completed His speaking unto Abraham; and Abraham returned unto his place.

sRef Gen@18 @5 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @4 S0′ sRef John@1 @18 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @3 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @2 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @1 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @0 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @6 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @7 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @8 S0′ 2136. THE CONTENTS.
In the first place, this chapter treats concerning the Lord’s state of perception in the Human and concerning the communication with the Divine at that time, before the perfect union of His Human Essence with the Divine Essence, which state is also that in regard to which the Lord says, “No one hath seen God at any time, the Only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father” (John 1:18).

sRef Gen@18 @3 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @1 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @2 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @0 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @8 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @5 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @7 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @6 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @4 S0′ 2137. The Lord’s state of perception in the Human at that time is signified by the “oak-groves of Mamre” (verse 1); and that in this state He perceived the Divine which was manifesting itself before His Human (verse 2); at which He rejoiced (verse 3); and desired that the Divine should draw nearer to His Human by putting on something natural (verse 4), and His Human nearer to the Divine by putting on the celestial (verse 5). The celestial and the derivative spiritual, which He put on, are signified by the “three measures of meal of fine flour” of which the cakes were made (verse 6); and that He also put on a conforming natural, is signified by the “son of an ox” (verse 7); the result being conformation, and a communication of the Divine with the Human, and of the Human with the Divine (verse 8).

sRef Gen@18 @0 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @12 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @10 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @9 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @14 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @11 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @13 S0′ 2138. In the second place, this chapter treats concerning the Lord’s perception in that state respecting the rational with Him, in that it would put off the Human, and be made Divine.

sRef Gen@18 @9 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @0 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @13 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @14 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @11 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @12 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @10 S0′ 2139. That the rational would be made Divine, is signified by the “son” whom Sarah was to bear (verse 10). That the human rational truth that was with the Lord did not perceive this, and thus did not believe it, is signified by Sarah’s “laughing” at the door of the tent that was behind him (verses 10-13, 15). It is confirmed that the Lord would put off this also, and would put on in its place truth Divine (verse 14).

sRef Gen@18 @29 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @28 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @25 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @26 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @27 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @33 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @31 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @32 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @30 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @0 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @16 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @20 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @15 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @22 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @17 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @18 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @19 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @23 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @24 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @21 S0′ 2140. In the third place, the chapter treats concerning the Lord’s grief and anxiety over the human race, because men were so greatly imbued with the love of self, and from this with the cupidity of exercising command over others from what is evil and false, for whom in that state He interceded, and obtained that those should be saved with whom there should be goods and truths; and who these are, is recounted in order.

sRef Gen@18 @0 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @33 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @19 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @18 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @15 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @24 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @25 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @17 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @16 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @29 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @21 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @27 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @22 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @28 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @31 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @26 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @20 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @30 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @23 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @32 S0′ 2141. The Lord’s perception concerning the human race, that it was in evil and falsity, “Sodom” being the love of self and the derivative cupidity of exercising command from what is evil, and “Gomorrah” being the same from what is false (verses 16, 20). That this could not be concealed from the Lord in that state, because by Him and from Him is all salvation (verses 17-19); that is to say, they were to be visited when their wickedness reached its height (verses 20-21). That when He was in this perception (verse 22), He interceded for them; first for those with whom there should be truths, and these truths full of goods, who are signified by the “fifty” (verses 23-26); also for those with whom there should be less of good, but this good nevertheless conjoined with truths, who are signified by the “forty-five” (verses 27-28); next for those who have been in temptations, who are signified by the “forty” (verse 29); as likewise for those who have been in some combats against evils, who are signified by the “thirty” (verse 30); afterwards for those with whom there should be states of the affection of good from any other source, who are signified by the “twenty” (verse 31); lastly for those with whom there should be states of the affection of truth, who are signified by the “ten” (verse 32); and the constant answer was that they should be saved (verses 26, 28-32). These things being accomplished, the Lord returned into His former state of perception (verse 33). These are the arcana contained in the internal sense of this chapter, which are not manifest from the letter.

sRef Gen@18 @1 S0′ 2142. THE INTERNAL SENSE
Verse 1. And Jehovah appeared unto him in the oak groves of Mamre, and he was sitting at the door of the tent, as the day was growing hot. “Jehovah appeared unto him,” signifies the Lord’s perception; “in the oak-groves of Mamre,” signifies the quality of the perception; “he was sitting at the door of the tent,” signifies the holiness which at that time appertained to Him; “as the day was growing hot,” signifies from love.

sRef Gen@18 @1 S0′ 2143. Jehovah appeared unto him. That this signifies the Lord’s perception, may be seen from the fact that the historicals of the Word are merely representative, and the words therein significative, of those things which are in the internal sense. In the internal sense of the passage before us the subject treated of is the Lord and His perception, which perception was represented by the appearing to Abraham of Jehovah; for such is the representative nature in the historicals of the Word of every appearing, of every discourse, and of every deed. But what they represent does not appear unless the historicals are attended to simply as objects, like those of sight, from which there is given the occasion and the opportunity for thinking about things more lofty; for instance, from gardens, as we behold them, for thinking about fruits, their uses, and also the derivative delight of life, and, still more loftily, about paradisal or heavenly happiness. When such things are thought of, the several objects of the garden are indeed seen, but so slightly that they are not attended to. The case is the very same with the historicals of the Word, for when the celestial and spiritual things that are in the internal sense of these historicals are thought of, these, together with the words themselves, are attended to just as little.

sRef Gen@18 @1 S0′ 2144. In the oak-groves of Mamre. That this signifies the quality of the perception, is evident from the representation and signification of “oak-groves,” and also from the representation and signification of “Mamre.” What “oak-groves” represented and signified in general was shown in volume 1 (n. 1442-1443); and what “the oak-groves of Mamre” represented and signified specifically (n. 1616), namely, perceptions, but such as are human from memory-knowledges [scientific], and from the first rational things thence derived.
[2] What perception is, is at this day utterly unknown, because at this day no one has perception like that of the ancients, especially like that of the most ancients; for these latter knew from perception whether a thing was good, and consequently whether it was true. There was an influx into their rational from the Lord through heaven, whereby, when they thought about any holy thing, they instantly perceived whether it was so, or was not so. Such perception afterwards perished with man, when he began to be no longer in heavenly ideas, but solely in worldly and corporeal ones; and in place of it there succeeded conscience, which also is a kind of perception; for to act contrary to conscience and according to conscience is nothing else than to perceive from it whether a thing is so or is not so, or whether it is to be done.
[3] But the perception of conscience is not from good that flows in, but it is from the truth that from infancy has been implanted in the rational of men in accordance with the holy of their worship, and which has afterwards been confirmed, for this alone do they in such case believe to be good. Hence it is that conscience is a kind of perception, but from such truth; and when charity and innocence are insinuated into this truth by the Lord, there comes into existence the good of this conscience. From these few observations we can see what perception is. But between perception and conscience there is much difference. (See what is said about perception in volume 1, n. 104, 125, 371, 483, 495, 503, 521, 536, 597, 607, 784, 865, 895, 1121, 1616; about the perception of spirits and angels, n. 202-203, 1008, 1383-1384, 1390-1392, 1394, 1397, 1504; and that the learned do not know what perception is, n. 1387.)
[4] As regards the Lord when He lived in the world, all His thought was from Divine perception, because He alone was a Divine and Celestial Man; for He was the only one in whom was Jehovah Himself, from whom was His perception (as to which see also in volume 1, n. 1616, 1791). His perceptions were more and more interior in proportion as He approached more nearly to union with Jehovah. Of what quality His perception was at the time here treated of, may be seen from what has been said about the oak-groves of Mamre in volume 1 (n. 1616); and of what quality it became when He perceived the things that are contained in this chapter, is described in what now follows.

sRef Gen@18 @1 S0′ 2145. He was sitting at the door of the tent. That this signifies the holy which at that time appertained to Him, namely, the holy of love-which is signified by the day growing hot, as explained in what follows-is evident from the signification of a “tent,” as being what is holy (see n. 414, 1102, 1566, where also the reason of this signification of “tents” is explained). As the Lord was then in the perception which is signified by the oak-groves of Mamre, which is a lower rational perception, but yet is a perception more internal than that which is signified by the oak-grove of Moreh (concerning which see n. 1442, 1443), it is here represented and therefore signified by His sitting at the door of the tent, that is, at the entrance to what is holy. How the case is with perceptions, as being less or more interior, may be illustrated by the perceptions of the most ancient people, from whom I have heard that the more they were in memory-knowledges from the things which are objects of hearing and sight, the lower were their perceptions; but that the more they were uplifted above them to the celestial things of charity and love, the more interior their perceptions were, because they were then nearer to the Lord.

sRef Gen@18 @1 S0′ 2146. As the day was growing hot. That this signifies from love, is evident from the signification of “heat,” as being in the internal sense love; and since heat belongs either to the day or to the year, love is represented either by the heat of the day or by the heat of the year, according to what is related in the historicals. That “heat” signifies love may be seen from the fact that love is called spiritual heat, and that growing warm is predicated of all affection, even in common speech; and further from the fact that love and its affections, in man’s interiors, as also in his exteriors, and even in his very corporeals, make themselves manifest under the guise of heat; in fact heat has no other origin in connection with man when it flows forth from his interiors. Such however as is the love, such is the heat. Celestial love and spiritual love are what give genuine heat. All other heat, namely, that which is from the loves of self and of the world, and also from other filthy loves, is unclean, and in the other life sinks into what is excrementitious (see n. 1773). Be it known moreover that holiness is never predicated except of love and charity; not of faith except insofar as love and charity are in the truths of faith. Except from this the truths of faith are not holy. (See what was said before, n. 2049.)

sRef Gen@18 @2 S0′ 2147. Verse 2. And he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and behold three men standing over him; and he saw them, and ran to meet them from the door of the tent, and bowed himself toward the earth. “He lifted up his eyes,” signifies that He saw within Himself; “and behold three men standing over him,” signifies the Divine Itself, the Divine Human, and the Holy proceeding; “and he saw them,” signifies when He observed this; “and ran to meet them,” signifies that in thought He approached nearer to the things that were being perceived; “from the door of the tent,” signifies from the holy which at that time appertained to the Lord; “and bowed himself toward the earth,” signifies the effect of humiliation, from the consequent joy.

sRef Gen@18 @2 S0′ 2148. He lifted up his eyes. That this signifies that the Lord saw within Himself, is evident from the signification of “lifting up the eyes.” By “eyes” in the Word is signified the interior sight, or the understanding, as may be seen from the passages cited above (n. 212). Hence to “lift up the eyes” means to see and perceive things which are above self. Things that are interior are expressed in the Word by those which are higher, as “looking upward,” “lifting up the eyes to heaven,” “thinking high things,” the reason of which is that man supposes heaven to be on high, or above himself; when yet it is not on high, but is in things internal-as when a man is in the celestial things of love, his heaven is then within him (see n. 450). From this it follows that to “lift up the eyes” signifies to see within oneself.

sRef Gen@18 @2 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @32 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @33 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @17 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @21 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @20 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @19 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @3 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @15 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @31 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @30 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @29 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @28 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @27 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @25 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @26 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @13 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @23 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @10 S0′ 2149. Behold three men standing over him. That this signifies the Divine Itself, the Divine Human, and the Holy proceeding, may be seen without explication; for it is known to everyone that there is a Trine, and that this Trine is a One.* That it is a One is plainly evident in this chapter, to wit, in verse 3, where it is said, “He said, My Lord, if I pray I have found grace in Thine eyes, pass Thou not, I pray,” which words were addressed to the three men. And further, in verse 10, “And he said, Returning I will return unto thee.” In verse 13, “And Jehovah said unto Abraham.” In verse 15, “He said, Nay, but thou didst laugh.” In verse 17, “And Jehovah said, Shall I hide from Abraham that which I do?” In verse 19, “Because I have known him.” In verse 20, “And Jehovah said.” In verse 21, “I will go down, and I will see whether they have made a consummation according to the cry thereof which is come unto Me; and if not, I will know.” In verse 23, Abraham said, “Wilt Thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?” In verse 25, “Be it far from Thee to do according to this thing; be it far from Thee.” In verse 26, “And Jehovah said, If I find fifty righteous I will spare the whole place for their sake.” In verse 27, “I have taken upon me to speak unto my Lord.” In verse 28, “Wilt Thou destroy the whole city for five? And He said, I will not destroy it, if I find there forty and five.” In verse 29, “He added yet to speak unto Him; He said, I will not do it for forty’s sake.” In verse 30, “Let not my Lord be angry; He said, I will not do it if I find thirty there.” In verse 31, “He said, I have taken upon me to speak unto my Lord; He said, I will not destroy it for twenty’s sake.” In verse 32, “Let not I pray my Lord be angry; and He said, I will not destroy it for ten’s sake.” And in verse 33, “And Jehovah went when He had left off speaking to Abraham.” From all this it may be seen that by the three men who appeared to Abraham was signified the Divine Itself, the Divine Human, and the Holy proceeding; and that this Trine is in itself a One. In the internal sense the subject here treated of is Jehovah, in that He appeared to the Lord, and that the Lord perceived this; but not by an appearing such as there was to Abraham; for it is historically true that three men were seen by Abraham, but this represents the Divine perception, or the perception from the Divine which the Lord had when in the Human, which perception is treated of in what follows.
* That is, a complex whole which constitutes a unity. [Reviser.]

sRef Gen@18 @2 S0′ 2150. And he saw them. That this signifies when the Lord observed this, is evident from the signification of “seeing” in the internal sense, as being to understand and observe, and also to be illuminated (see n. 1584). Nothing is more common in the Word than for “seeing” to have this signification. The signification here is that the Lord observed a perception from the Divine to be present, as just stated.

sRef Gen@18 @2 S0′ 2151. And Abraham ran to meet them. That this signifies that the Lord approached nearer to the things which were perceived, is evident from the series of things in the internal sense; for the preceding verse treats of the Lord’s perception, in which He then was; this verse treats of His observing the perception to be from the Divine, and here now His approaching nearer to it is represented and thus signified by his running to meet them.

sRef Gen@18 @2 S0′ 2152. From the door of the tent. That this signifies from the holy which then appertained to the Lord, is evident from the signification of a “tent,” as being what is holy, and from the signification of the “door,” as being the entrance into what is holy (explained above, n. 2145).

sRef Gen@18 @2 S0′ 2153. And bowed himself toward the earth. That this signifies the effect of the humiliation from the consequent joy, is evident from the signification of “bowing himself,” as being to humble. Just as all interior affections have gestures corresponding to them in outward or bodily motions, which gestures are the effects of the affections as their effecting causes, so the action of humbling oneself has humiliation and also prostration. That this prostration was from joy is evident, because He observed, as before said, the perception to be from the Divine. The state of the Lord’s humiliation when He was in the Human, has already been treated of in various places, and of the Lord’s Divine mercy shall be further treated of in this chapter.

sRef Gen@18 @3 S0′ 2154. Verse 3. And he said, My Lord, if I pray I have found grace in Thine eyes, pass not I pray from Thy servant. “And he said,” signifies that the Lord so thought; “My Lord,” signifies the Trine in a One; “if I pray I have found grace in Thine eyes,” signifies the deference of the Lord’s state when He noticed that perception; “pass not I pray from Thy servant,” signifies that He intensely desired that what He began to perceive should not pass away. The “servant” is the human that appertained to the Lord before it was made Divine.

sRef Gen@18 @3 S0′ 2155. He said. That this signifies that the Lord so thought, is evident from the signification of “saying,” when found in the historical sense, as being to perceive (see n. 1898, 1919, 2080).

sRef Gen@18 @22 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @27 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @13 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @32 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @33 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @3 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @14 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @30 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @31 S0′ 2156. My Lord. That this signifies the Trine in a One, namely, the Divine Itself, the Divine Human, and the Holy proceeding, which Trine is in a One, is evident from its being here said “Lord,” in the singular number. So too in verses 27, 31, “Behold I pray I have taken upon me to speak unto my Lord,” and in verses 30, 32, “Let not I pray my Lord be angry.” The three men are also called “Jehovah,” in verse 13, “Jehovah said unto Abraham;” in verse 14, “Shall anything be wonderful for Jehovah?” in verse 22, “Abraham was yet standing before Jehovah;” and in verse 33, “And Jehovah went when He left off speaking to Abraham.” Hence it is evident that the three men (that is, the Divine Itself, the Divine Human, and the Holy proceeding), are the same as the Lord, and the Lord the same as Jehovah. In the Christian Faith, called the Creed, the same is acknowledged, where it is said in plain words, “There are not three Uncreate, nor three Infinite, nor three Eternal, nor three Almighty, nor three Lords, but One.” There are none who separate this Trine which is in a One except those who say that they acknowledge one Supreme Existence [Ens], the Creator of the Universe; which is forgiven those who are outside of the church. But they who are within the church, and say this, although they say it and sometimes think it, do not in fact acknowledge any God; still less do they acknowledge the Lord.

sRef Gen@18 @3 S0′ 2157. If I pray I have found grace in Thine eyes. That this signifies the deference of the Lord’s state when He observed that perception, may be seen from the affection of humiliation which there is in these very words; and also in those which directly follow-“Pass not I pray from over Thy servant”-in which likewise there is humiliation. In every particular in the Word there are both affection and subject matter. The celestial angels perceive the Word such as it is in the internal sense as to the affection; but the spiritual angels perceive it such as it is in the internal sense as to the matter. Those who perceive the Word in the internal sense as to the affection, pay no attention to the words which belong to the matter, but form for themselves ideas from the affection and its series, and this with endless variety. Here for example at the words, “If I pray I have found grace in Thine eyes, pass not I pray from over Thy servant,” they perceive the Lord’s state of humiliation in the Human, but only the affection of the humiliation. From this, in a manner, variety, and abundance inexpressible, they form for themselves celestial ideas, which can scarcely be called ideas, but rather so many lights of affections and perceptions, which follow in a continuous series, in accordance with the series of the affection of the things contained in the Word that is being read.
sRef Gen@33 @10 S2′ sRef Gen@30 @27 S2′ [2] This shows that the perception, thought, and speech of the celestial angels are more ineffable and much richer than the perception, thought, and speech of the spiritual angels, the latter being simply determined to the subject matter [rem], in accordance with the series of the expressions. (That the speech of the celestial angels is of this nature, may be seen in volume 1, n. 1647.) Hence it is that these words, “If I pray I have found grace in Thine eyes,” in the celestial sense signify the deference of the Lord’s state when He observed that perception. Moreover to “find grace in thine eyes” was a customary mode of speech for every expression of deference; as may be seen from Laban’s deference to Jacob:
Laban said unto him, If I pray I have found grace in thine eyes (Gen. 30:27);
also from Jacob’s deference to Esau:
Jacob said, Nay, I pray, if I pray I have found grace in thine eyes (Gen. 33:10); and in like manner elsewhere in the Word.

sRef Gen@18 @3 S0′ 2158. Pass not I pray from over Thy servant. That this signifies that He intensely desired, appears from what has just been said, the case being much the same, namely, that here also there is deference, which is expressed in this way, and at the same time the affection of desire that what He began to perceive should not pass away.

sRef Luke@8 @20 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @3 S0′ sRef Luke@8 @21 S0′ sRef Mark@3 @32 S1′ sRef Mark@3 @33 S1′ sRef Mark@3 @35 S1′ sRef Mark@3 @34 S1′ 2159. That the “servant” denotes the human that appertained to the Lord, before it was made Divine, may be seen from many passages in the Prophets. The reason is-as already shown several times-that until He had put it off and made it Divine the human that appertained to the Lord was merely a servant. The human that appertained to Him was from the mother, thus was infirm, having with it from the mother an hereditary which by means of the combats of temptations He overcame and utterly expelled, insomuch that nothing was left of that which was infirm and hereditary from the mother, nay, at last there remained not anything whatever from the mother. Thus He entirely put off all that was from the mother, and therefore was no longer her son, as also He himself says in Mark:
They said unto Him, Behold Thy mother and Thy brethren without seek for Thee: and He answered them, saying, Who is My mother, or My brethren? And looking round on them that sat about Him, He said, Behold My mother and My brethren; for whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is My brother, and My sister, and My mother (Mark 3:32-35; Matt. 12:46-49; Luke 8:20, 21).
[2] And when He had put off this human, He put on the Divine Human, from which He called Himself the “Son of man,” as we find many times in the Word of the New Testament; and also the “Son of God;” and by the “Son of man” He meant the truth itself, and by the “Son of God” the good itself, which belonged to His Human Essence when this was made Divine. The former state was that of the Lord’s humiliation, but the latter that of His glorification (treated of before, n. 1999).
sRef Isa@37 @35 S3′ [3] In the former state, namely, that of humiliation, when as yet He had appertaining to Him an infirm human, He adored Jehovah as one other than Himself, and indeed like a servant; for relatively to the Divine the human is nothing else, on which account in the Word the term “servant” is predicated of that human, as in Isaiah:
I will defend this city to save it, for Mine own sake, and for My servant David’s sake (Isa. 37:35),
where the Assyrians are treated of, in whose camp a hundred and eighty-five thousand were smitten by an angel. “David” denotes the Lord, who, as He was to come, in respect to the human is called a “servant.” (That in the Word “David” denotes the Lord, may be seen above, n. 1888.)
sRef Isa@42 @1 S4′ sRef Isa@42 @19 S4′ [4] In the same Prophet:
Behold My servant upon whom I will lean; My chosen, My soul is well pleased. I have put My spirit upon him; he shall bring forth judgment unto the nations (Isa. 42:1),
manifestly concerning the Lord, of whom, when He was in the human, the terms “servant” and “chosen” are predicated.
Again:
Who is blind but My servant? and deaf, as the angel I will send? who is blind as the perfect one, and blind as the servant of Jehovah? (Isa. 42:19),
where also the Lord is spoken of; and of whom in like manner the terms “servant” and “angel” are predicated when He was in the human.
sRef Isa@49 @5 S5′ sRef Isa@49 @6 S5′ sRef Isa@43 @10 S5′ sRef Isa@50 @10 S5′ [5] Again:
Ye are My witnesses, saith Jehovah, and My servant whom I have chosen; that ye may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He (Isa. 43:10).
Again:
Said Jehovah, My Former from the womb to be His servant; to bring Jacob again unto Him, and that Israel be gathered unto Him; and He said, Thou art a slight thing that thou shouldest be My servant, to set up the tribes of Jacob I have given thee for a light of the nations to be My salvation unto the extremity of the earth (Isa. 49:5, 6),
where also the Lord and His human are manifestly treated of before He was made the “light of the nations,” and “salvation unto the extremity of the earth.” Again:
Who is among you that feareth Jehovah, that heareth the voice of His servant, who walketh in darkness, and hath no brightness? let him trust in the name of Jehovah, and lean upon His God (Isa. 50:10).
“Servant” here also denotes the human that appertained to the Lord; and that He was in this human and taught the way of truth, is the “voice of the servant of Jehovah.”
sRef Isa@53 @3 S6′ sRef Isa@52 @13 S6′ sRef Isa@53 @10 S6′ sRef Isa@53 @11 S6′ sRef Isa@52 @12 S6′ sRef Isa@53 @2 S6′ [6] Again:
Jehovah goeth before you, and the God of Israel gathereth you. Behold, My servant shall act prudently, he shall be lifted up, and shall be exalted, and shall be raised up exceedingly (Isa. 5212, 13).
It is evident that “servant” is here predicated of the Lord when He was in the human; for it is said of Him that He “shall be lifted up, exalted, and raised up.” Again:
He hath no form and no honor; we saw him, but there was no appearance; He was despised, a man of sorrows, acquainted with disease. Jehovah willed to bruise him; He made him infirm; if he shall make his soul guilt, he shall see seed, he shall prolong days, and the will of Jehovah shall prosper by his hand; he shall see of the labor of his soul, he shall be satisfied; by his knowledge shall My righteous servant justify many; and he himself hath carried their iniquities (Isa;. 53:2, 3, 10, 11).
Here, as in the whole of this chapter, the Lord’s state of humiliation is openly treated of; and it is also said that He was then in an infirm human, namely, that He was a “man of sorrows, acquainted with disease, infirm, was in the labor of His soul,” besides a number of other statements, in which state He is called “servant.”

sRef Gen@18 @4 S0′ 2160. Verse 4. Let I pray a little water be taken, and wash ye your feet, and lie down under the tree. “Let I pray a little water be taken,” signifies that they should draw near, and let themselves down from things Divine nearer to His intellectual things; “and wash ye your feet,” signifies that they should put on something natural, in order that in the state in which He then was, He might the better perceive; “and lie down under the tree,” signifies near to the perception of His state in which He was; “tree” is perception.

sRef Gen@18 @4 S0′ 2161. Let I pray a little water be taken. That this signifies that they should draw near, and let themselves down from things Divine nearer to His intellectual things, cannot be so evident from these words alone-that they should take a little water-but it is evident from the series of things in this verse, and from their connection with those which go before and those which follow. From what is said in this verse no one would ever know that the words “Let I pray a little water be taken, and wash ye your feet, and lie down under the tree” signify that the Divine should let itself down nearer to the state of perception in which the Lord then was, and should put on something natural in order that He might the better perceive; for not a trace of this arcanum is manifest in the words as understood historically; but that nevertheless such in the internal sense is their signification, and that the angels so perceive them, I know for certain.
[2] This shows what great and deep arcana lie hidden in the Word. Moreover that such is the signification, may be seen from the signification in the internal sense of the several words, namely, from the signification of “water” as being intellectual things, from the signification of “feet” as being natural things, and from the signification of a “tree” as being perception. When these things are understood, the signification in the internal sense (to wit, that which has been stated) can be seen from the series of things, and from their connection with those which precede and those which follow. (That “waters” signify memory-knowledges and rational things, consequently the things of the understanding, has been shown in volume 1, n. 28, 680, and may be seen from very many other passages in the Word that it would be too tedious to bring forward.)

sRef Gen@18 @4 S0′ 2162. Wash ye your feet. That this signifies that [the Divine] should put on something natural, in order that, in the state in which the Lord then was, He might the better perceive, may be seen from the signification of “feet,” as being natural things, and also likewise from the series of things. That arcana here lie hidden may to some extent be seen from the fact that Abraham prayed the three men to take a little water and wash their feet, and to recline under a tree; when yet he knew that it was the Lord or Jehovah; and also from the fact that otherwise such things would not have been mentioned.
[2] That “feet” signify natural things, is evident from the representatives in the other life, and from the derivative representatives among the most ancient people, and thus in the Word. Celestial and spiritual things are represented by the head and its belongings; rational things and their belongings, by the breast and its belongings; natural things and their belongings, by the feet and their belongings. Hence it is that the “sole” and the “heel” of the foot signify the lowest natural things (concerning which see n. 259); and a “shoe” the lowest things of all, which are unclean (concerning which see n. 1748).
sRef Dan@2 @32 S3′ sRef Dan@2 @33 S3′ [3] Similar things are signified by the representations in the dreams and visions in the Prophets-as by the statue seen by Nebuchadnezzar,
The head of which was good gold, the breast and arms of silver, the belly and thighs of brass, the legs of iron, the feet part of iron and part of clay (Dan. 2:32-33),
where the “head” signifies celestial things, which are inmost, and are “gold” (as shown, n. 113, 1551, 1552); the “breast and arms” spiritual or rational things, which are “silver” (as shown, n. 1551); but the “feet” are the lower things, which are natural, the truths of which are signified by “iron,” and the goods by “clay” [argillum seu lutum]. That “iron” denotes truth, may be seen above (n. 425, 426); also that “clay” denotes good (n. 1300); in the present case both being natural. Such is the order of succession in the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens, and in the church which is the Lord’s kingdom on earth, and also in everyone who is a kingdom of the Lord.
sRef Dan@10 @6 S4′ sRef Dan@10 @5 S4′ [4] The case is similar with the vision that Daniel saw, of which it is said:
I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and behold a man clothed in linen, and his loins were girded with gold of Uphaz; his body also was like the beryl [tarshish], and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like the brightness of burnished brass (Dan. 10:5-6).
Specifically, by these words are signified the interiors of the Word as to goods and truths; the “arms” and “feet” are its exteriors, which are the sense of the letter, because natural things are therein, for the exterior things of the Word are taken from natural things. What each part signifies besides, namely, the loins, body, face, eyes, and the many other things of man, is evident from the representatives in the other life, concerning which, of the Lord’s Divine mercy more will be said when we come to treat of the Grand Man, which is the Lord’s heaven, and of the derivative representatives in the world of spirits.
sRef Ex@24 @9 S5′ sRef Ex@24 @10 S5′ [5] That which we read concerning Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders-that “they saw the God of Israel, under whose feet there was as it were a work of sapphire stone, and as it were the substance of heaven as to purity” (Exod. 24:9, 10)-signifies that they saw only the externals of the church represented in natural things; and also the literal sense of the Word, in which likewise external things are represented by natural things-as before said-which are the “feet under which was as it were a work of sapphire stone, and as it were the substance of heaven.” That it was the Lord who was seen by them, but only in those lower or natural things, is evident, for He is called “the God of Israel,” whom all things of the church represented, and all things of the Word in the internal sense signified. For the Lord is presented to view in accordance with the things which are at the time signified-in John, as a Man upon a white horse, when He signified the Word, as is plainly said (Rev. 19:11, 13).
sRef Ezek@1 @7 S6′ sRef Rev@1 @14 S6′ sRef Rev@1 @15 S6′ [6] The animals seen by Ezekiel, which were cherubs, are described as to celestial and spiritual things-among other representatives-by their faces and wings, but as to natural things, as follows:
Their feet, a straight foot; and the sole of their feet as the sole of a calf’s foot; and they glittered like the brightness of burnished brass (Ezek. 1:7).
The feet (that is, the natural things) are said to have “glittered like burnished brass,” for the reason that “brass” signifies natural good (n. 425, 1551). It was much the same with the Lord’s appearance to John as the “Son of man:”
Whose eyes were as a flame of fire, and His feet like unto burnished brass (Rev. 1:14-15; 2:18).
sRef Rev@10 @2 S7′ sRef Rev@10 @1 S7′ [7] That the “feet” signify natural things, may be further evident from the passages that now follow. In John:
I saw a strong angel coming down out of heaven, encompassed with a cloud, and a rainbow about his head, and his face as the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire; and he had in his hand a little book open; and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left upon the earth (Rev. 10:1-2).
By this angel there is in like manner signified the Word; the quality of which in the internal sense is signified by the “rainbow about his head,” and by “his face being as the sun;” but the external sense, or that of the letter, by the “feet.” The “sea” denotes natural truths, the “earth” natural goods, which shows what is signified by his putting “his right foot upon the sea, and his left upon the earth.”
sRef Isa@66 @1 S8′ [8] A “footstool” is mentioned in various passages of the Word; but it is not known what it signifies in the internal sense. As in Isaiah:
Jehovah said, The heavens are My throne, and the earth is My footstool. Where is that house which ye will build unto Me? and where is that place of My rest? (Isa. 66:1).
The “heavens” are the celestial and spiritual things (thus the inmost things) of both the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens, and of the Lord’s kingdom on the earth, that is, in the church, and also in every man who is a kingdom of the Lord or a church; thus they also denote celestial and spiritual things as regarded in themselves, which are those of love and charity and of the derivative faith; and thus are all things which are of internal worship, and in like manner all things which are of the internal sense of the Word: these are the “heavens,” and are called the Lord’s “throne.” But the “earth” is all lower things that correspond to these-as the lower rational and natural things, whereof also things celestial and spiritual are predicated from correspondence; such as are the things which are in the lower heavens, also those in the church and in external worship, and in the literal sense of the Word; in short, all such things as proceed from things internal and are presented in things external-these, being natural things, are called the “earth” and the Lord’s “footstool.” (What “heaven and earth” denote in the internal sense, may be seen above, n. 82, 1733; also what the “new heaven and the new earth” denote, n. 2117, 2118 end; and that man is a little heaven, n. 911, 978, 1900.)
sRef Ps@99 @5 S9′ sRef Ps@132 @7 S9′ sRef Lam@2 @1 S9′ [9] In like manner in Jeremiah:
The Lord covereth the daughter of Zion with a cloud in His anger; He hath cast down from the heavens unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and hath not remembered His footstool in the day of His anger (Lam. 2:1).
Also in David:
Exalt ye Jehovah our God, and bow yourselves down at His footstool, Holy is He (Ps. 99:5). And again:
We will enter into His tabernacles, we will bow down at His footstool (Ps. 132:7).
In the Representative Church-thus among the Jews-it was supposed that the house of God and the temple were His footstool, for they knew not that external representative worship was signified by the house of God and the temple; and what the internals of the church were (which were signified by “heaven,” or God’s “throne”), they were utterly ignorant of.
sRef Ps@110 @1 S10′ [10] Again:
The saying of Jehovah unto my Lord: Sit Thou at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool (Ps. 110:1; Matt. 22:42-45; Mark 12:36; Luke 20:42, 43).
Here in like manner a “footstool” signifies natural things, both those which are sensuous, and those of memory-knowledge, and the derivative rational things of man, which are called “enemies” when they pervert worship, and do this from the literal sense of the Word, so that there is worship solely in externals, and either no internal worship, or else that which is filthy (see n. 1094, 1175, 1182). When things natural and rational are thus perverted and defiled, they are called “enemies;” but because, regarded in themselves, they have reference to internal worship-when this is restored, they become as before said a “footstool,” whether they are things of external worship, or of the literal sense of the Word.
sRef Isa@60 @13 S11′ [11] In Isaiah:
The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir-tree, the pine, and the box together, to beautify the place of My sanctuary, and I will make the place of My feet honorable (Isa. 60:13),
where the subject is the Lord’s kingdom and church, the celestial-spiritual things of which are the “glory of Lebanon” (that is, the cedars), and its celestial natural things are the “fir-tree, the pine, and the box” (as also in the Word elsewhere), and thus the things which are of external worship; of which it is said, “I will make the place of My feet honorable;” and this cannot be made honorable by the fir, the pine, and the box, but by the things which they signify.
sRef Ex@30 @20 S12′ sRef Ex@30 @19 S12′ [12] That the “feet” signify these things, is evident also from the representatives in the Jewish Church-as from Aaron and his sons washing their hands and their feet before entering into the tabernacle (Exod. 30:19-20; 40:31, 32). No one can fail to see that arcana were thus represented, for what is the washing of the hands and feet but an external affair which is of no avail unless the internal is clean and pure? Nor can the internal be cleaned and purified by such a washing. But as all the rites of that church were significative of internal things, which are celestial and spiritual, such is the case here also: it is cleanness of external worship that is here signified, and external worship is clean when there is internal worship within it. Hence their lavers were of brass, and also that great laver that was called the brazen sea, and the ten smaller lavers of brass around the temple of Solomon (1 Kings 7:23, 38); because “brass” represented the good of external worship, which is the same as natural good (concerning which signification of “brass,” see n. 425, 1551).
sRef Lev@21 @21 S13′ sRef Lev@21 @19 S13′ [13] In like manner it was a representative that,
A man of the seed of Aaron in whom there was a fracture of the foot or a fracture of the hand, should not approach to offer the offering made by fire to Jehovah (Lev. 21:19, 21).
By those who had a “fracture” in the feet or hands were represented such as are in perverted external worship.
sRef Deut@33 @24 S14′ sRef Deut@33 @25 S14′ [14] That “feet” signify natural things, is further evident in other passages that occur in the Prophets, as in these propheticals in Moses:
Blessed be Asher above sons; let him be accepted of his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil; the iron and brass of thy shoe (Deut. 33:24, 25).
No one can understand these words unless it is known what “oil,” the “foot,” “iron,” “brass,” and a “shoe” signify in the internal sense. That “foot” is the natural, and “shoe” the still lower natural, such as is the corporeal sensual, may be seen above (n. 1748); also that “oil” is the celestial (n. 886), “iron” natural truth (n. 425, 426), and “brass” natural good (n. 425, 1551), which shows what these words involve.
sRef Nahum@1 @3 S15′ sRef Ps@18 @9 S15′ [15] In Nahum:
The way of Jehovah is in the storm and tempest, and the clouds are the dust of His feet (Nahum 1:3),
where the “dust of the feet” signifies the natural and corporeal things with man, whence come the “clouds.” The same also is signified by these words in David:
Jehovah bowed the heavens, and came down, and thick darkness was under His feet (Ps. 18:9).
sRef Ezek@32 @2 S16′ sRef Ezek@32 @13 S16′ [16] When the goods and truths of faith are perverted by means of natural light, as it is called, this is described in the Word by the “feet” and “hoofs” of a beast, whereby waters are disturbed, and food is trampled upon. As in Ezekiel:
Thou hast come forth into the rivers, and hast troubled the waters with thy feet; and trampled the streams thereof. I will destroy every beast thereof from off many waters; and the foot of man shall not trouble them any more, nor the hoof of beast (Ezek. 32:2, 13).
Egypt is here treated of, by which are signified memory-knowledges [scientiae] (as has been shown, n. 1164, 1165, 1462); so that by the “feet” and “hoofs” by which the streams and waters are troubled are signified memory-knowledges [scientifica] derived from sensuous and natural things, from which they reason about the arcana of faith; nor do they believe until these arcana are comprehended by means of such knowledges; and this is not to believe at all, for the more such persons reason, the less do they believe (see n. 128-130, 215, 232, 233, 1072, 1385). From all this it is now evident that by “feet” in the Word are signified natural things; but what more is signified, is evident from the series of things.

sRef Gen@18 @4 S0′ 2163. And lie down under the tree. That this signifies near to the perception of His state in which He then was, is evident from the signification of a “tree,” as being perception (see n. 103); bearing which in mind the series of things shows that the above is the real sense of the words. That “trees” signified perceptions, originated in the fact that the celestial man was compared and likened to Paradise, or the garden in Eden; from which the perceptions of celestial things with him were likened to the trees therein.

sRef Gen@18 @5 S0′ 2164. Verse 5. And I will take a piece of bread, and support ye your heart; afterwards ye may pass on; for therefore have ye passed over unto your servant. And they said, So do as thou hast spoken. “I will take a piece of bread,” signifies something celestial adjoined; “support ye your heart,” signifies as much as is meet; “afterwards ye may pass on,” signifies that when He had left off perceiving He would be content therewith; “for therefore have ye passed over unto your servant,” signifies that they came for this purpose; “and they said, So do as thou hast spoken,” signifies that it should be so done.

sRef Gen@18 @5 S0′ sRef 2Ki@25 @29 S1′ sRef Gen@43 @16 S1′ sRef 1Ki@4 @23 S1′ sRef 1Sam@20 @24 S1′ sRef 1Sam@14 @28 S1′ sRef Judg@13 @15 S1′ sRef Judg@13 @16 S1′ sRef 1Ki@4 @22 S1′ sRef Gen@43 @31 S1′ sRef 1Sam@14 @27 S1′ sRef 2Sam@9 @7 S1′ sRef 1Sam@20 @27 S1′ sRef 2Sam@9 @10 S1′ sRef Ex@18 @12 S1′ 2165. I will take a piece of bread. That this signifies something celestial adjoined, is evident from the signification of “bread,” as being what is celestial (explained before, n. 276, 680-681, 1798). That “bread” signifies what is celestial, is because “bread” means all food in general, and thus in the internal sense all celestial food. What celestial food is, has been stated in volume 1 (n. 56-58, 680-681, 1480, 1695). That “bread” means all food in general, is evident from the following passages of the Word. We read of Joseph that:
He said to him who was over his house, that he should bring the men-his brethren-home, and should slay what was to be slain, and should make ready; and afterwards, when they had made ready, and were to eat, he said, Set on bread (Gen. 43:16, 31);
meaning that they should make ready the table; “bread” thus denoting all kinds of food. We read concerning Jethro that,
Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before God (Exod. 18:12),
where also “bread” denotes all kinds of food. Concerning Manoah, in the Book of Judges:
Manoah said unto the Angel of Jehovah, Let us I pray detain thee, and let us make ready before thee a kid of the goats. And the Angel of Jehovah said unto Manoah, Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy bread (Judg. 13:15-16),
where “bread” denotes a kid of the goats. When Jonathan ate of the honeycomb, they told him that Saul had adjured the people, saying:
Cursed be the man that shall eat bread this day (1 Sam. 14:27-28),
where “bread” denotes all food. Again, concerning Saul:
When Saul sat down to eat bread, he said unto Jonathan, Wherefore cometh not the son of Jesse to bread either yesterday or today? (1 Sam. 20:24, 27),
meaning to the table, where were all kinds of food. We read concerning David that he said to Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan:
Thou shalt eat bread on my table continually (2 Sam. 9:7, 10).
So too concerning Evil-merodach, who said that,
Jehoiachin king of Judah should eat bread before him continually, all the days of his life (2 Kings 25:29).
Concerning Solomon also:
Solomon’s bread for each day was thirty cors of fine flour, and sixty cors of meal, ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen of the pastures, and a hundred sheep, besides the hart and the wild she-goat, and the antelope, and fatted fowl (1 Kings 4:22-23),
where “bread” plainly denotes all of these things.
sRef Lev@22 @6 S2′ sRef Mal@1 @7 S2′ sRef Lev@22 @7 S2′ sRef Lev@3 @16 S2′ sRef Lev@3 @11 S2′ sRef Lev@21 @8 S2′ sRef Lev@21 @21 S2′ sRef Lev@21 @17 S2′ sRef Lev@21 @6 S2′ sRef Num@28 @2 S2′ [2] Now as “bread” means all kinds of food in general, it therefore signifies in the internal sense all those things which are called celestial foods, as may be still more evident from the burnt-offerings and sacrifices that were made of lambs, sheep, she-goats, kids, he-goats, heifers, and oxen, which were called in one word the “bread of the offering made by fire unto Jehovah,” as is clearly evident from the following passages in Moses, where the various sacrifices are treated of, of which it is said that,
The priest should burn them upon the altar, the bread of the offering made by fire unto Jehovah, for an odor of rest (Lev. 3:11, 16),
all those sacrifices and burnt-offerings being so called. Again:
The sons of Aaron shall be holy unto their God, neither shall they profane the name of their God; because the offerings to Jehovah made by fire, the bread of their God, they do offer. Thou shalt sanctify him, because he offereth the bread of thy God. A man of the seed of Aaron in whom there shall be a blemish, shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his God (Lev. 21:6, 8, 17, 21),
where also sacrifices and burnt-offerings are the “bread.” The same is true of Leviticus 22:25. Again:
Command the sons of Israel, and say unto them, My oblation, My bread for offerings made by fire, of an odor of rest, shall ye observe, to offer unto Me at their appointed time (Num. 28:2).
Here also “bread” denotes all the sacrifices which are there enumerated. In Malachi:
Offering polluted bread upon Mine altar (Mal. 1:7),
where also the sacrifices are spoken of. The hallowed things of the sacrifices, which they ate, were also called “bread,” as is evident from these words in Moses:
He that toucheth an unclean thing shall not eat of the hallowed things, but he shall wash his flesh in water, and when the sun is down, he shall be clean; and afterwards he shall eat of the hallowed things, because this is his bread (Lev. 22:6-7).
[3] The burnt-offerings and sacrifices in the Jewish Church represented nothing else than the celestial things of the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens, and of the Lord’s kingdom on earth (that is, in the church), also of the Lord’s kingdom or church with each person, and in general all those things which are of love and charity, for these are things celestial; and each kind of sacrifice represented something special and peculiar. All these were at that time called BREAD, and therefore when sacrifices were abolished, and other things succeeded in their place for external worship, it was commanded that bread and wine should be made use of.
sRef John@6 @35 S4′ sRef John@6 @49 S4′ sRef John@6 @47 S4′ sRef John@6 @33 S4′ sRef John@6 @34 S4′ sRef John@6 @31 S4′ sRef John@6 @32 S4′ sRef John@6 @48 S4′ sRef John@6 @50 S4′ sRef John@6 @51 S4′ [4] From all this we may now see what the “bread” [in the Holy Supper] signifies, namely, all the things represented by the sacrifices, thus in the internal sense the Lord Himself. And because the “bread” signifies the Lord Himself, it signifies love itself toward the universal human race, and what belongs to love; as also man’s reciprocal love to the Lord and toward the neighbor. The “bread” thus signifies all celestial things, and in the same way the “wine” signifies all spiritual things, as the Lord also teaches in plain words in John. They said,
Our fathers did eat the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven, but My Father giveth you the true bread from heaven; for the bread of God is He that cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. They said unto Him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life; he that cometh to Me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst (John 6:31-35).
Verily I say unto you, he that believeth on Me hath eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers did eat the manna in the wilderness, and are dead; this is the bread that cometh down from heaven, that one may eat thereof and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; if anyone eat of this bread, he shall live to eternity (John 6:47-51).
[5] Now because the “bread” is the Lord, it belongs to the celestial things which are of love, which are the Lord’s; for the Lord is the celestial itself, because He is love itself, that is, mercy itself; and because this is so, “bread” means all the celestial, that is, all the love and charity with man, for these are from the Lord; and therefore they who are not in love and charity have not the Lord with them, and thus are not gifted with the good and happy things that in the internal sense are signified by “bread.” This outward symbol was commanded because the greatest part of the human race are in external worship, and therefore without some outward symbol there would be scarcely anything holy with them. And therefore when they live in love to the Lord and in charity toward the neighbor, they nevertheless have appertaining to them what is internal, although they do not know that this love and charity is the veriest internal of worship. Thus in their external worship they are confirmed in the goods which are signified by the “bread.”
sRef Isa@33 @16 S6′ [6] In the Prophets also the celestial things of love are signified by “bread” (as in Isa. 3:1, 7; 30:23; 33:15-16; 55:2; 58:7-8; Lam. 5:9; Ezek. 4:16-17; 5:16; 14:13; Amos 4:6; 8:11; Ps. 105:16), in like manner by the “bread of faces” upon the table (mentioned Lev. 24:5-9; Exod. 25:30; 40:23; Num. 4:7; 1 Kings 7:48).

sRef Gen@18 @5 S0′ 2166. Support ye your heart. That this signifies as much as is meet, cannot be so evident from the proximate signification of the words in the internal sense, but yet it is evident from the series of things, for the subject treated of is the Divine perception-that this might draw nearer to the perception of the human which then appertained to the Lord, and that it might let itself down to His intellectual things, by putting on something natural and also something celestial adjoined to it, as much as was meet-which is to “support the heart.” In the proximate sense, to “support the heart by bread” is to be refreshed, and thus to enjoy what little of the celestial is meet.

sRef Gen@18 @5 S0′ 2167. Afterwards ye may pass on. That this signifies that when He had left off perceiving He would be content therewith, is in like manner evident from the series.

sRef Gen@18 @5 S0′ 2168. For therefore have ye passed over unto your servant. That this signifies that they came for this purpose, is also evident without explication.

sRef Gen@18 @5 S0′ 2169. And they said, So do as thou hast spoken. That this signifies that it would be so done, likewise needs no explication.

sRef Gen@18 @6 S0′ 2170. Verse 6. And Abraham hastened toward the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of meal of fine flour, knead, and make cakes. “Abraham hastened toward the tent unto Sarah,” signifies the Lord’s rational good conjoined with His truth; “Abraham” is here the Lord in that state as to good; “Sarah,” as to truth; the “tent,” as to the holy of love: “and said,” signifies the state of perception relatively at that time; “make ready quickly three measures of meal of fine flour, knead, and make cakes,” signifies the celestial of His love in that state; “three” denotes what is holy; “meal of fine flour,” is the spiritual and the celestial of the rational which were then with the Lord; “cakes” denote the same when both are conjoined.

sRef Gen@18 @6 S0′ 2171. Abraham hastened toward the tent unto Sarah. That this signifies the Lord’s rational good conjoined with His truth, is evident from the representation of “Abraham,” and also of “Sarah,” and from the signification of a “tent,” concerning which presently. As each and all things bear relation to the subject treated of in the internal sense, so do these words bear relation to the Divine perception into which the Lord came when He was in the perception of the human. But those who do not know what perception is, cannot know either how the case is with it, still less that there exists a perception that is more and more interior, namely, natural perception, then rational perception, and finally internal perception, which is Divine, and which the Lord alone had. They who are in perception, as are the angels, know very well in which perception they are; whether in natural, in rational, or in a still more interior perception which to them is Divine. What then must have been the case with the Lord, who had a perception from the Supreme and Infinite Divine (concerning which see n. 1616 at the end, 1791), in which no angels ever are, for perception flows into them from the Lord’s Supreme or Infinite Divine through His Human Essence.
[2] The reason why the Lord’s perception is described, is that when He was in the human, it was thus made known to Him how the Divine Itself, the Divine Human, and the Holy proceeding were to be united in Him; then, how His rational was to be made Divine; and finally what was the quality of the human race-that it was to be saved by Him, that is, by the union of the Human Essence with the Divine Essence in Him; which are the subjects treated of in this chapter. On these accounts the Lord’s perception is first described, as also on account of the union itself which was to be effected.

sRef Gen@18 @6 S0′ 2172. That “Abraham” is here the Lord in that state as to good, is evident from the representation of Abraham. When he is speaking with Jehovah, as here, Abraham represents the Lord in the Human (as also before, n. 1989, where he represented the Lord in the state and at the age there described, because then also he spoke with Jehovah). In other cases Abraham represents the Lord’s Divine good, and Sarah His Divine truth; hence Abraham now represents the Lord’s rational good.

sRef Gen@18 @6 S0′ 2173. That “Sarah” is here the Lord as to truth, is evident from the representation of Sarah, as being intellectual truth adjoined to good; here, as being rational truth, for the same reason as just now stated in regard to Abraham. (That Sarah represents truth may be seen above, n. 1468, 1901, 2063, 2065). In the historicals of the Word good and truth cannot be represented otherwise than by a marriage, for this is really the case with them, for there is a Divine marriage between things celestial and spiritual, or what is the same, between those which are of love and those which are of faith, or again what is the same, between those of the will and those of the understanding. The former are of good, the latter are of truth. There is such a marriage in the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens; such also in the Lord’s kingdom on the earth (that is, in the church); such a marriage in every man, in every single thing of him, nay, in the veriest singulars of all. That which is not in such a marriage does not live. Nay, from that Divine marriage there is such a marriage in universal nature, and in every particular of it, but under other form and appearance, otherwise nothing whatever would there subsist. Because there is such marriage in everything, therefore with the Prophets every matter is expressed in a twofold manner, especially in Isaiah-one expression referring to what is celestial, or to good, and the other to what is spiritual, or to truth (see n. 683, 793, 801). That in everything there is a resemblance of a marriage, may be seen above (n. 718, 747, 917, 1432). Hence it is that the Lord’s good is represented by Abraham, and His truth by Sarah.

sRef Gen@18 @6 S0′ 2174. That a “tent” is the Lord as to the holy of love, is evident from the signification of a “tent,” as being what is holy (explained before, n. 414, 1102, 1566, 2145).

sRef Gen@18 @6 S0′ 2175. And he said. That this signifies the state of the perception relatively at that time, is evident from the signification in the historical sense of “saying” as being to perceive (explained before, n. 1898, 1919, 2080).

sRef Gen@18 @6 S0′ 2176. Make ready quickly three measures of meal of fine flour, knead, and make cakes. That this signifies the celestial of His love in that state, is evident from the signification of “meal,” “fine flour,” and “cakes,” which will be treated of in what next follows. That such things are involved, no one can believe who keeps his mind intent on the literal sense, or that of the words, still less if on the historical things described by them; for he is thinking not only about this preparation, but also about the men who came to Abraham, and not about these matters involving more secret things. This is the reason why he can still less believe that the historicals of the Word in every detail store up within them such arcana equally as do the propheticals; for the historicals draw the mind strongly to themselves, and darken the interiors. Nevertheless that there really are arcana deeply hidden in these historicals is evident from the mere fact that it is the Word of the Lord, written not only for man, but at the same time also for heaven; and this in such a manner, that when a man is reading it, the angels have heavenly ideas therefrom; so that in this way heaven is conjoined with the human race by means of the Word. What is meant in the internal sense by “meal,” “fine flour,” and “cakes,” will now be shown.

sRef Gen@18 @6 S0′ 2177. That the “meal of fine flour” denotes the spiritual and the celestial which were then with the Lord, and that “cakes” denote the same when both are conjoined, is very evident from the sacrifices of the Representative Church, and from the meat-offering then made use of, which consisted of fine flour mingled with oil and made into cakes. The chief part of representative worship consisted in burnt-offerings and sacrifices. What these represented has already been stated, where bread is treated of (n. 2165), namely, the celestial things of the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens and of the Lord’s kingdom on the earth (that is, in the church), and also those of the Lord’s kingdom or church with each person; and in general all the things of love and charity, because these are celestial. All these offerings and sacrifices were at that time called “bread,” and to them was adjoined the meat-offering also, which, as already said, consisted of fine flour mingled with oil, to which frankincense was likewise added, as well as a libation of wine.
[2] What these represented is also evident, namely, similar things as the sacrifices, but in a less degree, thus the things which are of the spiritual church, and likewise those of the external church. Everyone can see that such things would never have been commanded unless they had represented Divine things, and also that each one represents something special and peculiar, for unless they had represented Divine things, they would not have differed from similar things in use among the Gentiles, among whom also there were sacrifices – meat-offerings, libations, frankincense, perpetual fires, and many other things, derived to them from the Ancient Church, and especially from the Hebrew Church. But as internal things (that is, the Divine things that were represented) were separated from these Gentile rites, they were merely idolatrous, as also they became with the Jews, who for this reason fell into all kinds of idolatry. From what has been said everyone can see that there were heavenly arcana in every rite, especially in the sacrifices and all their particulars.
sRef Lev@6 @16 S3′ sRef Lev@6 @17 S3′ sRef Lev@6 @13 S3′ sRef Lev@6 @15 S3′ sRef Lev@6 @14 S3′ [3] As regards the meat-offering, the nature of it and how it was to be prepared into cakes, is described in a whole chapter in Moses (Lev. 2; also in Num. 15, and elsewhere). The law of the meat-offering is described in Leviticus in these words:
Fire shall be kept burning upon the altar continually, it shall not go out. And this is the law of the meat-offering: the sons of Aaron shall bring it before Jehovah to the faces of the altar; and he shall take therefrom his handful of the fine flour of the meat-offering, and of the oil thereof, and all the frankincense which is upon the meat-offering, and shall burn it upon the altar, an odor of rest, for a memorial unto Jehovah; and the residue thereof Aaron and his sons shall eat; unleavened shall they be eaten in a holy place; in the court of the tent of meeting shall they eat it. It shall not be baked leavened; I have given it as their portion of My offerings made by fire; it is a holy of holies (Lev. 6:13-17).
[4] The fire which must be kept burning upon the altar continually, represented the love, that is, the mercy of the Lord, perpetual and eternal. That in the Word “fire” signifies love, see n. 934; hence “offerings made by fire for an odor of rest” signify the Lord’s pleasure in the things which are of love and charity. (That “odor” denotes what is well-pleasing, that is, what is grateful, see n. 925, 1519.) Their “taking a handful” represented that they should love with all the strength, or with all the soul; for the hand, or the palm of the hand, signifies power (as shown n. 878), from which “handful” also signifies power. The fine flour, with the oil and the frankincense, represented all things of charity-the fine flour the spiritual, and the oil the celestial of charity, the frankincense what was in this manner grateful. (That fine flour represents what is spiritual, is evident from what has just been said, and from what follows; that oil represents what is celestial, or the good of charity, may be seen above, n. 886; and also that frankincense, from its odor, represents what is grateful and acceptable, n. 925.)
[5] Its being “unleavened,” or not fermented, signifies that it should be sincere, and thus from a sincere heart, and free from uncleanness. That Aaron and his sons should eat the residue, represented man’s reciprocality and his appropriation, thus conjunction through love and charity; on which account it was commanded that they should eat it in a holy place. Hence it is called a “holy of holies.” These were the things that were represented by the meat-offering; and the representatives themselves were so perceived in heaven; and when the man of the church so apprehended them, he was then in an idea similar to the perception of the angels, thus he was in the Lord’s kingdom itself in the heavens although he was on earth.
[6] The meat-offering is further treated of, as regards what it ought to be in connection with each kind of sacrifice, and how it should be baked into cakes, also what kind should be offered by those who were being cleansed, and what on other occasions; to mention and explain all of which would be too tedious; but concerning all these matters see Exod. 29:39-41; Lev. 5:11-13; 6:14-23; 10:12-13; 23:10-13, 16-17; Num. 5:15, etc.; 6:15-17, 19-20, chapter 7, in several places; 28:5, 7, 9, 12-13, 20-21, 28-29; 29:3-4, 9-10, 14-15, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30, 33, 37.
sRef Lev@24 @6 S7′ sRef Lev@24 @9 S7′ sRef Lev@24 @7 S7′ sRef Lev@24 @5 S7′ sRef Lev@24 @8 S7′ [7] Fine flour made into cakes in general represented the same as bread, namely, the celestial of love, and meal the spiritual of it, as is evident from the passages cited above. The “breads” [or loaves] that were called the “bread of faces,” or the “show bread” [panis propositionis], were made of fine flour, which was prepared in cakes and placed upon the table, for a perpetual representation of the love, that is, the mercy, of the Lord toward the universal human race, and the reciprocality of man. Concerning these loaves we read as follows in Moses:
Thou shalt take fine flour and shalt bake it into twelve cakes; of two tenths shall one cake be; and thou shalt set them in two rows, six in a row, upon the clean table, before Jehovah; and thou shalt put pure frankincense upon each row, and it shall be to the breads for a memorial, an offering made by fire unto Jehovah. On every Sabbath day he shall set it in order before Jehovah continually, from the sons of Israel in a covenant of eternity. And it shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place, for it is a holy of holies unto him, of the offerings made by fire unto Jehovah by a statute of eternity (Lev. 24:5-9).
Every particular in this description and all the smallest details represented the holy of love and of charity, the “fine flour” the same as the “meal of fine flour,” namely, the celestial and its spiritual, and the “cake” the two conjoined.
[8] Hence it is evident what is the holiness of the Word to those who are in heavenly ideas, nay, what holiness there was in this very representative rite, on account of which it is called a holiness of holinesses; and on the contrary, how void of holiness it is to those who suppose that there is nothing heavenly in these things, and who abide solely in the externals; as do they who perceive the meal here merely as meal, the fine flour as fine flour, and the cake as a cake, and who suppose these things to have been stated without each particular involving something of the Divine. These do in like manner as do those who think the bread and wine of the Holy Supper to be nothing but a certain rite, containing nothing holy within; whereas there is such holiness that human minds are by that Supper conjoined with heavenly minds, when from internal affection they are thinking that the bread and wine signify the Lord’s love and the reciprocality of man, and are thus in holiness from interior thought and feeling.
sRef Ezek@16 @13 S9′ [9] The like was involved in that the sons of Israel on their coming into the land of Canaan were to offer a cake of the first of their dough, as a heave-offering unto Jehovah (Num. 15:20). That such things are signified is also evident in the Prophets, from which we may at present adduce only this from Ezekiel:
Thou wast decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was fine linen and silk, and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, honey, and oil, and thou wast become beautiful very exceedingly, and thou wast prospered unto a kingdom (Ezek. 16:13);
where the subject treated of is Jerusalem, by which is signified the church, that was so decked in its earliest time-that is, the Ancient Church-and which is described by the garments and other ornaments; as also its affections of truth and good by the fine flour, honey, and oil. Everyone can see that all these things have a very different meaning in the internal sense from that in the sense of the letter. And so have these words which Abraham said to Sarah: “Make ready quickly three measures of the meal of fine flour, knead, and make cakes.” (That “three” signifies holy things has been shown before, n. 720, 901.)

sRef Gen@18 @7 S0′ 2178. Verse 7. And Abraham ran unto the herd, and took a son of an ox tender and good, and gave it to the lad, and he hasted to make it. “Abraham ran unto the herd,” signifies natural good; “and took a son of an ox tender and good” signifies the celestial natural which is conformable, and which the rational associated to itself in order that it might conjoin itself with the perception from the Divine; “and gave it to the lad, and he hasted to make it,” signifies the conjunction of this good with rational good; “the lad” is here the natural man.

sRef Gen@18 @7 S0′ 2179. Abraham ran unto the herd. That this signifies natural good, is evident from the signification of the oxen and bullocks of the herd-to be explained presently. That the beasts of the herd and of the flock signify such things as are in man, is evident from what has been shown in volume 1 (n. 45-46, 142-143, 246, 714-715, 719, 776), and also from what was said concerning the beasts used in the sacrifices (n. 1823). It may seem surprising that the animals named in the Word, and also those offered in the sacrifices, should signify goods and truths, or what is the same, things celestial and spiritual, but the reason of this may be briefly stated.
[2] In the world of spirits various representatives are presented to view, and withal animals are often presented before the eyes of the spirits there, such as horses variously caparisoned, oxen, sheep, lambs, with other animals of various kinds, sometimes such as are never seen on the earth, but are only representative. Such animals were also seen by the prophets, as described in the Word, and were from the same source. The animals that appear in the world of spirits are representative of affections of good and truth, and also of evil and falsity. Good spirits know perfectly well what they signify, and thus also gather from them what the angels are conversing about; for the speech of angels, passing down into the world of spirits, is sometimes presented in this way. For example, when horses appear, they know that the speech of the angels is about the things of the understanding; when oxen and bullocks, that it is about natural goods; when sheep, that it is about rational goods, and probity; when lambs, that it is about goods still more internal and about innocence; and so on.
[3] As the men of the Most Ancient Church had communication with spirits and angels, and constantly had visions and also dreams such as the prophets had, the consequence was that whenever they saw any beast, there occurred to them the idea of what it signified. Representatives and significatives originated in this way, and remained long after their times; and at length became so venerated from their antiquity that men wrote by mere representatives; books not so written being held in no esteem; and those written within the church being of no sanctity. From this and other hidden causes, concerning which of the Lord’s Divine mercy elsewhere, the books of the Word also were so written.

sRef Num@15 @2 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @7 S0′ 2180. And took a son of an ox tender and good. That this signifies the celestial natural which the rational associated to itself, in order that it might conjoin itself with the perception from the Divine, is evident from the signification in the Word of a “bullock” or “son of an ox,” as being natural good. And as the Lord’s rational is treated of, it is called “tender” from the celestial-spiritual, or the truth of good; and “good” from the celestial itself, or good itself. In the genuine rational there is the affection of truth and the affection of good; but its chief thing [primarium] is the affection of truth (as before shown, n. 2072). Hence it is first called “tender,” and yet is called both “tender and good,” according to the usual practice in the Word, to indicate the marriage of good and truth (spoken of above, n. 2173).
[2] That a “bullock,” or “son of an ox,” signifies the celestial natural, or what is the same, natural good, is especially evident from the sacrifices, which were the principal representatives of worship in the Hebrew Church, and afterwards in the Jewish. Their sacrifices were made either from the herd or from the flock, thus from animals of various kinds that were clean, such as oxen, bullocks, he-goats, sheep, rams, she-goats, kids, and lambs; besides turtledoves and young pigeons, all of which animals signified internal things of worship, that is, things celestial and spiritual (n. 2165, 2177); the animals taken from the herd signifying celestial natural things, and those from the flock celestial rational things; and as both the natural and the rational things are more and more interior, and are various, therefore so many kinds and species of those animals were made use of in the sacrifices; as is also evident from its being prescribed what animals should be offered-in the burnt-offerings; in the sacrifices of various kinds, as in those that were daily, those of the Sabbaths and festivals, those that were voluntary, those for thanksgiving and vows, those expiatory of guilt and sin, those of purifying and cleansing, and those of inauguration-and also from their being expressly named, and how many of them should be used in each kind of sacrifice; which would never have been done unless each had signified some special thing. This is very evident from those passages where the sacrifices are treated of (as Exod. 29; Lev. 1, 3-4, 9, 16, 23; Num. 7-8, 15, 29). But this is not the place to set forth what each one signified. The case is similar in the Prophets where these animals are named, and from them it is evident that “bullocks” signified celestial natural things.
sRef Rev@4 @7 S3′ sRef Deut@33 @17 S3′ sRef Rev@4 @8 S3′ sRef Deut@33 @16 S3′ sRef Ezek@1 @10 S3′ [3] That no other than heavenly things were signified, is also evident from the cherubs seen by Ezekiel, and from the animals before the throne seen by John. Concerning the cherubs the Prophet says:
The likeness of their faces was the face of a man, and they four had the face of a lion on the right side, and they four had the face of an ox on the left side, and they four had the face of an eagle (Ezek. 1:10).
Concerning the four animals before the throne John says:
Around the throne were four animals; the first animal was like a lion, the second animal like a young bullock, the third animal had a face like a man, the fourth animal was like a flying eagle; saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come (Rev. 4:6-8).
Everyone can see that holy things were represented by the cherubs and by these animals, and also by the oxen and young bullocks in the sacrifices. In like manner in the prophecy of Moses concerning Joseph:
Let it come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the crown of the head of him that was a Nazirite from his brethren. The firstling of his ox, honor is his; and his horns are the horns of the unicorn, with them he shall push the peoples together, to the ends of the earth (Deut. 33:16-17).
None can understand these things unless it is known what an ox, a unicorn, horns, and other things signify in the internal sense.
[4] As regards sacrifices in general, they were indeed enjoined through Moses on the people of Israel, but the Most Ancient Church, that existed before the flood, knew nothing whatever about sacrifices; nor did it even come into their minds to worship the Lord by slaughtering animals. The Ancient Church, that existed after the flood, was likewise unacquainted with sacrifices. This church was indeed in representatives, but not in sacrifices. In fact sacrifices were first instituted in the following church, which was called the Hebrew Church, and from this spread to the nations, and from the same source they came to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and thus to the descendants of Jacob. That the nations were in a worship of sacrifices, was shown above (n. 1343); and that so were Jacob’s posterity before they went out of Egypt, thus before sacrifices were commanded by Moses upon Mount Sinai, is evident from what is said in Exodus 5:3; 10:25, 27; 18:12; 24:4-5; and especially from their idolatrous worship before the golden calf.
sRef Ex@32 @6 S5′ sRef Ex@32 @5 S5′ [5] Thus described in Moses:
Aaron built an altar before the calf, and Aaron made proclamation and said, Tomorrow is the feast of Jehovah. And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt-offerings and brought peace-offerings; and the people sat down to eat, and to drink, and rose up to play (Exod. 32:5-6).
This was done while Moses was upon Mount Sinai, and thus before the command concerning the altar and the sacrifices came to them. The command came on this account-that the worship of sacrifices had become idolatrous with them, as it had with the gentiles, and from this worship they could not be withdrawn, because they regarded it as the chief holy thing. For what has once been implanted from infancy as holy, especially if by fathers, and thus inrooted, the Lord never breaks, but bends, unless it is contrary to order itself. This is the reason why it was directed that sacrifices should be instituted in the way described in the books of Moses.
sRef Jer@7 @21 S6′ sRef Micah@6 @7 S6′ sRef Jer@7 @23 S6′ sRef Ps@51 @16 S6′ sRef Deut@23 @18 S6′ sRef Hos@6 @6 S6′ sRef Ps@51 @17 S6′ sRef 1Sam@15 @22 S6′ sRef Micah@6 @6 S6′ sRef Micah@6 @8 S6′ sRef Ps@40 @6 S6′ sRef Ps@50 @13 S6′ sRef Ps@50 @14 S6′ sRef Ps@40 @8 S6′ sRef Jer@7 @22 S6′ sRef Ps@50 @9 S6′ [6] That sacrifices were by no means acceptable to Jehovah, thus were merely permitted and tolerated for the reason just stated, is very evident in the Prophets, as we read in Jeremiah:
Thus saith Jehovah Zebaoth the God of Israel, Add your burnt-offerings to your sacrifices, and eat flesh. I spoke not unto your fathers, and I commanded them not in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt-offering and sacrifice; but this word I commanded them, saying, Obey My voice, and I will be your God (Jer. 7:21-23).
In David:
O Jehovah, sacrifice and offering Thou hast not willed, burnt-offering and sin-offering Thou hast not required. I have desired to do Thy will, O my God (Ps. 40:6, 8).
In the same:
Thou delightest not in sacrifice, that I should give it; burnt-offering Thou dost not accept. The sacrifices of God are a broken* spirit (Ps. 51:16-17).
In the same:
I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he-goats out of thy folds; sacrifice to God confession (Ps. 50:9, 13-14; 107:21-22; 116:17; Deut. 23:19).
In Hosea:
I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt-offerings (Hos. 6:6).
Samuel said to Saul:
Hath Jehovah pleasure in burnt-offerings and sacrifices? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, to hearken than the fat of rams (1 Sam. 15:22).
In Micah:
Wherewith shall I come before Jehovah, and bow myself to the high God? Shall I come before Him with burnt-offerings, with calves of a year old? Will Jehovah be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth Jehovah require of thee, but to do judgment, and to love mercy, and to humble thyself in walking with thy God (Micah 6:6-8).
sRef Num@15 @9 S7′ sRef Dan@9 @27 S7′ sRef Num@15 @8 S7′ [7] From all this it is now evident that sacrifices were not commanded, but permitted; also that nothing else was regarded in the sacrifices than what is internal; and that it was the internal, not the external, that was acceptable. On this account also, the Lord abrogated them, as was likewise foretold by Daniel in these words:
In the midst of the week shall He cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease (Dan. 9:27),
where the Lord’s advent is treated of. (See what is said concerning sacrifices in volume 1, n. 922-923, 1128, 1823.) As regards the “son of an ox” which Abraham “made” or prepared for the three men, the case is the same as with that animal in the sacrifices. That it had a like signification is evident also from his telling Sarah to take three measures of fine flour. Concerning the fine flour to a bullock, we read in Moses:
When ye be come into the land; when thou shalt make a son of an ox a burnt-offering or a sacrifice, in pronouncing publicly a vow, or peace-offerings unto Jehovah, thou shalt offer upon the son of an ox a meat offering of three tenths of fine flour, mingled with oil (Num. 15:8-9),
where it is in like manner “three,” here “three tenths,” and above, “three measures;” but to a ram there were to be only two tenths, and to a lamb one tenth (Num. 15:4-6).
* Contritus; but infractus n. 9818.

sRef Gen@18 @7 S0′ 2181. And gave it to the lad, and he hasted to make it. That this signifies the conjunction of this good with rational good, and that the “lad” is the natural man, is evident from the signification of a “lad” as being one who ministers and administers; and that which is ministered or done is to make-to wit, the son of an ox, by which is signified natural good, as already shown. That it may be better perceived how this is, be it known that there exist with every man an internal, a rational which is intermediate, and a natural; also that these are distinct from each other (see n. 1889, 1940), and are to be made to conform, in order that they may make a one-thus rational good with natural good-and that without conformation and thereby conjunction there can be no Divine perception. As in these words the Lord’s Divine perception is treated of, they signify in the internal sense the conformation and conjunction of these two kinds of good.

sRef Gen@18 @8 S0′ 2182. Verse 8. And he took butter and milk, and the son of an ox that he had made, and set before them; and he stood before them under the tree, and they did eat. “He took butter and milk, and the son of an ox that he had made,” signifies all those things thus conjoined together; “butter” is the celestial of the rational, “milk” is the derivative spiritual, a “son of an ox” is the corresponding natural; “and set before them,” signifies that He so prepared Himself to receive; “and he stood before them under the tree,” signifies derivative perception (the “tree,” as before, is perception); “and they did eat,” signifies communication in this manner.

sRef Gen@18 @8 S0′ 2183. He took butter and milk, and the son of an ox that he had made. That this signifies all those things thus conjoined together, is evident from the signification of “butter,” of “milk,” and of a “son of an ox,” to be explained presently. In the verses which precede, the subject was the Lord’s rational in that it was instructed in the celestial and the derivative spiritual, which are signified by the “meal of fine flour made into a cake” (n. 2176, 2177); and it also was the celestial natural, which is signified by the “son of an ox” (n. 2180). The same things are now expressed by other words, namely, by “butter,” “milk,” and also a “son of an ox,” by which are signified all those things conjoined together.
[2] But these things can with difficulty be described to the ordinary understanding, because to most people it is unknown that every man has an internal, a rational, and a natural, and that these are most distinct from each other, nay, so distinct, that one of them may be dissident from another; to wit, that the rational, which is called the rational man, may be dissident from the natural, which is the natural man; nay, that the rational man can even see and perceive the evil which is in the natural man and, if it is a genuine rational, may chastise it (see n. 1904). Before these two have been conjoined together, the man cannot be an entire (or perfect) man, nor can he be in the tranquillity of peace, for the one fights with the other. For the angels who are with the man rule his rational, but the evil spirits who are with him, his natural, and hence comes combat.
[3] If the rational then conquers, the natural is subjugated, and the man is thus gifted with conscience; but if the natural conquers, he can then receive nothing of conscience. If the rational conquers, his natural then becomes as if it also was rational; but if the natural conquers, the rational becomes as if it also was natural. And further, if the rational conquers, the angels then draw nearer into the man, and insinuate to him charity (which is the celestial that comes from the Lord through the angels), and the evil spirits remove themselves to a distance; but if the natural conquers, the angels then remove themselves further away (that is, more toward the man’s interiors), while the evil spirits draw nearer toward the rational, and continually attack it, and fill the lower parts of his mind with hatreds, revenges, deceits, and the like. If the rational conquers, the man then comes into the tranquillity of peace, and in the other life into the peace of heaven; but if the natural conquers, then, while the man lives he appears as if he were in tranquillity, but in the other life he comes into the unrest and torment of hell.
[4] In this way may be known what is the quality of a man’s state as to his rational, and as to his natural; so that there is nothing else that can make a man blessed and happy but that his natural be conformed to his rational, and both be conjoined together. This is effected solely by means of charity, and charity is solely from the Lord.

sRef Gen@18 @8 S0′ sRef Isa@7 @14 S1′ sRef Isa@7 @15 S1′ 2184. That “butter” is the celestial of the rational; that “milk” is the derivative spiritual; and that a “son of an ox” is the corresponding natural, is evident from the signification of “butter,” of “milk,” and of a “son of an ox.” As regards butter, it signifies in the Word what is celestial, and this from its fatness. (That fat denotes what is celestial was shown in volume 1, n. 353; and that “oil,” because fat, is the celestial itself, n. 886.) That “butter” also is the celestial, is evident in Isaiah:
Behold, a virgin beareth a son, and shall call His name Immanuel, Butter and honey shall He eat, that He may know to refuse what is evil, and choose what is good (Isa. 7:14-15),
where the Lord (who is “Immanuel”) is treated of; and anyone can see that butter is not signified by “butter,” nor honey by “honey;” but that by “butter” is signified His celestial, and by “honey” that which is from the celestial.
sRef Isa@7 @22 S2′ [2] In the same:
And it shall come to pass, for the multitude of the making of milk He shall eat butter; for butter and honey shall everyone eat that is left in the midst of the land (Isa. 7:22),
where the Lord’s kingdom is treated of, and those on earth who are in the Lord’s kingdom. “Milk” here denotes spiritual good, “butter” celestial good, and “honey” the derivative happiness.
[3] In Moses:
Jehovah alone leadeth him, and there is no strange god with him. He maketh him to ride upon the high places of the earth, and to eat the produce of the fields, and He maketh him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flint of the rock; butter of the herd, and milk of the flock, with the fat of lambs, and of rams the sons of Bashan, and of he-goats, with the fat of the kidneys of wheat; and of the blood of the grape shalt thou drink unmixed wine [merum] (Deut. 32:12-14).
No one can understand what these things denote unless he knows the internal sense of each one. It appears like a heap of expressions such as are used by the eloquent among the wise ones of the world, and yet every expression signifies the celestial and its spiritual, and also the derivative blessedness and happiness, and all these in a well-ordered series. “Butter of the herd” is the celestial natural, “milk of the flock” is the celestial-spiritual of the rational.
[4] But as regards milk, as before said, this signifies the spiritual from the celestial, that is, the celestial-spiritual. (What the celestial-spiritual is may be seen in volume 1, n. 1577, 1824, and occasionally elsewhere.) That “milk” is the spiritual which is from the celestial, comes from the fact that “water” signifies what is spiritual (n. 680, 739); but “milk,” as there is fat in it, signifies the celestial-spiritual, or what is the same, the truth of good; or what is the same, the faith of love or of charity; or what is also the same, the intellectual of the good of the will; and again the same, the affection of truth in which there is inwardly the affection of good; and yet again the same, the affection of knowledges [cognitiones et scientiae] from the affection of charity toward the neighbor, such as exists with those who love the neighbor, and confirm themselves in this love from the knowledges of faith, and also from memory-knowledges, which they love on this account. All these things are the same as the celestial-spiritual, and are predicated according to the subject treated of.
sRef Isa@55 @1 S5′ sRef Gen@49 @11 S5′ sRef Gen@49 @12 S5′ sRef Isa@55 @2 S5′ [5] That this is signified, is evident also from the Word, as in Isaiah:
Everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no silver, come ye, buy, and eat; yea come, buy wine and milk without silver, and without price. Wherefore do ye weigh silver for that which is not bread? (Isa. 55:1-2),
where “wine” denotes the spiritual which is of faith, and “milk” the spiritual which is of love. In Moses:
He hath washed his garment in wine, and his clothing in the blood of grapes; his eyes are redder than wine, and his teeth are whiter than milk (Gen. 49:11-12),
which is the prophecy of Jacob, then Israel, concerning Judah; and by Judah the Lord is here described, and by his “teeth being whiter than milk,” is signified the celestial-spiritual that pertained to His natural.
sRef Joel@3 @18 S6′ [6] In Joel:
It shall be in that day that the mountains shall drop new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk; and all the brooks of Judah shall flow with waters (Joel 3:18),
speaking of the Lord’s kingdom; “milk” denotes the celestial-spiritual. In the Word the land of Canaan also (by which the Lord’s kingdom is represented and signified) is called a “land flowing with milk and honey” (as in Num. 13:27; 14:8; Deut. 26:9, 15; 27:3; Jer. 11:5; 32:22; Ezek. 20:6, 15), and in these passages nothing else is meant by “milk” than an abundance of celestial-spiritual things, and by “honey” an abundance of the derivative happinesses; the “land” is the celestial itself of the kingdom, from which those things come.
[7] As regards the “son of an ox,” it was shown just above that thereby is signified the celestial natural (n. 2180), the celestial natural being the same as natural good, or good in the natural. The natural of man, like his rational, has its good and its truth; for there is everywhere the marriage of good and truth (as said above, n. 2173). The good of the natural is the delight which is perceived from charity, or from the friendship which is of charity; from which delight there comes forth a pleasure which is properly of the body. The truth of the natural is the memory-knowledge [scientificum] which favors that delight. Hence it is evident what the celestial natural is.

sRef Gen@18 @8 S0′ 2185. And set before them. That this signifies that He thus prepared Himself to receive, is evident from the signification in the internal sense of “setting before them,” when the subject treated of is the preparation of the rational to receive perception from the Divine, thus without further explication.

sRef Gen@18 @8 S0′ 2186. And he stood before them under the tree. That this signifies the derivative perception, follows from the signification of a “tree,” as being perception (see n. 103, 2163). It has been already stated (verse 4), that the three men who came to Abraham lay down under a tree, by which was signified that the Divine approached the perception of that state in which the Lord then was. But it is here said that Abraham stood under the tree, by which is signified that the Lord approached Divine perception, after He had prepared Himself; and this is the reciprocality. Everyone can see that it is not without a cause, that mention is made of the three men and of Abraham standing under a tree, consequently that it was said for the sake of the arcana which lie hidden in these things.

sRef Gen@18 @8 S0′ 2187. And they did eat. That this signifies communication in this manner, is evident from the signification of “eating,” as being to be communicated and to be conjoined; as is also evident from the Word. The fact that Aaron, his sons, the Levites, and also the people, ate the hallowed things of the sacrifices in the holy place, signified nothing else than communication, conjunction, and appropriation, as above said at the explication of the passage from Leviticus 6:9, 10 (see n. 2177), for it was celestial and spiritual food that was signified by the hallowed things which they ate, consequently the appropriation of it. The hallowed things were the parts of the sacrifices which were not burned upon the altar, and were eaten either by the priests, or by the people that made the offering; as is evident from many passages where the sacrifices are treated of (what should be eaten by the priests, Exod. 29:32, 33; Lev. 6:9, 16, 18; 26; 7:6, 15-16, 18; 8:31; 10:12-13; Num. 18:9-11; what should be eaten by the people, Lev. 19:5-6; Deut. 12:27; 27:7; and elsewhere; and that the unclean should not eat of them, Lev. 7:19-21; 22:4-7). These feastings were made in a holy place near the altar, either at the door, or in the court of the tabernacle, and they signified nothing else than the communication, conjunction, and appropriation of celestial goods; for by them were represented celestial foods (concerning which food see n. 56-58, 680-681, 1480, 1695), and they were all called “bread,” the signification of which may be seen above (n. 2165). The like was represented by Aaron and his sons eating the showbread or “bread of faces,” in a holy place (Lev. 24:9).
[2] The law given for the Nazirite-that in the days of his Naziriteship he should not eat of anything from the grape, whence wine is made, from the seeds even to the skin (Num. 6:4)-was because the Nazirite represented the celestial man, and the celestial man is such that he is not willing even to mention spiritual things (as may be seen in volume 1, n. 202, 337, 880 at the end, 1647); and as wine and the grape, and also whatever is from the grape, signified what is spiritual, it was therefore forbidden the Nazirite to eat of them; that is, to have communication with them, to conjoin himself with them, and to appropriate them to himself.
sRef John@6 @51 S3′ sRef Isa@55 @1 S3′ sRef John@6 @63 S3′ sRef John@6 @60 S3′ sRef Isa@55 @2 S3′ sRef John@6 @57 S3′ sRef Rev@2 @7 S3′ [3] The like is meant by “eating” in Isaiah:
Everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no silver, come ye, buy, and eat; yea come, buy wine and milk without silver and without price. Wherefore do ye weigh silver for that which is not bread? and your labor for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto Me, and eat ye that which is good, and your soul shall be deliciated in fatness (Isa. 55:1-2).
As also in John:
To him that overcometh I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God (Rev. 2:7).
The “tree of life” is the celestial itself, and in the supreme sense is the Lord Himself, because from Him is all the celestial, that is, all love and charity. Thus to “eat of the tree of life” is the same as to eat the Lord, and to eat the Lord is to be gifted with love and charity, and thus with those things which are of heavenly life. This the Lord Himself says in John:
I am the living bread that came down from heaven; if anyone eat of this bread, he shall live to eternity; he that eateth Me shall live by Me (John 6:51, 57).
But they said, This is a hard saying. And Jesus said, The words that I speak unto you are spirit, and are life (John 6:60, 63).
sRef Matt@8 @11 S4′ [4] Hence it is manifest what is meant by eating in the Holy Supper (Matt. 26:26-28; Mark 14:22, 23; Luke 22:19, 20); namely, to have communication, to be conjoined, and to appropriate to oneself. Hence also it is clear what is meant by the Lord’s saying that:
Many shall come from the east and the west, and shall recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Matt. 8:11),
not that they are to eat with them in the kingdom of God, but that they will enjoy the celestial goods which are signified by “Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” namely, the celestial things of love; not only the inmost, which are “Abraham,” but also the lower that are intermediate, as are those of the rational, which are “Isaac;” and the still lower, which are the celestial natural, such as are in the first heaven, and which are meant by “Jacob.” Such is the internal sense of these words. (That these things are meant by “Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” may be seen in n. 1893, and wherever else they are treated of.) For whether we speak of enjoying those celestial things, or of enjoying the Lord, who is represented by those men, it is the same thing; for all those things are from the Lord, and the Lord is the all in all of them.

sRef Gen@18 @9 S0′ 2188. Verse 9. And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent. “They said to him, Where is Sarah thy wife?” signifies rational truth, which did not then appear because it was in rational good; “and he said, Behold, in the tent,” signifies that it was in what is holy.

sRef Gen@18 @9 S0′ 2189. They said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? That this signifies rational truth, which did not then appear because it was in rational good, is evident from the representation here of Sarah, as being rational truth (spoken of above, n. 2173). How the case is with these things, as also with those which follow, where the state of the rational with the Lord is treated of, which is represented by Sarah, cannot be so well explained to the understanding unless it is known what in general is the state of the rational as to good and as to truth; and with the Lord, as to the Divine and as to the Human in which He then was.
[2] The primary thing of the rational with man is truth (as before said, n. 2072), consequently it is the affection of truth, to the end that man may be reformed, and so regenerated. This is effected by means of knowledges [cognitiones et scientifica] that are of truth, which are continually being implanted in good, that is, in charity, that so the man may receive the life of charity. It is on this account that the affection of truth in man is predominant in his rational. For it is the case with the life of charity (which is the heavenly life itself) that with those who are being reformed and regenerated it is continually being born and growing up and receiving increments, and this by means of truths; therefore the more of truth there is insinuated, the more is the life of charity perfected; wherefore according to the quality and quantity of truth, so is the charity with a man.
[3] From all this it may in some measure be evident how the case is with man’s rational. In truth, however, there is no life, but in good. Truth is only a recipient of life, that is, of good. Truth is as the clothing or garment of good; therefore also truths are called in the Word “clothing,” and also “garments.” But when good constitutes the rational, truth disappears and becomes as if it were good. Good then shines through the truth, in the same way as takes place with the angels, for when they appear clothed, it is a brightness inducing the appearance of raiment, as was the case also when angels appeared before the prophets.
[4] This then is what is meant by rational truth not then appearing because it was in rational good, and which is signified by their saying to him, “Where is Sarah thy wife?” But as the Lord’s rational good was then Divine, such as it can be with no angel, it cannot be described otherwise than by comparison, and thus by illustration from something similar, and which is not the same.

sRef Gen@18 @9 S0′ 2190. And he said, Behold, in the tent. That this signifies that it was in what is holy, is evident from the signification of a “tent,” as being what is holy (explained n. 414, 1102, 1566, 2145). It is said in what is holy, because it was in good. All good is called holy from the fact that it is of love and charity, which are solely from the Lord. But such as are the goods, such are the holinesses. Goods are formed, that is, are born and grow up, by means of the truths of faith, and their quality and quantity are therefore determined by those of the truth of faith implanted in charity (as just said, n. 2189), from which it follows that goods or the holinesses differ with everyone; and although in the external form they may appear to be alike, yet in the internal forms they are unlike; and this both with those who are out of the church and with those who are within the church. There are more things in the good of charity with a man than man can possibly believe. All the things of his faith are in it, and consequently they are in the holiness of his worship. The quality of the holiness of his worship appears to the angels as in clear day, although the man knows nothing beyond the fact that he is in a certain holy state. Myriads of myriads of his thoughts concerning the goods and truths of faith and of the derivative affections, are in the holiness of his state. But as to the holiness of worship, what it is in general, of the Lord’s Divine mercy elsewhere.

sRef Gen@18 @10 S0′ 2191. Verse 10. And He said, Returning I will return unto thee about this time of life; and behold Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard at the door of the tent, and it was behind him. “And He said,” signifies perception; “Returning I will return unto thee about this time of life,” signifies the conjunction of the Divine with the Lord’s Human; “and behold Sarah thy wife shall have a son,” signifies the rational that was to be Divine; “and Sarah heard at the door of the tent,” signifies rational truth then near what is holy; “and it was behind him,” signifies near the good in which the rational then was, and thus separated from it insofar as anything of the human was in it.

sRef Gen@18 @10 S0′ 2192. And He said. That this signifies perception, is evident from the signification in the historical sense of “saying,” as being perceiving (explained before, n. 1898, 1919, 2080).

sRef Gen@18 @10 S0′ 2193. Returning I will return unto thee, about this time of life. That this signifies the conjunction of the Divine with the Human, is evident from the fact that the coming of Jehovah to Abraham represented the Divine perception, for receiving which the Lord prepared Himself, consequently it represented conjunction, as shown above; thus by “returning He would return to him,” there is signified the like, namely, the conjunction of the Divine with the Human. “At this time of life,” means at the same time of the following year.

sRef Gen@18 @10 S0′ 2194. Behold, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. That this signifies the rational that was to be Divine, is evident from the signification of a “son” and of “Sarah,” and also of “Isaac” who should be born to her. Both “son” and “Sarah,” and also “Isaac,” signify that which is of the Lord’s rational. (That a “son” is truth may be seen above, n. 489, 491, 533, 1147; also that “Sarah” signifies rational truth, n. 2173; and that “Isaac” signifies the Divine rational, n. 1893, 2066, 2083.) The human with every man begins in the inmost of his rational (as before said, n. 2106); and so also the Lord’s Human: that which was above it was Jehovah Himself, differently from any other man whatever. As the human begins in the inmost of the rational, and as the Lord made all the Human that was with Himself Divine, He first made the rational itself so from its inmost, which, when made Divine is represented and signified (as before said) by “Isaac.”

sRef Gen@18 @10 S0′ 2195. And Sarah heard at the door of the tent. That this signifies that rational truth was then near what is holy, is evident from the representation of Sarah, as being rational truth (see n. 2173, 2194); and from the signification of a “tent,” as being what is holy (see n. 414, 1102, 1566, 2145); and thus from the signification of the “door of the tent,” as being the entrance to what is holy, thus near what is holy (see above, n. 2145). How the case is with these things now follows.

sRef Gen@18 @10 S0′ 2196. And it was behind him. That this signifies near the good in which the rational then was, and separated from it insofar as anything of the human was in it, is evident from the fact that it is said of the door where Sarah was that it was “behind him.” To be “behind him” signifies not to be conjoined, but at his back. That which is separated from anyone is represented by a kind of rejection as it were to the back, as is evident from the representatives in the other life (concerning which from experience, n. 1393, 1875). This is here expressed by its being said that the door where Sarah was, was “behind him.”
[2] As regards the merely human rational truth which was then with the Lord being separated from Him when He conjoined Himself with the Divine, the case is this. Human rational truth does not apprehend Divine things, because these are above the sphere of its understanding, for this truth communicates with the memory-knowledges which are in the natural man, and in so far as it looks from these at the things which are above itself, so far it does not acknowledge them. For this truth is in appearances, which it is not able to put off; and appearances are born from sensuous things, which induce a belief as if Divine things themselves also were of a like nature, when yet these are exempt from all appearances, and when they are stated, this rational truth cannot possibly believe them, because it cannot apprehend them.
[3] If for example it is stated that man has no life except what is from the Lord, the rational supposes from appearances that in that case man cannot live as of himself; whereas he for the first time truly lives when he perceives that he does so from the Lord.
[4] The rational supposes from appearances that the good which man does is from himself, and yet there is nothing of good from self, but all is from the Lord. [5] From appearances the rational supposes that man merits salvation when he does what is good; whereas of himself man can merit nothing, but all merit is the Lord’s.
[6] From appearances man supposes that when he is withheld from evil and is kept in good by the Lord, there is nothing with him but what is good and just, nay, holy; whereas there is nothing in man but what is evil, unjust, and profane.
[7] From appearances man supposes that when he does what is good from charity, he does it from his will; whereas it is not from his will part, but from his intellectual part, in which charity has been implanted.
[8] From appearances man supposes that there can be no glory without the glory of the world; whereas in the glory of heaven there is not a particle of the world’s glory.
[9] From appearances man supposes that no one can love his neighbor more than himself, but that all love begins from self; when yet in heavenly love there is nothing of the love of self.
[10] From appearances man supposes that there can be no light but that which is from the light of the world; whereas in the heavens there is not one whit of the light of the world, and yet the light is so great that it surpasses the world’s noon day light a thousand times.
[11] From appearances man supposes that the Lord cannot shine before the universal heaven as a sun; when yet all the light of heaven is from Him.
[12] From appearances man cannot apprehend that in the other life there are motions forward; whereas those who are there appear to themselves to move forward just as do men on earth-in their dwellings, courts, and paradises; and still less can he apprehend if it is said that these movings forward are changes of state, which so appear.
[13] Nor can man from appearances apprehend that spirits and angels, who are invisible before our eyes, can be seen; nor that they can speak with man; when yet they appear to the internal sight, or that of the spirit, more manifestly than man does to man on earth; and their voices are heard as distinctly; besides thousands of thousands of such things, which man’s rational, from its own light, born from things of sense, and thereby darkened, cannot possibly believe. Nay, the rational is blinded in natural things themselves, not being able to apprehend, for instance, how those who dwell on the opposite side of the globe can stand on their feet and walk; and it is the same with very many other things. How blind then must the rational not be in spiritual and heavenly things, which are far above natural things?
[14] As the human rational is of such a character, it is here said of it that it was separated when the Lord in Divine perception was united to the Divine, which is signified by the standing of Sarah (who is here such rational truth) at the door of the tent, and by this being behind him.

sRef Gen@18 @11 S0′ 2197. Verse 11. And Abraham and Sarah were old, entering into days; it had ceased to be with Sarah in the way as of women. “Abraham and Sarah were old,” signifies the Human with the Lord, that it should be put off; “entering into days,” signifies that the time was come; “it had ceased to be with Sarah in the way as of women,” signifies the state of rational truth, that it could no longer remain so.

sRef Gen@18 @11 S0′ 2198. Abraham and Sarah were old. That this signifies the Human with the Lord, that it should be put off, is evident from the representation of Abraham and of Sarah; as also from the signification of the “old,” or of “old age.” Abraham here represents the Lord as to rational good, and Sarah represents the Lord as to rational truth, as has been said repeatedly in this chapter; thus each here represents the Human with the Lord, for the reason, as before said, that Jehovah was now present and spoke with Abraham; and Jehovah was the Lord’s Divine itself, not separate from Him, although it is presented as separate in the historical representatives, for by means of historical things it cannot be represented otherwise. But as regards its being said that “Abraham and Sarah were old,” signifying that that human should be put off-“old age” involves nothing else than the last time. “Old age” is mentioned in various places in the Word, as also that men “died;” but in the internal sense no old age, or death, such as those of the body, are ever perceived; but something else that is evident from the series of things; for in the other life old age and death are unknown. What is here meant is evident, as before said, from the series of things, namely, that the Lord was to put off the human.

sRef Gen@18 @11 S0′ 2199. Entering into days. That this signifies that the time was come, now follows from what has been said. A “day,” in the Word, as also a “year,” and indeed time in general, signifies state (as shown n. 23, 487, 488, 493, 893). Thus here, to “enter into days” signifies in the internal sense to enter into that state in which He should put off the Human; thus that the time was come.

sRef Gen@18 @11 S0′ 2200. It had ceased to be with Sarah in the way as of women. That this signifies that it could no longer so remain, is evident from what has been now said; thus without explication.

sRef Gen@18 @12 S0′ 2201. Verse 12. And Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am grown old, shall I have pleasure? and my lord old? “Sarah laughed within herself,” signifies the affection of that rational truth in regard to its being so done; “saying, After I am grown old, shall I have pleasure?” signifies that it was not of the affection of that truth that it should change its state; “and my lord old,” signifies that the affection of truth wondered that the rational good to which truth was adjoined should also put off the human.

sRef Gen@18 @12 S0′ 2202. Sarah laughed within herself. That this signifies the affection of that rational truth in regard to its being so done, is evident from the signification of “laughing” or of “laughter,” as being the affection of truth (spoken of before, n. 2072). What these things involve now follows.

sRef Gen@18 @12 S0′ 2203. Saying, After I am grown old, shall I have pleasure? That this signifies that it was not of the affection of that truth that it should change its state, is evident from the signification of “growing old,” as being to put off the human, and thus to change the state (as explained above, n. 2198); and from the signification of “shall I have pleasure?” as being not to desire; thus that this was not its affection. How the case is with these things is evident from what was said of Sarah above (n. 2196), that she stood at the door of the tent, and it was behind him; that is, that the human rational as to truth is of such a nature that it cannot understand what the Divine is, for the reason that that truth is in appearances; and therefore that which it cannot understand, it does not believe; and by that which it does not believe it is not affected.
The appearances in which the rational is, are such as to affect it, for there is delight in the appearances themselves; and therefore if it is deprived of appearances, it supposes that there is nothing of delight left; whereas heavenly affection is not in appearances, but in good and truth itself. As rational truth is of this nature, this is pardoned, and it is permitted to be in appearances, and to have delight in them. Such truth as was in appearances is represented by Sarah, when the Lord had conjoined Himself with the Divine, and therefore it is said that she “stood at the door,” and that she “laughed and said, After I am grown old, shall I have pleasure?” By this is signified that it was not of its affection that it should change its state.

sRef Gen@18 @12 S0′ 2204. And my lord old? That this signifies that the affection of truth wondered that the rational good to which truth was adjoined should also put off the human, is evident from the representation of Abraham, who is here “my lord,” as here denoting rational good (spoken of above, n. 2198, and elsewhere); also from the signification of “growing old,” as being to put off the human (also spoken of n. 2198). Human rational good is such as to have in itself much from worldly delights, for it is formed not only from truths, but also from the delights of sensuous things, and from many of the delights that are in the world. Into these delights (when the man is being reformed and regenerated) spiritual good is insinuated by the Lord; and thereby what is worldly is then tempered, and thus afterwards has its happiness therein. But the Lord utterly expelled from the rational all that was worldly, and so made it Divine; which is what the rational truth meant by “Sarah” wondered at.

sRef Gen@18 @13 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @13 S0′ 2205. Verse 13. And Jehovah said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I indeed truly bear, and I am become old? “Jehovah said unto Abraham,” signifies the Lord’s perception from the Divine; “Wherefore did Sarah laugh?” signifies the thought of rational truth from the affection of it; “saying, Shall I indeed truly bear?” signifies that it wondered that the rational should become Divine; “and I am become old,” signifies after it should be no longer of such a nature.

sRef Gen@18 @13 S0′ 2206. Jehovah said unto Abraham. That this signifies the Lord’s perception from the Divine, is evident from the signification of “saying” as being to perceive (explained before, n. 1898, 1919, 2080); and from the words “Jehovah said,” as being to perceive from the Divine, for as already often shown, the Lord’s internal itself was Jehovah.

sRef Gen@18 @13 S0′ 2207. Wherefore did Sarah laugh? That this signifies the thought of rational truth from its affection, is evident from the signification of “laughing,” or of “laughter,” as being the affection which is of truth (spoken of above, n. 2072); and from the representation of Sarah as being rational truth (concerning which several times before in this chapter). This interrogation involves that the Lord perceived that in His rational there was still what was human.

sRef Gen@18 @13 S0′ 2208. Shall I indeed truly bear? That this signifies that it wondered that the rational was to become Divine, is evident from the signification here in the internal sense of “bearing,” to wit, that as the Lord’s Divine rational is represented by Isaac (as before said, and as will be evident from what follows), so to “bear” here signifies Isaac, that is, the rational in that it should be made Divine; which the rational truth represented by Sarah could not comprehend.

sRef Gen@18 @13 S0′ 2209. And I am become old. That this signifies after it should no longer be of such a nature, namely, not Divine but human, and that this latter should be put off, is evident from the signification of “becoming old,” as being to put off the human (spoken of above, n. 2198, 2203). As regards the rational in general, when it thinks about Divine things, especially from its own truth, it cannot possibly believe that there are such things; both because it does not apprehend them, and because there adhere to it the appearances born from the fallacies of the senses by which and from which it thinks; as is evident from the examples adduced above (n. 2196); to which the following may be added for the sake of illustration.
[2] If the rational be consulted, can it believe that the Word has an internal sense, and this so remote from the literal sense as has been shown? And thus that the Word is that which conjoins heaven with earth, that is, the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens with the Lord’s kingdom on earth? Can the rational believe that souls after death speak with each other most distinctly, without the speech of words, and yet so fully as to express more in a minute than a man does by his speech in an hour? And that the angels do the same, but in a speech still more perfect, and one that is not perceivable by spirits? Also, that on coming into the other life all souls know how to speak in this way, although they receive no instruction in so speaking? Can the rational believe that in one affection of man, nay, in one sigh, there are such numberless things as can never be described, and yet are perceived by angels? And that every affection of man, nay, every idea of his thought, is an image of him, being such as to contain within it in a wonderful manner all the things of his life? Not to mention thousands upon thousands of such things.
[3] The rational, which is wise from sensuous things, and is imbued with their fallacies, when thinking of such things, does not believe that they can be so, because it is unable to form to itself any idea except from such things as it perceives by some sense either external or internal; and what then must be the case when it thinks about Divine celestial and spiritual things, which are still higher? For there must always be some appearances from sensuous things, upon which the thought must lean, and when these appearances are withdrawn, the idea perishes, as has also been evident to me from novitiate spirits, who take the greatest delight in the appearances which they have brought with them from the world, saying that if these should be taken away from them, they did not know whether they could think. Such is the rational as regarded in itself.

sRef Gen@18 @14 S0′ 2210. Verse 14. Shall anything be wonderful for Jehovah? At the set time I will return unto thee, about this time of life, and Sarah shall have a son. “Shall anything be wonderful for Jehovah?” signifies that everything is possible for Jehovah; “at the set time I will return unto thee,” signifies a state that was to come; “about this time of life, and Sarah shall have a son,” signifies that the Lord would then put off the human rational, and put on the Divine rational.

sRef Gen@18 @14 S0′ 2211. Shall anything be wonderful for Jehovah? That this signifies that everything is possible to Jehovah, is evident without explication.

sRef Gen@18 @14 S0′ 2212. At the set time I will return unto thee. That this signifies a state that was to come, is evident from the signification of “time,” as being state (see above, n. 2199). It is here said that Jehovah would “return at the set time,” and then “at this time of life,” or what is the same, at the present time of the following year. Each expression involves something peculiar, to wit, the “set time” involves the general of that state which is signified by “this time of life,” and the general is that it was about to come; but how it was to be is signified by “this time of life.” It is usual in the Word, especially in the Prophets, to describe states by double expressions seemingly alike; when yet the one involves the general, and the other something determinate in the general.

sRef Gen@18 @14 S0′ 2213. About this time of life, and Sarah shall have a son. That this signifies that the Lord would then put off the human rational, and put on the Divine rational, is evident from the signification of “returning at this time of life,” or at this present time of the following year, as being the conjunction of the Lord’s Divine with His Human (spoken of above, n. 2193); and from the signification of Sarah’s “son,” as being the rational about to be Divine (also spoken of above, n. 2194). This time of life, or the present time of the following year, denotes the time when Abraham should enter upon his hundredth year, by which year is signified the unition of the Lord’s Human with His Divine and of His Divine with His Human (as shown above, n. 1988). There then intervened a year, because by a “year” in the Word is not signified a year, but an entire time, and thus a whole period, whether it be of a thousand years, or of a hundred, or of ten, or of hours (as was also shown before, n. 482, 487, 488, 493, 893; and also by a “week,” see above, n. 2044).

sRef Gen@18 @15 S0′ 2214. Verse 15. And Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not, for she was afraid. And He said, Nay, for thou didst laugh. “And Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not, for she was afraid,” signifies that human rational truth wished to excuse itself, because it observed that it was not such as it ought to be. “And He said, Nay, for thou didst laugh,” signifies that nevertheless it was such.

sRef Gen@18 @15 S0′ 2215. Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not, for she was afraid. That this signifies that human rational truth wished to excuse itself, because it observed that it was not such as it ought to be, is evident without explication.

sRef Gen@18 @15 S0′ 2216. He said, Nay, for thou didst laugh. That this signifies that nevertheless it was such, is also evident without explication. How the case is with these things is evident from what is said above (n. 2072) concerning the signification of “laughing,” or of “laughter,” that it is an affection of the rational, and indeed the affection of truth or of falsity, in the rational, that is the source of all laughter. So long as there is in the rational such an affection as displays itself in laughter, so long there is in it something corporeal or worldly, and thus merely human. Celestial good and spiritual good do not laugh, but express their delight and cheerfulness in the face, the speech, and the gesture, in another way; for there are very many things in laughter, for the most part something of contempt, which, even if it does not appear, nevertheless lies concealed; and laughter is easily distinguished from cheerfulness of the mind, which also produces something similar to it. The state of the human rational with the Lord is described by Sarah’s “laughing;” and thereby is signified with what kind of affection the truth of the rational, at that time separated from good, regarded what was said: that it should be put off, and the Divine put on; not that the Lord laughed, but that He perceived from the Divine what the rational still was, and how much of the human there still was in it, and which was to be expelled. In the internal sense this is what is signified by Sarah’s “laughing.”

sRef Gen@18 @16 S0′ 2217. Verse 16. And the men rose up thence, and looked toward the faces of Sodom, and Abraham went with them to send them away. “The men rose up thence,” signifies that that perception came to an end; “and looked toward the faces of Sodom,” signifies the state of the human race; “Sodom” is all evil from the love of self; “and Abraham went with them,” signifies that the Lord still remained with them in perception, but concerning the human race; “to send them away,” signifies that He willed to withdraw from that perception.

sRef Gen@18 @16 S0′ 2218. The men rose up. That this signifies that that perception came to an end, is evident from the signification of “rising up,” as being to go away; and from that of the “men,” described above. By the coming of the three men, or of Jehovah, to Abraham, was represented the Lord’s Divine perception, as shown above. The Lord’s perception from the Divine at that time was first concerning the Divine Trine, which is the Divine Itself, the Divine Human, and the Proceeding. Afterwards it was concerning His Human, that it should put on the Divine. Now follows a perception from the Divine concerning the human race, as regards its quality. These three things are what are treated of in this chapter, and they follow in order, namely, that the Divine assumed the Human, and made this Divine, in order that it might save the human race. Concerning the former two it is said that the perception came to an end, which is meant in the internal sense by the “men rising up;” but the perception concerning the human race, as regards its quality, is signified in the internal sense by their “looking to the faces of Sodom, and by Abraham going with them;” and that the Lord did not will to remain in that perception, is signified by Abraham “going with them to send them away.” How the case is with these things can be better seen from the Contents which were premised, as also from the explication of what follows.

sRef Gen@18 @16 S0′ 2219. They looked toward the faces of Sodom. That this signifies the state of the human race, is evident from the signification of “looking to the faces,” here, to the faces of Sodom. By “faces” are signified all man’s interiors, both good and evil, for the reason that they shine forth from the face (as shown in volume 1, n. 358). Here therefore “faces,” because predicated of Sodom, signify interior evils, which are those of the love of self, and which evils in general are meant by “Sodom,” as will be evident from what now follows. That the worst evils of all originate from the love of self, is because the love of self is destructive of human society (as shown above, n. 2045), and of heavenly society (n. 2057); and since the perversity of the human race is thence known, by the “faces of Sodom” is here signified the state of the human race.
[2] Moreover it has been shown in volume 1, in various places, what the nature of the love of self is, namely, that it is diametrically contrary to the order into which man was created. Man is distinguished above beasts by having a rational given him, to the end that everyone may will well and do well to others, as in general so in particular. This is the order into which man has been created; consequently it is love to God and love toward the neighbor that should be man’s life, and by which he should be distinguished from brute animals. This is also the order of heaven, in which it was intended man should be while he lives in the world; thus in the Lord’s kingdom; and into this kingdom he would pass when he had put off the body that had been of service to him upon the earth, and there he would rise into a state continually advancing in heavenly perfection.
[3] But the love of self is the primary and indeed the only thing that destroys all this; and not so much so the love of the world, for this is indeed opposite to the spiritual things of faith, but the love of self is diametrically opposite to the celestial things of love; for he who loves himself loves no others, but endeavors to destroy all persons whatever that do not pay reverence to him; nor does he will well and do well to anyone, except to him who is a part of himself, or can be captivated so as to be a part of himself, like something inoculated as it were with his cupidities and phantasies. Hence it is evident that from the love of self there gush forth all hatreds, all revenges and cruelties, as also all infamous simulations and deceits, and thus all heinous things against the order of human society and against the order of heavenly society.
aRef Gen@3 @15 S4′ [4] Nay, so heinous is the love of self, that when its bonds are relaxed, that is, when opportunity of free range is given it, even with those who are in the lowest condition, it so rushes on, that it not only wills to exercise dominion over neighbors and those near at hand, but also over the universe, and even over the Supreme Divine Itself. Of this the man is indeed ignorant, because he is kept in bonds not well known to him, but insofar as these bonds are slackened (as before said), so far he rushes on; and this it has been given me to know from much experience in the other life. As these things lie hidden in the love of self, they who are in the love of self, and are not endowed with the bonds of conscience, above all others hold the Lord in hatred, consequently all the truths of faith, for these are the very laws of order in the Lord’s kingdom, and these they reject so as to abominate them, which also shows itself openly in the other life. This love is also the “serpent’s head,” which the “Seed of the woman” (that is, the Lord) “treads down” (concerning which see volume 1, n. 257).
[5] But the love of self is not always that which appears in the outward form as pride and haughtiness, for sometimes such persons are able to hold the neighbor in charity, for with some such an external is born, and with some it is contracted in early life, but is afterwards subjugated, the external still remaining. But those are in the love of self who despise others and make them of no account in comparison with themselves, and who care nothing for the common good, unless it is for them, and they themselves, as it were, are it, especially those who hate all by whom they are not favored and served, persecuting them, and so far as they are able depriving them of their possessions, honor, reputation, and even life. Let those who breathe such things in intention know that they are preeminently in the love of self.

sRef Jer@50 @40 S0′ sRef Jer@50 @35 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @16 S0′ 2220. That “Sodom” is all evil from the love of self, is evident from the signification of “Sodom” in the Word. Although in the following chapter it appears as if the evil of the worst adultery was signified by “Sodom,” nevertheless in the internal sense nothing else than evil from the love of self is signified by it. In the Word also the abominations that well forth from the love of self are represented by adulteries of various kinds. That “Sodom” signifies in general all evil from the love of self, and “Gomorrah” all falsity therefrom, has been shown in volume 1 (n. 1212, 1663, 1682, 1689), and is further evident from the following passages in the Word. In Jeremiah:
A sword upon the Chaldeans, and upon the inhabitants of Babel, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and the neighbor cities thereof, saith Jehovah, there shall not a man dwell there, and there shall not a son of man sojourn therein (Jer. 50:35, 40).
This passage treats of those signified by the Chaldeans, who are such as have profane falsity in their worship (see n. 1368); and of those signified by Babel, who are such as have profane evil in their worship (see n. 1182, 1326). Their condemnation is described by the “overthrow of Sodom,” that is, of evil in general, and by the “overthrow of Gomorrah,” that is, of falsity in general; because they also have in their worship the evil of the love of self, and the derivative falsity.
sRef Zeph@2 @9 S2′ sRef Amos@4 @11 S2′ sRef Zeph@2 @10 S2′ [2] In Amos:
I have overthrown you as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah; and ye became as a brand plucked out of the burning (Amos 4:11),
where Samaria is treated of, by which is signified the perverted spiritual church, and which in respect to evils in general contrary to the goods of charity is called “Sodom,” and in respect to falsities in general contrary to the truths of faith is called “Gomorrah;” and in respect to both (here as previously) is called the “overthrowing of God.” In Zephaniah:
Moab shall be as Sodom, and the sons of Ammon as Gomorrah, a forsaken place of the nettle, and a pit of salt, and a desolation even to eternity; this shall they have for their pride, because they have reproached and have enlarged upon the people of Jehovah Zebaoth (Zeph. 2:9-10),
where “Sodom” denotes evil from the love of self, and “Gomorrah” the derivative falsity, of both of which “desolation” is here predicated, as previously was “overthrow.” “Pride” is the love of self; to “reproach the people of Jehovah Zebaoth,” is to bring evil upon truths; and to “enlarge upon the people,” is to bring falsity upon them.
sRef Ezek@16 @46 S3′ sRef Ezek@16 @50 S3′ sRef Ezek@16 @48 S3′ sRef Ezek@16 @49 S3′ [3] In Ezekiel:
Thine elder sister is Samaria, that dwelleth at thy left hand, she and her daughters; and thy younger sister, that dwelleth at thy right hand, is Sodom and her daughters. Thy sister Sodom hath not done, she and her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters. Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom; pride, satiety of bread, and security of ease, were in her and her daughters, and she did not strengthen the hand of the wretched and needy; and they became haughty, and committed abomination before Me (Ezek. 16:46-50),
where the abominations of Jerusalem are treated of, and are described by “Samaria” and “Sodom”; by “Samaria,” instead of Gomorrah, as to falsities, and by “Sodom” as to evils; and it is stated what is specifically signified by “Sodom,” for it is said, “this was the iniquity of Sodom,” to wit that it was the love of self, which is there signified by “pride.” That they turned away from the goods of charity, is signified by the “satiety of bread;” that they had acquiesced in these things, is signified by the “security of ease;” that they had no mercy, is described by their “not having strengthened the hand of the poor and needy;” and that all the cupidities thence derived are imbued with the love of self, is signified by their “daughters having become haughty;” the “daughters” are cupidities.
sRef Rev@11 @8 S4′ sRef Matt@10 @15 S4′ [4] Hence it is manifestly evident what “Sodom” is, thus that it is not according to the historic sense in the following chapter, but that such things are there signified in the internal sense as are described here by the prophet, namely, those which are of the love of self. But Sodom is here described more mildly because the abominations of Jerusalem are treated of as having been greater than those of Sodom, as is also evident from the Lord’s words in Matthew:
Verily I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city (Matt. 10:15; Mark 6:11; Luke 10:12).
In John:
Their bodies shall lie upon the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt (Rev. 11:8),
where it is evident that by “Sodom” is not meant Sodom, nor Egypt by “Egypt,” for it is said that it is “spiritually called Sodom and Egypt;” “Sodom” denotes all evil from the love of self, and “Egypt” (instead of Gomorrah) all derivative falsity.

sRef Gen@18 @16 S0′ 2221. Abraham went with them. That this signifies that the Lord still remained with them in perception, but concerning the human race, is evident from the series of things in the internal sense; for to “go with the three men” (that is, with Jehovah) is to be still in perception.

sRef Gen@18 @16 S0′ 2222. To send them away. That this signifies that He willed to withdraw from that perception, is evident without explication. The reason is also manifest, namely, that the perception from the Divine, and the thought therefrom concerning the human race that such was their quality, struck Him with horror, for the Lord’s love toward the human race was so great that He willed to save all to eternity by the unition of His Human Essence with the Divine, and of the Divine with the Human, on which account, when He perceived that they were such, He willed to withdraw from the perception and derivative thought, which is signified by Abraham desiring to “send the men away.”

sRef Gen@18 @17 S0′ 2223. Verse 17. And Jehovah said, Shall I hide from Abraham that which I do? “And Jehovah said,” signifies perception; “Shall I hide from Abraham that which I do?” signifies that nothing ought to be hidden before the Lord.

sRef Gen@18 @17 S0′ 2224. Jehovah said. That this signifies perception, is evident from the signification of “saying,” as being to perceive (see n. 1898, 1919, 2080). Here, as it is Jehovah who “said,” the meaning is that the Lord perceived from the Divine.

sRef Gen@18 @17 S0′ sRef Deut@6 @5 S0′ sRef Deut@6 @4 S0′ sRef Deut@6 @6 S0′ 2225. Shall I hide from Abraham that which I do? That this signifies that nothing ought to be hidden before the Lord, is evident from the representation of Abraham, as being the Lord in that state (as already explained several times in this chapter). That the rest of the words signify that nothing ought to be hidden, is evident. In this case the sense of the letter is similar to the internal sense, as occasionally elsewhere, especially where the essentials of faith are treated of, which, being necessary to salvation, are stated in the letter such as they are in the internal sense; as for example in Moses:
Jehovah our God is one Jehovah; and thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strengths; and these words shall be upon thy heart (Deut. 6:4-6);
with other similar passages.

sRef Gen@18 @18 S0′ 2226. Verse 18. And Abraham shall surely be for a nation great and numerous; and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him. “Abraham shall surely be for a nation great and numerous,” signifies that from the Lord will be all good and all the derivative truth; “and in him shall all the nations of the earth be blessed,” signifies that all who are in charity will be saved by Him.

sRef Gen@18 @18 S0′ 2227. Abraham shall surely be for a nation great and numerous. That this signifies that all good and all the derivative truth will be from the Lord, is evident from the representation of Abraham, as being the Lord (often shown above), and also from the signification of a “nation,” as being good (explained n. 1159, 1258-1260, 1416, 1849); here a “nation great and numerous,” by which is signified good and the derivative truth. That “great” is predicated of good, and “numerous” of truth, appears from other places in the Word, but I must refrain from citing them here. The derivative truth, that is, truth from good, in the genuine sense is spiritual good. There are two kinds of good that are distinct from each other, namely, celestial good and spiritual good. Celestial good is that of love to the Lord, spiritual good is that of love toward the neighbor. From the former, or celestial good, comes the latter, or spiritual good; for no one can love the Lord unless he also loves his neighbor. In love to the Lord is love toward the neighbor; for love to the Lord is from the Lord, and thus is from love itself toward the universal human race. To be in love to the Lord is the same as to be in the Lord; and he who is in the Lord cannot be otherwise than in His love; which is toward the human race and thus toward the neighbor; thus is he in both kinds of good, celestial and spiritual. The former is the veriest good itself; but the latter is its truth, or the truth therefrom; which truth is spiritual good, as said. The former is what is signified by “great,” but the latter by “numerous.”

sRef Gen@18 @18 S0′ 2228. All the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him. That this signifies that all who are in charity will be saved by Him, is evident from the signification of being “blessed,” as being to be endowed with all goods which are from a heavenly origin (as explained n. 981, 1096, 1420, 1422). They who are endowed with goods from a heavenly origin, that is, with both celestial and spiritual goods (concerning which just above, n. 2177), are also endowed with eternal salvation, that is, are saved. By “all the nations of the earth” are meant in the internal sense those who are in the good of love and of charity, as is evident from the signification of a “nation,” as being good (n. 1159, 1258-1260, 1416, 1849). That all men in the whole globe are not meant by “all the nations of the earth,” is evident to everyone, because there are very many among them who are not saved, but only those who are in charity, that is, who have attained the life of charity.
[2] That none may be unaware how the case is with the salvation of men after their decease, it shall be briefly stated. There are many who say that man is saved by faith, or, in their words, if he only has faith; but for the most part they are those who do not know what faith is. Some suppose that it is mere thought; some that it is an acknowledgment of something to be believed; some that it is the whole doctrine of faith, which is to be believed; and others otherwise. Thus in the bare knowledge of what faith is they wander in error; consequently in the knowledge of what that is by which man is saved. Faith, however, is not mere thought, nor is it an acknowledgment of something to be believed, nor a knowledge of all things which belong to the doctrine of faith. By these no one can be saved; for they can take root no deeper than in the thought, and thought saves no one, but the life which the man has procured for himself in the world by means of the knowledges of faith. This life remains; whereas all thought which does not accord with the life perishes, even so as to become none at all. The heavenly consociations are according to lives, and by no means according to thoughts which are not of the life. Thoughts which are not of the life are counterfeit, and such are altogether rejected.
[3] In general, life is twofold, being on the one hand infernal, on the other heavenly. Infernal life is acquired from all those ends, thoughts, and works which flow from the love of self, consequently from hatred against the neighbor; heavenly life, from all those ends, thoughts, and works which are of love toward the neighbor. The latter is the life to which all things that are called faith have regard, and which is procured by all things of faith. All this shows what faith is, namely, that it is charity, for to charity all things lead which are said to be of the doctrine of faith; in it they are all contained, and from it they are all derived. The soul, after the life of the body, is such as its love is.

sRef Gen@18 @19 S0′ 2229. Verse 19. For I know him, because he will command his sons, and his house after him, and they will keep the way of Jehovah to do righteousness and judgment; that Jehovah may bring upon Abraham that which He hath spoken concerning him. “For I know him,” signifies that it is true; “because he will command his sons, and his house after him, and they will keep the way of Jehovah to do righteousness and judgment,” signifies that all the doctrine of charity and faith is from Him; “sons” are they who are in truths, “house,” they who are in goods, “way” is doctrine, “righteousness” has regard to good, “judgment” to truth; “that Jehovah may bring upon Abraham that which He hath spoken concerning him,” signifies that the Human Essence will for this reason be adjoined to the Divine Essence.

sRef Gen@18 @19 S0′ 2230. For I know him. That this signifies that it is true, is evident from the signification of “knowing.” Properly speaking, to “know” [cognoscere] anyone is to know [scire] that he is of such and such a quality; and it is the same when the term is applied to anything, or to anything else: to “know” it means to know that such is its quality; and therefore to “know” [nosse] has reference to that which is predicated, and it signifies that that which is meant in accordance with the series of things is so, or is true.

sRef Gen@18 @19 S0′ 2231. Because he will command his sons, and his house after him, and they will keep the way of Jehovah, to do righteousness and judgment. That this signifies that all the doctrine of charity and faith is from Him, is evident from the signification of a “son,” of a “house,” of a “way,” of righteousness,” and of “judgment;” which when summed up, or gathered into one sense, signify all the doctrine of charity and faith. For by “sons” are signified all who are in truths, by “house” all who are in goods, by a “way” the doctrine by which they are instructed, which doctrine in regard to good is signified by “righteousness,” and in regard to truth by “judgment.” Doctrine concerning good is the doctrine of charity, and doctrine concerning truth is the doctrine of faith.
[2] In general, there is only one doctrine, namely, the doctrine of charity, for (as before said, n. 2228) all things of faith look to charity. Between charity and faith there is no other difference than that between willing what is good and thinking what is good (for he who wills what is good also thinks what is good), thus than that between the will and the understanding. They who reflect, know that the will is one thing and the understanding another. This is also known in the learned world, and it plainly appears with those who will evil and yet from thought speak well; from all which it is evident to everyone that the will is one thing, and the understanding another; and thus that the human mind is distinguished into two parts, which do not make a one. Yet man was so created that these two parts should constitute one mind; nor should there be any other distinction (to speak by comparison) than such as there is between a flame and the light from it (love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor being like the flame, and all perception and thought being like the light from it); thus love and charity should be the all of the perception and thought, that is should be in each and all things of them. Perception or thought concerning the quality of love and charity is that which is called faith.
[3] But as the human race began to will what is evil, to hate the neighbor, and to exercise revenges and cruelties, insomuch that that part of the mind which is called the will was altogether destroyed, men began to make a distinction between charity and faith, and to refer to faith all the doctrinal matters that were of their religion, and call them by the single term faith; and at length they went so far as to say that they could be saved by faith alone-by which they meant their doctrinal things-provided they merely believed these, no matter how they might live. Thus was charity separated from faith, which is then nothing else whatever (to speak by comparison) than a kind of light without flame, such as is wont to be the light of the sun in time of winter, which is cold and icy, insomuch that the vegetation of the earth grows torpid and dies; whereas faith from charity is like the light in the time of spring and summer, by which all things germinate and bloom.
[4] This may also be known from the fact that love and charity are celestial flame, and that faith is the spiritual light therefrom. In this manner also do they present themselves to perception and sight in the other life; for there the Lord’s celestial manifests itself before the angels by a flaming radiance like that of the sun, and the Lord’s spiritual by the light from this radiance, by which also angels and spirits are affected as to their interiors, in accordance with the life of love and charity that appertains to them. This is the source in the other life of joys and happinesses with all their varieties. And all this shows how the case is with the statement that faith alone saves.

sRef Gen@18 @19 S0′ 2232. That “sons” are those who are in truths, is evident from the signification of a “son” in the Word as being truth (see n. 489, 491, 533, 1147). By “sons” in the abstract sense are signified truths; but as applied to man, “sons” denote all those who are in truths.

sRef Gen@18 @19 S0′ 2233. That a “house” denotes those who are in goods, is evident from the signification of a “house,” as being good (see n. 710, 1708, 2048). By a “house,” or those born in the house, in the abstract sense goods are in like manner signified, but as applied to man they denote all who are in good.

sRef Gen@18 @19 S0′ 2234. That a “way” denotes doctrine, is evident from the signification of a “way.” A “way” in the Word is predicated of truths, because truths lead to good and proceed from good (as is evident from the passages adduced in volume 1, n. 627); and as a “way” is predicated of truths, it denotes doctrine, because doctrine comprises in one complex all the things which lead to good, that is, to charity.

sRef Gen@18 @19 S0′ 2235. That “righteousness” has regard to good, and “judgment” to truth, is evident from the signification of “righteousness,” and from the signification of “judgment.” In the Word, “righteousness and judgment” are many times named together, but what they signify in the internal sense has not yet been known. In the proximate sense “righteousness” is predicated of what is righteous or just [justus], and “judgment” of what is right [rectus]. There is what is righteous when anything is judged from good, and this according to conscience; but what is right when anything is judged from the law, and thus from the righteousness of the law, thus also according to conscience, because it has the law for its rule. But in the internal sense “righteousness” denotes that which is from good, and “judgment” that which is from truth. Good is all that which belongs to love and charity; truth is all that which belongs to the derivative faith. Truth derives its essence from good, and is called truth from good, just as faith derives its essence from love, and in the same way judgment from righteousness.
sRef Jer@33 @19 S2′ sRef Zech@8 @8 S2′ sRef Ezek@33 @16 S2′ sRef Ezek@33 @14 S2′ sRef Jer@22 @13 S2′ sRef Jer@33 @14 S2′ sRef Jer@22 @3 S2′ sRef Jer@22 @15 S2′ sRef Jer@33 @16 S2′ sRef Ezek@33 @19 S2′ [2] That such is the signification of “righteousness and judgment” is evident from the following passages in the Word. In Jeremiah:
Thus saith Jehovah, Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and rescue the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor. Woe to him that buildeth his house in that which is not righteousness and his chambers in that which is not judgment. Did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and righteousness? Then he had that which is good (Jer. 22:3, 13, 15),
where “judgment” denotes the things that are of truth, and “righteousness” the things that are of good. In Ezekiel:
If the wicked shall return from his sin, and do judgment and righteousness, all his sins that he hath sinned shall not be mentioned unto him; he hath done judgment and righteousness: he shall surely live. When the wicked turns himself from his wickedness, and does judgment and righteousness, for these he shall live (Ezek. 33:14, 16, 19),
where in like manner “judgment” denotes truth, which is of faith; and “righteousness” good, which is of charity.
sRef Amos@5 @24 S3′ sRef Isa@33 @5 S3′ sRef Isa@9 @7 S3′ sRef Hos@2 @19 S3′ sRef Hos@2 @20 S3′ sRef Isa@56 @1 S3′ [3] So in Amos:
Let judgment flow like waters, and righteousness like a mighty river (Amos 5:24).
In Isaiah:
Thus saith Jehovah, Keep ye judgment, and do righteousness, for My salvation is near to come, and My righteousness to reveal itself (Isa. 56:1).
In the same:
To peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it, with judgment and with righteousness, from henceforth and even to eternity (Isa. 9:7),
denoting that they are in the truths of faith and in the goods of charity.
In the same:
Jehovah is exalted, for He dwelleth on high; He hath filled Zion with judgment and righteousness (Isa. 33:5),
where “judgment” denotes faith, “righteousness” love, and “Zion” the church. “Judgment” stands first because love comes through faith; but when “righteousness” stands first, it is because the faith is from love, as in Hosea:
I will betroth thee unto Me to eternity, and I will betroth thee unto Me in righteousness and judgment, and in mercy and in compassions; and I will betroth thee unto Me in faith, and thou shalt know Jehovah (Hos. 2:19-20),
where “righteousness” stands first, as also “mercy,” which are of love; and “judgment” follows, as also “compassions,” which are of faith from love; both are called “faith” or “faithfulness.”
sRef Ps@36 @5 S4′ sRef Ps@85 @11 S4′ sRef Ps@85 @12 S4′ sRef Ps@15 @2 S4′ sRef Ps@36 @6 S4′ [4] In David:
Thy mercy, O Jehovah, is in the heavens, thy truth reacheth unto the skies [aetheres]; Thy righteousness is like the mountains of God, Thy judgments are a great deep (Ps. 36:5-6),
where both “mercy” and “righteousness” are in like manner of love, and “truth” and “judgments” are of faith. In the same:
Truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look forth from heaven. Yea, Jehovah shall give good, and our land shall yield its increase (Ps. 85:11-12),
where “truth,” which is of faith, denotes “judgment,” and “righteousness” love or mercy. In Zechariah:
I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and they shall be My people, and I will be their God in truth and in righteousness (Zech. 8:8),
from which also it is evident that “judgment” denotes truth, and “righteousness” good; because “truth” is here used in place of “judgment.” In like manner in David:
He that walketh perfect, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh truth (Ps. 15:2).
sRef Isa@58 @2 S5′ sRef Ps@119 @172 S5′ sRef Jer@9 @24 S5′ sRef Jer@23 @5 S5′ sRef Ps@119 @164 S5′ [5] As faith is of charity, or as truth is of good, the truths of good are occasionally called the “judgments of righteousness;” and thus “judgments” signify almost the same as “precepts;” as in Isaiah:
They will seek Me day by day, and desire to know My ways, as a nation that doeth righteousness and forsaketh not the judgment of their God; they will ask of Me judgments of righteousness, they will desire to draw near to God (Isa. 58:2).
That “precepts” signify the same may be seen in David:
Seven times a day have I praised Thee because of the judgments of Thy righteousness; all Thy precepts are righteousness (Ps. 119:164, 172).
It is especially said of the Lord that He “does judgment and righteousness,” when He creates man anew as in Jeremiah:
Let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me, that I am Jehovah that doeth mercy, judgment, and righteousness in the earth, for in these things I am well pleased (Jer. 9:24),
where mercy, which is of love, is described by “judgment and righteousness.” In the same:
I will raise up unto David a righteous offshoot, and He shall reign as King, and shall act intelligently, and shall do judgement and righteousness in the earth (Jer. 23:5; 33:15).
sRef John@16 @10 S6′ sRef John@16 @11 S6′ sRef John@16 @8 S6′ sRef John@16 @7 S6′ sRef John@16 @9 S6′ [6] Hence it is said in John:
If I go away, I will send the Comforter unto you; and when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; of sin, because they believe not on Me; of righteousness, because I go unto My Father, and ye shall see Me no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged (John 16:7-11).
“Sin” here denotes all unfaithfulness. His “reproving in regard to righteousness” means in regard to all that is against good, when yet the Lord united the Human to the Divine to save the world-which is the meaning of “I go unto My Father and ye shall see Me no more.” His “reproving in regard to judgment” means in regard to all that is against truth, when yet evils were cast down into their hells so as no longer to be able to inflict injury-which is meant by the prince of the world being judged. In general, His “reproving in regard to sin, righteousness, and judgment,” means that it was in regard to all unfaithfulness against good and truth; and thus that there was no charity and faith; for in ancient times by righteousness and judgment were understood, as regards the Lord, all mercy and grace; and as regards man, all charity and faith.

sRef Gen@18 @19 S0′ 2236. That Jehovah may bring upon Abraham that which He hath spoken concerning him. That this signifies that on this account the Human Essence will be adjoined to the Divine Essence, is not so evident from the signification of the words as from the fact that all things said in the Word involve the Lord’s coming to unite the Human Essence to the Divine Essence, by which unition He should save the human race. These are the things signified in the internal sense by His “bringing upon Abraham that which He hath spoken concerning him.”

sRef Gen@18 @20 S0′ 2237. Verse 20. And Jehovah said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah has become great, and because their sin has become very grievous. “Jehovah said,” signifies perception; “because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah has become great, and because their sin has become very grievous,” signifies that the falsity and evil of the love of self have grown even to consummation. “Cry” is falsity, and “sin” is evil.

sRef Gen@18 @20 S0′ 2238. Jehovah said. That this signifies perception, is evident from the signification, in the historical sense, of “saying,” as being to perceive, as shown several times before. When the expression “Jehovah said” occurs in the historicals of the Word, it signifies a perception which is not altogether continuous with the previous one, but is a sequent one, and sometimes a new one (see also n. 2061).

sRef Gen@18 @20 S0′ 2239. Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah has become great, and because their sin has become very grievous. That this signifies that the falsity and evil of the love of self have increased even to consummation, is evident from the signification of “Sodom,” as being evil from the love of self; and of “Gomorrah,” as being the derivative falsity (shown above, n. 2220); also from the signification of a “cry,” as being falsity; and of “sin,” as being evil (to be explained presently); from all which it is evident that the “cry having become great, and the sin having become very grievous,” signifies that the falsity and evil had come to their height, or to consummation. This is better seen from what follows, where it is said that if ten were found there the city should be spared (verse 32); by which is signified, if there were still any remains, that is, anything of good and truth; for when there is no longer anything of good and truth within man, there is then wasteness and desolation, consequently consummation (concerning which in the following verse).

sRef Jer@25 @36 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @20 S0′ 2240. That a “cry” denotes falsity, and “sin” evil, is evident from the signification in the Word of a “cry.” That a “cry” signifies falsity, can be evident to no one unless he knows the internal sense of the Word. The word sometimes occurs in the Prophets, and when vastation and desolation are there treated of, it is said that men “howl and cry,” by which is signified that goods and truths have been vastated; and a term is there made use of by which in the internal sense falsity is described; as in Jeremiah:
A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and the howling of the powerful ones of the flock because Jehovah layeth waste their pasture (Jer. 25:36),
where the “cry of the shepherds” denotes that they are in falsity, from which there comes vastation.
sRef Jer@47 @2 S2′ sRef Jer@47 @4 S2′ [2] In the same:
Behold, waters rise up from the north, and shall become an overflowing stream, and shall overflow the land and the fullness thereof, the city and them that dwell therein and the men shall cry, and every inhabitant of the land shall howl, because of the day that cometh to lay waste (Jer. 47:2, 4),
where the desolation of faith is treated of, which is brought about by falsities; the “overflowing stream” is falsity (as shown in Part First, n. 705, 790).
sRef Zeph@1 @10 S3′ sRef Zeph@1 @13 S3′ [3] In Zephaniah:
The voice of a cry from the fish gate, and a howling from the second, and a great shattering from the hills, and their wealth shall become a spoil, and their houses a desolation (Zeph. 1:10, 13),
where also a “cry” is predicated of the falsities which lay waste.
sRef Isa@15 @5 S4′ sRef Isa@15 @6 S4′ [4] In Isaiah:
In the way of Horonaim they shall rouse up a cry of shattering, for the waters of Nimrim shall be desolations, for the grass has dried up, the herb is consumed, there is no green thing (Isa. 15:5, 6; Jer. 48:3), where the desolation of faith and its consummation is described by a “cry.”
sRef Jer@14 @3 S5′ sRef Jer@14 @2 S5′ [5] In Jeremiah:
Judah hath mourned, and her gates languish, they have been blackened upon the earth, and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up and their illustrious ones have sent their younger ones to the waters they came to the pits, they found no waters, they returned with their vessels empty (Jer. 14:2, 3),
where the “cry of Jerusalem” denotes falsities for by their “finding no waters” is signified that there were no knowledges of truth, which are ” waters” (as shown in Part First, n. 28, 680, 739).
sRef Isa@65 @19 S6′ [6] In Isaiah:
I will exult in Jerusalem and be glad in My people, and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying (Isa. 65:19),
where there “not being heard the voice of weeping” `denotes that there shall not be evil; “nor the voice of crying” denotes that there shall not be falsity. Very many of these things cannot be understood from the sense of the letter, but only from the internal sense, and this is the case with a “cry.”
sRef Isa@5 @7 S7′ [7] In the same:
Jehovah looked for judgment, but behold a scab; for righteousness, but behold a cry (Jer. 5:7),
where also the vastation of good and truth is treated of. There is in this passage a kind of reciprocation, such as is occasionally found in the Prophets, and which is of such a nature that in the place of truth there is found evil, which is meant by there being “a scab instead of judgment;” and falsity in place of good, which is meant by there being “a cry instead of righteousness” (for that “judgment” is truth, and “righteousness” good, was shown above, n. 2235).
sRef Deut@32 @32 S8′ [8] There is a like reciprocation in Moses, where Sodom and Gomorrah are treated of:
Of the vine of Sodom is their vine, and of the fields of Gomorrah are their grapes; they have grapes of gall, clusters of bitternesses. (Deut. 32:32),
where there is a similar mode of speaking; for the “vine” is predicated of truths and falsities, and the “fields” and “grapes,” of goods and evils; so that “the vine of Sodom” is falsity from evil, and “the fields and grapes of Gomorrah” are evils from falsities; for there are two kinds of falsity (see volume 1, n. 1212); and so also there are two kinds of evil. Both kinds of falsity and evil are signified in this verse by the “cry of Sodom and Gomorrah having become great, and their sin having become exceeding grievous;” as is evident from the fact that “cry” is named in the first place, and “sin” in the second; and yet “Sodom,” which is evil from the love of self, is mentioned first; and “Gomorrah,” which is the derivative falsity, second.

sRef Gen@18 @21 S0′ 2241. Verse 21. I will go down, I pray, and I will see whether they have made a consummation according to the cry thereof which is come unto Me, and if not I will know. “I will go down, I pray, and I will see,” signifies visitation; “whether they have made a consummation according to the cry thereof which is come unto Me, and if not I will know,” signifies whether the evil has arrived at its height.

sRef Gen@18 @21 S0′ 2242. I will go down, I pray, and I will see. That this signifies visitation, is evident from the signification of “going down to see,” as being Judgment (explained in volume 1, n. 1311), consequently that it is visitation. The last time of the church in general, and that of everyone in particular, is called in the Word “visitation,” which precedes Judgment; thus a “visitation” is simply an exploration as to quality, that is, as to the quality of the church in general, or of a man in particular; and this exploration is expressed in the sense of the letter by Jehovah “going down and seeing.”
[2] This shows what is the nature of the sense of the letter, for Jehovah does not go down, since going down cannot be predicated of the Lord, because He is always in the highest; nor does Jehovah see whether a thing be so, for seeing whether it be so cannot be predicated of the Lord, because He knows all things from eternity both in general and in particular. Nevertheless it is so expressed because it appears to man as if it were so, for man is in things that are below, and when anything appears there, he does not think or even know how the case is with things that are above, thus neither how they flow in, for his thought goes no further than to what is nearest to him, and hence he cannot perceive otherwise than that there is some such thing as going down and seeing, and this the more because he imagines that no one knows what he is thinking; besides that he has no other idea than that there is a coming down from on high, and, when said of God, from the highest; whereas it is not from the highest, but from the inmost.
[3] This shows what is the nature of the sense of the letter, namely, that it is according to appearances and if it were not according to appearances, no one would understand and acknowledge the Word; thus no one would receive it. But the angels are not in appearances in the way that man is, and therefore while the Word as to the sense of the letter is for man, as to the internal sense it is for the angels, as also for those men to whom of the Lord’s Divine mercy it is given, while living in the world, to be like the angels.
sRef Isa@10 @3 S4′ sRef Isa@13 @10 S4′ sRef Isa@13 @11 S4′ [4] “Visitation” is mentioned in various places in the Word, and by it is signified either vastation-whether of the church or of each man-or deliverance, and thus exploration as to quality. It denotes vastation in Isaiah:
What will ye do in the day of visitation? it shall come from far. To whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory? (Isa. 10:3).
And again:
The stars of the heavens and the constellations thereof shall not shine with their light, the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine, and I will visit evil upon the world, and upon the wicked their iniquity (Isa. 13:10, 11).
That by the stars and constellations which shall not shine, and the sun which shall be darkened, and the moon which shall not make her light to shine, is signified that there will be no love and no charity, may be seen above (n. 2120); and as this is vastation, it is the “day of visitation.”
sRef Ezek@9 @1 S5′ sRef Ex@32 @34 S5′ sRef Hos@9 @7 S5′ sRef Micah@7 @4 S5′ sRef Jer@8 @12 S5′ [5] In Jeremiah:
They shall fall among them that fall, and in the time of their visitation they shall stumble (Jer. 8:12);
meaning the time when they have been vastated, or when there is no charity and faith. In Ezekiel:
The visitations of the city have come near, and every man with his instrument of destruction in his hand (Ezek. 9:1).
Here also vastation is treated of; hence every man has an instrument of destruction. In Hosea:
The days of visitation are come, the days of retribution are come (Hos. 9:7).
In Micah:
The day of thy watchmen, thy visitation, is come; now shall be their perplexity (Micah 7:4),
also denoting vastated charity. In Moses:
In the day of My visiting, and I will visit upon them their sin (Exod. 32:34),
where the people in the wilderness are treated of, after they had made for themselves the golden calf. That deliverance is signified by “visitation” is plain from many passages (as Exod. 3:16; 4:31; Jer. 27:22; 29:10; Luke 1:68, 78; 19:41-42).

sRef Gen@18 @21 S0′ 2243. Whether they have made a consummation according to the cry of it which is come unto Me, and if not I will know. That this signifies whether evil has arrived at its height, is evident from the signification of a “cry,” as being falsity (explained just above, n. 2240). As there said (near the end) there are two kinds of falsity, namely, the falsity which is from evil, and the falsity which produces evil. The falsity which is from evil is all that which a man thinks when he is in evil, namely, all that favors his evil; as for example, when he is in adultery, that which he then thinks about adultery: that it is allowable, that it is becoming, that it is the delight of life, that the procreation of offspring is thereby promoted, and so on; all these thoughts being falsities from evil.
[2] But the falsity which produces evil takes place when from his religious belief a man conceives some principle, and consequently believes that it is good or holy, when yet in itself it is evil. For example, he who believes from his religion that there is some man who can save, and therefore worships and adores him, does evil from that falsity; and the same is true in regard to any other religious belief which in itself is false. As therefore falsity is from evil, and falsity produces evil, the expression “cry” is here used, signifying, as a kind of general expression, that which it involves, namely, evil; as is also evident from its being said, “whether they have made a consummation according to the cry of it which is come unto Me;” where “its cry” is put in the singular number, and “they have made a consummation,” in the plural.
[3] What a “consummation” is, was shown in volume 1 (n. 1857); and what a consummation is further, may be comprehended from the churches. The Most Ancient Church, which was called “Man,” was the most celestial of all. This in process of time so far degenerated from the good of love, that at length nothing celestial remained, and then was its consummation, which is described by the state of those just before the flood.
[4] The Ancient Church (which was after the flood and was called “Noah,” and was less celestial) also in course of time so departed from the good of charity, that nothing of charity remained, for it was turned partly into magic, partly into idolatry, and partly into a kind of dogmatic system separate from charity; and then was its consummation.
[5] Another church succeeded, called the Hebrew Church, which was still less celestial and spiritual, placing somewhat of holy worship in external rites. This in course of time was distorted in various ways, and that external worship was turned into idolatry; and then was its consummation.
[6] A fourth church was then restored among the posterity of Jacob, which had nothing celestial and spiritual, but only a representative of it; and therefore that church was a church representative of celestial and spiritual things, inasmuch as they did not know what their rites represented and signified; but it was instituted in order that there might still be some connection between man and heaven, such as there is between the representatives of good and truth, and good and truth themselves. This church at length so fell away into falsities and evils that every rite became idolatrous; and then was its consummation. Therefore, after the churches had thus successively declined-when in the last one the connection between the human race and heaven was altogether broken, insomuch that the human race would have perished because there was no church by which there could be a connection and a bond (see n. 468, 637, 931, 2054).
[7] The Lord then came into the world, and by the unition of the Divine Essence with the Human Essence in Himself, conjoined heaven with earth, and at the same time He set up again a new church, called the Christian Church, which at first was in the good of faith, and its members lived in charity with one another as brethren. But in process of time this church has departed in diverse ways, and at the present day has become such that its members do not even know that the fundamental of faith is love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor; and although they say from doctrine that the Lord is the Saviour of the human race, that they are to rise again after death, and that there is a heaven and a hell, yet few believe it. As this church has become such, its consummation is not far off.
[8] All this shows what “consummation” is, namely, that it is when evil has come to its height. The case is similar in particular, that is, with every man; but how the case is with consummation as regards each person in particular, will of the Lord’s Divine mercy be told in what follows. Consummation is treated of in the Word in various places, and the state which precedes is described by “vastation” and “desolation,” which is followed by “visitation.”

sRef Gen@18 @22 S0′ 2244. Verse 22. And the men looked forth thence and went toward Sodom; and Abraham as yet he was standing before Jehovah. “The men looked forth thence,” signifies the Lord’s thought from the Divine; “and went toward Sodom,” signifies concerning the human race as being in such great evil; “and Abraham as yet he was standing before Jehovah,” signifies the Lord’s thought from the Human which was adjoined in the manner stated above.

sRef Gen@18 @22 S0′ 2245. The men looked forth thence. That this signifies the Lord’s thought from the Divine, is evident from the signification of “looking forth,” as being to think (for to “see,” in the internal sense, as in common discourse, is to understand, since understanding is internal sight, and in the same way to “look forth” is to think, which is of the internal sight, that is, of the understanding); and also from the signification of “the men,” as being the Divine. In this chapter throughout mention is sometimes made of “the men,” and sometimes of “Jehovah” instead of “the men:” when mention is made of “the men” there is signified a Trine, namely, the Divine Itself, the Divine Human, and the Proceeding. The Lord’s thought from this Divine is signified by “the men looked forth thence.” The thought was from the Human conjoined with the Divine, which conjunction was treated of at the beginning of this chapter; but the perception from which came the thought was from the Divine, therefore mention is now made in this same verse of “Jehovah”-that “Abraham was standing before Jehovah;” and when the Human was conjoined with the Divine, there was also together with them the Proceeding.

sRef Gen@18 @22 S0′ 2246. They went toward Sodom. That this signifies thought concerning the human race as being in such great evil, is evident from the signification of “Sodom,” as being evil from the love of self (see above, n. 2220); and of “looking forth toward the faces of Sodom,” as being toward the state of the human race (n. 2219). That “Sodom” signifies the state of the human race as being in such great evil, is because by “Sodom” is not meant Sodom, but all those in the universal world who are in the love of self; and by the description of Sodom is represented the state of all who are in that evil, as is evident from what follows. That the love of self is the fountain of all evils, thus evil itself, is evident from what was said and shown of it before (n. 2045, 2057, 2219), and therefore it is here said that they were in such great evil.

sRef Gen@18 @22 S0′ 2247. Abraham as yet he was standing before Jehovah. That this signifies the Lord’s thought from the Human which was adjoined in the manner stated above, is evident from the representation of Abraham in this chapter, as being the Lord as to the Human; and from his “standing before Jehovah.” Hence it follows without explication, that it was the thought from the Human which was adjoined in the manner stated at the beginning of this chapter, as also above (n. 2245).

sRef Gen@18 @23 S0′ 2248. Verse 23. And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt Thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? “Abraham drew near, and said,” signifies the Lord’s thought from the Human, which thought adjoined itself more closely to the Divine; “wilt Thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?” signifies the Lord’s grief from love toward the human race, and His intercession, urging that possibly there might be what is good joined to them, although they were evil.

sRef Gen@18 @23 S0′ 2249. And Abraham drew near, and said. That this signifies the Lord’s thought from the Human, which thought adjoined itself more closely to the Divine, follows from the things that precede, where the Lord’s thought concerning the human race is treated of: thus without explication. That in this chapter in the internal sense the state of the Lord’s thought and perception is so fully described, and at the beginning the state of the conjunction of the Lord’s Human with His Divine, will possibly appear to man as if it were not of so much importance.
[2] And yet it is of the greatest moment; for before the angels, to whom the internal sense is the Word, these things are presented to the life, together with their representatives, in a most beautiful form; besides numberless things that follow from them and bear their likeness, concerning the Lord’s conjunction with heaven, and the reception of His Divine in their human; for the ideas of angels are such that they relish such things above all others, and perceive them as being most pleasant; and they are also enlightened and confirmed by them more and more in regard to the unition of the Lord’s Human Essence with His Divine Essence; for the angels have been men, and when men they could not but think of the Lord as a man, and of the Lord as God, as also of the Divine Trinity, and form for themselves various ideas, although at that time they knew not of what quality these ideas were.
[3] For heavenly arcana are of such a nature that although they surpass all apprehension, yet everyone forms for himself some idea of them; for nothing can possibly be retained in the memory, still less enter into anything of thought, except by means of some idea formed in one way or another. And because their ideas could not be formed otherwise than from things in the world, or from things analogous to those in the world; and because fallacies then insinuated themselves from things not understood (which in the other life alienate the ideas of thought-which are then more internal-from the truth and good of faith),[4] in order that such things may be dispersed, so much is said in this chapter, in its internal sense, about the conjunction of the Lord’s Human with His divine, and about His perception and thought; and accordingly when the Word is read, these things are so presented to the perception of the angels that their former ideas, formed from other sources and from scruples easily springing therefrom, are gradually dissipated, and new ideas are insinuated that are in conformity with the light of truth in which the angels are. This takes place more with the spiritual angels than with the celestial; for according to the purification of their ideas are they perfected for the reception of celestial things. It is known that heaven is not pure before the Lord; and it is a truth that the angels are continually being perfected.

sRef Gen@18 @25 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @23 S0′ 2250. Wilt Thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? That this signifies the Lord’s grief from love toward the human race, and His intercession urging that possibly there might be what is good adjoined to them although they were evil, is evident from the zeal of love that here shines forth, and still more in verse 25 just below, where it is said, “Be it far from Thee to do according to this thing, to cause the righteous to die with the wicked, that so the righteous be as the wicked; be it far from Thee; shall not the Judge of all the earth do judgment?” The same is evident from the signification of “the righteous” as being good (see n. 612, 2235), and from the signification of “the wicked” as being opposite to “the righteous,” that is, opposite to good, thus evil. It is likewise evident from these words, as also from the things that follow in this chapter, that there is intercession. The Lord’s intercession for the human race existed at the time when He was in the world, and in fact when He was in a state of humiliation, for as before said, He then spoke with Jehovah as with another. But of course in His state of glorification when the Human Essence has become united to the Divine Essence, and is itself also Jehovah, He does not intercede, but has mercy and affords aid from His Divine, and saves. It is Mercy itself which is the intercession, for such is its essence.

sRef Gen@18 @24 S0′ 2251. Verse 24. Peradventure there be fifty righteous in the midst of the city; wilt Thou also destroy and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous that are in the midst of it? “Peradventure there be fifty righteous in the midst of the city,” signifies that possibly the truths may be full of goods; “wilt Thou also destroy and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous that are in the midst of it?” signifies intercession from love, that in such case they should not perish.

sRef Gen@18 @24 S0′ 2252. Peradventure there be fifty righteous in the midst of the city. That this signifies that the truths may possibly be full of goods, is evident from the signification of “fifty,” as being what is full; from the signification of “righteous” as being good (see n. 612, 2235); from that of the “midst,” as being what is within (n. 1074); and from that of “city,” as being truth (n. 402). Thus “fifty righteous in the midst of the city,” means in the internal sense that truths may possibly be full of goods within. That there is this meaning in these words cannot be seen from the letter, for the historicals of the literal sense lead the mind in quite a different direction, that is, to different thoughts; and yet that these words are so perceived by those who are in the internal sense, I know of a certainty. The numbers themselves also, as here “fifty,” and in what follows “forty-five,” “forty,” “thirty,” “twenty,” and “ten,” are by no means perceived as numbers by those who are in the internal sense, but as real things or states (as is shown, n. 482, 487, 575, 647, 648, 755, 813, 1963, 2075).
[2] For the ancients marked the states of their church-in one way-by numbers; and the nature of their computation in so doing is evident from the signification of the numbers in the places just referred to. They had the signification of numbers from the representatives which exist in the world of spirits, where, when anything appears as numbered, it does not signify anything that is determined by the numbers, but the thing or state itself; as is evident from the things that have been adduced (n. 2129, 2130, also n. 2089) concerning “twelve,” as meaning all the things of faith. It is similar with the numbers which now follow. This shows what is the nature of the Word in the internal sense.
sRef Lev@23 @16 S3′ sRef Lev@25 @8 S3′ sRef Lev@25 @10 S3′ sRef Lev@23 @15 S3′ [3] That “fifty” signifies what is full, comes from its following next after the product of seven into seven, or forty-nine, so that it is the impletion of this number, on which account there was in the Representative Church the festival of the Seven Sabbaths on the fiftieth day, and the Jubilee in the fiftieth year. As regards the festival of the seven sabbaths we read in Moses:
Ye shall count unto you from the morrow of the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave-offering, seven entire sabbaths shall there be, even unto the morrow of the seventh sabbath shall ye count fifty days, and ye shall offer a new offering unto Jehovah (Lev. 23:15).
And concerning the Jubilee:
Thou shalt count for thee seven sabbaths of years, seven years seven times, and they shall be to thee seven sabbaths of years, nine and forty years, and ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty in the land to all the inhabitants thereof; it shall be a jubilee unto you (Lev. 25:8, 10),
which shows that the fiftieth is what is full in relation to sabbaths.
sRef 1Ki@1 @5 S4′ sRef 2Sam@24 @24 S4′ sRef Deut@22 @29 S4′ sRef 2Sam@15 @1 S4′ [4] Moreover, wherever “fifty” is mentioned in the Word, it signifies what is full; as when it is said that:
The Levites were numbered from a son of thirty years and upward, even unto a son of fifty years (Num. 4:23, 35, 39, 43, 47; 8:25);
meaning the full or final state of discharging the ministry.
That a man lying with a damsel, a virgin, shall give unto the damsel’s father fifty pieces of silver, and she should be to him for a wife, nor could he put her away (Deut. 22:29),
which denotes a full fine and full restitution.
David’s giving to Araunah for the threshing-floor where he built the altar to Jehovah, fifty shekels of silver (2 Sam. 24:24)
denotes a full price and a full purchase.
Absalom’s preparing for himself a chariot and horses, and having fifty men running before him (2 Sam. 15:1),
and in like manner:
Adonijah’s having chariots and horsemen, and fifty men running before him (1 Kings 1:5),
denotes full excellence and greatness. For they had from the ancients certain representative and significative numbers, which they observed, and which were also commanded in their rites; but most of them did not know what they signified.
sRef Luke@16 @6 S5′ sRef Hag@2 @16 S5′ sRef Luke@16 @5 S5′ [5] And in the same way, as “fifty” signifies what is full, and as this number was also representative-already said-the same thing is signified by it in the Lord’s parable of the steward, who said to him that owed the oil:
How much owest thou unto my lord? And he said, a hundred baths of oil. And he said unto him, take thy bond, and sit down quickly, and write fifty (Luke 16:6);
“fifty” denoting full payment. As fifty is a number, it indeed appears to involve nothing beyond the number; whereas in the internal sense what is full is everywhere meant by it, as in Haggai:
One came to the wine-press to draw out fifty out of the wine-press; there were twenty (Hag. 2:16),
that is, instead of fullness there was not much. “Fifty” could not have been mentioned here in the Prophet unless it had been significative.

sRef Gen@18 @24 S0′ 2253. Wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous that are in the midst of it? That this signifies intercession from love-that they should not perish-is evident from the signification of “fifty,” and of “righteous,” as also of “the midst of it,” that is, of the city (concerning which just above, n. 2252), all of which things involve intercession from love, and that they should not perish. (As regards the intercession, see above, n. 2250.) That it was from love is also manifest. With the Lord, when He was in the world, there was no other life than the life of love toward the universal human race, which He ardently desired to eternally save. This is the veriest celestial life, by which He united Himself to the Divine, and the Divine to Himself-for Esse itself, or Jehovah, is nothing else than Mercy, which is of love to the universal human race-and that life was one of pure love, which is never possible with any man. They who do not know what life is, and that the life is such as the love, do not comprehend this. This shows that insofar as anyone loves his neighbor, insofar he partakes of the Lord’s life.

sRef Gen@18 @25 S0′ 2254. Verse 25. Be it far from Thee to do according to this thing, to cause the righteous to die with the wicked, that so the righteous be as the wicked; be it far from Thee; shall not the Judge of all the earth do judgment? “Be it far from Thee to do according to this thing,” signifies the Lord’s horror; “to cause the righteous to die with the wicked, that so the righteous be as the wicked,” signifies that good cannot die, because evil can be separated from it; “be it far from Thee,” signifies a greater degree of horror; “shall not the Judge of all the earth do judgment?” signifies that the Divine good cannot do this, after the manner of truth separated from good.

sRef Gen@18 @25 S0′ 2255. Be it far from Thee to do according to this thing. That this signifies the Lord’s horror, is evident without explication.

sRef Gen@18 @25 S0′ 2256. To cause the righteous to die with the wicked, that so the righteous be as the wicked. That this signifies that good cannot die, because evil can be separated from it, is evident from the signification of “righteous,” as being good, and of “wicked,” as being evil (see above, n. 2250). Hence to “cause the righteous to die with the wicked,” is to make good die with evil. As this ought not to be done, and causes horror to think of, it is removed in the internal sense, and then there is presented this: that good cannot die, because evil can be separated from it.
[2] How this matter stands, is known to few, if any. Be it known that all the good a man has thought and done from infancy even to the last of his life, remains; in like manner all the evil, so that not the least of it completely perishes. Both are inscribed on his book of life (that is, on each of his memories), and on his nature (that is, his native disposition and genius). From these he has formed for himself a life, and so to speak a soul, which after death is of a corresponding quality. But goods are never so commingled with evils, nor evils with goods, that they cannot be separated; for if they should be commingled, the man would eternally perish. In relation to this the Lord exercises His providence, and when a man comes into the other life, if he has lived in the good of love and of charity, the Lord then separates his evils, and by what is good with him elevates him into heaven. But if he has lived in evils, that is, in things contrary to love and charity, the Lord then separates from him what is good, and his evils bring him into hell. Such is the lot of everyone after death; but it is a separation, and in no wise a complete removal.
[3] Moreover, as the will of man, which is the one part of his life, has been utterly destroyed, the Lord separates this destroyed part from the other which is his intellectual part, and in those who are being regenerated, implants in this intellectual part the good of charity, and through this a new will; these are they who have conscience. Thus also, speaking generally, the Lord separates evil from good. These are the arcana which are meant in the internal sense by the statement that good cannot die, because evil can be separated from it.

sRef Gen@18 @25 S0′ 2257. Be it far from Thee. That this signifies a greater degree of horror, is evident from the words being repeated; thus it also needs no explication.

sRef Gen@18 @25 S0′ 2258. Shall not the Judge of all the earth do judgment? That this signifies that the Divine good cannot do this after the manner of truth separated from good, is evident from the signification of the “Judge of all the earth,” as also from the signification of “judgment.” The “Judge of all the earth,” signifies in the internal sense the good itself from which comes truth; which also in the representative Church was represented by the priests who were at the same time judges; for as priests they represented the Divine good, and as judges the Divine truth; but the “Judge of all the earth” means both, and this from the signification of “earth,” as explained in several places in volume 1. But to prove these things now from the representatives of that church would be too tedious. “Judgment,” however, signifies truth (as shown above, n. 2235). From these significations, and at the same time from the series of things in the internal sense, it is evident that “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do judgment?” signifies that the Divine good cannot do this after the manner of truth separated from good.
[2] In order to understand these things, be it known that there are two things which constitute the order of the universal heaven, and thence in the universe, namely, Good and Truth. Good is the essential of order, all the things of which are mercies. Truth is the secondary of order, all the things of which are truths. The Divine good adjudges all to heaven, but the Divine truth condemns all to hell; and therefore unless the Lord’s Mercy, which is of good, were eternal, all men, however many, would be condemned. This is what is signified by the statement that the Divine good cannot do this after the manner of truth separated from good. (See also what is said concerning this in volume 1, n. 1728.)
[3] That the evil are nevertheless condemned to hell, is not because the Divine good is separated from the Divine truth, but because the man separates himself from the Divine good. For the Lord in no case sends anyone down into hell, but the man sends himself, as has been already stated a number of times. In the following respect also the Divine good is conjoined with the Divine truth: that unless the evil were separated from the good, the evil would do harm to the good, and would be continually endeavoring to destroy order: thus that the good may not be harmed, is of Mercy. This stands just as in the kingdoms of the earth. If evils were not punished, the whole kingdom would be infected with evils, and so would perish; for which reason kings and judges show more mercy in punishing evils and in expelling from society those guilty of them, than by exercising in their behalf an unseasonable clemency.

sRef Gen@18 @26 S0′ 2259. Verse 26. And Jehovah said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous in the midst of the city, I will spare all the place for their sake. “Jehovah said,” signifies perception; “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous in the midst of the city,” signifies here as before, if truths are full of goods; “I will spare all the place for their sake,” signifies that they will be saved.

sRef Gen@18 @26 S0′ 2260. Jehovah said. That this signifies perception, is evident from the signification of “Jehovah’s saying,” in the historic Word, as being representative of the Lord’s perception from the Divine, and something of thought following therefrom, and some reply. (Concerning the expression “Jehovah said,” see above, n. 2238.)

sRef Gen@18 @26 S0′ 2261. If I find in Sodom fifty righteous in the midst of the city. That this signifies if truths are full of goods, is evident from the signification of “fifty,” as being what is full, and from the signification of “the midst of the city,” as being within truth, or in truth (as explained above, n. 2252, where the same words occur). It may be supposed that a man cannot but be saved if truths are full of goods. But be it known that there are very few truths with man, and that if there are any, they have no life unless there are goods in them; and that if there are goods in them, he is saved, but from Mercy. For, as before said, the truths with man are very few; and the goods which are in them have their quality in accordance with the truths, and the man’s life.
[2] Regarded in themselves, truths do not give life. It is goods that give life. Truths are only recipients of life, that is, of good. And therefore no one can ever say that he can be saved by truths (or as the common expression is, by faith alone), unless there is good in the truths which are of faith, and this good that must be in the truths must be the good of charity; hence faith itself, in the internal sense, is nothing else than charity (as shown above, n. 2231). As regards people’s saying that the acknowledgment of truth is the faith that saves, be it known that with those who live in things contrary to charity, there cannot possibly be any acknowledgment but only persuasion, to which there has been adjoined the life of the love of self or of the world; thus in the acknowledgment they refer to there is not the life of faith, which is that of charity. The worst men of all-from the love of self or the world, that is, for the sake of being eminent above others in what is called intelligence and wisdom, and thus of winning honors, reputation, and gains-can learn the truths of faith, and confirm them by many things; but still with them these truths are dead.
[3] The life of truth, and thus of faith, is solely from the Lord, who is life itself. The Lord’s life is mercy, which is that of love toward the universal human race. In the Lord’s life those can in no wise have part who although they profess the truths of faith despise others in comparison with themselves, and who, when their life of the love of self and of the world is touched, hold the neighbor in hatred, and take delight in his loss of wealth, of honor, of reputation, and of life. But the case with the truths of faith is that by means of them man is regenerated, for they are the veriest vessels recipient of good. Such therefore as are the truths, and such as are the goods in the truths, and such as is their conjunction and the consequent capability of being perfected in the other life, such is the state of blessedness and happiness after death.

sRef Gen@18 @26 S0′ 2262. I will spare all the place for their sake. That this signifies that they will be saved, follows from the series as a conclusion, and thus without explication. “Place” signifies state (as shown above, n. 1273, 1378), and therefore it is here said the “place” instead of the “city,” to signify that they who are in such a state would be saved.

sRef Gen@18 @27 S0′ 2263. Verse 27. And Abraham answered and said, Behold I pray I have taken upon me to speak unto my Lord, and I am dust and ashes. “Abraham answered and said,” signifies the Lord’s thought from the human; “Behold I pray I have taken upon me to speak unto my Lord, and I am dust and ashes,” signifies the humiliation of the human as to its relative quality.

sRef Gen@18 @27 S0′ 2264. Abraham answered and said. That this signifies the Lord’s thought from the human, is evident from the signification of “Abraham” in this chapter, as being the Lord in respect to the human, concerning which several times above.

sRef Gen@18 @27 S0′ 2265. Behold I pray I have taken upon me to speak unto my Lord, and I am dust and ashes. That this signifies the humiliation of the human as to its relative quality, is evident. The Lord’s state in the human (or His state of humiliation), and the Lord’s state in the Divine (or His state of glorification), have been treated of several times before; and it has been shown that in His state of humiliation the Lord spoke with Jehovah as with another; but in His state of glorification, as with Himself (n. 1999). As in the present passage Abraham (as before said) represents the Lord in His human, it is said in that state that relatively to the Divine the human is dust and ashes; on which account that state is also called His state of humiliation. The humiliation results from the self-acknowledgment that one is relatively of such a character. By the human in this place is not meant the Divine Human, but the human which the Lord derived from the mother, and which He utterly expelled, and put on in its stead the Divine Human. It is the former human, namely, the maternal human, of which “dust and ashes” are here predicated. (See what has been said above at n. 2159.)

sRef Gen@18 @28 S0′ 2266. Verse 28. Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous; wilt Thou destroy all the city for five? And He said, I will not destroy it if I find there forty and five. “Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous,” signifies if there should be somewhat less; “wilt thou destroy all the city for five?” signifies, shall man perish for the little which is wanting? “and He said, I will not destroy it if I find there forty and five,” signifies that he should not perish if good and truth could be conjoined together.

sRef Gen@18 @28 S0′ 2267. Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous. That this signifies if there should be somewhat less, is evident from the signification of “five,” as being a little, or less (in regard to which signification of this number, see volume 1, n. 649). What the “fifty righteous” signify, has been shown above (n. 2252).

sRef Gen@18 @28 S0′ 2268. Wilt Thou destroy all the city for five? That this signifies shall man perish for the little which is wanting, is evident from the signification of “five” as being a little (as just stated); and from the signification of a “city,” as being truth, also explained before. In regard to the truths in it the human mind is compared in the Word to a “city,” and is also so called; and in regard to the goods which are in the truths, it is compared to the inhabitants of the city, and the goods are also so called; for the case as regards these is much the same. If the truths which are in man’s memories, and in the thoughts of his mind, are devoid of goods, they are like a city without inhabitants, and are in the same way vacant and empty. Nay, even of the angels it may be declared that when a man lives in love to the Lord, and in charity toward the neighbor, they dwell as it were in his truths, and insinuate affections of good from the Lord; for they are delighted to dwell thus, that is, to live with such men. Very different is it with those who are in some truths, but in no goods of charity.

sRef Gen@18 @28 S0′ 2269. And He said, I will not destroy it if I find there forty and five. That this signifies that man should not perish if good and truth could be conjoined together, is evident from the signification of the number forty-five, as being conjunction. It has been already shown that the simple numbers retain their signification even when they are multiplied; and that consequently the greater numbers have a signification similar to that of the less; and such is the case with forty-five, which number is compounded by the multiplication of five into nine; and as it has been compounded by the multiplication of five into nine, it has the same signification as have “five” and “nine.” That “five” signifies a little, was shown above (n. 649), and that “nine” signifies conjunction, or what is conjoined (n. 2075); and thus the signification here is: If goods have in some measure been conjoined with truths. That in the Word numbers signify actual things, or states, is evident from what was said about fifty (n. 2252); also from what has been shown before concerning numbers (n. 482, 487, 575, 647, 648, 755, 813, 1963, 1988).
[2] It is because “five” signifies a little, and “forty-five” conjunction, that the very setting forth of these numbers in this verse is of such a nature, for it is said, “Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous;” and by this is signified, If there should be somewhat less; and then it is said, “Wilt Thou destroy all the city for five?” by which is signified, Shall they perish for the little which is wanting? For as “five” signifies a little, this number is not employed again, but it is said, “I will not destroy it if I find there forty and five;” by which is signified that they would not perish if good and truth could be conjoined together. The reason also of its being said here “forty and five,” and not “if there lack five of fifty,” is because “five” not only signifies a little (as was shown, n. 649), but also signifies disjunction (as was likewise shown in volume 1, n. 1686); and therefore in order that not disjunction, but conjunction, might be signified, this number forty-five is named; for “forty-five” denotes some conjunction, as stated above; and thus in the internal sense all things follow on in a beautiful sequence Of their own.
[3] As regards the conjunction of good with truth, it is an arcanum which cannot be described so that it can be grasped by the ordinary comprehension. It must be told in a few words. The more genuine and pure the truth, the better can the good which is from the Lord be adapted into it as its recipient vessel; but the less genuine and pure the truth, the less can the good which is from the Lord be adapted into it; for they must correspond to each other, and the conjunction of the two is effected according to the correspondence. Goods cannot possibly be insinuated into falsities, nor evils into truths, as their recipient vessels; for they are of a contrary character and nature, the one casting out the other as its enemy; nay, should they attempt to conjoin themselves together, the one would spew out the other, that is to say, good would spew out evil as if it were poison, and evil would spew out good as if it were an emetic. Such enmity between good and evil has been provided by the Lord in order to prevent the possibility of their being commingled, for if they were commingled, the man would perish. In the deceitful and in hypocrites they are not far from being conjoined together, but still precautions are taken by the Lord in order to prevent their being so conjoined. This is the reason why in the other life those who are deceitful and those who are hypocrites suffer things more direful than those which are suffered by any others.

sRef Gen@18 @29 S0′ 2270. Verse 29. And he added yet to speak unto Him, and said, Peradventure forty shall be found there; and He said, I will not do it for forty’s sake. “He added yet to speak unto Him,” signifies thought; “and said, Peradventure forty shall be found there,” signifies those who have been in temptations; “and He said, I will not do it for forty’s sake,” signifies that they shall be saved.

sRef Gen@18 @29 S0′ 2271. He added yet to speak unto Him. That this signifies thought, is evident from the signification in the internal sense of “speaking.” To “speak” or “speaking” is nothing else than that which flows forth from the thought; and as internal things are signified by external things-like understanding by “seeing,” the understanding by the “eye,” obedience by the “ear,” and so forth-so thinking is signified by “speaking.”

sRef Gen@18 @29 S0′ 2272. And he said, Peradventure forty shall be found there. That this signifies those who have been in temptation, is evident from the signification of the number forty, as being temptations (explained in volume 1, n. 730). How these things follow on in a series may be seen from temptations. Temptations take place to the end not only that the man may be confirmed in truths, but also that truths may be more closely conjoined with goods; for man is then battling for truths against falsities, and as he is then in interior distress and in torment, the delights of the life of cupidities and their derivative pleasures come to a cessation; and then goods flow in from the Lord, the consequence of which is that evils are at the same time regarded as abominable, and the effect of this is new thoughts of a nature contrary to those possessed before, to which the man may afterwards be bent, thus from evils to goods, and these goods be conjoined with truths. And as the conjunction of good with truth is effected by means of temptations, and as it has been said in a former verse that those would be saved with whom goods can be conjoined with truths, therefore there follows what is here said; and indeed in such words as to signify that goods and truths can be conjoined by means of temptations. This is the connection of the subject matters for those who are in the internal sense.

sRef Gen@18 @29 S0′ 2273. And He said, I will not do it for forty’s sake. That this signifies that they will be saved, is evident without any unfolding of the meaning. As regards those who in the preceding verse are signified by “forty-five,” it was said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty and five,” and the signification was that they should not perish if goods were able to be conjoined with truths, and there here follows a statement concerning the forty: “I will not do it for forty’s sake;” by which is not signified that they should be saved on account of temptations, for there are some who even undergo temptations and who yield in them; and therefore with these goods are not conjoined. I would even say that a man is not saved on account of temptations if he places anything of merit in them; for if he does this, it is from the love of self, in that he congratulates himself on their account, and believes that he has merited heaven more than others, and at the same time he is thinking of his own preeminence over others by despising others in comparison with himself; all of which things are contrary to mutual love, and therefore to heavenly blessedness.
[2] The temptations in which a man overcomes are attended with a belief that all others are more worthy than himself, and that he is infernal rather than heavenly; for while in temptations such ideas are presented to him; and therefore when after temptations he comes into thoughts contrary to these, it is an indication that he has not overcome; for the thoughts which the man has had in temptations are those to which can be bent the thoughts which he has after the temptations; and if the latter cannot be bent to the former, the man has either yielded in the temptation, or he again comes into similar ones, and sometimes into more grievous ones, until he has been reduced to such sanity that he believes he has merited nothing. Hence it is evident that by “forty” are here signified those with whom by means of temptations goods have been conjoined with truths.

sRef Gen@18 @30 S0′ 2274. Verse 30. And he said, Oh let not my Lord be angry, and I will speak: peradventure thirty shall be found there; and He said, I will not do it if I find thirty there. “And he said, Oh let not my Lord be angry, and I will speak,” signifies anxiety concerning the human race; “peradventure thirty shall be found there,” signifies somewhat of combat; “and He said, I will not do it if I find thirty there,” signifies that these shall be saved.

sRef Gen@18 @30 S0′ 2275. And he said, Oh let not my Lord be angry, and I will speak. That this signifies anxiety concerning the state of the human race, may be seen, not so much from the words, as from the affection that belongs to them. The internal sense of the Word contains within it two things, to wit, what is spiritual, and what is celestial. That which is spiritual consists in there being comprehended, abstractedly from the letter, actual things to which the literal sense serves as an object, just as do those things which the eye sees, when they serve as objects for suggesting thought about matters of a more exalted nature. That which is celestial consists in there being solely perceived the affection that belongs to the actual things that are in the internal sense. In the former are the spiritual angels, in the latter are the celestial angels. They who are in the latter, that is, in the affection, perceive at once from the affection alone what the letter involves when it is being read by man, and from it they form for themselves celestial ideas, and this with endless variety, and in an ineffable manner, in accordance with the onflowing harmony of the celestial things of love that are in the affection. From this we may see what the Word of the Lord contains within its remote recesses. When therefore these words are read: “Oh let not my Lord be angry, and I will speak,” the celestial angels at once perceive a certain anxiety, and indeed the anxiety of love toward the human race; and at the same time there are insinuated into them innumerable and ineffable things in regard to the anxiety of love which the Lord felt when He thought about the state of the human race.

sRef Gen@18 @30 S0′ 2276. Peradventure thirty shall be found. That this signifies somewhat of combat, is evident from the signification of the number thirty. That “thirty” signifies somewhat of combat, thus but a little of combat, comes from the fact that this number is compounded by the multiplication of five (by which is signified some little), and six (by which is signified labor or combat, as was shown in volume 1, n. 649, 720, 737, 900, 1709).
sRef Zech@11 @13 S2′ sRef Zech@11 @12 S2′ [2] Hence also this number, wherever read in the Word, signifies something that is relatively little; as in Zechariah:
I said unto them, If it be good in your eyes, give me my hire; and if not, forbear; and they weighed my hire, thirty pieces of silver. And Jehovah said unto me, Cast it unto the potter, the goodly price* whereat I was valued by them; and I took the thirty silver pieces, and cast it to the potter in the house of Jehovah (Zech. 11:12-13);
denoting that they valued so little the Lord’s merit, and redemption and salvation by Him. The “potter” denotes reformation and regeneration.
sRef Ex@21 @32 S3′ sRef Matt@27 @10 S3′ [3] Hence the same thirty silver pieces are spoken of in Matthew:
They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of Him whom they had bought from the sons of Israel, and gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me (Matt. 27:9-10);
from which it is plainly evident that “thirty” here denotes the price of what is but little valued. The valuation of a servant who was held as being of little account, was thirty shekels; as is evident in Moses:
If the ox gore a manservant, or a maidservant, he shall give unto their master thirty shekels of silver; and the ox shall be stoned (Exod. 21:32).
Of how little account a servant was held, is evident in the same chapter (verses 20-21). In the internal sense a “servant” denotes labor.
[4] That the Levites were taken for the work of the ministerial office-which is described by the expression “one coming to exercise warfare, and to do the work in the tent”-from a “son of thirty years to one of fifty” (Num. 4:3, 23, 30, 35, 39, 43), was because “thirty” signified those who were being initiated, and who therefore could as yet exercise but little warfare as understood in the spiritual sense.
[5] So in other passages where “thirty” is named in the Word; as that they should offer “upon a son of an ox a meat-offering of three tenths” (Num. 15:9); which was because the sacrifice of an ox represented natural good (as shown above, n. 2180); and natural good is but little in comparison with spiritual good, which was represented by the sacrifice of a ram; and still less in comparison with celestial good, which was represented by the sacrifice of a lamb; in connection with which there was another rate of tenths for the meat-offering, as is evident in the same chapter (verses 4 to 6; also Num. 28:12-13, 20-21, 28-29; 29:3-4, 9-10, 14-15); which rates of tenths, or which proportions, would never have been commanded, unless they had involved heavenly arcana. In Mark also “thirty” denotes a little:
The seed which fell into good ground yielded fruit growing up and increasing, and brought forth, one thirty, and another sixty, and another a hundred (Mark 4:8),
where “thirty” denotes a small growth, and that which has labored but little. These numbers would not have been marked out for use, unless they had contained within them the things which they signify.
* Literally, “the magnificence of the price.” [Reviser.]

sRef Gen@18 @30 S0′ 2277. He said, I will not do it if I find thirty there. That this signifies that these shall be saved, is evident from the series or connection of things in the internal sense, without any unfolding of the meaning.

sRef Gen@18 @31 S0′ 2278. Verse 31. And he said, Behold I pray I have taken upon me to speak unto my Lord: peradventure twenty shall be found there; and He said, I will not destroy it for twenty’s sake. “He said, Behold I pray I have taken upon me to speak unto my Lord,” signifies here as before the humiliation of the human before the Divine; “peradventure twenty shall be found there,” signifies if there be not anything of combat, but still there be good “and He said, I will not destroy it for twenty’s sake,” signifies that they will be saved.

sRef Gen@18 @31 S0′ 2279. He said, Behold I pray I have taken upon me to speak unto my Lord. That this signifies the humiliation of the human before the Divine, is evident from what was said above (n. 2265), where are the same words.

sRef Gen@18 @31 S0′ 2280. Peradventure twenty shall be found there. That this signifies if there be not anything of combat, but still there be good, is evident from the signification of “twenty.” As all the numbers that are mentioned in the Word signify actual things, and states (as before said and shown in many places, see n. 2252), so also does “twenty;” and what it signifies can be seen from its derivation, namely, from twice ten. “Ten” in the Word, as also “tenths,” signify remains, by which is meant everything good and true that the Lord insinuates into man from infancy even to the end of his life, and which are treated of in the following verse. Twice ten, or double tenths, that is, twenty, signify the same, but in a higher degree, namely, good.
[2] Goods of three kinds are signified by remains, namely, the goods of infancy, the goods of ignorance, and the goods of intelligence. The goods of infancy are those which are insinuated into man from his very birth up to the age in which he is beginning to be instructed and to know something. The goods of ignorance are what are insinuated when he is being instructed and is beginning to know something. The goods of intelligence are what are insinuated when he is able to reflect upon what is good and what is true. The good of infancy exists from the man’s infancy up to the tenth year of his age; the good of ignorance, from this age up to his twentieth year. From this year the man begins to become rational, and to have the faculty of reflecting upon good and truth, and to procure for himself the good of intelligence.
[3] The good of ignorance is that which is signified by “twenty,” because those who are in the good of ignorance do not come into any temptation for no one is tempted before he is able to reflect, and in his own way to perceive the nature of good and truth. Those who have received goods by means of temptations have been treated of in the two immediately preceding verses; those who have not been in temptations, and yet have good, are now treated of in this verse.
[4] As those who have this good, which is called the good of ignorance, are signified by “twenty,” all those who went forth from Egypt were reckoned from “a son of twenty years” and upward; or as it is expressed, “everyone going forth into the army,” by whom are meant those who were no longer in the good of ignorance, concerning whom we read in Numbers (1:20, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34, 38, 40, 42, 45; 26:4); and also that all those who were more than twenty years old died in the wilderness (32:10, 11), because evil could be imputed to them, and they represented those who yield in temptations; as well as that the valuing made of a male, from “a son of five years” to “a son of twenty years” was “twenty shekels” (Lev. 17:5); and another valuing from “a son of twenty years” old to one of sixty was fifty shekels (verse 3).
[5] As regards the before-mentioned goods, namely those of infancy, of ignorance, and of intelligence, the case is this. The good of intelligence is the best, for this is of wisdom the good which precedes it, namely that of ignorance, is indeed good, but as there is but little of intelligence in it, it cannot be called the good of wisdom; and as for the good of infancy, it is indeed good in itself, but still it is less good than the other two; for as yet there is not any truth of intelligence adjoined to it, and thus it has not become any good of wisdom, but it is only a plane for being able to become so; for it is the knowledges of good and truth that cause a man to be wise as a man. Infancy itself, by which is signified innocence, does not belong to infancy, but to wisdom; as can be better seen from what will be said about little children in the other life, at the end of this chapter.
[6] By “twenty,” in this verse, as has been said, there is signified no other good than the good of ignorance which good is not only declared to be with those who are under their twentieth year, as already said, but also with all who are in the good of charity and at the same time in ignorance of truth, as are those within the church who are in the good of charity, but from whatever cause, do not know what the truth of faith is; as is the case with very many of those who think devoutly about God and kindly about the neighbor; and as is also the case with all outside the church, who are called Gentiles, and who in like manner live in the good of charity. Both the latter and the former, although not in the truths of faith, yet being in good, are in the faculty of receiving the truths of faith in the other life equally as are little children; for their understanding has not as yet been tainted with principles of falsity, nor their will so confirmed in a life of evil, because they are ignorant of its being falsity and evil; and the life of charity is attended with this: that the falsity and evil of ignorance may be easily bent to truth and good. Not so is it with those who have confirmed themselves in things contrary to the truth, and at the same time have lived a life in things contrary to good.
[7] In other cases by “two tenths” in the Word is signified good both celestial and spiritual, good celestial and thence spiritual by the two tenths of which every loaf of the showbread or bread of faces was prepared (Lev. 24:5), and spiritual good by the two tenths of the meat-offering with the sacrifice of the ram (Num. 15:6; 28:12, 20, 28; 29:3, 9, 14), concerning which, of the Lord’s Divine mercy elsewhere.

sRef Gen@18 @31 S0′ 2281. And He said I will not destroy it for twenty’s sake. That this signifies that they will be saved, is evident from the series of things in the internal sense, and thus without any unfolding of the meaning.

sRef Gen@18 @32 S0′ 2282. Verse 32. And he said, Oh let not my Lord be angry, and I will speak but this once: peradventure ten shall be found there; and He said, I will not destroy it for ten’s sake. “He said, Oh let not my Lord be angry, and I will speak but this once,” signifies anxiety still continued concerning the state of the human race; “peradventure ten shall be found there,” signifies if there should still be remains; “and He said, I will not destroy it for ten’s sake,” signifies that they will be saved.

sRef Gen@18 @32 S0′ 2283. He said, Oh let not my Lord be angry, and I will speak but this once. That this signifies anxiety still continued concerning the state of the human race, is evident from the affection of these words, as shown above (n. 2275), where the same words occur.

sRef Gen@18 @32 S0′ 2284. Peradventure ten shall be found there. That this signifies if there should still be remains, is evident from the signification of the number “ten,” as being remains (explained in volume 1, n. 576, 1738). What remains are has been stated and shown before in various places (as in n. 468, 530, 560, 561, 660, 661, 1050, 1738, 1906), namely, that they are all the good and all the truth with man which lie stored up in his memories and in his life.
[2] It is well known that there is nothing good and nothing true, except from the Lord; and also that what is good and true is continually inflowing from the Lord into man, but that it is received in various ways, and in fact in accordance with the life of evil, and in accordance with the principles of falsity in which the man has confirmed himself. These are what either quench, or stifle, or pervert the goods and truths that are continually flowing in from the Lord. Lest therefore goods should be commingled with evils, and truths with falsities (for if they were commingled the man would perish eternally), the Lord separates them, and stores up in his interior man the goods and truths which the man receives; whence He will never permit them to come forth so long as the man is in evil and falsity, but only at such a time as he is in a holy state, or in some anxiety, sickness, or other trouble. These things which the Lord has thus stored up with man are what are called “remains,” of which very much mention is made in the Word; but it has not yet been known to anyone that this is what they signify.
[3] According to the quality and quantity of the remains-that is, of the good and truth with a man-does he enjoy bliss and happiness in the other life; for, as has been said, these remains are stored up in his interior man, and they are opened at the time when the man has left corporeal and worldly things behind. The Lord alone knows the quality and extent of the remains in a man; the man himself cannot possibly know this, for at the present day man is of such a character that he is able to counterfeit what is good, while within there is nothing but evil; and a man may also appear to be evil and yet have good within. On this account no man is ever allowed to judge concerning the quality of the spiritual life of another, for the Lord alone, as before said, knows this; but everyone may judge of another in regard to the quality of his moral and civil life, for this concerns society.
[4] It is very common for those who have taken up an opinion respecting any truth of faith, to judge of others that they cannot be saved, unless they believe as they do-a judgment which the Lord has forbidden (Matt. 7:1-2). On the other hand, I have learned from much experience that men of every religion are saved, provided that by a life of charity they have received remains of good and of apparent truth. This is what is meant by its being said that if ten were found, they should not be destroyed for the ten’s sake; by which is signified that they would be saved if there were remains.
[5] The life of charity consists in thinking kindly of another, and in wishing him well; and in perceiving joy in oneself from the fact that others also are saved. But those have not the life of charity who desire that none should be saved except those who believe as they do; and especially is this the case with those who are indignant that it is otherwise. This may be seen from the mere fact that more from the Gentiles are saved than from Christians; for those Gentiles who have thought kindly of their neighbor and have wished well to him, receive the truths of faith in the other life better than those who are called Christians, and acknowledge the Lord more than Christians do. For nothing is more delightful and blessed to the angels than to instruct those who come from the earth into the other life.

sRef Gen@18 @32 S0′ 2285. I will not destroy it for ten’s sake. That this signifies that they will be saved, is evident from the series of the things in the internal sense, and thus without any unfolding of the meaning.

sRef Gen@18 @33 S0′ 2286. Verse 33. And Jehovah went when He had completed His speaking unto Abraham; and Abraham returned unto his place. “Jehovah went when He had completed His speaking unto Abraham,” signifies that this state of perception in which the Lord was, then ceased to be such; “and Abraham returned unto his place,” signifies that the Lord returned into the state in which He had been before He perceived these things.

sRef Gen@18 @33 S0′ 2287. Jehovah went when He had completed His speaking unto Abraham. That this signifies that this state of perception in which the Lord was, then ceased to be such, is evident from the signification of “speaking,” and from the representation of Abraham. “To speak,” in the internal sense, signifies to think (as shown above, n. 2271); but here it signifies to perceive, because it is declared of Jehovah that He “had completed His speaking” to Abraham; for the thought was from perception, as before said, and the perception was from the Lord’s internal, which was Jehovah. But “Abraham” in this chapter represents the Lord in the human state, as often stated above. From this we can see that by its being said that “Jehovah went when He had completed His speaking unto Abraham,” nothing else is signified in the internal sense than that the state of perception in which the Lord had been, then came to its close and completion. The reason why the Lord’s perception and thought are so much treated of in this chapter in the internal sense, may be seen above (n. 2249).

sRef Gen@18 @33 S0′ 2288. Abraham returned to his place. That this signifies that the Lord returned into the state in which He had been before He perceived these things, is evident from the representation of Abraham in this chapter, as being the Lord in the human state; and from the signification of a “place,” as being a state (as shown above, volume 1, n. 1273, 1378); thus to “return to his place,” in the internal sense, here signifies to return to the state in which He had been before. That while He lived in this world the Lord had two states, namely, a state of humiliation and a state of glorification, has been said and shown before. His state of humiliation was when He was in the human which He took by inheritance from the mother; His state of glorification was when He was in the Divine which He had from Jehovah His Father. The former state, namely, that of the human from the mother, the Lord altogether put off, and put on the Divine Human, when He passed out of the world, and returned to the Divine Itself, in which He was from eternity (John 17:5), together with the Human made Divine; from both of which comes the Holy which fills the universal heaven. Thus from the Divine Itself and the Divine Human, by means of the proceeding Holy, He directs the universe.

2289. CONCERNING THE STATE OF LITTLE CHILDREN IN THE OTHER LIFE.
I have been given to know with certainty that all little children in the wide world who die, are raised again by the Lord and are taken up into heaven, and there are brought up and instructed among angels who have the care of them, and that they also grow up in proportion to their advance in intelligence and wisdom. From this we can see how immense is the Lord’s heaven from little children alone; for they are all instructed in the truths of faith and in the goods of mutual love, and become angels.

2290. They who know nothing about the state of the life after death may suppose that little children are in angelic intelligence and wisdom as soon as they come into the other life; but I have been instructed by much experience that such is not the case. Those who die not long after birth are of an infantile mind, almost as on earth, nor do they know anything more; for they possess only the faculty of knowing, and from this of understanding, and from this of being wise; which faculty is more perfect because they are not in the body, but are spirits. That they are so when they first come into heaven, has not merely been told, but has also been shown me; for of the Lord’s Divine mercy little children have on several occasions been sent to me in choirs, and I have also been allowed to read to them the Lord’s Prayer; and at the same time I have been given to perceive how the angels in whose company they were, insinuated into their tender and novitiate ideas the meaning of the things which are in this Prayer, and filled them, so far as the little ones were able to receive; and afterwards how the capacity was given the little ones of thinking such things as it were from themselves.

2291. The nature of their tender understanding was also shown me when I was praying the Lord’s Prayer; and they then inflowed into the ideas of my thought from their own understanding, which was so tender that they understood scarcely anything beyond the sense of the words. Yet their ideas in that tenderness were capable of being opened even to the Lord, that is, even from the Lord, for the Lord inflows into the ideas of little children especially, from the inmosts; for nothing has as yet closed their ideas, as is the case with adults; no principle of falsity against the understanding of truth, and no life of evil against the reception of good, and thus not against becoming wise.

2292. From all this we can see that little children do not come into the state of angels immediately after death; but that they are introduced successively, by means of the knowledges of good and truth, and this in accordance with all heavenly order; for the very least of all the things of their natural disposition are there most exquisitely perceived; and according to all the movements of their inclination both in general and in particular they are impelled to receive the truths of good and the goods of truth, and this under the Lord’s constant oversight.

2293. Especially are they all the time initiated into knowing no other Father, and thereafter in acknowledging no other than the Lord alone, and that they have life from Him; for that they are lives, that is, truly human and angelic lives, is from the intelligence of truth and the wisdom of good, which they have solely from the Lord. Hence it is that they know no otherwise than that they have been born in heaven.

2294. Many times when children have been with me in choirs, they being as yet quite infantile, they have been heard as a tender something devoid of order, so that they did not as yet act as a one, as they do afterwards when they become older; and what surprised me, the spirits about me could not refrain from trying to lead them to think and to speak. Such a desire is innate in spirits. But I often noticed that the little children resisted, not being willing to think or speak in such a way. I have often observed this refusal and resistance attended with a kind of indignation, and when any ability to speak was granted them they merely said that it was not so. I have been instructed that such is the temptation of little children in the other life, to accustom and inaugurate them not only in the resisting of falsity and evil, but also in not allowing themselves to think, speak, and act from others, and thus in not suffering themselves to be led by any other than the Lord alone.

2295. When little children are not in that state, but in a more interior sphere, namely, the angelic sphere, they cannot possibly be infested by spirits; even if they are in the midst of them. Moreover the little children who are in the other life are sometimes sent by the Lord to little children on earth (although the little child on earth is quite unaware of it), and those little ones of heaven are in the highest degree delighted with these little ones of earth.

2296. The manner in which all things are insinuated into the little ones of the other life by means of delightful and pleasant things suited to their genius, has also been shown me; for I have been permitted to see the little children most beautifully clothed, having their bosoms and tender arms encircled with garlands of flowers that were resplendent with the most pleasing and heavenly colors. Once also I was permitted to see the little children with their maiden educatresses in a paradisal garden, that consisted not so much of trees, as of laurel espaliers and of bowers thus formed; beautifully laid out with paths that led toward the more interior parts; and I also saw the little children themselves, clothed as above described; and when they entered the garden the flower arch above the entrance shone most joyously. From this we can see the nature of their deliciousnesses, and also that by means of pleasant and delightful things they are introduced into the goods of innocence and charity, which are continually being insinuated by the Lord into those delightful and pleasant things.

2297. Moreover, as the little children are perfected, they are encompassed with atmospheres in accordance with the state of their perfection. (That in the other life there are atmospheres of endless variety and ineffable beauty, may be seen from experience in Volume 1, n. 1621.) Especially are there presented to their atmospheres as of sporting little children in least forms, not visible, but perceptible only by an inmost idea; from which they receive this heavenly idea: that everything around them is alive, and that they are in the Lord’s life, and this idea affects their deepest being with happiness.

2298. It has been shown me by a method of communication that is familiar in the other life of what nature are the ideas of little children when they see any objects. They were as if everything was alive, so that they had life in every idea of their thought. I also perceived that little children on earth have very similar ideas when they are at play; for as yet they have not reflection, such as adults have, as regards that which is devoid of life.

2299. Especially are the little children instructed by means of representatives adapted to their various genius; and how beautiful these are, and at the same time how full of wisdom from within, no one can possibly believe. In this way there is by degrees insinuated into them an intelligence that draws its soul from good. I may here mention one representative only that I was permitted to see, from which the nature of the rest may be inferred. They represented the Lord rising out of the sepulcher, and at the same time the unition of His Human with the Divine; which was done in a manner so wise as to surpass all human wisdom, and at the same time in an innocent infantile manner. They presented also the idea of a sepulcher, but not at the same time the idea of the Lord, except so remotely that it was scarcely perceived that it was the Lord, except as it were from afar; for the reason that in the idea of a sepulcher there is something funereal, which they thus removed. They afterwards in the most discreet manner admitted into the sepulcher something of an atmospherical nature, yet appearing thinly aqueous, by which they signified, also with becoming remoteness, spiritual life in baptism. I afterwards saw represented by them the Lord’s descent to the bound, and His ascent with the bound into heaven; and this with incomparable sagacity and piety. A child-like feature of the representation was that when they represented the Lord among the bound in the lower earth, they let down cords that were almost invisible, and that were very soft and tender, with which to lift the Lord in His ascent; with a constant holy fear lest anything in the representative should touch upon something in which there was not what is spiritual celestial. Besides other representatives wherein the little ones are, and by which, as well as by sports of infancy adapted to their various dispositions, they are brought into knowledges of truth and affections of good.

2300. Moreover little children are of diverse genius and of diverse natural disposition, and this from what they inherit from their parents, and by succession from grandparents and great-grandparents; for the actual life with parents, confirmed by habit, becomes a second nature, and is implanted hereditarily in the infants, and this is the source of their diverse tendencies.

2301. Speaking generally, little children are of a genius either celestial or spiritual. Those of a celestial genius are well distinguished from those of a spiritual genius. The former think, speak, and act more softly, so that hardly anything appears except a fluent something from the love of good to the Lord and toward other little children; but the latter do not think, speak, and act so softly, but something as it were winged and vibratile shows itself in all their doings; and is also evident from their indignation; besides other characteristic differences. Thus every little child has a natural disposition different from that of every other, and each is educated according to his natural disposition.

2302. There are certain and numerous societies of angels who have the care of little children; and which are chiefly from the female sex, who had loved them very tenderly in the life of the body. The little children who are more virtuous than others, by an established custom they offer to the Lord.

2303. Angelic spirits who were above in front spoke with me in angelic speech not distinguished into words, saying that their state was a state of the tranquillity of peace, and that there were also little children among them, and that they were conscious of blessedness from being in association with them; these spirits also were of the female sex. They said further concerning infants on earth, that directly after birth angels from the heaven of innocence are with them; in the succeeding age angels from the heaven of the tranquillity of peace; and afterwards those who are from the societies of charity; and then, as the innocence and charity with the young children decrease, other angels are with them; and at length, when they become older and enter into a life foreign to charity, angels are indeed present, but more remotely, and this in accordance with the ends of life, which the angels especially regulate by continually insinuating good ones, and turning aside evil ones; and they flow in more nearly or more remotely, in proportion as they can or cannot do this.

2304. Many may suppose that in the other life the little children remain such, and are as little children among the angels. They who do not know what an angel is, may have been confirmed in this opinion by the images that are common in churches and elsewhere, where angels are represented as little children. Very different however is the actual truth. It is intelligence and wisdom that make an angel, and so long as the little children have not these they are indeed with the angels, but are not angels. But when they have become intelligent and wise, then for the first time do they become angels; and it is a wonderful fact that they then do not appear as little children, but as adults; for they are then no longer of an infantile genius, but of a more adult angelic one. Intelligence and wisdom are attended with this result, for it is understanding and judgment, and a life according thereto, that cause everyone to appear to himself and to others as an adult; as everyone can see.
[2] I have not only been informed by the angels that such is the case, but I have also spoken with a certain one who had died when an infant, and yet then appeared as an adult. The same also spoke with his brother who had died in adult age, and this from so much mutual brotherly love that his brother could not refrain from tears, saying that he perceived no otherwise than that it was love itself that was speaking. Besides other examples not necessary to mention.

aRef Matt@18 @3 S0′ 2305. There are some who suppose that innocence is the same as infancy, for the reason that the Lord said of little children that of such is heaven; and that they who do not become as little children cannot enter into the kingdom of the heavens. But they who so imagine do not know the internal sense of the Word, nor therefore what is meant by “infancy.” By “infancy” is meant the innocence of intelligence and wisdom, which is such that they acknowledge that they have life from the Lord alone, and that the Lord is their only Father; for that man is man is from the intelligence of truth and the wisdom of good, which he has solely from the Lord. Innocence itself, which in the Word is called “infancy,” has no existence or abode except in wisdom; so much so that the wiser one is, the more innocent he is; on which account the Lord is innocence itself, because wisdom itself.

aRef Gen@2 @25 S0′ 2306. As regards the innocence of little children, being as yet devoid of intelligence and wisdom it is only a kind of plane for receiving genuine innocence, which they receive by degrees as they become wise. The quality of the innocence of little children has been represented to me by a wooden something almost void of life, which is vivified in proportion as they are perfected by means of knowledges of truth and affections of good. The quality of genuine innocence was afterwards represented by a most beautiful little child, full of life, and naked; for the innocent themselves, who are in the inmost heaven, and thereby are nearest the Lord, appear before the eyes of other angels no otherwise than as little children, and indeed naked; for innocence is represented by the nakedness of which they are not ashamed, as we read of the first man and his wife in paradise. In a word, the wiser the angels are, the more innocent they are; and the more innocent they are, the more do they appear to themselves as little children. Hence it is that in the Word innocence is signified by “infancy.” But concerning the state of innocence, of the Lord’s Divine mercy hereafter.

2307. Concerning little children I have inquired of the angels whether they are pure from evils, seeing that they have no actual evil, as adults have. But I was told that they are equally in evil; nay, that they too are nothing but evil; but that they, like all the angels, are withheld from evil and are kept in good by the Lord, insomuch that it appears to them as if they were in good from themselves. And therefore also the little children, after they have become adults in heaven, in order to prevent them from being of the false opinion regarding themselves that the good in them is from themselves, and not from the Lord, are sometimes remitted into their evils which they have received by inheritance, and are left in them until they know, acknowledge, and believe, that the truth is as has been said. A certain one also who had died when an infant, but had grown up in heaven, was of a similar opinion; and therefore he was remitted into the life of the evils inborn in him, and it was then given me to perceive from his sphere that he had a disposition to domineer over others, and that he esteemed lascivious things as of no account; which were evils that he had inherited from his parents. But after he had acknowledged that such was his nature, he was again received among the angels with whom he had been before.

2308. No one ever suffers punishment in the other life on account of hereditary evil, because it is not his, and therefore he is not to blame for being of such a nature; but everyone suffers on account of the actual evil which is his own, and consequently for so much of the hereditary evil as he has appropriated to himself by actual life (as before said, n. 966). It is not therefore for the sake of punishment that the little children on becoming adult are remitted into the state of their hereditary evil; but that they may know that of themselves they are nothing but evil, and that it is of the Lord’s mercy that they are taken away from the hell that is with them into heaven; and that they are not in heaven by their own merit, but of the Lord; and thereby to prevent them from boasting before others of the good that is in them; for this is contrary to the good of mutual love, as it is contrary to the truth of faith.

2309. From what has been adduced we can see what is the nature of the education of little children in heaven, namely, that by means of the intelligence of truth and the wisdom of good they are introduced into the angelic life, which is love to the Lord, and mutual love, in which loves there is innocence. But how contrary is the education of little children on earth, with many, has been evidenced from this one example. I was in the street of a great city, and saw little boys fighting with one another. A crowd gathered and looked on with much pleasure; and I was informed that the parents themselves urge on their little boys to such fights. The good spirits and angels who saw these things through my eyes were so averse to them that I perceived their horror, especially at the fact that the parents incite them to such things; saying that thus in their earliest age they extinguish all the mutual love and all the innocence which little children receive from the Lord, and initiate them into hatred and revenge; consequently that they deliberately shut out their children from heaven, where there is nothing but mutual love. Let parents therefore who wish well to their children beware of such things.
At the end of the preceding seventeenth chapter of Genesis the Last Judgment is treated of, and at the end of this eighteenth chapter the state of little children in the other life-in both cases from experience of things which have been seen and heard in the world of spirits and in the heaven of angels.

2310. CHAPTER 19

The Internal Sense of the Word has already been many times treated of; but I am aware that few can believe that there is such a sense in everything of the Word, not only in the prophetical, but also in the historical parts. That there is such a sense in the prophetical parts can more easily be believed, because in them there is not so connected a series of things, and there are also strange expressions in them, from which everyone may conjecture that they contain within them some secret meaning. But that there is also such a sense in the historical parts, does not so easily appear, both because this has hitherto come into no one’s mind, and because the historical parts are such as to keep the attention fixed on themselves, and thereby to draw away the mind from thinking that anything of a deeper nature is there stored up; and also because the historicals are truly such as related.
[2] Nevertheless no one can fail to infer that within these parts of the Word also there is what is heavenly and Divine, and which does not shine forth; first, from the fact that the Word was sent down by the Lord through heaven to man, and therefore differs in its origin (and what the nature of this origin is, and that it is so different and distant from the literal sense as not even to be seen, and consequently not acknowledged, by those who are merely worldly, will be shown by many things in what follows); secondly, from the fact that the Word, being Divine, has not been written for man only, but also for the angels with man, in order that it might serve not only for use to the human race, but also for use to heaven; and that in this way the Word is a medium uniting heaven and earth. This union takes place by means of the church, and in fact by means of the Word in the church, which is for this reason such as it is, and is distinguished from all other writing.
[3] As regards the historical parts specifically, unless they in like manner contained Divine and heavenly things in a sense abstracted from the letter, they could never be acknowledged by anyone who thinks more deeply to be the inspired Word, even as to every jot. Would anyone say that the abominable affair of Lot’s daughters, treated of at the end of this chapter, would be related in a Divine Word? or Jacob’s peeling rods and making the white appear, and placing them in the watering-troughs, that the flock might bear partly-colored, speckled, and spotted young? Besides many other things in the rest of the books of Moses, of Joshua, the Judges, Samuel, and the Kings, which would be of no importance, and in regard to which it would be a matter of indifference whether they were known or not known, unless they enfolded deeply within them a secret Divine meaning. If it were not for this, they would differ in no respect from other historical narratives, which have sometimes been so written that they seem more effective.
[4] As the learned world is unacquainted with the fact that Divine and heavenly things lie hidden even within the historical parts of the Word, were it not for the holy veneration for the books of the Word which has been impressed upon them from childhood, they would be quite ready to say in their hearts that the Word is not holy except solely from that fact; when yet it is not from that, but because there is within it an internal sense which is heavenly and Divine, and which causes it to unite heaven with earth, that is, angelic minds with human minds, and thereby these latter with the Lord.

2311. That the Word is of such a nature, and that it is in this way distinct from all other writing, may be seen also from the fact that not only do all the names signify actual things (as shown above, n. 1224, 1264, 1876, 1888), but all the words also have a spiritual sense; and they thus signify another thing in heaven from what they do on earth, and this most constantly, in both the prophetical and the historical parts. When these names and words are set forth in their heavenly sense in accordance with their constant signification in the whole Word, there comes forth an internal sense which is the angelic Word. This twofold sense of the Word is circumstanced as are the body and the soul; the literal sense is like the body, and the internal sense is like the soul; and as the body lives by means of the soul, so does the literal sense by means of the internal sense. Through the internal sense the Lord’s life inflows into the literal sense, in accordance with the affection of him who is reading it. Hence it is evident how holy is the Word, although it does not appear so to worldly minds.

GENESIS 19

1. And the two angels came to Sodom in the evening; and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom; and Lot saw, and rose up to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth.
2. And he said, Behold I pray my lords, turn aside, I pray, to the house of your servant, and pass the night, and wash your feet; and in the morning ye shall rise, and go on your way; and they said, Nay, for we will pass the night in the street.
3. And he urged them exceedingly; and they turned aside unto him, and came to his house; and he made them a feast, and baked unleavened [bread]; and they did eat.
4. Scarcely yet were they lain down when the men of the city, the men of Sodom, compassed the house about, from a boy even to an old man, all the people from the uttermost part.
5. And they cried unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men that came unto thee this night? Bring them out unto us, that we may know them.
6. And Lot went out unto them to the door and shut the door behind him.
7. And he said, I pray you, my brethren, do not wickedly.
8. Behold I pray I have two daughters, who have not known man; let me I pray bring them out unto you, and ye may do unto them as is good in your eyes; only unto these men do not anything; for therefore are they come under the shadow of my roof.
9. And they said, Come on. And they said, Is one come to sojourn, and shall he judge indeed? Now will we do worse to thee than to them. And they pressed upon the man, upon Lot, exceedingly; and drew near to break open the door.
10. And the men put forth their hand, and brought Lot into the house to them, and shut the door.
11. And the men who were at the door of the house they smote with blindness, from small even to great; and they labored to find the door.
12. And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou yet anyone here? Son-in-law, thy sons, and thy daughters, and whomsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of the place.
13. For we will destroy this place, because their cry is become great before Jehovah; and Jehovah hath sent us to destroy it.
14. And Lot went out, and spoke to his sons-in-law that were to marry his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place, for Jehovah will destroy the city. And he was in the eyes of his sons-in-law as one that jested.
15. And when the dawn arose the angels pressed Lot to hasten, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters that are found, lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.
16. And he lingered; and the men laid hold of his hand, and of the hand of his wife, and of the hand of his two daughters, in the clemency of Jehovah upon him, and they led him forth, and set him without the city.
17. And it came to pass, when they were leading them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not back behind thee, and stay not in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.
18. And Lot said unto them, Nay I pray my lords.
19. Behold I pray thy servant hath found grace in thine eyes, and thou hast made thy mercy great, which thou hast done with me, to make alive my soul, and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest peradventure evil cleave to me, and I die.
20. Behold I pray this city is near to flee thither, and it is a little one; let me, I pray, escape thither-is it not a little one? And my soul shall live.
21. And he said unto him, Behold I have accepted thy face as to this word also, that I will not overthrow the city of which thou hast spoken.
22. Hasten, escape thither, for I cannot do anything until thou be come thither. Therefore he called the name of the city Zoar.
23. The sun was gone forth upon the earth, and Lot came to Zoar.
24. And Jehovah caused it to rain upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Jehovah out of heaven.
25. And He overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and the growth of the ground.
26. And his wife looked back behind him, and became a pillar of salt.
27. And Abraham rose up early in the morning, unto the place where he had stood before Jehovah.
28. And he looked against the faces of Sodom and Gomorrah, and against all the faces of the land of the plain, and he saw and behold the smoke of the land went up, as the smoke of a furnace.
29. And it came to pass when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot dwelt.
30. And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar; and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters.
31. And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is no man in the earth to come unto us according to the way of all the earth.
32. Come, let us make our father drink wine, and let us lie with him, and let us quicken seed from our father.
33. And they made their father drink wine that night; and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he knew not when she lay down, nor when she arose.
34. And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I, lay yesternight with my father; let us make him drink wine this night also, and go thou in and lie with him, and let us quicken seed from our father.
35. And they made their father drink wine that night also; and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he knew not when she lay down nor when she arose.
36. And the two daughters of Lot conceived by their father.
37. And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab: he is the father of Moab even unto this day.
38. And the younger she also bare a son, and called his name Ben-ammi: he is the father of the sons of Ammon unto this day.

sRef Gen@19 @0 S0′ 2312. THE CONTENTS.
In this chapter, in the internal sense, by “Lot” is described the state of the Spiritual Church which is in the good of charity but in external worship: how in course of time it declines.

sRef Gen@19 @0 S0′ 2313. The First State of that church: that they are in the good of charity and acknowledge the Lord, and that from Him they are confirmed in good (verses 1-3); and are saved (verse 12). The Second State: that with them evils begin to act against goods, but they are powerfully withheld from evils and kept in goods by the Lord (verses 14-16). Their weakness is described (verse 17); that they are saved (verse 19). The Third State: that they no longer think and act from the affection of good, but from the affection of truth (verses 18-20); and that they are saved (verse 23). The Fourth State: that the affection of truth perishes, which is Lot’s wife becoming a pillar of salt (verse 26). The Fifth State: that an impure good, or a good of falsity, succeeds, which is Lot in the cave of the mountain (verse 30). The Sixth State: that even this good is still more adulterated and falsified (verses 31-33); and the truth likewise (verses 34-35). That therefrom there is conceived and born a certain semblance of a church whose good, so called, is “Moab,” and whose truth, also so called, is the “son of Ammon” (verses 36-38).

sRef Gen@19 @0 S0′ 2314. Further: in the internal sense, by the “inhabitants of Sodom” is described the state of those within the same church who are against the good of charity, and how in course of time evil and falsity increase with them until they have nothing but evil and falsity.

sRef Gen@19 @0 S0′ 2315. Their First State: that they are against the good of charity and against the Lord (verses 4, 5). Their Second State: that although informed concerning the good of charity and concerning the delights of its affections which they should enjoy, they are obstinate and reject good (verses 6-8). That they also endeavor to destroy the very good of charity itself, but that the Lord protects it (verses 9, 10). The Third State: that at last they become such that they cannot even see truth and good, still less that truth leads to good (verse 11). That they are possessed by evil and falsity, so that they cannot but perish (verse 13). The Fourth State: their destruction (verse 24); and that all goods and truths are separated from them (verse 25).

sRef Gen@19 @0 S0′ 2316. That the good are separated from the evil, and that the good are saved through the Lord’s Human made Divine (verses 27-29).

sRef Gen@19 @1 S0′ 2317. THE INTERNAL SENSE
Verse 1. And the two angels came to Sodom in the evening; and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom; and Lot saw, and rose up to meet them, and bowed himself with his face to the earth. “The two angels came to Sodom in the evening,” signifies the visitation which precedes the Judgment; the “two angels” signify the Lord’s Divine Human and Holy proceeding, to which Judgment belongs; “Sodom” signifies the evil, especially those within the church; “evening” is the time of visitation; “and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom,” signifies those who are in the good of charity, but in external worship, who here are “Lot;” these are among the evil, but are separated from them, which is to “sit in the gate of Sodom;” “and Lot saw,” signifies their conscience; “and rose up to meet them,” signifies acknowledgment and a disposition of charity; “and bowed himself with his face to the earth” signifies humiliation.

sRef Gen@19 @1 S0′ sRef Gen@18 @21 S0′ 2318. The two angels came to Sodom in the evening. That this signifies the visitation which precedes the Judgment, can be seen from the things said by the three men, or Jehovah, in the preceding chapter; and also from the things that follow in this chapter; and likewise from the signification of “evening.” In the preceding chapter Jehovah said: “I will go down and see whether the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah have made a consummation according to the cry which is come unto Me; and if not, I will know” (5:20, 21), by which words, as has been there shown, is signified the visitation which precedes the Judgment. In this chapter there is described the act itself of visitation, and then the Judgment; as is evident from what follows. That “evening” signifies the time of visitation will be seen below. (What visitation is, and that visitation precedes Judgment, may be seen above, n. 2242.) The preceding chapter has treated of the perverted state of the human race, and of the Lord’s grief and intercession for those who were in evil and yet in some good and truth; and therefore the present chapter treats, in continuance, of the salvation of those who are in some good and truth; and it is these who are represented in this chapter by “Lot.” At the same time also the destruction of those who are altogether in evil and falsity is treated of; and it is these who are here signified by “Sodom and Gomorrah.”

sRef Gen@19 @1 S0′ 2319. “Two angels.” That these signify the Lord’s Divine Human and Holy proceeding, to which Judgment belongs, is evident both from the signification in the Word of “angels,” and from its being here said that there were “two” angels. That in the Word “angels” signify some Divine essential in the Lord, and that what this is can be seen from the series, has been shown above (n. 1925). That they here signify the Lord’s Divine Human and Holy proceeding, is evident from the fact that by the “three men” who were with Abraham was meant the Lord’s Divine Itself, Divine Human, and Holy proceeding (n. 2149, 2156, 2288); from this and also from the fact that the angels are called “Jehovah” (verse 24), and also from the signification of “angels” (n. 1925), it is clear that by the “two angels” are here meant the Lord’s Divine Human and Holy proceeding.

sRef John@16 @7 S0′ sRef John@16 @13 S0′ sRef John@5 @22 S0′ sRef Gen@19 @1 S0′ sRef John@16 @8 S0′ sRef John@16 @15 S0′ sRef John@7 @39 S0′ 2320. Why there should here be only two angels, seeing that there were three men with Abraham, is an arcanum which cannot be set forth in few words. It can in some measure be seen from the fact that in this chapter Judgment is treated of, namely, the salvation of the faithful, and the condemnation of the unfaithful; and it is evident from the Word that Judgment belongs to the Lord’s Divine Human and Holy proceeding. That it belongs to the Divine Human see in John: “The Father judgeth not anyone, but hath given all judgment unto the Son” (John 5:22); by the “Son” is meant the Divine Human (see n. 2159). That Judgment belongs to the Holy that proceeds from the Lord’s Divine Human, see also in John: “If I go away, I will send the Comforter unto you; and when He is come, He shall reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment” (John 16:7-8); and that the Holy proceeds from the Lord, see in the same: “He shall not speak from Himself but shall take of Mine, and shall declare it” (John 16:13, 15); and this when the Human was made Divine, that is, when the Lord had been glorified, see in the same: “The Holy Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified” (John 7:39).

sRef Gen@19 @1 S0′ 2321. As regards the fact that Judgment pertains to the Lord’s Divine Human and Holy proceeding, the case is this: The human race could no longer have been saved unless the Lord had come into the world and had united the Divine Essence to the Human Essence; for without the Lord’s Human made Divine salvation could no longer have reached to man (n. 1990, 2016, 2034, 2035). The Holy Itself that proceeds from the Lord’s Divine Human is that which separates the evil from the good; for the evil so fear and shudder at the Lord’s Holy that they cannot approach it, but flee far away from it into their hells, each one according to the profaneness that is in him.

sRef Gen@19 @1 S0′ 2322. That “Sodom” signifies the evil, especially those within the church, is evident from the signification of “Sodom,” as being the evil of the love of self (see n. 2220, 2246); consequently as being those who are in that evil. They who apprehend the Word according to the sense of the letter alone, may suppose that by “Sodom” is meant a foulness that is contrary to the order of nature; but in the internal sense by “Sodom” is signified the evil of the love of self. Out of this evil all evils of every kind well forth; and all evils that thus spring from it are called in the Word “adulteries,” and are described by the same, as will be evident from passages of the Word that will be adduced at the end of this chapter.

sRef Gen@19 @1 S0′ 2323. That “evening” signifies the time of visitation, is evident from the signification of “evening.” The states of the church are compared in the Word both to the seasons of the year and the times of the day; to the seasons of the year because to its summer, autumn, winter, and spring; to the times of the day because to its noon, evening, night, and morning; for the two things are similarly circumstanced. The state of the church which is called “evening,” is when there is no longer any charity, consequently when there begins to be no faith, thus when the church is ceasing to be; this is the “evening” that is followed by the “night” (see n. 22). There is also an “evening” when charity shines forth, consequently when faith does so, and thus when a new church is rising up; this “evening” is the twilight before the morning (see n. 883). Thus “evening” has both significations, for it is provided by the Lord that when a church is ceasing to be, a new one is rising up, and this at the same time; for without a church somewhere on the globe the human race cannot subsist, because it would have no conjunction with heaven (as shown above in n. 468, 637, 931, 2054).
[2] In the present chapter both states of the church are treated of, namely, the rising up of a new church, which is represented by “Lot,” and the destruction of the old, which is signified by “Sodom and Gomorrah;” as can be seen from the Contents. This is why it is here said that the two angels came to Sodom “in the evening;” and why there is told what was done in the evening (verses 1-3), what in the night (verses 4-14), what in the morning or rising dawn (verses 15-22), and what after the sun had gone forth (verses 23-26).
sRef Zeph@2 @5 S3′ sRef Zeph@2 @7 S3′ [3] As the “evening” signifies these states of the church, it also signifies the visitation which precedes Judgment; for when a Judgment is close at hand, that is, the salvation of the faithful and the condemnation of the unfaithful, then visitation precedes, or an exploration of what quality they are, that is, whether there is any charity and faith. This visitation takes place in the “evening;” and therefore the visitation itself is called “evening,” as in Zephaniah:
Woe to the inhabitants of the region of the sea, the nation of the Cherethites. The word of Jehovah is against you, O Canaan, the land of the Philistines; and I will cause to destroy thee, till there shall be no inhabitant. The remnant of the house of Judah shall feed in the houses of Ashkelon, in the evening shall they lie down; for Jehovah their God will visit them, and will bring back their captivity (Zeph. 2:5, 7).

sRef Gen@19 @1 S0′ 2324. And Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. That this signifies those who are in the good of charity, but in external worship, who here are “Lot,” and who are among the evil, but separate from them-which is to “sit in the gate of Sodom”-can be seen from the representation of “Lot,” and from the signification of “gate,” and also from that of “Sodom.” From the representation of “Lot:” Lot when with Abraham represented the Lord’s sensuous part, thus His external man (as shown in Volume 1, n. 1428, 1434, 1547). But here, when separated from Abraham, Lot no longer retains the representation of the Lord, but the representation of those who are with the Lord, namely, the external man of the church, that is, those who are in the good of charity, but in external worship.
[2] No, in this chapter Lot not only represents the external man of the church, or what is the same, the external church such as it is in the beginning, but also such as it is in its progress, and also in its end. It is the end of that church which is signified by “Moab” and the “son of Ammon,” as of the Lord’s Divine mercy will appear from the series of the things that follow. It is a common thing in the Word for one person to represent a number of states that succeed each other, and which are described by the successive acts of his life.
[3] From the signification of a “gate:” a gate is that through which one enters into a city, and through which he goes out of the city; consequently, to “sit in the gate” does indeed here signify to be with the evil, but still to be separate from them; as is wont to be the case with the men of the church who are in the good of charity; these, although they are among the wicked, are still separate from them; not as to civic society, but as to spiritual life. (That “Sodom” signifies evil in general, or what is the same, the evil, especially within the church, was said above, n. 2322.)

sRef Gen@19 @1 S0′ 2325. And Lot saw. That this signifies the conscience, namely, of those who are in the good of charity but in external worship, may be seen from the signification of to “see.” To “see,” in the Word, signifies to understand (n. 897, 1584, 1806, 1807, 2150); but in the internal sense it signifies to have faith, of which signification we shall speak, of the Lord’s Divine mercy, when we come to the 32nd verse of chapter 29. That to “see” here signifies conscience, is because those who have faith also have conscience. Faith is inseparable from conscience, so inseparable indeed that whether you say faith or conscience it is the same. By faith is meant the faith by means of which there is charity, and which is from charity, thus charity itself; for faith without charity is no faith; and as faith is not possible without charity, so neither is conscience.

sRef Gen@19 @1 S0′ 2326. And he rose up to meet them. That this signifies acknowledgment, as also a disposition of charity, may be seen from the fact that when they came Lot forthwith acknowledged that they were angels; but not so the men of Sodom, of whom it is said: “They cried unto Lot, and said, Where are the men that came unto thee this night? Bring them out unto us, that we may know them” (verse 5). In the internal sense these words signify that those within the church who are in the good of charity acknowledge the Lord’s Divine Human and Holy proceeding (meant by the “two angels”), but not those who are not in the good of charity. That the same words likewise involve a disposition of charity, is evident also from the fact that Lot, by whom are represented those who are in the good of charity, nay, by whom is signified the good of charity itself, invited them into his house.

sRef Gen@19 @1 S0′ 2327. He bowed himself with his face to the earth. That this signifies humiliation, may be seen without unfolding the meaning. The reason that in former times, especially in the representative churches, they bowed themselves so low that they let down the face to the earth, was because the face signified man’s interiors (n. 358, 1999); and the reason they let it down to the earth was that the dust of the earth signified what is profane and condemned (n. 278); consequently they thus represented that of themselves they were profane and condemned. For the same reason they prostrated themselves, pressing the face to the earth, and even rolling themselves in dust and ashes, and also sprinkling dust and ashes upon their heads (as may be seen from Lam. 2:10; Ezek. 27:30; Micah 1:10; Josh. 7:6; Rev. 18:19; and elsewhere).
[2] By all this they represented the state of true humiliation, which is possible to none unless they acknowledge that of themselves they are profane and condemned, and thus that they cannot of themselves look to the Lord, where there is nothing but what is Divine and Holy; on which account, so far as a man is in self-acknowledgment, so far he can be in true humiliation, and in adoration when in worship. For in all worship there must be humiliation; and if this is separated therefrom, there is nothing of adoration, thus nothing of worship.
[3] That the state of humiliation is the essential state of worship itself, comes from the fact that so far as the heart is humbled, so far the love of self and all the evil therefrom ceases; and so far as this ceases, so far good and truth, that is, charity and faith, flow in from the Lord; for that which stands in the way of the reception of these is principally the love of self, in which there is contempt for others in comparison with one’s self; hatred and revenge if self is not treated with honor; and also unmercifulness and cruelty; thus the worst evils of all; and into these good and truth can in no wise be introduced, for they are opposites.

sRef Gen@19 @2 S0′ 2328. Verse 2. And he said, Behold I pray my lords, turn aside I pray to the house of your servant, and pass the night, and wash your feet; and in the morning ye shall rise and go on your way; and they said, Nay, for we will pass the night in the street. “And he said, Behold I pray my lords,” signifies an interior acknowledgment and confession of the Lord’s Divine Human and Holy proceeding; “turn aside I pray to the house of your servant, and pass the night,” signifies an invitation to have an abode with him; “to the house of a servant,” means in the good of charity; “and wash your feet,” signifies application to his natural; “and in the morning ye shall rise and go on your way,” signifies confirmation thereby in good and truth; “and they said, Nay,” signifies a doubting, which is wont to attend temptation; “for we will pass the night in the street,” signifies that He was as it were willing to judge from truth.

sRef Gen@19 @2 S0′ 2329. He said, Behold I pray my lords. That this signified an interior acknowledgment and confession of the Lord’s Divine Human and Holy proceeding, is evident from the acknowledgment and humiliation spoken of just before; here confession immediately follows, for this is meant by Lot’s saying, “Behold I pray my lords.” Interior confession is of the heart and comes forth in humiliation, and at the same time in the affection of good; but exterior confession is of the lips, and may possibly come forth in a feigned humiliation and a feigned affection of good, which is none at all, being such as exists with those who confess the Lord for the sake of their own honor, or rather their own worship, and their own gain. That which these confess with the lips, they deny in the heart.
[2] Its being said in the plural, “my lords,” is for the same reason that in the preceding chapter it is said “three men;” for just as the “three” there signify the Divine Itself, the Divine Human, and the Holy proceeding, so here the “two” signify the Lord’s Divine Human and Holy proceeding, as was said above. That these are one is known to everyone within the church; and because they are one, they are also named in the singular in what follows, as in verse 17, “It came to pass when they had led them forth abroad, that He said, Escape for thy life;” verse 19, “Behold I pray thy servant hath found grace in thine eyes, and thou hast made thy mercy great which thou hast done with me;” verse 21, “And he said unto him, Behold I have accepted thy face as to this word also, that I will not overthrow the city;” and verse 22, “For I cannot do anything until thou be come thither.”
[3] That the Divine Itself, the Divine Human, and the Holy proceeding are Jehovah, is evident from the foregoing chapter, where the three men are called “Jehovah,” as in verse 13, “Jehovah said unto Abraham;” verse 14,” Shall anything be too wonderful for Jehovah;” verse 22, “Abraham, he stood yet before Jehovah;” verse 33, “Jehovah went His way when He made an end of speaking with Abraham.” Consequently the Divine Human and Holy proceeding are Jehovah, as also He is named in this chapter, verse 24, “And Jehovah caused it to rain upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Jehovah out of heaven;” the internal sense of which words will be seen in what follows. (That the Lord is Jehovah Himself, who is so often named in the histories and prophecies of the Old Testament, may be seen above, n. 1736.)
[4] They who are truly men of the church, that is, who are in love to the Lord and in charity toward the neighbor, are acquainted with and acknowledge a Trine; but still they humble themselves before the Lord and adore Him alone, for the reason that they know that there is no access to the Divine Itself which is called the “Father” except through the Son; and that all the Holy which is of the Holy Spirit proceeds from Him. When they are in this idea they adore no other than Him through whom and from whom all things are, thus One; [5] nor do they spread out their ideas among Three, as many within the church are wont to do, as can be seen from many in the other life, even the learned, who in the life of the body had supposed that they possessed the arcana of faith more than others. When these were explored in the other life as to what idea they had concerning the one God-whether of Three Uncreates, Three Infinities, Three Eternals, Three Almighties, Three Lords, it was plainly perceived that they had the idea of Three (for there is a communication of ideas there), when yet it is part of the creed, being stated in plain words, that there are not Three Uncreates, not Three Infinities, not Three Eternals, not Three Almighties, not Three Lords, but One; as also is the truth. The result was that they confessed that with the mouth they had indeed said that there is one God, yet still had thought, and some had believed, that there are three, whom in idea they could separate, but not join together, the reason of which is that all arcana whatever, even the deepest, are attended with an idea; for without an idea nothing can be thought of, nor indeed can anything be kept in the memory.
[6] Hence in the other life it is manifest as in clear day what thought, and thence what belief, each person has formed for himself concerning the One God. Indeed the Jews in the other life, when they hear that the Lord is Jehovah and that there is but One God, can say nothing. But when they perceive that the ideas of Christians are divided among Three, they say that they themselves worship One God, but Christians Three; and this the more since none can join together the Three thus separated in idea, except those who are in the faith of charity; for the Lord applies the minds of these to Himself.

sRef Gen@19 @2 S0′ 2330. Turn aside I pray to the house of your servant and pass the night. That this signifies an invitation for the Divine Human and Holy proceeding to have an abode with him, is evident without unfolding the meaning.

sRef Gen@19 @2 S0′ 2331. That “to the house of a servant” denotes in the good of charity, is evident from the signification of a “house,” as being celestial good, which is of love and charity alone (see n. 2048, 2233).

sRef Ex@20 @19 S0′ sRef Gen@19 @2 S0′ 2332. Wash your feet. That this signifies application to his natural, is evident from what was said in the preceding chapter (n. 2162), where are the same words. In former times, when they saw an angel of Jehovah, they believed that they were about to die (Exod. 19:12, 21, 24; 20:19; Judges 6:22-23; 13:22-23), for the reason that when the Divine Holy flows into the profane that is with man, its virtue is such as to cause it to be a devouring and consuming fire; and therefore when the Lord presents Himself to the view of any man, or even of any angel, He miraculously moderates and tempers the Holy that proceeds from Him, so that they may be able to endure it; or what is the same, He applies Himself to their natural. This then is what is signified in the internal sense by these words which Lot said to the angels: “Wash your feet.” And this shows what is the nature of the internal sense, for that this is the signification cannot be seen from the sense of the letter.

sRef Gen@19 @2 S0′ 2333. And in the morning ye shall rise and go on your way. That this signifies confirmation in good and truth, may be seen from the signification of “rising in the morning,” and also from the signification of “going on the way.” In the Word “morning” signifies the Lord’s kingdom and whatever belongs to the Lord’s kingdom, thus principally the good of love and of charity, as will be confirmed from the Word at verse 15; and a “way” signifies truth (see n. 627); for which reason it is said that after they had been in his house and had passed the night there (by which is signified that they had an abode in the good of charity that was with him), they should “rise in the morning and go on their way,” by which is signified being thereby thus confirmed in good and truth.
[2] From this, as from other passages, it is evident how remote from the sense of the letter, and consequently how much unseen, is the internal sense, especially in the historical parts of the Word; and that it does not come to view unless the meaning of every word is unfolded in accordance with its constant signification in the Word. On this account, when the ideas are kept in the sense of the letter, the internal sense appears no otherwise than as something obscure and dark; but on the other hand when the ideas are kept in the internal sense, the sense of the letter appears in like manner obscure, nay, to the angels as nothing. For the angels are no longer in worldly and corporeal things, like those of man, but in spiritual and celestial things, into which the words of the sense of the letter are wonderfully changed, when it ascends from a man who is reading the Word to the sphere in which the angels are, that is, to heaven; and this from the correspondence of spiritual things with worldly, and of celestial things with corporeal. This correspondence is most constant, but its nature has not yet been disclosed until now in the unfolding of the meaning of the words, names, and numbers in the Word, as to the internal sense.
sRef 2Sam@23 @4 S3′ sRef Dan@8 @26 S3′ sRef Dan@8 @14 S3′ [3] That it may be known what is the nature of this correspondence, or what is the same, how worldly and corporeal ideas pass into corresponding spiritual and celestial ideas when the former are elevated to heaven, take as an example “morning” and “way.” When “morning” is read, as in the passage before us to “rise in the morning,” the angels do not get an idea of any morning of a day, but an idea of morning in the spiritual sense, thus such a one as is described in Samuel: “The Rock of Israel He is as the light of the morning when the sun riseth, a morning without clouds” (2 Sam. 23:3, 4); and in Daniel: “The holy one said unto me, Until evening, when morning comes, two thousand three hundred” (Dan. 8:14, 26). Thus instead of “morning” the angels perceive the Lord, or His Kingdom, or the heavenly things of love and charity; and these in fact with variety according to the series of things in the Word which is being read.
sRef John@14 @6 S4′ sRef Isa@40 @14 S4′ sRef Ps@25 @5 S4′ sRef Ps@25 @4 S4′ [4] In like manner where “way” is read-as here, to “go on your way”-they can have no idea of a way, but another idea which is spiritual or celestial, namely, like that in John, where the Lord said: “I am the way and the truth” (John 14:6); and as in David: “Make Thy ways known to me, O Jehovah, lead my way in truth” (Ps. 25:4, 5); and in Isaiah: “He made Him to know the way of understanding” (Isa. 40:14). Thus instead of “way” the angels perceive truth, and this in both the historical and the prophetical parts of the Word. For the angels no longer care for the historical things, as these are altogether inadequate to their ideas; and therefore in place of them they perceive such things as belong to the Lord and His kingdom, and which also in the internal sense follow on in a beautiful order and well-connected series. For this reason, and also in order that the Word may be for the angels, all the historical things therein are representative, and each of the words is significative of such things; which peculiarity the Word has above all other writing.

sRef Gen@19 @2 S0′ 2334. And they said, Nay. That this signifies the doubting which is wont to attend temptation, may be seen from their declining and yet going into his house. In all temptation there is somewhat of doubt concerning the Lord’s presence and mercy, and concerning salvation and the like things; for those who are in temptation are in interior anxiety, even to despair; in which they are for the most part kept, to the end that they may be at length confirmed in the fact that all things are of the Lord’s mercy; that they are saved by Him alone; and that with themselves there is nothing but evil; in respect to which they are confirmed by means of conflicts in which they overcome. After the temptation there remain from it many states of truth and good to which their thoughts may afterwards be bent by the Lord, which would otherwise rush into insane things, and draw away the mind into opposition to what is true and good.
[2] Since by “Lot” there is here treated of the first state of the church which is in the good of charity but in external worship, and since before a man comes into this state he is to be reformed, which is also done by a certain kind of temptation (but they who are in external worship undergo only a light temptation), therefore these things which involve something of temptation are said, namely, that the angels at first said they would pass the night in the street, and that Lot urged them, and so they turned aside to him, and came into his house.

sRef Gen@19 @2 S0′ 2335. For we will pass the night in the street. That this signifies that he was as it were desirous to judge from truth, may be seen from the signification of a “street,” and from the signification of “passing the night.” A “street” is often named in the Word, and in the internal sense signifies the same as a “way,” namely, truth-for a street is a way in a city-as will be evident from the passages that will soon follow. That “to pass the night” is here to judge, may be seen from the signification of “night.” It was shown above (n. 2323) that “evening” signifies the state of the church before the last, when there begins to be no faith; and also the visitation which precedes the Judgment. From this it is evident that “night,” which succeeds, is the last state, when there is no faith; also that it is the Judgment. It is clear from this that to “pass the night in the street,” in the internal sense denotes to judge from truth.
[2] As regards Judgment it is twofold, namely, from good and from truth. The faithful are judged from good, but the unfaithful from truth. That the faithful are judged from good, is plainly evident in Matthew (Matt. 25:34-40), and that the unfaithful are judged from truth (Matt. 25:41-46). To be judged from good is to be saved because they have received it; but to be judged from truth is to be condemned because they have rejected good. Good is the Lord’s, and they who acknowledge this in life and faith are the Lord’s, and therefore are saved; but they who do not acknowledge it in life, and consequently not in faith, cannot be the Lord’s, and therefore cannot be saved. They are therefore judged according to the acts of their life and according to their thoughts and ends; and when they are judged according to these, they cannot but be condemned; for it is a truth that of himself a man does, thinks, and intends nothing but evil, and of himself rushes to hell insofar as he is not withheld therefrom by the Lord.
sRef John@3 @17 S3′ sRef John@3 @19 S3′ sRef John@12 @47 S3′ [3] But as regards judgment from truth the case is this: The Lord never judges anyone except from good; for He desires to raise all into heaven, however many they may be, and indeed, if it were possible, even to Himself; for the Lord is mercy itself and good itself. Mercy itself and good itself can never condemn anyone; but it is the man who condemns himself, because he rejects good. As in the life of the body he had shunned good, so does he shun it in the other life; consequently he shuns heaven and the Lord, for the Lord cannot be in anything except good. He is likewise in truth, but not in truth separated from good. That the Lord condemns no one, nor judges any to hell, He says in John:
God sent not His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. This is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the light, because their works were evil (John 3:17, 19).
And in the same:
If any one hear My words, and believe not, I judge him not; for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world (John 12:47).
(See also what has been said on the subject before, n. 223, 245, 592, 696, 1093, 1683, 1874, 2258.)
sRef John@5 @22 S4′ [4] Where Judgment was treated of above (n. 2320, 2321), it was shown that all Judgment belongs to the Lord’s Divine Human and Holy proceeding, according to His words in John:
The Father judgeth not anyone, but hath given all judgment unto the Son (John 5:22);
and yet it is now said that the Lord does not judge by condemning anyone. From this it is evident what is the nature of the Word in the letter: that unless it were understood from another sense, namely, from the internal sense, it would not be comprehended. From the internal sense alone is it manifest how the case is with Judgment.

sRef Gen@19 @2 S0′ sRef Rev@21 @21 S1′ 2336. That a “street” signifies truth, may be seen from many passages in the Word, as in John, where the New Jerusalem is treated of:
The twelve gates were twelve pearls, every gate was one pearl; and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass (Rev. 21:21).
sRef Rev@22 @2 S2′ [2] The “New Jerusalem” is the Lord’s kingdom, which, being described as to good and truth, is described by “walls,” “gates,” and “streets.” By the “streets” are meant all things of truth which lead to good, or all things of faith which lead to love and charity; and because truths then become of good, thus transparent from good, the street is said to be “gold, as it were transparent glass.” Again:
In the midst of the street of it and of the river, on this side and on that, was the tree of life, bearing twelve fruits (Rev. 22:2),
where also the New Jerusalem or the Lord’s kingdom is treated of. The “midst of the street” denotes the truth of faith, by means of which comes good, and which afterwards comes from good; the “twelve fruits” are what are called the fruits of faith; for “twelve” signifies all the things of faith (as shown above, n. 577, 2089, 2129-2130).
sRef Dan@9 @25 S3′ [3] In Daniel:
Know and perceive that from the going forth of the word to restore and to build Jerusalem, even unto Messiah the Leader, shall be seven weeks, and sixty and two weeks, and it shall be restored and built with street and moat (Dan. 9:25),
where the Lord’s advent is treated of; “it shall be restored with street and moat,” denotes that there will then be what is true and good. That Jerusalem was not then restored and built is well known; and that it is not to be restored and built anew everyone may also know provided he does not keep his ideas fixed on a worldly kingdom, but on the heavenly kingdom that is meant by “Jerusalem” in the internal sense.
sRef Luke@14 @21 S4′ [4] In Luke:
The master of the house said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind (Luke 14:21).
They who remain in the sense of the letter apprehend from this nothing else than that the servant should go everywhere, and that this is signified by the “streets and lanes;” and that he should bring in everybody, and that this is signified by the “poor, maimed, lame, and blind.” But each of these words contains deep secrets within it, for they are the Lord’s words. That he should “go into the streets and lanes,” signifies that he should seek everywhere for some genuine truth, or truth which shines from good, or through which good shines. That he should “bring in the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind,” signifies such as were so called in the Ancient Church and were such as to the faith, but were in the life of good, who should thus be informed about the Lord’s kingdom-thus the nations which were not yet instructed.
sRef Isa@59 @14 S5′ sRef Isa@51 @20 S5′ sRef Jer@9 @21 S5′ [5] As “streets” signified truths, it was a representative rite among the Jews to teach in the streets (as appears in Matt. 6:2, 5, and in Luke 13:26-27). In the Prophets, “streets,” wherever named, signify in the internal sense either truths, or things contrary to truths, as in Isaiah:
Judgment is cast away backward, and righteousness standeth afar off; for truth hath stumbled in the street, and uprightness cannot enter (Isa. 59:14).
Again:
Thy sons have fainted, and have lain at the head of all the streets (Isa. 51:20).
In Jeremiah:
Death is come up into our windows, it is entered into our palaces, to cut off the child from the street, the young men from the roads (Jer. 9:21).
sRef Zech@8 @4 S6′ sRef Zech@8 @5 S6′ sRef Ezek@26 @11 S6′ sRef Nahum@2 @4 S6′ [6] In Ezekiel:
Nebuchadnezzar shall tread down all thy streets with the hoofs of his horses (Ezek. 26:11),
speaking of Tyre, by which are signified the knowledges of truth (n. 1201); the “hoofs of the horses” denote the memory-knowledges that pervert truth. In Nahum:
The chariots rave in the streets, they run to and fro in the roads (Nah. 2:4);
the “chariots” denote the doctrine of truth, which is said to “rave in the streets,” when falsity is in the place of truth. In Zechariah:
There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls, playing in the streets (Zech. 8:4-5),
speaking of the affections of truth, and the consequent gladnesses and joys. (Besides other places, as Isa. 24:11; Jer. 5:1; 7:34; 49:26; Lam. 2:11, 19; 4:8, 14; Zeph. 3:6).

sRef Gen@19 @3 S0′ 2337. Verse 3. And he urged them exceedingly, and they turned aside unto him, and came to his house; and he made them a feast, and baked unleavened [bread]; and they did eat. “He urged them exceedingly,” signifies a state of temptation when one overcomes; “and they turned aside unto him,” signifies abode; “and came to his house,” signifies confirmation in good; “and he made them a feast,” signifies a dwelling together; “and baked unleavened [bread],” signifies purification; “and they did eat,” signifies appropriation.

sRef Gen@19 @3 S0′ 2338. He urged them exceedingly. That this signifies a state of temptation which one overcomes, cannot be seen except by those who have been in temptations. As before said, temptations are attended with doubt in regard to the Lord’s presence and mercy, and also in regard to salvation. The evil spirits who are then with the man and induce the temptation strongly inspire negation, but the good spirits and angels from the Lord in every possible way dispel this state of doubt, and keep the man in a state of hope, and at last confirm him in what is affirmative. The result is that a man who is in temptation hangs between what is negative and what is affirmative. One who yields in temptation remains in a state of doubt, and falls into what is negative; but one who overcomes is indeed in doubt, but still, if he suffers himself to be cheered by hope, he stands fast in what is affirmative. As during this conflict the man seems to urge the Lord, especially by prayers, to be present, to have mercy, to give aid, and to deliver from damnation, therefore where the temptation of those who are becoming men of the church is treated of, as in the passage before us, these things are described by the angels’ first saying, “Nay,” and that they would tarry all night in the street; and by Lot’s then urging them exceedingly, so that they turned aside to him and came to his house.

sRef Gen@19 @3 S0′ 2339. And they turned aside unto him. That this signifies abode, is evident from the signification of the same words above (n. 2330); thus without further explication.

sRef Gen@19 @3 S0′ 2340. And came to his house. That this signifies confirmation in good, is evident from the signification of a “house,” as being celestial good (see n. 2233, 2331); and from this, as well as from the series of things in the internal sense, it is evident that these words mean to be confirmed in good.

sRef Jer@16 @8 S0′ sRef Gen@19 @3 S0′ 2341. And he made them a feast. That this signifies a dwelling together, is evident from the signification of a “feast.” Feasts are often mentioned in the Word; and in the internal sense they signify a dwelling together; as in Jeremiah:
The word of Jehovah to him: Thou shalt not go into the house of a feast, to sit with them, to eat and to drink (Jer. 16:8);
where several things are said to the prophet by which he should represent the fact that good should have no communication with evil, nor truth with falsity; and among other things it is said that he should not enter into the house of a feast, by which was signified that good and truth should not dwell together with evil and falsity.
sRef Isa@25 @6 S2′ [2] In Isaiah:
In this mountain shall Jehovah Zebaoth make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of sweet wines, of fat things full of marrow, of wines well refined (Isa. 25:6);
where “mountain” denotes love to the Lord (n. 795, 1430). They who are in this love dwell with the Lord in good and truth, which is signified by the “feast.” The “fat things full of marrow” are goods (n. 353); the “sweet” and the “refined wines” are the truths thereof (n. 1071).
sRef Gen@21 @8 S3′ [3] The feasts made from the sanctified things in the Jewish Church, when they sacrificed, represented nothing else than the Lord’s dwelling with man in the holy things of love signified by the sacrifices (n. 2187). The same was afterwards represented by the Holy Supper, which in the Primitive Church was called a Feast.
[4] In the twenty-first chapter of Genesis it is related that Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned (verse 8); by which was represented, and thereby signified, the dwelling together and first conjunction of the Lord’s Divine with His Human Rational. In the internal sense the same is also signified in other places by “feasts,” as may also be inferred from the fact that feasts take place in a company of many who are in love and charity together, who mentally conjoin themselves together, and share with one another their glad feelings, which are emotions of love and charity.

sRef Gen@19 @3 S0′ sRef Ex@23 @18 S1′ sRef Lev@2 @11 S1′ 2342. And baked unleavened [bread]. That this signifies purification, is evident from the signification of “unleavened” or “unfermented.” In the Word “bread” signifies in general all celestial and spiritual food, thus celestial and spiritual things in general (see n. 276, 680, 1798, 2165, 2177). That these should be free from everything impure was represented by bread without leaven; for “leaven” signifies that which is evil and false, by which celestial and spiritual things are rendered impure and profane. On account of this representation it was commanded those who were of the Representative Church that in their sacrifices they should not offer any other bread, that is, meat-offering, than that which was unfermented or unleavened; as is evident in Moses:
No meat-offering which ye shall bring to Jehovah shall be made with leaven (Lev. 2:11).
Again:
Thou shalt not sacrifice the blood of My sacrifice with what is leavened (Exod. 23:18; 24:25).
sRef Ex@12 @18 S2′ sRef Ex@12 @19 S2′ sRef Ex@12 @15 S2′ sRef Ex@12 @20 S2′ [2] And it was therefore also commanded, that on the seven days of the Passover they should not eat any other than unfermented or unleavened bread, as stated in Moses:
Seven days shall ye eat unleavened [bread] even on the first day ye shall cause leaven to cease from your houses; for whosoever eateth what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at even, ye shall eat unleavened [bread], until the one and twentieth day of the month at even seven days shall no leaven be found in your houses; for whosoever eateth what is leavened, that soul also shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a sojourner or born in the land (Exod. 12:15, 18-20; and elsewhere, as Exod. 13:6, 7; 23:15; 34:18; Deut. 16:3, 4).
Hence the Passover is called the “Feast of Unleavened Bread” (Lev. 23:6; Num. 28:16, 17; Matt. 26:17; Luke 22:1, 7). [3] That the Passover represented the Lord’s glorification, and thereby the conjunction of the Divine with the human race, will of the Lord’s Divine mercy be shown elsewhere; and as the Lord’s conjunction with the human race is effected through love and charity and the faith thence derived, these celestial and spiritual things were represented by the unleavened bread that they were to eat on the day of the Passover; and lest these things should be contaminated by anything profane, that which was leavened was so severely interdicted that whoever should eat of it was to be cutoff; for whoever profanes celestial and spiritual things cannot fail to perish. Everyone can see that apart from this secret meaning, this ceremonial, to which there was attached so severe a penalty, would never have been given.
sRef Ex@12 @9 S4′ sRef Ex@12 @10 S4′ sRef Ex@12 @8 S4′ [4] Everything that was commanded in that church represented some secret thing, even the very cooking, as was the case with every particular of what the sons of Israel did when they went forth from Egypt; to wit:
They shall eat on that night flesh roasted with fire, and unleavened bread upon bitter herbs they shall not eat it raw, nor boiled in water; the head shall be on the legs they shall not leave of it until the morning, but shall burn the residue with fire (Exod. 12:8-10).
These particulars, namely, that they should eat it by night, the flesh roasted with fire, the unleavened bread upon bitter herbs, the head on the legs, not raw, nor boiled in water, that they should not leave of it until the morning, and that they should burn the residue with fire, were representative. But the arcana represented cannot possibly appear unless disclosed by the internal sense; it is from this sense alone that it can be seen that all things are Divine.
sRef Lev@6 @17 S5′ sRef Lev@6 @16 S5′ sRef Num@6 @19 S5′ [5] In like manner with the ritual in regard to the Nazirite:
The priest shall take the boiled shoulder of a ram, and one unleavened cake out of a basket, and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them upon the palms of the Nazirite, after he has shaved his nazariteship (Num. 6:19).
He who does not know that the Nazirite represented the celestial man himself, does not know that celestial things, thus arcana which do not appear in the letter, are enfolded within all these particulars, namely, the boiled shoulder of a ram, the unleavened cake, the unleavened wafer, and the shaving of the hair; which shows what kind of an opinion concerning the Word must be formed by those who do not believe that it contains an internal sense; for without what is internal these are particulars of no moment: whereas when the ceremonial or ritual is removed, everything there becomes Divine and holy. The same is the case with everything else, as here with the unleavened bread, which denotes the holy of love, or a holy of holies, as it is likewise called in Moses:
The unleavened bread that is left shall be eaten by Aaron and his sons in a place of holiness, for it is a holy of holies (Lev. 6:16, 17).
The “unleavened bread” therefore denotes pure love; and the “baking of what is unleavened” denotes purification.

sRef Gen@19 @3 S0′ 2343. And they did eat. That this signifies appropriation, is evident from the signification of “eating,” which is to be communicated and conjoined, thus to be appropriated (see above, n. 2187). From what has been already said and unfolded it can be seen how the things contained in the preceding verse, and in this, are circumstanced in the internal sense, and how in that sense they cohere together; from the fact that by the “angels” is signified the Lord’s Divine Human and Holy proceeding; by “turning aside to him,” having an abode; by “coming to his house,” being confirmed in good; by “making a feast,” dwelling together; by “baking unleavened bread,” being purified; and by “eating,” being appropriated. From this it is evident what is the series and connection of things in the internal sense, although nothing whatever of it appears in the historical sense.
[2] Such is the order and series in all of the things of the Word, both in general and particular. But the series itself such as it is in itself cannot be made to appear in an explication of the several words, for in that case everything appears in a disconnected form, and the continuity of the sense is dissipated. But when all things are viewed together in one idea, or are perceived in one mental view, as is the case with those who are in the internal sense and at the same time in heavenly light from the Lord, there is then presented to view in these words the entire process of the reformation and regeneration of those who are becoming men of the church (who are here represented by Lot), to wit, that at first they perceive something of temptation, but when they persist and overcome, the Lord has an abode with them, and confirms them in good, introduces them unto Himself in His kingdom, and dwells with them, and there purifies and perfects them, and at the same time appropriates good and happy things to them, and this by means of His Divine Human and Holy proceeding.
aRef Mark@10 @25 S3′ aRef Matt@19 @24 S3′ aRef Luke@18 @25 S3′ [3] That all regeneration or new life, thus salvation, is from the Lord alone, is indeed known in the church, but is believed by few, for the reason that men are not in the good of charity. It is as impossible for those who are not in the good of charity to have this belief, as it is for a camel to go through the eye of a needle; for the good of charity is the very ground for the seeds of faith. Truth and good agree, but truth and evil never: they are of a contrary nature, and are averse one to the other. For this reason, so far as a man is in good, so far he can be in truth; or so far as he is in charity, so far he can be in faith; especially in this chief point of faith, that all salvation is from the Lord.
sRef John@3 @16 S4′ sRef John@11 @25 S4′ sRef John@11 @26 S4′ sRef John@6 @29 S4′ sRef John@8 @24 S4′ sRef John@6 @40 S4′ sRef John@3 @36 S4′ [4] That this is the chief point of faith, is evident from many passages in the Word, as in John:
God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16).
Again:
He that believeth in the Son hath eternal life, but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him (John 3:36).
Again:
This is the work of God, that ye believe in Him whom the Father hath sent (John 6:29).
Again:
This is the will of Him that sent Me, that everyone that seeth the Son, and believeth in Him, should have eternal life; and I will raise Him up at the last day (John 6:40).
Again:
Except ye believe that I am, ye shall die in your sins (John 8:24).
Again:
I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in Me, though he die, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die (John 11:25-26).
sRef John@15 @6 S5′ sRef John@15 @5 S5′ sRef John@15 @9 S5′ sRef John@1 @13 S5′ sRef John@1 @12 S5′ sRef John@15 @12 S5′ [5] That no one can believe in the Lord unless he is in good, that is, that no one can have faith unless he is in charity, is also evident in John:
As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become children of God, to them that believe in His name; who were born not of bloods, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:12-13).
And again:
I am the vine, ye are the branches; he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit, for without Me ye can do nothing. If one abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered. As the Father hath loved Me, I also have loved you; abide ye in My love. This is My commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you (John 15:5-6, 9, 12).
[6] From these passages it can be seen that love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor are the life of faith. But that they who are in evil, that is, in a life of evil, cannot possibly believe that all salvation is from the Lord, has been made evident to me from those who had come into the other life from the Christian world; and also from those who in the life of the body had confessed with the mouth and had even taught, according to the doctrinal tenet of faith, that without the Lord there is no salvation, and yet had led a life of evil. These, when the Lord was merely named, forthwith filled the sphere with endless difficulties (for in the other life that which spirits merely think is perceived, and diffuses from itself a sphere, in which it becomes manifest in what kind of faith they are; see n. 1394).
[7] Among the same, when love or charity was merely mentioned, there was perceived from them something as it were full of darkness and at the same time clotted from a kind of filthy love; which thing was of such a nature as to extinguish, suffocate, and pervert all perception of love to the Lord and of charity toward the neighbor. Such is the faith at this day, which they say saves without the good of charity.
[8] The same also on being asked what faith they had (since they had not that which they had professed in the life of the body) said (for in the other life no one can conceal what he thinks) that they believed in God the Creator of the universe. But when they were examined in order to see whether it was so, it was found that they did not believe in any God, but thought that all things are of nature, and that all things that have been said about eternal life are empty and worthless. Such is the faith of all those within the Church who do not believe in the Lord, but say that they believe in God the Creator of the universe. For truth can flow in from no other source than the Lord; nor can truth be inseminated in anything except the good which is from the Lord.
sRef Matt@26 @26 S9′ sRef Matt@26 @28 S9′ aRef Mark@14 @22 S9′ [9] That it is the Lord’s Divine Human and Holy proceeding by means of which and from which come life and salvation, is very well known from the words of the Holy Supper: “This is My Body;” “this is My Blood;” which is the Lord’s Divine Human; and it is evident that all the Holy is from this. Whether you say His Divine Human, or His Body, or His Flesh, or the Bread, or the Divine Love, it is the same; for the Lord’s Divine Human is pure Love, and the Holy is of love alone, and from this is derived the Holy of faith.

sRef Gen@19 @4 S0′ 2344. Verse 4. Scarcely yet were they lain down when the men of the city, the men of Sodom, compassed the house about, from a boy even to an old man, all the people from the uttermost part. “Scarcely yet were they lain down,” signifies the first period of visitation; “the men of the city,” signifies those who are in falsities; “the men of Sodom,” signifies those who are in evils; “compassed the house about,” signifies that they were against the good of charity; “from a boy even to an old man,” signifies falsities and evils both recent and confirmed; “all the people from the uttermost part,” signifies all and each of them.

sRef Gen@19 @4 S0′ 2345. Scarcely yet were they lain down. That this signifies the first period of visitation, is evident from what was said above concerning “evening” and “night” (n. 2323, 2335), namely, that in the Word they signify visitation and Judgment. Here neither evening nor night is indeed mentioned, but it is said, “scarcely yet were they lain down,” whereby there is implied the time of evening advancing to night, or of commencing night, consequently the first period of visitation upon the evil; as is also evident from what follows, for here commences an inquisition concerning the evil within the church who are meant by “Sodom.”

sRef Gen@19 @4 S0′ 2346. The men of the city. That this signifies those who are in falsities; and “the men of Sodom,” those who are in evils, is evident from the signification of “city,” and of “Sodom.” That a “city” signifies truths, and also falsities or things contrary to truths, was shown before (n. 402); and that “Sodom” signifies evils of every kind (n. 2220, 2246). As there were both falsities and evils that were inquired into, or visited, it is said, “the men of the city, the men of Sodom.” If both were not meant, it would only have been said, “the men of Sodom.”

sRef Gen@19 @4 S0′ 2347. Compassed the house about. That this signifies that they were against the good of charity, is evident from the signification of “house,” as being celestial good, which is nothing else than the good of love and of charity (see n. 2048, 2233); and also from the signification of “compassing about,” which is to be against that good, that is, to assail and attack it with hostile intent.

sRef Gen@19 @4 S0′ sRef Zech@8 @5 S1′ sRef Zech@8 @4 S1′ 2348. From a boy even to an old man. That this signifies falsities and evils both recent and confirmed, can be seen from the signification of a “boy” and of an “old man,” when predicated of falsities and evils; namely, that “boys” denote those not yet matured, thus recent ones; and “old men,” those which have attained to considerable age, thus those confirmed. “Boy” and “old man” occur elsewhere in the Word in a similar sense, as in Zechariah:
There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem; and the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets (Zech. 8:4-5);
where “Jerusalem” denotes the Lord’s kingdom and church (n. 402, 2117); the “streets,” truths therein (n. 2336); thus “old men,” confirmed truths; and “old women,” confirmed goods; “boys playing in the streets,” recent truths; and “girls,” recent goods and their affections and the derivative gladnesses. It is evident from this how celestial and spiritual things are changed into things historic, in their descent into the worldly things of the sense of the letter, in which sense it scarcely appears otherwise than that old men, boys, women, and girls, are meant.
sRef Jer@51 @22 S2′ sRef Jer@6 @11 S2′ sRef Jer@51 @21 S2′ [2] In Jeremiah:
Pour out upon the child in the street of Jerusalem, and upon the assembly of young men in like manner; for even the man with the woman shall be taken, the old man with him that is full of days (Jer. 6:11);
here the “street of Jerusalem” denotes the falsities that reign in the church (n. 2336), of which the recent and the maturing are called the “child” and the “young men,” and the old and the confirmed are called the “old man” and “him that is full of days.”
Again:
I will scatter in thee the horse and his rider, and I will scatter in thee the chariot and him that is borne in it, and I will scatter in thee man and woman, and I will scatter in thee the old man and the boy (Jer. 51:21-22);
where in like manner the “old man” and the “boy” denote confirmed truth and recent truth.
sRef Jer@9 @21 S3′ [3] Again:
Death is come up into our windows, it is entered into our palaces, to cut off the child in the street, the young men from the roads (Jer. 9:21);
where the “child” denotes the truths which are first born, and which are cut off when death comes into the windows and palaces, that is, into the things of the intellect and of the will. (That “windows” denote things of the intellect, see above, n. 655, 658; and that “palaces,” or “houses,” denote things of the will, n. 710.)

sRef Gen@19 @4 S0′ 2349. All the people from the uttermost part. That this signifies all and each of them, is evident from what precedes (that by “boys” and “old men” are signified falsities and evils both recent and confirmed), so that here the “people from the uttermost part” signifies all and each of these. Moreover the term “people” in general signifies falsities (see n. 1259, 1260).
sRef John@3 @20 S2′ sRef John@3 @21 S2′ sRef John@3 @19 S2′ [2] Here then there is described the first state of those within the church who are against the good of charity, and consequently against the Lord, for the one involves the other, because no one can be conjoined with the Lord except through love and charity. Love is spiritual conjunction itself, as can be seen from the essence of love; and whoever cannot be conjoined with Him, also cannot acknowledge Him. That they who are not in good cannot acknowledge the Lord, that is, have faith in Him, is evident in John:
The light is come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the light, because their works were evil; for everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, lest his works should be reproved; but he that doeth the truth cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest, because they have been wrought in God (John 3:19-21);
from which it is evident that they who are against the good of charity are against the Lord; or what is the same, that they who are in evil hate the light, and do not come to the light. That the “light” is faith in the Lord, and is the Lord Himself, is evident in John (1:9-10; 12:35-36, 46).
sRef Matt@25 @42 S3′ sRef Matt@25 @41 S3′ sRef John@7 @7 S3′ sRef Matt@25 @45 S3′ sRef Matt@25 @43 S3′ [3] In like manner in the same elsewhere:
The world cannot hate you, but Me it hateth, because I testify of it that its works are evil (John 7:7).
More plainly still in Matthew:
He shall say unto them on the left hand, Depart from Me, ye cursed for I was hungry, and ye gave Me not to eat; I was thirsty, and ye gave Me not to drink; I was a stranger, and ye took Me not in; naked, and ye clothed Me not; sick, and in prison, and ye visited Me not. Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to Me (Matt. 25:41-43, 45).
sRef Matt@16 @27 S4′ [4] These words show in what manner those are against the Lord who are against the good of charity; and also that everyone is judged according to the good of charity, and not according to the truth of faith when this is separated from good. So also again in Matthew:
The Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and then shall He render to everyone according to his deeds (Matt. 16:27);
“deeds” denote the goods which proceed from charity; and the things which are of charity are also called the fruits of faith.

sRef Gen@19 @5 S0′ 2350. Verse 5. And they cried unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men that came unto thee this night? Bring them out unto us that we may know them. “They cried unto Lot, and said unto him,” signifies falsity from evil becoming angry against good; “where are the men that came unto thee?” signifies the denial of the Lord’s Divine Human and Holy proceeding; “this night,” signifies the last time, when these are no longer acknowledged; “bring them out unto us, that we may know them,” signifies that men then desire to show that it is false to acknowledge their existence.

sRef Gen@19 @5 S0′ 2351. They cried unto Lot and said unto him. That this signifies falsity from evil becoming angry against good, can be seen from the signification of “crying,” and also of “Lot,” and thereby from the feeling that is expressed. That the term “crying” is predicated of falsity, was shown above (n. 2240); and that “Lot” represents the men of the church who are in good, thus good itself (n. 2324). From this and from the feeling of anger expressed in these words, it is evident that they signify falsity from evil becoming angry against good. That there are many kinds of falsity, but in general two, namely, the falsity which is produced from evil, and that which produces evil, may be seen above (n. 1188, 1212, 1295, 1679, 2243).
[2] The falsity from evil, within the church, is especially that falsity which favors evils of life-such as that good, that is, charity, does not make a man of the church, but truth, that is, faith; and that a man is saved howsoever he may have lived in evils during the whole course of his life, provided that when corporeal things are lulled to sleep, as is usual a short time before death, he utters something of faith with apparent affection. This is the falsity which is especially angry against good, and is signified by their “crying to Lot.” The cause of anger is all that which endeavors to destroy the delight of any love. It is called “anger” when evil attacks good, but “zeal” when good reproves evil.

sRef Gen@19 @5 S0′ 2352. Where are the men that came unto thee? That this signifies a denial of the Lord’s Divine Human and Holy proceeding, is evident from the signification of the “two men” (explained above, n. 2320); also from the feeling latent in the words expressive of this anger; and likewise from what immediately follows, where it is said, “Bring them out unto us, that we may know them;” all of which show that denial is involved. (That they who are against the good of charity are against the Lord and deny Him in heart, although they profess Him with the mouth for the sake of the love of self and of the world, may be seen above, n. 2343, 2349.)

sRef Gen@19 @5 S0′ 2353. This night. That this signifies the last time, when these are no longer acknowledged, is evident from the signification of “night,” as being a time of darkness, when the things of light are no longer seen. The angels did not come in the night, but in the evening; but as it is the men of Sodom who spoke and cried out, that is, those who are in falsity and evil, it is not said in the “evening,” but in the “night.” For in the Word “night” signifies the time and state when there is no longer any light of truth, but merely falsity and evil.
sRef Micah@3 @5 S2′ sRef Micah@3 @6 S2′ [2] Thus the last time when comes the Judgment; with which signification it is often found, as in Micah:
Against the prophets that lead the people astray: It shall be night unto you that ye have no vision; and it shall be darkness to you, that ye shall not divine, and the sun shall go down upon the prophets, and the day shall be black over them (Micah 3:5-6).
“Prophets” here denote those who teach falsities; “night,” “darkness,” the “going down of the sun,” and the “blackening day,” denote falsities and evils.
sRef John@11 @10 S3′ sRef John@11 @9 S3′ [3] In John:
If anyone walk in the day, he stumbleth not; but if anyone walk in the night he stumbleth, because the light is not in him (John 11:9-10);
where “night” denotes falsity from evil; “light,” truth from good; for as all the light of truth is from good, so all the night of falsity is from evil.
sRef John@9 @4 S4′ [4] Again:
I must work the works of Him that sent Me while it is day; the night cometh when no one can work (John 9:4);
“day” denotes the time and state when there is what is good and true; but “night” when there is what is evil and false.
sRef Luke@17 @34 S5′ [5] In Luke:
I say unto you, in that night there shall be two upon one bed, the one shall be accepted, the other abandoned (Luke 17:34);
here “night” denotes the last time, when there is no longer any truth of faith.
sRef Ex@12 @29 S6′ sRef Ex@12 @30 S6′ sRef Ex@12 @12 S6′ sRef Ex@11 @4 S6′ sRef Ex@12 @42 S6′ [6] Inasmuch as when the sons of Israel went out from Egypt there was represented in that country the vastation of good and truth within the church, and that there then reigned therein nothing but what was evil and false, it was commanded that they should go out at midnight (Exod. 11:4); and it also came to pass that at midnight all the firstborn of Egypt were slain (Exod. 12:12, 29, 30). And inasmuch as they who are in what is good and true, who were represented by the sons of Israel, are guarded when among falsities and evils (as was Lot in Sodom), that night, in respect to them, is called “a night of the guardings of Jehovah” (verse 42).

sRef Gen@19 @5 S0′ 2354. Bring them out unto us, that we may know them. That this signifies that they desired to show that it is false to acknowledge that these exist (namely, the Lord’s Divine Human and Holy proceeding), is evident from the signification of the “two angels” (see n. 2320); as also from the angry feeling with which these things were said, and in which there is what is expressive of denial.
[2] There is here described the first state of a vastated church; that is, the state when there begins to be no faith because there is no charity; which state as before said is that because they are against the good of charity they are also in no faith, and especially in no acknowledgment of the Lord’s Divine Human and Holy proceeding. These are at heart denied by all who are in a life of evil, that is, by all who despise others in comparison with themselves, who hate those who do not pay them respect, who feel a delight in being revenged on them, who even feel delight in cruelty, and who regard adulteries as matters of no moment. The Pharisees of old, who openly denied the Lord’s Divinity, did better than is the case with such men at the present day, who for the sake of their own exaltation and sordid enrichment outwardly worship Him in a holy manner, but inwardly cherish that profane state. The successive development and doom of such as these is described in what follows by the men of Sodom, and finally by the overthrow of that city (verses 24-25).
[3] The case with man (as before stated several times) is that there are with him evil spirits, and at the same time angels. Through the evil spirits he communicates with hell, and through the angels with heaven (n. 687, 697). Insofar therefore as his life approximates to what is evil, so far hell flows in; but insofar as his life approximates to what is good, so far heaven flows in, and therefore the Lord. From this it is evident that they who are in a life of evil cannot acknowledge the Lord, but frame for themselves innumerable things against Him; because the phantasies of hell flow in and are received by them. But they who are in a life of good acknowledge the Lord, because heaven flows in, in which love and charity are the main thing; because heaven is the Lord’s, from whom come all things of love and charity (see n. 537, 540, 547, 548, 551, 553, 685, 2130).

sRef Gen@19 @6 S0′ sRef Gen@19 @7 S0′ 2355. Verses 6, 7. And Lot went out unto them to the door [janua], and shut the door [ostium] behind him. And he said, I pray you my brethren do not wickedly. “Lot went out unto them to the door,” signifies that he applied himself prudently; “and shut the door behind him,” signifies lest they should do violence to the good of charity, and also deny the Lord’s Divine Human and Holy proceeding; “and he said,” signifies exhortation; “I pray you my brethren do not wickedly,” signifies that they should not do violence to them. He calls them “brethren,” because it is from good that he exhorts them.

sRef Gen@19 @6 S0′ 2356. And Lot went out unto them to the door. That this signifies that he applied himself prudently, is evident from the interior sense of the expression “door,” and of “going out to the door.” In the Word a “door” signifies that which introduces or gives admission either to truth, to good, or to the Lord. Hence it is that a “door” signifies truth itself, good itself, and also the Lord Himself; for truth leads to good, and good to the Lord. Such things were represented by the door and veils of the Tent, and also of the Temple (see n. 2145, 2152, 2576).
sRef John@10 @7 S2′ sRef John@10 @2 S2′ sRef John@10 @9 S2′ sRef John@10 @3 S2′ sRef John@10 @1 S2′ [2] That this is the signification of a “door,” is evident from the Lord’s words in John:
He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber; but he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep; to him the porter openeth. I am the door of the sheep; by Me if anyone enter in, he shall be saved (John 10:1-3, 7, 9).
Here the “door” denotes truth and good, and therefore the Lord, who is truth itself and good itself. From this it is evident what is signified by being admitted into heaven through the door, and consequently what is signified by the keys with which the door is opened.
[3] But in the present case by the “door” is signified some good adapted to the character of those who beset the house; for the “door” [janua] is here distinguished from the “door” [ostium], and was at the front of the house (as is evident from the fact that Lot went out and closed the door behind him) and from what immediately follows it is evident that the good in question was a blessedness of life by which he would persuade those who were in falsity and evil; for such do not suffer themselves to be persuaded by the veriest good itself, but reject it. From all which it is evident that by “going out to the door” is here signified that he applied himself prudently.

sRef Gen@19 @6 S0′ 2357. And shut the door behind him. That this signifies lest they should do violence to the good of charity and should also deny the Lord’s Divine Human and Holy proceeding, is evident from what has been already said. In the present case to “shut the door” denotes lest they should enter into the good signified by the “house,” and therefore to the Lord’s Divine and Holy.
aRef Matt@6 @24 S2′ [2] These things involve still deeper arcana, into the sense and idea of which the angels come when these words are being read, namely, that they who are in a life of evil are admitted no further than to the knowledge of good and of the Lord, but not into the veriest acknowledgment and faith; for the reason that so long as they are in evil they cannot be at the same time in good. No one can at the same time serve two masters. When a man who once acknowledges and believes returns to a life of evil, he profanes what is good and holy; but he who does not acknowledge and believe, cannot profane. Care is therefore taken by the Lord’s Divine Providence lest a man be admitted further into the very acknowledgment and faith of the heart than he can afterwards be kept; and this on account of the punishment of profanation, which is the most grievous in hell.
[3] This is the reason why at the present day it is vouchsafed to so few, to believe from the heart that the good of love and charity are heaven in man, and that all the Divine is in the Lord; for at the present day men are in a life of evil. This then is what is more interiorly signified by Lot’s shutting the door behind him; for this door was an inner door, through which there was admission into the house itself where the angels were; that is, into the good in which is the Lord.

sRef Gen@19 @7 S0′ 2358. And he said. That this signifies exhortation, is evident from what now follows, thus without further explication.

sRef Gen@19 @7 S0′ 2359. I pray you my brethren do not wickedly. That this signifies that they should not do violence to them, namely, to the good of charity and the Lord’s Divine Human and Holy proceeding, is evident from the signification of “doing wickedly,” as being to do violence. From all this it is evident that those are treated of who are within the church, and that it is they who are meant by the “men of Sodom;” for no one can do violence to these holy things except one who is in possession of the Word. That these things are most holy can be seen from the fact that no one can be admitted into the Lord’s kingdom (that is, into heaven) unless he is in the good of love and of charity; and no one can be in the good of love and of charity, unless he acknowledges the Lord’s Divine and Holy; for this good flows in from Him alone, and indeed into the good itself which is from Him. The Divine cannot flow in except into the Divine, nor be communicated to man except through the Lord’s Divine Human and His Holy thence derived. From this we can understand how it is that the Lord is the all in all of His kingdom; and also that nothing of the good that is with man is man’s, but is the Lord’s.

sRef Gen@19 @7 S0′ 2360. That Lot calls them “brethren” because it is from good that he exhorts them, is evident from the signification of a “brother.” In the Word “brother” signifies the same as “neighbor,” for the reason that everyone ought to love his neighbor as himself; thus brethren were so called from love; or what is the same, from good. This manner of naming and addressing the neighbor comes from the fact that in heaven the Lord is the Father of all and loves all as His children; and thus that love is spiritual conjunction. From this the universal heaven resembles as it were one family derived from love and charity (n. 685, 917).
sRef Jer@9 @4 S2′ sRef Deut@15 @3 S2′ sRef Ps@122 @8 S2′ sRef Deut@15 @2 S2′ sRef Isa@41 @6 S2′ sRef Isa@19 @2 S2′ sRef Jer@23 @35 S2′ [2] Therefore as all the sons of Israel represented the Lord’s heavenly kingdom, that is, the kingdom of love and charity; among each other they were called “brethren,” and also “companions;” but the latter, that is, “companions,” not from the good of love, but from the truth of faith; as in Isaiah:
They help every man his companion, and he saith to his brother, Be of good courage (Isa. 41:6).
In Jeremiah:
Thus shall ye say every man to his companion, and every man to his brother, What hath Jehovah answered? and what hath Jehovah spoken? (Jer. 23:35).
In David:
For my brethren and companions’ sakes I will say, Peace be within thee (Ps. 122:8).
In Moses:
He shall not press upon his companion or his brother, because the release of Jehovah hath been proclaimed (Deut. 15:2, 3).
In Isaiah:
I will confound Egypt with Egypt, and they shall fight every man against his brother, and every man against his companion (Isa. 19:2).
In Jeremiah:
Beware every man of his companion, and trust ye not in any brother; for every brother will utterly supplant, and every companion will slander (Jer. 9:4).
sRef Isa@66 @20 S3′ [3] That all who were of that church were called by the one name “brethren,” see in Isaiah:
They shall bring all your brethren out of all the nations for an offering unto Jehovah, upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon dromedaries, to the mountain of My holiness, Jerusalem (Isa. 66:20).
They who know nothing beyond the sense of the letter, as was the case with the Jews, believe that no others are signified than the posterity of Jacob; thus that they will be brought back to Jerusalem upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, by those whom they call the Gentiles. But by the “brethren” are meant all who are in good; and by the “horses,” ” chariots,” and “litters,” the things which are of truth and good; and by “Jerusalem” the Lord’s kingdom.
sRef Deut@18 @15 S4′ sRef Deut@15 @7 S4′ sRef Deut@17 @20 S4′ sRef Deut@17 @15 S4′ sRef Deut@15 @11 S4′ sRef Deut@18 @18 S4′ [4] In Moses:
When there shall be among thee a needy one of one of thy brethren, in one of thy gates, thou shalt not harden thy heart, and shalt not shut thy hand from thy needy brother (Deut. 15:7, 11).
Again:
From among thy brethren thou shalt set a King over thee; thou mayest not put over thee a foreigner, who is not thy brother, and his heart shall not be lifted up above his brethren (Deut. 17:15, 20).
Again:
A prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me, Jehovah thy God will raise up unto thee; him shall ye obey (Deut. 18:15, 18).
sRef Matt@23 @8 S5′ [5] From all this it is evident that the Jews and Israelites all called one another brethren; but those united by covenant they called companions. Yet as they understood nothing beyond the historical and worldly things of the Word, they believed that they called one another brethren because they were all sons of one father, or of Abraham; yet they were not called “brethren” in the Word from this circumstance, but from the good which they represented. “Abraham” also, in the internal sense, denotes nothing else than love itself, that is, the Lord (n. 1893, 1965, 1989, 2011), whose sons, consequently those who are “brethren,” are those who are in good, in fact all those who are called the neighbor; as the Lord teaches in Matthew:
One is your Master, Christ; all ye are brethren (Matt. 23:8).
sRef Matt@5 @23 S6′ sRef Matt@18 @15 S6′ sRef Matt@7 @4 S6′ sRef Matt@5 @22 S6′ sRef Matt@18 @35 S6′ sRef Matt@18 @21 S6′ sRef Matt@7 @3 S6′ sRef Matt@5 @24 S6′ sRef Matt@7 @2 S6′ [6] Again:
Whosoever is angry with his brother without cause shall be in danger of the judgment; whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council. If thou offer a gift upon the altar, and there remember that thy brother hath aught against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way, first be reconciled to thy brother (Matt. 5:22-24).
Again:
Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye? How wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me cast out the mote out of thine eye (Matt. 7:2-4)?
Again:
If thy brother sin against thee, go and show him his fault between thee and him alone; if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother (Matt. 18:15).
Again:
Peter coming to Him said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? (Matt. 18:21).
Again:
So also will My heavenly Father do unto you, if ye from the heart forgive not everyone his brother their trespasses (Matt. 18:35).
sRef John@20 @17 S7′ [7] It is clear from these teachings that all in the universe who are the neighbor are called “brethren,” and this because everyone ought to love his neighbor as himself, thus they are so called from love or good. And as the Lord is good itself, and regards all from good, and is Himself the Neighbor in the highest sense, He also calls them “brethren,” as in John:
Jesus said to Mary, Go to My brethren (John 20:17).
And in Matthew:
The King answering shall say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto me (Matt. 25:40).
Thus it is evident that “brother” is a term of love.

sRef Gen@19 @8 S0′ 2361. Verse 8. Behold I pray I have two daughters who have not known man; let me I pray bring them out unto you, and ye may do unto them as is good in your eyes; only unto these men do not anything; for therefore are they come under the shadow of my roof. “Behold I pray I have two daughters who have not known man,” signifies the affections of good and of truth; “let me I pray bring them out unto you,” signifies blessedness therefrom; “and ye may do unto them as is good in your eyes,” signifies enjoyment insofar as they perceived it to be from good; “only unto these men do not anything;” signifies that they should not do violence to the Lord’s Divine Human and Holy proceeding; “for therefore are they come under the shadow of my roof,” signifies that they are in the good of charity; the “shadow of the roof,” denoting in his obscure general [perception] of it.

sRef Gen@19 @8 S0′ 2362. Behold I pray I have two daughters who have not known man. That this signifies the affections of good and of truth, is evident from the signification of “daughters,” as being affections (see n. 489-491). Their “not having known man” signifies that falsity had not contaminated them; for “man” [vir] signifies rational truth, as also in the opposite sense falsity (n. 265, 749, 1007). There are two affections, namely, of good and of truth (see n. 1997). The former, or the affection of good, constitutes the celestial church, and is called in the Word the “daughter of Zion,” and also the “virgin daughter of Zion;” but the latter, or the affection of truth, constitutes the spiritual church, and is called in the Word the “daughter of Jerusalem.”
sRef Isa@37 @22 S2′ sRef Zech@9 @9 S2′ sRef Zeph@3 @14 S2′ sRef Lam@2 @13 S2′ sRef John@12 @15 S2′ sRef Micah@4 @8 S2′ sRef Matt@21 @5 S2′ [2] As in Isaiah:
The virgin daughter of Zion hath despised thee, hath mocked at thee; after thee hath the daughter of Jerusalem shaken her head (Isa. 37:22; 2 Kings 19:21).
In Jeremiah:
What shall I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem; what shall I equal to thee, and comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion (Lam. 2:13).
In Micah:
Thou, O tower of the flock, the hill of the daughter of Zion, even to thee shall it come, and the former dominion shall come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem (Micah 4:8).
In Zephaniah:
Shout, O daughter of Zion; make a loud noise, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem (Zeph. 3:14).
In Zechariah:
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; make a loud noise, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold, thy King shall come unto thee (Zech. 9:9; Matt. 21:5; John 12:15).
[3] That the celestial church, or the Lord’s celestial kingdom, is called the “daughter of Zion” from the affection of good, that is, from love to the Lord Himself, may be seen further in Isaiah (10:32; 16:1; 52:2; 62:11; Jer. 4:31; 6:2, 23; Lam. 1:6; 2:1, 4, 8, 10; Micah 4:10, 13; Zech. 2:10; Ps. 9:14). And that the spiritual church, or the Lord’s spiritual kingdom, is called the “daughter of Jerusalem” from the affection of truth, and thus from charity toward the neighbor, may be seen in Jeremiah (Lam. 2:15). Both of these churches and their characteristics have been treated of many times in volume 1.
sRef Rev@14 @4 S4′ sRef Rev@14 @5 S4′ [4] From the fact that the celestial church is from love to the Lord in love toward the neighbor, it is likened especially to an unmarried daughter or virgin, and indeed is also called a “virgin,” as in John:
These are they who have not been defiled with women, for they are virgins; these are they that follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth, for they are without spot before the throne of God (Rev. 14:4-5).
That this might be represented in the Jewish Church also, it was enjoined upon the priests that they should not take widows, but virgins, for wives (Lev. 21:13-15; Ezek. 44:22).
[5] From the things contained in this verse it can be seen how pure is the Word in the internal sense, although it may not so appear in the letter; for when these words are read: “Behold I pray I have two daughters who have not known man; let me I pray bring them out unto you, and ye may do unto them as is good in your eyes, only unto these men do not anything,” nothing but what is impure enters the ideas, especially the ideas of those who are in a life of evil. And yet how chaste these words are in the internal sense, is manifest from the explication, by which it is shown that they signify the affections of good and of truth, and the blessedness which they who do no violence to the Lord’s Divine and Holy perceive from the enjoyment of them.

sRef Gen@19 @8 S0′ 2363. Let me I pray bring them out unto you. That this signifies blessedness therefrom, that is, from the affections of good and of truth, is evident from the sense of these words when they are predicated of the affections which are here meant by the “daughters.” As regards the thing itself, namely, that there is blessedness and happiness solely in the affection of good and of truth, it is a matter profoundly unknown to all who are in evil and its delight. To them the blessedness in the affection of good and of truth appears either as something that is nonexistent, or as something that is sad; while to some it appears as what is painful, and even deadly. This is the case with the genii and the spirits of hell, who think and believe that if the delight of the love of self and of the world, consequently of the evils therein originating, were taken away from them, nothing of life could remain to them; and when they are shown that true life with its blessedness and happiness then begins, they feel a kind of sadness from the loss of their own delight; and when they are brought among those who are in such a life, pain and torture seize upon them; and besides this, they then begin to feel in themselves something that is cadaverous and direfully infernal; so that they call heaven (which is the abode of this blessedness and happiness) their hell, and flee away, in order so far as possible to remove and hide themselves from the Lord’s face.
[2] That nevertheless all blessedness and happiness consist in the affection of the good which is of love and charity, and also of the truth which is of faith insofar as the latter leads to the former, can be seen from the fact that heaven (that is, angelic life) consists in this blessedness, and that it affects from the inmosts those who receive it, because it flows in through the inmosts from the Lord (see n. 540, 541, 545). Then also do wisdom and intelligence enter into and fill the inmost recesses of the mind, and kindle the good with heavenly flame, and the truth with heavenly light; and this with a perception of blessedness and happiness of which no description can be given except that they are unutterable. They who are in this state perceive how dead, how sad, and how lamentable is the life of those who are in the evils of the love of self and of the world.
[3] In order to obtain a clear idea of the nature of this life of the love of self and of the world (or what is the same, of a life of pride, avarice, envy, hatred, revenge, unmercifulness, adultery), let any person of talent make for himself an impersonation of some one of these evils; or if he can, let him paint it before his eyes in accordance with the ideas he is able to conceive of it from experience, knowledge, and reason; and he will then see, in proportion to the energy of his description or picture, how horrible these evils are, and that they are diabolical forms, in which there is nothing human. Forms such as these do all those become after death who perceive the delight of their life in such evils, and the greater is their delight in them, the more horrible are their own forms.
[4] On the other hand, let the same person delineate for himself an impersonation of love and charity, or let him express it before his eyes under some form; and then in proportion to his power of description or portrayal he will see that the form is angelic, full of bliss and beauty, and pervaded within with what is heavenly and Divine. Can anyone believe that these two forms can abide together? or that the diabolical form can be put off and be transmuted into the form of charity? and this by a faith to which the life is contrary? For after death everyone’s life remains; or what is the same, his affection; and in accordance with this is then all his thought, and consequently his faith, which thus manifests itself as it had been at heart.

sRef Gen@19 @8 S0′ 2364. And ye may do unto them as is good in your eyes. That this signifies enjoyment insofar as [they perceived it to be] from good, can be seen even from the sense of the words, as well as from the series, when these words are predicated of the affections signified by the “daughters.” That Lot applied himself prudently, is signified by his “going out unto them to the door” (n. 2356). This prudence is evident from the words just quoted, together with what else is contained in this verse, namely, that they should enjoy the blessedness of the affections of good and of truth, insofar as this was from good; which is signified by their “doing unto them as was good in their eyes.” To enjoy insofar as this was from good, here means insofar as they knew it to be good, beyond which no one is required to go; for all are bent by the Lord to the good of life through the good of their faith, thus Gentiles otherwise than Christians, the simple otherwise than the learned, little children otherwise than adults. They who have imbued their life with evil are bent by abstaining from evil and intending good, and by doing this according to their apprehension. It is their intention or end that is regarded; and although their acts may not be good in themselves, they nevertheless derive from the end something of good, and of the derivative life, which makes their blessedness.

sRef Gen@19 @8 S0′ 2365. Only unto these men do not anything. That this signifies that they should not do violence to the Lord’s Divine Human and Holy proceeding, is evident from the signification of the “men” and the “angels,” as above.

sRef Gen@19 @8 S0′ 2366. For therefore are they come under the shadow of my roof. That this signifies that they are in the good of charity, is evident from the signification of a “house,” as being good (n. 710, 2233-2234), which is here called the “shadow of the roof” for a reason to be presently explained.

sRef Gen@19 @8 S0′ 2367. As to the “shadow of the roof” denoting in an obscure general [perception], the case is this: with man, even when regenerate, the perception of good and truth is very obscure, and this is still more the case with a man who is in external worship, such as is here represented by “Lot.” While a man is in corporeal things (that is, while he is living in the body), the affections, like the perceptions, are of a very general nature, and consequently are very obscure, no matter how much the man may suppose that such is not the case. There are myriads of myriads of particulars in every little affection, and even in every idea of his perception, that appear to him as all one, as of the Lord’s Divine mercy will be shown hereafter, when affections and ideas are treated of. Sometimes it is possible for a man by reflection to explore and describe a few of the things that are in him, but there lie hidden innumerable other things, things without limit or measure, that never come to his knowledge, nor can come so long as he is living in the body, but which become manifest after corporeal and worldly things have been abolished-as may be sufficiently evident from the fact that when a man who has been in the good of love and of charity passes into the other life, he passes from an obscure life into a clearer one, as from a kind of night into day; and in proportion as he passes into the Lord’s heaven, in the same proportion does he pass into a light that is more and more clear, until he arrives at the light in which are the angels, a light of intelligence and wisdom that is unutterable. In comparison with this the light in which is man, is darkness. Hence it is here said that they “came under the shadow of his roof;” by which is signified that those signified by “Lot” are in their obscure general [perception]; that is, that they know but little concerning the Lord’s Divine and Holy; but that nevertheless they acknowledge and have faith in the existence of these, and that these are in the good of charity, that is, present with those who are in this good.

sRef Gen@19 @9 S0′ 2368. Verse 9. And they said, Come on. And they said is one come to sojourn, and shall he judge indeed? Now will we do worse to thee than to them. And they pressed upon the man, upon Lot, exceedingly; and drew near to break open the door. “And they said,” signifies a reply from anger; “Come on,” signifies the threats of their anger. And they said, “Is one come to sojourn,” signifies those who are of another doctrine and another life; “and shall he judge indeed?” signifies shall they teach us? “Now will we do worse to thee than to them,” signifies that they would reject the good of charity more than the Lord’s Divine Human and Holy proceeding; “and they pressed upon the man,” signifies that they desired to offer violence to truth; “upon Lot exceedingly,” signifies most especially to the good of charity; “and drew near to break open the door,” signifies that they came even to the endeavor to destroy both.

sRef Gen@19 @9 S0′ 2369. And they said. That this signifies a reply from anger, is evident from what precedes and what follows, and thus without explication.

sRef Gen@19 @9 S0′ 2370. Come on. That this signifies threats of anger, namely, against the good of charity, is evident from the signification of “Lot,” as being the good of charity, to which and concerning which these things are said; and that these are threats of anger, is evident from the words themselves, and also from what follows, as involving that they would altogether reject it if he should say anything more about it, and should persuade; which is meant by “Come on.”

sRef Luke@6 @27 S0′ sRef Luke@6 @31 S0′ sRef Luke@6 @32 S0′ sRef Luke@6 @29 S0′ sRef Luke@6 @30 S0′ sRef Luke@6 @28 S0′ sRef Luke@6 @35 S0′ sRef Luke@6 @34 S0′ sRef Luke@6 @36 S0′ sRef Gen@19 @9 S0′ sRef Luke@6 @33 S0′ 2371. And they said, Is one come to sojourn, and shall he judge indeed? That this signifies those who are in another doctrine and another life, is evident from the signification of “sojourning,” which is to be instructed and to live, thus doctrine and life (see n. 1463, 2025). The state of the church is here described such as it is near the last times, when there is no longer any faith, because there is no charity, namely, that the good of charity, because it has altogether receded from the life, is also rejected from the doctrine.
[2] The subject here treated of is not those who falsify the good of charity by explaining all things in their own favor, both for their own sake, that they may be the greatest, and for the sake of the good things of this world, that they may possess them all; and who arrogate to themselves the dispensation of rewards, and thereby defile the good of charity by various arts and delusive means; but the subject treated of is those who desire to hear nothing of the goods of charity, or of good works, but only of faith separate from them; and this from reasoning that there is nothing but evil in man, and that the good which is from him is also in itself evil, in which therefore there is thus nothing of salvation; and that no one can merit heaven by any good, nor be saved by it, but only by the faith with which they acknowledge the Lord’s merit. This is the doctrine that flourishes in the last times, when the church is beginning to expire, and it is ardently taught and favorably received.
sRef Matt@5 @47 S3′ sRef Matt@5 @43 S3′ sRef Matt@5 @45 S3′ sRef Matt@5 @46 S3′ sRef Matt@5 @48 S3′ sRef Matt@5 @44 S3′ [3] But it is false to infer from these considerations that a man can have an evil life and a good faith; or that because there is nothing but evil in man, he cannot receive good from the Lord that has heaven in it because it has Him in it, and that having heaven in it has also bliss and happiness in it. And it is certainly very false to infer that because no one can merit heaven by any good, therefore it is impossible to receive from the Lord heavenly good in which self-merit is regarded as monstrous wickedness. In such good are all the angels, in such are all the regenerate, and in such are they who perceive delight, and even bliss, in good itself, that is, in the affection of it. Concerning this good, that is, concerning this charity, the Lord speaks thus in Matthew:
Ye have heard that it has been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy; but I say unto you, Do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that injure you and persecute you, that ye may be sons of your Father who is in the heavens; for if ye love them that love you, what reward have ye? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more [than others]? do not even the publicans so? (Matt. 5:43-48).
In like manner in Luke, with this addition:
Do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; then shall your reward be great, and ye shall be sons of the Highest (Luke 6:27-36).
sRef Luke@14 @13 S4′ sRef Luke@14 @14 S4′ sRef Luke@14 @12 S4′ [4] Here the good which is from the Lord is described, and that it is free from all purpose of receiving recompense; on which account they who are in it are called “sons of the Father who is in the heavens,” and “sons of the Highest;” and because the Lord is in it, there is also a reward, as we read in Luke:
When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, nor thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbors; lest haply they call thee in turn, and a recompense be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, [the lame,] and the blind; then shalt thou be blessed, for they have not wherewith to recompense thee; but thou shalt be recompensed in the resurrection of the just* (Luke 14:12-14).
A “dinner,” “supper,” or “feast,” denotes the good of charity, in which there is the Lord’s dwelling-place with man (n. 2341) so that it is here described, and made clearly manifest, that the recompense is in the good itself, because in this is the Lord; for it is said, “thou shalt be recompensed in the resurrection of the just.”
[5] Those who strive to do good of themselves, because the Lord has so commanded, are they who at length receive this good; and who, being afterwards instructed, acknowledge with faith that all good is from the Lord (n. 1712, 1937, 1947); and they are then so averse to self-merit that when they merely think of it they grow sad, and perceive their blessedness and happiness to be proportionately diminished.
sRef Matt@7 @23 S6′ sRef Matt@7 @22 S6′ aRef John@5 @42 S6′ [6] Quite different is it with those who do not do this, but lead a life of evil, teaching and professing that in faith alone there is salvation. People of this character are not aware that such a good is possible; and wonderful to say (as has been given me to know from much experience) in the other life these same people desire to merit heaven on account of whatever good deeds they recollect; because then for the first time are they aware that in faith separated from charity there is no salvation. These are the people of whom the Lord says in Matthew:
They will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied by Thy name, and by Thy name cast out demons, and in Thy name done many mighty works? But then will I confess unto them, I know you not; depart from Me, ye that work iniquity (Matt. 7:22-23).
In the case of these same people it also becomes apparent that they have paid no attention whatever to the things which the Lord Himself so often taught concerning the good of love and of charity; but that these things have been to them like passing clouds, or like things seen in the night: for example such things as are found in Matthew 3:8-9; 5:7-48; 6:1-20; 7:16-20, 24-27; 9:13; 12:33; 13:8, 23; 18:21-23 and to the end; 19:19; 22:34-39; 24:12-13; 25:34 to the end; Mark 4:18-20; 11:13-14, 20; 12:28-35; Luke 3:8-9; 6:27-39, 43 to the end; 7:47; 8:8, 14-15; 10:25-28; 12:58-59; 13:6-10; John 3:19, 21; 5:42; 13:34-35; 14:14-15, 20-21, 23; 15:1-8, 9-19; 21:15-17. Such, then, and other such things as these, are what are signified by the men of Sodom (that is, those who are in evil, n. 2220, 2246, 2322) saying to Lot, “Is one come to sojourn, and shall he judge indeed?” that is, Shall they who are in another doctrine and another life teach us?
* Mortuorum, but elsewhere justorum, as in n. 6393. [Rotch ed.]

sRef Gen@19 @9 S0′ 2372. And shall he judge indeed? That this signifies, Shall they teach us? is evident from the signification of “judging,” as being to teach. That “righteousness” is predicated of the practice of good, but “judgment” of the instruction of truth, was shown above (n. 2235); hence in the internal sense to “judge” is to instruct or teach. To teach truth is the same as to teach what is good, because all truth looks to good.

sRef Gen@19 @9 S0′ 2373. Now will we do worse to thee than to them. That this signifies that they would reject the good of charity more than the Lord’s Divine Human and Holy proceeding, is evident from the signification of “Lot,” as being the good of charity; for Lot represents those who are in the good of charity (n. 2324, 2351, 2371); and from the signification of the “men,” or “angels,” as being the Lord as to the Divine Human and Holy proceeding (see above). Hence it is evident that to “do worse to thee than to them” has this meaning. The reason why they who are in evil within the church reject charity more than they deny the Lord, is that in this way they can favor their concupiscences by a kind of religion, and have external worship with no internal (that is, worship of the lips and not of the heart), and the more they make this worship to be Divine and holy, so much the greater are their dignities and wealth, besides many other causes that are hidden and yet are manifest. Nevertheless the truth really is that he who rejects the one (that is, does so in doctrine and at the same time in life) rejects also the other (for even if he dare not do this openly he does it in his heart); and this is here expressed in the sense of the letter by its being said that the men of Sodom drew near to break open the door, by which is signified that they came even to the endeavor to destroy both. But that which prevents this endeavor from bursting forth into act is by no means hidden.

sRef Gen@19 @9 S0′ 2374. They pressed upon the man. That this signifies that they desired to offer violence to truth, is evident from the signification of a man [vir], as being the intellectual and rational in man, and consequently truth (see n. 158, 1007). To offer violence to truth is to pervert the things of faith; and these are perverted when they are separated from charity, and when it is denied that they lead to the good of life.

sRef Gen@19 @9 S0′ 2375. Upon Lot exceedingly. That this signifies that they desired to offer violence especially to the good of charity, is evident from the signification of “Lot,” as being the good of charity (see above, n. 2324, 2351, 2371, 2373). From the very words-that they “pressed upon the man, upon Lot exceedingly”-it is evident that one thing is signified by the “man,” and another by “Lot exceedingly;” otherwise one expression would have sufficed.

sRef Gen@19 @9 S0′ 2376. And drew near to break open the door. That this signifies that they came even to the endeavor to destroy both, is evident from the signification of “drawing near,” as being to endeavor, and from the signification of a “door,” as being that which introduces to good and to the Lord, and also as being good itself and the Lord Himself (n. 2356, 2357). (How this is may be seen above, n. 2373.)

sRef Gen@19 @10 S0′ 2377. Verse 10. And the men put forth their hand, and brought Lot into the house to them, and shut the door. “The men put forth their hand,” signifies the Lord’s powerful aid; “and brought Lot into the house to them,” signifies that the Lord protects those who are in the good of charity; “and shut the door,” signifies that He also closes all access to them.

sRef Gen@19 @10 S0′ 2378. The men put forth their hand. That this signifies the Lord’s powerful aid, is evident from the signification of the “men,” as being the Lord (as shown above), and from the signification of the “hand,” as being power (see n. 878).

sRef Gen@19 @10 S0′ 2379. And brought Lot into the house to them. That this signifies that the Lord protects those who are in the good of charity, is evident from the representation of Lot as being those who are in the good of charity (spoken of above); and from the signification of “bringing into the house to them,” as being to protect. To be “brought into the house” denotes to be brought into good; and they who are brought into good are brought into heaven; and they who are brought into heaven are brought to the Lord; hence they are protected from all infestation as to their souls. That the man who is in good is as to his soul in society with angels, and while living in the body is nevertheless in heaven (although at the time he is not aware of this, and is not able to perceive angelic joy in consequence of being in corporeal things and in a state of preparation), may be seen above (n. 1277).

sRef Gen@19 @10 S0′ 2380. And shut the door. That this signifies that He also closes all access to them, is evident from the signification of a “door,” as being that which introduces (n. 2356, 2357, 2376), thus access. Hence it is that to “shut the door” denotes to preclude access. In the other life access is precluded by the good being separated from the evil, so that they cannot be infested by the spheres of the persuasions of falsity and of the cupidities of evil; for the exhalation from hell cannot penetrate to heaven. In the life of the body access is precluded by the principles and persuasions of falsity being rendered powerless against those who are in good; for whenever any falsity of evil or evil of falsity is infused into them, whether in speech by an evil man, or in thought by an evil spirit or devil, the angels who are with them at once turn it aside, and bend it to something true and good in which the persons in question have been confirmed; and this however severely they may be suffering bodily trouble, for the angels esteem the body as nothing in comparison with the soul.
[2] While a man remains in corporeal things, he is in such a general and obscure idea and perception (see n. 2367) that he scarcely knows whether he is in the good of charity or not; and this for the additional reason that he does not know what charity is, and what the neighbor is. But be it known who the persons in question are. All those are in the good of charity who have conscience (that is, who are unwilling to depart in any degree from what is just and fair, and good and true, and this for the very sake of what is just and fair, and good and true, for this principle is from conscience), and who from having conscience think well of the neighbor and desire his welfare, even should he be an enemy; and this without any recompense. These are they who are in the good of charity, whether they be without the church or within the church. If within the church, they adore the Lord, and willingly hear and do the things that He has taught.
[3] On the other hand, they who are in evil have no conscience; for that which is just and fair they care not, except insofar as thereby they can gain the reputation of seeming to care for it. What the good and truth are that affect the spiritual life they know not, and even reject this as being no life at all. Further than this: they think evilly about the neighbor and desire his injury, and also inflict injury upon him if he does not favor them, even if a friend; and in doing this they feel delight. Should they do anything good, it is with a view to recompense. Such within the church deny the Lord in secret; and insofar as honor, gain, reputation, or life are not endangered they do so openly.
[4] Be it known however that some persons think they are not in good when they are, and some that they are in good when they are not. The reason why some think they are not in good when they are, is that when they reflect upon the good in themselves, it is at once insinuated by the angels in whose society they are, that they are not in good, lest they should attribute the good to themselves, and lest their thought should be turned to their own merit, and thereby to the setting up of themselves above others. Without this guardianship they would fall into temptations.
[5] As regards some supposing themselves to be in good when they are not, the cause of this is that when they reflect upon it, it is immediately insinuated by the evil genii and spirits in whose companionship they are, that they are in good (for the evil believe delight to be good), and it is suggested that whatever good they have done to others for the sake of the love of self and of the world is good that is to be recompensed even in the other life; thus that they have merit above others, whom they despise in comparison with themselves, and indeed esteem them as of no account. And, wonderful to say, if they were to think differently they would fall into temptations, in which they would yield.

sRef Gen@19 @11 S0′ 2381. Verse 11. And the men who were at the door of the house they smote with blindness, from small even to great; and they labored to find the door. “The men who were at the door of the house,” signifies things rational and the derivative doctrinals, by which violence is offered to the good of charity; “they smote with blindness,” signifies that they were filled with falsities; “from small even to great,” signifies in particular and in general; “and they labored to find the door,” signifies so that they could not see any truth that would lead to good.

sRef Gen@19 @11 S0′ 2382. And the men who were at the door of the house. That this signifies things rational and the derivative doctrinals, by which violence is offered to the good of charity, is evident from the signification of “men,” as being things rational (see n. 158, 1007); from the signification of a “door,” as being introduction or access, leading either to truth or to good, and thus what is doctrinal (see above, n. 2356); and from the signification of a “house,” as being the good of charity (see above in various places). Here, because those are treated of who drew near to break open the door (that is, who attempted to destroy both the good of charity and the Divine and the Holy of the Lord, n. 2376), evil rational things are meant, and the derivative false doctrinals by which violence is inflicted on the good of charity.

sRef Gen@19 @11 S0′ sRef Lam@4 @14 S0′ sRef Isa@56 @10 S1′ sRef Isa@59 @9 S1′ sRef Isa@59 @10 S1′ 2383. They smote with blindness. That this signifies that they were filled with falsities, is evident from the signification of “blindness.” In the Word “blindness” is predicated of those who are in falsity, and also of those who are in ignorance of truth. Both are called the “blind;” but which are meant in any special instance can be seen from the series or connection, especially in the internal sense. That they who are in falsity are called the “blind,” is evident from the following passages. In Isaiah:
His watchmen are blind, they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark (Isa. 56:10).
“Blind watchmen,” denotes those who from reasoning are in falsity. Again:
We look for light, and behold darkness; for brightness, but we walk in thick darkness; we grope for the wall like the blind (Isa. 59:9-10).
In Jeremiah:
They have wandered as the blind in the streets; they have polluted themselves with blood; what they cannot pollute, they touch with their garments (Lam. 4:14);
meaning that all truths have been polluted; the “streets” denoting the truths wherein they have gone astray (n. 2336).
sRef Zech@12 @4 S2′ [2] In Zechariah:
In that day I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness; every horse of the peoples will I smite with blindness (Zech. 12:4).
Here and elsewhere in the Word a “horse” denotes the understanding; hence it is said that the “horse should be smitten with astonishment,” and that the “horse of the peoples should be smitten with blindness,” that is, should be filled with falsities.
sRef John@9 @41 S3′ sRef John@9 @40 S3′ sRef John@9 @39 S3′ [3] In John:
For judgment am I come into the world, that they that see not may see, and that they that see may become blind. They of the Pharisees heard these things, and said, Are we also blind? Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye would not have sin; but now ye say, We see, therefore your sin remaineth (John 9:39-41).
Here the “blind” in both senses are spoken of, namely, those who are in falsity, and those who are in ignorance of truth. With those who are within the church and know what the truth is, “blindness” is falsity; but with those who do not know what the truth is (as is the case with those who are outside the church), “blindness” is ignorance of the truth, and these are blameless.
sRef John@12 @40 S4′ [4] Again:
He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart, that they may not see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and I should heal them (John 12:40; Isa. 6:9-11);
meaning that it would be better for them to be in falsities than to be in truths, because they are in a life of evil, and if they were instructed in truths, they would not only still falsify them, but would also defile them with evils; for the like reason that the men of Sodom were smitten with blindness, that is, the doctrinal things were filled with falsities. (Why this was done was shown above, n. 301-303, 593, 1008, 1010, 1059, 1327, 1328, 2426.)
[5] As what is blind signified what is false, therefore in the representative Jewish Church it was forbidden to sacrifice anything that was blind (Lev. 22:22; Deut. 15:21; Mal. 1:8). It was also forbidden that any one of the priests who was blind should draw near to offer upon the altar (Lev. 21:18, 21).
sRef Isa@43 @8 S6′ sRef Isa@42 @16 S6′ sRef Isa@29 @18 S6′ [6] That “blindness” is predicated of ignorance of truth, such as prevails with the Gentiles, is evident in Isaiah:
In that day shall the deaf hear the words of the Book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of thick darkness and out of darkness (Isa. 29:18).
Here the “blind” denotes those who are in ignorance of truth, being chiefly those outside the church. Again:
Bring forth the blind people and they shall have eyes;* and the deaf and they shall have ears (Isa. 43:8);
where the church of the Gentiles is spoken of. Again:
I will lead the blind in a way that they have not known; I will make darkness light before them (Isa. 42:16).
sRef Luke@14 @21 S7′ sRef Isa@42 @7 S7′ sRef Isa@42 @6 S7′ [7] And again:
I will give Thee for a light of the people, to open the blind eyes, to bring out the bound from the dungeon, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house (Isa. 42:6-7);
where the Lord’s advent is treated of, in that they who are in ignorance of truth should then be instructed; for those who are in falsity do not suffer themselves to be so instructed, because they are acquainted with the truth and have confirmed themselves against it, and have turned the light into darkness, which cannot be dispelled. In Luke:
The master of the house said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the lame, and the blind (Luke 14:21);
where the Lord’s kingdom is treated of, and it is evident that the poor, maimed, lame, and blind are not meant, but those who are such in the spiritual sense.
sRef Luke@7 @22 S8′ [8] Again:
Jesus said that they should tell John that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and to the poor the gospel is preached (Luke 7:22).
According to the sense of the letter, by the “blind,” the “lame,” the “lepers,” the “deaf,” the “dead,” the “poor,” only these are meant; because it was actually the case that the blind received sight, the deaf hearing, the lepers health, the dead life.
sRef Isa@35 @6 S9′ sRef Isa@35 @5 S9′ [9] But yet in the internal sense the same are meant as in Isaiah:
Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped, and the lame shall leap as the hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing (Isa. 35:5-6);
where the Lord’s advent is treated of, and the new church at that time, which is called that of the Gentiles; of whom it is declared that they were “blind,” “deaf,” “lame,” and “dumb;” being so called in respect to doctrine and to life. For be it known that all the miracles performed by the Lord always involved, and thence signified, such things as are meant in the internal sense by the healing of the blind, of the lame, of the lepers, the deaf, the dead, and the poor. For this reason the Lord’s miracles were Divine, as also were those performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, as well as all the other miracles that are treated of in the Word. This is an arcanum.
* Et oculi erunt; but cui oculi sunt in n. 6989. [Rotch ed.]

sRef Gen@19 @11 S0′ 2384. From small even to great. That this signifies in particular and in general, is evident from the signification in the internal sense of these words when predicated of rational things and the doctrinal things thence derived, which are signified by the men who were at the door of the house; for particulars and generals are related to each other as are the small and the great, particulars being as small things, and the generals of particulars as great ones. (What particulars are relatively to generals, and how they stand related to each other, may be seen above, n. 920, 1040, 1316.)

sRef Gen@19 @11 S0′ 2385. And they labored to find the door. That this signifies so that they could not see any truth that would lead to good, is evident from the signification of a “door,” as being introduction and access, and as being truth itself, because this introduces to good (see above, n. 2356). But here by the “door” are signified the knowledges that introduce to truth; for the “door” (as said above, n. 2356) was at the front of the house, for it is said that Lot “went out to the door, and shut the door behind him” (verse 6): hence to “labor to find the door,” denotes not to see any truth that would lead to good.
[2] Such do those become, especially in the last times, who by ratiocination hatch doctrinal things, and believe nothing unless they first apprehend it; for in this case the life of evil continually inflows into their rational, and a kind of fallacious light pours in from the fire of the affections of evil, and causes them to see falsities as truths; as are wont to do those who see phantoms in nocturnal light. These same things are then confirmed in many ways, and become matters of doctrine, such as are the doctrinal tenets of those who say that the life (which is of the affection) is of no efficacy, but only the faith (which is of the thought).
[3] That every principle whatever, even if falsity itself, when once taken up, can be confirmed by innumerable things, and be presented in the outward form as if it were truth itself, may be known to everyone. Hence come heresies; from which, when once confirmed, the man never recedes. Yet from a false principle nothing but falsities can flow; and even if truths are interlarded among them, they became truths falsified when used to confirm a false principle, because they are contaminated by its essence.
[4] Very different is the case when truth itself is received as a principle, and this is confirmed, as for example that love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor are that on which hangs all the Law, and of which all the Prophets speak, and that they are therefore the essentials of all doctrine and worship; for in this case the mind would be illuminated by innumerable things in the Word, that otherwise lie hidden in the obscurity of a false principle. Nay, in such a case heresies would be dissipated, and one church would arise out of many, no matter how greatly the doctrinal and ritual matters that flowed from or led to it might differ.
[5] Such was the ancient Church, which extended through many kingdoms, namely, Assyria, Mesopotamia, Syria, Ethiopia, Arabia, Libya, Egypt, Philistia as far as Tyre and Sidon, and through the land of Canaan on both sides the Jordan. Among these the doctrinal and ritual matters differed, but still the church was one, because to them charity was the essential thing. Then was there the Lord’s kingdom on earth as in the heavens, for such is heaven (see n. 684, 690). If it were so now, all would be governed by the Lord as one man; for they would be as the members and organs of one body, which, although not of similar form, nor of similar function, yet all have relation to one heart, on which depend all and each in their several forms, that are everywhere varied. Then would each person say, in whatever doctrine and in whatever outward worship he might be, This is my brother, I see that he worships the Lord, and is a good man.

sRef Gen@19 @12 S0′ 2386. Verse 12. And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou yet anyone here? Son-in-law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whomsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of the place. “And the men said unto Lot,” signifies that the Lord admonishes those who are in the good of charity; “hast thou yet anyone here? Son-in-law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whomsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of the place,” signifies that all who are in the good of charity, and that all things belonging thereto, would be saved, and also those who are in the truth of faith, provided they would recede from evil; “sons-in-law,” are the truths that are associated with the affections of good; here, that were to be associated; “sons,” are truths; “daughters,” affections of good and of truth; “whomsoever thou hast in the city,” denotes whatever derives anything from truth; the “place,” is the state of evil.

sRef Gen@19 @12 S0′ 2387. And the men said unto Lot. That this signifies that the Lord admonishes those who are in the good of charity, is evident from the signification of the “men,” as being the Lord (see n. 2378); from the signification of “saying,” as being to admonish; and from the representation of Lot, as being those who are in the good of charity (see n. 2324, 2351, 2371). Hence these words, “the men said unto Lot,” signifies that the Lord admonishes those who are in the good of charity.

sRef Gen@19 @12 S0′ 2388. Hast thou yet anyone here? Son-in-law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whomsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of the place. That this signifies that all who are in the good of charity, and that all things belonging thereto, would be saved, and also those who are in the truth of faith, provided they would recede from evil, is evident from the signification of “sons-in-law,” of “sons,” of “daughters,” of “city,” and of “place,” concerning which in what follows.
[2] As regards those being saved who are in the truth of faith, provided they recede from evil, the case is this. The truths of faith are the very receiving vessels of good (n. 1900, 2063, 2261, 2269); and they receive good insofar as the man recedes from evil; for good continually flows in from the Lord, and it is the evil of life that hinders its being received in the truths which are with man in his memory or knowledge. Therefore insofar as a man recedes from evil, so far good enters and applies itself to his truths; and then the truth of faith with him becomes the good of faith. A man may indeed know truth, may also confess it under the incitement of some worldly cause, may even be persuaded that it is true; and yet this truth does not live so long as he is in a life of evil. For such a man is like a tree on which there are leaves, but no fruit; and His truth is like light in which there is no heat, such as there is in the time of winter when nothing grows. But when there is heat in it, the light then becomes such as there is in the time of spring, when all things grow. In the Word truth is compared to light and is called “light,” but heat is compared to love, and is also called spiritual heat. In the other life also truth manifests itself by light, and good by heat; but truth without good by cold light, and truth with good by light similar to that of spring. This shows what the truth of faith is without the good of charity. Hence it is that the sons-in-law and the sons, by whom such truths are signified, were not saved; but only Lot with His daughters.
[3] As it is here said that those also who are in the truth of faith are saved, provided they recede from evil, be it known that these are they who profess faith and think nothing about charity for the reason that they have been so instructed, and do not know what charity is (supposing that it consists merely in the giving of our own to others, and in pitying everybody), and who also do not know what the neighbor is toward whom charity is to be exercised (for they suppose that the neighbor is almost everybody, without distinction), and yet who live in the life of charity toward the neighbor, because in the life of good. It does these persons no harm to profess faith along with all the rest, for in their faith there is charity, since this means all the good of life in general and in particular. What therefore charity is, and what the neighbor, will of the Lord’s Divine mercy be told in what follows.

sRef Gen@19 @12 S0′ 2389. That the “sons-in-law” are the truths that are associated with the affections of good and of truth, in this case that were to be associated, is evident from the signification of “sons-in-law.” In the Word “a man” signifies truth, and a “wife” good (n. 265, 749, 915, 1007), for the reason that between truth and good there is a likeness of a marriage (n. 1432, 1904, 2173). Hence “sons-in-law” signify the knowledges of truth, with which are associated the affections of good (denoted by the “daughters”), but which here are to be associated, for it is said afterwards, in verse 14, that Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law that were marrying, that is, were about to marry his daughters.

sRef Gen@19 @12 S0′ 2390. That the “sons” are truths, or what is the same, are they who are in truths, is evident from the signification of “sons,” as being truths (see n. 489, 491, 533, 1147).

sRef Gen@19 @12 S0′ 2391. That the “daughters” are affections of good, and of truth, or what is the same, are those who are in these affections, is evident from the signification of “daughters,” as being these affections (see n. 2362).

sRef Gen@19 @12 S0′ 2392. That “whomsoever thou hast in the city,” denotes whatever derives anything from truth, is evident from the signification of a “city,” as being what is doctrinal, thus truth in its complex (see n. 402, 2268).

sRef Gen@19 @12 S0′ 2393. That the “place” is a state of evil, is evident from the signification of “place,” as being state (see above, n. 1273 to 1275, 1377), here a state of evil, because it was Sodom, by which is signified evil in general (n. 2220, 2246, 2322).

sRef Gen@19 @13 S0′ 2394. Verse 13. For we will destroy this place, because their cry is become great before Jehovah, and Jehovah hath sent us to destroy it. “For we will destroy this place,” signifies that the state of evil in which they were would condemn them; “because their cry is become great before Jehovah,” signifies because the falsity from evil is so great; “and Jehovah hath sent us to destroy it,” signifies that they cannot but perish.

sRef Gen@19 @13 S0′ 2395. For we will destroy this place. That this signifies that the state of evil in which they were would condemn them, is evident from the meaning of “destroying,” when predicated of the Lord, as being in the internal significance to perish by evil, that is, to be condemned; and also from the signification of “this place,” as being a state of evil (n. 2393). It is frequently said in the Word that Jehovah “destroys;” but in the internal sense it is meant that man destroys himself; for Jehovah or the Lord destroys no one. But as from the fact of His seeing and regulating all things in both general and particular it appears as if the destruction came from Jehovah or the Lord, it is so expressed in many places in the Word, to the end that men may thereby be kept in a most general idea that all things are under the Lord’s eyes, and all things under His auspices; for if at first they are kept in this idea, they can afterwards be easily instructed. For the explications of the Word as to the internal sense are nothing but particulars that elucidate a general idea.
[2] Another reason why it is so expressed is that they who are in no love are kept in fear, and thereby stand in awe of the Lord, and flee to Him for the sake of deliverance. This shows that it does no harm to believe the sense of the letter, even though the internal sense teaches something else, provided that it is done from a simple heart. But these things will be treated of more fully in what follows, at verse 24 (n. 2447), where it is said that Jehovah caused it to rain brimstone and fire upon Sodom and Gomorrah. The angels, being in the internal sense, are so far from thinking that Jehovah destroys anyone that they cannot endure even the idea of such a thing; and therefore when these and other such things are read in the Word by man, the sense of the letter is cast away as it were to the back, and at last passes into this: that evil itself is what destroys man, and that the Lord destroys no one (as may be seen from the example given above in n. 1875).

sRef Gen@19 @13 S0′ 2396. Because their cry is become great before Jehovah. That this signifies because the falsity from evil is so great, is evident from the signification of a “cry” (n. 2240), as being predicated of falsity; and here of falsity from evil (n. 2351).

sRef Gen@19 @13 S0′ 2397. And Jehovah hath sent us to destroy it. That this signifies that they cannot but perish, is to be understood in the same way as the signification given just above (n. 2395). That “us” (that is, the “men” or “angels”) denotes the Lord’s Divine Human and Holy proceeding, has been shown above. Through these were the good saved, and the evil destroyed; and yet the latter by the law that evil itself destroyed them. And because they perished in this way, and this through the Lord’s advent into the world, it is said according to the appearance, that they “were sent to destroy them.”
sRef John@3 @17 S2′ sRef John@5 @23 S2′ sRef John@17 @8 S2′ [2] It is sometimes said of the Lord in the Word, that He was “sent by the Father,” as it is said here, “Jehovah hath sent us;” but in the internal sense by being “sent” is everywhere signified to go forth, as in John:
They have received, and have known of a truth that I came forth from Thee, and they have believed that Thou didst send Me (John 17:8).
So in other places, as in the same:
God sent not His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world through Him may be saved (John 3:17).
Again:
He that honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father who hath sent Him (John 5:23).
Besides many other passages (as Matt. 10:40; 15:24; John 3:34; 4:34; 5:30, 36-38; 6:29, 39-40, 44, 57; 7:16, 18, 28-29; 8:16, 18, 29, 42; 9:4; 10:36; 11:41-42; 12:44-45, 49; 13:20; 14:24; 17:18; 20:21; Luke 4:43; 9:48; 10:16; Mark 9:37; Isa. 61:1).
sRef John@15 @26 S3′ sRef John@16 @7 S3′ sRef John@16 @5 S3′ [3] In the same way it is said of the Holy Spirit, that it was “sent,” that is, that it goes forth from the Lord’s Divine, as in John:
Jesus said, When the Comforter shall come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth which goeth forth from the Father, He shall testify of Me (John 15:26).
If I go away, I will send the Comforter unto you (John 16:5, 7).
Hence the prophets were said to be “sent,” because the words which they spoke came forth from the Holy of the Lord’s Spirit. And because all Divine Truth comes forth from Divine Good, the expression “to be sent” is properly predicated of Divine Truth. But what “to go forth” means, is also evident, namely, that he who goes forth, or that which goes forth, is of him from whom it goes forth.

sRef Gen@19 @14 S0′ 2398. Verse 14. And Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, that were to marry his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place, for Jehovah will destroy the city. And he was in the eyes of his sons-in-law as one that jested. “Lot went out,” signifies those who are in the good of charity, and also the good itself of charity; “and spoke to his sons-in-law, that were to marry his daughters,” signifies with those who were in truths, with which the affections of good could be adjoined; “and said, Up, get you out of this place,” signifies that they should not remain in a state of evil; “for Jehovah will destroy the city,” signifies that they must needs perish; “and he was in the eyes of his sons-in-law as one that jested,” signifies derision.

sRef Gen@19 @14 S0′ 2399. And Lot went out. That this signifies those who are in the good of charity, and also the good itself of charity, has been repeatedly shown before. He who represents those who are in good, also signifies that good itself in which they are.

sRef Gen@19 @14 S0′ 2400. And spoke to his sons-in-law, that were to marry his daughters. That this signifies with those who were in truths, with which the affections of good could be conjoined, is evident from the signification of “sons-in-law,” as being the knowledges of truth, and consequently truths (concerning which see above, n. 2389); and from the signification of “daughters,” as being the affections of good (see also above, n. 2362); and because it is said that he “spoke to his sons-in-law, that were to marry his daughters,” it is signified with those who were in truths with which the affections of good could be conjoined. As they could be conjoined, they are called his “sons-in-law;” but as they were not conjoined, it is said “that were to marry his daughters.”
[2] The subject here treated of is the third kind of men who are within the church, namely, those who know truths, yet live in evil. For there are three kinds of men within the church: first, those who live in the good of charity; these are represented by “Lot;” second, those who are altogether in falsity and evil, and reject both truth and good; these are they who are represented by the “men of Sodom;” third, those who indeed know truths, but nevertheless are in evil; these are here signified by the “sons-in-law,” and are especially those who teach, but the truth which they teach has not sent down its root deeper than is wont to do the knowledge that is solely of the memory, for it is learned and vaunted merely for the sake of honor and gain. And because with such persons the ground in which the truth is sown is the love of self and the love of the world, they have no belief in the truth, except a kind of persuasive one derived from these loves, the quality of which shall of the Lord’s Divine mercy be told elsewhere. Such are here described by the sons-in-law, in that they believed nothing concerning the overthrow of Sodom, but laughed at it; and such is the faith of their heart.

sRef Gen@19 @14 S0′ 2401. And said, Up, get you out of this place. That this signifies that they should not remain in a state of evil, is evident from the signification of “rising up,” and of “getting out,” and also of the “place.” To “rise up” often occurs in the Word, but excites little thought as to what it further signifies, because it is a familiar expression. But in the internal sense this expression involves elevation, as here, from evil to good; for the mind is elevated when it recedes from evil (n. 2388). To “get out” is to recede, or not to remain. And the “place” is a state of evil (n. 2393). Thus the signification is evident.
[2] The quality of those who are in the knowledges of truth, but at the same time in a life of evil, has been repeatedly stated before, namely, that so long as they are in a life of evil they believe nothing; for to will evil and from will to do evil, and at the same time to acknowledge truth in faith, is not possible. This shows also that a man cannot be saved by thinking and speaking what is true, nor even what is good, while he wills nothing else, and from this his will does nothing else, than evil. It is the very will of man that lives after death; not so his thought, except that which flows from his will.
[3] As therefore a man is such as his will is, it is evident what must be his opinion of the truths of faith he has learned, and even taught, seeing that they condemn him. So far is he then from making them the basis of his thoughts, that he feels a positive aversion for them; nay, insofar as he is permitted to do so, he, like the devil’s crew, blasphemes them. They who have not been instructed concerning the life after death may suppose that it will be easy for them to receive faith when they see that the Lord governs the universe, and when they hear that heaven consists in loving the Lord and the neighbor; whereas the truth is that the evil are as far from being able to receive faith, that is, to believe from the will, as hell is from heaven, for they are wholly in evil, and in the falsity thence derived. That such persons are against the Lord and against the neighbor, and therefore against good, and consequently against truth, is known and perceived from their mere approach, or presence. There is a horrible sphere that exhales from the life of their will and of their derivative thought (n. 1048, 1053, 1316, 1504).
[4] If by mere instruction in the other life it were possible that men could be brought to believe and to become good, there would not be a single person in hell; for the Lord desires to raise all without exception to Himself into heaven. For His mercy is infinite, because it is the Divine mercy itself, that is extended toward the whole human race, and therefore toward the evil as well as toward the good.

sRef Gen@19 @14 S0′ 2402. For Jehovah will destroy the city. That this signifies that they must needs perish, is evident from the explication of nearly the same words above (n. 2395, 2397).

sRef Gen@19 @14 S0′ 2403. And he was in the eyes of his sons-in-law as one that jested. That this signifies derision, is evident from the signification of “jesting,” as being to utter as it were a joke, a fable, or trifles, thus such things as they would laugh at. “In their eyes,” signifies that which was before their rational, as is evident from the signification of the “eyes” (n. 212). This shows what is the character of those who are in the truth of faith and not at the same time in the good of life.

sRef Gen@19 @15 S0′ 2404. Verse 15. And when the dawn arose the angels pressed Lot to hasten, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters that are found, lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. “When the dawn arose,” signifies when the Lord’s kingdom is approaching; “the angels pressed Lot to hasten,” signifies that the Lord withheld them from evil and kept them in good; “saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters that are found,” signifies the truth of faith and the affections of truth and of good; “found,” denotes that they are separated from evil; “lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city,” signifies lest they should perish by the evils of falsity.

sRef Matt@25 @32 S0′ sRef Gen@19 @15 S0′ 2405. When the dawn arose. That this signifies when the Lord’s kingdom is approaching, is evident from the signification in the Word of the “dawn” or “morning.” As in this chapter the subject treated of is the successive states of the church, that which is done in the evening is first treated of, next that which is done in the night, and there now follows that which is done in the morning twilight, and presently that which is done after the sun is gone forth. The twilight is here expressed by “when the dawn arose,” and it denotes the time when the upright are being separated from the evil; which separation is treated of in this verse, and as far as verse 22, by Lot together with his wife and daughters being led out and saved. That separation precedes Judgment is evident from the Lord’s words in Matthew:
Before Him shall be gathered all nations, and He shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats (Matt. 25:32).
sRef Hos@6 @3 S2′ sRef Hos@6 @2 S2′ [2] This time or state is called in the Word the “dawn,” because the Lord then comes; or what is the same, His kingdom then approaches. The case is similar with the good, for at such a time there shines out with them a semblance of the morning twilight or dawn; and therefore in the Word the advent of the Lord is compared to the “morning,” and is also called the “morning.” As in Hosea:
After two days Jehovah will revive us, on the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live before Him; and we shall know, and we shall follow on to know Jehovah; His going forth is as the dawn (Hos. 6:2-3).
“Two days” denotes the time and state which precedes; the “third day” denotes the Judgment, or the advent of the Lord, and therefore the approach of His kingdom (n. 720, 901), which advent or approach is compared to the “dawn.”
sRef 2Sam@23 @4 S3′ sRef Joel@2 @2 S3′ sRef Joel@2 @1 S3′ [3] In Samuel:
The God of Israel is as the light of the morning, the sun riseth, a morning without clouds; from the brightness, from the rain, there is a growth from the earth (2 Sam. 23:4).
The “God of Israel” denotes the Lord; for no other God of Israel was meant in that church, and He was represented in each and all things of it. In Joel:
The day of Jehovah cometh, for it is nigh at hand; a day of darkness and of thick darkness, a day of cloud and obscurity; as the dawn spread upon the mountains (Joel 2:1-2).
Here also the Lord’s advent and His kingdom are treated of; it is said a “day of darkness and of thick darkness,” because the good are then being separated from the evil, as here Lot from the men of Sodom; and after the good have been separated, the evil perish.
sRef Ps@110 @3 S4′ sRef Dan@8 @14 S4′ sRef Dan@8 @26 S4′ sRef Dan@8 @13 S4′ [4] That the Lord’s advent or the approach of His kingdom, is not merely compared to the “morning,” but is actually called the “morning,” may be seen in Daniel:
A holy one said, How long shall be the vision, the continual sacrifice, and the transgression that maketh waste? He said unto me, Until evening and morning, two thousand three hundred, then shall the holy one be justified. The vision of the evening and the morning which hath been told is truth (Dan. 8:13-14, 26).
“Morning” here manifestly denotes the Lord’s advent. In David:
Thy people are willing offerings in the day of thy strength, in honors of holiness, from the womb of the dawn thou hast the dew of thy youth* (Ps. 110:3).
In this whole Psalm the subject treated of is the Lord, and His victories in temptations, which are the “day of His strength,” and the “honors of His holiness;” “from the womb of the dawn,” denotes Himself, thus the Divine love from which He fought.
sRef Zeph@3 @5 S5′ [5] In Zephaniah:
Jehovah in the midst of her is righteous, He will not do perversity; in the morning, in the morning will He give judgment for light (Zeph. 3:65).
The “morning” denotes the time and state of Judgment, which is the same as that of the Lord’s advent; and this is the same as the approach of His kingdom.
[6] Because the “morning” signified these things, in order that the same might be represented, it was commanded that:
Aaron and his sons should light up the lamp, and should order it from evening until morning before Jehovah (Exod. 27:21).
The “evening” here denotes the twilight before the morning (n. 2323). In like manner it was commanded that the fire upon the altar should be kindled every morning (Lev. 6:5); also that nothing of the paschal lamb and of the sanctified things of the sacrifices should be left till the morning (Exod. 12:10; 23:18; 34:25; Lev. 22:29-30; Num. 9:12); by which was signified that when the Lord came, sacrifices should cease.
sRef Gen@19 @24 S7′ sRef Jer@20 @16 S7′ sRef Gen@19 @23 S7′ sRef Ps@101 @8 S7′ [7] In a general sense it is called “Morning” both when the dawn appears, and when the sun rises; and in this latter case “morning” denotes the Judgment as it concerns both the good and the evil, as in this chapter:
The sun was gone forth upon the earth, and Lot came unto Zoar; and Jehovah caused it to rain upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire (Gen. 19:23-24).
In like manner insofar as regards the Judgment upon the evil; in David:
In the mornings will I destroy all the wicked of the land, to cut off from the city of Jehovah all the workers of iniquity (Ps. 101:8).
And in Jeremiah:
Let that man be as the cities which Jehovah overthrew, and He repenteth not; and let him hear a cry in the morning (Jer. 20:16).
As in the proper sense the “morning” signifies the Lord, His advent, and thus the approach of His kingdom, it is evident what it signifies besides, namely, the rise of a new church (for this is the Lord’s kingdom on earth), and this both in general and in particular, and even in the least particular; in general, when any church on the globe is being raised up anew; in particular, when a man is being regenerated, and being made new (for then the Lord’s kingdom is arising in him, and he is becoming a church); and in the least particular, whenever the good of love and faith is working in him; for in this consists the advent of the Lord. Hence the Lord’s resurrection on the third day in the morning (Mark 16:2, 9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1) involves all these things (even in the particular and the least particular) in regard to His rising again in the minds of the regenerate every day, and even every moment.
* Nativitatis; but juventutis elsewhere, as T.C.R. 764. [Rotch ed.]

sRef Gen@19 @15 S0′ 2406. The angels pressed Lot to hasten. That this signifies that the Lord withheld them from evil and kept them in good is evident from the signification of “pressing” and “hastening,” as being to urge; and that by these words is signified to be withheld from evil, is evident both from the internal sense of these words and from what follows. The internal sense is that when the church begins to fall away from the good of charity, its people are at that time withheld from evil by the Lord more strongly than when it is in the good of charity. The same is evident from what follows, namely, that although the angels pressed Lot to go out of the city, he still lingered; and that they then laid hold of the hands of himself, his wife, and his daughters, and led them forth, and set them without the city; by which is signified and described the character of man in that state; for it is the second state of this church that is here treated of. The first state is described in the first three verses of this chapter; which state is such that they are in the good of charity and acknowledge the Lord, and are confirmed in good by Him. The second state is described here, which is such that with the men of the church themselves evils begin to act against goods, and that they are then powerfully withheld from evils and kept in goods by the Lord; which state is treated of in this verse, and in the 15th, 16th, and 17th, that follow.
[2] As regards this matter, few, if any, know that all men without exception are withheld from evils by the Lord, and this by a mightier force than man can ever believe. For the endeavor of every man is continually toward evil, and this both from what is hereditary, into which he is born, and from what is actual, which he has procured for himself; and this to such a degree that if he were not withheld by the Lord, he would rush headlong every moment toward the lowest hell. But the mercy of the Lord is so great that at every moment, even the least, the man is uplifted and held back, to prevent him from rushing thither. This is the case with the good also, but with a difference according to their life of charity and faith. Thus the Lord combats continually with man, and for man with hell, although it does not so appear to the man. That it is really so has been given me to know by much experience, which of the Lord’s Divine mercy will be related elsewhere. (See also n. 929, 1581.)

sRef Gen@19 @15 S0′ 2407. Saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters that are found. That this signifies the truth of faith and the affections of truth and of good, and that “found” means separated [from evil] is evident from the signification of “arising,” as being to be elevated from evil (n. 2401); also from the signification in this place of “wife,” as being the truth of faith (respecting which see under verse 26, where it is said of Lot’s wife that she was turned into a statue of salt) and also from the signification of the “two daughters,” as being the affections of truth and of good (see n. 2362). That “found” denotes separated from evil, is also evident, because they were set free. By these few words is this second state of the church here described, namely, that they do not from good suffer themselves to be led to truth, as before, but through truth to good; and yet they are in an obscure affection of good; for in the proportion that truth is made the leader, good is obscure; whereas in the proportion that good is made the leader, truth is plain and evident in its own light.

sRef Gen@19 @15 S0′ 2408. Lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. That this signifies lest they should perish in the evils of falsity, is evident from the signification of “iniquity,” as being evil; and from the signification of “city,” as being what is doctrinal, even if it is false (see n. 402). What the evil of falsity is may be seen from what was said in volume 1 (n. 1212, 1679).

sRef Gen@19 @16 S0′ 2409. Verse 16. And he lingered; and the men laid hold of his hand, and of the hand of his wife, and of the hand of his two daughters; in the clemency of Jehovah upon him, and they led him forth, and set him without the city. “And he lingered,” signifies opposition arising from the nature of evil; “and the men laid hold of his hand, and of the hand of his wife, and of the hand of his two daughters,” signifies that the Lord powerfully withheld them from evils, and thereby strengthened the goods and truths signified by “Lot,” his “wife,” and his “daughters;” “in the clemency of Jehovah upon him,” signifies from grace and mercy; “and they led him forth and set him without the city,” signifies his state then.

sRef Gen@19 @16 S0′ 2410. And he lingered. That this signifies opposition arising from the nature of evil, is evident from what was said above (n. 2406); for the evil which is in man continually reacts against the good which is from the Lord. Evil from what is hereditary and from what is actual adheres to man in each of His thoughts, nay, in the least things of his thoughts. This drags him downward (but the Lord, by means of the good which he instills, withholds him, and uplifts Him, so that the man is held suspended between evil and good), and the consequence of this downward tendency is that if even for the least moment the man were not withheld from evils, he would of himself rush downward; and this he would do more in the state in which is the man of the church now represented by Lot than in the former state. This state is that he is beginning to think and to act not so much from good as from truth; thus at some distance from good.

sRef Gen@19 @16 S0′ 2411. And the men laid hold of his hand, and of the hand of his wife, and of the hand of his two daughters. That this signifies that the Lord powerfully withheld from evils, and thus strengthened the goods and truths signified by “Lot, his wife, and his daughters,” is evident from the signification of the “men,” as being the Lord (concerning which above); from the signification of the “hand,” as being power (see n. 878); also from the signification of “Lot,” as being the good of charity (see n. 2324, 2351, 2371, 2399); from the signification of “wife,” as being the truth of faith (treated of in the 26th verse); from the signification of “daughters,” as being the affections of good and of truth (see n. 489-491, 2362); and finally from what was said above (n. 2388), namely, that good and truth flow in from the Lord in the proportion that man is withheld from evil; consequently, that the goods and truths signified by “Lot, his wife, and His two daughters,” are in the same proportion strengthened.
[2] On reflection every man may know this from his own experience; for in proportion as he is removed from corporeal and worldly things, in the same proportion he is in a spiritual idea, that is, is uplifted toward heaven; as is the case when he is in any holy worship, when in any temptation, also when in misfortune or sickness. It is well known that corporeal and worldly things, that is, the loves of them, are then removed, the reason being as stated, namely, that what is heavenly and spiritual from the Lord continually flows in; but evil and its derivative falsity, and falsity and its derivative evil, which flow in from corporeal and worldly things, are what hinder its being received.

sRef Gen@19 @16 S0′ 2412. In the clemency of Jehovah unto him. That this signifies from grace and mercy, is evident from the signification of the “clemency of Jehovah,” which can be nothing else than grace and mercy. That man’s being withheld from evil and kept in good by the Lord is of His pure mercy, may be seen above (n. 1049). The reason both grace and mercy are mentioned, is (as before explained, n. 598, 981) that they who are in truth and from truth in good implore the Lord’s grace only, whereas they who are in good and from good in truth implore His mercy; and this difference results from the difference that exists in their respective states of humiliation and consequent adoration.

sRef Gen@19 @16 S0′ 2413. And they led him forth and set him without the city. That this signifies his* state at the time, is evident from the signification of “leading forth,” as being to withhold; and from the signification of “setting without the city,” as being away from falsity; so that the state here referred to was that by his being withheld from evils, goods and truths from the Lord were strengthened.
* In this and following numbers we have “he” and “his” in the explication, grammatically referring to Lot, when in fact those are meant who are represented by him as occasionally explained. [Rotch ed.]

sRef Gen@19 @17 S0′ 2414. Verse 17. And it came to pass when they were leading them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not back behind thee, and stay not in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. “And it came to pass when they were leading them forth abroad,” signifies the state when they were being withheld from falsity and evil; “that he said, Escape for thy life” signifies that he should take thought for his eternal life; “look not back behind thee,” signifies that he should not look to doctrinal things; “and stay not in all the plain,” signifies that he should not linger in any of these doctrinal matters; “escape to the mountain,” signifies to the good of love and of charity; “lest thou be consumed,” signifies that if he should do otherwise he would perish.

sRef Gen@19 @17 S0′ 2415. And it came to pass when they were leading them forth abroad. That this signifies the state when they were being withheld from falsity and evil, is evident from what was said just above (n. 2413; as also n. 2388, 2411).

sRef Gen@19 @17 S0′ 2416. That he said, Escape for thy life. That this signifies that he should take thought for his eternal life, is evident without explication. But in what way he should take thought for his life, now follows.

sRef Gen@19 @17 S0′ 2417. Look not back behind thee. That this signifies that he should not look to doctrinal things, is evident from the signification of “looking back behind him,” when the city was behind him and the mountain before him. For by “city” is signified what is doctrinal (n. 402, 2268, 2392); and by “mountain,” love and charity (n. 795, 1430). That this is the signification will be evident in the explication at verse 26, where it is said that his wife “looked back behind him,” and became a pillar of salt. Everyone may know that in this expression, “looking back behind him,” there is some Divine arcanum, and that it lies too deep to be seen. For in looking back behind him there appears to be nothing criminal, and yet it is a matter of importance so great that it is said he should escape for his life, that is, should take thought for his eternal life by not looking back behind Him. But what it is to look to doctrinal things will be seen in what follows; in this place we shall merely state what these doctrinal things are.
[2] Doctrine is twofold: that of love and charity, and that of faith. At first, while it is still a little maid and a virgin, every church of the Lord has no other doctrine, and loves no other, than that of charity; for this belongs to life. But successively the church turns itself away from this doctrine, until it begins to hold it cheap, and at length to reject it; and then it acknowledges no other doctrine than that which is called the doctrine of faith; and when it separates faith from charity, this doctrine conspires with a life of evil.
[3] Such was the case with the Primitive Church, or that of the Gentiles, after the Lord’s coming. In its beginning it had no other doctrine than that of love and charity, for this the Lord Himself taught (see n. 2371 at the end). But after His time, successively, as love and charity began to grow cold, there arose the doctrine of faith, and with it dissensions and heresies, which increased as men came to lay stress on this doctrine.
[4] The like was the case with the Ancient Church that was after the flood, and was extended through so many kingdoms (n. 2385): this church also in its beginning knew no other doctrine than that of charity, because this looked to and affected the life, and by so doing they had regard for their eternal welfare. And yet after some time the doctrine of faith too began to be cultivated with some, and at length to be separated from charity; but those who did this they called “Ham,” because they were in a life of evil (see n. 1062, 1063, 1076).
[5] The Most Ancient Church which was before the flood and which in preeminence to all others was called “Man,” was in the very perception of love to the Lord and of charity toward the neighbor; thus it had the doctrine of love and charity inscribed on itself. But even then there were those who cultivated faith, and when they separated it from charity they were called “Cain;” for by “Cain” is signified such faith, and by “Abel,” whom he killed, charity (see the explication of chapter 4).
[6] This shows that there are two doctrines, the one of charity, and the other of faith, although in themselves the two are one; for the doctrine of charity involves all things of faith. But when the doctrine comes to be from those things alone which are of faith, it is then called twofold, because faith is separated from charity. That these doctrines are separated at the present day may be seen from the fact that it is altogether unknown what charity is, and what the neighbor is. They who are solely in the doctrine of faith are not aware that charity toward the neighbor consists in anything beyond giving of their own to others, and in feeling pity for anybody who may seem to need it, because they call everybody the neighbor without distinction; and yet charity is all good whatever there is in a man: in his affection, and in his zeal, and from these in his life; and the neighbor is all the good in others by which one is affected, consequently those who are in good; and this with every possible distinction.
[7] For example: that man is in charity and mercy who exercises justice and judgment by punishing the evil and rewarding the good. There is charity in punishing the evil, for to this are we impelled by our zeal to amend them, and at the same time to protect the good, lest these suffer injury at the hands of the evil. In this way does a man consult the welfare of one who is in evil, or his enemy, and express his good feeling toward him, as well as to others, and to the common weal itself; and this from charity toward the neighbor. The case is the same with all the other goods of life; for the good of life is never possible unless it comes from charity toward the neighbor, because it looks to this, and involves it.
[8] Seeing then that there is obscurity so great as regards the true nature of charity and of the neighbor, it is clear that the doctrine of charity (the doctrine of faith having assumed the first place) is among the things that are lost; when yet it was this alone that was cultivated in the Ancient Church; and that to such a degree that they reduced into classes all the goods that belonged to charity toward the neighbor, that is, all those who were in good; and this with many distinctions, to which they also gave names, calling them the poor, the miserable, the oppressed, the sick, the naked, the hungry, the thirsty, captives or those in prison, strangers, orphans, and widows; some also they called the lame, the blind, the deaf, the dumb, the maimed; besides many other names. In the Word of the Old Testament the Lord has spoken in accordance with this doctrine, on which account such terms so often occur there; and He himself again spoke in accordance with the same doctrine, as in Matt. 25:35-36, 38-39, 40, 42-45; Luke 14:13, 21; and in many other places. Hence it is that in the internal sense these names have quite a different signification. In order therefore that the doctrine of charity may be restored, it will of the Lord’s Divine mercy be stated in the following pages who those denoted by these names are, and what charity is, and what the neighbor is, both generally and specifically.

sRef Jer@48 @8 S0′ sRef Gen@19 @17 S0′ 2418. Stay not in all the plain. That this signifies that he should not linger in any of these doctrinal matters, is evident from the signification of a “plain,” as being everything of a doctrinal nature, concerning which presently. How the case stands with his not lingering in any of these doctrinal matters shall be stated at verse 26, where Lot’s wife is treated of in that she looked back behind him. That in the Word a “plain” signifies all things of a doctrinal nature, is evident in Jeremiah:
He that layeth waste shall come upon every city, and no city shall escape, and the valley shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed (Jer. 48:8);
where “city” denotes false doctrine; and the “plain” all things that belong to that doctrine. In John:
When the thousand years are finished, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth to seduce the nations, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to war, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea; and they went up upon all the plain of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and fire came down from God out of heaven, and consumed them (Rev. 20:7-9);
where “Gog and Magog” denote those who are in external worship without internal, thus worship become idolatrous (n. 1151); the “plain of the earth,” the doctrinal things of the church, which they lay waste; the “camp of the saints,” the goods of love and of charity; their being “consumed by fire from God out of heaven” means the same as when this is said of the men of Sodom and Gomorrah, in verse 24. Again: the doctrinal things of charity are called the “cities of the mountain,” and the doctrinal things of faith the “cities of the plain,” in Jeremiah 33:13.

sRef Gen@19 @17 S0′ 2419. Escape to the mountain. That this signifies to the good of love and of charity, is evident from the signification of a “mountain,” as being love and charity (see n. 795, 1430).

sRef Gen@19 @17 S0′ 2420. Lest thou be consumed. That this signifies that if he should do otherwise he would perish, is evident without explication.

sRef Gen@19 @18 S0′ sRef Gen@19 @19 S0′ 2421. Verses 18, 19. And Lot said unto them, Nay I pray my lords. Behold I pray thy servant hath found grace in thine eyes, and thou hast made thy mercy great which thou hast done with me to make alive my soul; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest peradventure evil cleave to me, and I die. “Lot said unto them, Nay I pray my lords,” signifies weakness, so that he could not; “Behold I pray thy servant hath found grace in thine eyes,” signifies humiliation from the affection of truth; “thou hast made thy mercy great,” signifies a semblance of humiliation from the affection of good; “which thou hast done with me to make alive my soul,” signifies on account of His desiring to save him; “and I cannot escape to the mountain,” signifies doubt as to his being able to have the good of charity; “lest peradventure evil cleave to me, and I die,” signifies that then it could not but come to pass that he would be at the same time in evil, and thereby would be condemned.

sRef Gen@19 @18 S0′ 2422. Lot said unto them, Nay I pray my lords. That this signifies weakness, so that he could not, is evident from the affection in the very words, as also from what follows. There is here treated of the third state of the church represented in this chapter by Lot, which is that they no longer think and act from the affection of good, but from the affection of truth; which state succeeds, when the affection of good begins to be diminished, and as it were to recede. Good is indeed present, but has withdrawn itself more toward the interiors, and therefore is in obscurity; and yet it manifests itself in a certain affection, which is called the affection of truth. (What the affection of good is, and what the affection of truth, may be seen above, n. 1997, and in what presently follows, n. 2425.) That there are these states is not apparent to man, still less what is the nature of them; but they are apparent to the angels as in clear light, for the angels are in every good affection of man; and they are apparent also to man himself when he comes into the other life. It is in accordance with these affections, and the quality of them, that the good are distinguished into societies (n. 685).

sRef Gen@19 @19 S0′ 2423. That Behold I pray thy servant hath found grace in thine eyes, signifies humiliation from the affection of truth; and that “thou hast made thy mercy great” signifies a semblance of humiliation from the affection of good, is evident from what has been said before concerning “grace” and “mercy” (n. 598, 981). For they who are in the affection of truth cannot humble themselves so far as to acknowledge from the heart that all things are of mercy; and therefore, instead of “mercy” they say “grace;” nay, the less of the affection of truth there is in them, the less of humiliation there is in their mention of grace; whereas on the other hand, the more of the affection of good there is in anyone, the more of humiliation there is in his mention of mercy. This shows how much the adoration, and consequently the worship, that exists with those who are in the affection of truth differs from that which exists with those who are in the affection of good. For in order that there may be worship, there must be adoration; and in order that there may be adoration, there must be humiliation; and this in all things of the worship both in general and particular. What has been said will serve to show why both “grace” and “mercy” are here mentioned.

sRef Gen@19 @19 S0′ 2424. Which thou hast done with me to make alive my soul. That this signifies on account of His desiring to save him, is evident without explication.

sRef Gen@19 @19 S0′ 2425. And I cannot escape to the mountain. That this signifies doubt as to his being able to have the good of charity, that is, to think and act from that good, is evident from the signification of a “mountain,” as being love and charity (see n. 795, 1430).
[2] As regards this doubt, the case is this. Within the affection of truth of those who are in this affection there is the affection of good, but so obscurely that they do not perceive, thus do not know, what the affection of good is, and what genuine charity is. They do suppose that they know, but it is from truth, thus from memory-knowledge, and not from good itself. Nevertheless they do the goods of charity, not in order to merit anything thereby, but from obedience; and this insofar as they apprehend that it is the truth. For they suffer themselves to be led by the Lord out of their obscurity of good by means of the truth which appears to them to be truth. For example: being ignorant what the neighbor is, they do good to everyone whom they suppose to be the neighbor; especially to the poor, because these call themselves poor on account of being destitute of worldly wealth; to orphans and widows, because they are so termed; to strangers, because they are such; and so on with all the rest and this they do so long as they are ignorant what is signified by the poor, by orphans, widows, strangers, and others. Nevertheless seeing that in their affection of apparent truth there lies in obscurity the affection of good, by which the Lord leads them to such action, they are at the same time in good as to their interiors, and in this good the angels are present with them, and are delighted there with their appearances of truth by which such persons are affected.
[3] But they who are in the good of charity, and from this in the affection of truth, do all things with discrimination, for they are in light; since the light of truth is from no other source than good, because the Lord flows in by means of good. These persons do not do good to the poor, to orphans, to widows, and to strangers, for the mere reason that they are so termed; for they know that those who are good, whether poor or rich, are neighbors more than all others; since by the good, good is done to others; and therefore insofar as these persons do good to the good, they do it to others through them. They also know how to make distinctions among goods, and so among good men. They call the general good itself their neighbor in a greater degree, for in this there is regarded the good of still greater numbers. As still more their neighbor to whom charity is to be done they acknowledge the Lord’s kingdom on earth, which is the church; and the Lord’s kingdom itself in the heavens even still more. But they who set the Lord before all these-who adore Him alone and love Him above all things-derive the neighbor in all these degrees from Him; for the Lord alone is the neighbor in the highest sense, thus all good is the neighbor insofar as it is from Him. [4] But they who are in the opposite derive the degrees of the neighbor from themselves, and acknowledge only those as neighbor who favor and serve them-calling no others brethren and friends-and this with a distinction, accordingly as they make one with them. All this shows what the neighbor is, namely, that a man is our neighbor according to the love in which he is; and that he is truly the neighbor who is in love to the Lord and in charity toward his neighbor, and this with every possible difference; thus it is the good itself with everyone that determines the point in question.

sRef Gen@19 @19 S0′ 2426. Lest peradventure the evil cleave to me, and I die. That this signifies that then it could not but come to pass that he would be at the same time in evil, and that thereby he would be condemned, is evident without explication. What these words involve may be known from what has been said and shown before (n. 301-303, 571, 582, 1001, 1327, 1328), namely, that the Lord constantly provides that evil should not be commingled with good; but that insofar as a man is in evil, so far is he removed from good; for it is better for a man to be altogether in evil, than in evil and at the same time in good. For if he is in evil and at the same time in good, he must needs be damned eternally. It is the deceitful and hypocrites within the church who are most in danger of this. Such therefore is the meaning, in the internal sense, of “lest the evil cleave to me, and I die.”

sRef Gen@19 @20 S0′ 2427. Verse 20. Behold I pray this city is near to flee thither, and it is a little one; let me I pray escape thither-is it not a little one? And my soul shall live. “Behold I pray this city is near to flee thither,” signifies that he might be permitted [to think and act] from the truth of faith; “and it is a little one,” signifies from the little truth that he had; “let me I pray escape thither,” signifies that from this small amount of truth it might be permissible to have regard to good; “is it not a little one?” signifies might he not have some little truth; “and my soul may live,” signifies that so perchance he might be saved.

sRef Gen@19 @20 S0′ 2428. Behold I pray this city is near to flee thither. That this signifies that he might be permitted [to think and act] from the truth of faith, is evident from the signification of a “city,” as being what is of doctrine, thus the truth of faith (see n. 402, 2268). It is said to be “near,” because truth is nearly related to good; on which account to “flee thither” signifies that he might be permitted [to think and act] from truth, seeing that he could not do so from good (n. 2422).

sRef Gen@19 @20 S0′ 2429. It is a little one. That this signifies from the little truth that he had, is evident from the signification of a “city,” as being truth, concerning which just above. Its being “little” signifies that there was little of truth; here, from the little that he had, as is evident from what precedes and what follows.
[2] As regards the thing itself, namely, that they who are in the affection of truth have little truth in comparison with those who are in the affection of good, this is evident from the fact that it is from the meager and obscure good appertaining to them that they regard truth. The truth in a man is exactly according to the good that is in him. Where there is little good, there is little truth. They are in a like ratio and in a like degree, or, as we say, they march with even step. This indeed may seem a paradox, but still the case is so. Good is the very essence of truth, and truth without its essence is not truth, although it appears as if it were; it is merely a sounding brass, and is like an empty vessel.
[3] In order that anyone may have truth in himself, he must not only know it, but also acknowledge it, and have faith in it; he then for the first time has truth, because it then affects him, and remains. It is otherwise when he only knows truth, and does not acknowledge it, and have faith in it; for in this case he has not the truth in himself. This is the case with many who are in evil: they are able to know truths, sometimes more than other men; but still they have not the truth; nay, they have it so much the less, because at heart they deny it.
[4] It is provided by the Lord that no one should have (that is, acknowledge and believe) more truth than he receives of good. Hence it is here said of the city, by which truth is signified, that it is a “little one,” and again in this verse, “Is it not a little one?” also in verse 22, that he called the name of the city “Zoar,” which in the original language means “little;” for the reason that those are here treated of who are in the affection of truth, and not so much in the affection of good.

sRef Gen@19 @20 S0′ 2430. Let me I pray escape thither. That this signifies that from this small amount of truth it might be permissible to have regard to good, is evident from what precedes and what follows. It was said that he should “escape to the mountain,” by which is signified the good of love and of charity (n. 2419); but it was answered that he could not do this, but could escape to the city, by which is signified the truth of faith (n. 2428); thus that he could regard good from truth, or what is the same, charity from faith. Moreover, that city was situated at the foot of the mountain; and from it he afterwards went up and dwelt on the mountain, but in a cave (verse 30).

sRef Gen@19 @20 S0′ 2431. Is it not a little one? That this signifies might he not have some little truth, is evident from what was said above (n. 2429), thus without further explication. This question is asked for the reason that the Lord alone knows how much good there is in the truth, and thus how much truth there is in a man.

sRef Gen@19 @23 S0′ sRef Gen@19 @20 S0′ sRef Gen@19 @21 S0′ 2432. And my soul shall live. That this signifies that so perchance he might be saved, is likewise evident without explication. That he also was saved, because there was good in his truth, is evident from what follows, namely, from the answer, “Behold, I have accepted thy face as to this word also, that I will not overthrow the city of which thou hast spoken” (verse 21); and afterwards, “The sun was gone forth upon the earth, and Lot came unto Zoar” (verse 23); by which is meant that they who are in the affection of truth, that is, who are in faith, are saved, provided it is the faith of good.

sRef Gen@19 @21 S0′ 2433. Verse 21. And He said unto him, Behold, I have accepted thy face as to this word also, that I will not overthrow the city of which thou hast spoken. “He said unto him, Behold, I have accepted thy face as to this word also,” signifies assent, provided that the interiors in the truth derive anything from good; “that I will not overthrow the city of which thou hast spoken,” signifies that thus he would not perish.

sRef Gen@19 @21 S0′ 2434. He said unto him, Behold, I have accepted thy face as to this word also. That this signifies assent, provided that the interiors in the truth derive anything from good, is evident from the signification of “face.” The term “face” is of frequent occurrence in the Word, and there signifies the interiors, as before shown (n. 358, 1999); and also that when the face is attributed to Jehovah or the Lord, it signifies Mercy, Peace, Good (n. 222, 223); so that here it signifies the good which is interiorly in truth; and therefore to “accept the face” denotes to assent, provided that the interiors in the truth derive anything from good. “As to this word,” denotes as to this matter. That there is no truth unless there is good within it, may be seen above (n. 1496, 1832, 1900, 1904, 1928, 2063, 2173, 2269, 2401, 2403, 2429); and that the blessedness and happiness which a man has after death is not from truth, but from the good that is in the truth (n. 2261); and hence the more good there is in his truth, the more blessed and happy he is. That good is within truth, and causes it to be truth, is evident also from the goods and truths that exist even in worldly things. When a man learns and acknowledges that anything in these is good, then whatever favors this good he calls truth; but whatever does not favor it, he rejects and calls falsity. He may indeed say that that is true* which does not favor the good in question; but he is then making a pretense, while thinking differently. And the case is the same in spiritual things.
* Verum non sit, apparently by a slip. [Rotch ed.]

sRef Gen@19 @21 S0′ 2435. That I will not overthrow the city of which thou hast spoken. That this signifies that so he would not perish, namely, the man with whom there is truth within which there is good, is evident from the signification of a “city,” as being truth (see n. 402, 2268, 2428). It has been disputed from the most ancient times which is the firstborn of the church, charity or faith; for the reason that man is regenerated and becomes a church by means of the truths of faith. But they who have set faith foremost and made it the firstborn, have all fallen into heresies and falsities, and at length have extinguished charity altogether; as we read of Cain, by whom such faith is signified, that at length he killed his brother Abel, by whom is signified charity; and afterwards of Reuben, the firstborn son of Jacob, by whom likewise faith is signified, that he polluted his father’s couch (Gen. 35:22; 49:4), and therefore was held unworthy, and the primogeniture was given to Joseph (Gen. 48:5; 1 Chron. 5:1).
[2] This was the source of all the contentions, and also all the laws, respecting primogeniture that are mentioned in the Word. The cause of there being such a controversy was that it was not known, as even at this day it is not known, that a man has only so much of faith as he has of charity; and that when a man is being regenerated, charity presents itself to faith, or what is the same, good presents itself to truth, and insinuates itself into it and adapts itself to it in every particular, causing faith to be faith; and thus that charity is the very firstborn of the church, although to man it appears otherwise (see also n. 352, 367). But as these things will frequently be treated of hereafter, of the Lord’s Divine mercy we shall say more on the subject as the occasion arises.

sRef Gen@19 @22 S0′ 2436. Verse 22. Haste thee, escape thither, for I cannot do anything until thou be come thither. Therefore he called the name of the city Zoar. “Haste thee, escape thither,” signifies that he should remain in it, because he cannot go further; “for I cannot do anything until thou be come thither,” signifies that before the Judgment upon the evil, they are to be saved who are in the affection of truth; “Therefore he called the name of the city Zoar,” signifies the affection of truth.

sRef Gen@19 @22 S0′ 2437. Haste thee, escape thither. That this signifies that he should remain in it, because he could not go further (that is to say, in the truth of faith and the affection of it, because he could not be in the very good of charity and the affection of it), is evident from what precedes.

sRef Gen@19 @22 S0′ 2438. For I cannot do anything until thou be come thither. That this signifies that before the Judgment upon the evil they are to be saved who are in the affection of truth, is evident from the fact that the words “I cannot do anything,” refer to the Judgment upon the evil, which is presently described by the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah; and that the words “until thou be come thither,” signify that they are first to be saved who are in the affection of truth, and who are here represented by Lot; which also is what is meant by Lot’s coming to Zoar (verse 23).
[2] That the good and the just are saved before the evil and the unjust perish, is evident also elsewhere in the Word, as where the Last Judgment is treated of in Matthew, and it is said that the sheep were separated from the goats, and the sheep were told to enter into the Lord’s kingdom before the goats were told to depart into eternal fire (25:32, 34, 41). The like was also represented in the exodus of the sons of Israel from Egypt-that they were saved before the Egyptians were drowned in the Red Sea.
[3] The same is also signified by the declarations of the Prophets, that after the faithful had been brought back from captivity, their enemies should then undergo their punishments and perish. This is continually taking place in the other life, that is, the faithful are first saved, and then the unfaithful are punished; or what is the same, the faithful are elevated into heaven by the Lord, and the unfaithful then cast themselves down into hell. The reason why these two things do not take place at the same time is that unless the good were carefully withdrawn from the wicked, they would easily perish by the cupidities of evil and the persuasions of falsity, which the wicked continually scatter around like poisons. But in general, before this comes to pass, it is provided that evils should be separated from the good, and that goods should be separated from the evil, so that the former may by means of their goods be uplifted by the Lord into heaven, and the latter by means of their evils may cast themselves down into hell; concerning which subject of the Lord’s Divine mercy hereafter, at n. 2449, 2451.

sRef Gen@19 @22 S0′ 2439. Therefore he called the name of the city Zoar. That this signifies the affection of truth, is evident from the signification of Zoar,” as being the affection of good, namely, of the good of knowledge, that is, the affection of truth (see n. 1589); and from the signification of “calling a name,” as being to know the quality (see n. 144, 145, 1754, 2009); here that there was a little truth, for in the original language “Zoar” means “little,” or “small.” In comparison with those who are in the affection of good, they who are in the affection of truth have little truth because they have little good (see above, n. 2429).
[2] Moreover that truths which are in themselves truths are with one person more true, with another less true, and with some not true at all, and even false, is evident from almost all things which in themselves are true; for they are varied in the man with whom they are, in accordance with his affections. For example, the doing of a good work or a good of charity: in itself it is a truth that this is to be done; and with one person it is a good of charity, because it proceeds from charity; with another it is a work of obedience, because it proceeds from obedience; with some it is work of self-merit, because by it they desire to merit and to obtain salvation; but with others it is hypocritical, being done in order that they may seem charitable; and so on. It is the same with all other things that are called truths of faith. And this shows that there is much truth with those who are in the affection of good, and less truth with those who are in the affection of truth; for the latter regard good as being more remote from themselves, whereas the former regard good as being present in themselves.

sRef Gen@19 @23 S0′ 2440. Verse 23. The sun was gone forth upon the earth, and Lot came to Zoar. “The sun was gone forth upon the earth,” signifies the last period, which is called the Last Judgment; “and Lot came to Zoar,” signifies that those are saved who are in the affection of truth.

sRef Gen@19 @23 S0′ 2441. The sun was gone forth upon the earth. That this signifies the last period, which is called the Last Judgment, is evident from the signification of the “rising of the sun,” when the subject treated of is the times and states of the church. That in the internal sense the times of the day, and also the times of the year, signify the successive states of the church, has been shown before (n. 2323); and that the dawn or morning signifies the Lord’s advent, that is, the approach of His Kingdom (n. 2405) so that in the passage before us the rising of the sun, that is, his “going forth upon the earth,” signifies the Lord’s presence itself; and this for the reason that both the “sun” and the “east” signify the Lord. (As to the “sun,” seen. 31, 32, 1053, 1521, 1529-1531, 2120; as to the “east,” n. 101.)
[2] The reason why the Lord’s presence is the same as the last period, which is called the Judgment, is that His presence separates the good from the evil, and results in the good being elevated into heaven, and the evil casting themselves down into hell; for in the other life the Lord is the Sun to the universal heaven (see n. 1053, 1521, 1529-1531), for it is the Divine Celestial of His love that so appears before their eyes and actually makes the very light of heaven. In so far therefore as the inhabitants of the spiritual world are in celestial love, so far are they elevated into that celestial light which is from the Lord; but in so far as they are remote from celestial love, so far do they cast themselves away from this tight into infernal darkness.
sRef Deut@17 @5 S3′ sRef Deut@17 @3 S3′ [3] This therefore is the reason why the “rising of the sun,” by which is signified the presence of the Lord, involves both the salvation of the good and the damnation of the evil; and this is why it is now said for the first time that “Lot came to Zoar,” that is, that they who are here represented by Lot were saved; and presently that “Jehovah caused it to rain upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire,” that is, that the evil were damned.
sRef Ezek@32 @8 S4′ sRef Ezek@32 @7 S4′ [4] To those who are in the evils of the love of self and of the world, that is, to those who are in hatreds against all things of love to the Lord and of charity toward the neighbor, the light of heaven actually appears as thick darkness; on which account it is said in the Word that to such the “sun was blackened;” by which is signified that they rejected everything of love and charity, and received everything that is contrary thereto. As in Ezekiel:
When I shall extinguish thee, I will cover the heavens, and make the stars thereof black I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not make her light to shine all the luminaries of light in the heavens will I make black over thee, and will set darkness upon thy land (Ezek. 31:7, 8).
Every one can see that by “covering the heavens,” “blackening the stars,” “covering the sun,” and “blackening the luminaries of heaven,” other things than these are signified.
sRef Matt@24 @29 S5′ sRef Joel@2 @10 S5′ sRef Isa@13 @10 S5′ [5] In like manner in Isaiah:
The sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine (Isa. 13:10).
And in Joel:
The sun and the moon are blackened, and the stars withdraw their shining (Joel 2:2, 10).
It is therefore evident what is signified by the Lord’s words in Matthew, where He is speaking of the last period of the church, which is called the Judgment:
Immediately after the affliction of those days, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven (Matt. 24:29)
where by the “sun” is not meant the sun; nor by the “moon,” the moon; nor by the “stars,” the stars; but by the “sun” are signified love and charity; by the “moon,” the faith thence derived; and by the “stars,” the knowledges of good and truth; which are said to be “obscured,” to “lose their light,” and to “fall from heaven,” when there is no longer any acknowledgment of the Lord, nor any love to Him, nor any charity toward the neighbor; and when these have become nought, the love of self with its falsities takes possession of the man; for the one thing is a consequence of the other.
sRef Rev@16 @9 S6′ sRef Rev@16 @8 S6′ [6] Hence we read also in John:
The fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and it was given unto him to scorch men with fire, and men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God (Rev. 16:8, 9)
where also the last times of the church are treated of, when all love and charity are being extinguished; or, speaking according to the common mode, when there is no longer any faith. The extinction of love and charity is meant by the “pouring out of the vial upon the sun;” so that it was the love of self and its cupidities by which men were then “scorched with fire,” and “scorched with great heat;” and from which came the “blaspheming of the name of God.”
[7] By the “sun” the Ancient Church understood nothing else than the Lord and the Divine Celestial of His love; and therefore they were accustomed to pray toward the sun rising, while not thinking at all about the sun. But after their posterity had lost this also, together with the rest of their representatives and significatives, they began to worship the sun itself and also the moon; which worship spread to many nations, so much so that they dedicated temples to them, and set up pillars; and because the sun and the moon then took on an opposite signification, they came to signify the love of self and of the world, which are diametrically contrary to heavenly and spiritual love. Hence in the Word by the “worship of the sun and the moon” is meant the worship of self and of the world.
sRef Deut@4 @19 S8′ [8] As in Moses:
Lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the army of the heavens, and thou be driven to bow down unto them, and serve them (Deut. 4:19).
And again:
If he have gone and served other gods, and the sun and the moon, or any of the army of the heavens, which I have not commanded, then thou shalt stone them with stones, and they shall die (Deut. 17:3, 5).
Into such idolatry was the ancient worship turned when they no longer believed that anything internal was signified by the rites of the church, but only what was external.
sRef Jer@8 @2 S9′ sRef Jer@8 @1 S9′ sRef Jer@43 @13 S9′ [9] In like manner in Jeremiah:
At that time shall they spread out the bones of the kings of Judah, of the princes, of the priests, of the prophets, and of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, before the sun and the moon, and all the army of the heavens, which they have loved, and which they have served (Jer. 8:1-2).
The “sun” here denotes the love of self and its cupidities; their “spreading out the bones” signifies the infernal things that belong to such worshipers.
Again:
He shall break the pillars of the house of the sun, which are in the land of Egypt, and the houses of the gods of Egypt shall he burn with fire (Jer. 43:13).
The “pillars of the house” denote the worship of self.

sRef Gen@19 @23 S0′ 2442. And Lot came to Zoar. That this signifies that those who are in the affection of truth are saved, is evident from the signification of “Zoar,” as being the affection of truth (see n. 2439). This shows that those also are saved who are in faith, provided there is good in their faith; that is, provided they are affected by the truths of faith for the sake of good, for this is from good: all the life of faith is from no other source. (That charity is the essential of faith, nay, that it is faith itself, because it is the very substance of faith, may be seen above, n. 379, 389, 654, 724, 809, 916, 1162, 1176, 1798, 1799, 1834, 1844, 2049, 2116, 2189, 2190, 2228, 2261, 2343, 2349, 2417).

sRef Gen@19 @24 S0′ 2443. Verse 24. And Jehovah caused it to rain upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Jehovah out of heaven. “Jehovah caused it to rain upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire,” signifies the hell of those who are in the evils of the love of self and the falsities thence derived; “to rain” is to be damned; “brimstone” is the hell of the love of self; “fire” is the hell of the falsities thence derived; “from Jehovah out of heaven,” signifies from the laws of order as to truth, because they separate themselves from good.

sRef Gen@19 @24 S0′ 2444. Jehovah caused it to rain upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire. That this signifies the hell of those who are in the evils of the love of self and the falsities thence derived, is evident from the signification of “raining,” as being to be damned; of “brimstone,” as being the hell of the evils of the love of self; and of “fire,” as being the hell of the falsities thence derived, concerning which presently; also from the signification of “Sodom,” as being the evil of the love of self; and of “Gomorrah,” as being the falsity thence derived (see n. 2220, 2246, 2322).
[2] Here “Gomorrah” is also mentioned, for the first time in this chapter, for the reason that “Gomorrah” signifies the falsity that comes from the evil of the love of self. For within the church, whose last period or Judgment is here treated of, this evil is that which chiefly acts against good, and its falsity is that which acts against truth; and these two things are so conjoined that he who is in the one is also in the other, and indeed in a like ratio and a like degree. It does indeed appear otherwise, but yet is plainly so in the other life, if not in the world. (As regards the love of self, its nature, the vastness of the evils that come from it, and that it is the source of the hells, see n. 693, 694, 760, 1307, 1308, 1321, 1594, 1691, 2041, 2045, 2051, 2057, 2219).

sRef Ex@9 @24 S0′ sRef Ex@9 @23 S0′ sRef Ezek@13 @13 S0′ sRef Gen@19 @24 S0′ sRef Ezek@13 @11 S0′ sRef Ps@105 @33 S0′ sRef Isa@4 @6 S0′ sRef Ps@105 @32 S0′ 2445. That to “rain” denotes to be damned, is evident from the signification of “rain.” In the Word “rain” in the genuine sense signifies a blessing, and therefore also salvation; but in the opposite sense a curse, and therefore also damnation. That it signifies a blessing and therefore salvation, is evident from many passages; but that in the opposite sense it signifies a curse, and therefore damnation, is manifest from the following. In Isaiah:
There shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a refuge and a covert from flood, and from rain (Isa. 4:6).
In Ezekiel:
Say to them that daub on what is untempered, that it shall fall; there shall be an overflowing rain, and ye hailstones shall fall; an overflowing rain shall there be in Mine anger, and hailstones in wrath unto the consummation (Ezek. 13:11, 13).
In David:
He made their rains hail, a fire of flames in their land, and He smote their vine and their fig-tree (Ps. 105:32-33);
concerning Egypt, of which we read in Moses:
Jehovah gave thunders and hail, and fire quivered upon the land; and Jehovah made it rain hail upon the land of Egypt (Exod. 9:23-24).

sRef Gen@19 @24 S0′ sRef Ezek@38 @22 S0′ sRef Rev@19 @20 S1′ sRef Ps@11 @6 S1′ sRef Rev@21 @8 S1′ sRef Rev@20 @10 S1′ 2446. That “brimstone” denotes the hell of the evils of the love of self, and “fire” the hell of the falsities thence derived, is evident from the signification in the Word of “brimstone” and the “fire” from it, as being the love of self with its cupidities and the derivative falsities, thus as being hell, for hell consists of such things. That “brimstone” and “fire” have this signification is evident in David:
Jehovah shall rain upon the wicked snares, fire, and brimstone (Ps. 11:6).
That fire and brimstone are not here meant, but something else that is signified by “fire and brimstone,” is evident also from its being said that Jehovah “rains snares.” In Ezekiel:
I will contend against him with pestilence and with blood, and I will make it rain an overflowing rain, and hailstones, fire and brimstone, upon him, and upon his troops, and upon the many peoples that are with him (Ezek. 38:22);
where God is treated of, who lays waste the land of Israel, that is, the church. (The signification of “God” may be seen above, n. 1151.) “Fire” denotes falsities, “brimstone” the evils thence, and at the same time the hells of those who lay waste. In John:
They who adored the beast were cast into a lake of fire burning with brimstone (Rev. 19:20);
meaning hell.
Again:
The devil was cast into a lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are; and they shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever (Rev. 20:10);
manifestly meaning hell. Again:
The abominable, and murderers, and adulterers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone (Rev. 21:8);
where also “fire and brimstone” plainly denote hell.
sRef Luke@17 @30 S2′ sRef Luke@17 @29 S2′ sRef Isa@30 @33 S2′ sRef Isa@34 @9 S2′ sRef Isa@34 @8 S2′ [2] That they denote the evils of the love of self and the falsities thence derived, from which come the hells-in Isaiah:
The day of the vengeance of Jehovah, and the year of retribution in the controversy of Zion; and the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch (Isa. 34:8-9);
where “burning pitch,” here mentioned instead of “fire,” denotes dense and direful falsities and ” brimstone” the evils from the love of self. Again:
The pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of Jehovah is like a stream of brimstone kindling in it (Isa. 30:33);
speaking of Topheth; the “stream of kindling brimstone” denoting falsities from the evils of the love of self. In Luke:
In the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all; even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed (Luke 17:29-30).
That it will not then rain fire and brimstone is obvious; but what is meant is that the falsities and cupidities of the love of self, which are signified by “fire and brimstone,” and which make the hells, will then predominate.
sRef Rev@9 @17 S3′ sRef Rev@9 @18 S3′ [3] That in the Word “fire” signifies cupidities, and at the same time the hells, and that in this case the “smoke” from the fire signifies the falsity thence derived, and which is in those hells, may be seen above (n. 1861); and in John:
I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat upon them, having breastplates of fire and of brimstone; and the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions, and out of their mouth issued fire, smoke, and brimstone: by these three were the third part of men killed, by the fire, and the smoke, and the brimstone (Rev. 9:17-18);
“fire, smoke, and brimstone” denote evils and falsities of every kind, of which as before said the hells consist.

sRef Gen@19 @24 S0′ 2447. From Jehovah out of heaven. That this signifies from the laws of order as to truth, because they separate themselves from good, cannot be seen except from the internal sense, by which there is disclosed how the case stands with punishments and damnations: that they in no wise come from Jehovah, that is, from the Lord, but from the man himself, the evil spirit, and the devil; and this from the laws of order as to truth, because they separate themselves from good.
[2] All order is from Jehovah, that is, from the Lord, and according to this order are all things directed by Him both in general and in particular, but in many different ways, to wit, from Will, from Good-pleasure, from Leave, and from Permission. The things that are from His will and good-pleasure are from the laws of order as to good, and so also are many of those which are from leave, and some of those which are from permission. But when a man separates himself from good he casts himself into the rule of the laws of order that are of truth separated from good, which are such that they condemn; for all truth condemns man and casts him down into hell; whereas the Lord from good, that is, from mercy, saves him, and uplifts him into heaven. From this we see that it is man himself who condemns himself.
[3] The things done from permission are mostly of this nature, as for example, that one devil punishes and torments another; and innumerable other things of this kind. These things are from the laws of order as to truth separated from good; for the devils could not otherwise be held in bonds, and withheld from rushing upon all the well disposed and good, and eternally destroying them. It is the prevention of this which is the good the Lord has in view. The case herein is similar to that which exists on earth, where a mild and clement king, who intends and does nothing but good, must needs suffer his laws to punish the evil and the wicked (although he punishes no one, but rather grieves that they are such that their evils must punish them), for otherwise he would leave his kingdom itself a prey to them; which would be the height of rigor and of unmercifulness.
[4] This shows that Jehovah in no wise caused it to rain brimstone and fire, that is in no wise condemned to hell; but that the men themselves who were in evil and thence in falsity did this, because they had separated themselves from good, and so had cast themselves into the rule of the laws of order that come from truth alone. From all which it follows that this is the internal sense of these words.
sRef Ps@18 @8 S5′ sRef Ps@18 @9 S5′ sRef Ezek@38 @22 S5′ sRef Deut@32 @22 S5′ sRef Isa@30 @33 S5′ sRef Ps@11 @6 S5′ sRef Jer@21 @12 S5′ [5] That in the Word “evil,” “punishing,” “cursing,” “damnation,” and many other such things are attributed to Jehovah or the Lord, as here that He made it “rain brimstone and fire,” we read in Ezekiel:
I will contend against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him fire and brimstone (Ezek. 38:22).
In Isaiah:
The breath of Jehovah like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it (Isa. 30:33).
In David:
Jehovah shall rain upon the wicked snares, fire, and brimstone (Ps. 11:6).
Again:
There went up a smoke out of His nostrils, and fire out of His mouth, coals did burn from Him (Ps. 18:8).
In Jeremiah:
Lest My fury go forth like fire, and burn, and there is none to quench it (Jer. 21:12).
In Moses:
A fire is kindled in Mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell (Deut. 32:22);
besides similar things in many other places. The reason why such things are attributed in the Word to Jehovah or the Lord has been explained in volume 1 (n. 223, 245, 589, 592, 696, 735, 1093, 1638, 1683, 1874); for such things are as far from coming from the Lord, as good is far from evil, or as heaven is from hell, or what is Divine from what is diabolical. Evil, hell, and the devil do these things; but by no means the Lord, who is mercy itself and good itself; but because He appears to do them, therefore for the reasons mentioned in the numbers cited, they are attributed to Him.
sRef John@14 @11 S6′ sRef John@16 @14 S6′ sRef John@16 @13 S6′ sRef John@14 @9 S6′ [6] From its being said in this verse that Jehovah caused it to rain from Jehovah out of heaven, it appears in the sense of the letter as if there were two; one on earth, and one in heaven; but the internal sense teaches how this also is to be understood, namely, that by the Jehovah first named is meant the Lord’s Divine Human and Holy proceeding (meant in this chapter by the “two men”) and by the Jehovah named in the second place is meant the Divine Itself that is called the “Father” (spoken of in the preceding chapter); and that this Trine is in the Lord, as He himself says in John:
He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; believe Me, that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me (John 14:9-11).
And concerning the Holy proceeding, in the same:
The Comforter shall not speak from Himself but He shall take of Mine, and shall declare it unto you (John 16:13-15).
Thus Jehovah is one, although two are here named; two being named for the reason that all the laws of order are from the Lord’s Divine Itself, Divine Human, and Holy proceeding.

sRef Gen@19 @25 S0′ 2448. Verse 25. And He overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and the growth of the ground. “He overthrew those cities,” signifies that all truths were separated from them, in order that they might have only falsities “and all the plain,” signifies all things that pertained to truths; “and all the inhabitants of the cities,” signifies that all goods were separated from them, in order that they might have nothing but evils; “and the growth of the ground,” signifies all that is of the church.

sRef Gen@19 @25 S0′ 2449. He overthrew those cities. That this signifies that all truths were separated from them, in order that they might have only falsities, is evident from the signification of “cities,” as being doctrinal things, thus truths, since these belong to doctrinal things (see n. 402, 2268, 2428); and which are said to be “overthrown” when there are falsities instead of truths, in the present case when all truths have been separated from them, as well as all goods, which are likewise treated of in this verse because the subject is the last state of those within the church who are in falsities and evils; and this is the state into which they come, concerning the nature of which a few words shall be said.
sRef Matt@13 @12 S2′ sRef Matt@13 @39 S2′ sRef Matt@25 @29 S2′ sRef Matt@13 @30 S2′ sRef Matt@13 @40 S2′ [2] They who come into the other life are all brought again into a life similar to that which they had in the body; and then with the good evils and falsities are separated, in order that by means of goods and truths they may be elevated by the Lord into heaven; but with the evil, goods and truths are separated in order that by evils and falsities they may be borne into hell (see n. 2119); precisely in accordance with the Lord’s words in Matthew:
Whosoever hath, to him shall be given, that he may have more abundance; but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that which he hath (Matt. 13:12).
And elsewhere in the same:
Unto him that hath shall be given, that he may have abundance; but from him that hath not, shall be taken away even that which he hath (Matt. 25:29; Luke 8:18; 19:24-26; Mark 4:24-25).
The same things are also signified by these words in Matthew:
Let both grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn. The harvest is the consummation of the age; as therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the consummation of the age (Matt. 13:30, 39-40).
The same are also signified by what is said of the net cast into the sea that gathered fishes of various kinds, the good being collected into vessels and the bad cast away; and of its being so at the consummation of the age (verses 47 to 50). What the “consummation” is, and that it involves like things as these in regard to the church, may be seen above, n 1857, 2243.) The reason why evils and falsities are separated from the good is that they may not hang between evils and goods, but may be elevated by means of goods into heaven; and the reason why goods and truths are separated from the evil is that they may not by means of any goods that pertain to them seduce the upright, and also that by means of their evils they may go away among the evil who are in hell. For such is the communication in the other life, of all ideas of thought, and of all affections, that goods are communicated among the good, and evils among the evil (n. 1388-1390); so that unless the good and the evil were separated, countless mischiefs would result, and moreover all association together would be impossible; when yet all things are most exquisitely consociated, in the heavens according to all the differences of love to the Lord and of mutual love, and of the derivative faith (n. 685, 1394); and in the hells according to all the differences of cupidities and of the derivative phantasies (n. 695, 1322). Be it known however that the separation is not entire removal, for from no one is that which he has had altogether taken away.

sRef Gen@19 @25 S0′ 2450. And all the plain. That this signifies all things that pertained to those truths, is evident from the signification of a “plain,” as being everything of what is doctrinal, thus everything that pertains to truths (see n. 2418).

sRef Gen@19 @25 S0′ 2451. And all the inhabitants of the cities. That this signifies that all goods were taken away from them, in order that they might have nothing but evils, is evident from the signification of “inhabitants,” when predicated of a city, as being goods; which may be confirmed by many things in the Word. The same is also evident from the fact that when a “city” signifies truth (as already shown), an “inhabitant” denotes good; for truth is that in which good dwells; and truth in which there is no good, is like a city empty, or without an inhabitant. Moreover as regards the fact that all goods are separated from the evil, so that they may have nothing but evils, see above (n. 2449).

sRef Gen@19 @25 S0′ 2452. And the growth of the ground. That this signifies all that is of the church, is evident from the signification of the “growth” (by which is meant both the crops and also every green thing, and that goods and truths are signified by these, is evident from the Word throughout); and also from the signification of the “ground,” as being the church (see n. 566, 1068). That goods and truths are everything of the church, is well known.

sRef Gen@19 @26 S0′ 2453. Verse 26. And his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. “His wife looked back behind him,” signifies that truth turned itself away from good, and looked to doctrinal things; “and she became a pillar of salt,” signifies that all the good of truth was vastated.

sRef Gen@19 @26 S0′ sRef Luke@17 @31 S0′ sRef Luke@17 @32 S0′ 2454. His wife looked back behind him. That this signifies that truth turned itself away from good, and looked to doctrinal things, is evident from the signification of “looking back behind him,” and from the signification of a “wife.” It has been already said (n. 2417) that to “look back behind him” is to look to doctrinal things, which are of truth, and not to a life according to doctrinal things, which is of good; for that is said to be “behind” him, which is posterior; and that is said to be “before” him, which is prior. It has been frequently shown that truth is posterior, and good prior; for truth is of good, because good is the essence and life of truth; and therefore to “look back behind him” is to look to truth, which is of doctrine, and not to good, which is of life according to doctrine. That this is the signification is very evident from the Lord’s words (where also He is speaking of the last time of the church, or of the consummation of the age) in Luke:
In that day he that shall be upon the house, and his vessels in the house, let him not go down to take them away; and let him that is in the field likewise not turn back behind him: Remember Lot’s wife (Luke 17:31-32).
[2] These words of the Lord are not at all intelligible without the internal sense, thus unless it is known what is signified by being upon the house, what by the vessels in the house, what by going down to take them away, and what by the field, and lastly what by turning back behind him. According to the internal sense, to be “upon the house” is to be in good (that a “house” denotes good may be seen above, n. 710, 2238, 2234). The “vessels” in a house denote the truths which are of good (that truths are the vessels of good, may be seen above, n. 1496, 1832, 1900, 2063, 2269). To “go down to take them away” denotes to turn one’s self away from good to truth, as we can see; for as good is prior it is also higher; and as truth is posterior it is lower. That a “field” denotes the church, being so called from the seed which it receives into it, consequently that those are “fields” who are in the good of doctrine, is evident from many passages in the Word. This shows what is signified by “turning back behind him,” namely, to turn one’s self away from good, and to look to doctrinal things; wherefore, because these things are signified by Lot’s wife, it is added, “Remember Lot’s wife.” It is not said that she “looked back behind herself,” but “behind him;” because “Lot” signifies good (see n. 2324, 2351, 2370, 2399). Hence it is that when Lot was told what to do (verse 17), it was said, “Look not back behind thee.”
[3] The reason why it is said in Luke, “Let him not turn back behind him,” and not “to the things that are behind him,” is that the celestial are not willing even to mention anything of a doctrinal nature (see n. 202, 337); which is the reason why nothing specific is mentioned, but it is merely said “behind him.” These same things are thus described in Matthew:
When ye shall see the abomination of desolation, foretold by Daniel the prophet, then let them that are in Judea flee into the mountains; let him that is upon the house not go down to take anything out of his house; and let him that is in the field not return back to take his garments (Matt. 24:15-17).
sRef Matt@24 @17 S4′ sRef Matt@24 @16 S4′ sRef Matt@24 @18 S4′ sRef Matt@24 @15 S4′ [4] The “abomination of desolation” denotes the state of the church when there is no love and no charity, for when these are desolated, abominable things predominate. That “Judea” denotes the church, and indeed the celestial church, is evident from the Word of the Old Testament throughout, both the historic and the prophetic. That the “mountains” into which they shall flee, denote love to the Lord and the consequent charity toward the neighbor, may be seen above (n. 795, 1430, 1691). That “he who is upon the house,” denotes the good of love, has just been stated. That to “go down to take anything out of his house,” denotes to turn one’s self away from good to truth, has also just been stated. That “they who are in the field” denote those who are in the spiritual church, is evident from the signification in the Word of a “field.” That “let him not return back to take his garments,” denotes that he should not turn himself away from good to the truth that is of doctrine, is because “garments” signify truths, for truths act as garments in clothing good (see n. 1073). Everyone can see that very different things are meant and that arcana are involved by all that the Lord there said concerning the consummation of the age, as that they who were in Judea should flee into the mountains, that they who were upon the house should not go down to take anything out of the house, and that they who were in the field should not return back to take their garments; and in like manner by its being said that Lot should not look back behind himself (verse 17), and here that his wife did look back behind him. This is further evident from the signification of a “wife,” as being truth (see n. 915, 1468); and from the signification of “Lot,” as being good (see n. 2324, 2351, 2370, 2399); hence it is said “behind him.”
[5] Truth is said to turn itself away from good, and to look to doctrinal things, when the man of the church no longer has at heart what kind of a life he lives, but what kind of a doctrine he possesses; when yet it is a life according to doctrine that makes a man of the church, but not doctrine separate from life; for when doctrine is separated from life, then because good, which is of the life, is laid waste, truth, which is of doctrine, is also laid waste, that is, becomes a pillar of salt; which everyone may know who looks only to doctrine and not to life, when he considers whether, although doctrine teaches them, he believes in the resurrection, in heaven, in hell, even in the Lord, and in the rest of the things that are of doctrine.

sRef Judg@9 @45 S0′ sRef Gen@19 @26 S0′ 2455. And she became a pillar of salt. That this signifies that all the good of truth was laid waste, is evident from the signification of a “pillar,” and from the signification of “salt.” In the original language a “pillar” is expressed by a word which signifies a standing still, not by one that means a pillar erected for worship, or for a sign, or for a witness; so that by the “pillar of salt” is here signified that it, namely, the truth signified by Lot’s wife, stood vastated (n. 2454). Truth is said to be vastated, or laid waste, when there is no longer any good in it, vastation itself being signified by “salt.”
sRef Deut@29 @23 S2′ [2] As most things in the Word have a double sense, namely, the genuine sense and its opposite, so also has “salt;” in the genuine sense it signifies the affection of truth; in the opposite sense, the vastation of the affection of truth, that is, of good in truth. That “salt” signifies the affection of truth may be seen in Exod. 30:35; Lev. 2:13; Matt. 5:13; Mark 9:49, 50; Luke 14:34, 35; and that it signifies the vastation of the affection of truth is evident from the following passages. In Moses:
The whole land shall be brimstone and salt, a burning; it shall not be sown, it shall not bear, neither shall any herb spring up therein; like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboim (Deut. 29:23);
where “brimstone” denotes the vastation of good; and “salt” the vastation of truth: that the subject is vastation is evident from every particular.
sRef Jer@17 @5 S3′ sRef Zeph@2 @9 S3′ sRef Jer@17 @6 S3′ [3] In Zephaniah:
Moab shall be as Sodom, and the sons of Ammon as Gomorrah; a place that is left to the nettle, and a pit of salt, and an eternal desolation (Zeph. 2:9);
where a “place that is left to the nettle” denotes vastated good, and a “pit of salt” vastated truth; for the expression “place left to the nettle” refers to Sodom, by which is signified evil or vastated good, and a “pit of salt” to Gomorrah, by which is signified falsity or vastated truth, as already shown. That the subject is vastation is manifest, for it is said an “eternal desolation.” In Jeremiah:
He that maketh flesh his arm shall be like a bare shrub in the solitude, and shall not see when good cometh, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, a salt land, and not inhabited (Jer. 17:5-6);
where “parched places” denote vastated goods, and a “salt land” vastated truths.
sRef Ezek@47 @11 S4′ sRef Ps@107 @33 S4′ sRef Ps@107 @34 S4′ [4] In David:
Jehovah maketh rivers into a wilderness, and water springs into dry ground, a fruitful land into a salt one, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein (Ps. 107:33-34);
a “fruitful land made into a salt one” denotes the vastation of good in truth. In Ezekiel:
The miry places thereof and the marshes thereof shall not be healed; they shall be given up to salt (Ezek. 47:11);
to be “given up to salt” denotes being altogether vastated as to truth. As “salt” signified vastation, and “cities” the doctrinal things of truth (shown at n. 402, 2268, 2428, 2451), in ancient times when cities were destroyed they were sown with salt, in order to prevent their being rebuilt (Judges 9:45). The words before us therefore denote the fourth state of that church which was represented by Lot, which state was that all truth was vastated as to good.

sRef Gen@19 @27 S0′ sRef Gen@19 @29 S0′ sRef Gen@19 @28 S0′ 2456. Verses 27-29. And Abraham rose up early in the morning unto the place where he had stood before Jehovah. And he looked against the faces of Sodom and Gomorrah, and against all the faces of the land of the plain; and he saw and behold the smoke of the land went up, as the smoke of a furnace. And it came to pass when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot dwelt. “Abraham rose up early in the morning,” signifies the Lord’s thought concerning the last time; Abraham here as before denotes the Lord in that state; “unto the place where he had stood before Jehovah,” signifies the state of perception and thought in which He had been before; “place” denotes state. “And he looked against the faces of Sodom and Gomorrah,” signifies thought concerning their interior state in respect to evil and falsity; “and against all the faces of the land of the plain,” signifies all the interior states thence derived; “and he saw and behold the smoke of the land went up, as the smoke of a furnace,” signifies a state of falsity (which is “smoke”) from a state of evil (which is the “furnace”) within the church (which is the “land”). “And it came to pass when God destroyed the cities of the plain,” signifies when they perished through the falsities of evil, which are the “cities of the plain;” “that God remembered Abraham,” signifies salvation through the unition of the Lord’s Divine Essence with His Human Essence; “and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow,” signifies the salvation of those who are in good, and of those who are in truth in which is good, all of whom are here meant by “Lot;” “when He over- threw the cities,” signifies when those who were in falsities from evils perished; “in which Lot dwelt,” signifies although they who were saved were also in such falsities.

sRef Gen@19 @28 S0′ sRef Gen@19 @29 S0′ sRef Gen@19 @27 S0′ 2457. It is not necessary to explain these things in detail, because for the most part they have been explained in the preceding chapter, and also previously to that. They have been here added and inserted to the end that it might be evident that the good were separated from the evil, the former being saved while the latter were condemned, solely through the unition of the Lord’s Divine Essence with His Human Essence; for if this had not taken place all those who are here represented by Lot would have perished together with the rest; which is meant by these words: “And it came to pass when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot dwelt;” which in the internal sense denote that through the unition of the Lord’s Divine Essence with His Human Essence, all who were in good were saved, and also those who were in truth in which there is good, here represented by Lot, while those who were in falsities from evils perished, although they who were saved were also in falsities and evils. In this way therefore are the things said in this chapter conjoined with those said in the preceding one; namely, that Abraham (that is, the Lord in that state) interceded for those people of Sodom and Gomorrah who are signified by the “fifty,” the “forty-five,” the “forty,” the “thirty,” the “twenty,” and the “ten;” concerning whom it was there explained that these are all in their order who are in good, and also those who are in truth in which there is anything of good.

sRef Gen@19 @30 S0′ 2458. Verse 30. And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar; and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters. “Lot went up out of Zoar,” signifies when they were no longer in the affection of truth; “and dwelt in the mountain,” signifies that they then betook themselves to a kind of good; ” and his two daughters with him,” signifies that so did the affections thence derived; “for he feared to dwell in Zoar,” signifies because they could no longer look to good from the affection of truth; “and he dwelt in a cave,” signifies the good of falsity; “and his two daughters,” signifies the affections thence derived, which are those of such good and such falsity.

sRef Gen@19 @30 S0′ 2459. Lot went up out of Zoar. That this signifies when they were no longer in the affection of truth, is evident from the signification of “Zoar,” as being the affection of truth (see n. 2439); and as there follows the statement that “he dwelt in the mountain because he feared to dwell in Zoar,” the signification is “when they were no longer in the affection of truth,” and this because all the good of truth had been vastated, as is evident from verse 26. In this verse therefore there is described the fifth state of the church which was represented by Lot, which state was that after there was no longer any affection of truth, a kind of impure good, or good of falsity, infused itself.

sRef Gen@19 @30 S0′ 2460. And dwelt in the mountain. That this signifies that they then betook themselves to a kind of good, is evident from the signification of a “mountain,” as being love in every sense, namely, celestial and spiritual love (n. 795, 1430); and also the love of self and of the world (n. 1691); and this because most things in the Word have also an opposite sense. And as all good is of some love, by the “mountain” is here signified good; but what kind of good is described in what follows, namely, that it was obscure, and became impure; for it is presently said that he “dwelt in a cave,” and afterwards that profane things took place there.

sRef Gen@19 @30 S0′ 2461. And his two daughters with him. That this signifies that so did the affections thence derived, is evident from the signification of “daughters,” as being affections (see n. 489-491); but such as the good is, such are the affections that are derived from it. Even spurious and impure good has its affections, for all are affected by the things which they deem to be good, of whatever kind these may be, for they are the objects of their love.

sRef Gen@19 @30 S0′ 2462. For he feared to dwell in Zoar. That this signifies because he could no longer regard good from the affection of truth, is evident from the signification of “Zoar,” as being the affection of truth (n. 2439); and when this is vastated no one can any longer have regard to good from it. There is then also a fear of all truth, because this is opposed to the good of an impure love.

sRef Judg@6 @2 S0′ sRef 1Ki@19 @11 S0′ sRef 1Ki@19 @9 S0′ sRef 1Sam@13 @6 S0′ sRef 1Ki@19 @13 S0′ sRef Gen@19 @30 S0′ 2463. And he dwelt in a cave. That this signifies the good of falsity, is evident from the signification of a “cave.” A cave is a kind of dwelling in a mountain, but a dark one; and as all dwellings whatever, like “houses,” signify goods (n. 2233, 2234), but goods of such sort as are the dwellings; here the “cave,” being a dark dwelling, signifies the good of falsity. “Caves of mountains” are often mentioned in the Word, and in the internal sense have such a signification, as in Isaiah (2:19; 32:14), and in the historical books, as when Elijah, escaping from Jezebel,
Came to a cave in Mount Horeb, and spent the night there; and there the word of Jehovah came to him, and He said unto him, Go forth and stand on the mount before Jehovah; and he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood at the entrance of the cave (1 Kings 19:9, 13);
where in the internal sense by a “cave” is signified obscure good, but such as exists in temptations; and as this could not endure the Divine, he wrapped his face in his mantle. So too elsewhere in the historical books, as that the sons of Israel made for themselves caves in the mountains on account of Midian (Judges 6:2); also on account of the Philistines (1 Sam. 13:6). These historical facts, like those now explained in the books of Moses, have a different meaning in the internal sense.

sRef Gen@19 @30 S0′ 2464. And his two daughters. That this signifies the affections thence derived, which are those of such good and such falsity, is evident from the signification of “daughters,” as being affections (n. 2461). The good from which came these affections, or the father from whom came these daughters, was Lot; and the truth from which came these affections, or the mother of the daughters, was Lot’s wife; and when she was made a pillar of salt, that is, when the good of truth was vastated, then there came forth such good as is signified by “Lot in the cave,” and such affections thence derived as are signified by the “daughters.”

sRef Gen@19 @31 S0′ sRef Gen@19 @35 S0′ sRef Gen@19 @36 S0′ sRef Gen@19 @34 S0′ sRef Gen@19 @33 S0′ sRef Gen@19 @32 S0′ 2465. Verses 31-36. And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is no man in the earth to come unto us according to the way of all the earth. Come, let us make our father drink wine, and let us lie with him, and let us quicken seed from our father. And they made their father drink wine that night; and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he knew not when she lay down, nor when she arose. And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father; let us make him drink wine this night also, and go thou in and lie with him, and let us quicken seed from our father. And they made their father drink wine that night also; and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he knew not when she lay down, nor when she arose. And the two daughters of Lot conceived by their father.
[2] ” The firstborn said unto the younger,” signifies here as before the affections; the firstborn the affection of such good, the younger the affection of such falsity; “our father is old, and there is no man in the earth,” signifies that it is no longer known what good is, and what truth is; “to come unto us,” signifies with which they might be conjoined; “according to the way of all the earth,” signifies according to doctrinal things; the “earth” is the church. “Come, let us make our father drink wine,” signifies that they should imbue such good with falsities, which are the “wine;” “and let us lie with him,” signifies that in this way they would be conjoined; “and let us quicken seed from our father,” signifies that so there would be a newness of a sort of church.
[3] “And they made their father drink wine,” signifies that they imbued such good with falsities; “that night,” signifies when all things were in such obscurity; “and the firstborn went in,” signifies the affection of such good; “and lay with her father,” signifies that thus they were brought into accordance; “and he knew not when she lay down nor when she arose,” signifies that such a general kind of good knew no otherwise than that it was so. “And it came to pass on the morrow,” signifies afterwards “that the firstborn said unto the younger,” signifies that the affection of such good persuaded the falsity; “Behold, I lay yesternight with my father,” signifies that thus they were conjoined; “let us make him drink wine this night also,” signifies here as before that they imbued such good with falsities when everything was in such obscurity; [4] “and go thou in and lie with him,” signifies that these things also should be conjoined; “and let us quicken seed from our father,” signifies here as before that so there would be a newness of a sort of church. “And they made their father drink wine that night also,” signifies that in that obscure state they imbued such good with falsities; “and the younger arose and lay with him,” signifies that the affection of falsity did in like manner, so that falsities appeared as truths, and in this way they were conjoined; “and he knew not when she lay down nor when she arose,” signifies that such general good knew no otherwise than that it was so. “And the two daughters of Lot conceived by their father,” signifies that hence was the origin of such a religion as is signified by Noah and the son of Ammon.

sRef Gen@19 @32 S0′ sRef Gen@19 @33 S0′ sRef Gen@19 @31 S0′ sRef Gen@19 @34 S0′ sRef Gen@19 @36 S0′ sRef Gen@19 @35 S0′ 2466. That the things now set forth are signified in the internal sense, can be confirmed, and indeed as to each word; but most of them have been confirmed before, and besides, they are such as do violence to our ideas and give offense to chaste ears. From the summary explication we can see that by the things in question there is described the origin of such a religion as is signified in the Word by “Moab” and the “son of Ammon.” The nature of this religion will be told hereafter, where Moab and the son of Ammon are treated of. That it is adulterated good and falsified truth, is evident. The adulterations of good and the falsifications of truth are commonly described in the Word by “adulteries” and “whoredoms,” and are also so called, the reason of which is based on the fact that good and truth form a marriage with each other (n. 1904, 2173); nay, incredible as it may appear to most, it is from this marriage as from its genuine origin that there comes the sanctity of marriages on earth, and also the laws of marriages given in the Word.
sRef Ezek@16 @29 S2′ sRef Ezek@16 @17 S2′ sRef Ezek@16 @26 S2′ sRef Ezek@16 @28 S2′ sRef Ezek@16 @20 S2′ sRef Ezek@16 @15 S2′ sRef Ezek@16 @16 S2′ [2] For the case is this: When celestial and spiritual things descend out of heaven into a lower sphere, they are there turned in the most perfect manner into some likeness of marriages, and this from the correspondence that exists between spiritual and natural things (concerning which correspondence of the Lord’s Divine mercy elsewhere). But when they are perverted in the lower sphere, as is done where evil genii and evil spirits are present, the same are then turned into such things as belong to adulteries and whoredoms. Hence it is that contaminations of good and perversions of truth are described in the Word by adulteries and whoredoms, and are also so named, as is very evident from the following passages in Ezekiel:
Thou didst commit whoredom because of thy name, and pouredst out thy whoredoms on everyone that passed by; thou didst take of thy garments and madest for thee high places decked with diverse colors, and didst commit whoredom upon them; thou didst take the vessels of thy adornment of My gold and of My silver, which I had given thee, and madest for thee images of a male, and didst commit whoredom with them; thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto Me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them. Was there but little of thy whoredoms? Thou hast committed whoredom with the sons of Egypt, thy neighbors, great of flesh and hast multiplied thy whoredom to provoke Me to anger; thou hast committed whoredom with the sons of Asshur, and hast committed whoredom with them, and wast not satisfied; and thou hast multiplied thy whoredom even unto the land of traffic, unto Chaldea; and yet thou wast not satisfied therewith (Ezek. 16:15-17, 20, 26, 28-29, etc.),
[3] where Jerusalem is treated of, by which is here signified the church perverted in respect to truths. Everyone can see that all these things have quite different meanings. That something of the church that has been perverted is called “whoredom” is quite evident; the “garments” here mentioned denote the truths that are being perverted; the falsities thence derived, which are worshiped, are the “high places decked with divers colors,” with which there was whoredom. (That “garments” denote truths may be seen above, n. 1073; and that “high places” denote worship, n. 796.)
The “vessels of adornment of gold and silver which I had given,” denote the knowledges of good and truth from the Word by which they confirm falsities; and when these appear as truths, they are called “images of a male” with which whoredom was committed. (That the “vessels of adornment of gold and silver,” denote the knowledges of good and truth, is evident from the signification of “gold,” as being good, n. 113, 1551, 1552; and of “silver” as being truth, n. 1551, 2048; and that the “images of a male” signify that they appear as truths may be seen above, n. 2046.) That the “sons and daughters” which they bore and sacrificed to them denote the truths and goods which they have perverted, is evident from the signification of “sons and daughters” (see n. 489-491, 533, 2362). That to “commit whoredom with the sons of Egypt,” denotes to pervert these truths and goods by means of memory-knowledges is evident from the signification of “Egypt” as being memory-knowledge (n. 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462). That to “commit whoredom with the sons of Asshur,” denotes to pervert them by reasonings, is evident from the signification of “Asshur,” as being reasoning (n. 119, 1186). That to “multiply whoredom even unto the land of Chaldea,” denotes to pervert them even to the profanation of truth, which is “Chaldea” (n. 1368). All this makes clear what is the nature of the internal sense of the Word in the very sense of the letter.
sRef Ezek@23 @11 S4′ sRef Ezek@23 @8 S4′ sRef Ezek@23 @12 S4′ sRef Ezek@23 @2 S4′ sRef Ezek@23 @7 S4′ sRef Ezek@23 @5 S4′ sRef Ezek@23 @4 S4′ sRef Isa@23 @17 S4′ sRef Ezek@23 @14 S4′ sRef Ezek@23 @3 S4′ sRef Ezek@23 @16 S4′ [4] In like manner elsewhere in the same Prophet:
Two women, the daughters of one mother, committed whoredom in Egypt; they committed whoredom in their youth; Samaria is Oholah, Jerusalem is Oholibah. Oholah committed whoredom under Me, and she doted on her lovers, the Assyrians her neighbors, she bestowed her whoredoms upon them, the choice of all the sons of Asshur; she hath not forsaken her whoredoms from Egypt, for they lay with her in her youth. Oholibah corrupted her love more than she, and her whoredoms more than the whoredoms of her sister; she doted upon the sons of Asshur; she added to her whoredoms, and saw the images of the Chaldeans, she doted upon them at the view of her eyes; the sons of Babel came to her into the bed of loves (Ezek. 23:2-5, 7-8, 11-12, 14, 16, etc.).
“Samaria” denotes the church which is in the affection of truth, and “Jerusalem” that which is in the affection of good; whose “whoredoms with the Egyptians,” and “with the sons of Asshur,” denote perversions of good and truth by means of memory-knowledges and reasonings, by which falsities are confirmed, as is evident from the signification of “Egypt” (n. 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462); and of “Asshur” (n. 119, 1186). That this was done even to profane worship, which in respect to truth is “Chaldea” (n. 1368); and in respect to good is the “sons of Babel” (n. 1182, 1326).
[5] In Isaiah:
And it shall come to pass at the end of seventy years that Jehovah will visit Tyre, and she shall return to her harlot hire, and shall commit whoredom with all the kingdoms of the earth (Isa. 23:17).
It is the vaunting of what is false that is signified by the “harlot hire” and the “whoredom” of Tyre. That “Tyre” denotes the knowledges of truth may be seen above (n. 1201); and also that the “kingdoms” with which the whoredom was committed denote truths (n. 1672).
sRef Jer@3 @1 S6′ sRef Jer@3 @2 S6′ [6] In Jeremiah:
Thou hast committed whoredom with many companions; and return again unto Me. Lift up thine eyes unto the hills, and see; where hast thou not been debauched? Upon the ways hast thou sat for them as an Arab in the wilderness, and thou hast profaned the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness (Jer. 3:1-2).
To “commit whoredoms” and to “profane the land with whoredoms” denote to pervert and falsify the truths of the church (that the “land” denotes the church see above, n. 662, 1066, 1067).
sRef Jer@3 @9 S7′ [7] Again:
By the voice of her whoredom she hath profaned the land, she hath committed adultery with stone and with wood (Jer. 3:9);
to “commit adultery with stone and with wood,” denotes to pervert the truths and goods of external worship (that “stone” is such truth may be seen above, n. 643, 1298; and that “wood” is such good, n. 643).
sRef Jer@29 @23 S8′ [8] Again:
Because they have wrought folly in Israel, and have committed adultery with the wives of their fellows, and have spoken a word in My name that is false, which I commanded them not (Jer. 29:23);
to “commit adultery with the wives of their fellows,” is to teach falsity as from them.
sRef Jer@23 @14 S9′ sRef Jer@13 @27 S9′ [9] Again:
In the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing, in committing adultery and walking in falsehood (Jer. 23:14);
where to “commit adultery” regards good which is contaminated; and to “walk in falsehood” regards truth which is perverted. Again:
I have seen thine abominations; thine adulteries, and thy neighings, the foulness of thy whoredom upon the hills in the field. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem, thou wilt not be made clean; how long shall it yet be? (Jer. 13:27).
sRef Hos@4 @14 S10′ sRef Hos@4 @11 S10′ sRef Hos@4 @13 S10′ sRef Hos@4 @12 S10′ [10] In Hosea:
Whoredom, and wine, and new wine, have taken possession of the heart. My people inquireth of wood, and the staff thereof will declare it; for the spirit of whoredom hath led them astray, and they have committed whoredom from under their God; they sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under the oak, the poplar, and the terebinth [robore]; therefore your daughters commit whoredom, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery; shall I not visit upon your daughters because they commit whoredom, and upon your daughters-in-law because they commit adultery? For they divide with whores, and sacrifice with prostitutes (Hos. 4:11-14).
What each of these things signifies in the internal sense can be seen from the signification of “wine,” as being falsity; of “new wine,” as being the evil thence derived; of the “wood that is inquired of,” as being the good of the delight of some cupidity; of the “staff that will declare,” as being the imaginary power of their understanding; also of the “mountains” and the “hills,” as being the loves of self and of the world; of the “oak, the poplar, and the terebinth,” as being so many gross perceptions thence derived in which they trust; of “daughters” and the “daughters-in-law” as being such affections; all of which show what is here signified by “whoredoms,” “adulteries,” and “harlots.”
sRef Num@14 @33 S11′ sRef Ex@34 @15 S11′ sRef Lev@20 @6 S11′ sRef Hos@9 @1 S11′ sRef Ex@34 @16 S11′ sRef Lev@20 @5 S11′ sRef Num@15 @39 S11′ [11] In the same:
O Israel, thou hast committed whoredom over thy God, thou hast loved harlot hire upon all the corn floors (Hos. 9:1);
“harlot hire” denotes the vaunting of what is false. In Moses:
Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they commit whoredom after their gods, and sacrifice unto their gods; and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifices, and thou take of his daughters for thy sons, and his daughters commit whoredom after their gods, and make thy sons commit whoredom after their gods (Exod. 34:15-16).
In the same:
I will cut off all that commit whoredom after him, committing whoredom after Molech, from the midst of their people; and the soul that turneth unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto the soothsayers, to commit whoredom after them, I will set My face against that soul, and will cut him off from the midst of his people (Lev. 20:5-6).
In the same:
Your sons shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years, and shall bear your whoredoms, until your bodies be consumed in the wilderness (Num. 14:33).
In the same:
Remember all the precepts of Jehovah, and do them, that ye seek not after your own heart, and your own eyes, after which ye do commit whoredom (Num. 15:39).
sRef Rev@17 @1 S12′ sRef Rev@17 @2 S12′ [12] And still more plainly in John:
An angel said, Come hither, I will show thee the judgment of the great harlot that sitteth upon many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed whoredom, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her whoredom (Rev. 17:1-2);
the “great harlot” denotes those who are in profane worship; the “many waters” upon which she sits, are knowledges (n. 28, 739); the “kings of the earth” who have committed whoredom with her, are the truths of the church (n. 1672, 2015, 2069); the “wine” with which they were made drunk, is falsity (n. 1071, 1072). Because “wine” and “drunkenness” signify these things, it is said of the daughters of Lot, that they made their father drink wine (verses 32-33, 35).
sRef Rev@18 @3 S13′ sRef Rev@19 @2 S13′ [13] In the same:
Babylon hath made all nations drink of the wine of the fury of her whoredom, and the kings of the earth have committed whoredom with her (Rev. 18:3).
“Babylon” or “Babel” denotes a worship the externals of which appear holy, while the interiors are profane (n. 1182, 1295, 1326); the “nations that she makes to drink,” are the goods which are being profaned (n. 1259, 1260, 1416, 1849); the “kings” who committed whoredom with her, are truths (n. 1672, 2015, 2069). In the same:
True and just are the judgments of the Lord God, for He hath judged the great harlot, who corrupted the earth with her whoredom (Rev. 19:2);
where the “earth” denotes the church (n. 566, 662, 1066, 1068, 2117, 2118).
sRef Lev@21 @9 S14′ sRef Deut@23 @18 S14′ [14] As “whoredoms” signify such things, and “daughters” signify affections, it was therefore forbidden so severely that the daughter of a priest should commit whoredom; concerning which we read in Moses:
The daughter of a priest, having begun to commit whoredom, she is profaning her father, she shall be burned with fire (Lev. 21:9).
It was also commanded that they should not bring the hire of a harlot into the house of Jehovah, because it is an abomination (Deut. 23:18). And for the same reason there was such an inquisitorial process concerning a wife whose husband had conceived a suspicion of adultery (Num. 5:12-31), in which instance each and all things have relation to the adulterations of good. Moreover in the Word many different kinds of adulteries and whoredoms are spoken of, and still more varieties. This kind which is here described by Lot’s daughters lying with their father, is what is called “Moab” and the “son of Ammon,” now to be explained.

sRef Gen@19 @37 S0′ sRef Gen@19 @38 S0′ 2467. Verses 37, 38. And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab; he is the father of Moab even unto this day. And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Ben-ammi; he is the father of the sons of Ammon even unto this day. “The firstborn bare a son,” signifies the religion of that church in respect to good; “and called his name Moab,” signifies its quality; “he is the father of Moab even unto this day,” signifies that this is the source of such persons. “And the younger she also bare a son,” signifies the falsified truth of that church; “and called his name Benammi,” signifies its quality; “he is the father of the sons of Ammon even unto this day,” signifies that this is the source of such persons.

sRef Gen@19 @37 S0′ sRef Gen@19 @38 S0′ 2468. These things, again, need no confirmation; for that such things are signified is evident from the explication itself, and from what precedes and what follows. But what is the nature and quality of the religion signified by “Moab” and the “sons of Ammon,” can be seen from their origin, as here described; as well as from many passages in the Word, both historic and prophetic, where these nations are mentioned. To speak generally they denote those who are in an external worship which appears in a manner holy, but who are not in internal worship; and who readily learn as being goods and truths the things that belong to external worship, but reject and despise those of internal worship.
[2] Such worship and such religion fall to the lot of those who are in natural good, but despise others in comparison with themselves. They are not unlike fruits which in the external form are not unbeautiful, but which are moldy or rotten within; and they are not unlike marble vases, within which are things impure and even foul; or not unlike women seemly enough in face, form, and manners, but diseased within, and full of impurities. For there is a general good appertaining to such which appears not ill-favored; but the particulars that enter into it are filthy. In the beginning indeed it is not so, but it gradually becomes so; for such men easily suffer themselves to be imbued with whatever things are called good, and with any falsities whatsoever that are derived from these, and which, because they confirm them, they suppose to be truths; and this because they despise the interior things of worship, for the reason that they are in the love of self. Such persons have their existence and derivation from those who are in external worship alone (represented in this chapter by Lot); and this when the good of truth has been desolated. They are described in the Word, both such as they are in the beginning, when their good has not yet become so defiled; and afterwards when it is becoming defiled; and also after this, when it has become utterly defiled; and it is shown that they reject the interior things of worship and of doctrine.
sRef Dan@11 @41 S3′ sRef Dan@11 @40 S3′ [3] The character of such in the beginning when their good has not yet become so defiled, is described in Daniel:
In the time of the end shall the king of the south be at variance with him; and the king of the north shall rush upon him like a storm, with chariot, and with horsemen, and with many ships, and shall come into the lands, and shall overflow, and shall pass through; and he shall come into the land of beauty, and many lands shall go to ruin: these shall be rescued out of his hand, Edom, and Moab, and the firstlings of the sons of Ammon (Dan. 11:40-41).
The “king of the south,” denotes those who are in goods and truths; the “king of the north,” those who are in evils and falsities; the “king of the north with chariot, horsemen, and ships, coming upon the lands, overflowing, and passing through,” signifies that the evils and falsities denoted by “chariots,” “horsemen,” and “ships,” will prevail; “Edom, Moab, and the firstlings of the sons of Ammon who are to be rescued out of his hand,” denote those who are in such good that is not as yet so defiled by falsities; on which account they are called the “firstlings of the sons of Ammon.”
sRef Deut@2 @19 S4′ sRef Deut@2 @9 S4′ sRef Deut@2 @18 S4′ sRef Deut@2 @17 S4′ sRef Deut@2 @8 S4′ [4] In Moses:
We passed through by the way of the wilderness, and Jehovah said unto Moses, Distress not Moab, neither mingle thyself with them in war, for I will not give thee of his land for an inheritance, because I have given Ar unto the sons of Lot for an inheritance (Deut. 2:8-9).
And concerning the sons of Ammon:
Jehovah spoke unto Moses, saying, Thou art to pass this day over Ar the border of Moab, and thou wilt come near over against the sons of Ammon; distress them not, nor mingle thyself with them; for I will not give thee of the land of the sons of Ammon for an inheritance, because I have given it unto the sons of Lot for an inheritance (Deut. 2:17-19);
“Ar” denotes such good; “Moab” and the “sons of Ammon” denote those who are in such good, but in the beginning; on which account it is ordered that they be not distressed.
[5] Hence it is that Moab drove out the Emim, and the Rephaim who were like the Anakim; and that the sons of Ammon also drove out the Rephaim whom they called the Zamzumim (Deut. 2:9-11, 18-21). By the Emim, Rephaim, Anakim, and Zamzumim, are signified those who are imbued with persuasions of what is evil and false (see n. 581, 1673); by Moab and the sons of Ammon are here meant those who were not yet so imbued. These nations however when they too had become so imbued, that is, when their good was defiled by falsities, were likewise driven out (Num. 21:21-31; Ezek. 25:8-11).
sRef Jer@48 @31 S6′ sRef Jer@48 @46 S6′ sRef Jer@48 @47 S6′ sRef Jer@48 @30 S6′ sRef Jer@48 @32 S6′ sRef Jer@48 @36 S6′ sRef Jer@48 @9 S6′ sRef Jer@48 @1 S6′ sRef Jer@48 @28 S6′ sRef Jer@48 @2 S6′ [6] Their character when their good is becoming defiled is described in Jeremiah:
Unto Moab thus saith Jehovah, Woe unto Nebo, for it is laid waste; Kiriathaim is put to shame, is taken; Misgab is put to shame and is dismayed; the praise of Moab is no more; give wing to Moab, for flying she must fly away, and her cities shall become a desolation, without any to dwell therein. Leave the cities, and dwell in the rock, O inhabitants of Moab; and be like the dove, she maketh her nest in the passages of the mouth of the pit. I know his anger, saith Jehovah, but it is not firm; his falsities, they have not done right. Therefore will I howl over Moab, and I will cry out to all Moab. From the weeping of Jazer will I weep for thee, O vine of Sibmah; thy shoots have passed over the sea, they reached even to the sea of Jazer; upon thy summer fruits and upon thy vintage the spoiler is fallen. Therefore my heart is moved over Moab, like fruits. Woe unto thee, O Moab, the people of Chemosh is destroyed; for thy sons are taken into captivity, and thy daughters into captivity. And I will bring back the captivity of Moab in the latter days (Jer. 48:1, 9, 28, 30-32, 36, 46-47).
[7] In this whole chapter the subject treated of is Moab; but through him those are treated of who are in such good, in that they suffer themselves to be imbued with falsities; on which account it is said that they should “give wing to Moab, that it may fly away, and that its cities shall become a desolation;” but that they should “leave the cities, and dwell in the rock, and make nests like the dove in the passages of the mouth of the pit,” and so on, by which expressions it is signified that they are persuaded to remain in their general goods and truths; and that if they should then be seduced by the falsities of ignorance, they will be brought back from captivity in the latter days; but concerning those with whom this was not done it is said, “I will howl over Moab, and I will cry out for all Moab, and my heart is moved over Moab.” The falsities with which they are imbued are signified by Nebo, Kiriathaim, Misgab, Sibmah, Jazer, Chemosh, and other names in this chapter.
sRef Isa@16 @7 S8′ sRef Isa@16 @2 S8′ sRef Isa@16 @6 S8′ sRef Isa@16 @11 S8′ sRef Isa@16 @13 S8′ sRef Isa@16 @12 S8′ sRef Isa@16 @3 S8′ sRef Isa@16 @4 S8′ sRef Isa@16 @14 S8′ [8] In Isaiah:
A nest sent away shall the daughters of Moab be. Bring forth counsel, execute judgment; make thy shadow like the night* in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts, betray not the wanderer, let mine outcasts dwell with thee, O Moab; be thou a covert to them from the spoiler. We have heard the arrogance of Moab, he is very arrogant, his pride, and his arrogance, and his anger; his lies are not so; therefore Moab shall howl, for Moab all shall howl. Therefore my bowels shall be stirred like a harp over Moab, and mine inward part for the city of Heres. And it shall come to pass when Moab shall be seen, when he is wearied upon the high place, and shall come to his sanctuary to pray, that he shall not prevail. In three years, as if years of hire, and the praise of Moab shall become vile, in all the great multitude; and the remnant shall be very small, and not strong (Isa. 16:2-4, 6, 11-12, 14).
Moab is further treated of in this whole chapter, and through him those who are in such good; and they are described there in words similar to those in Jeremiah (chapter 48) and are in like manner persuaded to remain in their general goods and truths, and not to suffer themselves to be imbued with falsities. These general goods and truths are signified by their “giving counsel,” “executing judgment,” “hiding the outcasts,” “not betraying the wanderer,” and being “a covert to the outcasts from the spoiler;” all of which things signify the externals of worship. But as they suffer themselves to be imbued with falsities, it is said, “in three years, as years of hire, shall the praise of Moab become vile in all the great multitude, and the remnant shall be very small, and not strong.”
sRef Isa@11 @10 S9′ sRef Isa@11 @13 S9′ sRef Isa@11 @14 S9′ [9] As such persons are easily led away, Moab is called “the sending forth of the band of the Philistines,” and the sons of Ammon their “obedience,” in Isaiah:
The root of Jesse which standeth for an ensign of the peoples, unto Him shall the nations seek, and His rest shall be glory; the envy of Ephraim shall depart, and the enemies of Judah shall be cut off Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not distress Ephraim and they shall fly upon the shoulder of the Philistines toward the sea; together shall they spoil the sons of the east, Edom, Moab the sending forth of their hand, and the sons of Ammon their obedience (Isa. 11:10, 13, 14)
the “root of Jesse” denotes the Lord; “Judah” those who are in celestial good; “Ephraim” those who are in spiritual truth; the “Philistines” those who are in the mere memory-knowledge of the knowledges of truth, and not in charity, the “sons of the east,” those who are in the mere memory-knowledge of the knowledges of good, and also not in charity; and Moab is called the “sending forth of their hand,” and the sons of Ammon their “obedience,” because they are imbued with falsities by them.
sRef Ps@108 @7 S10′ sRef Ps@60 @8 S10′ sRef Ps@60 @6 S10′ sRef Ps@108 @9 S10′ sRef Ps@60 @7 S10′ sRef Ps@108 @8 S10′ [10] But of what character become those who are called Moab and the sons of Ammon when their good has been altogether defied by falsities, is described in David:
God hath spoken in His holiness, Gilead is Mine, Manasseh is Mine, Ephraim also is the strength of My head, Judah is My lawgiver, Moab is My washpot (Ps. 60:7-9, and also Ps. 108:8-10)
the “washpot” denotes good defiled by falsities.
sRef Isa@25 @10 S11′ sRef Jer@48 @2 S11′ sRef Jer@48 @11 S11′ sRef Jer@48 @38 S11′ [11] In Jeremiah:
The praise of Moab is no more in Heshbon they have devised evil against him: come, let us cut him off from being a nation. Moab hath been at peace from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, and hath not gone into exile therefore his taste remaineth in him, and his odor is not changed. On all the housetops of Moab there shall be lamentation everywhere, because I have broken Moab like a vessel in which there is no pleasure (Jer. 48:2, 11, 38)
The falsities with which the good denoted by Moab is defiled, are here called “lees, in which the taste and the odor remain,” if he is not reformed, which is here denoted by being “emptied from vessel to vessel.” This good itself is called the “vessel in which there is no pleasure,” just as in David it is called a “washpot,” in which washing is done. In Isaiah:
In this mountain the band of Jehovah resteth, and Moab shall be trodden down under it, as chaff is trodden down in the dunghill (Isa. 25:10).
sRef Ezek@25 @6 S12′ sRef Ezek@25 @7 S12′ sRef Ezek@25 @11 S12′ sRef Ezek@25 @3 S12′ sRef Ezek@25 @2 S12′ sRef Ezek@25 @9 S12′ sRef Ezek@25 @8 S12′ sRef Ezek@25 @10 S12′ sRef Ezek@25 @4 S12′ sRef Ezek@25 @5 S12′ [12] That they who are in such good care for external things only, and despise, reject, and indeed spew out the internal things of worship and of doctrine, and that consequently they have falsities instead of truths – in Ezekiel:
Son of man, set thy face toward the sons of Ammon, and prophesy against them, and say unto the sons of Ammon, Hear the word of the Lord Jehovah. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Because thou saidst, Aha, against My sanctuary when it was profaned, and against the land of Israel when it was made desolate, and against the house of Judah when they went into captivity, I will make Rabbah a habitation for camels, and the sons of Ammon a couching-place for the flock. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Because thou hast clapped the hand, and hast stamped with the foot, and hast been glad with all the contempt of thy soul against the ground of Israel, therefore behold I will stretch out My hand upon thee, and give thee for a spoil to the nations, and I will cut thee off from the peoples, and destroy thee from the lands (Ezek. 25:2-11).
These words: “Aha, against My sanctuary when it was profaned, and against the land of Israel when it was made desolate, and against the house of Judah when they went into captivity,” “thou hast clapped the hand, and hast stamped with the foot, and hast been glad with all the contempt of thy soul against the land of Israel,” are expressions of contempt, derision, and rejection of the interior things of worship and of doctrine; and when these are rejected, external things are of no avail; but such persons are “given for a spoil to the nations,” that is, they are taken possession of by evils, and are “cut off from the peoples,” that is by falsities, and are “destroyed from the earth,” that is they become of no church.
sRef Zeph@2 @9 S13′ sRef Zeph@2 @8 S13′ sRef Zeph@2 @10 S13′ [13] In Zephaniah:
I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the blasphemies of the sons of Ammon, who have reproached My people; they enlarged against their border: therefore, as I live, Moab shall be as Sodom, and the sons of Ammon as Gomorrah, a place abandoned to the nettle, and a pit of salt, and a perpetual desolation. This they have for their pride, because they reproached and enlarged against the people of Jehovah Zebaoth (Zeph. 2:8-10).
To “reproach the people,” and to “enlarge against their boundary, and against the people of Jehovah Zebaoth,” is to hold as vile and to reject interior truths, which are the “people of Jehovah Zebaoth.” The consequence of this is that goods become evils of falsity, which are “Sodom” and a “place abandoned to the nettle;” and truths become falsities, which are “Gomorrah” and a “pit of salt.” For it is from internal things that external are capable of being good and true.
sRef Ps@83 @4 S14′ sRef Ps@83 @3 S14′ sRef Ps@83 @7 S14′ sRef Ps@83 @6 S14′ sRef Ps@83 @5 S14′ sRef Ps@83 @2 S14′ sRef Ps@83 @8 S14′ [14] In David:
Thine enemies craftily meditate a secret thing against thy people, they consult together against thy hidden ones: Come, let us cut them off from being a nation, and let the name of Israel be no more in remembrance for they consult together with one heart; against thee do they cut out a covenant, the tents of Edom, and the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagarenes, Gebal and Ammon and Amalek, Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre Asshur also is joined with them, they are an arm to the sons of Lot (Ps. 83:2-8).
To “consult together against the hidden ones,” to “cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel should be no more in remembrance,” denotes to utterly reject interior things; the “tents of Edom, the Ishmaelites, Noah, the Hagarenes, Gebal, and Ammon,” denote those who are in the external things of worship and of doctrine; “Philistia with Tyre” denote the things they say concerning internal things while not being in them; “Asshur, who is an arm to the sons of Lot,” denotes the reasoning by which they contend in favor of external things and against internal things.
sRef Deut@22 @30 S15′ sRef Deut@23 @1 S15′ sRef Deut@23 @3 S15′ [15] In Moses:
A man shall not take his father’s wife, and shall not violate his father’s skirt. He that is bruised with a bruising, or is bruised in the testicle, shall not come into the congregation of Jehovah; a Moabite and an Ammonite shall not come into the congregation of Jehovah; even to the tenth generation, they shall not come into the congregation of Jehovah forever (Deut. 22:30; 23:1-3).
These words show what is the character of Moab and Ammon in the “end of days,” or when they have become altogether imbued with falsities (that is, those with whom good is being adulterated and truth falsified), in that they despise, reject, and at length utterly cast out all interior things. On this account they are here mentioned after mention has been made of foul adulteries, such as taking a father’s wife, and violating a father’s skirt; nearly as is related of Lot’s daughters, from whom came Moab and Ammon; and also after the mention of those who are bruised with a bruising, and bruised in the testicle, by whom are signified those who utterly reject whatever is of love and charity. The “congregation of Jehovah” is heaven, into which they cannot come, because they have no remains, which are solely from interior goods and interior truths, and are signified by the “tenth generation” (n. 576, 1738, 2280).
[16] These were also among the nations who sacrificed their sons and daughters to Molech, by which is signified in the internal sense that they extinguished truths and goods; for the god of Moab was Chemosh, and the god of the sons of Ammon was Molech and Milchom (1 Kings 11:7, 33; 2 Kings 23:13), to which they sacrificed (2 Kings 3:27). That by “sons and daughters” are signified truths and goods, may be seen above (n. 489-491, 533, 1147).
sRef Jer@48 @23 S17′ sRef Jer@48 @24 S17′ sRef Jer@48 @21 S17′ sRef Jer@48 @25 S17′ sRef Jer@48 @22 S17′ sRef Jer@48 @26 S17′ [17] Such then is the signification of Moab and Ammon; but as regards the various kinds of falsity by which they adulterate goods and extinguish truths, these are numerous, being thus recounted in Jeremiah, but merely by names:
Judgment is come upon the land of the plain, upon Holon, upon Jahzah, and upon Mephaath; and upon Dibon, and upon Nebo, and upon Beth-diblathaim; and upon Kiriathaim, and upon Beth-gamul, and upon Beth-meon; and upon Kerioth, and upon Bozrah, and upon all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near. The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken. Make him drunken, because he magnified himself against Jehovah; and let Moab exult in his vomit (Jer. 48:21-26).
These are the kinds of falsity that assemble together in those who are called Moab and Ammon; but what is the nature and quality of these various kinds of falsity can be seen from the signification of these several names in the internal sense. That in the Word names signify nothing else than actual things, has often been shown already.
* Totam but sicut noctem n. 9642 [Rotch ed.]

2469. CONCERNING MAN’S MEMORY WHICH REMAINS AFTER DEATH, AND THE RECOLLECTION OF WHAT HE HAD DONE IN THE LIFE OF THE BODY

Scarcely anyone has yet known that every man has two memories, one exterior and the other interior; and that the exterior memory is proper to his body, but the interior memory to his spirit.

2470. Man, while living in the body, can scarcely be aware that he has an interior memory, because the interior memory then acts almost as one with his exterior memory; for the ideas of thought of the interior memory flow into the things in the exterior memory as into their vessels, and the two are there conjoined together. It is as when angels and spirits are speaking to a man; for then the ideas of the former, by which they converse with each other, flow into the words of the man’s language, and so conjoin themselves with them that the spirits know no otherwise than that they are speaking the man’s own language; when yet the ideas are theirs, and the words into which they flow are the man’s; on which subject I have often spoken with spirits.

2471. These two memories are entirely distinct from each other. To the exterior memory, which is proper to man while he is living in the world, pertain all the words of languages, also the objects of the outer senses, and also the knowledges that belong to the world. To the interior memory pertain the ideas of the speech of spirits, which are of the inner sight, and all rational things, from the ideas of which thought itself comes into existence. That these two classes of things are distinct from each other, man does not know, both because he does not reflect upon it, and because he is in corporeal things, from which he cannot then so far withdraw his mind.

2472. Hence it is that men while living in the body cannot speak with each other except by means of languages distinguished into articulate sounds, that is, into words, and are unable to understand one another unless they are acquainted with these languages, for the reason that their speech is from the exterior memory. Whereas spirits speak with each other by means of a universal language distinguished into ideas such as are of thought itself, and thus they can have converse with any spirit whatever, of whatever language and nation he had been while in the world, for the reason that their speech is from the interior memory. Into this language comes every man immediately after death, because he comes into this memory, which, as before said, is proper to his spirit (see n. 1637, 1639, 1757, 1876).

2473. The interior memory immeasurably surpasses the exterior, and is relatively as are some myriads to one, or as light is to darkness; for myriads of the ideas of the interior memory flow into a single thing of the exterior memory, and there present a general obscure something. Hence all the faculties of spirits, and still more those of angels, are in a more perfect state, that is, both their sensations, and their thoughts and perceptions. In what way the interior memory excels the exterior, may be seen from examples. When a man calls to remembrance any other man whose quality is known to him from the interaction of many years, whether a friend or an enemy, that which he then thinks about him is presented as one obscure thing; and this because he is thinking from the exterior memory. But when the same man has become a spirit, and calls the other to remembrance, that which he then thinks about him is presented as to all the ideas which he had ever conceived concerning him; and this because he is then thinking from the interior memory. And so it is with everything: the thing itself about which anyone has known many things presents itself in the exterior memory as a single general thing; but in the interior memory it presents itself as to all the particulars about which he has ever acquired for himself an idea in respect to that thing; and this in a wonderful form.

2474. All things whatever that a man hears and sees, and by which he is affected, are, unknown to the man, insinuated as to ideas and ends into his interior memory; and they remain in it, so that not anything perishes; although the same things are obliterated in the exterior memory. Such therefore is the interior memory that there are inscribed on it all the single, nay, the most singular things that the man has ever thought, spoken, and done; nay, even those which have appeared to him as but a shade, with the minutest particulars, from his earliest infancy to the last of old age. The memory of all these things the man has with him when he comes into the other life, and he is successively brought into full recollection of them. This is his Book of Life, which is opened in the other life, and according to which he is judged. He then can scarcely believe this, but yet it is most true. All the ends, which to him have been in obscurity, and all the things he has thought; together with everything that from these he has spoken and done, down to the smallest point, are in that Book, that is, in the interior memory, and whenever the Lord grants, are made manifest before the angels as in clear day. This has several times been shown me, and has been attested by so much experience that not the least doubt remains.

2475. As yet no one knows what is the state of souls after death in respect to the memory. From much and daily experience of many years, it has been given me to know that after death a man loses nothing whatever of what has been in his memories, whether in the exterior or in the interior memory; insomuch that nothing can possibly be thought of so small or so minute that the man does not have it with him; so that after death he leaves nothing whatever behind him except his bones and flesh, which, while he lived in the world, were not animated from themselves, but from the life of his spirit, which was his purer substance annexed to the things of the body.

2476. But as regards man’s exterior memory, the case is this: He has all things of it with him both in general and in particular; but he is not then allowed to use this memory, but only the interior memory. The reasons are many; the first being that which has been stated, namely, that from the interior memory one can speak and have interaction in the other life with all in the universe. The second is, that this memory is proper to the spirit and is adapted to the state in which it then is; for exterior things-that is, those of memory-knowledge, of the world, and of the body-are adapted to man and correspond to his state while he is in the world and the body; but interior things-that is, things rational, spiritual, and celestial-are adapted and correspond to his spirit.

2477. I once heard spirits speaking together of the fact that whatever is adopted as a principle, no matter what it may be, can be confirmed by innumerable things, until at length, to the man who has confirmed himself, it appears entirely true even though false; and that men can be more easily persuaded of a falsity than of a truth. In order that they might be convinced of this, it was proposed to them that they should think and speak together on the point as to whether it is useful to spirits to use the exterior memory (for spirits converse on such subjects in a manner far surpassing man’s belief, or even conception, but each one in accordance with his affection). The spirits who were in favor of corporeal and worldly things confirmed the proposition in question by many reasons, such as that in this way they would have lost nothing, but would be men after death equally as before; that in this way they could come again into the world through man; that the delight of life is in the exterior memory; and that in no other faculty and endowment are there intelligence and wisdom; besides many other reasons by which they confirmed themselves in their principle, until it appeared to them true.
[2] But others then thought and spoke from the opposite principle, knowing that what they said was true, because it was from Divine order. They said that if spirits were permitted to use the exterior memory they would then be in similar imperfection as before, when they were men; that by so doing they would be in gross and obscure ideas, in comparison with those who are in the interior memory; and thus would not only become more and more foolish, but would also descend, and not ascend; thus would not live eternally; for to immerse themselves again in worldly and corporeal things would be to give themselves again into a state of death. They said also that if spirits were permitted to use the exterior memory the human race would perish; for every man is directed by the Lord through angels and spirits; and that if spirits were to flow into man from the exterior memory, he could not think from his own memory, but only from that of the spirit; thus man would come to be no longer in the enjoyment of his own life and his own freedom, but would be obsessed (the obsessions of former times being nothing else); besides other reasons.

2478. In order that I might know how the case is as to man’s not being able to think from his own memory if spirits flowed in from their exterior memory, it has been permitted two or three times that this should be done; and I then knew no otherwise than that that was mine which was not mine, but a spirit’s; and that I had thought things before which I had not thought; and this I was not able to perceive until they withdrew.

2479. A certain newly arrived spirit was indignant that he did not remember many things which he knew in the life of the body, grieving on account of the delight which he had lost, and with which he had been very greatly pleased. But he was told that he had lost nothing at all, and that he knew everything he had known; but that in the other life it is not permitted to draw forth such things; and that it is sufficient that he is now able to think and speak much better and more perfectly, without immersing his rational as before in dense, obscure, material, and corporeal things which are of no use in the kingdom into which he has now come; and that the things which were in the kingdom of the world had been left behind; and that he now has whatever conduces to the use of eternal life; and that thus and not otherwise can he become blessed and happy; thus that it is a result of ignorance to believe that in the other life intelligence perishes with the disuse of the corporeal memory; when yet the case is that insofar as the mind can be withdrawn from sensuous or corporeal things, so far is it elevated to spiritual and heavenly things.

2480. Seeing that men after death are in the interior memory (which has belonged to their rational) therefore those who in the world have been preeminently skilled in languages, cannot call forth even one syllable of them; and they who have been preeminently versed in the sciences cannot call up anything of their knowledges, and are sometimes more stupid than others. But whatever they have imbibed by means of the languages, or of the sciences, this they bring forth into use, because it has formed their rational. The rational they had so procured is that from which they think and speak. He who has imbibed falsities by means of the languages and sciences, and has confirmed himself in them, reasons from nothing but falsities; but he who has imbibed and confirmed truths, speaks from the truths. It is the affection itself which gives life-the affection of evil which gives life to falsities, and the affection of good which gives life to truths. Everyone thinks from affection, and no one without affection.

2481. That men after death, that is, spirits, have lost nothing whatever of the things which belong to their external or corporeal memory; but that they retain all things of it (that is to say, they retain the whole of it), although it is not permitted to bring forth from it the particulars* of their life, has been given me to know from much experience, as may be seen from what follows. Two persons whom I had known during their life in the body, and who had been enemies to each other, met; and I heard one describing the character of the other with many circumstances, and also telling what opinion he had had of him, repeating an entire letter that he had written to him, and many other things in series which were particulars, and that belonged to the exterior memory; all of which the other acknowledged, and at which he was silent.
* By “particulars” Swedenborg here means such things as the words of natural languages, the names of men, and of cities, together with other similar merely external matters. See this plainly stated in the Spiritual Experiences, n.2285. [Reviser.]

2482. I heard a certain one upbraiding another, in that he had kept back his property, and had not restored it; and this together with circumstances that were of the exterior memory, until the other was ashamed. I also heard the other replying, and rehearsing the reasons why he had done it; all of which were worldly particulars.

2483. A certain woman was let into the state in which she had been in the world when she had plotted a misdeed; and then all the details of her thoughts, and of her conversation with another female, came out as into clear day. A certain female belonging to the crew of the Sirens, because she persisted in denying that she had been such in the life of the body, was let into the state of her corporeal memory; and then her adulteries and shameless deeds, which while she lived had been known to scarcely anyone, were laid open and were recounted in series, almost to hundreds: where she had been; with whom she had committed adultery; what she then plotted; and all these as much to the life as if in open day; thus was she convicted. Such things are brought forth when anyone desires to exculpate himself from having been such; and indeed to the life, with every circumstance.

2485. A certain one was with me whom I had not known during his life in the body. When I inquired whether he knew whence he was, he did not know; but by means of the interior sight he was led by me through the cities where I had been, and at length through the city from which he was, and then through its streets and squares, all of which he recognized, and at length into the street where he had dwelt; and if I had been acquainted with the houses, and how they were situated, I should have been able to know his house.

2486. That men have with them everything of the corporeal memory, both in general and in particular, has frequently been made evident to me from those with whom I had been acquainted during their life in the body, in that when I spoke with them they recognized everything they had done while I was present, and which they had then spoken and thought. From these and many other experiences, it has been given me to know for certain that a man carries with him into the other life all things of the exterior or corporeal memory.

2487. I have been instructed that regarded in itself the exterior memory is simply something organic formed from the objects of the senses-specially those of the sight and of the hearing-in the substances which are the beginnings of the fibers; and that according to the impressions from these objects are effected variations of form, which are reproduced; and that these forms are varied and changed according to the changes of the state of the affections and persuasions. Also that the interior memory is in like manner organic, but purer and more perfect, being formed from the objects of the interior sight; which objects are disposed into regular series, in an incomprehensible order.

2488. Before I had been instructed by living experience, I had supposed, as do others, that no spirit could possibly know the things in my memory and in my thought; but that they were solely in my possession, and were hidden. But I can assert that the spirits with man know and take note of the smallest things of his memory and thoughts; and this much more clearly than the man himself; and that the angels know and take note of the ends themselves, how they bend themselves from good to evil, and from evil to good; and of many more things than the man knows; such as those which he has immersed in his delights, and thus as it were in his nature and disposition; for when this is done such things no longer appear, because he no longer reflects upon them. Let no man therefore any longer believe that his thoughts are hidden, and that he is not to render an account of his thoughts, and of his deeds according to the degree and the quality of the thoughts that have been in them; for the deeds have their quality from the thoughts, and the thoughts from the ends.

2489. The things of the interior memory manifest themselves in the other life by a certain sphere, from which the quality of spirits is known at a distance, that is, what is their affection, and what their opinions. This sphere comes forth from the activity of the things in the interior memory. (Concerning these spheres see above, n. 1048, 1053, 1316, 1504, etc.)

2490. As regards the interior memory the case is this: There are retained in it not only all and each of the things the man from his infancy has ever seen and heard, and those he has thought, spoken, and done; but also those which he sees and hears, and which he thinks, speaks, and does, in the other life. But this takes place with a difference. They who are in the persuasion of falsity and the cupidity of evil imbibe and retain all things that are in agreement therewith, for they enter in as water does into a sponge. All other things do indeed also flow thereto, but are retained so slightly that they scarcely know that they are anything. But they who are in the faith of truth and the affection of good retain all things which are true and good, and are thereby being continually perfected. Hence it is that they can be instructed, and that they are instructed in the other life.

2491. There are spirits whose origin shall of the Lord’s Divine mercy be spoken of elsewhere, who relate to the interior memory. These wander about in bands, and in wonderful ways elicit whatever others know, and whatever they hear they communicate to their companions.

2492. The nature of the memories is sometimes presented to view in the other life, in forms to be seen there alone. (Many things are there presented to the sight, which in the case of men fall only into the ideas.) The exterior memory is thus presented to view as a callosity; the interior memory as a medullary substance such as is in the human brain. From this circumstance it is possible to know of what quality the spirits are. With those who in the life of the body have fostered the memory alone, and so have not cultivated their rational, the callosity appears hard, and striated within. With those who have filled the memory with falsities, it appears as if made of hair and shaggy, and this from the disorderly mass of things. With those who have fostered the memory for the sake of the love of self and of the world, it appears conglutinated and indurated. With those who have desired to penetrate into Divine arcana by things scientific, and especially by things philosophical, and who would not believe until persuaded by means of these things, it appears dark, and of such a nature as to absorb the rays of light, and turn them into darkness. With those who have been deceitful and hypocrites, it appears as if bony and of ebony,* reflecting the rays of light. But with those who have been in the good of love and the truth of faith, such a callosity does not appear; because their interior memory transmits the rays of light into the exterior memory, in the objects or ideas of which-as in their basis or as in their ground-the rays are terminated, and find there delightful receptacles. For the exterior memory is the ultimate of order, in which spiritual and heavenly things are softly terminated and reside when there are goods and truths therein.
* Ebena, perhaps for eburnea, of ivory, as in the Apocalypse Explained, n. 253. [Rotch ed.]

2493. I have spoken with the angels concerning the memory of things past, and the consequent anxiety regarding things to come; and I have been instructed that the more interior and perfect the angels are, the less do they care for past things, and the less do they think of things to come; and also that from this comes their happiness. They say that the Lord gives them every moment what to think, and this with blessedness and happiness; and that they are thus free from cares and anxieties. Also, that this was meant in the internal sense by the manna being received daily from heaven; and by the daily bread in the Lord’s Prayer; and likewise by the instruction not to be solicitous about what they should eat and drink, and wherewithal they should be clothed. But although the angels do not care for past things, and are not solicitous about things to come, they nevertheless have the most perfect recollection of past things, and the most perfect mental view of things to come; because in all their present there are both the past and the future. Thus they have a more perfect memory than can ever be thought of or expressed.

2494. When men who are in love to the Lord and in charity toward the neighbor are living in the world, they have with themselves and in themselves angelic intelligence and wisdom, but stored up in the inmosts of their interior memory; which intelligence and wisdom cannot possibly appear to them until they put off corporeal things. Then the memory of particulars (spoken of above) is put to sleep; and they are awakened into the interior memory, and successively afterwards into the angelic memory itself.

2495. CHAPTER 20

That the Word contains within it an internal sense that is not apparent in the letter has already been stated and shown in many places, and the nature of this internal sense appears from all that has thus far been unfolded, beginning with the first chapter of Genesis. Nevertheless as the few who at this day believe in the Word do not know that there is such a sense, it may be well to confirm it further.
sRef Matt@24 @29 S2′ [2] The Lord describes the Consummation of the Age, or the last period of the church, as follows:
Immediately after the affliction of those days the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken (Matt. 24:29; Mark 13:24).
That in this passage the “sun” does not mean the sun, nor the “moon” the moon, nor the “stars” the stars; but that the “sun” signifies love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor; the “moon” the faith of love and charity; and the “stars” the knowledges of good and truth, was shown above (n. 31, 32, 1053, 1521, 1529-1531, 2120, 2441); so that by these words of the Lord there is signified that in the consummation of the age (or last period of the church) there will no longer be any love, or charity, nor therefore any faith.
sRef Joel@2 @2 S3′ sRef Ezek@32 @7 S3′ sRef Rev@6 @13 S3′ sRef Joel@3 @15 S3′ sRef Isa@13 @9 S3′ sRef Joel@2 @10 S3′ sRef Joel@2 @31 S3′ sRef Rev@8 @12 S3′ sRef Rev@6 @12 S3′ sRef Ezek@32 @8 S3′ sRef Joel@3 @14 S3′ sRef Isa@13 @10 S3′ [3] That this is the meaning is evident from similar words of the Lord in the Prophets, as in Isaiah:
Behold, the day of Jehovah cometh, to make the earth a solitude and He shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it; for the stars of the heavens and the constellations thereof shall not shine with their light; the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine (Isa. 13:9-10);
where also the last period of the church, or what is the same, the consummation of the age, is treated of. In Joel:
A day of darkness and of thick darkness, a day of cloud and obscurity, before Him the earth quaked, the heavens trembled, the sun and the moon were darkened, and the stars withdrew their shining (Joel 2:2, 10);
with a similar meaning. Again in the same:
The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of Jehovah comes (Joel 2:31).
And again in the same:
The day of Jehovah is near, the sun and the moon have been darkened, and the stars have withdrawn their shining (Joel 3:14-15).
In Ezekiel:
When I shall extinguish thee, I will cover the heavens, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not make her light to shine; all the luminaries of light in the heavens will I make dark, and will set darkness upon thy land (Ezek. 32:7-8).
So too in John:
I saw when he opened the sixth seal, and behold there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood, and the stars fell unto the earth (Rev. 6:12, 13).
The fourth angel sounded, so that the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars, and the third part of them was darkened (Rev. 8:12).
sRef Isa@24 @23 S4′ sRef Dan@8 @10 S4′ sRef Dan@8 @9 S4′ [4] From these passages it is evident that the Lord’s words in the Evangelists involve much the same as His words in the Prophets, namely, that in the last times there will be neither charity, nor faith; and that this is the internal sense; as also is still further evident in Isaiah:
The moon shall blush, and the sun shall be ashamed, for Jehovah Zebaoth shall reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem (Isa. 24:23);
that is to say, faith, which is the “moon,” shall blush; and charity, which is the “sun,” shall be ashamed, because they are such; for it cannot be said of the moon and the sun that they shall blush and be ashamed. And in Daniel:
The goat’s horn grew toward the south, and toward the east, and grew even to the army of the heavens, and some of the army and of the stars it cast down to the earth and trampled upon them (Dan. 8:9-10);
where it is plain to everyone that the “army of the heavens” does not signify an “army,” nor the “stars” stars.

GENESIS 20

1. And Abraham journeyed thence toward the land of the south, and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur, and he sojourned in Gerar.
2. And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister; and Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.
3. And God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold thou wilt die because of the woman whom thou hast taken, for she is married to a husband.
4. And Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, Lord, wilt Thou slay also a righteous nation?
5. Said he not himself unto me, She is my sister? And she herself also said, He is my brother: in the uprightness of my heart and in the blamelessness of my hands have I done this.
6. And God said unto him in the dream, Yea, I know that in the uprightness of thy heart thou hast done this; and I also withheld thee from sinning against Me; therefore I did not suffer thee to touch her.
7. And now restore the man’s wife, for he is a prophet; and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live; and if thou restore her not, know thou that dying thou shalt die, thou and all that are thine.
8. And Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and spoke all these words in their ears; and the men feared greatly.
9. And Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? And wherein have I sinned against thee that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? Thou hast done unto me deeds that ought not to be done.
10. And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou that thou hast done this word?
11. And Abraham said, Because I said, Surely there is no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me on account of the word of my wife.
12. And moreover truly she is my sister, being the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife.
13. And it came to pass when God caused me to depart from my father’s house that I said unto her, This is thy goodness which thou shalt do unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother.
14. And Abimelech took flock and herd, and menservants and maidservants, and gave unto Abraham; and restored to him Sarah his wife.
15. And Abimelech said, Behold my land is before thee; dwell in that which is good in thine eyes.
16. And unto Sarah he said, Behold I have given a thousand of silver to thy brother; behold it is unto thee a covering of the eyes to all that are with thee, and with all; and she was vindicated.
17. And Abraham prayed unto God, and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they brought forth.
18. For closing Jehovah had therefore closed every womb of the house of Abimelech, because of the word of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

sRef Gen@20 @0 S0′ 2496. THE CONTENTS.
In the twelfth chapter above, Abraham’s sojourning in Egypt has been treated of; by which was signified the Lord’s instruction in memory-knowledges while still a boy. In this chapter the subject treated of is Abraham’s sojourn in Gerar, where Abimelech was; by which the Lord’s instruction is in like manner signified, but in the doctrinal things of charity and faith. The subject that is especially treated of here is the doctrine of charity and faith in respect to its origin; namely, that it is spiritual from a celestial origin, but is not from the rational.

sRef Gen@20 @0 S0′ 2497. The Lord’s state in which He was when He first instructed Himself in the doctrinal things of charity and faith is treated of; the state itself is signified by “Kadesh and Shur;” the doctrine of faith by “Abimelech king of Gerar” (verses 1, 2). That He at first thought in regard to the rational that it should be consulted (verse 2). That still it was not consulted (verses 3, 4, 8, 9). The reasons why He so thought (verses 5, 6, 10 to 13). That the doctrine of charity and faith is spiritual from a celestial origin (verse 7). That He was so instructed; and that then all things rational, as well as all memory-knowledges, were of service to Him, being like a covering or garment (verses 14 to 16). And in this way the doctrine was perfect (verse 17). That it would have been otherwise if the doctrine had come from the rational (verse 18).

sRef Gen@12 @13 S0′ sRef Gen@26 @7 S0′ 2498. THE INTERNAL SENSE
That these historical matters, like all the other things of the Word, involve Divine arcana, is evident from the fact that Abraham now again said that his wife was his sister; for the same thing had occurred when he came into Egypt; for he then said to Sarah, “Say, I pray, thou art my sister” (Gen. 12:13). And not Abraham alone, but Isaac likewise, when he came to Gerar, said that his wife Rebecca was his sister: “The men of that place asked concerning his wife, and he said, She is my sister” (Gen. 26:6-7); and there are other things in the same chapters that resemble each other, so that such historical matters are related three times; which, without a hidden cause in the internal sense, would by no means have been done.

sRef Gen@20 @1 S0′ 2499. Verse 1. And Abraham journeyed thence toward the land of the south, and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur, and he sojourned in Gerar. “Abraham journeyed thence toward the land of the south,” signifies the Lord’s progression in the goods and truths of faith (“Abraham” is the Lord in that state); “and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur,” signifies His state specifically (“Kadesh” is the affection of interior truth proceeding from things rational; “Shur” is the affection of exterior truth proceeding from memory-knowledges); “and he sojourned in Gerar,” signifies instruction thence in the spiritual things of faith.

sRef Gen@20 @1 S0′ 2500. Abraham journeyed thence toward the land of the south. That this signifies the Lord’s progression in the goods and truths of faith, is evident from the signification of “journeying,” as being to progress (see n. 1457); and from the signification of the “land of the south,” as being the good and truth of faith (see n. 1458). It has already been stated concerning Abraham, in the twelfth chapter, that he “journeyed, going and journeying toward the south,” when he went into Egypt (verses 9, 10); by which was signified in the internal sense that the Lord when a child progressed into goods and truths in respect to the memory-knowledge of knowledges (n. 1456, 1459);* and here it is said that he journeyed “toward the land of the south,” by which there is signified a further and more interior progression, which is into goods and truths in respect to the doctrine of faith; on which account it is here said the “land” of the south, because “land” in its proper sense signifies the church, for the sake of which is doctrine (n. 566, 662, 1066, 2117, 2118).
[2] As regards the Lord’s instruction in general, the nature of it is very clear in the internal sense of this chapter; namely, that it was by continual revelations, and thus by Divine perceptions and thoughts from Himself, that is, from His Divine; which perceptions and thoughts He implanted in Divine intelligence and wisdom, and this even to the perfect union of His Human with His Divine. This way of growing wise is not possible with any man; for it flowed in from the Divine itself, which was His inmost, being of the Father, of whom He was conceived; thus from the Divine Love itself, which the Lord alone had, and which consisted in His desire to save the universal human race.
[3] It is an arcanum which is as yet known to scarcely anyone, that within love itself there are wisdom and intelligence; these being such as is the love. That wisdom and intelligence are within love comes from the fact that all influx takes place into the love, or what is the same, into the good, thus into man’s very life. This is the source of the wisdom and intelligence of the angels, which is ineffable. It is also the source of the wisdom and intelligence of men who are in love to the Lord and in charity toward the neighbor; who, although they have no perception of it in themselves while they are living in the body, nevertheless come into it after death, for the reason that it is within this very love and charity (see n. 2494). But as regards the Lord’s love, it was infinitely above the love in which the angels are, for it was the Divine love itself; and therefore He had in Himself a supereminence of all wisdom and intelligence; into which however because He was born a man, and was to progress as a man according to Divine order, He introduced Himself by successive steps, in order that He might thus unite His Human to the Divine, and make it Divine; and this by His own power.
* That is in respect to possessing a mere memory acquaintance with the knowledges of what is good and true. [Reviser.]

sRef Gen@20 @1 S0′ 2501. That “Abraham” is the Lord in that state, is evident from the representation of Abraham, as being the Lord; here the Lord in that state (as also before, n. 1893, 1965, 1989, 2011, 2172, 2198).

sRef Gen@20 @1 S0′ 2502. And dwelt between Kadesh and Shur. That this signifies His state specifically, is evident from the signification of “dwelling,” as being to live (see n. 1293). What precedes also indicates this, namely, that Abraham journeyed thence toward the land of the south, by which there is signified the Lord’s progression into the goods and truths of faith; and as it is now said that he “dwelt between Kadesh and Shur,” it follows that nothing else is signified than the Lord’s state specifically, which is described by “Kadesh and Shur”-now to be explained.

sRef Gen@20 @1 S0′ 2503. That “Kadesh” is the affection of interior truth that proceeds from things rational, and “Shur” the affection of exterior truth that proceeds from memory-knowledges, is evident from the signification of “Kadesh and Shur.” That “Kadesh” signifies truth about which there is contention, was shown above (n. 1678), thus contention concerning truth in regard to its origin, as to whether it is from the rational; as is evident from what follows. But as with the Lord all truth was from a celestial origin, “Kadesh” here signifies the affection of truth. With every man of the church there are rational truths and truths of mere memory [vera scientifica], the former being more interior, and the latter more exterior. These are distinct from each other, precisely as are man’s two memories (see n. 2469-2473, etc.). From this it follows that there are also two affections of truth-one more interior, as being of rational things, and the other more exterior, as being of mere memory truths. The affection of interior truth that proceeds from rational things is here signified by “Kadesh;” and the affection of exterior truth that proceeds from memory truths, by “Shur.” (That “Shur” signifies this truth may be seen above, n. 1928. That names in the Word signify nothing else than actual things, has been shown above, n. 1224, 1264, 1876, 1888, and in many other places.)

sRef Gen@20 @1 S0′ 2504. And he sojourned in Gerar. That this signifies instruction thence in the spiritual things of faith, is evident from the signification of “sojourning,” as being to be instructed (see n. 1463, 2025); and from the signification of “Gerar,” as being what is spiritual of faith. Gerar is named in several places in Genesis (as chapter 10:19, 26:1, 6, 17, 20, 26); and in these it signifies faith, and this for the reason that Gerar was in Philistia; and by “Philistia” is signified the mere memory-knowledge of the knowledges of faith (see n. 1197, 1198); and it was Gerar where the king of the Philistines dwelt. Hence it is that faith itself is signified by “Gerar” (n. 1209); and by the “king of Gerar,” the truth itself of faith; for “king” in the internal sense is truth (n. 1672, 2015, 2069). Thus by “Abimelech” is signified the doctrine of faith, concerning which in what follows.
[2] In general there are intellectual things of faith, rational things of faith, and memory-knowledges of faith. They thus proceed in their order from interiors to exteriors. The things of faith which are inmost are called intellectual; those which proceed from them or thence are the rational things of faith; and those which proceed again from these are the memory-knowledges of faith. They are-to use the language of the learned-as prior to posterior, or what is the same, as higher to lower, that is, as interior to exterior. It indeed appears to man as if the memory-knowledge of faith were first, and that the rational then came forth from it, and at length the intellectual; and this for the reason that man advances in this way from his childhood. Nevertheless, although man is not aware of it, the intellectual flows in continually into the rational, and this into the faculty of knowing;* but in childhood obscurely, in adult age more evidently, and at last in full light when the man has been regenerated. Then it is apparent that this is the order, and still more fully in the other life (see n. 1495). All these are called “spiritual things;” which are distinguished in this way into degrees, and succeed one another in such an order. The spiritual things of faith are all the truths which are from good, that is, from a celestial origin. Whatever is derived from the celestial is a spiritual thing of faith.
* See n. 1901 at the end as compared with n. 1902. [Reviser.]

sRef Gen@20 @2 S0′ 2505. Verse 2. And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister; and Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. “Abraham said,” signifies the Lord’s thought; “of Sarah his wife,” signifies spiritual truth conjoined with the celestial; “she is my sister,” signifies rational truth; “and Abimelech king of Gerar sent,” signifies the doctrine of faith (“Abimelech” signifies the doctrine of faith that looks to rational things); “and took Sarah,” signifies the affection of consulting the rational.

sRef Gen@20 @2 S0′ 2506. Abraham said. That this signifies thought, is evident from the signification of “saying,” in the historicals of the Word, as being to perceive, as well as to think (see n. 1898, 1919, 2061, 2080, 2238, 2260, 2271, 2287).

sRef Gen@20 @2 S0′ 2507. Of Sarah his wife. That this signifies spiritual truth conjoined with the celestial, is evident from the signification of “Sarah” as a wife, as being intellectual truth conjoined with the Divine good, or what is the same, spiritual truth conjoined with the celestial (see n. 1468, 1901, 2063, 2065, 2172, 2173, 2198). What the spiritual is, and what the celestial, has often been stated before (see n. 1155, 1577, 1824, 2048, 2088). That is called Celestial, which is of good, that is, which is of love to the Lord and of charity toward the neighbor; and that Spiritual, which is of truth, that is, which is of faith derived from those loves.

sRef Gen@20 @2 S0′ 2508. She is my sister. That this signifies rational truth, is evident from the signification of a “sister,” as being rational intellectual truth (see n. 1495). That rational truth is a “sister,” can be seen only from the heavenly marriage; for the things which descend from this have kinships among themselves like the relationships and connections on earth (concerning which see n. 685, 917); and this with indefinite variety. The heavenly marriage itself exists solely between the Divine good and the Divine truth. From this there are conceived in man the intellectual, the rational, and the faculty of knowing; for without conception from the heavenly marriage man cannot possibly be imbued with understanding, with reason, or with knowledge, and consequently cannot be man. In proportion therefore as he receives from the heavenly marriage, in the same proportion is he man. The heavenly marriage is in the Lord Himself, thus the Lord is this marriage itself, for He is the Divine good itself and at the same time the Divine truth. Angels and men are in the heavenly marriage insofar as they are in love to the Lord and in charity toward the neighbor, and insofar as they are thence in faith; that is, insofar as they are in the Lord’s good, and thence in truth; and they are then called “daughters and sons,” and in their relation to one another “sisters and brothers;” but this with differences. The reason why rational truth is called a “sister” is that it is conceived from the influx of the Divine good into the affection of rational truths; the good which is thence in the rational is called a “brother,” and the truth which is thence, a “sister.” But this will be better seen from what is said by Abraham in verse 12 of this chapter: “and moreover truly she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.”

sRef Gen@20 @2 S0′ 2509. And Abimelech king of Gerar sent. That this signifies the doctrine of faith, is evident from what was said above (n. 2504), namely, that by “Philistia” is signified the memory-knowledge of the knowledges of faith (n. 1197, 1198); by “Gerar,” which was in Philistia, faith (n. 1209, 2504); and by a “king,” the truth itself of faith (n. 1672, 2015, 2069). Hence by “Abimelech” is signified the doctrine of faith, but the doctrine of faith looking to rational things; as will be manifest from what now follows.

sRef Gen@20 @2 S0′ 2510. That “Abimelech” is the doctrine of faith looking to rational things is evident from the fact that he looked upon Sarah, not as Abraham’s wife, but as his sister; and by Sarah as a sister is signified rational truth (n. 2508). The same is also manifest from what follows; for the doctrine of faith is there treated of, as to whether it has its origin from the rational, or from the celestial. Hence “Abimelech” signifies the doctrine of faith looking to rational things. Doctrine is said to look to rational things when nothing is acknowledged as truth of doctrine except what can be comprehended by the reason, so that the consideration of all the things which are of doctrine is from the rational. Yet that the doctrine of faith is not from a rational but from a celestial origin, is taught in the internal sense in what follows.

sRef Gen@20 @2 S0′ 2511. And took Sarah. That this signifies the affection of consulting the rational, is evident from the signification of Sarah as a “sister,” as being rational truth (see n. 2508); and also from the signification of “taking” her, as being from affection toward her; thus, in the internal sense, from the affection of consulting the rational. The things contained in this verse involve the Lord’s first thought respecting the doctrine of faith, as to whether it would be well to consult the rational or not. The reason why the first thought was of such a character is that the Lord progressed according to all Divine order; and whatever was of the human into which He was born, and which He derived from the mother, must necessarily be put off in order that He might put on the Divine; thus also this human thought, namely, as to whether the rational was to be consulted in regard to the doctrinal things of faith.

sRef Gen@20 @3 S0′ 2512. Verse 3. And God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou wilt die because of the woman whom thou hast taken, for she is married to a husband. “God came to Abimelech,” signifies the Lord’s perception concerning the doctrine of faith; “in a dream by night,” signifies that it was obscure; “and said to him,” signifies thought thence; “Behold, thou wilt die because of the woman,” signifies that the doctrine of faith would be null and void if the rational were consulted in regard to its contents; “for she is married to a husband,” signifies that the doctrine of true faith, and the things therein, are conjoined with the celestial.

sRef Gen@20 @3 S0′ 2513. God came to Abimelech. That this signifies the Lord’s perception concerning the doctrine of faith, is evident from the signification of “God coming,” and from the signification of “Abimelech.” That “God coming” signifies to perceive, is evident, for perception is nothing else than the Divine advent or influx into the intellectual faculty. (That “Abimelech” signifies the doctrine of faith was shown above, n. 2504, 2509, 2510.)

sRef Gen@20 @3 S0′ 2514. In a dream by night. That this signifies that the perception was obscure, is evident from the signification of a “dream,” and likewise of “night.” A “dream,” when perception is treated of, signifies something obscure in comparison with wakefulness; and still more when it is said “a dream by night.” The Lord’s first perception is called obscure, because it was in the human that He was to put off, and the shades of which He was to disperse. The Lord’s perception, although from the Divine, was yet in the human, which is such that it does not immediately receive the light itself, but gradually as the shades which are there are dispersed. That He brought Himself into what was less obscure in regard to the doctrine of faith, is signified by “God coming again to Abimelech in a dream,” as declared in verse 6, where there is no mention of “night;” and that He afterwards came into clear perception is signified in verse 8 by the words, “Abimelech rose early in the morning.”

sRef Gen@20 @3 S0′ 2515. And said to him. That this signifies thought therefrom, namely, from the perception, is evident from the signification of “saying,” as being to perceive, and also to think (as shown in n. 2506). As it is here said that there was thought from the perception, it may be well to state in a few words how the case is with thought. There are thoughts from perception; thoughts from conscience; and thoughts from no conscience. Thoughts from perception exist only with the celestial, that is, with those who are in love to the Lord; such thought is the most internal that exists with man; and it exists with the celestial angels in heaven, for it is perception from the Lord by which and from which their thought exists; and to think contrary to perception is impossible. Thoughts from conscience are lower, and exist with the spiritual, that is, with those who are in the good of charity and faith as to life and as to doctrine. Moreover with these persons to think contrary to conscience is impossible; for this would be to think against the good and truth which are dictated to them from the Lord through conscience.
[2] But thoughts from no conscience exist with those who do not suffer themselves to be inwardly directed by what is good and true, but only by what is evil and false; that is, not by the Lord, but by themselves. Such persons believe that they inwardly think just as do those who think from conscience and perception, for the reason that they do not know what conscience is, still less perception; but the difference is as great as is that between hell and heaven. They who think without conscience think from any cupidities and phantasies whatever; thus from hell; and when it seems otherwise, it is from external decorum for the sake of reputation. But they who think from conscience think from the affections of good and truth; thus from heaven. But as regards the Lord’s thought, it transcended all human understanding, for it was immediately from the Divine.

sRef Gen@20 @3 S0′ 2516. Behold, thou wilt die because of the woman. That this signifies that the doctrine of faith would become null and void if the rational were consulted as to its contents, is evident from the signification of “Abimelech,” who is here addressed, as being the doctrine of faith; from the signification of “dying,” as being to become null and void; and from the signification of a “sister,” who is here called “the woman,” as being the rational (see n. 2508). Hence now by “Abimelech dying because of the woman” is signified that the doctrine of faith would become null and void if the rational were consulted.
[2] The reason why there is no doctrine of faith from the rational, is that the rational is in appearances of good and truth, which appearances are not in themselves truths (as before shown, n. 2053, 2196, 2203, 2209). Moreover the rational has under it fallacies which are from external sensuous things confirmed by memory-knowledges, which induce obscurity in these appearances of truth. The rational for the most part is merely human, as also is evident from its birth; and this is why nothing doctrinal of faith can begin from it, and still less be constructed from it; but must be from the Lord’s Divine Itself and Divine Human. This is its origin, and indeed so entirely that the Lord is doctrine itself; on which account also in the Word He is called the Word, the Truth, the Light, the Way, the Door; and (what is an arcanum) all doctrine is from the Divine good and the Divine truth, and has in itself the heavenly marriage. Doctrine that has not this in it is not the genuine doctrine of faith. Hence it is that in all the particulars of the Word (the source of doctrine) there is an image of a marriage (see n. 683, 793, 801).
[3] In the literal or external sense of the Word the doctrine of faith does indeed appear as if it possessed much from the rational, and even from the natural; but this is because the Word is for man, and has been in this manner accommodated to him; but still in itself it is spiritual from a celestial origin, that is, from Divine truth conjoined with Divine good. That doctrine would become null and void if as to its contents the rational were consulted, will be illustrated by examples in what follows.

sRef Gen@20 @3 S0′ 2517. For she is married to a husband. That this signifies that the doctrine of true faith is spiritual, and that its contents are conjoined with the celestial, is evident from the signification of being “married to a husband.” “Husband,” when mentioned in the Word, signifies good, and “wife” then signifies truth. It is otherwise when the husband is called the “man;” for then “man” signifies truth, and “wife” good (see n. 915, and elsewhere). Here therefore her being “married to a husband” signifies that truth is conjoined with good, and in such a manner that the truth also is good. The same is also evident from the signification of “Sarah as a wife,” as being spiritual truth, and of “Abraham,” as being celestial good, both Divine (see n. 2501, 2507). And as “Sarah” signifies Divine spiritual truth, the doctrine itself of true faith is also meant by “Sarah a wife;” for the doctrine is from truths. It is plain from this that her being “married to a husband” means that the doctrine of true faith is spiritual, and that its contents are conjoined with the celestial.

sRef Gen@20 @4 S0′ 2518. Verse 4. And Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, Lord, wilt Thou slay also a righteous nation? “Abimelech had not come near her,” signifies that in the doctrine of faith rational truth had not been consulted in any manner; “and he said, Lord, wilt Thou slay also a righteous nation?” signifies whether would the good and truth of doctrine be extinguished.

sRef Gen@20 @4 S0′ 2519. Abimelech had not come near her. That this signifies that in the doctrine of faith rational truth had not been consulted in any manner, is evident from the signification of “Abimelech,” as being the doctrine of faith (see n. 2504, 2509, 2510); and from the signification of “coming near her,” namely to Sarah as a sister, as being to touch, or in any manner to consult rational truth, which is a “sister” (n. 1495, 2508). The reason why the rational had not been consulted in any manner, is that which has been stated before, namely, that the doctrinal things of faith are in their entirety from the Divine, which is infinitely above the human rational. It is from the Divine that the rational receives its good and its truth. The Divine can enter into the rational, but not the rational into the Divine; as the soul can enter into the body, and form it, but not the body into the soul; or as light can enter into shade, and modify it variously into colors; but not shade into light. But as it appears at first as if the rational ought to be present, because the rational is the very thing that receives the doctrine, it is here shown that the first subject of thought was, whether it also should not be consulted at the same time. But the Lord revealed and answered to Himself that doctrine would thus become null and void; and therefore the rational was not consulted; which is here signified by “Abimelech not coming near her.”

sRef Gen@20 @4 S0′ 2520. And he said, Lord, wilt Thou slay also a righteous nation? That this signifies whether would the good and truth be extinguished, is evident from the signification of “nation,” as being good (see n. 1259, 1260, 1416); and as it is predicated of the nation of Abimelech, by whom is signified the doctrine of faith, by a “righteous nation” is here signified both good and truth; for both are of doctrine.
[2] That this was said from the zeal of affection or of love toward the whole human race, is manifest. This love directed the Lord’s thoughts while He was still in the maternal human; and although He perceived from the Divine that the doctrine of faith was from a celestial origin only, nevertheless in order that the human race might be provided for, which does not receive anything of which it cannot have some idea from its rational, it is therefore said, ” Wilt Thou slay also a righteous nation?” by which is signified whether would the good and truth of doctrine be extinguished. That man does not receive anything of which he cannot have some idea from his rational, is evident from the ideas which man cherishes respecting Divine arcana. Some idea from worldly things or from things analogous to these always adheres to them, by which they are retained in the memory, and by which they are reproduced in the thought; for without an idea from worldly things man can think nothing at all. If therefore truths from a Divine origin were set forth naked, they would never be received, but would completely transcend man’s comprehension, and therefore his belief, and most especially with those who are in external worship.
[3] To illustrate this take the following examples: The Divine Itself can be in nothing but the Divine, thus in nothing but the Lord’s Divine Human, and with man through this. If the rational were consulted it would say that the Divine Itself can be in the human of everyone. Again: Nothing is holy which does not proceed from the Lord, thus from the Divine, which is one. If the rational were consulted it would say that there may be what is holy from other sources also.
[4] Again: Man does not live, nor do good, nor believe truth, from himself, nay, does not even think from himself; but the good and truth are from the Lord, while the evil and falsity are from hell; and what is more, hell, that is, they who are in hell, do not think from themselves, but receive the Lord’s good and truth in the manner indicated. If the rational were consulted it would reject this, because it does not comprehend it. In like manner it would reject the truth that no one is rewarded on account of doing what is good and teaching what is true; and that the external contributes nothing, but only the internal insofar as there is the affection of good in doing what is good, and insofar as there is from that the affection of truth in teaching what is true, and this not from self. And so in a thousand other instances.
[5] It is because the human rational is of such a character that the Word has spoken in accordance with man’s apprehension, and also in accordance with his genius. This therefore is the reason why the internal sense of the Word is different from its literal sense; which is very evident in the Word of the Old Testament, where most things have been written in accordance with the apprehension and genius of the people who then lived. On this account almost nothing is said concerning the life after death, salvation, and the internal man. For the Jewish and Israelitish people with whom the church then was, were of such a character that if these things had been disclosed they would not only not have understood them, but would also have derided them. And it would have been the same if it had been disclosed to them that the Messiah or Christ was to come to eternally save their souls: this also they would have rejected as a matter of no moment; as is also evident from the same nation at the present day; for if what is internal or spiritual is mentioned in their presence even now, and it is said that the Messiah will not be the greatest king on the earth, they deride it.
sRef Matt@13 @13 S6′ sRef John@12 @40 S6′ [6] This is why the Lord sometimes spoke like the Prophets, and taught the rest of what He had to say by parables, as He Himself has declared in Matthew:
Jesus said, I speak unto them by parables, because seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand (Matt. 13:13).
By “those who see and hear” are meant those within the church who although they see and hear, still do not understand. Also in John:
He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart, lest they should see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them (John 12:40).
Their being “converted” and “healed” implies that nevertheless they would afterwards reject, and so would profane, which involves eternal condemnation (see n. 301-303, 582, 1008, 1010, 1059, 1327, 1328, 2051, 2426). Nevertheless the Lord has disclosed the interior things of the Word in many places, but only for the wise.

sRef Gen@20 @5 S0′ 2521. Verse 5. Said he not himself unto me, She is my sister? And she herself also said, He is my brother: in the uprightness of my heart and in the blamelessness of my hands have I done this. “Said he not himself unto me,” signifies exculpation for having so thought; “she is my sister,” signifies that it was the rational which should be consulted; “and she herself also said, He is my brother,” signifies that the rational itself so dictated that celestial good should be adjoined to it; “in the uprightness of my heart,” signifies that it was so thought from innocence and simple good; “and in the blamelessness of my hands have I done this,” signifies from the affection of truth, and so with all ability.

sRef Gen@20 @5 S0′ 2522. Said he not himself unto me. That this signifies exculpation for having so thought, is evident from the particulars in this verse, as also from the signification of “saying,” as being to think (see n. 2506).

sRef Gen@20 @5 S0′ 2523. She is my sister. That this signifies that it was the rational which should be consulted (that is, that he so thought), is evident from the signification of “sister” in this chapter as being rational truth (see n. 1495, 2508). In the internal sense of the Word the Lord’s whole life is described, such as it was to be in the world, even as to the perceptions and thoughts, for these were foreseen and provided because from the Divine; this being done for the additional reason that all these things might be set forth at that time as present to the angels, who perceive the Word according to the internal sense; and that so the Lord might be before them, and at the same time how by successive steps He put off the human, and put on the Divine. Unless these things had been as if present to the angels, through the Word, and also through all the rites in the Jewish Church, the Lord would have been obliged to come into the world immediately after the fall of the Most Ancient Church, which is called Man or Adam; for there was an immediate prophecy of the Lord’s advent (Gen. 3:15); and what is more, the human race of that time could not otherwise have been saved.
[2] As regards the Lord’s life itself, it was a continual progression of the Human to the Divine, even to absolute union (as already frequently stated), for in order that He might combat with the hells and overcome them, He must needs do it from the Human; for there is no combat with the hells from the Divine. It therefore pleased Him to put on the human like another man, to be an infant like another, to grow up into knowledges [in scientias et in cognitiones], which things are represented by Abraham’s sojourning in Egypt (chapter 12), and now in Gerar; thus it pleased Him to cultivate the rational as another man, and in this way to disperse its shade, and bring it into light, and this from His own power. That the Lord’s progression from the Human to the Divine was of this nature, can be denied by no one if he only considers that He was a little child, and learned to talk like one; and so on. But there was this difference: that the Divine Itself was in Him, seeing that He was conceived of Jehovah.

sRef Gen@20 @5 S0′ 2524. And she herself also said, He is my brother. That this signifies that the rational itself dictated that celestial good should be adjoined to it, is evident from the signification of a “sister” (here meant by “she herself”) as being the rational (n. 1495, 2508); and from the signification of a “brother,” as being the good of truth (n. 367, 2508). For the case herein is as follows: Divine good and Divine truth are united to each other as if by marriage; for thence comes the heavenly marriage, and thence comes marriage love also, even down to lower nature. But the good and truth of the rational are not conjoined with each other as by marriage, but by consanguinity, like brother and sister; since the rational as to truth is conceived from the influx of Divine good into the affection of knowledges [scientiarum et cognitionum] (see n. 1895, 1902, 1910); and the good of the rational, through the influx of Divine good into that truth, which then becomes the good itself of charity, which is the “brother” of faith, or what is the same, of truth (n. 367).
[2] But in regard to the good and truth of the rational, the procuring of this takes place in such a way that its good is from Divine good, whereas its truth is not from Divine truth; for the truth of the rational is procured by means of knowledges [scientias et cognitiones], which are insinuated through the external and internal senses, thus by an external way. Hence it is that there adhere to its truths many fallacies from the senses, which cause the truths not to be truths; nevertheless when Divine good flows into them, and conceives them, they then appear as truths, and are acknowledged as truths, although they are nothing but appearances of truth. The good itself is then modified in these truths according to the shades there, and becomes in quality like the truth. This is one arcanum which lies hidden in these words, that the rational thus dictated that celestial good should be adjoined to it.

sRef Gen@20 @5 S0′ 2525. In the uprightness of my heart. That this signifies that it was so thought from innocence and simple good, is evident from the signification of “uprightness,” and of “heart.” In the original tongue “uprightness” is expressed by a word which signifies also integrity and perfection, and also simplicity; moreover “heart” signifies love and charity, which are of good, as is well known. Hence it is that “from the uprightness of the heart” means from innocence and simple good.

sRef Gen@20 @5 S0′ 2526. And in the blamelessness of my hands have I done this. That this signifies from the affection of truth, and so from all ability, is evident from the signification of “blamelessness,” and also of “hands.” In the original language “blamelessness” is expressed by a word which also means cleanness and purity. “Hands” are predicated of truth, and signify power, thus ability (n. 878). That “I have done this from the uprightness of my heart and the blamelessness of my hands” signifies that it was so thought from innocence and simple good, and from the affection of truth, and thus from all ability, is because good is good from innocence; and truth is truth from good; and when these are in their order, there is then all ability. That these things are involved in the words is plain; for there is not an upright, sound, or perfect heart (by which good is signified) unless innocence be in the good, as just said; from this it becomes simple good. And there are not blameless, clean, or pure hands (which are predicated of truths) unless good be in the truths, as also just said; that is, unless there be the affection of truth. When the thought is from these, it is also from all ability or power; which is likewise signified by “hands” (n. 878).

sRef Gen@20 @6 S0′ 2527. Verse 6. And God said unto him in the dream, Yea, I know that in the uprightness of thy heart thou hast done this; and I also withheld thee from sinning against Me; therefore I did not suffer thee to touch her. “God said unto him in the dream,” signifies perception less obscure; “Yea, I know that in the uprightness of thy heart thou hast done this,” signifies here as before that it was so thought from innocence and from simple good; thus that there was no fault; “and I also withheld thee from sinning against Me,” signifies that no harm resulted; “therefore I did not suffer thee to touch her,” signifies that the rational was not at all consulted.

sRef Gen@20 @6 S0′ 2528. God said unto him in the dream. That this signifies perception less obscure, is evident from what was said and explained above (n. 2514). The name “God” is used in this chapter, but not “Jehovah,” except in the last verse, for the reason that spiritual things are treated of, that is, the doctrinal things of faith. When this is the subject He is called “God;” but when celestial things, or love and charity, are treated of, He is then called “Jehovah” (see n. 709, 732, 2001).

sRef Gen@20 @6 S0′ 2529. Yea, I know that in the uprightness of thy heart thou hast done this. That this signifies that it was so thought from innocence and from simple good, is evident from what was said above (n. 2525, 2526), where are the same words. That it is not also said, as above, “in the blamelessness of thy hands,” is for the hidden reason that in the affection of truth (which is signified by the “blamelessness of the hands”) there was something of the human; for truth was insinuated into the Lord also through the human of His birth, but good from the Divine alone; as is evident from the coming forth [existentia] of the rational as to good and as to truth (n. 2524).

sRef Gen@20 @6 S0′ 2530. And I also withheld thee from sinning against Me. That this signifies that no harm resulted, that is, that in the doctrine of faith the rational was not consulted (as also follows presently) is evident without explication.

sRef Gen@20 @6 S0′ 2531. Therefore I did not suffer thee to touch her. That this signifies that the rational was not at all consulted, is evident from the signification of “suffering to touch,” as being to consult (as is also meant by “coming near her” in verse 4, n. 2519); and from the signification of “Sarah as a sister,” who is here meant, as being the rational (see n. 1495, 2508).
[2] That it may be further known how the case is with the doctrine of faith, as being spiritual from a celestial origin, be it known that it is Divine truth from Divine good, and thus wholly Divine. What is Divine is incomprehensible, because above all understanding, even the angelic; but still this Divine, which in itself is incomprehensible, can flow in through the Lord’s Divine Human into man’s rational; and when it flows into his rational, it is there received according to the truths which are therein; thus variously, and not with one as with another. Insofar therefore as the truths with a man are more genuine, so far the Divine which flows in is received more perfectly, and so far the man’s understanding is enlightened.
[3] In the Lord’s Word are Truths themselves; but in its literal sense are truths which are accommodated to the apprehension of those who are in external worship; whereas in its internal sense are truths accommodated to those who are internal men; that is, to those who are angelic as to doctrine and at the same time as to life. Their rational is enlightened therefrom to such a degree that their enlightenment is compared to the brightness of the stars and the sun (Dan. 12:3; Matt. 13:43). Hence it is plain how important it is that interior truths be known and received. These truths may indeed be known, but by no means received, except by those who have love to the Lord, or faith in Him; for as the Lord is the Divine good, so He is the Divine truth; consequently He is doctrine itself, since whatever is in the doctrine of true faith looks to the Lord, and looks also to the heavenly kingdom and the church, and to all things of the heavenly kingdom and the church. But all these are His, and are the intermediate ends through which the last end, that is, the Lord, is regarded.
sRef John@1 @11 S4′ sRef John@14 @6 S4′ sRef John@1 @13 S4′ sRef John@1 @12 S4′ [4] That the Lord is doctrine itself as to truth and good, and thus that it is He who alone is regarded in doctrine, He teaches John:
Jesus said, I am the way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6, 7);
where the “Way” is doctrine, the “Truth” all that is of doctrine, and the “Life” the good itself which is the life of the truth. And that love to Him or faith in Him is what receives, He also teaches in John:
His own received Him not; but as many as received Him, to them gave He power to be the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name who were born, not of bloods, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:11-13).
Those are “born of God” who are in love and thence in faith.

sRef Gen@20 @7 S0′ 2532. Verse 7. And now restore the man’s wife; for he is a prophet, and shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live; and if thou restore her not, know thou that dying thou shalt die, thou and all that are thine. “And now restore the man’s wife,” signifies that he should render up the spiritual truth of doctrine without taint from the rational; “for he is a prophet,” signifies that thus it should be taught; “and he shall pray for thee,” signifies that it will thus be revealed; “and thou shalt live,” signifies that thus doctrine will have life; “and if thou restore her not,” signifies here as before that if he should not render up the spiritual truth of doctrine without taint from the rational; “know thou that dying thou shalt die,” signifies there will be no doctrine of truth and good; “and all that are thine,” signifies all things that belong to it together.

sRef Gen@20 @7 S0′ 2533. And now restore the man’s wife. That this signifies that he should render up the spiritual truth of doctrine without taint from the rational, is evident from the signification of “wife,” as being spiritual truth (see n. 2507, 2510); and from the signification of the “man,” as being doctrine itself; for Abraham (by whom the Lord in that state is represented), when called a “man,” signifies celestial truth, which is the same as doctrine from a celestial origin; for in the internal sense a “man” is the intellectual (see n. 158, 265, 749, 915, 1007, 2517). Hence it is evident that to “restore the man’s wife” is to render up the spiritual truth of doctrine without taint. That it means without taint from the rational, is because Abimelech, who was to restore her, signifies doctrine that has regard to rational things, or what is the same, the rational things of doctrine (n. 2510).
[2] It was said above that although the doctrine of faith is in itself Divine, and therefore above all human and even angelic comprehension, it has nevertheless been dictated in the Word according to man’s comprehension, in a rational manner. The case herein is the same as it is with a parent who is teaching his little boys and girls: when he is teaching, he sets forth everything in accordance with their genius, although he himself thinks from what is more interior or higher; otherwise it would be teaching without their learning, or like casting seed upon a rock. The case is also the same with the angels who in the other life instruct the simple in heart: although these angels are in celestial and spiritual wisdom, yet they do not hold themselves above the comprehension of those whom they teach, but speak in simplicity with them, yet rising by degrees as these are instructed; for if they were to speak from angelic wisdom, the simple would comprehend nothing at all, and thus would not be led to the truths and goods of faith. The case would be the same if the Lord had not taught in the Word in accordance with man’s comprehension, in a rational manner. Nevertheless in its internal sense the Word is elevated to the angelic understanding; and yet that sense, in its highest elevation in which it is perceived by the angels, is infinitely below the Divine. It is hence manifest what the Word is in its origin, and thus in itself; and that it thus everywhere involves more things than the whole heaven is capable of comprehending, even as to a small part, although in the letter it appears so unimportant and so rude.
sRef John@1 @14 S3′ sRef John@1 @4 S3′ sRef John@1 @1 S3′ [3] That the Lord is the Word, because the Word is from Him and He is in the Word, is evident in John:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word; in Him was life, and the life was the light of men; the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us; and we saw His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:1, 4, 14; see also Rev. 19:11, 13, 16).
And as the Lord is the Word, He is also doctrine; for there is no other doctrine which is itself Divine.

sRef Gen@20 @7 S0′ sRef Deut@18 @18 S1′ sRef John@6 @14 S1′ sRef Deut@18 @15 S1′ 2534. For he is a prophet. That this signifies that thus it would be taught, is evident from the signification of a “prophet.” In the Word we frequently read of a “prophet;” and in the sense of the letter “prophet” signifies those to whom revelation is made, also abstractedly, revelation itself; but in the internal sense a “prophet” signifies one who teaches, and also abstractedly doctrine itself; and as the Lord (as before said) is doctrine itself, that is, the Word which teaches, He is called a “Prophet,” as in Moses:
A Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me, will Jehovah thy God raise up; unto Him shall ye be obedient (Deut. 18:15, 18).
It is said “like unto me,” because the Lord was represented by Moses, as well as by Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, and many more; and because they expected Him it is said in John:
The men, seeing the sign which Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that Prophet that should come into the world (John 6:14).
sRef Luke@1 @76 S2′ sRef Rev@19 @10 S2′ sRef John@1 @23 S2′ sRef John@1 @22 S2′ sRef John@1 @21 S2′ [2] It is because the Lord is the “Prophet” in the highest sense, and that “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Rev. 19:10), that in the internal sense of the Word a “prophet” signifies one who teaches, and also abstractedly, doctrine; which is plainly evident from the following passages. In Luke:
Thou child shalt be called the prophet of the Highest (Luke 1:76).
This was said by Zacharias of his son John the Baptist, who himself said that he was not the prophet, but one preparing the way by teaching and preaching concerning the Lord’s coming:
They asked him, What art thou? Art thou Elias? But he said, I am not. Art thou that prophet? he answered, No. They said therefore unto him, Who art thou? he said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord (John 1:21-23).
sRef Rev@11 @2 S3′ sRef Rev@10 @11 S3′ sRef Rev@11 @3 S3′ sRef Joel@2 @28 S3′ sRef Matt@7 @22 S3′ sRef Ex@7 @1 S3′ [3] In Matthew:
Many will say in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied by Thy name? (Matt. 7:22),
where it is manifest that to “prophesy” is to teach. In John:
Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings (Rev. 10:11);
to “prophesy” denotes to teach; and what “peoples, nations, tongues, and kings” mean, has been stated and shown before. In the same:
The nations shall trample the holy city forty-two months; but I will give to My two witnesses that they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and sixty days clothed in sackcloth (Rev. 11:2-3);
where also to “prophesy” denotes to teach. In Moses:
Jehovah said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet (Exod. 7:1);
where “prophet” denotes the one who should teach or speak what Moses would say. In Joel:
I will pour out My spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy (Joel 2:28);
“shall prophesy” denotes shall teach.
sRef Isa@29 @10 S4′ sRef Isa@29 @11 S4′ [4] In Isaiah:
Jehovah hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes; the prophets and your heads, the seers, hath He covered; the vision of all hath become like the words of a sealed book, which they give to him that knoweth letters, saying, Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I cannot, for it is sealed (Isa. 29:10-11);
where by “prophets” are meant those who teach truth; and by “seers” those who see truth; who are said to be “covered” when they know and see nothing of the truth. As in ancient times those who taught were called “prophets,” they were therefore called also “seers,” because to “see” signifies to understand (n. 2150, 2325; that they were called “seers” may be seen 1 Sam. 9:9; 2 Sam. 24:11). They were also called “men of God,” from the signification of “man” (n. 158, 265, 749, 915, 1007, 2517; that they were called “men of God,” 2 Kings 1:9-16; 4:7, 9, 16, 21-22, 25, 27, 40, 42; 5:8, 14, 20; 13:19; 23:16-17).
sRef Matt@24 @24 S5′ sRef Matt@24 @11 S5′ [5] That in the internal sense by “prophets” are signified those who teach, is evident in Jeremiah in the whole of chapter 23, and in Ezekiel in the whole of chapter 13, where “prophets” are specifically treated of; as also in many other places where they are mentioned. Hence also by “false prophets” are signified those who teach falsities; as in Matthew:
In the consummation of the age many false prophets shall arise, and shall mislead many. There shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs, and shall mislead if possible even the elect (Matt. 24:11, 24);
where by “false prophets” no others are signified. In like manner by the “false prophet” in Rev. 16:13; 19:20; 20:10.
[6] This shows how greatly the internal sense of the Word is obscured by the ideas that have been formed from the representatives of the Jewish Church; for whenever a “prophet” is mentioned in the Word, there at once occurs the idea of prophets such as they were at that time; which idea is a great obstacle to perceiving what is signified by them. Yet the wiser anyone is, the more easily is the idea gathered from those representatives removed; as for example where the “temple” is mentioned, they who think more wisely do not perceive the temple at Jerusalem, but the Temple of the Lord; where “Mount Zion,” or “Zion,” is mentioned, they do not perceive that mountain at Jerusalem, but the Lord’s kingdom; and where “Jerusalem” is mentioned, they do not perceive the city that was in the tribes of Benjamin and Judah, but the holy and heavenly Jerusalem.

sRef John@12 @27 S0′ sRef Gen@20 @7 S0′ sRef Luke@3 @21 S0′ sRef Luke@9 @29 S0′ sRef John@12 @28 S0′ sRef Luke@9 @28 S0′ 2535. He shall pray for thee. That this signifies that it will thus be revealed, is evident from the signification of “praying.” Prayer, regarded in itself, is speech with God, and some internal view at the time of the matters of the prayer, to which there answers something like an influx into the perception or thought of the mind, so that there is a certain opening of the man’s interiors toward God; but this with a difference according to the man’s state, and according to the essence of the subject of the prayer. If the man prays from love and faith, and for only heavenly and spiritual things, there then comes forth in the prayer something like a revelation (which is manifested in the affection of him that prays) as to hope, consolation, or a certain inward joy. It is from this that to “pray” signifies in the internal sense to be revealed. Still more is this the case here, where praying is predicated of a prophet, by whom is meant the Lord, whose prayer was nothing else than internal speech with the Divine, and at the same time revelation. That there was revelation is evident in Luke:
It came to pass when Jesus was baptized, and prayed, that the heaven was opened (Luke 3:21).
In the same:
It came to pass that He took Peter, James, and John, and went up into the mountain to pray; and as He prayed, the fashion of His countenance was altered, and His raiment became white and glistening (Luke 9:28-29).
In John:
When He prayed, saying, Father glorify Thy name, then came there a voice from heaven: I have both glorified, and will glorify again (John 12:27-28);
where it is plain that the Lord’s “praying” was speech with the Divine, and revelation at the same time.

sRef Gen@20 @7 S0′ 2536. And thou shalt live. That this signifies that thus doctrine will have life, is evident without explication.

sRef Gen@20 @7 S0′ 2537. And if thou restore her not. That this signifies that if spiritual truth were not rendered up without taint from the rational, is evident from what has been said just above (n. 2533), where are the same words.

sRef Gen@20 @7 S0′ 2538. Know thou that dying thou shalt die. That this signifies that there will be no doctrine of truth and good, is also evident from what was said above (n. 2516); where also the words are similar. In like manner that “all that are thine” signifies all the things that are of it, namely, of the doctrine, together. That in the internal sense “all” signifies everything or all things, is because in the Word persons signify actual things; and thus “all that belonged to Abimelech” signifies everything or all things that are of doctrine. From all this then it is evident what is the internal sense of the words in this verse; namely, that He should render up the spiritual truth of doctrine without taint from the rational, and that thereby it would be taught and revealed to Him, and thus doctrine would have life; but that if He should not render up spiritual truth without taint from the rational, the doctrine of truth and good would become null and void in respect to each and all things of it.
[2] In regard to doctrine the case is this: Insofar as there is what is human (that is, what is of sense, of memory-knowledge, and of the rational) as the ground of belief, so far the doctrine is null and void. But insofar as what is of sense, of memory-knowledge, and of the rational is removed, that is, insofar as doctrine is believed without these things, so far doctrine lives; for so far the Divine flows in. It is that which is proper to the human that hinders the influx and the reception. But it is one thing to believe from what is of the rational, of memory-knowledge, and of sense (that is, to consult such things in order to believe), and quite another thing to confirm and corroborate by means of things rational, of memory-knowledge, and of sense, that which is believed. What the difference is will be made plain in what follows; for these things also are treated of in this chapter in the internal sense.

sRef Gen@20 @8 S0′ 2539. Verse 8. And Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and spoke all these words in their ears; and the men feared greatly. “Abimelech rose early in the morning,” signifies clear perception, and the light of confirmation from celestial good; “and called all his servants,” signifies things rational and of memory-knowledge; “and spoke all these words in their ears,” signifies an exhortation to the things thence derived that confirm, even until they should become obedient; “and the men feared greatly,” signifies until they were also averse.

sRef Gen@20 @8 S0′ 2540. Abimelech rose early in the morning. That this signifies clear perception, and the light of confirmation from celestial good, is evident from the signification of “rising in the morning,” also of “Abimelech,” and also of “early.” What “morning” signifies has been shown above (n. 2333, 2405): that it is here clear perception is manifest in itself, as well as from the series; that the perception was at first obscure (n. 2513, 2514); and that afterwards it was less obscure (n. 2528). That “Abimelech” signifies the doctrine of faith looking to rational things, may be seen above (n. 2509, 2510); and what “early” signifies is manifest from the signification of “morning.” As it is here said that he “rose early in the morning,” this not only signifies clear perception, but also the light of confirmation from celestial good; for it is celestial good from which comes the confirming light of truth; all of which shows that this is the signification.
[2] The reason why the perception which the Lord had when in the Human, and His thought concerning what is rational in the doctrine of faith, are so much treated of in the internal sense, is that which has been stated above; as well as that it is angelic to think with distinctiveness of various things concerning the Lord’s life in the world, and how He put off the human rational, and made the rational Divine from His own power; and at the same time concerning the doctrine of charity and faith, such as it is when the rational mixes itself with it; besides many more things dependent on these, which are interior things of the church and of man. To the man whose mind and heart are set upon worldly and corporeal things, these things appear as unimportant, and perchance as of no advantage to him; yet to the angels, whose minds and hearts are set upon celestial and spiritual things, these same things are precious; and their ideas and perceptions respecting them are ineffable. This shows that very many things which seem unimportant to man, because they transcend his comprehension, are held in the highest estimation by the angels, because they enter into the light of their wisdom; and on the other hand, things that are most highly esteemed by man, because they are of the world, and therefore come within his comprehension, are unimportant to the angels, for they pass outside of the light of their wisdom. And such is the case with the internal sense of the Word, relatively to angels and to men, in many places.

sRef Gen@20 @8 S0′ 2541. And called all his servants. That this signifies rational things and memory-knowledges, is evident from the signification in the Word of “servants” (concerning which hereafter at verse 14, n. 2567). In a man who is in the Lord’s kingdom, or who is the Lord’s kingdom, there are celestial things, spiritual things, rational things, memory-knowledges, and things of sense; and these are in subordination to one another. Celestial and spiritual things hold the first place, and are the Lord’s; to these rational things are subordinate, and are subservient; to these again memory-knowledges are subordinate and subservient; and lastly the things of sense are subordinate and subservient to these, that is to memory-knowledges. The things which are subservient, or which serve, are relatively servants, and in the Word are called “servants.” That there is such a subordination, the man who thinks only from sense and memory-knowledge is ignorant; and he who knows anything of them nevertheless has a most obscure idea, because he is still in corporeal things; but the angels have a most distinct idea; for thousands, nay myriads, of ideas that to the angels are distinct, present nothing but a single obscure idea to men. For example, in regard to Abimelech calling his servants and speaking all the words in their ears, and the men fearing greatly, the angels perceive deeper arcana than man can possibly apprehend, or can even believe-namely, how the Lord reduced rational things and memory-knowledges to obedience; and indeed in such manner that He reduced to obedience not the rational things and memory-knowledges themselves, but the affections that rose up against the celestial and spiritual things of doctrine, for on the subjugation of these the rational things and memory-knowledges were reduced to obedience, and at the same time into order. To the angels, these are among the most common things; but to man they are perchance among those which are most obscure or unintelligible to him.

sRef Matt@11 @15 S0′ sRef Gen@20 @8 S0′ sRef Isa@6 @10 S0′ 2542. And spoke all these words in their ears. That this signifies an exhortation to the things thence derived that confirm, even until they should become obedient, is evident from the series in the internal sense, as well as from the signification of “ears.” From the series: There are many confirmatory things that support whatever the rational acknowledges; for it is precisely from these confirmatory things that its acknowledgment comes; and therefore it is that when rational things are being reduced to obedience exhortation is made to the things that confirm; for these are ever pressing in, and as it were rising up. From the signification of “ears:” In the internal sense of the Word “ears” signify obedience, by reason of the correspondence between hearing and obeying; which correspondence is moreover latent in the very word “hear,” and still more in “hearken;” the origin of which correspondence is from the other life, where they who are willing and obedient belong to the province of the ear, and indeed correspond to the hearing itself; which is an arcanum not yet known. But these things will become more clearly manifest when in what follows, of the Lord’s Divine mercy, correspondence will be treated of. That “ears” have this signification is evident from many passages in the Word. For the present we may adduce a single passage from Isaiah:
Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest peradventure they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and their heart should understand (Isa. 6:10).
Here to “see with the eyes” is to understand; and to “hear with the ears” is to perceive with affection, consequently to obey. And nothing else is signified where the Lord says, “He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear” (Matt. 11:15, 13:9, 43; Luke 8:8; 14:35).

sRef Gen@20 @8 S0′ 2543. The men feared greatly. That this signifies even until they should become averse, is evident from the signification here of “fearing;” and from the signification of the “men.” “Fearing,” or “fear,” like all other emotions, though in appearance simple, involves in itself many things, namely, in worldly matters the loss of life, of reputation, of honor, and of gain; and in heavenly matters the loss of what is good and true, and of the life thence derived. As fear involves these things it also involves aversion to whatever endeavors to destroy them; and this the more in proportion as the man is in the affection of what is good and true. To this very affection aversion is the opposite or contrary, and therefore by “fearing” is here signified to become averse. How great was the Lord’s aversion is evident from the zeal with which the things in the next verse are said; which zeal was for doctrine, that it might be free from contamination by anything rational or by anything of memory-knowledge. (That “men” signify rational things and memory-knowledges, or all intellectual things whatever, has been shown above, n. 158, 265, 749, 915, 1007.)

sRef Gen@20 @9 S0′ 2544. Verse 9. And Abimelech called Abraham and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? And wherein have I sinned against thee that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? Thou hast done unto me deeds that ought not to be done. “Abimelech called Abraham and said unto him,” signifies the Lord’s thought from the doctrine of faith; “what hast thou done unto us? And wherein have I sinned against thee?” signifies self-conviction for having so thought; “that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin,” signifies that thereby the doctrine of faith and all doctrinal things would be in danger; “thou hast done unto me deeds that ought not to be done,” signifies horror.

sRef Gen@20 @9 S0′ 2545. Abimelech called Abraham and said unto him. That this signifies the Lord’s thought from the doctrine of faith, is evident from the representation of Abimelech, and also of Abraham, and from the signification of “saying,” which have all been explained several times. What it is to think from the doctrine of faith cannot be explained to the apprehension; for the perception of this can fall into angelic ideas only; but to these it is presented in a light so great, attended with heavenly representatives, that scarcely anything of it can be described; as is evident when we say that the Lord’s thought was from intellectual truth, which was above that rational which He looked upon therefrom; but that the perception from which He thought was from Divine truth.

sRef Gen@20 @9 S0′ 2546. What hast thou done unto us? And wherein have I sinned against thee? That this signifies self-conviction for having so thought, is evident from the emotion and zeal in these words (see n. 2543), on account of the faculties of reason and memory-knowledge desiring to rise up and enter, and thus to have some share in the doctrine of faith, which is Divine.

sRef Jer@51 @19 S0′ sRef Jer@51 @20 S0′ sRef Gen@20 @9 S0′ 2547. That thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin. That this signifies that thereby the doctrine of faith and all doctrinal things would be in danger, is evident from the signification of “Abimelech,” here meant by “me,” as being the doctrine of faith; and from the signification of “kingdom,” as being the truth of doctrine or that which is doctrinal. That in the internal sense “kingdom” signifies the truths of doctrine; and in the opposite sense, falsities of doctrine, is evident from the Word; as in Jeremiah:
He is the Former of all things, and the scepter of His inheritance Jehovah Zebaoth is His name. Thou art My hammer, weapons of war; and I will scatter nations in thee, and destroy kingdoms in thee (Jer. 51:19-20),
where the Lord is treated of, who evidently will not scatter nations nor destroy kingdoms, but will scatter and destroy the things signified by nations and kingdoms, namely, the evils and falsities of doctrine.
sRef Ezek@37 @21 S2′ sRef Ezek@37 @22 S2′ [2] In Ezekiel:
Behold, I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations whither they be gone, and will gather them from every side, and bring them into their own land; I will make them one nation in the land in the mountains of Israel, and one king shall be king to them all; and they shall no more be two nations, neither shall they any more be divided into two kingdoms (Ezek. 37:21-22);
here “Israel” denotes the spiritual church; and “nation” the good of that church or of doctrine. (That “nations” denote goods may be seen above, n. 1259, 1260, 1416, 1849.) “Kingdom” denotes its truths. It is evident that something else than nations and kingdoms is here meant by “nations and kingdoms,” for it is said of the sons of Israel or of the Israelites that they are to be “gathered and brought back into the land,” the fact being that when dispersed among the nations they were transformed into Gentiles.
sRef Matt@24 @7 S3′ sRef Isa@19 @2 S3′ [3] In Isaiah:
I will confound Egypt with Egypt, and they shall fight every man against his brother, and every man against his companion, city against city, kingdom against kingdom (Isa. 19:2),
where “Egypt” denotes reasonings from memory-knowledges concerning the truths of faith (n. 1164, 1165, 1186); “city” denotes doctrine, here one that is heretical (n. 402, 2268, 2449); “kingdom” denotes the falsity of doctrine; so that “city against city, and kingdom against kingdom” denotes that heresies and falsities will fight among themselves; in like manner as is denoted by what the Lord said in regard to the consummation of the age, in Matthew:
Nation shall rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom (Matt. 24:7);
denoting evils against evils, and falsities against falsities.
[4] That which Daniel prophesied in regard to the four kingdoms (chapter 2:37-46, 7:17 to the end); and concerning the kingdoms of Media and Persia (chapter 8:20 to the end); and concerning the kingdoms of the king of the south and the king of the north (chapter 11); and that which John prophesied in the Revelation concerning kings and kingdoms, have no other signification: “kingdoms” there merely mean the states of the church in respect to truths and falsities. States of monarchs and of the kingdoms of the earth in the sense of the letter, are in the internal sense states of the church and of the Lord’s kingdom; in which sense there are none other than spiritual and celestial things; for regarded in itself the Lord’s Word is solely spiritual and celestial; but in order that it may be read and apprehended by every man whatever, the things of heaven are set forth by such things as are on earth.

sRef Gen@20 @9 S0′ 2548. Thou hast done unto me deeds that ought not to be done. That this signifies horror, is evident from the emotion in the words; as well as from the series, namely, that the Lord was averse (n. 2543); that He reproved Himself from zeal (n. 2546); and here that He felt horror.

sRef Gen@20 @10 S0′ sRef Gen@20 @11 S0′ 2549. Verses 10, 11. And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou that thou hast done this word? And Abraham said, Because I said, Surely there is no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me on account of the word of my wife. “Abimelech said unto Abraham,” signifies further thought from the doctrine of faith; “what sawest thou that thou hast done this word?” signifies a looking into the cause; “Abraham said,” signifies a perception which is an answer; “because I said surely there is no fear of God in this place,” signifies thought thence derived: that they would have no respect for spiritual truth in the state in which they were; “and they will kill me on account of the word of my wife,” signifies that the celestial things of faith would thus also perish if they were to think that spiritual truth alone could be conjoined with celestial good.

sRef Gen@20 @10 S0′ 2550. Abimelech said unto Abraham. That this signifies further thought from the doctrine of faith, is evident from what was said above (n. 2545), where are nearly the same words. As the statement is here repeated, it signifies further thought, and indeed concerning the cause. (What thought from the doctrine of faith is may also be seen there.)

sRef Gen@20 @10 S0′ 2551. What sawest thou that thou hast done this word? That this signifies a looking into the cause, is evident without explication; as well as from what follows, where the cause is stated. The reason of there being thus presented in regular order, in the internal sense, how the Lord perceived and thought concerning the doctrine of faith, and concerning the rational as to whether it should be consulted, is that it is angelic to think of these things in such a series. The internal sense of the Word is especially for the angels; and therefore is adapted to their perceptions and thoughts. They are in their delightful, nay, in their blessed and happy states, when they are thinking about the Lord, His Divine and His Human, and how the Human was made Divine; for they are encompassed with a celestial and spiritual sphere which is full of the Lord; so that it may be said that they are in the Lord. Hence nothing is more blessed and happy to them than to think in accordance with the things that belong to that sphere and its derivative affection.
[2] At the same time, moreover, they are instructed and perfected, especially in this: how the Lord by degrees and of His own power, as He grew up, made Divine the human into which He was born; and thus how, by means of the knowledges that He revealed to Himself He perfected His rational, dispersed by successive steps its shadows, and introduced it into Divine light. These and innumerable other things are presented before the angels in a celestial and spiritual manner, with a thousand and a thousand representatives, in the light of life, when the Word is being read. But these things, which are so precious to the angels, are to men as of no importance, because above their comprehension, and thus in the shade of their understanding; and on the other hand, the things that are precious to men, such as those which contain within them worldly matters, are of no importance to the angels, because below their state and thus in the shade of their wisdom. Thus, wonderful to say, the things that come to shade with man, and almost into contempt, with the angels pass into light, and into their affection, as is the case with many things of the internal sense of the Word.

sRef Gen@20 @11 S0′ 2552. Abraham said. That this signifies a perception which is an answer, is evident from the signification of “saying” in the historicals of the Word, as explained many times before (n. 1791, 1815, 1819, 1822, 1898, 1919, 2061, 2080, 2238, 2260, 2271, 2287). With regard to the Lord’s thought from the doctrine of faith being signified by the words “Abimelech said to Abraham;” and the perception which was an answer being meant by “Abraham said,” the case is this: perception is a higher thing, and the Lord had it from the Divine Itself; whereas thought is a lower thing, and the Lord had it from the intellectual itself; and as it was perception from which He had the thought, so the answer of the thought was from perception. This may be illustrated by something similar with man. The celestial man cannot think except from perception, nor the spiritual man except from conscience (n. 2515). The perception of the former, like the conscience [of the latter] is from the Lord, and it is not apparent to the man himself whence it is; but his thought is from the rational, and appears to him as from himself. And so again, when a man is thinking concerning any subject from the rational, then the conclusion of the thought, or the answer, comes either from perception or from conscience; consequently an answer is given him by the Lord in accordance with his state of life, his affection, and the truth of doctrine implanted or impressed in agreement therewith.

sRef Gen@20 @11 S0′ 2553. Because I said, Surely there is no fear of God in this place. That this signifies the thought thence derived: that they would have no respect for spiritual truth in that state in which they were, is evident from the signification of the expression “fear of God,” as being respect for Divine or spiritual truth; and from the signification of “place,” as being state (see n. 1273-1275, 1377). The case herein is this: Man cannot apprehend any doctrine that is purely spiritual and celestial, that is, Divine, because it infinitely transcends his apprehension, and thus also his belief. All man’s thoughts are terminated in the natural things which are connected with his senses. Whatever is not said from and according to these natural things is not comprehended, but perishes, like sight that has no bound in some ocean or universe; and therefore if doctrinal matters were set forth before a man in any other manner, they would not be at all received, and thus no respect would be entertained for them; as may be sufficiently evident from everything in the Word, where for this very reason purely Divine things themselves are set forth naturally, nay, sensuously; as that Jehovah has ears, eyes, and a face; and that He has feelings like a man, such as anger, and so forth.
[2] This need was still greater at the time when the Lord came into the world, for then men did not know even what the celestial and the spiritual was, nor even that there was anything internal. Things merely earthly and worldly, and thus external, had full possession of their minds, as was the case with the apostles themselves, who imagined that the Lord’s kingdom would be like a kingdom of this world, and therefore asked that one might sit on His right hand and another on His left, and who long thought that they should sit upon twelve thrones to judge the twelve tribes of Israel; not as yet being aware that in the other life they would not have ability to judge even the smallest thing of one man (n. 2129, at the end). His looking into this state of the human race was the reason of the Lord’s thinking at first whether the rational was to be consulted in the doctrine of faith; and this from His love, which was that the salvation of all might be provided for, and that the Word might not perish.

sRef Gen@20 @11 S0′ 2554. They will kill me for my wife’s sake. That this signifies that thus the celestial things of faith also would perish, if they were to think that spiritual truth alone could be conjoined with celestial good, is evident from the signification of “killing,” as being to perish; and from the signification of “wife,” as being spiritual truth conjoined with celestial good (see n. 2507). This is another reason why the Lord thus thought, and is as follows. The Divine good, which is here called celestial good, is united as by a marriage to the Divine truth, which is here called spiritual truth (n. 2508); and although the Divine good is united in this manner to the Divine truth alone, it nevertheless flows into lower truths, and conjoins itself with them, but not as by a marriage; for it flows into rational truths which are only appearances of truth, and conjoins itself with them; nay, it flows into truths of sense and of memory-knowledge, which are scarcely anything but fallacies, and conjoins itself with these. Unless this were so, no man could possibly have been saved (see volume 1, n. 1831-1832). That the Divine good might be conjoined with truths of reason and of memory-knowledge, and that man might thus be saved, was the purpose of the Lord’s coming into the world; for without the Lord’s Human made Divine there cannot possibly be any conjunction; whereas through Him there is conjunction. sRef John@14 @10 S2′ sRef John@14 @11 S2′ sRef John@14 @9 S2′ sRef John@14 @12 S2′ sRef John@14 @8 S2′ [2] Besides this arcanum, there are still other arcana in the words “they will kill me for my wife’s sake” (by which is signified that so the celestial things of faith would perish, if they were to think that spiritual truth alone could be conjoined with celestial good); for example, that if men were to have no regard for spiritual truth, celestial good would thereby also perish; for when the former is rejected the latter perishes; and again, that unless it were said that they should adore the Father (although there is no access to Him except through the Son, and he who sees the Son sees the Father, John 14:8-12), it would not have been received: besides other arcana.

sRef Gen@20 @13 S0′ sRef Gen@20 @12 S0′ 2555. Verses 12, 13. And moreover truly she is my sister, being the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife. And it came to pass when God caused me to depart from my father’s house, that I said unto her, This is thy goodness which thou shalt do unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother. “And moreover truly she is my sister,” signifies that rational truth had such an affinity; “the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother,” signifies that the rational was conceived of celestial good as a father, but not of spiritual truth as a mother; “and she became my wife,” signifies that spiritual truth was conjoined with the celestial by the mediumship of rationality; “and it came to pass when God caused me to depart from my father’s house,” signifies when He left what is of memory-knowledge and the appearances therefrom, together with their delights, which are here the “house of his father;” “that I said unto her,” signifies the thought at the time; “this is thy goodness which thou shalt do unto me,” signifies that He would then have therefrom this comfort; “at every place whither we shall come,” signifies all that He should afterwards conclude concerning rational truth; “say of me, he is my brother,” signifies that it should be said that rational truth had been adjoined to celestial good.

sRef Gen@20 @12 S0′ 2556. And moreover truly she is my sister. That this signifies that rational truth had such an affinity, is evident from the representation of Sarah, as a sister, as being rational truth (see n. 2508); as well as from what now follows concerning the birth of the rational, and its consequent affinity. It is to be held in general that all things in a truly rational, that is, a regenerate man-all the things of his affections, of his perceptions, and of his thoughts-are conjoined with one another as if by blood relationship and affinity; for they have been so disposed that they mutually regard one another as do the families of one house, and this in the most distinct manner; and hence they are reproduced in accordance with these affinities. This they derive from the influx of heaven, that is, of the Lord through heaven. With the man who is truly rational, that is, regenerate, all things have been disposed into order such as exists in heaven, and this from influx. From this there is given man a faculty of thinking, concluding, judging, and reflecting so wonderful as to exceed all mere human knowledge and wisdom, and immeasurably to surpass the analyses which human industry has drawn from these sources. The reason why these things have been hitherto unknown, is that it has not been believed that all things of the affections, perceptions, and thoughts flow in (the evil from hell, and the good from heaven), thus that these have a connection with the things which are without them; when yet the truth is that man is so conjoined as to his spirit with those who are without him, that if he were deprived of this connection he would not live a single moment; as may also be known from the fact that anything unconnected is impossible, and that anything unconnected perishes in a moment.

sRef Gen@20 @12 S0′ 2557. The daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother. That this signifies that the rational was conceived of celestial good as a father, but not of spiritual truth as a mother, is evident from the conception of the rational, namely, that this is effected by the influx of Divine celestial good into the affection of memory-knowledges (see n. 1895, 1902, 1910). Two arcana are contained herein; one, that man’s rational is conceived of Divine celestial good as a father, and that otherwise no rational would exist; the other, that the rational is not conceived of spiritual truth as a mother. As regards the first, namely, that man’s rational is conceived of Divine celestial good as a father, and that otherwise no rational would exist, this is evident from what has been said above (n. 1895, 1902, 1910), and also from what may be known to every man if he reflects.
[2] For it is known that a man is born into no knowledge and into nothing of reason, but only into the faculty of receiving them; and also that he afterwards learns and imbues himself with all things by degrees, and this principally through the sensuous things of the hearing and sight; and as he learns and imbues himself with these, he so becomes rational. That these things take place by the way of the body, that is, by an external way, because through the hearing and sight, is manifest; but the reason why man has not become acquainted with this (on account of not reflecting upon it) is that there is something constantly flowing in from within that receives the things which thus enter and are insinuated from without, and disposes them into order. That which flows in and receives and disposes them, is Divine celestial good, which is from the Lord. Thence comes the life of these things, thence their order, and thence the kinships and affinities among them severally, as before said. All this shows that man’s rational is from Divine celestial good as a father, in accordance with the words in this verse: “she is the daughter of my father.”
[3] As regards the other arcanum, namely, that the rational is not conceived of spiritual truth as a mother; this is evident from what was said above (n. 1902). For if spiritual truth were to flow in from within, as good does, man would then be born into everything of reason, and at the same time into everything of knowledge, so that he would have no need to learn anything. But as man is such that he is hereditarily in all evil, and thence in all falsity, and therefore if truths themselves also were to flow in would adulterate and falsify them, and thereby the man would eternally perish, it has been provided by the Lord that nothing of truth flows in through man’s internal, but only through his external. From this it is evident that man’s rational is not from spiritual truth as a mother, in accordance with the words in this verse: “she is not the daughter of my mother.” It was the Lord’s pleasure that His rational should be formed according to the same order, to the end that from His own power He might make what was human in Himself Divine, and might implant and unite Divine spiritual truth to Divine celestial good, and Divine celestial good to Divine spiritual truth.

sRef Gen@20 @12 S0′ 2558. And she became my wife. That this signifies that spiritual truth was conjoined with the celestial by the mediumship of rationality, is evident from the representation of Sarah as Abraham’s wife, as being spiritual truth conjoined with celestial good (see n. 2507); and from the representation of the same as his sister, as being rational truth (n. 2508). Hence that she became his wife, from being his sister, signifies that by rationality as a medium spiritual truth was conjoined with the celestial. (How these things are circumstanced is evident from what has been said just above, n. 2557.)

sRef Gen@20 @13 S0′ 2559. And it came to pass when God caused me to depart from my father’s house. That this signifies when He left what is of memory-knowledge, and the appearances therefrom, together with their delights, which here are the “house of his father,” is evident from the signification of “departing,” as being to leave; and from the signification of “house,” as being good (n. 2231, 2233), here the good of the delight from the appearances of the things of memory-knowledge and of rational things; for all delight appears as good. That by the “house of his father” are here signified the delights of memory-knowledges and of rational things, consequently of their appearances, comes from the fact that they are predicated of Abraham when he departed from the house of his father; for then Abraham together with the house of his father worshiped other gods (see n. 1356, 1992). Hence it is that it is said in the plural, “God [Elohim] caused me to depart.” It might also be rendered according to the original tongue, “the gods caused me to wander;” but as the Lord is represented by Abraham it must be rendered “God caused me to depart.” As with the Lord the first memory-knowledges and the rational things derived from them were human, being imbued with what was hereditary from the mother, and thus were not purely Divine, they are therefore represented by Abraham’s first state (but how far representations go, see n. 665, 1907e, 1361, 1992).

sRef Gen@20 @13 S0′ 2560. That I said unto her. That this signifies the thought at the time, is evident from the signification of “saying” as being to think, as explained several times before.

sRef Gen@20 @13 S0′ 2561. This is thy goodness which thou shalt do unto me. That this signifies that He would then have therefrom this comfort, is evident from what goes before and from what follows, and thus without further explication.

sRef Gen@20 @13 S0′ 2562. At every place whither we shall come. That this signifies all that He should afterwards conclude respecting rational truth, is evident from the signification of “place,” as being state (see n. 1273-1275, 1377). The state of the thing here treated of is the state of concluding concerning rational truth (that it should be said that rational truth was adjoined to celestial good), as follows.

sRef Gen@20 @13 S0′ 2563. Say of me, He is my brother. That this signifies that it should be said that rational truth was adjoined to celestial good, is evident from what was said above (n. 2524), where nearly the same words occur.

sRef Gen@20 @14 S0′ 2564. Verse 14. And Abimelech took flock and herd, and menservants and maidservants, and gave unto Abraham; and restored to him Sarah his wife. “Abimelech took,” signifies the doctrine of faith; “flock and herd,” signifies that it was enriched with rational goods and natural goods; “and menservants and maidservants” signifies also with rational truths and natural truths, as well as with their affections; “and gave unto Abraham,” signifies to the Lord; “and restored to him Sarah his wife,” signifies when the Divine spiritual had been adjoined to the Divine celestial.

sRef Gen@20 @14 S0′ 2565. Abimelech took. That this signifies the doctrine of faith, is evident from the signification of “Abimelech,” as being the doctrine of faith (see n. 2504, 2509, 2510).

sRef Gen@20 @14 S0′ 2566. Flock and herd. That this signifies that it was enriched with rational goods and natural goods, is evident from the signification of “flock and herd.” Those within the church are called the “flock” who are truly rational, that is, are internal men; hence also it is that in the abstract rational or internal goods themselves are signified by “flock” (concerning which signification of “flock” see above, n. 343, 415, 1565). But those within the church are called the “herd” who are natural, that is, are external men; hence also in the abstract natural or external goods themselves are signified by “herd;” (concerning which signification of “herd” see also above, n. 2180. That such things are signified by “beasts” has been shown above, n. 45, 46, 142, 143, 246, 714, 715, 776, 1823, 2179). Its being said that “Abimelech took and gave” signifies that the doctrine of faith was enriched; for as already said by “Abimelech” is signified the doctrine of faith.

sRef Gen@20 @14 S0′ sRef Isa@14 @1 S1′ sRef Isa@14 @2 S1′ 2567. And menservants and maidservants. That this signifies that it was enriched also with rational truths and natural truths, as well as with the affections of them, is evident from the signification of “menservants and maidservants.” These are frequently mentioned in the Word, and by them are signified in the internal sense things that are relatively lower and of less value, such as are rational and natural things in comparison with spiritual and celestial things. By natural truths are meant memory-knowledges of every kind, for these are natural. That in the Word these are signified by “menservants and maidservants,” is manifest from the internal sense of the words where they are mentioned, as in Isaiah:
Jehovah will have compassion on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and will set them upon their own ground; and the sojourner shall cleave unto them, and shall join themselves unto the house of Jacob; and the peoples shall take them, and shall bring them to their own place; and the house of Israel shall possess them for themselves upon the ground of Jehovah for menservants and for maidservants (Isa. 14:1-2),
[2] where “Jacob” denotes the external church; “Israel,” the internal; “sojourners,” those who are being instructed in truths and goods (see n. 1463, 2025); “menservants and maidservants,” natural and rational truths together with the affections of them, which are to serve the church meant by “Jacob and Israel.” It is evident that Jacob and Israel are not meant here, nor the Jews and Israelites, for the latter when dispersed among the Gentiles became Gentiles. The Jews still cherish this prophecy and expect its fulfillment, even according to the letter, namely, that sojourners will cleave to them, that the people will bring them to their place, and will be to them for menservants and maidservants; when yet not even the smallest thing is to be understood of the Jews and Israelites in the prophecies of the Word where these are mentioned; as must be evident even to themselves from the fact that it is often said of Israel equally as of Judah that they shall be brought back.
sRef Isa@24 @1 S3′ sRef Isa@24 @2 S3′ [3] Again in the same Prophet:
Behold, Jehovah maketh the earth empty, and emptieth it out, and will disfigure the face of it, and scatter the inhabitants thereof; and it shall be, as the people, so the priest; as the servant, so his master; as the maidservant, so her mistress (Isa. 24:1-2).
Here the “earth” denotes the church (n. 662, 1066, 1068, 1850), which is made empty and is emptied out, and its face is disfigured, and its inhabitants scattered, when there are no longer any interior truths and goods, which are the “people and the priest,” nor any exterior truths and goods, which are the “servant” and the “maidservant,” as comes to pass when external things rule over internal things.
sRef Isa@65 @9 S4′ [4] Again:
I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob and out of Judah an inheritor of My mountain, and My chosen shall possess it, and My servants shall dwell there (Isa. 65:9),
where “Jacob” denotes the external church; “Judah,” the internal celestial church; the “chosen,” its goods; and the “servants,” its truths.
sRef Joel@2 @29 S5′ sRef Joel@2 @28 S5′ [5] In Joel:
I will pour out My spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy; also upon the servants and the maidservants will I pour out My spirit in those days (Joel 2:28-29);
where the Lord’s kingdom is treated of; “to prophesy” denotes to teach (n. 2534); “sons,” truths themselves (n. 489, 491, 533, 1147) “daughters,” goods themselves (n. 489-491) “servants” and “maidservants,” lower truths and goods, upon which the spirit is said to be poured out when they accede and confirm. That such things are signified by “menservants and maidservants” here and elsewhere, does not so appear, by reason both of the common idea respecting menservants and maidservants, and of the apparent history.
sRef Rev@19 @17 S6′ sRef Rev@19 @18 S6′ [6] In John:
I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice, saying to the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, Eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses and of them that sit thereon, and the flesh of all, both of free and bond, both of small and great (Rev. 19:17, 18). It is here evident that it is not the flesh of kings, of captains, of mighty men, of horses, of those who sit on them, of the free and of the bond, which they should eat; but that it is the truths of the church, both internal and external, that were made “flesh” for them.
sRef Ex@21 @6 S7′ sRef Deut@23 @15 S7′ sRef Deut@23 @16 S7′ sRef Ex@21 @2 S7′ sRef Lev@25 @45 S7′ sRef Ex@21 @3 S7′ sRef Ex@21 @4 S7′ sRef Lev@25 @46 S7′ sRef Ex@21 @21 S7′ sRef Lev@25 @42 S7′ sRef Ex@21 @32 S7′ sRef Lev@25 @43 S7′ sRef Lev@25 @41 S7′ sRef Lev@25 @39 S7′ sRef Lev@25 @40 S7′ sRef Ex@21 @20 S7′ sRef Ex@21 @27 S7′ sRef Ex@12 @44 S7′ sRef Ex@21 @26 S7′ sRef Lev@25 @44 S7′ [7] That “menservants” signify truths, and “maidservants” goods, which are subservient to and thus serve spiritual and celestial truths and goods, is more clearly evident from the laws enjoined in the Representative Church in regard to menservants and maidservants; which laws all have regard to the state of the church and of the Lord’s kingdom in general and in particular; and to the way in which lower truths and goods, or those which are natural and rational, are to serve those which are spiritual and celestial, and thereby those which are Divine. For example: The Hebrew manservant and the Hebrew maidservant were to be free in the seventh year, and were then to be endowed from the flock, the threshing-floor, and the wine-press (Exod. 21:2, 6; Deut. 15:12-15; Jer. 34:9-14): The servant’s wife was to be free if she entered into service with him; but if the master gave him his wife, the wife and children were to be the master’s (Exod. 21:3, 4): A poor brother who had been purchased was not to serve as a bondservant, but as a hired servant and a sojourner; at the jubilee he was to go out together with his children (Lev. 25:39-43): If a brother were bought by a foreign sojourner, he might be redeemed, and was to go out in the year of the jubilee (Lev. 25:47, etc.): Menservants and maidservants might be bought of the nations around, and of the sons of foreign sojourners, and they were to be their perpetual possession, whom they might rule absolutely, but not the sons of Israel (Lev. 25:44-46): If a manservant did not desire to go out of service, his ear was to be pierced with an awl, at the door, and he was to be a perpetual servant; and the same with a maidservant (Exod. 21:6; Deut. 15:16, 17): If anyone smote his manservant or his maidservant with a rod, so that he died, vengeance was to be taken on him; but if he survived a day or more, he was to be free, because he was his money (Exod. 21:20, 21): If he should smite a servant’s eye or tooth, he was to go forth free (Exod. 21:26, 27): If an ox should gore a manservant or a maidservant so that he died, the owner was to pay thirty shekels to his master, and the ox was to be stoned (Exod. 21:32): A servant who had escaped from his master was not to be placed in confinement, but should dwell in the place where he chose, and was not to be afflicted (Deut. 23:15, 16): A servant bought with silver, and circumcised, was to eat of the Passover (Exod. 12:44): Anyone’s daughter that was bought was not to go out of service like the manservants; if she were evil, her master was not to sell her to a stranger; if she were betrothed to his son, she was to be as a daughter; if he took another, he was not to diminish her food, her raiment, nor her duty of marriage; if these things were not done, she was to go out of service without price (Exod. 21:7-12).
[8] All these laws have their origin from the laws of truth and good in heaven, and in the internal sense have reference to them; partly by correspondences, partly by representatives, and partly by significatives. But after the representatives and significatives of the church (which were the most external and lowest things of worship) had been abolished, the necessity for these laws ceased also. Now if these laws were to be unfolded from the laws of order of truth and good, and from representatives and significatives, it would be plain that nothing else was meant by “menservants” than rational and memory truths [vera rationalia et scientifica], which are lower truths, and therefore ought to serve spiritual truths; and that by “maidservants” were signified the goods of these, which being also lower, ought to serve indeed, but in another manner; and therefore certain of the laws laid down respecting maidservants differ from those laid down respecting menservants; for regarded in themselves truths are more fully servants than their goods are.
sRef 1Sam@8 @11 S9′ sRef 1Sam@8 @17 S9′ sRef 1Sam@8 @18 S9′ sRef 1Sam@8 @13 S9′ sRef 1Sam@8 @16 S9′ [9] By the “king’s right,” in Samuel, nothing else is signified in the internal sense than the “right” of truth, and likewise the “right” of falsity when it begins to rule over truth and over good; as is evident from the explication of the words by which this is described:
This will be the right of the king that shall reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to him over his chariots and for his horsemen, and they shall run before his chariots; he will take your daughters for perfumers, and for cooks, and for bakers; your menservants and your maidservants and your goodliest young men and your asses will he take and put them to his work; he will take the tenth of your flock; and ye shall be for servants. And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king whom ye have chosen for you, and Jehovah will not answer you in that day (1 Sam. 8:11, 13, 16-18).
[10] That by a “king” is signified truths, may be seen above (n. 1672, 2015, 2069); thus in the opposite sense things that are not true, that is, falsities. By the “sons whom he would appoint for himself over his chariots and for his horsemen,” are signified the truths of doctrine, which should be subservient to principles of falsity, which are the “chariots and horsemen.” By the “daughters whom he should take for perfumers, cooks, and bakers,” are signified the goods of doctrine, by which those falsities would be filled with delight; and which would be made to favor the falsities.
By the “menservants and maidservants, the young men, and the asses, by which he would do his work,” are signified the things of reason and of memory-knowledge, by which those falsities would be confirmed. By the “flock of which he will take a tenth” are signified the remains of good that he would do violence to. And by their “being servants” is signified that it would come to pass that the celestial and spiritual things of the Word and of doctrine, instead of ruling, would be subservient to the confirmation of the falsities of his principles, and the evils of his cupidities. For there is nothing that cannot be injected into principles of falsity as confirmatory of them, either by a false application, by a wrong interpretation, by perversion, or by a rejection of those things which do not favor; and therefore it is added: “if ye cry out in that day because of your king whom ye have chosen for you, Jehovah will not answer in that day.”

sRef Gen@20 @14 S0′ 2568. It has been said above in this chapter that doctrine would become null and void if the rational were consulted (n. 2516, 2538); and that it was not consulted (n. 2519, 2531). But here it is said that the doctrine of faith was enriched with goods and truths both rational and natural. At first view these statements appear as if they were adverse and contrary to each other; and yet are not so. How the case was with the Lord, has been stated; but how it is with man, remains to be told.
[2] As regards man it is one thing to regard the doctrine of faith from rational things, and altogether another to regard rational things from the doctrine of faith. To regard the doctrine of faith from rational things is not to believe in the Word, or in the doctrine thence derived, until one is persuaded from rational things that it is so; whereas to regard rational things from the doctrine of faith is first to believe in the Word, or in the doctrine therefrom, and then to confirm the same by rational things. The former is inverted order, and results in nothing being believed; whereas the latter is genuine order, and causes the man to believe the better. It is the former that is here meant by its being said that Abimelech should die because of the woman; by which is signified that the doctrine of faith would become null and void if the rational were consulted (n. 2516, 2538); but the latter is meant by its being said that Abimelech gave flock and herd, and menservants and maidservants; by which is signified that the doctrine of faith was enriched with rational and natural goods and truths.
[3] These things are much treated of in the Word in its internal sense, especially where Asshur and Egypt are spoken of; for the reason that while the doctrine of faith is regarded from rational things, that is, while a man does not believe until he is persuaded from them that it is so, it then not only becomes null and void, but whatever is contained in it is also denied; whereas when rational things are regarded from the doctrine of faith, that is, when a man believes the Word, and afterwards the same things are confirmed by rational things, the doctrine is then living and whatever is contained in it is affirmed.
[4] There are therefore two principles; one of which leads to all folly and insanity, and the other to all intelligence and wisdom. The former principle is to deny all things, or to say in the heart that we cannot believe them until we are convinced by what we can apprehend, or perceive by the senses; this is the principle that leads to all folly and insanity, and is to be called the negative principle. The other principle is to affirm the things which are of doctrine from the Word, or to think and believe within ourselves that they are true because the Lord has said them: this is the principle that leads to all intelligence and wisdom, and is to be called the affirmative principle.
[5] The more they who think from the negative principle consult things rational, the more they consult memory-knowledges, and the more they consult things philosophical, the more do they cast and precipitate themselves into darkness, until at last they deny all things. The causes of this are, that no one can apprehend higher things from lower ones, that is, spiritual and celestial things, still less Divine things, from lower ones, because they transcend all understanding, and moreover everything is then involved in negatives from that principle. On the other hand, they who think from an affirmative principle can confirm themselves by whatever things rational, by whatever memory-knowledges, and whatever things philosophic they have at command; for all these are to them things confirmatory, and give them a fuller idea of the matter.
[6] Moreover there are some who are in doubt before they deny, and there are some who are in doubt before they affirm. They who are in doubt before they deny are they who incline to a life of evil; and when this life carries them away, then insofar as they think of the matters in question they deny them. But they who are in doubt before they affirm are they who incline to a life of good; and when they suffer themselves to be bent to this by the Lord, then insofar as they think about those things so far they affirm. As this subject is further treated of in the verses which follow, it is permitted of the Lord’s Divine mercy to illustrate them more fully there (see n. 2588).

sRef Gen@20 @14 S0′ 2569. And gave unto Abraham; and restored to him Sarah his wife. That he “gave unto Abraham” signifies to the Lord, is evident from the representation of Abraham, as being the Lord (concerning which frequently before). That he “restored unto him Sarah his wife” signifies when the Divine spiritual had been adjoined to the Divine celestial, is evident from the signification of “Sarah a wife,” as being spiritual truth adjoined to celestial good (see n. 2507). The internal sense of the words in this verse is manifest from what has been said, namely, that when the Human in the Lord had been united to the Divine, and the Divine to the Human, He then possessed omniscience not only of Divine celestial and spiritual things, but also of infra-celestial and infra-spiritual things, that is, of rational and natural things; for from the Divine, as from the Sun of all light, everything is seen as present.

sRef Gen@20 @15 S0′ 2570. Verse 15. And Abimelech said, Behold my land is before thee; dwell in that which is good in thine eyes. “Abimelech said, Behold my land is before thee,” signifies the Lord’s perception concerning the doctrine of love and charity; “dwell in that which is good in thine eyes,” signifies that he was in everything where there was good.

sRef Gen@20 @15 S0′ 2571. Abimelech said, Behold my land is before thee. That this signifies the Lord’s perception concerning the doctrine of love and charity, is evident from the signification of “saying,” as being to think (see n. 2506); and from the signification of “land,” as being here the doctrine of love and charity. “Land” (or “earth”) in the internal sense signifies various things (n. 620, 636, 1066); and that which it signifies is evident from the series or connection. For it signifies the external man of the church, when “heaven” signifies the internal (n. 82, 913, 1411, 1733); it also signifies the region where the church is (n. 662, 1066); it signifies the church itself; also in a universal sense the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens and on earth, since this was represented by the land of Canaan or the holy land (n. 1437, 1585, 1607); the same being signified also by the “new heaven and new earth” (n. 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118); and because “land” signifies the man of the church, the church, and the Lord’s kingdom, it also signifies that which is their essential, namely, love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor, for on this they all hang (n. 537, 540, 547, 553, 2130); consequently it signifies the doctrine of love and charity, which belongs to the church, and which is here the “land of Abimelech;” for by Abimelech as a king is signified the doctrine of faith, as shown above; and by his “land,” whence and where he was, is signified the doctrine of love and charity, whence and where faith is.
[2] That the Lord’s thought hitherto had been concerning the doctrine of faith, but now was concerning the doctrine of love and charity, comes from the fact that the Lord adjoined the Human to the Divine by means of the truths which are of faith (although at the same time by means of Divine goods which are of love, in the truths) according to the order by which man also becomes spiritual and celestial; but not Divine, so as to have life in himself, like the Lord. But when the Divine marriage of truth and good and of good and truth in the Lord had been effected (which is signified by Abimelech restoring to Abraham Sarah his wife, see n. 2569), the Lord’s thought then was concerning the doctrine of love and charity, and this also according to order; for when a man has become spiritual and celestial he then no longer thinks from truth, but from good; yet not from the Divine good united to the Divine truth, as did the Lord. This is the reason why the doctrine of love and charity is now for the first time mentioned, although regarded in itself the doctrine of faith is the same; and the Lord’s perception and thought in everything of faith was always from the Divine Love. Hence it is that the doctrine of love and charity is the Divine doctrine itself, and is that which was cultivated in the most ancient churches; and because this made a one with the doctrine of faith, they cast out those who separated them (see n. 2417).

sRef Gen@20 @15 S0′ 2572. Dwell in that which is good in thine eyes. That this signifies that He was in everything where there was good (in the proximate sense, that He was in the good of doctrine) is evident from the signification of “eyes,” as being the intellectual, which is of doctrine; and from the signification of “dwelling,” as being to live (n. 1293); here Esse [being], because it is predicated of the Lord. Esse in everything where there is good, is Esse in the omniscience of all Divine, celestial, spiritual, rational, and natural things, and this from Divine love; for in the Divine Love there is omniscience of all these things (n. 2500).
[2] Moreover there are both the good and the truth of doctrine. The good of doctrine is love and charity, the truth of doctrine is faith. They who are in the good of doctrine, that is, in love and charity, are in the truth of doctrine, that is, in faith. But it is one thing to be in good, or in love and charity, and another to be in the good of doctrine. Little children who are in love to their parents and in charity toward other little children are in good, but not in the good of doctrine, consequently not in the truth of doctrine, or faith. But they who have been regenerated by the truths of faith are in the good of doctrine. Insofar as these are in good, so far are they in truths; that is, insofar as they are in love and charity, so far are they in faith, consequently, so far in wisdom and intelligence.
[3] The angels, being in love to the Lord and in mutual love, are also in all truth, and thus in all wisdom and intelligence; not only in regard to celestial and spiritual things, but also in regard to rational and natural things; for from love, because from the Lord, they are in the very principles or springs of things; that is, in their ends and causes. To see from principles, or from ends and causes, is to see from heaven all things that are below, even those which are on the earth. To use a comparison, this is like one who is on a high mountain, in a watchtower, who is able to look around for many miles upon the things below; while they who are below, especially if they are in a valley or in a forest, can scarcely see as many paces. Precisely so is it with those who are in the good of doctrine, in comparison with those who are in the truth of doctrine separated from its good; although the latter think that they see farther than the former. Nevertheless these see nothing of good, nor anything of truth except very slightly on the surface, and even this defiled by falsities.
[4] Yet at the best the wisdom and intelligence of angels is finite, and in comparison with the Lord’s Divine wisdom, most finite, and scarcely anything; as is evident from the fact that between the Infinite and the finite there is no ratio; but yet there is a communication from the Divine omnipotence; and also from the fact that the Lord is Good Itself and Love Itself, consequently the Esse itself of good, and the Esse itself of the love that exists with the angels, and thus the Esse itself of their wisdom and intelligence. From this we can see that the Lord is in everything in which there is good, both in heaven and on earth. They who think that the Lord is in truth separate from good are much mistaken. He is not in anything but good, and from that in truth; that is, in love and charity, and from that in faith.

sRef Gen@20 @16 S0′ 2573. Verse 16. And unto Sarah he said, Behold I have given thy brother a thousand of silver; behold it is unto thee a covering of the eyes to all that are with thee, and with all; and she was vindicated. “And unto Sarah he said,” signifies perception from spiritual truth; “behold I have given thy brother a thousand of silver,” signifies an abundance of rational truth adjoined to celestial good; “behold it is unto thee a covering of the eyes to all that are with thee,” signifies that rational truths are like a covering or clothing to spiritual truths; “and with all,” signifies that so also are the derivative truths; “and she was vindicated,” signifies that thus there was no fault and no harm.

sRef Gen@20 @16 S0′ 2574. And unto Sarah he said. That this signifies perception from spiritual truth, is evident from the representation of “Sarah a wife,” as being Divine spiritual truth (see n. 2507), and of the same as a “sister,” as being rational truth (see n. 2508); and from the signification of “saying,” as being to perceive (see n. 2506). Sarah is here addressed as a wife, and also as a sister; as a wife, inasmuch as she had been restored (n. 2569), and as a sister, inasmuch as it is said, “I have given thy brother a thousand of silver;” and that which was said by Abimelech was perceived by Sarah in the former relation; therefore by “saying to Sarah” is signified to perceive from spiritual truth.
[2] It is evident that these things involve deeper arcana than can be set forth to the apprehension; and even if they were set forth merely to some extent, it would be necessary to explain many things first that are as yet unknown; such as what spiritual truth is, and what perception from spiritual truth is; that the Lord alone had perception from spiritual truth; that as the Lord had implanted rational truth in rational good, so had He implanted spiritual truth in celestial good, thus continually the Human in the Divine, so that there might be in everything a marriage of the Human with the Divine, and of the Divine with the Human. These and many more things must come first, before the things in this verse can be unfolded to the apprehension. These things are chiefly adapted to the minds of angels who are in the understanding of such things, and for whom is the internal sense of the Word. To them these things are represented in a heavenly manner, and thereby, and by the things contained in this chapter, it is insinuated how the Lord by degrees cast out the human from the mother, until at last He was no longer her son (that He did not acknowledge her as His mother, is manifest in Matthew 12:46-49; Mark 3:31-35; Luke 8:20, 21; John 2:4); also how He made the Human Divine by His own power, even until He was one with the Father, as He Himself teaches in John 14:6, 8-11, and elsewhere.
[3] These things are presented by the Lord to the angels in clear light by means of myriads of ideas and representations, all ineffable. The reason as before said is that such things are adapted to their minds, and when in them they are in the blessedness of their intelligence and the happiness of their wisdom. Moreover as there are angels who when they were men had conceived an idea of the Lord’s Human as of the human with another man, in order that in the other life these may be able to be with the celestial angels (for there ideas inspired by the affection of good conjoin), such things are dispersed by means of the spiritual sense of the Word, and in this way they are perfected. This shows how precious to the angels is that which is contained in the internal sense of the Word, although perchance it may appear as but of little consequence to man, who has so obscure an idea about such things that it is scarcely any idea at all.

sRef Gen@20 @16 S0′ 2575. Behold I have given to thy brother a thousand of silver. That this signifies an infinite abundance of rational truth adjoined to good, is evident from the signification of a “thousand,” as being much and countless; here infinite, or an infinite abundance, because predicated of the Lord (concerning which signification see below); from the signification of “silver,” as being rational truth (see n. 1551, 2048); and from the signification of “brother,” as being celestial good adjoined to rational truth, as a brother to a sister (n. 2524, 2557). From all this it is evident that “I have given to thy brother a thousand of silver” signifies an infinite abundance of rational truth adjoined to good. Its being given to good, which is the “brother,” but not to truth, is because truth is from good, not good from truth. (Concerning this infinite abundance, see above, n. 2572.)
sRef Jer@32 @18 S2′ sRef Ex@20 @5 S2′ sRef Ex@20 @6 S2′ sRef Ps@68 @17 S2′ [2] That in the Word a “thousand” signifies much and countless, and when predicated of the Lord what is infinite, is manifest from the following passages. In Moses:
I Jehovah thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons, upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate Me, and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me, and keep My commandments (Exod. 20:5-6; 34:7; Deut. 5:9-10).
And in Jeremiah:
Jehovah showeth mercy unto thousands, and recompenseth the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their sons after them (Jer. 32:18).
In these passages by ” thousands” is not signified any definite number, but what is infinite, for the Lord’s mercy is infinite, because Divine. In David:
The chariots of God are two myriads, thousands upon thousands; the Lord is among them, Sinai in holiness (Ps. 68:17);
where “myriads” and “thousands” denote things innumerable.
sRef Ps@90 @4 S3′ sRef Isa@30 @17 S3′ sRef Ps@144 @13 S3′ sRef Deut@1 @11 S3′ sRef Ps@91 @7 S3′ sRef Josh@23 @10 S3′ [3] In the same:
A thousand shall fall at thy side, and a myriad at thy right hand; it shall not come nigh thee (Ps. 91:7);
where also a “thousand” and a ” myriad” denote things innumerable; and as it is concerning the Lord, who in the Psalms is meant by “David,” they denote all who are His enemies. In the same:
Our garners are full, affording all manner of food, our flocks bring forth a thousand and ten thousand in our streets (Ps. 144:13);
where also a “thousand,” and “ten thousand,” that is, a myriad, denote things innumerable. In the same:
A thousand years in Thine eyes are as yesterday when it is past (Ps. 90:4);
a “thousand years” denote what is without time, and therefore eternity, which is infinity of time. In Isaiah:
One thousand from before the rebuke of one, from before the rebuke of five shall ye flee, until ye be left as a mast upon the top of a mountain (Isa. 30:17);
where “one thousand” denotes many without any definite number; and “five” a few (n. 649). In Moses:
Jehovah the God of your fathers make you a thousand times as many more as ye are, and bless you (Deut. 1:11);
where a “thousand times” denotes numberless, as in common speech, in which also a “thousand” is used for many; as when it is said that a thing has been said a thousand times, or done in a thousand ways. In like manner in Joshua:
One man of you shall chase a thousand, for Jehovah your God fighteth for you (Josh. 23:10).
[4] As in computation a “thousand” is a definite number, it appears in the prophecies, especially when connected with history, as if a “thousand” meant simply a thousand, when yet it signifies many or innumerable, apart from any fixed number; for historical matters are of such a nature as to determine the ideas into the nearest and proper significations of the words, as also to the names given; when yet real things are signified in the Word by numbers as well as by names (as is evident from what has been shown before, n. 482, 487, 575, 647, 648, 755, 813, 1963, 1988, 2075, 2252). Hence also it is supposed by some that by the “thousand years” in the Revelation (chapter 20:1-7) there are meant a thousand years or a thousand periods, for the reason as already said that things prophetic are there described under the form of history; when yet by the “thousand years” nothing is there meant except an indeterminate large amount, as elsewhere also infinity of time, or eternity.

sRef Gen@20 @16 S0′ 2576. Behold it is unto thee a covering of the eyes to all that are with thee. That this signifies that rational truths are like a covering or clothing to spiritual truths, is evident from the signification of a “covering” (concerning which presently); and from the signification of the “eyes,” as being things intellectual (as is evident from very many passages in the Word); and also from the signification of “seeing,” as being to understand (n. 2150, 2325). Everyone can see that in everything in this verse there are arcana which cannot be revealed except by some interior sense; such as the statement that he gave a thousand of silver, and that this is said to have been given, not to her husband, but to her brother; that it was a covering of the eyes both to her and to all that were with her, and also with all; and that thereby she was vindicated. Many historical conjectures might possibly be drawn from the sense of the letter, but without having anything spiritual in them, still less anything Divine; and yet this is what the Word is.
[2] As regards rational truths being like a covering or clothing to spiritual truths, the case is this: Man’s inmost things are those of his soul, and his outer things are those of his body; the former are goods and truths, from which the soul has its life, for otherwise the soul would not be a soul: the latter draw their life therefrom, and are all like a body, or what is the same, a covering or clothing. This is especially evident from the things that appear in the other life; as from angels when presented to view; for their interiors shine forth from their faces; their exteriors being represented in both their bodies and their dress; and this so fully that everyone there can know their quality from their garments alone; for these are real substances, and thus essences in form. The same is the case with the angels seen and described in respect to their faces and dress in the Word, such as those seen in the Lord’s sepulcher (Matt. 28:3; Mark 16:5); and the four and twenty elders around the throne (Rev. 4:4); and others. Nor is this the case with the angels only, but also with all other things that are mentioned in the Word, even those which are inanimate; in all cases their exteriors are a covering or clothing; as for example the ark of the covenant and the tent that was round about it; the ark, being the inmost, represented the Lord Himself, for therein was the Testimony; and the tent outside of it represented the Lord’s kingdom. The clothing, that is, the veils and coverings, each and all represented the more exterior celestial and spiritual things in His kingdom, that is, in the three heavens; as is evident from the fact that the form of the Tent was shown to Moses on Mount Sinai (Exod. 25:9; 26:30). From this it had its holiness, and not from the gold, the silver, and the carvings, that were in it.
[3] Since rational truths are now treated of, as being a kind of veil or clothing to spiritual truths, and as the tent is described in Moses in respect to its clothing or coverings, and also in respect to its veils which were before the entrance, for the sake of illustration we may explain what was specifically signified by the veils; but what was signified by the encompassing coverings will of the Lord’s Divine mercy be told elsewhere. The veils of the tent were three: the first, which made the division between the holy and the holy of holies; the second, which is called the hanging for the door of the tent; and the third, which was the hanging for the gate of the court.
sRef Ex@26 @33 S4′ sRef Ex@26 @34 S4′ sRef Ex@26 @31 S4′ sRef Ex@26 @32 S4′ [4] Concerning the veil itself, which was the first, before the ark, we read in Moses:
Thou shalt make a veil of hyacinthine, and bright crimson, and double-dyed scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of a designer, thou shall make it with cherubim; and thou shalt hang it upon four pillars of shittim wood, overlaid with gold, and their hooks of gold; upon four bases of silver; and thou shalt hang the veil under the clasps; and thou shalt bring in thither, within the veil, the Ark of the Testimony; and the veil shall divide unto you between the Holy and the Holy of Holies (Exod. 26:31-34; 36:35-36).
This veil represented the nearest and inmost appearances of rational good and truth, in which are the angels of the third heaven; which appearances are described by the hyacinthine, the bright crimson, the double-dyed scarlet, and the fine twined linen; in which the red color represented the goods of love, and the white its truths. The same is true also of the gold and silver with which the pillars were overlaid, and of which the hooks and the bases were made. (That colors are representative may be seen above, n. 1042, 1043, 1053, 1624; that “gold” is the good of love, n. 113, 1551, 1552; and that “silver” is truth, n. 1551, 2048.)
[5] From this we can see what is signified by the veil of the temple being rent in twain (Matt. 27:51; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45), namely, that the Lord entered into the Divine Itself by dispersing all appearances; and that He at the same time opened the way to His Divine Itself through His Human made Divine.
sRef Ex@26 @36 S6′ sRef Ex@26 @37 S6′ [6] Concerning the second veil, or the hanging for the door of the tent, we read in Moses:
Thou shalt make a hanging for the door of the tent, of hyacinthine, and bright crimson, and double-dyed scarlet, and fine-twined linen, the work of the embroiderer; and thou shalt make for the hanging five pillars of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold, and their hooks shall be of gold; and thou shalt cast for them five bases of brass (Exod. 26:36-37; 36:37-38).
By this hanging were represented appearances of good and truth that are lower or more external than the former, that is, the middle ones of the rational, in which are the angels of the second heaven; which appearances are described almost in the same manner as the first, with the difference however that for this hanging there were five pillars and five bases, by which number is signified what is comparatively but little; for these appearances do not so cohere together, or are not so heavenly, as are the appearances of the inmost or third heaven. (Concerning the number five as meaning a little, see above, n. 649, 1686.) And because these appearances look to natural things, it was commanded that the bases should be cast of brass; for by brass was represented and signified natural good (n. 425, 1551).
sRef Ex@27 @16 S7′ sRef Ex@27 @17 S7′ [7] Concerning the third veil, or the hanging for the gate of the court, we read in Moses:
For the gate of the court shall be a hanging of twenty cubits, of hyacinthine, and bright crimson, and double-dyed scarlet, and fine-twined linen, the work of the embroiderer; their pillars four, and their bases four; all the pillars of the court round about shall be filleted with silver, their hooks of silver, but their bases of brass (Exod. 27:16-17; 38:18-19).
By this hanging were represented still lower or more external appearances of good and truth, which are the lowest ones of the rational, in which are the angels of the first heaven. As these appearances correspond to interior things, they are described in a similar manner, yet with the difference that these pillars were not overlaid with gold, but filleted with silver, and that the hooks were of silver, by which are signified rational truths that derive their origin immediately from memory-knowledges; and the bases were of brass, by which are signified natural goods. All this shows that there was nothing in the Tent that was not representative of the celestial and spiritual things of the Lord’s kingdom, or that all things were made according to the type of celestial and spiritual things in the three heavens; also that the veilings or coverings signified the things that are like a body or dress around or without the inmost.
sRef Ezek@27 @7 S8′ [8] Moreover that “veilings,” “coverings,” “clothing,” or “garments” signify relatively lower truths, is evident from many passages in the Word, as in Ezekiel:
Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was thy spread of sail; hyacinthine and bright crimson from the isles of Elishah was thy covering (Ezek. 27:7);
where Tyre is treated of, by which are signified interior knowledges of celestial and spiritual things, and consequently those who are in them (n. 1201); “broidered work from Egypt” denotes what is of memory-knowledge (that “Egypt” denotes this may be seen above, n. 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462); “hyacinthine and bright crimson from the isles of Elishah, which was the covering,” denote the rituals that correspond to internal worship (n. 1156).
sRef Ezek@26 @16 S9′ [9] In the same:
All the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and lay aside their robes, and put off their broidered garments; they shall be clothed with tremblings, they shall sit upon the earth (Ezek. 26:16);
also speaking of Tyre “robes” and “broidered garments” denote knowledges derived from the contents of the memory [cognitionibus ex scientificis], and thus lower truths.
sRef Ezek@16 @11 S10′ sRef Ezek@16 @18 S10′ sRef Ezek@16 @16 S10′ sRef Ezek@16 @10 S10′ [10] In the same:
I clothed thee with broidered work, and shod thee with badger, and girded thee about with fine linen, and covered thee with silk; I decked thee also with ornaments, and put bracelets upon thy hands, and a necklace upon thy throat. Thou didst take of thy garments, and madest for thee high places with divers colors, and didst commit whoredom upon them; thou tookest thy broidered garments, and coveredst them (Ezek. 16:10-11, 16, 18);
speaking of Jerusalem, which is the spiritual church, described as it was of old, and such as it was afterwards, when perverted: its lower spiritual things and its doctrinal matters are the “garments of broidered work, fine linen, and silk.”
sRef Isa@3 @17 S11′ sRef Isa@3 @23 S11′ sRef Isa@3 @18 S11′ sRef Isa@3 @19 S11′ sRef Isa@3 @20 S11′ sRef Isa@3 @21 S11′ sRef Isa@3 @6 S11′ sRef Isa@3 @7 S11′ sRef Isa@3 @22 S11′ sRef Isa@3 @1 S11′ [11] In Isaiah:
The Lord Jehovih Zebaoth doth take away from Jerusalem the whole staff of bread and the staff of water. Then shall a man take hold of his brother, of the house of his father-Thou hast a garment, be thou our prince. In that day he shall lift up his voice, saying, I will not be a binder up, and in my house there is neither bread, nor garment; ye shall not make me a prince of the people. The Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion; and in that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their anklets, and their network, and crescents, and their collars, and chains, and plates; and the headtires, and the ankle chains, and the sashes, and the soul houses, and the ear-drops; the rings, and the nose jewels, the festival garments, and the mantles, and the robes, and the satchels, the mirrors, and the fine linen, and the turbans, and the cloaks (Isa. 3:1, 6-7, 17-24).
“Jerusalem” denotes the spiritual church; “Judah” the celestial church; the “staff of bread and the staff of water, which will be removed,” denote good and truth; the “garment which the prince should have,” the truths which are of doctrine; the clothing and various ornaments of the daughters of Zion, which are enumerated, all and each, the kinds and varieties of good and truth, of which they would be deprived. Unless everything here mentioned signified something peculiar to the church, they would not be of the Word, in every expression of which there is what is Divine; but they are predicated of the daughters of Zion, and by these are signified the things of the church, as may be seen above (n. 2362).
sRef Isa@52 @1 S12′ sRef Isa@52 @2 S12′ sRef Isa@59 @6 S12′ [12] In the same:
Awake! awake! put on thy strength, O Zion; put on the garments of thy beauty, O Jerusalem, the city of holiness; for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean (Isa. 52:1, 2);
“Zion” denotes the celestial church; “Jerusalem” the spiritual church; and “garments of beauty” the holy things of faith. In the same:
Their webs shall not become a garment, neither shall they cover themselves with their works; their works are works of iniquity (Isa. 59:6);
“webs” denote fictitious truths that do not become a garment; a “garment” denotes the exterior truths of doctrine and of worship; hence it is said, “neither shall they cover themselves with their works.”
sRef Rev@4 @4 S13′ sRef Isa@61 @10 S13′ sRef Rev@3 @5 S13′ sRef Rev@3 @4 S13′ sRef Rev@16 @15 S13′ [13] In the same:
Rejoicing I will rejoice in Jehovah, my soul shall exult in my God; for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness (Isa. 61:10);
the “garments of salvation” denote the truths of faith; and the “robe of righteousness” the good of charity. In John:
Thou hast a few names even in Sardis that have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy; he that overcometh shall be clothed in white raiment (Rev. 3:4-5).
Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked (Rev. 16:15).
In the same:
Upon the thrones I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white garments (Rev. 4:4);
where it is manifest that the “garments” are not garments, but the spiritual things of truth.
sRef Matt@11 @8 S14′ sRef Matt@22 @12 S14′ sRef Matt@22 @11 S14′ sRef Matt@11 @9 S14′ [14] So where the Lord said in reference to the consummation of the age that they should not return back to take their garments (Matt. 24:18; Mark 13:16), where that “garments” are truths may be seen above (n. 2454). Also in regard to the one not clothed in a wedding garment (Matt. 22:11, 12). And concerning John:
What went ye out to see? a man clothed in bright* garments? Behold they that wear bright* garments are in kings’ houses (Matt. 11:8; Luke 7:25);
meaning that they were not in the externals of doctrine and worship, but in the internals; on which account He adds:
What went ye out to see? a prophet? yea, I say unto you and more than a prophet (Matt. 11:9);
a “prophet” denotes the externals of doctrine and of worship.
sRef Num@15 @40 S15′ sRef Lev@19 @19 S15′ sRef Num@15 @38 S15′ sRef Ex@3 @22 S15′ sRef Num@15 @39 S15′ sRef Deut@22 @11 S15′ [15] As “garments” signified truths of every kind, it was commanded that the sons of Israel on going out of Egypt should borrow gold and silver, and garments, and put them upon their sons (Exod. 3:22; 12:35-36); also that garments of various kinds, or mixed garments, should not be worn (Lev. 19:19; Deut. 22:11); and that they should make for themselves fringes on the borders of their garments, and should put a blue thread there, and that when they saw it they should call to mind the commandments, and do them (Num. 15:38-40).
[16] Formerly also they rent their garments (as is seen in Josh. 7:6; Judges 11:35; 1 Sam. 4:12; 2 Sam. 1:2, 11-12; 3:31; 13:30-31; 15:32; 1 Kings 21:27; 2 Kings 5:7-8; 6:30; 22:11, 14, 19; Isa. 36:22; 37:1); by which was signified zeal for doctrine and truth, which was thus torn to pieces; and also humiliation, because there was nothing appertaining to them that is signified by the adornment of garments.
sRef Gen@49 @11 S17′ [17] That such things are signified by “veilings,” “coverings,” “clothing,” or “garments” is also manifest from the prophecy of Jacob, then Israel:
He shall bind his foal to the vine, and his ass’s colt unto the choice vine; he shall wash his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes (Gen. 49:11);
what these words signify can be known to none except from the internal sense; namely a “vine,” a “choice vine,” a “foal,” an “ass’s colt,” “wine,” the “blood of grapes,” “garments,” and “clothes”; but it is evident that they are predicated of the Lord, who is here called “Shiloh.” The subject spoken of is Judah, by whom is represented the Lord’s Divine celestial; and by the “garments he should wash in wine,” and “the vesture he should wash in the blood of grapes” are signified the Lord’s rational and natural, which He should make Divine.
sRef Isa@63 @2 S18′ sRef Isa@63 @1 S18′ sRef Isa@63 @3 S18′ [18] In like manner in Isaiah:
Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah; this that is glorious in his apparel, marching in the multitude of his strength? Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garment like him that treadeth in the wine vat? I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the peoples there was none with me; their victory is sprinkled upon my garments, and I have stained all my raiment (Isa. 63:1-3);
where also “garments” and “raiment” denote the Lord’s Human which of His own power He made Divine by combats of temptations and by victories; on which account it is said, “I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the peoples there was none with me.” Isaac’s smelling the smell of Esau’s garments, and so blessing him (Gen. 27:27), involved the same.
aRef Ex@28 @25 S19′ aRef Ex@28 @24 S19′ aRef Ex@28 @23 S19′ aRef Ex@28 @19 S19′ aRef Ex@28 @34 S19′ aRef Ex@28 @22 S19′ aRef Ex@28 @18 S19′ aRef Ex@28 @21 S19′ aRef Ex@28 @20 S19′ aRef Ex@28 @40 S19′ aRef Ex@28 @9 S19′ aRef Ex@28 @39 S19′ aRef Ex@28 @31 S19′ aRef Ex@28 @38 S19′ aRef Ex@28 @8 S19′ aRef Ex@28 @43 S19′ aRef Ex@28 @6 S19′ aRef Ex@28 @42 S19′ aRef Ex@28 @7 S19′ aRef Ex@28 @41 S19′ aRef Ex@28 @32 S19′ aRef Ex@28 @14 S19′ aRef Ex@28 @13 S19′ aRef Ex@28 @15 S19′ aRef Ex@28 @33 S19′ aRef Ex@28 @16 S19′ aRef Ex@28 @12 S19′ aRef Ex@28 @36 S19′ aRef Ex@28 @37 S19′ aRef Ex@28 @35 S19′ aRef Ex@28 @11 S19′ aRef Ex@28 @10 S19′ aRef Ex@28 @5 S19′ aRef Ex@28 @26 S19′ aRef Ex@28 @27 S19′ aRef Ex@28 @30 S19′ aRef Ex@28 @2 S19′ aRef Ex@28 @4 S19′ aRef Ex@28 @3 S19′ aRef Ex@28 @29 S19′ aRef Ex@28 @28 S19′ aRef Ex@28 @17 S19′ sRef Mark@9 @3 S19′ sRef Luke@9 @29 S19′ sRef Matt@17 @2 S19′ [19] The Holy itself of the Lord’s Divine Human was also a garment which appeared as the light, and as white and glistening, when He was transfigured, concerning which we read in Matthew:
When Jesus was transfigured, His face did shine as the sun, and His garments became as the light (Matt. 17:2).
In Luke:
When Jesus prayed, the appearance of His countenance was changed, and His raiment became white and glistening (Luke 9:29).
And in Mark:
When Jesus was transfigured, His garments became shining, exceeding white like snow, so as no fuller on earth can white them (Mark 9:3).
The garments of holiness with which Aaron was clothed when he entered within the veil, and which were of linen, had a similar representation (Lev. 16:2, 4): likewise the garments of holiness that were for glory and for beauty; and those of his ministry (Exod. 28:2 to the end, and 39:1 to the end): for in these there was not one whit that was not representative.
* Splendidis and splendida; but mollibus and mollia in n. 9372. [Rotch ed.]

sRef Gen@20 @16 S0′ 2577. And with all. That this signifies that so also are the derivative truths, namely, those of memory and of the senses, is evident from what has been said above, and from the series itself; for it is said just above, “behold it shall be unto thee a veiling of the eyes unto all who are with thee;” by which are signified rational truths, which are like a veil to spiritual truths; and it is now said again, “with all;” by which are therefore signified still lower truths which are derived from rational truths; these being no other than what are called memory truths and sensuous truths. That these truths are derived from rational truths is evident from the order of influx. Interior things flow into exterior things; or what is the same, higher things into lower; but not the reverse. It indeed appears otherwise, namely, that man becomes rational by means of the things of sense and of memory, but this is a fallacy. Good from the Lord is constantly flowing in through man’s rational faculty, and it meets and adopts to itself the knowledges in the memory; and insofar as it can do this, and dispose them in due order, so far the man becomes rational. The case herein is the same as with the good and truths which are called those of faith: good from the Lord flows into truths, and adopts them, and insofar as it can do this the man becomes spiritual; although it appears as if truths, called the truths of faith, flow in, and render the man spiritual. It is also owing to this appearance that the truth of faith is so much cultivated at this day, while the good of charity is not thought of.

sRef Gen@20 @16 S0′ 2578. And she was vindicated. That this signifies that thus there was no fault and no harm, is evident from all that precedes, of which this is a brief conclusion.

sRef Gen@20 @17 S0′ 2579. Verse 17. And Abraham prayed unto God, and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they brought forth. “Abraham prayed unto God,” signifies a revelation; “and God healed Abimelech,” signifies soundness of the doctrine in respect to good; “and his wife,” signifies in respect to truth; “and his maidservants,” signifies in respect to the affections of doctrinal things; “and they brought forth,” signifies their fruitfulness.

sRef Gen@20 @17 S0′ 2580. Abraham prayed unto God. That this signifies revelation, is evident from the signification of “praying” when predicated of the Lord, as being to be revealed (see n. 2535); and from the representation of Abraham, as being the Lord-often shown above. Here in the sense of the letter there are two, namely, one who prayed, and another to whom he prayed; for it is said, “Abraham prayed unto God.” But in the internal sense there are not two, but one; for it was God or Jehovah in the Lord who made the revelation, because He was conceived of Jehovah; yet insofar as He had that which belonged to the maternal human, so far He was another. How the case is herein can with difficulty fall into the ideas so as to be understood. These things can indeed fall into angelic ideas, which are presented in the light of heaven; but not so well into human ideas, which do not perceive unless illuminated by things that are of the light of the world; still less can they fall into the ideas of those to whom everything that is of the light of heaven is thick darkness, so as to be nothing at all.

sRef Gen@20 @17 S0′ 2581. And God healed Abimelech. That this signifies the soundness of the doctrine in respect to good, is evident from the signification of “healing,” as being to make sound; and from the representation of Abimelech, as being the doctrine of faith looking to rational things (n. 2510). That it is in respect to good is evident from the fact that his wife also is said to be healed, by which is meant the soundness of the doctrine in respect to truth; for when in the Word a husband is called “husband,” and also when he is called by name, he then signifies good, and his wife truth; but when a husband is called a “man,” he then signifies truth, and his wife good (see also n. 915, 1468, 2517).

sRef Gen@20 @17 S0′ 2582. And his wife. That this signifies in respect to truth, is evident from the signification of a “wife,” as being truth (see just above, n. 2581).

sRef Gen@20 @17 S0′ 2583. And his maidservants. That this signifies in respect to the affections of the derivative doctrinal things, is evident from the signification of “maidservants,” as being the affections of the things of the reason and of the memory (see n. 1895, 2567); here of doctrinal things, because they are predicated of the doctrine of faith (for they belonged to Abimelech, by whom is signified the doctrine of faith, n. 2509, 2510); for the signification of everything is determined by what is being treated of.

sRef Gen@20 @17 S0′ 2584. And they brought forth. That this signifies fruitfulness, is evident from the signification of “bringing forth” and of “birth.” In the internal sense of the Word none but spiritual and celestial things are signified; on which account where mention is made of “conception” or of “conceiving;” of “bearing” or of “bringing forth;” of “birth” or of “being born;” of “generation” or of “generating,” as well as of those who beget, as “father and mother;” and of those who are begotten, as “sons and daughters,” all these are meant in none but a spiritual sense, for in itself the Word is spiritual and celestial; and such is the case here in regard to “bringing forth,” by which is signified fruitfulness in respect to the things of doctrine.
sRef Rev@12 @5 S2′ sRef Isa@66 @8 S2′ sRef 1Sam@2 @5 S2′ sRef Isa@66 @9 S2′ sRef 1Sam@2 @6 S2′ sRef Jer@15 @9 S2′ sRef Rev@12 @2 S2′ sRef Rev@12 @1 S2′ sRef Rev@12 @3 S2′ sRef Isa@54 @1 S2′ sRef Rev@12 @4 S2′ sRef Isa@23 @5 S2′ sRef Isa@23 @4 S2′ sRef Hos@9 @11 S2′ sRef Ezek@30 @16 S2′ sRef Jer@30 @6 S2′ sRef Ps@29 @9 S2′ sRef Hos@13 @13 S2′ sRef Isa@66 @7 S2′ [2] That in the Word “birth” means no other kind of birth than this, is evident from the passages that follow. In Samuel:
The full have hired out themselves for bread, and the hungry have ceased, until the barren hath borne seven, and she that hath many children hath languished; Jehovah killeth and maketh alive. He causeth to go down into hell, and bringeth up (1 Sam. 2:5-6).
In Jeremiah:
She that hath borne seven languisheth, she breatheth out her soul; her sun is gone down while it is yet day (Jer. 15:9).
In Isaiah:
Sing, O barren, that did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, that did not travail with child; for more are the sons of the desolate than the sons of the married wife, saith Jehovah (Isa. 54:1).
In David:
The voice of Jehovah maketh the hinds to calve, and strippeth the forests; and in His temple everyone speaketh glory (Ps. 29:9).
In Isaiah:
Blush, O Zidon, for the sea hath spoken, the stronghold of the sea, saying, I have not travailed, nor brought forth, neither have I brought up young men, nor caused maids to grow up; as with the report of Egypt, they shall travail according to the report of Tyre (Isa. 23:4-5).
Before she travailed she brought forth, and before her pain came she was delivered of a man child. Who hath heard such a thing? Who hath seen such things? Does the earth travail in one day, and shall I not cause to bring forth? saith Jehovah; shall I cause to bring forth, and close up? said thy God (Isa. 66:7-9).
In Jeremiah:
Ask I pray and see whether a man bringeth forth; wherefore have I seen every man with his hands on his loins, as one that bringeth forth (Jer. 30:6).
In Ezekiel:
I will set a fire in Egypt, and Sin travailing shall travail, and No may be…(Ezek. 30:16).
In Hosea:
Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird, from the birth, and from the womb, and from conception (Hos. 9:11).
In the same:
The pains of one that travaileth came upon Ephraim; he is an unwise son, for at the time he will not stand in the place of the breaking forth of sons (Hos. 13:13).
In John:
A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars; and she being with child cried, travailing, and pained to bring forth. The dragon stood before the woman who was about to bring forth, that when she brought forth her son, he might devour him. And she brought forth a man child, who was to pasture all nations with a rod of iron; but the child was caught up unto God and to His throne (Rev. 12:1-5).
[3] Who cannot see from all these passages that no other conceptions and births are signified than those which are of the church? And the same is the case with what is here said concerning Abimelech, that “God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants, and they brought forth;” and that “Jehovah closing had closed up every womb of the house of Abimelech, because of the word of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.” What is signified by these things in the internal sense is evident from the explication of the same, namely, the quality of the doctrine of faith when regarded from Divine truths, and when regarded from the rational: when it is regarded from Divine truths, that is, from the Word, then each and all things, of both reason and memory, confirm it; but this is not the case when it is regarded from human things, that is, from reason and memory-knowledges; for then nothing of good and nothing of truth is conceived; for to regard it from the Word is to regard it from the Lord, whereas to regard it from reason and memory-knowledge is to regard it from man. From the former comes all intelligence and wisdom; from the latter all insanity and folly.

sRef Gen@20 @18 S0′ 2585. Verse 18. For closing Jehovah had therefore closed every womb of the house of Abimelech, because of the word of Sarah, Abraham’s wife. “For closing Jehovah had therefore closed every womb of the house of Abimelech,” signifies the barrenness of the doctrine; “because of the word of Sarah,” signifies by reason of the rational, if it had conjoined itself; “Abraham’s wife,” signifies that spiritual truth might be conjoined with celestial good.

sRef Gen@20 @18 S0′ 2586. For closing Jehovah had therefore closed every womb of the house of Abimelech. That this signifies barrenness, namely, of doctrine, is evident from the signification of “closing to close up the womb,” as being to prevent conception itself; and from the signification of “the house of Abimelech,” as being the good of the doctrine of faith, which shows that barrenness is signified. That up to this point in this chapter “God” is mentioned, but here for the first time “Jehovah,” is because “God” is mentioned where the subject is truth, but “Jehovah” where the subject is good. All the conception of doctrine is from good as a father, but its birth is by means of truth as a mother, as occasionally stated before. Here the conception of doctrine is treated of, and as this is from good, “Jehovah” is mentioned; whereas above its birth is treated of, and as this takes place by means of truth, “God” is mentioned, as in the verse preceding: “God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants, and they brought forth.”
sRef Isa@44 @24 S2′ sRef Isa@44 @2 S2′ sRef Isa@49 @5 S2′ sRef Isa@49 @1 S2′ [2] The case is the same elsewhere in the Word where conception is treated of, as in Isaiah:
Jehovah hath called me from the womb. Thus saith Jehovah that formed me from the womb; then shall I be precious to Jehovah; and my God shall be my strength (Isa. 49:1, 5);
“strength” is predicated of truth, and therefore “God” is mentioned. In the same:
Thus saith Jehovah thy Maker, and thy Former from the womb (Isa. 44:2, 24, and elsewhere).
For the same reason it is said “the house of Abimelech,” by which is signified the good of the doctrine of faith (that a “house” denotes good may be seen above, n. 2048, 2233, 2234; and that “Abimelech” denotes the doctrine of faith, n. 2509, 2510). That there is a Divine arcanum in the fact that they brought forth, and that the wombs of the house of Abimelech were shut on account of Sarah, is manifest; and this arcanum cannot possibly be disclosed except by the internal sense.

sRef Gen@20 @18 S0′ 2587. Because of the word of Sarah. That this signifies by reason of the rational if it had conjoined itself, is evident from the representation of “Sarah” as a sister, as being rational truth (see n. 2508). The “word of Sarah” signifies the whole transaction, namely, that she was called a sister, and that Abimelech took her, but that he did not come near her. What these things signify further will be told in what follows.

sRef Gen@20 @18 S0′ 2588. Abraham’s wife. That this signifies in order that spiritual truth might be conjoined with celestial good, is evident from the representation of Sarah as a wife, as being spiritual truth conjoined with celestial good (see n. 1468, 1901, 2063, 2065, 2172, 2173, 2198, 2507); and from the representation of Abraham, as being celestial good conjoined with spiritual truth (see n. 2011, 2172, 2198, 2501). Whether we say “spiritual truth and celestial good,” or “the Lord,” it is the same; because the Lord is truth itself and good itself, and is the very marriage itself of truth and good, and of good and truth. How the case herein is can indeed be seen from the explication; but as these matters are among those which are obscure at this day, we may so far as possible illustrate them. The subject here treated of is the doctrine of faith, concerning which the Lord thought in His childhood, namely, whether it was allowable to enter into it by means of rational things, and thus form for one’s self ideas concerning it. His so thinking came from His love and consideration for the human race, who are such as not to believe what they do not comprehend in a rational manner. But He perceived from the Divine that this ought not to be done; and He therefore revealed the doctrine to Himself from the Divine, and thereby at the same time all things in the universe that are subordinate, namely, all things of the rational and of the natural.
[2] How the case is with the doctrinal things of faith among men has been stated above (n. 2568), namely, that there are two principles from which they think, a negative and an affirmative; and that those think from the negative principle, who believe nothing unless they are convinced by what is of reason and memory-knowledge; nay, by what is of sense; but those think from the affirmative who believe that things are true because the Lord has said so in the Word, thus who have faith in the Lord. They who are in the negative in regard to a thing being true because it is in the Word, say at heart that they will believe when they are persuaded by things rational and memory-knowledges. But the fact is that they never believe; and indeed they would not believe if they were to be convinced by the bodily senses of sight, hearing, and touch; for they would always form new reasonings against such things, and would thus end by completely extinguishing all faith, and at the same time turning the light of the rational into darkness, because into falsities. But those who are in the affirmative, that is, who believe that things are true because the Lord has said so, are continually being confirmed, and their ideas enlightened and strengthened, by what is of reason and memory-knowledge, and even by what is of sense; for man has light from no other source than by means of the things of reason and memory, and such is the way with everyone. With these the doctrine thus “living lives;” and of them it is said, that they “are healed,” and “bring forth;” whereas with those who are in the negative the doctrine “dying dies;” and it is said of them that “the womb closing is closed.” All this shows what it is to enter into the doctrine of faith by means of rational things, and what to enter into rational things by means of the doctrine of faith; but let this be illustrated by examples.
[3] It is from the doctrine of the Word, that the first and principal thing of doctrine is love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor. They who are in the affirmative in regard to this can enter into whatever things of reason and of memory, and even of sense, they please, everyone according to his gift, his knowledge, and his experience. Nay, the more they enter in, the more they are confirmed; for universal nature is full of confirmation. But they who deny this first and principal thing of doctrine, and who desire to be first convinced of anything true by means of the things of reason and memory, never suffer themselves to be convinced, because at heart they deny, and all the time take their stand in favor of some other principle which they believe to be essential; and finally, by confirmations of their principle they so blind themselves that they cannot even know what love to the Lord and love to the neighbor are. And as they confirm themselves in what is contrary, they at length confirm themselves in the notion that no other love is possible that has any delight in it except the love of self and of the world; and this to such a degree (if not in doctrine, yet in life) that they embrace infernal love in place of heavenly love. But with those who are not in the negative nor as yet in the affirmative, but are in doubt before they deny or affirm, the case is as above stated (n. 2568), namely that they who incline to a life of evil fall into the negative, but they who incline to a life of good are brought into the affirmative.
[4] Take another example: It is among the primary things of the doctrine of faith that all good is from the Lord, and all evil from man, that is, from one’s self. They who are in the affirmative that it is so, can confirm themselves by many things of reason and of memory-knowledge, such as that no good can possibly flow in except from good itself, that is, from the Fountain of Good, thus from the Lord; and that the beginning or principle of good can be from no other source; finding illustration in all things that are truly good, in themselves, in others, in the community, and also in the created universe. But they who are in the negative confirm themselves in what is contrary by everything they think of, insomuch that at last they do not know what good is; and dispute among themselves as to what is the highest good, being deeply ignorant of the fact that it is the celestial and spiritual good from the Lord, by which all lower good is made alive, and that the delight therefrom is truly delight. Some also think that unless good is from themselves, it cannot possibly come from any other source.
[5] Take as another example the truth that they who are in love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor can receive the truths of doctrine and have faith in the Word, but not they who are in the life of the love of self and the world; or what is the same, that they who are in good can believe, but not they who are in evil. They who are in the affirmative can confirm this by numberless things of reason and memory. From reason they can confirm it on the ground that truth and good agree, but not truth and evil; and that as all falsity is in evil, so it is from evil; and that if any who are in evil nevertheless have truth, it is on the lips, and not in the heart; and from their memory-knowledge they can confirm by many things that truths shun evils, and that evils spew out truths. But they who are in the negative confirm themselves by alleging that everyone, of whatever character, is able to believe just as well as others, even though he lives in continual hatred, in the delights of revenge, and in deceit; and this even while they themselves altogether reject from their doctrine the good of life, after the rejection of which they do not believe anything.
[6] That it may be still more manifest how the case herein is, let us take this example: They who are in the affirmative that the Word has been so written as to possess an internal sense which does not appear in the letter, can confirm themselves therein by many rational considerations; as that by the Word man has connection with heaven; that there are correspondences of natural things with spiritual, in which the spiritual are not seen; that the ideas of interior thought are altogether different from the material ideas which fall into the words of language; that man, being born for both lives, can, while in the world, be also in heaven, by means of the Word which is for both worlds; that with some persons a certain Divine light flows into the things of the understanding, and also into the affections, when the Word is read; that it is of necessity that there should be something written that has come down from heaven, and that therefore the Word cannot be such in its origin as it is in the letter; and that it can be holy only from a certain holiness that it has within it. He can also confirm himself by means of memory-knowledges; as that men were formerly in representatives, and that the writings of the Ancient Church were of this nature; also that the writings of many among the Gentiles had this origin; and that it is on this account that in the churches such a style has been revered as holy, and among the Gentiles as learned, as examples of which the books of many authors might be mentioned. But they who are in the negative, if they do not deny all these things, still do not believe them, and persuade themselves that the Word is such as it is in the letter, appearing indeed worldly, while yet being spiritual (as to where the spiritual is hidden within it they care little, but for manifold reasons are willing to let it be so), and this they can confirm by many things.
[7] In order to present the subject to the apprehension of the simple, take as an example the following matter of knowledge. They who are in the affirmative that sight is not of the eye, but of the spirit, which sees the things that are in the world through the eye as an organ of its body, can confirm themselves by many things; as from our hearing things said by others; in that they refer themselves to a certain interior sight, into which they are changed; which would be impossible unless there were an interior sight; also that whatever is thought of is seen by an interior sight, by some more clearly, by others more obscurely; and again, that things we imagine present themselves not unlike objects of sight; and also that unless it were the spirit within the body that saw the objects which fall within the ken of the eye as the organ of sight, the spirit could see nothing in the other life, when yet it cannot but be that it will see innumerable and amazing things that cannot possibly be seen with the bodily eye. Then again we may reflect that in dreams, especially those of the prophets, many things have been seen although not with the eyes. And finally, should anyone be skilled in philosophy, he may confirm himself by considering that outer things cannot enter into inner things, just as compounds cannot into simples; and therefore that things of the body cannot enter into those of the spirit, but only the reverse; not to mention a host of other proofs, until at last the man is persuaded that the spirit has sight, and not the eye, except from the spirit. But they who are in the negative call every consideration of this kind either a matter of nature or one of fancy, and when they are told that a spirit possesses and enjoys much more perfect sight than a man in the body, they ridicule the idea, and reject it as an idle tale, believing that if deprived of the sight of the bodily eye they would live in the dark; although the very opposite is the truth, for they are then in the light.
[8] From these examples we may see what it is to enter into the things of reason and memory-knowledge from truths, and what it is to enter into truths from the things of reason and memory-knowledge; and that the former is according to order, but the latter contrary to order; and that when we do that which is according to order we are enlightened; but when we do that which is contrary to order, we are made blind. All of which shows of how great concern it is that truths should be known and believed; for man is enlightened by truths, but is made blind by falsities. By truths there is opened to the rational an immense and almost unbounded field; but by falsities comparatively none at all, although this does not appear to be so. It is because the angels are in truths that they enjoy wisdom so great; for truth is the very light of heaven.
[9] They who have blinded themselves by not being willing to believe anything which they do not apprehend by the senses, until at length they have come to believe nothing, were in old times called “serpents of the tree of knowledge;” for such reasoned much from sensuous things and their fallacies, which easily fall into man’s apprehension and belief, and thereby they seduced many (see n. 195, 196). In the other life such are readily distinguished from other spirits by the fact that in regard to all things of faith they reason whether it be so; and if they are shown a thousand and a thousand times that it is so, still they advance negative doubts against every proof that is offered; and this they would go on doing to all eternity. So blind are they on this account that they have not common sense, that is, they cannot comprehend what good and truth are; and yet every one of them thinks himself wiser than all in the universe; making wisdom to consist in being able to invalidate what is Divine, and deduce it from what is natural. Many who in this world have been esteemed wise, are preeminently of this character; for the more anyone is endowed with talent and knowledge, and is in the negative, the more insane he is, beyond all others; whereas the more anyone is endowed with talent and knowledge, and is in the affirmative, the wiser he is able to be. It is by no means denied man to cultivate the rational faculty by means of memory-knowledges; but that which is forbidden is to harden ourselves against the truths of faith which belong to the Word.
sRef Ezek@29 @7 S10′ sRef Ezek@29 @6 S10′ sRef Isa@10 @7 S10′ sRef Ezek@29 @8 S10′ sRef Isa@10 @5 S10′ sRef Isa@10 @13 S10′ sRef Isa@10 @12 S10′ sRef Isa@31 @1 S10′ sRef Isa@31 @3 S10′ sRef Isa@10 @16 S10′ sRef Isa@10 @8 S10′ sRef Ezek@29 @9 S10′ sRef Hos@12 @1 S10′ sRef Isa@31 @8 S10′ sRef Isa@19 @14 S10′ sRef Isa@30 @3 S10′ sRef Jer@42 @15 S10′ sRef Jer@42 @16 S10′ sRef Jer@2 @36 S10′ sRef Jer@42 @17 S10′ sRef Jer@2 @14 S10′ sRef Jer@2 @17 S10′ sRef Jer@2 @13 S10′ sRef Jer@2 @31 S10′ sRef Jer@2 @18 S10′ sRef Hos@7 @11 S10′ sRef Hos@9 @3 S10′ sRef Isa@19 @5 S10′ sRef Isa@19 @7 S10′ sRef Isa@19 @6 S10′ sRef Hos@7 @13 S10′ sRef Hos@7 @12 S10′ sRef Hos@9 @1 S10′ sRef Isa@19 @3 S10′ sRef Isa@19 @2 S10′ sRef Hos@9 @16 S10′ sRef Hos@9 @17 S10′ sRef Isa@30 @1 S10′ sRef Isa@30 @2 S10′ [10] These things are much treated of in the internal sense of the Word, especially in that of the prophetic Word, where Asshur (or Assyria) and Egypt are treated of; for reasoning is signified by “Asshur” (n. 119, 1186); and memory-knowledge by “Egypt” (n. 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462). Concerning those who desire to enter into doctrinal and Divine things by means of memory-knowledges and rational things, we read in Isaiah:
I will confound Egypt in Egypt, and they shall fight every man against his brother, and every man against his companion, city against city, and kingdom against kingdom; and the spirit of Egypt shall be made void in the midst of it, and I will swallow up the counsel thereof; the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be dried up and shall become totally dry; and the streams shall vanish, the rivers of Egypt shall be diminished and dried up; the reed and the flag shall wither away; and all the seed of the river shall become dry. Jehovah hath mingled a spirit of perversities in the midst of her, and they have caused Egypt to go astray in every work thereof, as a drunken man strayeth in his vomit (Isa. 19:2-3; 5-7, 14).
Woe to the rebellious sons, who walk to go down into Egypt, but have not asked at My mouth, to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt. And the strength of Pharaoh shall be unto you for a shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt for a reproach (Isa. 30:1-3).
Woe to them that go down into Egypt for help, and stay upon horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, and seek not Jehovah. And when Jehovah shall stretch out His hand, he that helpeth shall stumble, and he that is helped shall fall, and they shall all be consumed together. And Asshur shall fall by the sword not of man, and the sword not of man shall devour him (Isa. 31:1, 3, 8).
In Jeremiah:
My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, to hew them out pits, broken pits, which can hold no water. Is Israel a servant? If he was born of the house, why is he become a prey? Dost thou not do this unto thyself, in that thou hast forsaken Jehovah thy God in the time when He led thee in the way? And now what hast thou to do with the way to Egypt to drink the waters of Shihor? Or what hast thou to do with the way of Asshur to drink the waters of the river? O generation, see ye the Word of Jehovah: have I been a wilderness unto Israel, a land of darkness? Wherefore said My people, We will rule, we will come no more unto Thee? Why goest thou away so much to change thy way? Thou shalt be ashamed from Egypt also, as thou wast ashamed from Asshur (Jer. 2:13-14, 17-18, 31, 36).
Hear ye the word of Jehovah, O remnant of Judah; thus saith Jehovah Zebaoth the God of Israel, If setting ye set your faces to come into Egypt, and ye come to sojourn there, then it shall come to pass that the sword which ye were fearing for yourselves shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine whereof ye were afraid shall cleave unto you there in Egypt, that ye die there. So shall it be with all the men who set their faces to come into Egypt, to sojourn there; they shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence; and none of them shall remain or escape from the evil that I will bring upon you (Jer. 42:15-17, etc.).
In Ezekiel:
And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am Jehovah; because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel; in their taking thee by thy hand thou didst break, and didst rend for them every shoulder, and in their leaning upon thee thou breakest, and makest all their loins to be at a stand; therefore thus said the Lord Jehovih, Behold I will bring a sword upon thee, and will cut off from thee man and beast, and the land of Egypt shall be a desolation and a waste, and they shall know that I am Jehovah; because he hath said, The river is mine, and I have made it (Ezek. 29:6-9, etc.).
In Hosea:
Ephraim was like a silly dove; they called unto Egypt, they went unto Asshur; when they shall go, I will spread out My net upon them; woe unto them because they have wandered away from Me (Hos. 7:11-13).
Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind; every day he multiplieth a lie and a waste, and they make a covenant with Asshur, and oil is carried down into Egypt (Hos. 12:1).
Israel hath committed whoredom under her God; thou hast loved hire upon all the corn floors; Ephraim shall return into Egypt, and they shall eat what is unclean in Asshur; for lo they are gone away from devastation, Egypt shall gather them up, Moph shall bury them, the thorn shall possess their desirable things of silver, the thistle shall be in their tents. Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit; yea, though they bring forth yet will I slay the desired fruit of their womb; my God will cast them out, because they did not hearken unto Him, and they shall be wanderers among the nations (Hos. 9:1, 3, 6, 16-17).
In Isaiah:
Woe to Asshur, the rod of Mine anger, and he is the staff in their hand of Mine indignation; he thinketh not right, neither doth his heart meditate right; for it is in his heart to destroy and to cut off nations not a few; for he saith, Are not my princes all of them kings? I will visit upon the fruit of the elation of heart of the king of Asshur, for he hath said, In the strength of my hand I have done it, and in my wisdom, for I am intelligent; and I will remove the bounds of the peoples, and will plunder their treasures, and will cast down as a mighty one the inhabitants. Therefore shall the Lord of lords Zebaoth send among his fat ones leanness; and instead of his glory, kindling there shall be kindled a burning of fire (Isa. 10:5, 7-8, 12-13, 16).
[11] In all these passages, by “Asshur” as before shown is signified reasoning; by “Egypt” and “Pharaoh” memory-knowledge; by “Ephraim” the intellectual; and there is described in these and in many other places of what quality man’s rational becomes when it reasons concerning the truths of faith from the negative principle. The like is involved in Isaiah (chapters 36 and 37), where we read that when Rabshakeh, sent by the king of Asshur, spoke against Jerusalem and king Hezekiah, the Angel of Jehovah smote a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the king of Asshur; by which is signified what an overthrow of man’s reasonings takes place when he reasons against Divine things, however much the man may then appear to himself to be wise.
sRef Ezek@16 @26 S12′ sRef Hos@9 @6 S12′ sRef Ezek@16 @28 S12′ [12] This reasoning is also in various places called “whoredom with the sons of Egypt and with the sons of Asshur.” As in Ezekiel:
Thou hast committed whoredom with the sons of Egypt, thy neighbors, great of flesh, and hast multiplied thy whoredom and hast committed whoredom with the sons of Asshur, and yet thou wast not satisfied (Ezek. 16:26, 28; 23:3, 5-21; see n. 2466).
sRef Isa@19 @23 S13′ sRef Isa@19 @19 S13′ sRef Isa@19 @20 S13′ sRef Isa@19 @24 S13′ sRef Isa@19 @25 S13′ sRef Isa@19 @18 S13′ sRef Isa@19 @21 S13′ [13] Concerning those who enter into rational things and memory-knowledges from the doctrine of faith, and thence are wise. In Isaiah:
In that day shall there be an altar to Jehovah in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to Jehovah; and it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto Jehovah Zebaoth in the land of Egypt; for they shall cry unto Jehovah because of the oppressors, and He shall send them a Saviour and a Prince, and He shall deliver them; and Jehovah shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know Jehovah in that day; and they shall offer sacrifice and meat-offering, and shall vow a vow unto Jehovah, and shall perform it (Isa. 19:19-21).
In the same:
In that day there shall be a highway from Egypt to Asshur, and Asshur shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptians shall serve Asshur. In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Asshur, a blessing in the midst of the land, which Jehovah Zebaoth shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt My people, and Asshur the work of My hands, and Israel Mine inheritance (Isa. 19:23-25);
where the spiritual church is treated of, of which the spiritual is “Israel,” the rational is “Asshur,” and the faculty of knowing is “Egypt;” which three constitute the intellectual things of that church, which thus follow in order; on which account it is said, “In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Asshur,” and “Blessed be Egypt My people, and Asshur the work of My hands, and Israel Mine inheritance.”
sRef Zech@14 @17 S14′ sRef Isa@27 @13 S14′ sRef Zech@14 @18 S14′ sRef Micah@7 @11 S14′ sRef Micah@7 @7 S14′ sRef Isa@45 @14 S14′ sRef Micah@7 @12 S14′ [14] In the same:
It shall come to pass in that day that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Asshur, and they that were outcasts in the land of Egypt, and they shall bow themselves down to Jehovah in the mountain of holiness at Jerusalem (Isa. 27:13).
In the same:
Thus saith Jehovah, The labor of Egypt, and the merchandise of Cush and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine; they shall go after thee, and shall bow themselves down to thee, they shall make supplication unto thee. In thee only is God, and there is no God else besides (Isa. 45:14);
“Cush and the Sabeans” are knowledges (n. 117, 1171). In Zechariah:
Egypt shall go up to Jerusalem, to worship the King Jehovah Zebaoth (Zech. 14:17-18).
In Micah:
I look unto Jehovah, I wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me; a day for building thy walls, in this day, and they shall come even unto thee thence from Asshur, and the cities of Egypt, and thence from Egypt even to the river (Micah 7:7, 11-12).
sRef Ezek@29 @14 S15′ sRef Ezek@31 @8 S15′ sRef Ezek@31 @4 S15′ sRef Ezek@31 @3 S15′ sRef Ezek@29 @13 S15′ sRef Ex@3 @22 S15′ sRef Ezek@31 @7 S15′ sRef Ezek@31 @6 S15′ sRef Ezek@31 @9 S15′ sRef Ezek@31 @5 S15′ [15] In Ezekiel:
Thus saith the Lord Jehovih, At the end of forty years will I gather Egypt from the peoples whither they were scattered, and I will bring again the captivity of Egypt (Ezek. 29:13-14).
In the same:
Behold, Asshur was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches and a shadowing forest, and lofty in height, and its branch was among the tangled boughs; the waters made it grow, going with her streams round about her plantation, and she sent out her canals unto all the trees of the field; therefore its height was exalted above all the trees of the field, and its boughs were multiplied, and its branches became long by reason of many waters; all the birds of the heavens made their nests in its boughs, and under its branches all the beasts of the field brought forth, and under its shadow dwelt all great nations. And it became fair in its greatness, in the length of its branches, for its root was by many waters; the cedars in the garden of God did not hide it, the firs were not like its boughs, nor was any tree in the garden of God like unto it in its beauty. I made it fair by the multitude of its branches, and all the trees of Eden that were in the garden of God, envied it (Ezek. 31:3-8).
The Most Ancient Church, which was celestial, is here described in regard to the quality of its rational, and thereby its wisdom and intelligence, because that church looked at things below from Divine things, thus at truths from goods themselves, and thence at things that are subordinate. “Asshur” and the “cedar” are the rational; the “tangled boughs among which were its branches” are memory-knowledges; the “rivers and waters” are spiritual goods, among which was its root; the “height and length of its branches” are its extension; the “garden of God” is the spiritual church; the “trees of Eden” are perceptions. From this and from all that goes before we can see what is the quality of man’s rational, and what is the quality of his faculty of knowing, when they are subordinated to Divine truths, and serve them by confirming them.
sRef Luke@16 @9 S16′ sRef Luke@16 @11 S16′ sRef Isa@23 @18 S16′ sRef Isa@23 @17 S16′ [16] That rational things and memory-knowledges are of service to those who are in the affirmative as means of being wise, was represented and signified by its being commanded the sons of Israel to borrow from the Egyptians vessels of gold, and vessels of silver, and garments (Exod. 3:22; 11:2; 12:35-36). The like is meant by its being said in various passages of the Word that they should possess the goods, houses, vineyards, and oliveyards, and other things, of the nations; and also that the very gold and silver taken from the nations should become holy. As in Isaiah:
Jehovah will visit Tyre, and she shall return to her harlot hire, and shall commit whoredom with all the kingdoms of the earth upon the face of the ground, and her merchandise and her harlot hire shall be holiness to Jehovah; it shall not be stored up nor laid away, for to them that dwell before Jehovah her merchandise shall be for eating till satisfied, and for an ancient covering (Isa. 23:17-18);
“the merchandise of Tyre” denotes knowledges (n. 1201), which to those who are in the negative are as harlot hire; but to those who are in the affirmative are as what is holy. The like is also meant by the Lord’s words:
Make to yourselves friends by means of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fail they may receive you into eternal habitations; if ye have not become faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will intrust you with the true? (Luke 16:9, 11).

2589. CONCERNING THE STATE AND LOT IN THE OTHER LIFE OF THE NATIONS AND PEOPLES BORN OUTSIDE OF THE CHURCH.

It is the common opinion that they who are born out of the church, and who are called Pagans and Gentiles, cannot be saved, because they have not the Word, and thus are ignorant of the Lord, without whom there is no salvation. But that these also are saved, may be known from the following considerations: that the Lord’s mercy is universal, that is, toward everyone; that these are born men equally with those who are within the church, who are comparatively few; and that it is not their fault that they are ignorant of the Lord. Consequently, their state and lot in the other life, have of the Lord’s Divine mercy been shown me.

2590. I have been instructed in many ways that Gentiles who have led a moral life, and have been obedient, and have lived in mutual charity, and have received some sort of conscience according to their religion, are accepted in the other life, and are there instructed by angels with anxious care in the goods and truths of faith. While receiving instruction they conduct themselves modestly, intelligently, and wisely, and easily receive and become imbued with the instruction; for they have formed for themselves no principles contrary to the truths of faith that have to be dispersed, still less stumbling-blocks against the Lord; as have many Christians who have led a life of evil. Moreover such do not hate others, nor avenge injuries, nor plot artifices and deceits. Nay, they wish well to Christians; although on the other hand Christians despise them and even do them violence so far as they can; but they are withdrawn by the Lord from their unmercifulness, and are protected.
[2] For the case of Christians and Gentiles in the other life is such that Christians who have acknowledged the truths of faith, and have at the same time led a life of good, are received in preference to Gentiles; although at the present day such are few; but Gentiles who have lived in obedience and mutual charity are received in preference to Christians who have not led so good a life. For in the wide world all those who have lived in good are of the Lord’s mercy received and saved; for good is that which receives truth. The good of life is the very ground for the seed, that is, for the truth. Evil of life cannot possibly receive it, for although such as are in evil be instructed in a thousand ways, nay, even if they become most fully instructed, nevertheless the truths of faith enter no further with them than into the memory, and do not penetrate to the affection which is of the heart; and therefore in the other life their truths of memory are dissipated, and become null and void.

2591. Among the Gentiles however, just as among Christians, there are both the wise and the simple. In order that I might be instructed as to the quality of these, it has been granted me to speak with both wise and simple, sometimes for hours and days. But of the wise there are scarcely any at this day, whereas in ancient times there were very many, especially in the Ancient Church, from which wisdom emanated to many nations. In order that I might know of what quality these were, I have been allowed to hold familiar converse with some of them; so that the nature of their wisdom, and its superiority to that of the present day may be seen from what follows.

2592. There was present with me a certain person* who was formerly among the more wise, and was thereby well known in the learned world. I conversed with him on various subjects, and as I knew that he had been a wise man, I spoke with him concerning wisdom, intelligence, order, the Word, and finally concerning the Lord. Concerning wisdom he said that there is no other wisdom than that which is of life, and that wisdom can be predicated of nothing else. Concerning intelligence he said that it was from wisdom. Concerning order he said that it is from the Supreme God, and that to live in that order is to be wise and intelligent.
[2] As regards the Word, when I read to him something from the prophecies, he was very greatly delighted, especially from the fact that each of the names and each of the words signified interior things, wondering greatly that the learned of this day are not delighted with such a study. I plainly perceived that the interiors of his thought or mind had been opened, and at the same time that those of certain Christians who were present had been closed; for ill will against him prevailed with them, and also unbelief that the Word is of this nature. Nay, when I went on reading the Word he said that he could not be present, because he perceived it to be too holy for him to endure, so interiorly was he affected. The Christians on the other hand said aloud that they could be present; and this was because their interiors had been closed, and therefore the holy things did not affect them.
[3] At length I talked with him about the Lord; that He was born a man, but was conceived of God; that He had put off the human and had put on the Divine; and that it is He who governs the universe. To this he made answer that he knew many things about the Lord, and had perceived in his own way that it could not have been done otherwise if the human race was to be saved. Meantime certain wicked Christians injected various difficulties, for which he did not care, saying that it was not surprising, because they had become imbued in the life of the body with unbecoming ideas respecting these things, and that until such ideas were dispersed they could not admit things confirmatory, as could those who are ignorant. This man was a Gentile.
* Probably Cicero; see Heaven and Hell, n. 322. [REVISER.]

2593. I have also been permitted to speak with others who lived in ancient times and who were then among the more wise. They were at first seen in front at a distance, and were there able to perceive the interiors of my thoughts, thus many things in a thorough manner. From one idea of the thought they could know the entire series, and fill it with delightful things of wisdom together with pleasing representations, which showed me that they were among the more wise, and I was told that they were from the Ancients. So they drew nearer, and when I read to them something from the Word they were most highly delighted. It was granted me to perceive their very delight and enjoyment, which arose chiefly from the fact that all the things they heard from the Word were both in general and in particular representative and significative of heavenly and spiritual things. They said that in their time when they lived in the world their mode of thinking and speaking, and also of writing, was of this nature, and that this was their wisdom’s study.

2594. But as regards the Gentiles who are on earth at this day, they are not so wise, but are for the most part simple in heart; and yet those of them who have lived in mutual charity receive wisdom in the other life-concerning whom I may relate what follows.

2595. I heard the sound of a certain gyre,* but coarser than usual, and from the sound I at once knew that they were from the Gentiles. I was told by the angels that they were Gentiles who had been raised up three or four days before. The gyre or choir was heard for several hours, and it was perceived that even during the short time in which it was heard they were being perfected more and more. When I wondered at this I was told that these can be initiated into choirs, and thus into harmony, in one night; while most Christians barely can in thirty years. Gyres or choirs exist when many speak together, all as one, and each as all; but concerning gyres or choirs, of the Lord’s Divine mercy elsewhere.
* That is, a revolving circle, or gyration. See Arcana Coelestia, n. 4041, 5182, etc. [REVISER.]

2596. One morning there was a choir at a distance from me, and it was given me to know from the representations of the choir that they were Chinese; for they presented a kind of woolly goat, a cake of millet, and an ivory spoon, as also the idea of a floating city. They desired to come nearer to me; and when they had applied themselves they said that they desired to be alone with me, that they might open their thoughts. But they were told that they were not alone, and that there were others who were indignant at their desiring to be alone, when yet they were guests. When they perceived the indignation of the others, they began to think whether they had trespassed against the neighbor, and whether they had claimed anything for themselves that belonged to others. (In the other life all thoughts are communicated.) I was permitted to perceive their trouble: it was that of an acknowledgment that perhaps they had wronged the others, and of shame on that account, and of other good affections at the same time, from which it was known that they were endued with charity. Presently I spoke with them, and at length about the Lord. When I called Him Christ, a kind of repugnance was perceived in them; but the cause was discovered to be that they brought this repugnance from the world, from their having known Christians to live worse than they did themselves, and in no charity. But when I simply called Him the Lord, they were inwardly moved. They were afterwards instructed by the angels that beyond every other doctrine in the whole world the Christian doctrine prescribes love and charity, but that there are but few persons who live in accordance with it.

2597. There are Gentiles who when they lived in the world had known from social interaction and report that Christians lead the very worst life-in adulteries, in hatreds and quarrels, in drunkenness, and the like things-at which they are affected with horror, because such things are contrary to their laws, their morals, and their religion. In the other life these are more timid than others in receiving the truths of faith; but they are instructed by the angels that the Christian doctrine, and the faith itself, teach the very opposite, but that Christians live less in accordance with their doctrine than do the Gentiles. When they perceive this they receive the truths of faith and adore the Lord, but more tardily.

2598. When I read the 17th and 18th chapters of Judges, concerning Micah, how the sons of Dan took away his graven image, the teraphim, and the Levite, there was present a spirit from the Gentiles, who in the life of the body had adored a carved image. While he listened attentively to what was done to Micah, and in what grief he was on account of his graven image that the Danites took away, he too was overcome with grief, and was affected to such a degree that he scarcely knew what to think for inward grief. I perceived his grief, and at the same time perceived the innocence in each of his affections. Christian spirits were also present and observed it, and wondered that a worshiper of a graven image should be moved by so strong an affection of mercy and innocence. Afterwards good spirits spoke to him, saying that a graven image ought not to be adored, and that he could understand this because he was a human being; but that he ought to think beyond the graven image of God the Creator and Governor of the universal heaven and earth; and that this God is the Lord. When these things were said I was permitted to perceive the interior emotion of his adoration, which was communicated to me, and was much more holy than that with Christians; from which it could be seen that Gentiles come into heaven more easily than Christians at this day who are not so affected (according to the Lord’s words in Luke 13:29, 30); for in the state in which he was he could be imbued with all things of faith, and could receive them with interior affection. There was in him the mercy that is of love, and in his ignorance there was innocence; and when these are present, all things of faith are received as it were spontaneously, and with joy. He was afterwards received among the angels.

2599. There was also another among the Gentiles, who had lived in the good of charity. When he heard Christian spirits reasoning about things to be believed (spirits reason with one another much more fully and much more acutely than men, especially about goods and truths, because these belong to the other life), he marveled that they should dispute so, and said that he did not want to hear such things, because they were reasoning from fallacies, and he gave them the following instruction: If I am good, I can know from good itself what is true, and what I do not know, I can receive.

2600. Well-disposed Gentiles are instructed in the other life, for the most part, and so far as possible, in accordance with their states of life and in accordance with their religion, thus in various ways. I may here describe only three.

2601. Some are reduced into a state of tranquillity, as it were a kind of sleep; and they then seem to themselves to be building small cities, and in the midst of them to hide some secret thing which they wish to preserve from violence. They give these cities to others, with entreaties not to do violence to the secret thing in the midst of them. Innocence is thus insinuated into them, and also charity, together with the idea that the secret thing is concerning the Lord. They are kept in this state a considerable time. It is a state of ignorance in which there is innocence. They are guarded by little children, lest anyone should do them harm. I have spoken with them, and have been much affected by their state of innocence and charity, and also by the solicitude with which they hide the secret, and by the holy fear lest it should be violated.

2602. There is one nation (I was told that it is from the Indies) which makes it their religion to worship the Greatest God with the following rite. When they are adoring Him they first magnify themselves, but soon prostrate themselves as worms; and at the same time they hold, that above the universe, which they believe to be whirling around, is that Greatest God, looking down on what they are doing. As they have had such religious observances, in the other life they are brought back into them; and I have spoken with them while they imagined such things. They are for the most part modest, obedient, and simple in heart. They are by successive steps freed by the angels from this phantasy; for they are instructed, in accordance with their religion, that the Greatest God is the Lord; and that they can indeed magnify themselves on account of their being able to adore Him; and that nevertheless they are like little worms; and that the Lord from on high sees each and all things. In this manner, by means of their own religion, they are brought into the knowledges of good and truth.

2603. There are some Gentiles from those regions where they are black, who bring with them from their life in the world a wish to be treated severely; believing that no one can come into heaven except through punishments and afflictions, and that they will afterwards receive more gladsome things, which they call paradisal. As they have such ideas from their religion they are at first treated severely in the other life by some whom they call devils, and are afterwards taken to the paradises already described (n. 1622). But they are instructed by the angels that their punishments and afflictions are turned by the Lord into what is good for them, as with those who are in temptations; also that paradisal things are not heaven, but that heaven is the affection of the celestial and spiritual things that are in them; and that they have been in a certain way of truth, although in the shade of ignorance. They spoke with me a long time. While in their state of affliction their speech was attended with a kind of collision; thus was distinct from that of others; but after their afflictions were over, and they were taken up to the paradises, they no longer had such a speech, but one that was almost angelic. From their religion they have that they believe, and desire to have interior things. They said that whenever they are treated severely they are black; but that they shortly put off the blackness, and put on whiteness; knowing that their souls are white, but their bodies black.

2604. It is usual for Gentiles who adore any god under an image or statue, or any carved thing, to be introduced, on coming into the other life, to certain ones who are in the place of their gods or idols, in order that they may put away their phantasies; and when they have been with these for some days, they are taken away from such persons. They who have adored men are also sometimes introduced to them, or to others in their stead; as many of the Jews are to Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and David; but when they perceive that these have the same kind of human nature as others have, and can afford them no help, they become ashamed, and are taken to their own places in accordance with their life. Among the Gentiles in the other life the Africans are the most beloved, because they receive the goods and truths of heaven more easily than others. They especially desire to be called the obedient, but not the faithful. They say that Christians can be called faithful, because they have the doctrine of faith; but not they, unless they receive it, or as they say, are able to receive it.

2605. I have spoken with some who were in the Ancient Church, and who then knew concerning the Lord that He was to come, and who had been imbued with the goods of faith, but yet fell away and became idolaters. They were in front, toward the left, in a darksome place, and in a miserable state. Their speech was like the sound of a fife, of one tone, almost devoid of rationality of thought. They said that they had been there for many ages, and that they are sometimes taken out thence to serve others for some uses, which are vile. From these it was given me to think about many Christians, who are idolaters not exteriorly but interiorly, and who at heart deny the Lord, and thereby also the truths of faith; and to reflect upon what kind of a lot must await them in the other life.

sRef Amos@0 @0 S0′ sRef Hos@0 @0 S0′ sRef Joel@0 @0 S0′ 2606. CHAPTER 21

The Word of the Old Testament was formerly called the “Law and the Prophets.” By the “Law” were meant all the historical books, which are the five books of Moses, and those of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings: by the “Prophets” were meant all the prophetical books, which are those of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zachariah, Malachi; and also the Psalms of David. The historical books of the Word are also called “Moses;” hence it is occasionally said, “Moses and the Prophets,” instead of the “Law and the Prophets;” and the prophetical books are called “Elias” (see the preface to the eighteenth chapter of Genesis).

2607. As regards the historicals they are all historically true, except those in the first chapters of Genesis, which are made up history, as shown in volume 1. Yet although they are historically true, they nevertheless have an internal sense; and in that sense, like the propheticals, treat solely of the Lord. They do indeed treat of heaven and the church, and of what belongs to heaven and the church, but as these are of the Lord, through these the historicals look to the Lord, and therefore are the Word. The historic events are all representative, and every word by which they are described is significative. That the historic events are representative is evident from what has been unfolded thus far concerning Abraham, and will be further evident from what of the Lord’s Divine mercy is to be explained concerning Isaac, Jacob, and his twelve sons; concerning Egypt, the sojourning of the people in the wilderness, their entrance into the land of Canaan, etc.
[2] That every word by which these historicals are described is significative, is also evident from what has been shown for instance in regard to the names as signifying actual things; thus “Egypt” signifies memory-knowledge, “Asshur” the rational, “Ephraim” the intellectual, “Tyre” knowledges, “Zion” the celestial church, “Jerusalem” the spiritual church, and so on. The same has been shown in regard to the words; as that “king” signifies truth, “priest” good, and that all other words have their respective internal significance; such as “kingdom,” “city,” “house,” “nation,” “people,” “garden,” “vineyard,” “oliveyard,” “gold,” “silver,” “brass,” “iron,” “birds,” “beasts,” “bread,” “wine,” “oil,” “morning,” “day,” “light;” and this uniformly in both the historical and the prophetical books, although they were written by various individuals, and at different times-a uniformity that would not be possible unless the Word had come down from heaven. From this it may be known that there is an internal sense in the Word; as well as from the fact that the Divine Word cannot treat of mere men, such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their posterity (which was the worst of nations); of their kings, their wives, sons, and daughters; of harlots, plunderings, and such things, which, considered in themselves, are not worthy to be even mentioned in the Word, unless by them are represented and signified such things as are in the Lord’s kingdom: it is these things that are worthy of the Word.

sRef Isa@16 @7 S0′ sRef Isa@16 @8 S0′ sRef Isa@16 @9 S0′ 2608. Similar to these also are very many things in the Prophets, such as those adduced above (n. 1888); and also the following in Isaiah:
Moab shall howl, all Moab shall howl, for the foundations of Kirhareseth shall ye mourn howbeit ye have been bruised; for the fields of Heshbon have failed, the vine of Sibmah; the lords of the nations break down the shoots, they reached even unto Jazer, they wandered in the wilderness, her offshoots have been torn away; they have passed over the sea. Therefore with weeping will I weep for Jazer, for the vine of Sibmah; I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh; for upon thy vintage and upon thy harvest the shout is fallen (Isa. 16:7-9).
In Jeremiah:
The voice of a cry from Horonaim, wasting and great destruction, Moab is broken to pieces, her little ones have caused a cry to be heard; for by the ascent of Luhith with weeping a weeping goeth up; for in the going down of Horonaim the enemies have heard a cry of a breaking to pieces. Judgment is come unto the land of the plain, unto Holon, and unto Jahzah, and unto Mephaath, and upon Dibon, and upon Nebo, and upon Beth-diblathaim, and upon Kiriathaim, and upon Beth-gamul, and upon Beth-meon, and upon Kerioth, and upon Bozrah (Jer. 48:3-5, 21-24).
Such in very many places is the character of the propheticals of the Word, which would be of no use unless they had an internal sense; and yet the Word, being Divine, must needs contain within itself the laws of that Heavenly Kingdom into which man is to come.

2609. But as regards the Precepts of Life, such as all things in the Decalogue, and many in the Law and the Prophets-these, being of service to man’s very life, are of use in both senses, both the literal and the internal. The things contained in the literal sense were for the people and peoples of that period, who did not apprehend internal things; and the things contained in the internal sense were for the angels, who have no care for external things. Unless the precepts of the Decalogue contained internal things also, they would never have been promulgated on Mount Sinai with so great a miracle; for such things as it contains, such as that parents are to be honored, that men must not steal, must not kill, must not commit adultery, must not covet what is another’s, are things which the Gentiles also know and have prescribed in their laws; and which the sons of Israel as men must have been well acquainted with, without such a promulgation. But as those precepts were for the service of life, in both senses, and were as external forms produced from internal, that corresponded to each other-this was the reason why they came down out of heaven upon Mount Sinai with so great a miracle, and in their internal sense were uttered and heard in heaven, while in their external sense they were uttered and heard on earth.
[2] Take as an example the promise that they who honor their parents shall have their days prolonged upon the land: by “parents” the angels in heaven perceived the Lord; by the “land,” His kingdom, which those who worship Him from love and faith should eternally possess as sons and heirs; whereas by “parents” men on earth understood parents; by “land,” the land of Canaan; by the “prolongation of their days,” the years of their life. Take again the precept that men must not steal: by this the angels who were in heaven perceived that they should take nothing away from the Lord, and should not claim anything of righteousness and merit for themselves; whereas men on earth understood that they must not steal; from which we can see that these precepts are true in both senses. Take again the precept that men must not kill: by this the angels in heaven perceived that they should not hate anyone, and should not extinguish anything of good and truth with anyone; whereas men on earth understood that their friends must not be killed. The case is the same with all the other precepts.

GENESIS 21

1. And Jehovah visited Sarah, as He had said; and Jehovah did unto Sarah as He had spoken.
2. And Sarah conceived and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the appointed time, as God had spoken with him.
3. And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac.
4. And Abraham circumcised Isaac his son, a son of eight days, as God had commanded him.
5. And Abraham was a son of a hundred years when Isaac his son was born unto him.
6. And Sarah said, God hath made laughter for me, everyone that heareth will laugh with me.
7. And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, Sarah shall suckle sons? For I have borne a son to his old age.
8. And the child grew, and was weaned; and Abraham made a great feast, on the day when he weaned Isaac.
9. And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne unto Abraham, mocking.
10. And she said unto Abraham, Cast out this handmaid and her son; for the son of this handmaid shall not inherit with my son, with Isaac.
11. And the word was evil exceedingly in the eyes of Abraham, on account of his son.
12. And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be evil in thine eyes because of the boy, and because of thine handmaid; all that Sarah saith unto thee, hearken unto her voice, for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.
13. And also the son of the handmaid I will make a nation, because he is thy seed.
14. And Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave to Hagar, and put them on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away; and she went and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.
15. And the water was spent out of the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.
16. And she went and sat by herself over against him, withdrawing about a bowshot; for she said, Let me not see the death of the child; and she sat over against him; and she lifted up her voice, and wept.
17. And God heard the voice of the child, and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? Fear not, for God hath heard the voice of the child where he is.
18. Arise, lift up the child, and strengthen thy hand in him, for I will make him a great nation.
19. And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water, and she went and filled the bottle with water, and gave the child drink.
20. And God was with the child, and he grew, and he dwelt in the wilderness, and became a shooter of the bow.
21. And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.
22. And it came to pass at that time, that Abimelech and Phicol the captain of his army said unto Abraham, saying, God is with thee in all that thou doest.
23. And now swear unto me here by God, that thou wilt not be false to me, nor to my son, nor to my son’s son; according to the kindness that I have done unto thee, thou shalt do unto me, and to the land wherein thou hast sojourned.
24. And Abraham said, I will swear.
25. And Abraham reproved Abimelech, because of the well of water which Abimelech’s servants had taken away.
26. And Abimelech said, I know not who hath done this word, neither didst thou tell me, neither heard I of it, but today.
27. And Abraham took flock and herd, and gave to Abimelech, and they two struck a covenant.
28. And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves.
29. And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What are these seven ewe lambs which thou hast set by themselves?
30. And he said, Because these seven ewe lambs thou shalt take from my hand, that it may be a witness unto me that I have digged this well.
31. Therefore he called that place Beersheba, because there they sware both of them.
32. And they struck a covenant at Beersheba; and Abimelech rose up, and Phicol the captain of his army, and they returned into the land of the Philistines.
33. And he planted a grove in Beersheba, and called there on the name of the God of eternity.
34. And Abraham sojourned in the land of the Philistines many days.

sRef Gen@21 @0 S0′ 2610. THE CONTENTS.
In the internal sense of this chapter the Lord’s Divine Rational is first treated of, which is represented by “Isaac” (verses 1-8).

sRef Gen@21 @0 S0′ 2611. Next the merely human rational, which was then separated, and which is the “son of Hagar the Egyptian” (verses 9-12).

sRef Gen@21 @0 S0′ 2612. After this had been separated, the spiritual church is represented by the same, namely, by Hagar’s son, as well as by his mother; which church and its state are treated of in verses 13-21.

sRef Gen@21 @0 S0′ 2613. Concerning the human rational things that were adjoined to the doctrine of faith, which in itself is Divine (verses 22-34).

sRef Gen@21 @0 S0′ 2614. This doctrine together with those things adjoined is “Beersheba” (verses 14, 31, 33).

sRef Gen@21 @1 S0′ 2615. THE INTERNAL SENSE
Verse 1. And Jehovah visited Sarah, as he had said; and Jehovah did unto Sarah as He had spoken. “Jehovah visited Sarah,” signifies the presence of the Divine celestial in the Divine spiritual; “as He had said,” signifies as He had perceived; “and Jehovah did unto Sarah,” signifies the state of unition; “as He had spoken” signifies as He had thought.

sRef Gen@21 @1 S0′ 2616. Jehovah visited Sarah. That this signifies the presence of the Divine celestial in the Divine spiritual, is evident from the signification of “Jehovah,” as being the Divine celestial, that is, the Divine Good, or Esse (Being) itself, which, because it is of love and mercy, is Good itself; from the signification of “visiting,” as meaning to be present; and from the signification of “Sarah,” as being the Divine spiritual, that is, Divine truth (see n. 1468, 1901, 2063, 2065, 2507).

sRef Gen@21 @1 S0′ 2617. As He had said. That this signifies as He had perceived, is evident from the signification in the historical parts of the Word of “saying,” as meaning to perceive (see n. 2238, 2260, 2552).

sRef Gen@21 @1 S0′ 2618. And Jehovah did unto Sarah. That this signifies the state of unition, namely, of the Lord’s Divine spiritual in His Divine celestial, is evident from the signification of “doing,” when predicated of the Lord’s Divine, as being the sum total of the effect, consequently the state; and from the signification of “Jehovah,” and also of “Sarah” (concerning which see above, n. 2616). As regards the state of unition of the Lord’s Divine spiritual in His Divine celestial, this is the very marriage itself of good and truth, from which comes the heavenly marriage; and this marriage is the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens and on earth. For this reason the Lord’s kingdom is so frequently in the Word called a “marriage,” and is compared to a marriage. The reason (a secret one) is that all conjugial love (and through this all celestial and spiritual love) comes from the marriage of Divine good and truth, and of Divine truth and good, in the Lord. What further arcana are enfolded in these words: that “Jehovah visited Sarah as He had said,” and that “Jehovah did unto Sarah as He had spoken,” cannot be declared, because they are inexpressible; for they comprise the very state itself of the unition of the Lord’s Divine with His Human. Appearances of this are presented by the Lord before the angels by means of heavenly lights, and are illustrated by means of ineffable representations; but they cannot be presented before men, because it would have to be done by means of such things as belong to the light of the world, into which such arcana do not fall; nay, by a description based on such things they become more obscure.

sRef Gen@21 @1 S0′ 2619. As He had spoken. That this signifies as He had thought, is evident from the signification of “speaking,” as being to think (see n. 2271, 2287). The perception which is signified by “Jehovah said” was from the Divine celestial; but the thought which is signified by “Jehovah spoke” was from the Divine celestial through the Divine spiritual; and there is therefore an apparent repetition in the sense of the letter, namely, “as He said,” and “as He spake.” But what it is to perceive from the Divine celestial and to think from the Divine celestial through the Divine spiritual, does not fall into even the most enlightened apprehension by means of things that belong to the light of the world. This shows how infinite the rest of the Word may be. (That thought is from perception may be seen above, n. 1919, 2515.) With man the case is this: it is good from which he perceives, but it is truth by means of which he thinks. Good is of love and its affections, consequently from it is perception; but truth is of faith, consequently this is of thought. The former is signified in the historic parts of the Word by “saying,” but the latter by “speaking.” But when “saying” is found alone, it then sometimes signifies perceiving, and sometimes thinking; because “saying” involves both.

sRef Gen@21 @2 S0′ 2620. Verse 2. And Sarah conceived and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the appointed time, as God had spoken with him. She “conceived and bare,” signifies that it was and came forth; “Sarah bare Abraham,” signifies from the unition of the Lord’s Divine spiritual with His Divine celestial; “a son” signifies the Divine rational; “in his old age,” signifies when the days were fulfilled that He should put off the human; “at the appointed time,” signifies when the rational was such as to receive; “as God had spoken with him,” signifies as He had willed.

sRef Gen@21 @2 S0′ 2621. That “conceived and bare” signifies that it Was and Came forth, namely (as follows) the Divine rational, from the unition of the Lord’s Divine spiritual with His Divine celestial, is evident from the signification of “conceiving and bearing.” That in the internal sense of the Word no other conceptions and bearings are meant than those which are spiritual and celestial, may be seen above (n. 2584); but here those which were Divine, because the subject here treated of is the Lord’s rational made Divine; and of Him, namely, the Lord, Being and Coming forth [Esse et Existere] are chiefly predicated; for He alone Is and Comes forth. As regards Being and Coming forth (Esse et Existere) we may add that they seem as if they were nearly the same, but are not the same. Every person and every thing, has its Being from conception, but its Coming forth from birth; and thus, as conception is prior to birth, so Being is prior to Coming forth.
[2] The soul is the Being itself of man, and the sensitive or corporeal faculty is its Coming forth, for the former comes forth in the latter. Celestial and spiritual love are the very Being of the man who is being regenerated; and the rational and sensitive faculties, when imbued with that love, are his Coming forth. And so it is with each and all things in the universe; for there is nothing whatever which has not its conception that it may Be, and its birth that it may Come forth; which may also be illustrated in the terms of philosophy by saying that every effect has its cause, and every cause has its end. The end is the Being of the cause, and the cause is the Coming forth of the end. In the same way, the cause is the Being of the effect, and the effect is the Coming forth of the cause.

sRef Gen@21 @2 S0′ 2622. Sarah to Abraham. That this signifies from the unition of the Divine spiritual with the Divine celestial, is evident from the representation of Sarah, as being the Divine spiritual, or Divine Truth (see n. 1468, 1901, 2063, 2065, 2172, 2173, 2198, 2507); and from the representation of Abraham, as being the Divine celestial, or Divine Good (see n. 1989, 2011, 2172, 2198, 2501). (Concerning the unition of the Divine spiritual with the Divine celestial, see what was said above, n. 2618.)

sRef Gen@21 @2 S0′ 2623. A son. That this signifies the Divine rational is evident from the signification of a “son.” In the internal sense of the Word a “son” signifies truth (n. 489, 491, 533); and as truth is the chief thing in the rational (n. 2072, 2189), the rational is also signified by a “son;” but here the Divine rational, in which principally there is good, which Isaac, who is the “son,” also represents (concerning which hereafter).

sRef Gen@21 @2 S0′ 2624. In his old age. That this signifies when the days were fulfilled that the human should be put off, is evident from the signification of “old age,” as being the state when the human should be put off and the Divine put on (see n. 2198); for Abraham was at that time a hundred years old; and by this number is signified a full state of unition, as will be seen in the explication at verse 5.

sRef Gen@21 @2 S0′ 2625. At the appointed time. That this signifies when the rational was such as to receive, is evident from the signification of “time.” There are two things which while man lives in the world appear to be essential, because they are proper to nature, namely, space and time. Hence to live in space and time is to live in the world or in nature. But in the other life these two things are of no consequence. In the world of spirits indeed they do appear to be of some consequence, for the reason that spirits fresh from the body still retain the idea of natural things; yet it is not long before they perceive that there is no space and time there, but state instead; and that in the other life states correspond to spaces and times in nature; to spaces states as to Being [esse], and to times states as to Coming forth [existere]. (In regard to space or place see above, n. 1274, 1379, 1380, 1382.)
[2] From this anyone can see what kind of an idea a man may have, while in the world or in nature, respecting the things of the other life and many arcana of faith; namely, that he is not willing to believe them until he apprehends them by means of the things in the world, nay, by sensuous things; for he must needs suppose that if he were to put off the idea of space and time, and still more space and time themselves, he would become absolutely nothing; and thus that he would have nothing left from which he could feel and think, except something confused and incomprehensible; when yet the case is exactly the reverse. Angelic life is of such a nature as to be the wisest and happiest of all.
[3] This is the reason why in the Word “ages” in the internal sense do not signify ages, but states; so that in this verse “old age” does not mean old age. And in the same way the numbers do not signify numbers, but some specific state, as for instance the number a hundred years, concerning which hereafter. From this we can now see that by the “appointed time” is signified the state when the rational was such as to receive.
[4] In regard to the specific matter here treated of, namely, that the Divine rational was and came forth from the unition of the Divine spiritual with the Divine celestial of the Lord, when the days were fulfilled for the human to be put off, and when the rational was such as to receive (all of which is signified in the internal sense by Sarah’s conceiving and bearing to Abraham a son to his old age at the appointed time), be it known that the human begins in the inmost of the rational (see n. 2106, 2194); and that the Lord advanced successively to the union of the Human Essence with the Divine Essence, and of the Divine Essence with the Human Essence (n. 1864, 2033, 2523); and this by His own power (n. 1921, 2025, 2026, 2083), by continual temptations and victories (n. 1737, 1813, 1690), and by continual revelations from His Divine (n. 1616, 2500); and this until at length He had expelled all the maternal human (n. 1414, 1444, 2574); and thus had made His Human Divine in respect to the rational, according to the things contained in this verse. Hence it is manifest what is to be understood by the days being fulfilled for the human to be put off, and by the rational being such as to receive.
[5] Some idea of this may be formed from what takes place in those who are being regenerated. The celestial things of love and the spiritual things of faith are not at once implanted in them by the Lord, but successively; and when by means of them the man’s rational has become such that it can receive, then for the first time is he becoming regenerate, for the most part by means of temptations in which he conquers. When these things take place, the days are fulfilled for him to put off the old man, and to put on the new. (Concerning man’s regeneration, see above, n. 677, 679, 711, 848, 986, 1555, 2475.)

sRef Gen@21 @2 S0′ 2626. As God had spoken with him. That this signifies as He had willed, is evident from the signification of “speaking,” as being to think (see n. 2271, 2287, 2619); but that here it means to will is because it is said, “as God had spoken;” since for the Divine to think is to will.

sRef Gen@21 @3 S0′ 2627. Verse 3. And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac. “Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him,” signifies the quality of the rational as being Divine; “whom Sarah bare to him,” signifies that it was and came forth from the Divine spiritual united to the Divine celestial; “Isaac” signifies the Divine rational.

aRef John@1 @14 S0′ aRef John@1 @18 S0′ sRef Gen@21 @3 S0′ 2628. Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him. That this signifies the quality of the rational as being Divine, is evident from the representation of Abraham, as being the Lord as to the Divine celestial, or the Divine Good, treated of many times before; and from the signification of “calling a name,” as being the quality (see n. 144, 145, 1754, 1896, 2009); and from the signification of his “son,” as being the rational (see n. 2623); and also from the signification of his being “born unto him,” as being to come forth from the Divine. Hence it is evident that “Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him,” signifies the quality of the rational as being Divine.
From these few words three arcana shine forth for those who are in the internal sense: First, that the Lord’s Divine Human came forth [exstiterit] from the Divine Itself; which is further treated of in this verse. Second, that the Lord’s Divine Human was not only conceived, but also born, of Jehovah, and hence the Lord as to His Divine Human is called the “Son of God,” and the “Only-begotten” (John 1:14, 18, 50; 3:16, 18, 35-36; 5:19-27; 6:69; 9:35; 10:36; 11:27; 14:13-14; 17:1; 20:31; and in like manner in the other Evangelists). Third, that the Lord’s Divine Human is the “name” of Jehovah, that is, His quality (see John 12:28).

sRef Gen@21 @3 S0′ 2629. Whom Sarah bare to him. That this signifies being and coming forth from the Divine spiritual united to the Divine celestial is evident from the signification of “bearing,” as being to come forth [existere] (see n. 2621); and as birth involves conception, and the birth or coming forth is from the Divine spiritual, and the conception, or being, from the Divine celestial, which two have now been united, hence “bearing” here signifies both being and coming forth; and also from the representation of Sarah, as being the Divine spiritual united to the Divine celestial (see n. 1468, 1901, 2063, 2065, 2172, 2173, 2198, 2507). These things are arcana too deep to be described, or indeed to be illustrated by anything in this world. They are for angelic minds, to whom they are presented in the light of heaven by means of things ineffable.

sRef Gen@21 @3 S0′ 2630. Isaac. That this signifies the Divine Rational, is evident from what has been said before concerning Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (n. 1893, 2066, 2083), namely, that Abraham represents the supreme Divine, Isaac the Divine rational, and Jacob His Divine natural; as will also be seen hereafter, where Isaac is treated of.

sRef Gen@21 @4 S0′ 2631. Verse 4. And Abraham circumcised Isaac his son, a son of eight days, as God commanded him. “Abraham circumcised Isaac his son,” signifies the purification of the rational; “a son of eight days,” signifies a beginning and continuance; “as God had commanded him,” signifies according to Divine order.

sRef Gen@21 @4 S0′ 2632. Abraham circumcised Isaac his son. That this signifies the purification of the rational, is evident from the signification of “being circumcised,” which is to be purified (see n. 2039); and from the representation of “Isaac,” as being the Divine rational (see n. 2630).
sRef John@12 @28 S2′ [2] That the Lord’s first rational was born as with others, namely, by means of knowledges [scientifica et cognitiones], has been stated before, where Ishmael was treated of, by whom that rational is represented. As this was born by means of knowledges, thus by the external way, which is that of the senses, and as with others, it could not but have in itself many things from the outward world, for from them are the ideas of the rational procured; and this the more because it had its hereditary from the mother. It was these worldly things and this hereditary which the Lord successively expelled from His rational, and this until it was such as to be able to receive the Divine (n. 2624, 2625). The Lord’s Divine rational was then born, which is represented by Isaac (n. 2630); not however by the external way, which is that of the senses, as the former rational was; but by the internal way from the Divine Itself (n. 2628, 2629). As this was not done at once, but successively (n. 1690, 2033), it was purified, and this continually; which is signified by “Abraham’s circumcising his son, a son of eight days.” That the Lord made His rational Divine by successive steps, and continually purified it, is evident also in John:
Jesus said, Father, glorify Thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven: I have both glorified, and will glorify again (John 12:28).
That to “glorify” is to make Divine, may be seen above (n. 1603, 1999).
[3] In the Ancient Church nothing else was represented and signified by circumcision than that a man should be purified from the loves of self and of the world, and this also by successive steps and continually (see n. 2039, 2046 at the end, 2049, 2056); especially when he has been born a new man, that is, when he has been regenerated; for the Lord then flows in by the internal way, that is, by the good of conscience, and successively and continually separates the things which adhere both from hereditary and from actual evil.

sRef Gen@21 @4 S0′ 2633. A son of eight days. That this signifies a beginning and continuance, is evident from the signification of the “eighth day,” on which they were circumcised, as being any beginning, and thus continuance (see n. 2044).

sRef Gen@21 @4 S0′ 2634. As God had commanded him. That this signifies according to Divine order, is evident from the signification of “God commanding,” or of His precepts. God’s precepts, or the things which God has commanded, are all things that are of Divine order both in general and in particular; so that Divine order is nothing but the perpetual precept of God; and therefore to live according to the precepts of God, and to live in the precepts of God, is to live according to Divine order and in Divine order. Hence it is that by “as God commanded,” is signified according to Divine order. It was according to Divine order that every male should be circumcised on the eighth day from his birth; not that circumcision was of any avail, or that they who were circumcised would enter into the kingdom of God before the uncircumcised; but because in the representative church such a rite corresponded to the purification of the heart; which correspondence will of the Lord’s Divine mercy be spoken of elsewhere. It is of Divine order that the heart, that is, man’s interiors, should be purified gradually and continually from the evils of cupidities, and from the falsities of the phantasies thence derived. The precepts relating to the purification of the heart are all things of Divine order both in general and in particular. Insofar therefore as a man lives in those precepts, so far he lives in Divine order; and insofar as he lives in this, so far all things in him, both of reason and memory, are disposed by the Lord according to the order which is from Him in the heavens. Hence the man becomes a little heaven corresponding to the greatest.

sRef Gen@21 @5 S0′ 2635. Verse 5. And Abraham was a son of a hundred years when Isaac his son was born unto him. “Abraham was a son of a hundred years,” signifies a full state of unition; “when Isaac his son was born unto him,” signifies when the Lord’s rational was made Divine.

sRef Gen@21 @5 S0′ 2636. Abraham was a son of a hundred years. That this signifies a full state of unition, is evident from the signification of a “hundred,” as being what is full (concerning which presently); and from the signification of “years,” as being state (see n. 482, 487, 488, 493, 893); here, a state of unition. What a full state of unition of the Lord’s Divine with His Human is, or what is the same, with His rational (for the human begins in the inmost of the rational, n. 2106, 2194), cannot so well be told to the apprehension, but still can be illustrated by what is called with man a full state when he is being reformed and regenerated.
[2] It is known that a man cannot be regenerated until adult age, because he then for the first time has the full exercise of reason and judgment, and thus can receive good and truth from the Lord. Before he comes into this state he is being prepared by the Lord by such things being insinuated into him as may serve him as ground for receiving the seeds of good and truth; which are the many states of innocence and charity, and also the knowledges of good and truth, and the thoughts derived from them. This preparation is going on for some years before his regeneration commences. When the man has been imbued with these things, and is thus prepared, his state is then said to be full; for his interiors are then disposed for receiving. All those things with which a man is endowed by the Lord before regeneration, and by means of which he is regenerated, are called remains, which are signified in the Word by the number “ten” (n. 576, 1738, 2284); and also by a “hundred,” when the state for regeneration is full (n. 1988).
[3] These things may serve for illustration as to what is signified by a full state of unition of the Human with the Divine in the Lord, namely, when from His own power, by means of the combats of temptations and by victories, and by the powers of the Divine wisdom and intelligence, He had procured to Himself so much of the Divine in His Human, that is, in His rational, as to be able to unite the Divine Itself to the Divine acquired in the rational. That this state might be represented, it was brought to pass that, although Abraham had dwelt for many years in the land of Canaan, Isaac was not born to him until he was a hundred years old. These are the arcana contained in the number a “hundred years,” which was Abraham’s age.
sRef Isa@65 @20 S4′ [4] That the number a “hundred” signifies what is full, is evident from other passages in the Word, as in Isaiah:
There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled His days; for the child shall die a son of a hundred years, and the sinner a son of a hundred years shall be accursed (Isa. 65:20);
where a “hundred” manifestly denotes what is full; for it is said, there shall be no more an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days, and a child and a sinner of a hundred years; that is, when his state is full.
sRef Matt@19 @29 S5′ sRef Luke@6 @38 S5′ [5] In Matthew:
Everyone that hath left houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit eternal life (Matt. 19:29; Mark 10:29-30);
where a “hundredfold” denotes what is full; or “good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over” (Luke 6:38).
sRef Luke@8 @8 S6′ sRef Luke@16 @7 S6′ sRef Luke@16 @6 S6′ sRef Luke@16 @5 S6′ [6] And in Luke:
And other seed fell upon the good earth and having sprung up it brought forth fruit a hundredfold (Luke 8:8; Matt. 13:8, 23; Mark 4:20);
where also a “hundred” denotes what is full, which number would not have been mentioned unless it had signified that. The same is true where the Lord speaks by parable concerning the debtors, that one owed “a hundred baths of oil,” and the other “a hundred cors of wheat” (Luke 16:5-7). So also in other places where a “hundred” is mentioned. The case is similar with a “thousand,” respecting which number, see above (n. 2575).

sRef Gen@21 @5 S0′ 2637. When Isaac his son was born unto him. That this signifies when the Lord’s rational was made Divine, is evident from the signification of “being born,” which is to come forth [existere] (see n. 2584, 2621, 2629) and from the representation of “Isaac,” as being the Divine rational (see n. 2630). This is said to be “born to Abraham,” when made Divine; as also above, verse 3: “Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him” (see n. 2628).

sRef Gen@21 @6 S0′ sRef Gen@21 @7 S0′ 2638. Verses 6, 7. And Sarah said, God hath made laughter for me; everyone that heareth will laugh with me. And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, Sarah shall suckle sons? For I have borne a son to his old age. “Sarah said” signifies perception from the Divine spiritual; “God hath made laughter for me,” signifies the affection of celestial truth; “everyone that heareth will laugh with me,” signifies that all things in it will have this affection; “and she said,” signifies thought; “who would have said unto Abraham, Sarah shall suckle sons?” signifies that the Lord implanted the Human in the Divine by His own power; “for I have borne a son to his old age,” signifies that this was done when the days were fulfilled.

sRef Gen@21 @6 S0′ 2639. Sarah said. That this signifies perception from the Divine spiritual, is evident from the signification of “saying,” as being to perceive (as has been often shown); and from the representation of Sarah, as being the Divine spiritual, or Divine truth (see n. 2622).

sRef Gen@21 @6 S0′ 2640. God hath made laughter for me. That this signifies the affection of celestial truth, is evident from the signification of “laughter,” as being the affection of truth (see n. 2072, 2216); and from the expression “God making,” as denoting the celestial from which it is.

sRef Gen@21 @6 S0′ 2641. Everyone that heareth will laugh with me. That this signifies that all things in it will have this affection, is evident from the signification of “hearing” and “laughing.” In the Word to “hear” is predicated of what is of affection, but to “see” of what is of thought; which is evident from a great many passages in the Word, as also from the correspondences (see n. 2542). As the affection of celestial truth is here treated of, it is said, “Everyone that heareth,” by which are signified all things that are of affection. (That to “laugh” denotes to be affected by truth, that is, to have the affection of truth, see above, n. 2072, 2216, 2640.)

sRef Gen@21 @7 S0′ 2642. And she said. That this signifies thought, is evident from the signification of “saying,” as being to perceive, and also to think (as explained very often, see n. 2619 at the end).

sRef Gen@21 @7 S0′ 2643. Who would have said unto Abraham, Sarah shall suckle sons? That this signifies that the Lord implanted the Human in the Divine by His own power, is evident from the representation of Abraham, and also of Sarah, and from the signification of “suckling” and of “sons.” That Abraham represents Divine good, and Sarah Divine truth, has been shown before. That “milk” denotes what is spiritual from a celestial origin, or truth from good, may be seen above (n. 2184); and thus to “suckle” is to implant it. That “sons” are truths, here those that are in the rational, is evident from the signification of “sons” (n. 489, 490, 491, 533). That these things signify in the internal sense that the Lord implanted the Human in the Divine by His own power, is because the Divine truth is the same as the Divine Human; and when it is said of this that it “suckles sons to Abraham,” the signification is that it has implanted the Human in the Divine; and as it was the Human, He did it from His own power. But these things can with difficulty be explained more clearly to the understanding. If many words be used, the sense will become still more obscure; for these are Divine things, which can only be presented before angels by things celestial and spiritual; and if they were presented before man in any more elevated style, they would fall into the material and corporeal ideas which man has.
[2] It is further to be known that the Lord’s Divine rational is described as to its quality when it was first born in the words, “God hath made laughter for me; everyone that heareth will laugh with me; and she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, Sarah shall suckle sons?” For it was according to ancient custom, that when a child was born, a name was given significative of the state; and that the state also was then described; as when Cain was born to Eve and Adam (Gen. 4:1); when Sheth was born to them (Gen. 4:25); when Noah was born to Lamech (Gen. 5:29); when Esau and Jacob were born to Isaac (Gen. 25:25-26); when the twelve sons were born to Jacob (Gen. 29:32-35; 30:6, 8, 11, 13, 18, 20, 24; 35:18); when Perez and Zerah were born to Tamar (Gen. 38:29-30); when Manasseh and Ephraim were born to Joseph (Gen. 41:51, 52); when Gershom and Eliezer were born to Moses (Exod. 2:22; 18:4). What all these represent, and what they signify in the internal sense, was involved in the descriptions added to the names which were given; thus here what Isaac represents. What is involved is manifest in some degree from this brief explication, but deeper arcana yet are hidden within; for they are Divine things, which can be expressed by no forms or formulas of expression.

sRef Gen@21 @7 S0′ 2644. For I have borne a son to his old age. That this signifies that this was done when the days were fulfilled, is evident from the explication of nearly the same words in the second verse (as to which see n. 2621-2624).

sRef Gen@21 @8 S0′ 2645. Verse 8. And the child grew, and was weaned; and Abraham made a great feast on the day when he weaned Isaac. “The child grew,” signifies the further perfecting of the Lord’s rational; “and was weaned,” signifies the separation of the merely human rational; “Abraham made a great feast,” signifies dwelling together and union; “on the day when he weaned Isaac,” signifies the state of separation.

sRef Gen@21 @8 S0′ 2646. The child grew. That this signifies the further perfecting of the Lord’s rational, is evident from the signification of “growing,” as being to be perfected; and from the signification of the “child” or “son,” as being the Lord’s Divine rational (see n. 2623).

sRef Gen@21 @8 S0′ 2647. And was weaned. That this signifies the separation of the merely human rational, is evident from the signification of “being weaned,” as being to be separated, like infants from their mothers’ breasts. That the merely human rational was separated, is further described in this chapter, and is represented by Hagar’s son, in his being cast out of the house.

sRef Gen@21 @8 S0′ 2648. Abraham made a great feast. That this signifies dwelling together and union, is evident from the signification of a “feast,” as being a dwelling together (see n. 2341); here union also, because the Lord is treated of, whose Human was united to His Divine, and the Divine to the Human; and because this union is treated of, it is said a “great feast.”

sRef Gen@21 @8 S0′ 2649. On the day when he weaned Isaac. That this signifies the state of separation, is evident from the signification of “day,” as being state (see n. 23, 487, 488, 493, 893); and from the signification of “being weaned,” as being to be separated (see n. 2647). From the first verse of this chapter the uniting of the Lord’s Divine Essence with His Human Essence has been treated of, in this order: The presence of the Divine in the Human for the sake of unition (verse 1). The presence of the Human in the Divine, and thus a reciprocal unition (see n. 2004) (verse 2). From this unition the Human was made Divine (verse 3). And this successively and continually while the Lord lived in the world (verse 4). And this commenced when the rational was in a state to receive (verse 5). The state of the unition is described as to its quality, with its arcana (verses 6, 7). Now follows the separation of the maternal human, and this is continued down to verse 12; which separation is signified in this verse by the weaning of Isaac, and is represented in the following verses by Hagar’s son being sent away out of the house. And as the union of the Lord’s Divine with His Human and of His Human with His Divine is the very marriage of good and truth, and from it is the heavenly marriage, which is the same as the Lord’s kingdom, therefore a great feast is mentioned which Abraham made when he weaned Isaac, by which the beginning of marriage or the first union is signified; which feast and weaning, but for the signification, would never have been mentioned.
sRef Matt@12 @47 S2′ sRef Luke@11 @28 S2′ sRef Matt@12 @48 S2′ sRef Luke@11 @27 S2′ sRef John@2 @3 S2′ sRef Matt@12 @49 S2′ sRef John@2 @4 S2′ [2] As the separation of the first human, which the Lord had from the mother, now follows, and at length the full removal of it, it is to be known that the Lord gradually and continually, even to the last of His life when He was glorified, separated from Himself and put off that which was merely human, namely, that which He derived from the mother, until at length He was no longer her son, but the Son of God, not only as to conception but also as to birth, and thus was one with the Father, and was Jehovah Himself. That He separated from Himself and put off all the human from the mother, so that He was no longer her son, is manifest from His words in John:
When the wine failed, the mother of Jesus said unto Him, They have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what [belongs] to Me and to thee ? (John 2:3, 4).
In Matthew:
One said, Behold, Thy mother and Thy brethren stand without, seeking to speak to Thee. But Jesus answering said unto him that told Him, Who is My mother? and who are My brethren? And stretching forth His hand toward His disciples, He said, Behold My mother, and My brethren; for whosoever shall do the will of My Father who is in the heavens, the same is My brother, and sister, and mother (Matt. 12:47-50; Mark 3:2-35; Luke 8:20, 21).
In Luke:
A certain woman out of the multitude lifting up her voice, said unto Him, Blessed is the womb that bare Thee, and the breasts which Thou didst suck. But Jesus said, Blessed are they that hear the Word of God, and keep it (Luke 11:27, 28).
sRef John@19 @27 S3′ sRef John@19 @26 S3′ sRef Matt@22 @46 S3′ sRef Matt@22 @44 S3′ sRef Matt@22 @42 S3′ sRef Matt@22 @43 S3′ sRef Matt@22 @45 S3′ sRef Matt@22 @41 S3′ [3] Here, when the woman spoke of His mother, the Lord spoke of those described above, namely, “Whoever shall do the will of My Father, the same is My brother, and sister, and mother;” which is the same as this, “Blessed are they that hear the Word of God, and keep it.” In John:
Jesus seeing His mother and the disciple whom He loved standing by, said unto His mother, Woman, behold thy son. Then said He to the disciple, Behold thy mother. Therefore from that hour the disciple took her to his own home (John 19:26, 27).
From these words it is manifest that the Lord spoke to her according to her thought when she saw Him on the cross, and even then not calling her mother, but “woman;” and that He transferred the name of mother to those who are signified by the disciple; on which account He said to the disciple, “Behold thy mother.” Still more manifest is this from the Lord’s own words, in Matthew:
Jesus asked the Pharisees, saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is He? They say unto Him, David’s. He saith unto them, How then doth David in the spirit call Him Lord, saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand until I make Thine enemies Thy foot stool? If David therefore call Him Lord, how is He his Son ? And no one was able to answer Him a word (Matt. 22:41-46 Mark 12:35-37 Luke 20:42-44).
Thus He was no longer the Son of David as to the flesh.
[4] And further, in regard to the separation and putting off of the maternal human those do not comprehend this who have merely corporeal ideas respecting the Lord’s Human, and think of it as of the human of any other man; hence to such these things are stumbling-blocks. They do not know that such as the life is such is the man, and that the Divine Esse [Being] of life, or Jehovah, was in the Lord from conception, and that a similar Esse of life came forth in His Human by means of the union.

sRef Gen@21 @9 S0′ 2650. Verse 9. And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne unto Abraham, mocking. “Sarah saw,” signifies the Lord’s insight from the Divine spiritual; “the son of Hagar the Egyptian,” signifies into the merely human rational; “Hagar the Egyptian” is the affection of memory-knowledges, of which as a mother that rational was born; “whom she had borne unto Abraham,” signifies that it came forth from the Divine celestial as a father; “mocking” signifies not in agreement with or favoring the Divine rational.

sRef Gen@21 @9 S0′ 2651. And Sarah saw. That this signifies the Lord’s insight from the Divine spiritual, is evident from the signification of “seeing,” as being to understand (see n. 897, 2150, 2325), which is the same as to look into, from the mind’s sight; also from the representation of Sarah, as being the Divine spiritual, or Divine truth (see n. 2622). “Sarah saw,” means that the Divine spiritual had insight, which is the same as to say that the Lord had it from the Divine spiritual.

sRef Gen@21 @9 S0′ 2652. The son of Hagar the Egyptian. That this signifies into the merely human rational, and that “Hagar the Egyptian” is the affection of memory-knowledges, of which that rational was born as a mother, is evident from the signification of the “son,” namely Ishmael, as being the first rational which the Lord had-treated of in Genesis 16, where Hagar and Ishmael are the subject-also from his representation, and that of Hagar the Egyptian, his mother, explained under that chapter. (That the first or merely human rational in the Lord was conceived from the Divine celestial as a father, and born of the affection of memory-knowledges as a mother, may be seen above, n. 1895, 1896, 1902, 1910.)

sRef Gen@21 @9 S0′ 2653. Whom she had borne unto Abraham. That this signifies that it came forth from the Divine celestial as a father, is evident from the signification of “bearing,” as being to come forth (see n. 2621, 2629); and from the representation of Abraham, as being the Divine celestial (see n. 1989, 2011, 2172, 2198, 2501). (That the first rational came forth from the Divine celestial as a father, may be seen above, n. 1895, 1896, 1902, 1910.)

sRef Gen@21 @9 S0′ 2654. Mocking. That this signifies not in agreement with or favoring the Divine rational, is evident from the signification of “mocking,” as being that which comes of an affection contrary to what does not agree with and favor one’s self. In the preceding verse it was said that the child grew, and was weaned, and that Abraham made a great feast when he weaned Isaac; by which is signified that when the Lord’s rational was made Divine, the former rational was separated. Therefore there now immediately follows that which concerns the son of Hagar the Egyptian, by whom this rational is meant, as was shown in the explication at the sixteenth chapter, where Ishmael and Hagar are treated of. From this it is likewise manifest that the things which are in the internal sense follow together in a continuous series.
[2] But in regard to the Lord’s first rational, seeing that it was born as with another man, namely, by means of knowledges [per scientias et cognitiones], it could not but be in appearances of truth which are not truths in themselves, as is evident from what has been shown before (n. 1911, 1936, 2196, 2203, 2209, 2519); and as it was in appearances of truth, truths without appearances, such as Divine truths are, could not agree with it or favor it, both because this rational does not comprehend them, and because they oppose it. But take examples for illustration.
[3] The human rational-that namely which has its birth* from worldly things through impressions of sense, and afterwards from analogies of worldly things by means of knowledges [per scientifica et cognitiones] – is ready to laugh and mock if told that it does not live of itself, but only appears to live so; and that one lives the more, that is, the more wisely and intelligently, and the more blissfully and happily, the less he believes that he lives of himself; and that this is the life of angels, especially of those who are celestial, and inmost, or nearest to the Lord; for they know that no one lives of himself except Jehovah alone, that is, the Lord.
[4] This rational would mock also if it were told that it has nothing of its own, and that its having anything of its own is a fallacy or an appearance; and still more would it mock if told that the more it is in the fallacy that it has anything of its own, the less it has; and the converse. So too would it mock if told that whatever it thinks and does from what is its own is evil, although it were good; and that it is not wise until it believes and perceives that all evil is from hell, and all good from the Lord. In this belief, and even in this perception, are all the angels; who nevertheless have what is their own more abundantly than all others; but they know and perceive that this is from the Lord, although it altogether appears as theirs.
[5] Again: this rational would mock if it were said that in heaven the greatest are they who are least, the wisest they who believe and perceive themselves to be the least wise, and the happiest they who desire others to be the most happy, and themselves the least so; that it is heaven to wish to be below all, but hell to wish to be above all; consequently that in the glory of heaven there is absolutely nothing the same as in the glory of the world.
[6] In the same way would that rational mock, if it were said that in the other life there is nothing of space and time, but that there are states, according to which there are appearances of space and time; and that life is the more heavenly the further it is from what is of space and time, and the nearer it is to what is eternal; in which, namely, in what is eternal, there is nothing at all from the idea of time, nor from anything analogous to it: and so with numberless other things.
[7] That there were such things in the merely human rational, and that therefore this rational mocked at Divine things, the Lord saw, and indeed from the Divine spiritual (which is signified by Sarah’s seeing the son of Hagar the Egyptian, n. 2651, 2652). That man is able to look from within into the things in himself which are below, is known by experience to those who are in perception, and even to those who are in conscience; for they see so far as to reprove their very thoughts. Hence the regenerate can see what is the quality of the rational which they had before regeneration. With man such perception is from the Lord; but the Lord’s was from Himself.
* Natura, probably a misprint for natum. [Rotch ed.]

sRef Gen@21 @10 S0′ 2655. Verse 10. And she said unto Abraham, Cast out this handmaid and her son; for the son of this handmaid shall not inherit with my son, with Isaac. “She said unto Abraham,” signifies perception from the Divine; “cast out this handmaid and her son,” signifies that the things of the merely human rational should be banished; “for the son of this handmaid shall not inherit with my son, with Isaac,” signifies that the merely human rational could not have a common life with the Divine rational itself, either as to truth or as to good.

sRef Gen@21 @10 S0′ 2656. She said unto Abraham. That this signifies perception from the Divine, is evident from the signification of “saying” in the historic parts of the Word, which is to perceive (as stated often before); and from the representation of Abraham, as being the Divine celestial, or the Divine good (see n. 2622).

sRef Gen@21 @10 S0′ 2657. Cast out this handmaid and her son. That this signifies that the things of the merely human rational should be banished, is evident from the signification of “casting out,” as being to banish; from the signification of a “handmaid,” as being the affection of rational things and memory-knowledges, thus as being the good of them (see n. 2567); and from the signification of her “son,” as being the truth of that rational (see n. 264, 489, 533, 1147). But it is apparent good and truth which are predicated of this first or merely human rational. Hence it is that “cast out this handmaid and her son,” signifies that the things of the merely human rational were to be banished. How this is, namely, that the first rational was banished when the Divine rational took its place, has been stated and shown several times before; but as it is here treated of specifically, it must be still further explained in a few words.
[2] With every man who is being regenerated there are two rationals, one before regeneration, the other after regeneration. The first, which is before regeneration, is procured through the experience of the senses, by reflections upon things of civic life and of moral life, and by means of the sciences and the reasonings derived from them and by means of them, also by means of the knowledges of spiritual things from the doctrine of faith or from the Word. But these go no further at that time than a little above the ideas of the corporeal memory, which comparatively are quite material. Whatever therefore it then thinks is from such things; or, in order that what it thinks may be comprehended at the same time by interior or intellectual sight, the semblances of such things are presented by comparison, or analogically. Of this kind is the first rational, or that which is before regeneration.
[3] But the rational after regeneration is formed by the Lord through the affections of spiritual truth and good, which affections are implanted by the Lord in a wonderful manner in the truths of the former rational; and those things in it which are in agreement and which favor are thus vivified; but the rest are separated from it as of no use; until at length spiritual goods and truths are collected together as it were into bundles, the incongruous things which cannot be vivified being rejected to the circumference, and this by successive steps, as spiritual goods and truths grow, together with the life of the affections of them. From this it appears what the second rational is.
[4] How the case is with these things may be illustrated by comparison with the fruit of trees. The first rational, in the beginning, is like unripe fruit, which gradually matures till it forms seeds within itself, and when it is of such age as to begin to separate itself from the tree, its state is then full (see above, n. 2636). But the second rational, with which one is gifted by the Lord when he is being regenerated, is like the same fruit in good ground, in which those things which are round about the seeds decay, and the seeds push forth from their inmost parts, and send out a root, and then a shoot above the ground, which grows into a new tree, and unfolds itself at length even into new fruits, and then into gardens and paradises, according to the affections of good and truth which it receives (see Matt. 13:31-32; John 12:24).
[5] But as examples aid conviction, take as an example that which is man’s own before regeneration, and that which is his own after it. From the first rational, which he has procured to himself by the means described above, the man believes that he thinks truth and does good from himself, and thus from what is his own. This first rational cannot apprehend otherwise, even if it has been instructed that all the good of love and all the truth of faith are from the Lord. But when man is being regenerated, which takes place in adult age, then from the other rational with which he is gifted by the Lord he begins to think that the good and truth are not from himself, or from what is his own, but from the Lord (but that nevertheless he does good and thinks truth as from himself, may be seen above, n. 1937, 1947). The more he is then confirmed in this, the more is he led into the light of truth respecting these things, till at last he believes that all good and all truth are from the Lord. The Own that belongs to the former rational is then successively separated, and the man is gifted by the Lord with a heavenly Own, which becomes that of his new rational.
[6] Take another example. The first rational, in the beginning, knows no other love than that of self and the world; and although it hears that heavenly love is altogether of another character, it nevertheless does not comprehend it. But then, when the man does any good, he perceives no other delight from it than that he may seem to himself to merit the favor of another, or may hear himself called a Christian, or may obtain from it the joy of eternal life. The second rational, however, with which he is gifted by the Lord through regeneration, begins to feel some delight in good and truth itself, and to be affected by this, not for the sake of anything of his own, but for the sake of the good and truth; and when he is led by this delight, he disclaims merit, till at length he rejects it as an enormity. This delight grows with him step by step, and becomes blessed; and in the other life it becomes happiness, and is itself his heaven. Hence it is now evident how it is with each rational in the man who is being regenerated.
[7] But be it known that although a man is being regenerated, still each and all things of the first rational remain with him, and are merely separated from the second rational, and this in a most wonderful manner by the Lord. But the Lord wholly banished His first rational, so that nothing of it remained; for what is merely human cannot be together with the Divine. Hence He was no longer the son of Mary, but was Jehovah as to each essence.

sRef Gen@21 @10 S0′ 2658. For the son of this handmaid shall not inherit with my son, with Isaac. That this signifies that the merely human rational could not have a life in common with the Divine rational itself, either as to good or as to truth, is evident from the signification of “inheriting,” as being to have another’s life (to be explained presently); from the signification of the “son of the handmaid,” as being the merely human rational as to truth and as to good (see n. 2657); from the signification of “my son Isaac,” as being the Divine rational as to truth (which is “my son”), and as to good (which is “Isaac”), concerning which see n. 2623, 2630. That “Isaac” is the Divine rational as to good, is evident from the signification of “laughter,” from which he was named, as being the affection of truth, or the good of truth, in the sixth and seventh verses (2640, 2641, 2643). Hence it is manifest that “the son of this handmaid shall not inherit with my son, with Isaac,” denotes that the merely human rational cannot have a life in common with the Divine rational, either as to truth or as to good. That it cannot have a life in common, is evident from the mere fact that the Divine is Life itself, and thus has life in Itself; whereas the merely human is an organ of life, and thus has not life in itself.
sRef John@14 @6 S2′ sRef John@1 @4 S2′ sRef John@5 @26 S2′ sRef John@6 @33 S2′ sRef John@11 @25 S2′ [2] When the Lord’s Human was made Divine it was no longer an organ of life, or a recipient of life, but was Life itself, such as is that of Jehovah Himself. It had this at first from its very conception from Jehovah, as is clearly manifest from the Lord’s own words in John:
As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself (John 5:26);
the Divine Human is what is here called the “Son” (n. 1729, 2159, 2628).
In the same:
In Him was life, and the life was the light of men (John 1:4).
In the same:
Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6).
In the same:
Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life, he that believeth in Me, though he die, yet shall he live (John 11:25).
In the same:
The bread of God is He that cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world (John 6:33).
But that man is not life, but an organ or recipient of life, may be seen above (n. 2021, and occasionally elsewhere). From all this it is evident that when the Lord was made Jehovah even as to His Human, that which was not life in itself, that is, that which was merely human, was banished. This is signified by its being said that the son of the handmaid could not inherit with the son Isaac.
[3] That to “inherit,” in the internal sense, when predicated of the Lord, is to have the Father’s life, thus to have life in Himself; and when predicated of men, it is to have the Lord’s life, that is, to receive life from the Lord, is evident from many passages in the Word. To have life in Himself is the Esse itself of life, that is, Jehovah; whereas to have the Lord’s life, or to receive life from the Lord, is to receive the Lord in love and faith; and as those who so receive Him are in the Lord, and are the Lord’s, they are called His “heirs,” and His “sons.”
[4] In the Word of the Old Testament “inheriting” is predicated not only of what is celestial, or of good, but also of what is spiritual, or of truth, but still the one is expressed by a different word from the other: the word that is predicated of good may be rendered “to possess by inheritance;” and the word that is predicated of truth, “to inherit.” The former word also in the original language involves possession, but the latter, derivation from something else, as is the case with the spiritual in relation to the celestial, or with truth in relation to good. In this verse, where the Lord’s Divine rational, or His Divine Human, is represented by Isaac, the word denoting possession by hereditary right is used, because the Lord’s Divine Human is the sole heir-possessor, as He also teaches in the parable (Matt. 21:33, 37, 38; Mark 12:7; Luke 20:14); and He declares in several places that all things of the Father are His.
sRef Matt@19 @17 S5′ sRef Rev@21 @7 S5′ [5] That to “possess by inheritance” and to “inherit,” in the Word, when predicated of men, signify to receive life from the Lord, consequently eternal life or heaven (for they alone receive heaven who receive the Lord’s life), is evident in John:
He that overcometh shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be My son (Rev. 21:7).
In Matthew:
Everyone that hath left houses, or brethren, or sisters, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit eternal life (Matt. 19:29; 25:34; Mark 10:17; Luke 18:18).
Here heaven is called “eternal life,” elsewhere simply “life” (as in Matt. 18:8-9; 19:17; John 3:36; 5:24, 29), for the reason that the Lord is Life itself, and he who receives His life is in heaven.
sRef Ps@69 @35 S6′ sRef Isa@57 @13 S6′ sRef Ps@69 @36 S6′ [6] In David:
God will save Zion, and build the cities of Judah, and they shall dwell there, and possess it by inheritance, the seed also of His servants shall inherit it, and they that love His name shall dwell therein (Ps. 69:35-36);
where to “possess by inheritance” is predicated of those who are in celestial love, and to “inherit” of those who are in spiritual love. In Isaiah:
He that putteth his trust in Me shall inherit the land, and shall possess by inheritance the mountain of My holiness (Isa. 57:13).
sRef Matt@8 @11 S7′ sRef Matt@5 @5 S7′ sRef Ex@6 @8 S7′ [7] In like manner in Moses:
I will bring you unto the land concerning which I lifted up My hand to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and I will give it to you for an hereditary possession (Exod. 6:8).
In the sense of the letter these words signify that the land of Canaan should be given to them for an hereditary possession, which also was done; but in the internal sense they signify that heaven should be given to those who are in love to the Lord and faith in Him; for as the Lord is represented by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, so love itself and faith itself are signified, consequently those who are in love and faith, and thus those who are in the Lord. The same are also signified by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, with whom many shall sit down in the kingdom of the heavens, as we read in Matthew 8:11; for in heaven Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are not known at all; but it is only known what is represented and signified by them, as also what is signified by sitting down or eating with them. For that all names in the Word signify actual things may be seen above (n. 1224, 1264, 1876, 1888); also that the “land of Canaan” is the heavenly Canaan or heaven (n. 1585, 1607, 1866), which is called simply the “land” (n. 1413, 1607, 1733, 2571). So too in Matthew:
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth (Matt. 5:5).

sRef Gen@21 @11 S0′ 2659. Verse 11. And the word was evil exceedingly in the eyes of Abraham, on account of his son. “The word was evil exceedingly in the eyes of Abraham,” signifies the Lord’s state when He first thought of that rational being separated from Himself; “on account of his son,” signifies on this account, that He loved it.

sRef Gen@21 @11 S0′ 2660. The word was evil exceedingly in the eyes of Abraham. That this signifies the Lord’s state at first when He thought of that rational being separated from Himself, namely, that it was a state of grief from love, is evident without explication.

sRef Gen@21 @11 S0′ 2661. On account of his son. That this signifies on this account, that He loved it, namely, the first rational, is evident from the signification of the “son,” namely, that of the handmaid, as being the merely human or first rational, described before. Although the cause of this grief is not told, it is evident from what follows. That the cause is the love is plain enough, for it is said “on account of his son;” and the same son is treated of in what follows, from verse 13 to verse 21. Nevertheless in order that it may be known why there was this grief, or on what account it is said that the word was very evil in Abraham’s eyes on account of his son; take these few things by way of illustration.
sRef Matt@9 @12 S2′ sRef John@10 @16 S2′ sRef Matt@9 @13 S2′ [2] The Lord did not come into the world to save the celestial, but the spiritual. The Most Ancient Church, called “Man,” was celestial; and if this church had remained in its integrity, the Lord would have had no need to be born a man. But as soon as this church began to decline, the Lord foresaw that the celestial church would wholly perish from the world; and on that account the prediction was then made concerning the Lord’s coming into the world (Gen. 3:15). After the time of that church there was no longer a celestial church, but a spiritual church; for the Ancient Church which was after the flood (spoken of many times in volume 1) was a spiritual church; and this church, that is, those who were of the spiritual church, could not have been saved unless the Lord had come into the world. This is meant by the Lord’s words in Matthew:
They that are well have no need of a physician, but they that are sick; I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance (Matt. 9:12-13).
Also by these words in John:
And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd (John 10:16).
Also by the parable of the hundred sheep, in Matt. 18:11-13.
[3] Now as by Isaac is represented the Lord’s Divine rational, and as by him are also signified the celestial who are called “heirs;” and as by Ishmael is represented the Lord’s merely human rational, and as by him are also signified the spiritual who are called “sons” (as is manifest from what was said above, n. 2658), this was the reason why the Lord felt grief from Divine love, as shown in the words of this verse; and also in those which follow from verse 13 to verse 21, where by Hagar’s son and the mother of that son is represented the spiritual church; and the state of this church, that is, the state of those who were of this church, is treated of (n. 2612). These arcana cannot as yet be set forth more fully; it may simply be said that with the Lord when in the world all the states of the church were represented, and also in what manner those who belonged to the church were to be saved by Him; and for this reason the same states of the church are likewise signified by these same names.

sRef Gen@21 @12 S0′ 2662. Verse 12. And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be evil in thine eyes because of the child, and because of thine handmaid; all that Sarah saith unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. “God said unto Abraham,” signifies the Lord’s perception from the Divine; “let it not be evil in thine eyes because of the child, and because of thine handmaid,” signifies a change of state toward that rational; “all that Sarah saith unto thee, hearken unto her voice,” signifies that He should act according to spiritual truth; “for in Isaac shall thy seed be called,” signifies that from the Lord’s Divine Human is all salvation for those who are in good.

sRef Gen@21 @12 S0′ 2663. God said unto Abraham. That this signifies the Lord’s perception from the Divine, is evident from the signification of “saying” in the historic parts of the Word, as being to perceive (explained very often before); and because it was from the Divine it is said that “God said to Abraham.” By both names, “God” and “Abraham,” is meant the Lord; which shows that the historic statements which are the sense of the letter, divide the ideas; but that the internal sense unites them; for in the historic sense of the letter there are two (namely, God and Abraham) who speak to each other; but in the internal sense there is one, namely, the Lord in respect to the Divine. This also shows that they who are three in the sense of the letter are one in the internal sense; as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who are not three gods, but one; and that all the Trinity is complete in the Lord; namely, that in Him is the Father, as He says; and that from Him is the Holy Spirit, as He also says.

sRef Gen@21 @12 S0′ 2664. Let it not be evil in thine eyes because of the child, and because of thine handmaid. That this signifies a change of state toward that rational, is evident. In the internal sense nearest the words, the meaning is that He should not grieve at having to separate the merely human rational from Himself; and also that He did not grieve; for it belonged to His perception from the Divine that it was necessary that it should be separated; because in no other manner could the human race be saved. This is the change of state that is signified.

sRef Gen@21 @12 S0′ 2665. All that Sarah saith unto thee, hearken unto her voice. That this signifies that He should act according to spiritual truth, is evident from the representation of Sarah, as being the Divine spiritual, or Divine truth (see n. 2622); and from the signification of “hearkening to the voice,” as being to act according to it (see n. 2542). What it is to act according to spiritual truth cannot be unfolded to the apprehension in the fullness in which it can be perceived by those who are in the internal sense; and therefore if we were to state what it is according to their perception, it would scarcely be acknowledged; and there is the further reason that more arcana are first to be unfolded, nay, believed, before the matter when unfolded can enter into the ideas of men’s belief. What it signifies in a general way can be told in some small degree, namely, that the Lord formed a conclusion from the Human Divine, and acted according to it, and thus from His own power: for Divine truth was that by means of which He united the Human to the Divine; and Divine good that by means of which He united the Divine to the Human; which unition was reciprocal (see n. 2004).

sRef John@1 @13 S0′ sRef John@1 @12 S0′ sRef Gen@21 @12 S0′ 2666. In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That this signifies that from the Lord’s Divine Human is all salvation for those who are in good, is evident from the representation of Isaac, as being the Divine rational (as shown before), thus the Divine Human (for the human commences in the inmost of the rational, n. 2106); and from the signification of “seed,” which is predicated of Isaac, as being the celestial rational, or what is the same, those who are celestial (see n. 2085, 2661). Thus that “thy seed shall be called” signifies that they will be heirs, consequently that they will have salvation. The spiritual also are “seed,” but from the son of the handmaid, as is said in the following verse: “and also the son of the handmaid, I will make him a nation, because he is thy seed;” and therefore the spiritual also have salvation if they are in good, as will appear from the internal sense of these words. The Lord also teaches the same in many places, and plainly in John:
As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, to them that believe in His name who were born, not of bloods, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:12-13).

sRef Gen@21 @12 S0′ 2667. From the first verse of this chapter to the seventh, the unition of the Lord’s Human with His Divine, and of His Divine with His Human, has been treated of; and it has been shown that from that unition the Lord’s Human was made Divine. The contents of the several verses may be seen above (n. 2649). From that point the merely human rational has been treated of, as being separated (verse 8); because it was not in agreement with the Divine Rational (verse 9); nor could it have a life in common with it, either as to truth or as to good (verse 10); that the separation was at first a grief to the Lord (verse 11); but that He perceived from the Divine that the human race could be saved in no other manner (verse 12). There now follows the subject of those who were of the spiritual church, who are signified by Hagar’s son after he was sent away.
* * * * * * * * * * * *

sRef Gen@21 @13 S0′ 2668. Verse 13. And also the son of the handmaid I will make a nation, because he is thy seed. “The son of the handmaid I will make a nation,” signifies the spiritual church which was to receive the good of faith; “because he is thy seed,” signifies that they also shall have salvation from the Lord’s Divine Human.

sRef Gen@21 @13 S0′ 2669. Also the son of the handmaid I will make a nation. That this signifies the spiritual church which was to receive the good of faith, is evident from the signification of the “son of the handmaid,” and also of a “nation.” The son of the handmaid, or Ishmael, when he was in Abraham’s house, or with Abraham, represented the Lord’s first rational, as shown above (n. 2652, 2653, 2657, 2658); but now, when separated, he puts on another representation, namely, that of the spiritual church (n. 2666); in the same manner as did Lot before, who while with Abraham represented the Lord’s external man (n. 1428, 1429, 1434, 1547, 1597, 1598, 1698); but when separated from Abraham represented the external church, and the many states of that church (n. 2324, 2371, 2399, 2422, 2459; and in the whole of the nineteenth chapter of Genesis). That a “nation” signifies good may be seen above (n. 1159, 1258-1260, 1416, 1849); here the good of faith, because it is predicated of the spiritual church. Hence now “also the son of the handmaid I will make a nation” signifies the spiritual church which was to receive the good of faith, that is, charity.
sRef John@10 @4 S2′ sRef John@10 @16 S2′ sRef John@10 @3 S2′ [2] The Lord’s kingdom in the heavens and on earth is celestial and spiritual; and the angels are therefore distinguished into celestial and spiritual (see n. 202, 337). To the celestial angels the Lord appears as a Sun, and to the spiritual as a Moon (n. 1053, 1521, 1529-1531). In the same manner are men distinguished into celestial and spiritual. They who were of the Most Ancient Church, which was before the flood, were celestial (treated of n. 607, 608, 780, 895, 920, 1114-1125); but they who were of the Ancient Church, which was after the flood, were spiritual (treated of n. 609, 640, 641, 765). What the difference between these churches was, may be seen above (n. 597, 607); also what the difference is between what is celestial and what is spiritual (n. 81, 1155, 1577, 1824, 2048, 2069, 2088, 2227, 2507).
[3] The celestial are they of whom the Lord says:
He calleth His own sheep by name, and leadeth them out; and when He hath led out His own sheep, He goeth before them, and the sheep follow Him, for they know His voice (John 10:3-4).
But the spiritual are they of whom He says:
And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice, and there shall be one flock, and one shepherd (John 10:16).
The good of love is what makes the celestial church, but the good of faith is what makes the spiritual church. The truth of faith does not make, but introduces.

sRef Gen@21 @13 S0′ 2670. Because he is thy seed. That this signifies that they also have salvation from the Lord’s Divine Human, is evident from what was said above (n. 2666). That “seed” is faith, but the faith of charity, may be seen above (n. 255, 880, 1025, 1447, 1610, 1940).

sRef Gen@21 @13 S0′ 2671. From this thirteenth verse to the twenty-first, the Lord’s spiritual kingdom is treated of in general, and specifically those who become spiritual; and this in order from the first state of their reformation to the last. Their state before reformation, as being one of wandering in the doctrinal things of faith (verse 14). That they are reduced even to ignorance, so as to know nothing of truth (verse 15). That they have grief from it (verse 16). And then comfort and help from the Lord (verse 17). And enlightenment (verse 18). And instruction from the Word (verse 19). That still their state after reformation, in comparison with the celestial, is obscure (verse 20). But that they have light from the Lord’s Divine Human in their affection of memory-knowledges and of appearances of truths (verse 21).

sRef Gen@21 @14 S0′ 2672. Verse 14. And Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a bottle of water, and gave to Hagar, and put them on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away, and she went and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. “Abraham rose early in the morning,” signifies the Lord’s clear perception from the Divine; “and took bread and a bottle of water,” signifies good and truth; “and gave to Hagar,” signifies implantation in its life; “and put them on her shoulder,” signifies as much as it could receive; “and the child,” signifies spiritual truth; “and sent her away,” signifies that he left it in what is their own; “and she went and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba” signifies a state of wandering in the doctrinal things of faith.

sRef Gen@21 @14 S0′ 2673. Abraham rose early in the morning. That this signifies the Lord’s clear perception from the Divine, is evident from the signification of “morning,” and of “rising early,” as being to perceive clearly (see above, n. 2540, where the same words occur); and from the representation of Abraham, as being the Lord’s Divine (shown often before). The Lord had a clear perception from the Divine concerning the state of His spiritual kingdom; namely, what they who are of that kingdom or of that church are in the beginning, what they are successively, and what they at length become; for all their state is accurately and fully described in the internal sense, from verse 13 to verse 21 of this chapter.

sRef Gen@21 @14 S0′ 2674. And he took bread and a bottle of water. That this signifies good and truth, is evident from the signification of “bread,” as being what is celestial, or good (see n. 276, 680, 2165); and from the signification of “water,” as being what is spiritual, or truth (see n. 28, 680, 739). It is said a “bottle of water,” because it is very little truth with which they are gifted in the beginning; as much that is to say as they are able to receive, which is signified by his “putting it on her shoulder” (n. 2676). Everyone can see that these historic statements involve arcana, from the fact that Abraham, who was rich in flock and herd, and also in gold and silver, sent away in this manner his handmaid by whom he had a son, and the boy Ishmael whom he much loved, giving them only bread [and water]. He could also foresee that when these were consumed they would die; and this would have come to pass if they had not received help from the angel. And besides, these things respecting the bread and the bottle of water, and their being put on her shoulder, are not of so much importance as to be narrated. But still it was so done, and was related because these things involve and signify the first state of those who are becoming spiritual-to whom in the beginning something of good and something of truth, and indeed but little, is imparted-and afterwards that the water fails them, and they then receive help from the Lord.

sRef Gen@21 @14 S0′ 2675. And gave to Hagar. That this signifies implantation in its life, is evident from the signification of “Hagar,” as being the life of the exterior man (see n. 1896, 1909). The life of the exterior man is the affection of memory-knowledges, which is specifically signified by “Hagar the Egyptian.” With those who are becoming spiritual, good and truth are implanted by the Lord in the affection of memory-knowledges; and this so that they desire to know and to learn what is good and true for the purpose and use of becoming rational and of becoming spiritual; for the affection of memory-knowledges is the mother through whom is born the rational in which is the spiritual (n. 1895, 1896, 1902, 1910). The like does indeed flow in from the Lord with all, but no others receive it for that end and that use except those who can be reformed; the rest do it for other ends and other uses, which are innumerable, and have regard to themselves and the world.

sRef Gen@21 @14 S0′ 2676. Put it on her shoulder. That this signifies as much as it could receive, is evident from the signification of the “shoulder,” as being all power (see n. 1085); thus as much of good and truth as one can receive.

sRef Gen@21 @14 S0′ 2677. And the child. That this signifies the spiritual, is evident from the signification of a “child,” here as being that which is called the spiritual; for Ishmael or the son of the handmaid here represents the man of the spiritual church; and because he here represents the beginning of it, he is called a “child.”

sRef Gen@21 @14 S0′ 2678. And sent her away. That this signifies that He left it in what is their own, is evident from the signification of “sending away,” when done by Abraham, who represents the Lord; and also from the first state of those who are being reformed and are becoming spiritual. Their first state is that they suppose they do good and think truth from themselves, thus from what is their own, nor do they then know otherwise; and when told that all good and truth are from the Lord they do not indeed reject it, but do not acknowledge it at heart, because they do not feel it, nor interiorly perceive that anything flows in from any other source than themselves. As all who are being reformed are in such a state at first, they are therefore left by the Lord in what is their own; nevertheless they are led by means of this without knowing it.

sRef Gen@21 @14 S0′ 2679. And she went and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. That this signifies a state of wandering at that time in the doctrinal things of faith, is evident from the signification of “going and wandering in the wilderness,” as being a wandering state; and from the signification of “Beersheba,” as being the doctrine of faith (treated of at the end of this chapter, where it is said that Abraham and Abimelech made a covenant in Beersheba, verse 32; and that Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba, verse 33). In this verse is described what the quality of the state of those who are reformed is in the beginning, namely, that they are carried away into various wanderings; for it is given them by the Lord to think much about eternal life, and thus much about the truths of faith; but because from what is their own (as just stated) they cannot do otherwise than wander hither and thither, both in doctrine and in life, seizing as truth that which has been inseminated from their infancy, or is impressed upon them by others, or is thought out by themselves-besides their being led away by various affections of which they are not conscious-they are like fruits as yet unripe, on which shape, beauty, and savor cannot be induced in a moment; or like tender blades which cannot in a moment grow up into bloom and ear. But the things which enter in at that time, though for the most part erroneous, are still such as are serviceable for promoting growth; and afterwards, when the men are being reformed, these are partly separated, and are partly conducive to introducing nourishment and as it were juices into the subsequent life-which again can afterwards be partly adapted to the implanting of goods and truths by the Lord, and partly to being serviceable to spiritual things as ultimate planes; and thus as continual means to reformation, which means follow on in perpetual connection and order; for all things even the least with man are foreseen by the Lord, and are provided for his future state to eternity; and this for his good insofar as is in any wise possible, and as he suffers himself to be led by the Lord.

sRef Gen@21 @15 S0′ 2680. Verse 15. And the water was spent out of the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. “The water was spent out of the bottle,” signifies the desolation of truth; “and she cast the child under one of the shrubs,” signifies despair that nothing of truth and good was perceived.

sRef Gen@21 @15 S0′ 2681. The water was spent out of the bottle. That this signifies the desolation of truth, is evident from the signification of being “spent,” as being desolated; and from the signification of “water,” as being truth (see n. 28, 680, 739).

sRef Job@30 @3 S0′ sRef Job@30 @6 S0′ sRef Job@30 @4 S0′ sRef Job@30 @7 S0′ sRef Gen@21 @15 S0′ sRef Isa@7 @19 S1′ 2682. And she cast the child under one of the shrubs. That this signifies despair that nothing of truth and good was perceived, is evident from the signification of the “child,” as being spiritual truth (see n. 2669, 2677); and from the signification of a “shrub” or “bush,” as being perception, but so little as to be scarcely anything; on which account it is also said “under one of the shrubs” having the same signification as trees, but in a less degree; and that “trees” signify perceptions may be seen above (n. 103, 2163): also from the feeling there was in the act, which was one of despair; all which shows that by her casting the child under one of the shrubs is signified despair that nothing of truth and good was perceived. That being “cast under one of the shrubs” denotes to be desolated as to truth and good even to despair, is manifest in Job:
Alone in want and famine; they flee to the drought, yesternight desolation and wasteness; they pluck mallows upon the shrub; to dwell in the cleft of the valleys, in holes of the dust and of the rocks; among the shrubs they were groaning, under the thistle they were joined together (Job 30:3-4, 6-7);
where the desolation of truth is treated of, which is described by forms of expression in common use in the Ancient Church (for the book of Job is a book of the Ancient Church), such as to be alone, in want and in famine, to flee to the drought, yesternight desolation and wasteness; to dwell in the clefts of the valleys and of the rocks; also to pluck mallows upon the shrub, and to groan among the shrubs. So too in Isaiah:
They shall come and shall rest all of them in the rivers of desolations, in the clefts of the rocks, and in all shrubs, and in all water courses (Isa. 7:19);
where also desolation is treated of, which is described by similar forms of expression, that is to say, by resting in the rivers of desolations, in the clefts of the rocks, and in the shrubs.
[2] In this verse the second state of those who are being reformed is treated of, which is that they are reduced to ignorance till they know nothing of truth, and this even to despair. The cause of their being reduced to such ignorance is that persuasive light may be extinguished, which is of such a nature as to illuminate falsities equally as well as truths, and to induce a belief in falsity by means of truths, and a belief in truth by means of falsities, and at the same time trust in themselves; also that they may be led by experience itself to a knowledge of the fact that nothing of good and nothing of truth is of self or of man’s own, but from the Lord. They who are being reformed are reduced into ignorance even to despair, and then they have comfort and enlightenment, as is evident from what follows; for the light of truth from the Lord cannot flow into the persuasive which is from man’s own; for this is of such a nature as to extinguish that light. In the other life that which is persuasive appears like the light of winter; but at the approach of the light of heaven, instead of that light there comes darkness, in which there is ignorance of all truth. With those who are being reformed this state is called the state of desolation of truth, and this also is much treated of in the internal sense of the Word.
[3] But of this state few have any knowledge, because few at this day are being regenerated. To those who are not being regenerated it makes no difference whether they know the truth, or do not; nor whether what they do know be truth or not, provided they can palm a thing off for truth. But they who are being regenerated think much about doctrine and life, because they think much about eternal salvation; and therefore if truth be deficient with them, as it is the subject of their thought and affection, they grieve at heart. The state of the one and of the other may be seen from this: While a man is in the body he is living as to his spirit in heaven, and as to his body in the world; for he is born into both, and has been so created that as to his spirit he can be actually with the angels, and at the same time with men by means of what is of the body. But as there are few who believe that they have a spirit which is to live after death, there are few who are being regenerated. To those who believe it, the other life is the whole of their thought and affection, and the world is nothing in comparison; but to those who do not believe it, the world is the whole of their thought and affection, and the other life is in comparison nothing. The former are they who can be regenerated, but the latter are they who cannot.

sRef Gen@21 @16 S0′ 2683. Verse 16. And she went and sat by herself over against him, withdrawing about a bowshot; for she said, Let me not see the death of the child; and she sat over against him; and she lifted up her voice and wept. “She went and sat by herself over against him,” signifies a state of thought; “withdrawing about a bowshot,” signifies how far that state was from the doctrine of truth (a “bow” is the doctrine of truth); “for she said, Let me not see the death of the child,” signifies grief that it should thus perish; “and she sat over against him,” signifies a state of thought; “and she lifted up her voice and wept,” signifies a further degree of grief.

sRef Gen@21 @16 S0′ 2684. And she went and sat by herself over against him. That this signifies a state of thought, is evident from the signification of “going,” and also of “sitting by herself,” and this over against, as applied to the things that precede and that follow. To “go,” here to go away from the child, signifies removal from spiritual truth; which is further expressed and determined by her withdrawing about a bowshot. To “sit by one’s self,” signifies a solitary state, such as is that of thought in grief and despair; “over against,” signifies that she might not look on, and yet might look on; that to “look on” means to think, see above (n. 2245); this is also further expressed and determined by her saying, “Let me not see the death of the child; and she sat over against.” There is thus involved in these words the state of thought of those who are in desolation of truth, and in the consequent despair.

sRef Gen@21 @16 S0′ 2685. Withdrawing about a bowshot. That this signifies how distant the state was from the doctrine of truth, is evident from the signification of “withdrawing,” as being to be distant; and from the signification of a “bow,” as being the doctrine of truth (concerning which presently); a “shot” signifies as far distant as possible, since it was as far as an arrow could be sent by a bow. It is here said a “bowshot,” because a “bow” is predicated of the spiritual man, and he is a shooter of the bow-as is said of him in verse 20 below: “and he dwelt in the wilderness, and became a shooter of the bow.”

sRef Gen@21 @16 S0′ 2686. That a “bow” here denotes the doctrine of truth, is evident from its signification. Wherever wars are treated of in the Word, and wherever they are mentioned, no other wars are signified than spiritual ones (n. 1664). There were books also in the Ancient Word that were entitled “The Wars of Jehovah;” as is evident in Moses (Num. 21:14-16); which, being written in the prophetic style, had an internal sense, and treated of the combats and temptations of the Lord, and also of those of the church, and of the men of the church. This is manifest from the fact that some things were taken from these books by Moses; and also from other books of that church called “The Books of the Prophetic Enunciators” (respecting which see Num. 21:27-30), in which almost the same words are found as in Jeremiah (compare Num. 21:28, and Jer. 48:45). From this it may also be concluded that the Ancient Church had writings both historic and prophetic that were Divine and inspired, and that in their internal sense treated of the Lord and His kingdom; and that these were the Word to them, as are to us those historic and prophetic books which in the sense of the letter treat of the Jews and Israelites, but in their internal sense of the Lord, and of the things which are His.
[2] As in the Word, and also in the books of the Ancient Church, “war” signified spiritual war, so all arms, such as sword, spear, buckler, shield, darts, bow, and arrows, signified special things belonging to war as understood in the spiritual sense. What the several kinds of arms specifically signify, will of the Lord’s Divine mercy be told elsewhere. Here it will now be shown what a “bow” signifies, namely, the doctrine of truth; and this from the darts, arrows, or other missiles, which denote the doctrinal things from which and with which those in especial fight who are spiritual, and who were thence formerly called “shooters with the bow.”
sRef Lam@2 @4 S3′ sRef Hab@3 @8 S3′ sRef Hab@3 @9 S3′ sRef Isa@5 @28 S3′ sRef Gen@49 @24 S3′ sRef Gen@49 @23 S3′ [3] That a “bow” signifies the doctrine of truth is evident from the following passages. In Isaiah:
Jehovah’s arrows are sharp, and all His bows are bent, the hoofs of His horses are counted as rock, and His wheels as the whirlwind (Isa. 5:28).
Here the truths of doctrine are treated of; “arrows” are spiritual truths; “bows” are doctrine; the “horses’ hoofs” are natural truths; the “wheels” are their doctrine; and as these things have such a signification they are attributed to Jehovah, to whom they cannot be attributed except in a spiritual sense; for otherwise they would be empty words and unbecoming. In Jeremiah:
The Lord hath bent His bow like an enemy, He hath stood with His right hand as an adversary, and hath slain all that were pleasant to the eye in the tent of the daughter of Zion, He hath poured out His fury like fire (Lam. 2:4).
Here “bow” denotes the doctrine of truth, which appears to those who are in falsities as an enemy and as hostile; no other bow can be predicated of the Lord. In Habakkuk:
O Jehovah, Thou ridest upon Thy horses, Thy chariots of salvation, Thy bow will be made quite bare (Hab. 3:8-9).
Here also the “bow” is the doctrine of good and truth. In Moses:
They grieved him, and shot at him, the archers hated him, his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob; from thence is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel (Gen. 49:23-24);
where Joseph is spoken of. His “bow” denotes the doctrine of good and truth.
sRef Isa@66 @19 S4′ sRef Rev@6 @2 S4′ sRef Isa@41 @2 S4′ [4] In John:
I saw and behold a white horse, and he that sat thereon had a bow, and there was given unto him a crown (Rev. 6:2).
The “white horse” denotes wisdom; “he that sat thereon,” the Word, as is said plainly in chapter 19:13, where the white horse is again treated of; and as he that sat thereon was the Word, it is evident that the “bow” is the doctrine of truth. In Isaiah:
Who hath raised up righteousness from the east, and called him to his footsteps? He hath given nations before him, and made him to rule over kings; he gave them as dust to his sword, as the driven stubble to his bow (Isa. 41:2);
where the Lord is treated of; the “sword” denotes truth; the “bow,” doctrine from Him. In the same:
I will set a sign among them, and I will send such as escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan (Isa. 66:19).
They that “draw the bow” denote those who teach doctrine. The signification of “Tarshish” may be seen above (n. 1156); that of “Lud” (n. 1195, 1231), that of “Tubal” (n. 1151), and that of “Javan” (1152-1153, 1155).
sRef Jer@4 @29 S5′ sRef Jer@50 @14 S5′ sRef Jer@50 @29 S5′ [5] In Jeremiah:
For the voice of the horseman and of him that shooteth the bow, the whole city fleeth; they have entered into clouds, and climbed up upon the rocks, the whole city is forsaken (Jer. 4:29).
The “horseman” denotes those who declare truth; the “bow,” the doctrine of truth, which they who are in falsities flee from or fear. In the same:
Set yourselves in array against Babel round about; all ye that bend the bow shoot at her, spare not with the arrow, for she hath sinned against Jehovah (Jer. 50:14, 29; 51:2-3);
where “they that shoot, and bend the bow” denote those who declare and teach the doctrine of truth.
sRef 2Sam@1 @18 S6′ sRef 2Sam@1 @17 S6′ sRef Zech@9 @10 S6′ sRef Ezek@39 @8 S6′ sRef Ezek@39 @9 S6′ [6] In Zechariah:
I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and He shall speak peace unto the nations (Zech. 9:10).
“Ephraim” denotes the understanding of truth in the church; the “bow,” doctrine. In Samuel:
David lamented with this lamentation over Saul, and over Jonathan his son, and he said it to teach the sons of Judah the bow (2 Sam. 1:17-18).
where the “bow” is not the subject, but the doctrinal things of faith. In Ezekiel:
Said the Lord Jehovih, This is the day whereof I have spoken; and they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn up the weapons, the shield and the buckler, the bow and the arrows, and the hand staff and the spear, and they shall kindle fire in them seven years (Ezek. 39:8-9).
The arms here named are all arms of spiritual war; the “bow with the arrows” denote doctrine and its truths. In the other life truths themselves, when separated from good and represented to the sight, appear like arrows.
sRef Jer@9 @3 S7′ sRef Jer@6 @23 S7′ sRef Jer@6 @22 S7′ sRef Jer@50 @42 S7′ sRef Jer@50 @41 S7′ [7] As a “bow” signifies the doctrine of truth, in the opposite sense it signifies the doctrine of falsity. The same things in the Word have usually an opposite sense, as has been said and shown in several places; thus in Jeremiah:
Behold a people cometh from the north country, and a great nation shall be stirred up from the sides of the earth; they lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and shall not have compassion; their voice shall roar like the sea, they shall ride upon horses set in array as a man for battle, against thee, O daughter of Zion (Jer. 6:22-23);
where “bow” denotes the doctrine of falsity. In the same:
Behold a people cometh from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be stirred up from the sides of the earth, they lay hold on bow and spear, they are cruel, and have no compassion (Jer. 50:41-42);
where the meaning is similar. In the same:
They bend their tongue; their bow is a lie, and not for truth, they are grown strong in the land; for they have gone forth from evil to evil, and have not known Me (Jer. 9:3).
sRef Ps@11 @2 S8′ sRef Jer@49 @35 S8′ sRef Ps@76 @1 S8′ sRef Ps@76 @2 S8′ sRef Ps@76 @3 S8′ [8] That the “bow” is the doctrine of falsity is plainly manifest, for it is said, “they bend their tongue; their bow is a lie, and not for truth.” In the same:
Jehovah Zebaoth said, Behold I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of his might (Jer. 49:35).
In David:
Come, behold the works of Jehovah, who hath made desolations in the earth; He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth, He breaketh the bow, He cutteth the spear in sunder, He burneth the chariots in the fire (Ps. 46:9).
In Judah is God known, His name is great in Israel; in Salem also shall be His tabernacle, and His dwelling-place in Zion; there brake He the fiery shafts of the bow, the shield and the sword, and the war (Ps. 76:1-3).
In the same:
Lo the wicked bend the bow, they make ready their arrows upon the string, to shoot in darkness at the upright in heart (Ps. 11:2).
Here the “bow and arrows” plainly denote doctrinal things of falsity.

sRef Gen@21 @16 S0′ 2687. For she said, Let me not see the death of the child. That this signifies grief that it should so perish, is evident from the signification of “seeing the death,” as being to perish; and from the signification of the “child,” as being spiritual truth-explained above. Hence, and from the feeling of despair on account of the desolation of truth, it is manifest that it is interior grief that is within these words.

sRef Gen@21 @16 S0′ 2688. And she sat over against him. That this signifies a state of thought, is evident from what was said above (n. 2684), where are the same words. The reason that this is said again in this verse is that the state of thought was increased and aggravated even to the last degree of grief, as is manifest from what just precedes: “let me not see the death of the child;” and from what next follows: “she lifted up her voice and wept.”

sRef Gen@21 @16 S0′ 2689. And she lifted up her voice and wept. That this signifies a further degree of grief, is evident from the signification of “lifting up the voice and weeping,” as being the last degree of grief; for weeping with a loud voice is nothing else. The state of desolation of truth, and also of removal from truths, with those who are becoming spiritual, is described in this verse. How these things are to be understood shall be briefly told. Those who cannot be reformed do not at all know what it is to grieve on account of being deprived of truths; for they suppose that no one can feel in the least anxious about such a thing. The only anxiety they believe to be possible is on account of being deprived of the goods of the body and the world; such as health, honors, reputation, wealth, and life. But they who can be reformed believe altogether differently: these are kept by the Lord in the affection of good and in the thought of truth; and therefore they come into anxiety when deprived of this thought and affection.
[2] It is known that all anxiety and grief arise from being deprived of the things with which we are affected, or which we love. They who are affected only with corporeal and worldly things, or who love such things only, grieve when they are deprived of them; but they who are affected with spiritual goods and truths and love them, grieve when they are deprived of them. Everyone’s life is nothing but affection or love. Hence it is evident what is the state of those who are desolated as to the goods and truths with which they are affected, or which they love, namely, that their state of grief is more severe, because more internal; and in the deprivation of good and truth they do not regard the death of the body, for which they do not care, but eternal death. It is their state which is here described.
[3] That it may be known who those are that can be kept by the Lord in the affection of good and truth, and thus be reformed and become spiritual, and who those are that cannot, we will briefly state that during childhood, while being for the first time imbued with goods and truths, everyone is kept by the Lord in the affirmative idea that what he is told and taught by his parents and masters is true. With those who can become spiritual men this affirmative is confirmed by means of knowledges [scientifica et cognitiones]; for whatever they afterwards learn that has an affinity with it, insinuates itself into this affirmative, and corroborates it; and this more and more, even to affection. These are they who become spiritual men in accordance with the essence of the truth in which they have faith, and who conquer in temptations. But it is otherwise with those who cannot become spiritual men. Although during their childhood these are in the affirmative, yet in the age that follows they admit doubts, and thus trench upon the affirmative of good and truth; and when they come to adult age, they admit negatives, even to the affection of falsity. If these should be brought into temptations, they would wholly yield; and on this account they are exempted from them.
[4] But the real cause of their admitting doubts, and afterwards negatives, is to be found in their life of evil. They who are in a life of evil cannot possibly do otherwise; for as before said the life of everyone is his affection or love; and such as is the affection or love, such is the thought. The affection of evil and the thought of truth never conjoin themselves together. With those in whom there is an appearance of this conjunction, there is really no such conjunction, but only the thought of truth without the affection of it; and therefore with such persons truth is not truth, but only something of sound, or of the mouth, from which the heart is absent. Such truth even the worst can know, and sometimes better than others. With some also there is found a persuasion of truth, of such a nature that no one can know but that it is genuine; and yet it is not so if there is no life of good: it is an affection of the love of self or of the world, which induces such a persuasion that they defend it even with the vehemence of apparent zeal; nay, they will even go so far as to condemn those who do not receive it, or believe in the same way. But this truth is of such a quality as is the principle with each person from which it starts, being strong in proportion as the love of self or of the world is strong. It indeed attaches itself to evil, but does not conjoin itself with it, and is therefore extirpated in the other life. Very different is it with those who are in the life of good. With these truth itself has its own ground and heart, and has its life from the Lord.

sRef Gen@21 @17 S0′ 2690. Verse 17. And God heard the voice of the child; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? Fear not, for God hath heard the voice of the child where he is. “God heard the voice of the child,” signifies help at that time; “and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven,” signifies consolation; “and said unto her, What aileth thee Hagar?” signifies perception concerning one’s state; “fear not, for God hath heard the voice of the child where he is,” signifies the hope of help.

sRef Gen@21 @17 S0′ 2691. God heard the voice of the child. That this signifies help at that time, is evident from the signification of “God hearing a voice,” said in the historic sense, as being in the internal sense to bring help; and from the signification of the “child,” as being spiritual truth-explained before; here it is the state in which the spiritual was as to truth; for it is said that He heard the voice of the child, and again in this verse, that He heard the voice of the child where he was, that is, in what state; and in what precedes it was shown that it was in a state of the greatest grief on account of the privation of truth. The voice of the child, and not Hagar’s, is said to have been heard, because the state of the spiritual man is treated of. By the child, or Ishmael, is represented the man of the spiritual church; by his mother Hagar, the affection of the knowledges of truth, which is that which had grief. Man’s rational is born of the affection of memory-knowledges as a mother (n. 1895-1896, 1902, 1910, 2094, 2524); but his spiritual is born of the affection of the knowledges of truth from doctrine, especially from the Word. The spiritual itself is here the “child;” and the affection of the knowledges of truth is “Hagar.”

sRef Gen@21 @17 S0′ 2692. And the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven. That this signifies consolation, is evident from the signification of “calling out of heaven,” and also of the “angel of God,” as well as of “Hagar.” To “call out of heaven,” signifies influx; the “angel of God,” signifies the Lord (n. 1925, 2319); and “Hagar,” the affection of the knowledges of truth (n. 2691). The influx of the Lord into the affection of truth, when this is in deepest grief on account of the deprivation, is consolation. That which flows in with man from the Lord is said to be “called out of heaven,” because it is through heaven, and is there manifest; but in man’s perception and thought it is obscure, manifesting itself only by a change of the state of his affection; as here by its receiving consolation.

sRef Gen@21 @17 S0′ 2693. And said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? That this signifies perception concerning its state, is evident from the signification of “saying” in the historic parts of the Word, as being to perceive-explained before; and from the signification of “What aileth thee, Hagar?” as being the state in which it was: here it signifies that the Lord thoroughly knew its state, although she was questioned, and it is said, What aileth thee, Hagar ? In the sense of the letter it is interrogation from the Lord, but in the internal sense it is infinite perception of all things. We read here and there in the Word that men are questioned as to their state; but the reason is that man believes that no one knows his thoughts, still less the state of his affection. A further reason is that men may have consolation from being able to express their feelings, which often proves a relief (see n. 1701, 1931).

sRef Gen@21 @17 S0′ 2694. Fear not, for God hath heard the voice of the child where he is. That this signifies the hope of help, is evident from the signification of “fear not,” as being not to despair; for when fear is taken away, hope is present; and from the signification of “hearing the voice of the child,” as being help (see above, n. 2691, where the words are similar). In the verses which precede, the state of desolation in which those are who are being reformed and are becoming spiritual, is treated of; now the subject is their being restored, and here their comfort and hope of help.
[2] That they who are being reformed are reduced into ignorance of truth, or desolation, even to grief and despair, and that they then for the first time have comfort and help from the Lord, is unknown at this day, for the reason that few are reformed. They who are such that they can be reformed are brought into this state, if not in the life of the body, nevertheless in the other life, where this state is well known, and is called vastation or desolation, concerning which there has been some mention in volume 1 (where also see n. 1109). They who are in such vastation or desolation are reduced even to despair; and when they are in this state they then receive comfort and help from the Lord, and are at length taken away into heaven, where they are instructed among the angels as it were anew in the goods and truths of faith. The reason of this vastation and desolation is chiefly that the persuasive which they have conceived from what is their own may be broken (see n. 2682); and that they may also receive the perception of good and truth, which they cannot receive until the persuasive which is from their own has been as it were softened.
This is effected by the state of anxiety and grief even to despair. What is good, nay, what is blessed and happy, no one can perceive with an exquisite sense unless he has been in a state of what is not good, not blessed, and not happy. From this he acquires a sphere of perception, and this in the degree in which he has been in the opposite state. The sphere of perception and the extension of its limits arise from the realizing of contrasts. These are causes of vastation or desolation, besides many others.
[3] But take examples for illustration. If to those who ascribe all things to their own prudence and little or nothing to Divine Providence, it be proved by thousands of reasons that the Divine Providence is universal, and this because it is in the most minute particulars; and that not even a hair falls from the head (that is, nothing happens however small) which is not foreseen and provided accordingly, nevertheless their state of thought about their own prudence is not changed by it, except at the very moment when they find themselves convinced by the reasons. Nay, if the same thing were attested to them by living experiences; just at the moment when they see the experiences, or are in them, they may confess that it is so; but after the lapse of a few moments they return to their former state of opinion. Such things have some momentary effect upon the thought, but not upon the affection; and unless the affection is broken, the thought remains in its own state; for the thought has its belief and its life from the affection. But when anxiety and grief are induced upon them by the fact of their own helplessness, and this even to despair, their persuasive is broken, and their state is changed; and then they can be led into the belief that they can do nothing of themselves, but that all power, prudence, intelligence, and wisdom are from the Lord. The case is similar with those who believe that faith is from themselves, and that good is from themselves.
[4] Take another example for illustration: If to those who have conceived the persuasion that when justified there is no longer any evil in them, but it is completely wiped away and blotted out, and thus they are pure-if to these it be made clear by thousands of reasons that nothing is wiped away or blotted out, but that they are kept back from evil and held in good by the Lord (that is to say those who are of such a character that from the life of good in which they had been in the world this is possible to them); and if moreover they be convinced by experience that of themselves they are nothing but evil, and indeed are most impure heaps of evils-after all they will not recede from the belief of their opinion. But when they are reduced to such a state that they perceive hell in themselves, and this to such a degree as to despair of ever being able to be saved, then for the first time that persuasive is broken, and with it their pride, and their contempt of others in comparison with themselves, and also the arrogance that they are the only ones who are saved; and they can be led into the true confession of faith, not only that all good is from the Lord, but also that all things are of His mercy; and at length into humiliation of heart before the Lord, which is not possible without the acknowledgment of the true character of self. Hence now it is manifest why they who are being reformed, or are becoming spiritual, are reduced into the state of vastation or desolation treated of in the verses which precede; and that when they are in that state even to despair, they then for the first time receive comfort and help from the Lord.

sRef Gen@21 @18 S0′ 2695. Verse 18. Arise, lift up the child, and strengthen thy hand in him, for I will make him a great nation. “Arise,” signifies elevation of mind; “lift up the child,” signifies the spiritual as to truth; “and strengthen thy hand in him” signifies support therefrom; “for I will make him a great nation,” signifies the spiritual church.

sRef Gen@21 @18 S0′ 2696. Arise. That this signifies elevation of mind, is evident from the signification in the Word of “arising,” as involving where mentioned some kind of elevation (see n. 2401); here elevation of mind, because enlightenment-and in the following verse instruction-in truths.

sRef Gen@21 @18 S0′ 2697. Lift up the child. That this signifies the spiritual as to truth, is evident from the signification of the “child,” as being the spiritual especially as to truth (see n. 2677, 2687); for the man of the spiritual church seems to be regenerated by means of the truths of faith, but does not know that it is by means of the good of truth; for this is not apparent, and only manifests itself in the affection of truth, and then in life according to truth. Never can anyone be regenerated by means of truth, except when in the truth there is good; for truth without good has no life; and therefore by truth separate from good there does not come any new life; which however a man possesses by regeneration.

sRef Gen@21 @18 S0′ 2698. And strengthen thy hand in him. That this signifies support from it, is evident from the signification of “being strengthened,” as meaning to be supported; and from the signification of the “hand,” as being power (see n. 878), which relates to support. “In him,” that is, in the child, means from it, that is, from the spiritual as to truth. They who are in internal grief, and in despair from the privation of truth, are elevated and sustained solely by truth, because it is for this that they have grief and despair. With those who are in the affection of good, their good desires good as one hungers for bread; but with those who are in the affection of truth, their good desires truth, as one thirsts for water. What “strengthening the hand in him” here means, will not be understood by anyone except from the internal sense.

sRef Gen@21 @18 S0′ 2699. For I will make him a great nation. That this signifies the spiritual church, is evident from the signification of a “great nation,” as being the spiritual church, which will receive the good of faith (see above, n. 2669). It is said a “great nation,” because the spiritual kingdom is the Lord’s second kingdom (spoken of also in the same number). As the man of the spiritual church is represented by Ishmael, so also is the spiritual church itself represented by him, and also the Lord’s spiritual kingdom in the heavens; for the image and likeness of the one is in the other. The first state after desolation was described in the preceding verse, which was a state of consolation and of the hope of help. Their second state after desolation is described in this verse, which is a state of enlightenment and of refreshment therefrom.
[2] As these states are unknown in the world, for the reason as before said that at this day few are being regenerated, we may describe the state of those who are being regenerated in the other life, where it is most fully known. Those who have been in vastation or desolation there, after being comforted by the hope of help, are elevated by the Lord into heaven, thus from a state of shade which is a state of ignorance, into a state of light which is a state of enlightenment and of the refreshment therefrom, thus into a joy that affects their inmosts. It is actually light into which they come, of such a quality as to enlighten not only their sight, but also their understanding at the same time; and how much this light refreshes them may be seen from the opposite state, from which they have been delivered. Some who had been of an infantile disposition and of simple faith, then appear to themselves in white and shining garments; some with crowns; some are taken around to various angelic societies, and are everywhere received with charity as brethren; and whatever of good is gratifying to their new life is shown them: to some it is given to see the immensity of heaven, or of the Lord’s kingdom, and at the same time to perceive the blessedness of those who are there; besides innumerable other things which cannot be described. Such is the state of the first enlightenment, and of the refreshment therefrom with those who come out of desolation.

sRef Gen@21 @19 S0′ 2700. Verse 19. And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the child drink. “God opened her eyes,” signifies intelligence; “and she saw a well of water,” signifies the Lord’s Word from which are truths; “and she filled the bottle with water,” signifies truths from the Word; “and she gave the child drink,” signifies instruction in spiritual things.

sRef Gen@21 @19 S0′ 2701. God opened her eyes. That this signifies intelligence, is evident from the signification of “opening” and of “God opening,” and also of “eyes” as being to give intelligence (that “eyes” signify the understanding may be seen above, n. 212, in like manner as “sight” or “seeing,” n. 2150, 2325). It is said that “God opens the eyes” when He opens the interior sight or understanding; which is effected by an influx into man’s rational, or rather into the spiritual of his rational. This is done by the way of the soul, or the internal way, unknown to the man. This influx is his state of enlightenment, in which the truths which he hears or reads are confirmed to him by a kind of perception interiorly within his intellectual. This the man believes to be innate in him, and to proceed from his own intellectual faculty; but in this he is very much mistaken; for it is an influx through heaven from the Lord into what is obscure, fallacious, and seeming with the man, which by means of the good therein causes the things which he believes to be similar to truth. But they only who are spiritual are blessed with enlightenment in the spiritual things of faith. It is this which is signified by “God opening the eyes.”
sRef Matt@6 @23 S2′ sRef Matt@6 @22 S2′ sRef Matt@5 @29 S2′ [2] That the “eye” signifies the understanding is because the sight of the body corresponds to the sight of its spirit, which is the understanding; and because it corresponds, in the Word the understanding is signified by the “eye” in almost every place where it is mentioned, even where it is believed to be otherwise; as where the Lord says in Matthew:
The light of the body is the eye; if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light; but if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness; if therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness (Matt. 6:22-23; Luke 11:34).
Here the “eye” is the understanding, the spiritual of which is faith, as also is evident from the explication: “if therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness.”
So too in the same:
If thy right eye causeth thee to stumble, pluck it out, and cast it from thee (Matt. 5:29; 18:9).
The “left eye” is the intellectual, but the “right eye” is its affection: that the right eye is to be plucked out means that the affection is to be subdued if it causes stumbling.
sRef Matt@13 @16 S3′ sRef Luke@10 @23 S3′ [3] In the same:
Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear (Matt. 13:16);
and in Luke:
Jesus said to the disciples, Blessed are the eyes which see the thing which ye see (Luke 10:23).
Here by the “eyes which see,” intelligence and faith are signified; for their seeing the Lord, and also His miracles and works, did not make them blessed; but comprehending them with the understanding and having faith, which is “seeing with the eyes;” and obeying, which is “hearing with the ears.” That to “see with the eyes” is to understand, and also to have faith, may be seen above (n. 897, 2325) for the understanding is the spiritual of the sight, and faith is the spiritual of the understanding. The sight of the eye is from the light of the world, but the sight of faith is from the light of heaven. Hence it is common to speak of seeing with the understanding, and of seeing by faith. (That to “hear with the ear” is to obey, may be seen above, n. 2542.)
sRef Luke@19 @41 S4′ sRef Mark@12 @11 S4′ sRef Mark@8 @17 S4′ sRef Mark@8 @18 S4′ sRef Luke@19 @42 S4′ [4] Also in Mark:
Jesus said to the disciples, Do ye not yet perceive, neither understand? Have ye your heart yet hardened? Having eyes see ye not? And having ears hear ye not? (Mark 8:17-18);
where it is manifest that not to be willing to understand and not to believe, is to “have eyes and not see.” In Luke:
Jesus said of the city, If thou hadst known the things that belong unto thy peace; but now it is hid from thine eyes (Luke 19:41-42).
And in Mark:
This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes (Mark 12:11);
where to be “hid from the eyes,” and to be “marvelous in the eyes,” means to be so to the understanding, as is known to everyone from the signification of the eye even in the common use of language.

sRef Gen@21 @19 S0′ sRef Gen@26 @18 S0′ sRef Gen@26 @15 S0′ sRef Gen@26 @16 S0′ sRef Gen@26 @17 S0′ sRef Gen@26 @19 S0′ sRef Gen@26 @22 S0′ sRef Gen@26 @21 S0′ sRef Gen@26 @20 S0′ sRef Gen@26 @25 S1′ sRef Gen@26 @32 S1′ 2702. And she saw a well of water. That this signifies the Lord’s Word from which are truths, is evident from the signification of a “well of water,” and of a “fountain,” as being the Word, and also doctrine from the Word, consequently also truth itself; and from the signification of “water,” as being truth. That a “well in which there is water,” and a “fountain,” denote the Lord’s Word, and also doctrine from the Word, consequently also truth itself, may be seen from very many passages. A “well,” and not a “fountain,” is spoken of here, because the spiritual church is treated of, as also in the following verses of this chapter:
Abraham reproved Abimelech because of the well which the servants of Abimelech had taken away (Gen. 22:25).
So too in the twenty-sixth chapter:
All the wells which the servants of Isaac’s father digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped up. And Isaac returned, and digged the wells of water which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father, and the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham. And Isaac’s servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of living water. And they digged another well, and for that they strove not. And it came to pass in that day that Isaac’s servants came and told him concerning the well which they had digged, and said unto him, We have found water (Gen. 26:15, 18-20, 21-22, 25, 32).
Here by “wells” nothing else is signified than doctrinal matters about which they contended, and those about which they did not contend. Otherwise their digging wells and contending so many times about them would not be of so much importance as to be worthy of mention in the Divine Word.
sRef Num@21 @16 S2′ sRef Num@21 @17 S2′ sRef Num@21 @18 S2′ [2] The “well” spoken of by Moses signifies in like manner the Word, or doctrine:
They journeyed to Beer; this is the well whereof Jehovah said unto Moses, Gather the people together, and I will give them water. Then sang Israel this song: Spring up, O well; answer ye from it. The princes digged the well, the willing of the people digged it, in the lawgiver, with their staves (Num. 21:16-18).
As a “well” signified these things, there was therefore this prophetic song in Israel, in which the doctrine of truth is treated of, as is evident from every particular in the internal sense. Hence came the name “Beer” [a well], and hence the name “Beersheba,” and its signification in the internal sense, as being doctrine itself.
sRef Jer@14 @3 S3′ sRef Jer@2 @13 S3′ [3] But doctrine in which there are no truths is called a “pit,” or a “well in which there is no water” as in Jeremiah:
Their nobles have sent their little ones to the water; they came to the pits, they found no water; they returned with their vessels empty (Jer. 14:3);
where “waters” denote truths; and “pits where they found no water,” doctrine in which there is no truth. In the same:
My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me the fountain of living waters, to hew them out pits, broken pits, that can hold no waters (Jer. 2:13);
where “pits” in like manner denote doctrines that are not true; and “broken pits,” fabricated doctrines.
sRef Isa@41 @17 S4′ sRef Isa@41 @18 S4′ [4] That a “fountain” is the Word, and also doctrine, consequently truth, may be seen in Isaiah:
The afflicted and the needy seek waters, and there are none; their tongue faileth for thirst. I Jehovah will hear them, the God of Israel will not forsake them; I will open rivers upon the hillsides, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of waters, and the dry land springs of waters (Isa. 41:17-18);
where the desolation of truth is treated of, which is signified by the afflicted and needy seeking for waters when there are none, and by their tongue failing for thirst; and then their consolation, refreshment, and instruction after desolation are treated of (as in the verses about Hagar now being explained), signified by Jehovah opening rivers upon the hillsides, making fountains in the midst of the valleys, and the wilderness into a pool of waters, and the dry land into springs of waters; all which things relate to the doctrine of truth, and to the affection thence derived.
sRef Deut@33 @28 S5′ sRef John@4 @13 S5′ sRef John@4 @10 S5′ sRef John@4 @5 S5′ sRef John@4 @6 S5′ sRef John@4 @7 S5′ sRef John@4 @14 S5′ [5] In Moses:
Israel dwelt securely alone at the fountain of Jacob, in a land of corn and new wine; yea, his heavens drop down dew (Deut. 33:28).
The “fountain of Jacob” denotes the Word and the doctrine of truth therefrom. Because the “fountain of Jacob” signified the Word and the doctrine of truth therefrom, when the Lord came to the fountain of Jacob, He spoke with the woman of Samaria, and taught what is signified by a “fountain” and by “water,” as described in John:
Jesus came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, and Jacob’s fountain was there; Jesus therefore being wearied with His journey, sat thus by the fountain. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus saith unto her, Give Me to drink: Jesus said, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith unto thee, Give Me to drink, thou wouldst ask of Him that He should give thee living water. Everyone that drinketh of this water shall thirst again; but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a fountain of water springing up unto eternal life (John 4:5-7, 10, 13-14).
As “Jacob’s fountain” signified the Word, the “water” truth, and ” Samaria” the spiritual church (as is frequently the case in the Word), the Lord spoke with the woman of Samaria, and taught that the doctrine of truth is from Him; and that when it is from Him, or what is the same, from His Word, it is a fountain of water springing up unto eternal life; and that truth itself is living water.
sRef John@7 @37 S6′ sRef Rev@21 @6 S6′ sRef Rev@7 @17 S6′ sRef John@7 @38 S6′ [6] Again:
Jesus said, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink; whosoever believeth in Me, as the Scripture saith, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water (John 7:37-38).
And in the same:
The Lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of water; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes (Rev. 7:17).
In the same:
I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely (Rev. 21:6);
“rivers of living water,” and “living fountains of waters,” denote truths that are from the Lord, or from His Word; for the Lord is the Word. The good of love and of charity, which is solely from the Lord, is the life of truth. He is said to be “athirst” who is in the love and affection of truth; no other can “thirst.”
sRef Isa@12 @4 S7′ sRef Joel@3 @18 S7′ sRef Isa@12 @3 S7′ [7] These truths are also called “fountains of salvation” in Isaiah:
With joy shall ye draw waters out of the fountains of salvation; and in that day shall ye say, Confess to Jehovah, call upon His name (Isa. 12:3-4).
That a “fountain” is the Word, or doctrine from it, is plain also in Joel:
It shall come to pass in that day that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the streams of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall go forth out of the house of Jehovah, and shall water the stream of Shittim (Joel 3:18);
where “waters” denote truths; and a “fountain out of the house of Jehovah,” the Lord’s Word.
sRef Jer@31 @9 S8′ sRef Jer@31 @8 S8′ [8] In Jeremiah:
Behold I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the sides of the earth; and among them the blind and the lame; they shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I bring them unto fountains of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble (Jer. 31:8-9);
“fountains of waters in a straight way” manifestly denote the doctrinal things of truth; the “north country,” ignorance or desolation of truth; “weeping” and “supplications,” their state of grief and despair; and to be “brought to the fountains of waters,” refreshment and instruction in truths (as here, where Hagar and her son are treated of).
sRef Isa@35 @2 S9′ sRef Isa@35 @3 S9′ sRef Isa@35 @5 S9′ sRef Isa@35 @7 S9′ sRef Isa@35 @1 S9′ sRef Isa@35 @6 S9′ [9] The same things are also thus described in Isaiah:
The wilderness and the parched land shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose; budding it shall bud, and shall rejoice even with rejoicing and singing; the glory of Lebanon has been given unto it, the honor of Carmel and Sharon; they shall see the glory of Jehovah, the honor of our God. Make ye firm the enfeebled hands, and strengthen the tottering knees. The eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped; in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert; and the dry place shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of waters (Isa. 35:1-3, 5-7);
where the “wilderness” denotes the desolation of truth; “waters,” “streams,” “lakes,” and “springs of waters,” the truths that are a refreshment and joy to those who have been in vastation, whose joys are there described with many words.
sRef Ps@104 @13 S10′ sRef Ps@104 @10 S10′ sRef Ps@104 @11 S10′ [10] In David:
Jehovah sendeth forth fountains into the valleys, they shall run among the mountains; they shall give drink to every wild beast of the field, the wild asses shall quench their thirst. He watereth the mountains from His chambers (Ps. 104:10-11, 13);
“fountains” denote truths; “mountains,” the love of good and truth; to “give drink,” instructing; “wild beasts of the field,” those who live from this (see n. 774, 841, 908); “wild asses,” those who are solely in rational truth (n. 1949-1951).
sRef Gen@49 @22 S11′ sRef Deut@8 @7 S11′ sRef Deut@11 @11 S11′ [11] In Moses:
Joseph is the son of a fruitful one, the son of a fruitful one by a fountain (Gen. 49:22);
a “fountain” denotes doctrine from the Lord. In the same:
Jehovah thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of rivers, of waters, of fountains, and of depths going forth in valley and in mountain (Deut. 8:7);
the “land” denotes the Lord’s kingdom and church (n. 662, 1066, 1067, 1262, 1413, 2571); which is called “good” from the good of love and charity; “rivers,” “waters,” “fountains,” and “depths,” denote the truths thence derived. In the same:
The land of Canaan, a land of mountains and valleys, that drinketh water of the rain of heaven (Deut. 11:11).
sRef Isa@3 @1 S12′ sRef Isa@33 @15 S12′ sRef Isa@48 @21 S12′ sRef Isa@33 @16 S12′ sRef Isa@32 @20 S12′ sRef Isa@21 @14 S12′ [12] That “waters” are truths, both spiritual and rational, and also those of memory-knowledge, is manifest from these passages in Isaiah:
Behold the Lord Jehovih Zebaoth doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the whole staff of bread, and the whole staff of water (Isa. 3:1).
In the same:
Bring ye waters to him that is thirsty; meet the fugitive with his bread (Isa. 21:14).
In the same:
Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters (Isa. 32:20).
In the same:
He that walketh in righteousnesses, and speaketh uprightnesses, shall dwell on high; his bread shall be given, his waters shall be faithful (Isa. 33:15, 16).
In the same:
Then shall they not thirst, He shall lead them in the desert, He shall cause the waters to flow out of the rock for them; He cleaveth the rock also, and the waters flow out (Isa. 48:21; Exod. 17:1-8; Num. 20:11, 13).
sRef Ps@33 @7 S13′ sRef Ps@107 @33 S13′ sRef Zech@14 @8 S13′ sRef Ps@107 @35 S13′ sRef Isa@55 @1 S13′ sRef Ps@29 @3 S13′ sRef Ps@77 @16 S13′ sRef Ps@33 @6 S13′ sRef Ps@46 @4 S13′ sRef Ps@78 @16 S13′ sRef Ps@77 @19 S13′ sRef Ps@65 @9 S13′ sRef Ps@78 @15 S13′ sRef Ps@77 @17 S13′ [13] In David:
He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them to drink abundantly as out of the deeps. He brought streams out of the rock and caused waters to run down like a river (Ps. 78:15, 16);
where the “rock” denotes the Lord; “waters,” “rivers,” and “deeps” from it, denote truths from Him. In the same:
Jehovah maketh rivers into a wilderness, and water-springs into dry ground; He maketh a wilderness into a pool of waters, and a dry land into water-springs (Ps. 107:33, 35).
In the same:
The voice of Jehovah is upon the waters; Jehovah is upon many waters (Ps. 29:3).
In the same:
A river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High (Ps. 46:4).
In the same:
By the Word of Jehovah were the heavens made, and all the army of them by the breath of His mouth; He gathereth the waters of the sea together as a heap, He layeth up the deeps in storehouses (Ps. 33:6, 7).
In the same:
Thou dost visit the earth, and delightest in it greatly; thou enrichest it, the river of God is full of waters (Ps. 65:9).
In the same:
The waters saw Thee, O God, the waters saw Thee, the deeps also trembled; the clouds poured out waters; Thy way was in the sea, and Thy path in many waters (Ps. 77:16, 17, 19).
It is manifest to everyone that the “waters” here do not signify waters, and that it is not meant that the deeps trembled, nor that the way of Jehovah was in the sea, and His path in the waters; but that spiritual waters are meant, that is, spiritual things which are of truth; otherwise this would be a heap of empty words. In Isaiah:
Ho every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters and he that hath no silver, come ye, buy (Isa. 55:1).
In Zechariah:
It shall come to pass in that day that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the western sea (Zech. 14:8).
sRef Ezek@31 @4 S14′ sRef Ezek@31 @3 S14′ sRef Num@24 @6 S14′ sRef Num@24 @7 S14′ sRef Ezek@17 @5 S14′ sRef Ezek@17 @6 S14′ sRef Ezek@19 @10 S14′ [14] Moreover where the church is treated of in the Word as about to be planted and as having been planted, and where it is described by a paradise, a garden, a grove, or by trees, it is usual for it to be also described by waters or rivers which irrigate; by which either spiritual, rational, or memory things (which are of truth) are signified-as in the description of Paradise in Genesis (2:8, 9); which is also described by the rivers there (verses 10 to 14), signifying the things of wisdom and intelligence (see n. 107-121). The same is true in many other places in the Word, as in Moses:
As valleys are they planted, as gardens by the river, as sandal-wood trees which Jehovah hath planted, as cedars beside the waters; waters shall flow from his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters (Num. 24:6, 7).
In Ezekiel:
He took of the seed of the land, and planted it in a field of sowing, he placed it beside many waters; it budded, and became a luxuriant vine (Ezek. 17:5, 6);
that a “vine” and a “vineyard” signify the spiritual church may be seen above (n. 1069). In the same:
Thy mother was like a vine in thy likeness, planted by the waters; she became fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters (Ezek. 19:10).
In the same:
Behold Asshur was a cedar in Lebanon; the waters nourished him, the deep made him high, going with her rivers round about his plant; and she sent out her canals unto all the trees of the field (Ezek. 31:4).
sRef Ezek@47 @8 S15′ sRef Ezek@47 @9 S15′ sRef Jer@17 @7 S15′ sRef Ezek@47 @11 S15′ sRef Ezek@47 @7 S15′ sRef Jer@17 @8 S15′ sRef Ps@1 @3 S15′ sRef Rev@22 @1 S15′ sRef Rev@22 @2 S15′ [15] In the same:
Behold upon the bank of the river were very many trees on this side and on that. He said unto me, These waters issue forth toward the eastern border, and shall go down into the plain, and shall go toward the sea; and being sent into the sea the waters are healed. And it shall be that every living soul that creepeth, in every place whither the two rivers come, shall live; and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters are come thither; and they shall be healed, so that everything whithersoever the river cometh shall live. The miry places thereof and the marshes thereof shall not be healed; they shall be given up to salt (Ezek. 47:7-9, 11).
Here the New Jerusalem, or the Lord’s spiritual kingdom, is described: the “waters going forth to the eastern border,” signify spiritual things from celestial things, which are truths from a celestial origin; that is, faith from love and charity (n. 101, 1250). To “go down into the plain,” signifies doctrinal things which are of the rational (n. 2418, 2450). To “go toward the sea,” signifies to memory-knowledges; the “sea” is the collection of them (n. 28); the “living soul which creepeth,” signifies their delights (n. 746, 909, 994); which will “live from the waters of the river,” that is, from spiritual things from a celestial origin. “Much fish” denotes an abundance of applicable memory-knowledges (n. 40, 991). The “miry places and the marshes” denote things not applicable and impure; being “given up to salt,” denotes being vastated (n. 2455). In Jeremiah:
Blessed is the man that trusteth in Jehovah; he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, and that sendeth forth its roots by the river (Jer. 17:7-8).
In David:
He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth its fruit in its season (Ps. 1:3).
In John:
He showed me a pure river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb; in the midst of the street of it, and on this side of the river and on that was the tree of life bearing twelve fruits (Rev. 22:1-2).
[16] Seeing that in the internal sense of the Word “waters” signify truths, therefore in the Jewish Church, for the sake of representation before the angels with whom the rituals were viewed spiritually, it was commanded that the priests and Levites should wash themselves with water when they came near to minister, and indeed out of the laver between the tent and the altar; and later, out of the brazen sea and the other lavers around the temple, which were in place of a fountain. So too for the sake of the representation was the institution of the water of sin or of purgation that was to be sprinkled upon the Levites (Num. 8:7); also that of the water of separation, from the ashes of the red heifer (Num. 19:2-19); and that the spoils from the Midianites should be cleansed by water (Num. 31:19-25).
sRef John@3 @5 S17′ [17] The waters which were given out of the rock (Exod. 17:1-8; Num. 20:1-13; Deut. 8:15) represented and signified an abundance of spiritual things or truths of faith from the Lord. The bitter waters which were healed by the wood (Exod. 15:23-25) represented and signified that the truths which are not pleasing become acceptable and grateful from good, that is, from the affection of it. (That “wood” signifies good which is of affection, or of the will, may be seen above, n. 643.) From all this it may now be known what “water” denotes in the Word, and hence what the water in baptism denotes, of which the Lord speaks thus in John:
Except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God (John 3:5);
namely, that “water” is the spiritual of faith, and the “spirit” the celestial of it; thus that baptism is the symbol of the regeneration of man by the Lord by means of the truths and goods of faith. Not that regeneration is effected by baptism, but by the life signified in baptism, into which life Christians who have the truths of faith, because they have the Word, must come.

sRef Gen@21 @19 S0′ 2703. And she filled the bottle with water. That this signifies truths therefrom, is evident from the signification of “water” as being truth-treated of just above.

sRef Gen@21 @19 S0′ 2704. And gave the child drink. That this signifies instruction in spiritual things, is evident from the signification of “giving to drink,” as being to instruct in truths; and from the signification of the “child,” as being the spiritual as to truth (see n. 2697). This state, which is that of instruction, treated of in this verse, is the third state of those who are coming out of vastation or desolation; for when they come into a state of enlightenment or of heavenly light (treated of in the preceding verse 18, see n. 2699), they are then in the affection of knowing and learning truths; and when they are in this affection, they are easily and as it were spontaneously imbued with truths: those who are on earth, from the Lord’s Word or from doctrine; but those who are in heaven, from the angels, who perceive nothing more blessed and happy than to teach novitiate brethren, and imbue them with the truths and goods which are of heavenly order, and thus lead to the Lord.

sRef Gen@21 @20 S0′ 2705. Verse 20. And God was with the child, and he grew, and he dwelt in the wilderness, and became a shooter of the bow. “God was with the child,” signifies the Lord’s presence with the spiritual; “and he grew,” signifies increase; “and he dwelt in the wilderness,” signifies obscurity, relatively; “and became a shooter of the bow,” signifies the man of the spiritual church.

sRef Gen@21 @20 S0′ 2706. God was with the child. That this signifies the Lord’s presence with the spiritual, is evident from the signification of “God being with” anyone, and from the signification of the “child.” That “God being with” anyone signifies the Lord’s presence, is evident without explication. The Lord is indeed present with everyone; for life is from no other source, and He governs the most minute things of it, even with the worst of men, and in hell itself; but in various ways according to the reception of life. With those who receive the life of the love of His good and truth in a wrong manner, and pervert it into loves of evil and falsity, the Lord is present, and overrules their ends as far as possible for good; but His presence with them is called absence, and indeed in the same degree in which evil is distant from good, and falsity from truth. But with those who receive the life of the love of the Lord’s good and truth, He is said to be present, and indeed according to the degree of reception. It is with the Lord’s presence as with that of the sun, which is present with its heat and light in the vegetation of the world also according to the reception.
That the “child” signifies the spiritual as to truth, has been said above; but here he signifies those who are spiritual because he represents the man of the spiritual church, and also the spiritual church itself, and in the universal sense the Lord’s spiritual kingdom; for when it is said that anyone signifies what is spiritual, as here that “the child” signifies the spiritual as to truth, it involves that those are signified who are spiritual; for there is no spiritual without a subject. It is the same with all other things said in an abstract sense.

sRef Gen@21 @20 S0′ 2707. And he grew. That this signifies increase, is evident without explication.

sRef Gen@21 @20 S0′ 2708. And he dwelt in the wilderness. That this signifies in what is relatively obscure, is evident from the signification of “dwelling,” as being to live (see n. 2451); and from the signification of “wilderness,” as being that which has little vitality (see n. 1927); here what is obscure, but relatively. By what is relatively obscure is meant the state of the spiritual church relatively to the state of the celestial church, or the state of those who are spiritual relatively to that of those who are celestial. The celestial are in the affection of good, the spiritual in the affection of truth; the celestial have perception, but the spiritual a dictate of conscience; to the celestial the Lord appears as a Sun, but to the spiritual as a Moon (n. 1521, 1530, 1531, 2495). The former have light from the Lord, but giving both sight and the perception of good and truth, like the light of day from the sun; but the latter have light from the Lord like the light of night from the moon, and thus they are in relative obscurity. The reason is that the celestial are in love to the Lord, and thus in the Lord’s life itself; but the spiritual are in charity toward the neighbor and in faith, and thus in the Lord’s life indeed, but more obscurely. Hence it is that the celestial never reason about faith and its truths, but being in perception of truth from good, they say that it is so; whereas the spiritual speak and reason concerning the truths of faith, because they are in the conscience of good from truth; and also because with the celestial the good of love has been implanted in their will part, wherein is the chief life of man, but with the spiritual in their intellectual part, wherein is the secondary life of man; this is the reason why the spiritual are in what is relatively obscure (see n. 81, 202, 337, 765, 784, 895, 1114-1125, 1155, 1577, 1824, 2048, 2088, 2227, 2454, 2507).
[2] This comparative obscurity is here called a “wilderness.” In the Word a “wilderness” signifies what is little inhabited and cultivated, and also signifies what is not at all inhabited and cultivated, and is thus used in a twofold sense. Where it signifies what is little inhabited and cultivated, or where there are few habitations, folds of flocks, pastures, and waters, it signifies what has relatively little life and light-as what is spiritual, or those who are spiritual, in comparison with what is celestial, or those who are celestial. But where it signifies what is not inhabited or cultivated at all, or where there are no habitations, folds of flocks, pastures, or waters, it signifies those who are in vastation as to good and in desolation as to truth.
sRef Ezek@34 @26 S3′ sRef Ezek@34 @25 S3′ sRef Isa@42 @10 S3′ sRef Isa@42 @11 S3′ sRef Ezek@34 @27 S3′ sRef Hos@2 @14 S3′ sRef Hos@2 @15 S3′ [3] That a “wilderness” signifies what is comparatively little inhabited and cultivated, or where there are few habitations, folds of flocks, pastures, and waters, is evident from the following passages. In Isaiah:
Sing unto Jehovah a new song and His praise from the end of the earth; ye that go down to the sea, and the fullness thereof, the isles and the inhabitants thereof; let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up, the villages* that Kedar doth inhabit; let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains (Isa. 42:10-11).
In Ezekiel:
I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil wild beast to cease out of the land, and they shall dwell securely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods; and I will make them and the places round about My hill a blessing; the tree of the field shall yield its fruit, and the earth shall yield her fruit (Ezek. 34:25-27);
here the spiritual are treated of. In Hosea:
I will bring her into the wilderness, and will speak to her heart; and I will give her her vineyards from thence (Hos. 2:14-15);
where the desolation of truth, and consolation afterwards, are treated of. In David:
The folds of the wilderness do drop, and the hills are girded with rejoicing; the pastures are clothed with flocks, the valleys also are covered over with corn (Ps. 65:12-13).
sRef Ps@107 @35 S4′ sRef Isa@35 @2 S4′ sRef Jer@2 @31 S4′ sRef Isa@32 @16 S4′ sRef Isa@32 @15 S4′ sRef Ps@107 @33 S4′ sRef Isa@41 @20 S4′ sRef Isa@41 @19 S4′ sRef Isa@35 @1 S4′ sRef Ps@65 @13 S4′ sRef Isa@41 @18 S4′ sRef Ps@65 @12 S4′ sRef Isa@35 @6 S4′ [4] In Isaiah:
I will make the wilderness a pool of waters, and the dry land springs of waters. I will plant in the wilderness the cedar of Shittim, and the myrtle, and the oil-tree; I will set in the desert the fir-tree; that they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of Jehovah hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it (Isa. 41:18-20);
where the regeneration of those who are in ignorance of truth, or the Gentiles, and the enlightenment and instruction of those who are in desolation, are treated of; the “wilderness” is predicated of these; the “cedar, myrtle, and oil-tree” denote the truths and goods of the interior man; the “fir-tree” denotes those of the exterior. In David:
Jehovah maketh rivers into a wilderness, and watersprings into dry ground; He maketh a wilderness into a pool of waters, and a dry land into watersprings (Ps. 107:33, 35);
where the meaning is the same. In Isaiah:
The wilderness and the parched land shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose; budding it shall bud; in the wilderness shall waters break out,** and streams in the desert (Isa. 35:1-2, 6).
In the same:
Thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail; and they that be of thee shall build the deserts of old (Isa. 58:11-12).
In the same:
Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness become Carmel, and Carmel be counted for a forest; and judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness in Carmel (Isa. 32:15-16);
where the spiritual church is treated of, which though inhabited and cultivated is called relatively a “wilderness;” for it is said, “judgment shall dwell in the wilderness and righteousness in Carmel.” That a “wilderness” denotes a comparatively obscure state, is plain from these passages by its being called a “wilderness” and also a “forest;” and very evidently so in Jeremiah:
O generation, see ye the Word of Jehovah. Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? or a land of darkness? (Jer. 2:31).
sRef Deut@32 @9 S5′ sRef Deut@32 @10 S5′ sRef Ezek@20 @35 S5′ sRef Jer@2 @2 S5′ sRef Ps@107 @4 S5′ sRef Ezek@20 @36 S5′ [5] That a “wilderness” signifies what is not at all inhabited or cultivated, or where there are no habitations, folds of flocks, pastures, and waters, and thus those who are in vastation as to good and in desolation as to truth, is also evident from the Word. This kind of “wilderness” is predicated in a double sense, namely, of those who are afterwards reformed, and of those who cannot be reformed. Concerning those who are afterwards reformed (as here in regard to Hagar and her son) we read in Jeremiah:
Thus saith Jehovah, I remember for thee the mercy of thy youth, thy going after Me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown (Jer. 2:2);
where Jerusalem is treated of, which here is the Ancient Church that was spiritual. In Moses:
Jehovah’s portion is His people, Jacob is the line of His inheritance; He found him in a desert land, and in a waste howling wilderness; He led him about, He made him understand, He kept him as the pupil of His eye (Deut. 32:9-10).
In David:
They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way, they found no city of habitation (Ps. 107:4);
where those who have been in desolation of truth and are being reformed are treated of. In Ezekiel:
I will bring you to the wilderness of the peoples, and I will judge with you there, as I judged with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt (Ezek. 20:35-36);
where in like manner the vastation and desolation of those who are being reformed are treated of.
sRef Deut@1 @31 S6′ sRef Deut@8 @3 S6′ sRef Deut@8 @16 S6′ sRef Deut@8 @15 S6′ sRef Deut@8 @2 S6′ sRef Jer@4 @26 S6′ [6] The journeyings and wanderings of the people of Israel in the wilderness represented nothing but the vastation and desolation of believers before reformation; consequently their temptation, if indeed they are in vastation and desolation when they are in spiritual temptations; as may also be seen from the following passages in Moses:
Jehovah bare them in the wilderness as a man beareth his son, in the way, even unto this place (Deut. 1:31).
And in another place:
Thou shalt remember all the way which Jehovah thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to afflict thee, to tempt thee, and to know what is in thy heart; whether thou wouldest keep His commandments or no. He afflicted thee, He suffered thee to hunger, He made thee to eat manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that thou mightiest know that man doth not live by bread only, but by everything that proceedeth out of the mouth of Jehovah doth man live (Deut. 8:2-3).
And again in the same chapter:
Lest thou forget that Jehovah led thee in the great and terrible wilderness, where were serpents, fiery serpents, and scorpions; a thirsty land where was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint; He fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that He might afflict thee, and might tempt thee, to do thee good at thy latter end (Deut. 8:15-16).
Here the “wilderness” denotes vastation and desolation, such as those are in who are in temptations. By their journeyings and wanderings in the wilderness forty years, all the state of the combating church is described-how of itself it yields, but conquers from the Lord.
sRef Rev@12 @14 S7′ sRef Rev@12 @6 S7′ sRef Rev@12 @15 S7′ sRef Rev@12 @16 S7′ [7] By the “woman who fled into the wilderness,” in John, nothing else is signified than the temptation of the church, thus described:
The woman who brought forth a son, a man child, fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God; there were given unto the woman two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place; and the serpent cast out of his mouth after the woman water as a flood, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. But the earth helped the woman; for the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth (Rev. 12:6, 14-16).
sRef Isa@14 @17 S8′ sRef Isa@50 @3 S8′ sRef Isa@21 @1 S8′ sRef Isa@64 @10 S8′ sRef Isa@50 @2 S8′ sRef Joel@1 @19 S8′ sRef Jer@12 @12 S8′ sRef Jer@12 @11 S8′ sRef Jer@12 @10 S8′ sRef Joel@1 @20 S8′ [8] That “wilderness” is predicated of a church altogether vastated, and of those who are altogether vastated as to good and truth, who cannot be reformed, is thus shown in Isaiah:
I make the rivers a wilderness; their fish stink because there is no water, and die for thirst; I clothe the heavens with thick darkness (Isa. 50:2-3).
In the same:
Thy holy cities were become a wilderness, Zion was become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation (Isa. 64:10).
In Jeremiah:
I beheld and lo Carmel was a wilderness, and all her cities were broken down at the presence of Jehovah (Jer. 4:26).
In the same:
Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard, they have trodden My portion under foot; they have made My pleasant portion a wilderness of desolation, they have made it a desolation, it hath mourned unto Me, being desolate; the whole land is made desolate, because no man layeth it to heart. Spoilers are come upon all the hillsides in the wilderness (Jer. 12:10-12).
In Joel:
The fire hath devoured the folds of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field, the water brooks are dried up, the fire hath devoured the folds of the wilderness (Joel 1:19-20).
In Isaiah:
He made the world as a wilderness, and overthrew the cities thereof (Isa. 14:17);
where Lucifer is spoken of. In the same:
The prophecy of the wilderness of the sea. As whirlwinds in the south, it cometh from the wilderness, from a terrible land (Isa. 21:1 seq.).
The “wilderness of the sea” denotes truth vastated by memory-knowledges and the reasonings from them.
sRef Matt@3 @3 S9′ sRef Matt@3 @1 S9′ sRef Mark@1 @4 S9′ sRef Luke@1 @80 S9′ [9] From all this it may be seen what is signified by the following concerning John the Baptist:
It was said by Isaiah, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way for the Lord, make His paths straight (Matt. 3:3; Mark 1:3; Luke 3:4; John 1:23; Isa. 40:3);
which means that the church was then altogether vastated, so that there was no longer any good, nor any truth; which is plainly manifest from the fact, that then no one knew that man had any internal, nor that there was any internal in the Word, and thus that no one knew that the Messiah or Christ was to come to eternally save them. Hence it is also manifest what is signified by John being in the wilderness until the days of his appearing to Israel (Luke 1:80); and by his preaching in the wilderness of Judea (Matt. 3:1, and following verses); and by his baptizing in the wilderness (Mark 1:4); for by that he also represented the state of the church. From the signification of a “wilderness” it may also be seen why the Lord so often withdrew into the wilderness (see for examples Matt. 4:1; 15:32 to the end; Mark 1:12-13, 35-40, 45; 6:31-36; Luke 4:1; 5:16; 9:10 and following verses; John 11:54). From the signification of a “mountain” also it is manifest why the Lord withdrew into the mountains (as in Matt. 14:23; 15:29-31; 17:1 and following verses; 28:16-17; Mark 3:13-14; 6:46; 9:2-9; Luke 6:12-13; 9:28; John 6:15).
* Atria habitabit, but villae quas habitat, n. 3628. [Rotch ed.]
** Effusae sunt, but erumpent, n. 6988. [Rotch ed.]

sRef Gen@21 @20 S0′ 2709. And he became a shooter of the bow. That this signifies the man of the spiritual church, is evident from the signification of a “shaft,” “dart,” or “arrow,” as being truth; and from the signification of a “bow,” as being doctrine (see above, n. 2686). The man of the spiritual church was formerly called a “shooter of the bow,” because he defended himself by truths, and disputed about truths; differently from the man of the celestial church, who is secure by means of good, and does not dispute about truths (see above, n. 2708). The truths by which the man of the spiritual church defends himself, and respecting which he disputes, are from the doctrine which he acknowledges.
sRef Judg@5 @11 S2′ sRef Ps@78 @9 S2′ sRef Judg@5 @10 S2′ sRef Isa@49 @1 S2′ sRef Isa@49 @2 S2′ sRef Isa@49 @3 S2′ [2] That the spiritual man was in old time called a “shooter” and an “archer,” and that doctrine was called a “bow” and a “quiver,” and that the truths of doctrine, or rather doctrinal matters, were called “darts,” “shafts,” and “arrows,” is further evident in David:
The sons of Ephraim, being armed, shooters of the bow, turned back in the day of battle (Ps. 78:9).
“Ephraim” denotes the intellectual of the church. In the book of Judges:
Consider, ye that ride on white asses, ye that sit upon carpets, and ye that walk by the way; because of the voice of archers among them that draw water, there shall they rehearse the righteousnesses of Jehovah, the righteousnesses toward His villages in Israel (Judg. 5:10-11).
In Isaiah:
Jehovah hath called me from the womb, from the bowels of my mother hath He made mention of my name, and He hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of His hand hath He hid me, and He hath made me a polished arrow, in His quiver hath He hid me; and He said unto me, Thou art My servant; Israel, in whom I will be glorified* (Isa. 49:1-3).
“Israel” denotes the spiritual church.
sRef 2Ki@13 @18 S3′ sRef Hab@3 @11 S3′ sRef Ps@127 @4 S3′ sRef 2Ki@13 @17 S3′ sRef Ps@127 @5 S3′ sRef 2Ki@13 @15 S3′ sRef 2Ki@13 @16 S3′ [3] In David:
As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so are the children of the youth; happy is the man that hath filled his quiver with them (Ps. 127:4);
a “quiver” denotes the doctrine of good and truth. In Habakkuk:
The sun and moon stood still in their seat; at the light of Thine arrows shall they go, at the shining of the lightning of Thy spear (Hab. 3:11).
That Joash king of Israel shot an arrow from a bow through the window, at the command of Elisha, while Elisha said, “The arrow of the salvation of Jehovah, the arrow of the salvation of Jehovah against the Syrian” (2 Kings 13:16 to 18), signifies arcana concerning the doctrine of good and truth.
sRef Ps@64 @3 S4′ sRef Ps@64 @4 S4′ sRef Gen@49 @23 S4′ sRef Ps@91 @4 S4′ sRef Jer@9 @8 S4′ sRef Ps@11 @2 S4′ sRef Ps@64 @5 S4′ sRef Gen@49 @22 S4′ sRef Jer@9 @3 S4′ sRef Ps@91 @5 S4′ [4] As most of the things in the Word have also an opposite sense, so likewise have “shafts,” “darts,” “arrows,” “bows,” and a “shooter;” and they signify falsities, the doctrine of falsity, and those who are in falsity. Thus in Moses:
Joseph is the son of a fruitful one, the son of a fruitful one by a fountain, of a daughter, she marcheth upon the wall; they grieved him, and shot at him, and the archers hated him (Gen. 49:22, 23).
In Jeremiah:
They have shot out their tongue, their bow is a lie, and not for truth; their tongue is a lengthened arrow, it speaketh deceit (Jer. 9:3, 8).
In David:
They have sharpened their tongue like a sword, they have aimed their arrow, a bitter word, to shoot in secret places at the perfect; suddenly will they shoot at him, and will not fear. They will make strong for themselves an evil word, they will tell of the hiding of snares (Ps. 64:4-6).
In the same:
Lo, the wicked bend the bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, to shoot in the darkness at the upright in heart (Ps. 11:2).
In the same:
His truth is a shield and buckler; thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, for the arrow that flieth by day (Ps. 91:4-5).
* Quia in te gloriabor; but in quo gloriosus reddar, n. 3441. [Rotch ed.]

sRef Gen@21 @20 S0′ 2710. In the verse before us the state of the spiritual church is described, as being obscure in comparison with the state of the celestial church, and as being combative, for the reason that the man of the spiritual church knows truth only from doctrine, and not from good itself, as does the man of the celestial church.

sRef Gen@21 @21 S0′ 2711. Verse 21. And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt. “He dwelt in the wilderness of Paran,” signifies the life of the spiritual man as to good; the “wilderness” here as before is what is relatively obscure; “Paran” is illumination from the Lord’s Divine Human; “and his mother took him,” signifies the affection of truth; “a wife out of the land of Egypt,” signifies the affection of memory-knowledges which the man of the spiritual church has.

sRef Gen@21 @21 S0′ sRef Zeph@3 @6 S1′ 2712. He dwelt in the wilderness of Paran. That this signifies the life of the spiritual man as to good, is evident from the signification of “dwelling,” as being predicated of the good of truth, or of spiritual good, that is, of the good of the spiritual man. What its quality is, is described by his “dwelling in the wilderness of Paran” which is to be treated of presently. That “to dwell” is predicated of the good, that is, of the affection, of truth, is evident from many passages in the Word where cities are treated of, by which truths are signified, and as being without an inhabitant, by whom good is signified (n. 2268, 2450, 2451); for truths are inhabited by good; and truths without good are like a city in which there is no one dwelling. So in Zephaniah:
I have made their streets waste, that none passeth by; their cities are desolated, so that there is no inhabitant (Zeph. 3:6).
sRef Jer@33 @10 S2′ sRef Jer@2 @15 S2′ sRef Jer@2 @6 S2′ sRef Jer@48 @9 S2′ sRef Jer@4 @29 S2′ [2] In Jeremiah:
Jehovah led us through the wilderness, where no man passed through, and where no man dwelt; they had made his land a waste, his cities are burned up, so that there is no inhabitant (Jer. 2:6, 15).
In the same:
Every city is forsaken, and no one dwelleth therein (Jer. 4:29).
In the same:
In the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man, and without inhabitant, and without beast (Jer. 33:10);
“streets” denote truths (n. 2336); “without man” denotes no celestial good; “without inhabitant,” no spiritual good; and “without beast,” no natural good. In the same:
The cities of Moab shall become a desolation, without any to dwell therein (Jer. 48:9).
sRef Isa@65 @9 S3′ sRef Isa@54 @3 S3′ [3] In the Prophets in every expression there is the marriage of truth and good; and therefore where a city is said to be desolate, it is also added that there is no inhabitant in it; for the reason that the city signifies truths, and the inhabitant good; otherwise it would be superfluous to say that there was no inhabitant, when it has been said that the city was desolate. So likewise the expressions are constant that signify the things of celestial good, those of spiritual good, and those of truth; as in Isaiah:
Thy seed shall possess the nations, and they shall dwell in the desolate cities (Isa. 54:3);
where to “possess” is predicated of celestial goods; and to “dwell in,” of spiritual good. In the same:
Mine elect shall possess it, and my servants shall dwell there (Isa. 65:9);
where the signification is the same.
sRef Isa@44 @26 S4′ sRef Ps@69 @36 S4′ sRef Ps@69 @35 S4′ [4] In David:
God will save Zion, and will build the cities of Judah and they shall dwell there, and shall possess it; the seed also of His servants shall inherit it, and they that love His name shall dwell therein (Ps. 69:35-36);
“dwelling” and at the same time “possessing,” is predicated of celestial good; but “dwelling,” of spiritual good. In Isaiah:
Saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited, and to the cities of Judah, ye shall be built (Isa. 44:26);
where “dwelling,” or “inhabiting,” is predicated of the good of the spiritual church, which is “Jerusalem.” To such a degree are the expressions in the Word predicated of their own goods and their own truths, that merely from a knowledge of the predication of these expressions it can be known what subject in general is treated of.

sRef Gen@21 @21 S0′ 2713. That a “wilderness” here signifies what is relatively obscure, is evident from the signification of a “wilderness,” when predicated of the spiritual man, as being what is obscure in comparison with the celestial man (see above, n. 2708).

sRef Gen@21 @21 S0′ sRef Hab@3 @3 S1′ sRef Hab@3 @2 S1′ sRef Hab@3 @4 S1′ 2714. That “Paran” is illumination from the Lord’s Divine Human, is evident from the signification of “Paran,” as being the Lord’s Divine Human, which is manifest from the passages in the Word where it is named, as in the prophet Habakkuk:
O Jehovah, I have heard Thy fame, I was afraid; O Jehovah, revive Thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known, in zeal remember mercy. God will come from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran; Selah: His honor covered the heavens, and the earth is full of His praise; and His brightness shall be as the light. He had horns going out from His hand, and there was the hiding of His strength (Hab. 3:2-4);
where the Lord’s advent is plainly treated of, which is signified by “reviving in the midst of the years,” and by “making down in the midst of the years.” His Divine Human is described by “God coming from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran.” He is said to “come from Teman” as to celestial love, and “from Mount Paran” as to spiritual love; and that illumination and power are from these is signified by saying that there shall be “brightness and light,” and by His having “horns going out from His hand;” the “brightness and light” are illumination, and the “horns” are power.
sRef Deut@33 @2 S2′ sRef Deut@33 @3 S2′ [2] In Moses:
Jehovah came from Sinai, and rose from Seir unto them; He shone forth from Mount Paran, and He came from the ten thousands of holiness; from His right hand was a fire of law unto them; yea, He loveth the peoples; all His saints are in thy hand, and they were gathered together at thy foot, and he shall receive of thy words (Deut. 33:2, 3).
Here also the Lord is treated of, whose Divine Human is described by His “rising from Seir, and shining forth from Mount Paran”-from “Seir” as to celestial love, and from “Mount Paran” as to spiritual love. The spiritual are signified by the “peoples whom He loves,” and by their being “gathered together at His foot.” The “foot” signifies what is lower, and thus more obscure, in the Lord’s kingdom.
sRef Num@10 @12 S3′ sRef Gen@14 @6 S3′ sRef Gen@14 @5 S3′ sRef Num@10 @11 S3′ [3] In the same:
Chedorlaomer and the kings that were with him smote the Horites in their Mount Seir, unto El-paran, which is in the wilderness (Gen. 14:5, 6);
that the Lord’s Divine Human is here signified by “Mount Seir,” and by “El-paran,” may be seen above (n. 1675, 1676). In the same:
It came to pass in the second year, in the second month, in the twentieth day of the month, that the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle of the testimony and the sons of Israel set forward according to their journeys, out of the wilderness of Sinai; and the cloud abode in the wilderness of Paran (Num. 10:11, 12).
sRef Num@13 @2 S4′ sRef Num@13 @26 S4′ sRef Num@13 @25 S4′ sRef Num@13 @3 S4′ sRef Num@13 @1 S4′ sRef Num@12 @16 S4′ [4] That the journeys of the people in the wilderness all signify the state of a combating church and its temptations, in which man yields but the Lord conquers for him-consequently the very temptations and victories of the Lord-will of the Lord’s Divine mercy be shown elsewhere; and because the Lord from His Divine Human sustained temptations, the Lord’s Divine Human is here signified in like manner by the “wilderness of Paran.” And so again by these words in the same:
The people afterwards journeyed from Hazeroth, and pitched their camp in the wilderness of Paran. And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, Send thou men, and let them explore the land of Canaan, which I give unto the sons of Israel and Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran, according to the command of Jehovah. And they returned, and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and showed them the fruit of the land (Num. 12:16; 13:1-3, 26).
[5] By their setting out from the wilderness of Paran and exploring the land of Canaan, is signified that through the Lord’s Divine Human the sons of Israel, that is, the spiritual, have the heavenly kingdom, which is signified by the land of Canaan; but their also succumbing at that time signifies their weakness, and that the Lord therefore fulfilled all things in the Law, and endured temptations, and conquered; and that they who are in the faith of charity, as also they who are in temptations in which the Lord conquers, have salvation from His Divine Human. On which account also, when the Lord was tempted, He was in the wilderness (Matt. 4:1; Mark 1:12, 13; Luke 4:1; see above, n. 2708).

sRef Gen@21 @21 S0′ 2715. There are two arcana here, one, that the good of the spiritual man is comparatively obscure; and the other, that this obscurity is illuminated by the Lord’s Divine Human. As regards the first, that good with the spiritual man is comparatively obscure, this is evident from what was said above concerning the state of the spiritual man in comparison with the state of the celestial man (n. 2708); for by comparing these states the fact becomes manifest. With the celestial, good itself is implanted in their will part, and light comes therefrom into their intellectual part; but with the spiritual all the will part has been destroyed, so that they have nothing of good from it; and therefore good is implanted by the Lord in their intellectual part (see n. 863, 875, 895, 927, 928, 1023, 1043, 1044, 2124, 2256). The will part is what chiefly lives in man, while the intellectual lives from it. As therefore the will part has been so destroyed with the spiritual man as to be nothing but evil, and yet evil flows in from it perpetually and continually into his intellectual part, that is, into his thought, it is evident that the good there is comparatively obscured.
[2] Hence it is that the spiritual have not love to the Lord, as have the celestial, and consequently they have not the humiliation which is essential in all worship, and by means of which good can flow in from the Lord; for an elated heart does not receive at all, but a humble heart. Neither have the spiritual love toward the neighbor, as the celestial have for the love of self and the world continually flows in from their will part, and obscures the good of that love; as must also be evident to everyone if he reflects, by considering that when he does good to anyone it is for the sake of an end in the world; and that therefore, although he is not doing so consciously, still he is thinking of a recompense, either from those to whom he does good, or from the Lord in the other life; thus that his good is defiled by the idea of merit, as also by considering that when he has done any good, if he can make it known and thus set himself above others, he is in the delight of his life. But the celestial love the neighbor more than themselves; nor do they think at all of recompense, nor in any manner set themselves up above others.
[3] Moreover, the good that is with the spiritual has been obscured by persuasions from various principles arising also from the love of self and of the world. The quality of their persuasion even of faith may be seen above (n. 2682, 2689 at the end); this likewise is from the influx of evil from their will part.
[4] Moreover that the good with the spiritual man is obscure in comparison, is evident from the fact that he does not know what is true from any perception, as the celestial do, but from instruction from parents and masters, and also from the doctrine into which he was born; and when he superadds anything from himself and from his thought, then for the most part the sensuous and its fallacies, and the rational and its appearances, prevail, and cause him to be scarcely able to acknowledge any pure truth, such as the celestial acknowledge. Nevertheless in those seeming truths the Lord implants good, even if the truths are fallacious, or appearances of truth; but the good becomes obscure from them, being qualified by the truths with which it is conjoined. The case with this is as with the light of the sun flowing into objects. The quality of the objects which receive it causes the light to appear there under the aspect of color, beautiful if the quality of the form and of the reception is becoming and correspondent, but unbeautiful if the quality of the form and of the reception is not becoming, and thus not correspondent. In this manner the good itself is qualified according to the truth.
[5] The same is also manifest from the fact that the spiritual man does not know what evil is. He scarcely believes any other things to be evil than those which are contrary to the precepts of the Decalogue, and is not aware of the evils of affection and thought, which are innumerable; nor does he reflect upon them, nor call them evils. All delights whatever of cupidities and pleasures he regards no otherwise than as good; and the very delights of the love of self he both seeks after, and approves, and excuses, being ignorant that such things affect his spirit, and that he becomes altogether such in the other life.
sRef Matt@5 @37 S6′ [6] From this it is in like manner evident that though scarcely anything else is treated of in the whole Word than the good of love to the Lord and of love toward the neighbor, still the spiritual man does not know that good is the essential of faith, nor even what love and charity are in their essence; and that as to what he has learned of faith, which he makes essential, he nevertheless discusses whether it be so, unless he has been confirmed by much experience of life. This the celestial never do, for they know and perceive that it is so. Hence it is said by the Lord in Matthew:
Let your speech be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay; what is more than these is of evil (Matt. 5:37).
For the celestial are in the truth itself respecting which the spiritual dispute whether it be so; hence, as the celestial are in the truth itself, they can see from it endless things which belong to that truth, and thus from light see as it were the whole heaven. But as the spiritual dispute whether it be so, they cannot, so long as they do this, come to the first boundary of the light of the celestial, still less look at anything from their light.

sRef Gen@21 @21 S0′ 2716. As regards the second arcanum, namely, that the obscurity with the spiritual is illuminated by the Lord’s Divine Human, it is one which cannot be explained to the comprehension, for it is the influx of the Divine that would have to be described. But some idea of it may be obtained by considering that if the Supreme Divine Itself were to flow into such a good as has been described, defiled by so many evils and falsities, it could not be received; and if anything were received by the man who had such good, he would feel infernal torture and would thus perish. But the Lord’s Divine Human can flow in with such men and can illuminate such good, as the sun shines into the dense clouds and transforms them in the early morning into the glories of the dawn; and yet the Lord cannot appear before them as the light of the sun, but as the light of the moon. Hence it is evident that the cause of the Lord’s coming into the world was that the spiritual might be saved (see n. 2661).

sRef Gen@21 @21 S0′ 2717. And his mother took him. That this signifies the affection of truth, is evident from the signification of “mother,” as being the church (see n. 289); and because the spiritual church that is here represented is in the affection of truth, and is a church by virtue of the affection of truth, this affection is here signified by “mother.”

sRef Gen@21 @21 S0′ 2718. A wife out of the land of Egypt. That this signifies the affection of memory-knowledges belonging to the man of the spiritual church is evident from the signification of a “wife,” as being affection or good (see n. 915, 2517); and from the signification of “Egypt” as being memory-knowledge (see n. 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462). In this verse the man of the spiritual church is described in regard to his quality as to good, that is, as to the essence of his life, namely, that the good that is with him is obscure, but is illuminated by the Lord’s Divine Human; from which illumination there comes forth in his rational the affection of truth, and in his natural the affection of memory-knowledges. The reason why the affection of good cannot come forth with the spiritual man such as it is with the celestial, but in place of it the affection of truth, is that the good which is in him is implanted in his intellectual part and is comparatively obscure (as was shown, n. 2715), from which no other affection can be produced and derived in his rational than the affection of truth, and thereby in his natural the affection of memory-knowledges. By truth here no other truth is meant than such as he believes to be true, though it be not true in itself; and by memory-knowledges are not meant such as the learned have, but everything of knowledge with which one can be imbued from experience and by hearing, from civic life, from doctrine, and from the Word. The man of the spiritual church is in the affection of such things.
[2] That it may be known what it is to be in the affection of truth, and what to be in the affection of good, we will briefly state that they who are in the affection of truth, think, search out, and discuss whether a thing be true, or whether it be so; and when they are confirmed that it is true, or that it is so, they think, search out, and discuss what it is, and thus stick fast at the first threshold; nor can they be admitted into wisdom until they are free from doubt. But they who are in the affection of good, from the good itself in which they are, know and perceive that the thing is so; and thus are not at the first threshold, but are in the inner chamber, being admitted into wisdom.
[3] Take as an example that it is celestial to think and act from the affection of good, or from good: They who are in the affection of truth discuss whether this be so, whether it be possible, and what it is; and so long as they are occupied with doubts about it they cannot be admitted; but they who are in the affection of good do not discuss, nor busy themselves with doubts, but affirm that it is so, and are therefore admitted; for they who are in the affection of good, that is, who are celestial, begin where they who are in the affection of truth, that is, who are spiritual, stop; so that the furthest boundary of the latter is the first of the former. For this reason it is given to them to know, to recognize, and to perceive that there are innumerable affections of good (as many, in fact, as there are societies in heaven); and that they are all conjoined by the Lord into a heavenly form, so as to constitute as it were one man; and it is also given them to distinguish by perception the kind and variety of each affection.
[4] Or take this example: That all delight, blessedness, and happiness, are solely of love; and that such as the love is, such is the delight, the blessedness, and the happiness. The spiritual man keeps his natural mind fixed on the question whether it be so, and whether the happiness be not from some other source, as from social interaction, conversation, meditation, and learning, or from possessions and the honor, reputation, and glory of them; not confirming himself in the fact that these effect nothing, but only the affection of love such as there is in them. But the celestial man does not stick in these preliminaries, but affirms that it is so, and is therefore in the end itself and the use, that is, in the very affections of the love, which are innumerable, and in every one of which there are ineffable things-and this with variation of delight, blessedness, and happiness, to eternity.
[5] Take also as an example that the neighbor is to be loved for the good that is in him: They who are in the affection of truth, think, search out, and discuss whether this be true, or whether it be so; what the neighbor is, and what good is; nor do they go any further, and therefore they close to themselves the gate to wisdom; but they who are in the affection of good affirm that it is so, and therefore do not close that gate to themselves, but enter in, and know, and recognize, and perceive, from good, who is more the neighbor than another, also in what degree he is the neighbor, and that all are neighbors in different degrees; and thus they perceive ineffable things beyond those who are only in the affection of truth.
[6] Take further this example: That he who loves his neighbor for the good that is in him, loves the Lord. They who are in the affection of truth examine carefully whether it be so; and if they are told that he who loves his neighbor for the good that is in him, loves the good, and that-as all good is from the Lord and the Lord is in the good-when anyone loves good he also loves Him from whom it is and in which He is, they examine whether it be so; also what good is, and whether the Lord is in good more than in truth; and so long as they stick in such things they cannot see wisdom even at a distance. But they who are in the affection of good know from perception that it is so; and they immediately see the field of wisdom, leading even to the Lord.
[7] From all this we can see why they who are in the affection of truth (that is, the spiritual) have obscurity in comparison with those who are in the affection of good (that is, the celestial). Nevertheless the spiritual can come from obscurity into light, provided they are willing to be in the affirmative that all good is of love to the Lord and of charity toward the neighbor; and that love and charity are spiritual conjunction; and that all blessedness and happiness are from these; and thus that heavenly life is in the good of love from the Lord, but not in the truth of faith separate from it.

2719. In this chapter the Lord’s rational has first been treated of, as being made Divine, which rational is “Isaac;” then the merely human rational, as being separated, which is the “son of Hagar the Egyptian;” and afterwards the spiritual church, which was saved by the Lord’s Divine Human, which church is “Hagar” and her “child.” Now the doctrine of faith is treated of, which is to be serviceable to that church; namely, that human reasonings from memory-knowledges are adjoined to it, which are “Abimelech” and “Phicol.” This conjunction is signified by the “covenant” which Abraham made with them.
These reasonings are appearances, not from a Divine but from a human origin, which are adjoined for the reason that without them the spiritual church would not comprehend doctrine, and thus would not receive it. For, as was shown above (n. 2715), the man of the spiritual church is relatively in obscurity; and doctrine is therefore to be clothed with such appearances as are of human thought and affection, and is not to be in discrepancy to such a degree that the Divine good cannot have in them some kind of receptacle. As Abimelech is again treated of in the following twenty-sixth chapter, and also a covenant (but with Isaac); and in the internal sense, the reasonings and memory-knowledges added to the doctrine of faith a second time, only a summary may here be given of the things contained in the internal sense, which will become clearer by the explication of that chapter.

sRef Gen@21 @30 S0′ sRef Gen@21 @22 S0′ sRef Gen@21 @23 S0′ sRef Gen@21 @25 S0′ sRef Gen@21 @24 S0′ sRef Gen@21 @31 S0′ sRef Gen@21 @32 S0′ sRef Gen@21 @26 S0′ sRef Gen@21 @29 S0′ sRef Gen@21 @28 S0′ sRef Gen@21 @27 S0′ 2720. Verse 22. And it came to pass at that time, that Abimelech, and Phicol the captain of his army, said unto Abraham, saying, God is with thee in all that thou doest. Verse 23. And now swear unto me here by God, that thou wilt not be false to me, nor to my son, nor to my son’s son; according to the kindness that I have done unto thee, thou shalt do unto me, and to the land wherein thou hast sojourned. Verse 24. And Abraham said, I will swear. Verse 25. And Abraham reproved Abimelech, because of the well of water which Abimelech’s servants had taken away. Verse 26. And Abimelech said, I know not who hath done this word, neither didst thou tell me, neither heard I of it but today. Verse 27. And Abraham took flock and herd, and gave to Abimelech, and they two struck a covenant. Verse 28. And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. Verse 29. And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What are these seven ewe lambs which thou hast set by themselves? Verse 30. And he said, Because these seven ewe lambs shalt thou take of my hand, that it may be a witness unto me that I have digged this well. Verse 31. Therefore he called that place Beersheba, because there they sware, both of them. Verse 32. And they struck a covenant at Beersheba; and Abimelech rose up, and Phicol the captain of his army; and they returned into the land of the Philistines.
[2] “It came to pass at that time” signifies the state in which the Lord was when His rational was made Divine; “and Abimelech, and Phicol the captain of his army, said unto Abraham” signifies the human rational things from memory-knowledges that were to be adjoined to the doctrine of faith, which in itself is Divine; “saying, God is with thee in all that thou doest” signifies that it was Divine as to all things both in general and in particular.
[3] “And now swear unto me here by God” signifies affirmation; “that thou wilt not be false to me” signifies without a doubt; “nor to my son, nor to my son’s son” signifies concerning the things of faith; “according to the kindness that I have done unto thee” signifies the rational things in which the Lord had been previously instructed; “thou shalt do unto me and to the land wherein thou hast sojourned” signifies what is reciprocal.
[4] “And Abraham said, I will swear” signifies all that is affirmative. “And Abraham reproved Abimelech” signifies the Lord’s indignation; “because of the well of water which Abimelech’s servants had taken away” signifies as to the doctrine of faith, that the memory-knowledges desired to attribute it to themselves.
[5] “And Abimelech said” signifies a reply. “I know not who hath done this word” signifies that the rational dictated something different; “neither didst thou tell me” signifies that it was not from the Divine; “neither heard I of it but today” signifies that it was now first disclosed.
[6] “And Abraham took flock and herd, and gave to Abimelech” signifies the Divine goods implanted in the rational things of doctrine signified by “Abimelech”; “and they two struck a covenant” signifies conjunction thus. “And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves” signifies the holiness of innocence.
[7] “And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What are these seven ewe lambs which thou hast set by themselves” signifies that he should be instructed and would acknowledge. “And he said, Because these seven ewe lambs shalt thou take of my hand” signifies that the holiness of innocence is from the Divine; “that it may be a witness unto me” signifies certainty; “that I have digged this well” signifies that the doctrine was from the Divine. “Therefore he called that place Beersheba” signifies the state and quality of the doctrine; “because there they sware both of them” signifies from the conjunction.
[8] “And they struck a covenant in Beersheba” signifies that human rational things were adjoined to the doctrine of faith; “and Abimelech rose up, and Phicol the captain of his army, and they returned into the land of the Philistines” signifies that nevertheless these things had no part in the doctrine.

sRef Gen@21 @33 S0′ 2721. Verse 33. And he planted a grove in Beersheba; and he called there on the name of the God of eternity. “He planted a grove in Beersheba” signifies doctrine with its knowledges and its quality; “and he called on the name of the God of eternity,” signifies worship from it.

sRef Gen@21 @33 S0′ 2722. He planted a grove in Beersheba. That this signifies doctrine thence with its knowledges and its quality, is evident from the signification of a “grove,” and from the signification of “Beersheba.” As regards groves: in the Ancient Church holy worship was performed on mountains and in groves; on mountains, because mountains signified the celestial things of worship; and in groves, because groves signified its spiritual things. So long as that church, namely, the Ancient, was in its simplicity, their worship at that time on mountains and in groves was holy, for the reason that celestial things, which are those of love and charity, were represented by things high and lofty, such as mountains and hills; and spiritual things, which are therefrom, by things fruitful and leafy, such as gardens and groves; but after representatives and significatives began to be made idolatrous, by the worship of external things without internal, that holy worship became profane; and they were therefore forbidden to worship on mountains and in groves.
sRef Deut@16 @22 S2′ sRef Gen@12 @8 S2′ sRef Deut@16 @21 S2′ sRef Ex@34 @13 S2′ sRef Deut@12 @3 S2′ [2] That the ancients held holy worship on mountains is evident from the twelfth chapter of Genesis, where we read of Abraham:
He removed thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the sea, and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar, and called on the name of Jehovah (Gen. 12:8, n. 1449-1455);
and also from the signification of a “mountain,” as being the celestial of love (n. 795, 796, 1430). That they also held holy worship in groves is evident from what is stated in this verse: “Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba, and called there on the name of the God of eternity;” and also from the signification of a “garden,” as being intelligence (n. 100, 108, 1588); and of “trees,” as being perceptions (n. 103, 2163). That this was forbidden is evident from the following passages. In Moses:
Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any tree beside the altar of Jehovah thy God which thou shalt make thee, and thou shalt not set thee up a pillar; which Jehovah thy God hateth (Deut. 16:21-22).
In the same:
The altars of the nations shall ye break down, and dash in pieces their pillars, and cut down their groves (Exod. 34:13);
and they were commanded to burn the groves of the nations with fire (Deut. 12:3).
sRef 2Ki@23 @4 S3′ sRef Judg@3 @7 S3′ sRef 2Ki@21 @7 S3′ sRef 2Ki@23 @13 S3′ sRef 2Ki@23 @7 S3′ sRef 2Ki@23 @6 S3′ sRef 2Ki@23 @15 S3′ sRef 2Ki@23 @14 S3′ sRef 1Ki@14 @15 S3′ sRef 2Ki@17 @10 S3′ sRef 2Ki@18 @4 S3′ sRef 1Ki@14 @23 S3′ sRef 2Ki@21 @3 S3′ sRef 2Ki@17 @9 S3′ [3] And as the Jews and Israelites, among whom the representative ritual of the Ancient Church was introduced, were solely in externals, and at heart were nothing but idolaters, neither knowing nor wishing to know what anything internal was, nor the life after death, nor even that the Messiah’s kingdom was a heavenly one, therefore whenever they were in freedom they held profane worship on mountains and hills, and also in groves and forests; and likewise in place of mountains and hills they made for themselves high places, and in place of groves carved representations of a grove, as is evident from many passages in the Word. As in the book of Judges:
The sons of Israel served Baalim and the groves (Judg. 3:7).
In the book of Kings:
Israel made groves provoking Jehovah (1 Kings 14:15).
And in another place:
Judah built them high places, and pillars, and groves, upon every high hill, and under every green tree (1 Kings 14:23).
And again:
Israel built them high places in all their cities, and set up pillars and groves upon every high hill, and under every green tree (2 Kings 17:9-10).
And again:
Manasseh king of Judah reared up altars for Baal, and made a grove, as did Ahab king of Israel, and set the carved image of the grove which he had made in the house of God (2 Kings 21:3, 7);
from which it is manifest that they also made for themselves carved images of a grove. That these were destroyed by king Josiah may be seen in the same book:
Josiah caused all the vessels that were made for Baal and for the grove, and for the sun and the moon, and for all the army of the heavens, to be brought out of the temple of Jehovah, and he burnt them without Jerusalem, and the houses which the women had woven there for the grove (2 Kings 23:4-5, 7, 14-15).
He also cut down the groves which Solomon had made, and likewise the grove in Bethel which Jeroboam had made (2 Kings 23:4, 6-7, 13-15). That king Hezekiah also demolished such things may be seen in the same book:
Hezekiah king of Judah removed the high places, and brake the pillars, and cut down the grove, and brake in pieces the brazen serpent which Moses had made (2 Kings 18:4).
sRef Isa@57 @5 S4′ sRef Isa@17 @8 S4′ sRef Isa@57 @6 S4′ sRef Ezek@6 @13 S4′ sRef Micah@5 @14 S4′ sRef Micah@5 @13 S4′ sRef Isa@17 @7 S4′ sRef Isa@57 @7 S4′ [4] That the brazen serpent was holy in the time of Moses is evident; but when the external was worshiped it became profane, and was broken in pieces, for the same reason that worship on mountains and in groves was forbidden. These things are still more evident in the Prophets. In Isaiah:
Inflaming yourselves with gods under every green tree; sacrificing the children in the rivers under the crags of the rocks; thou hast also poured out a drink-offering to the rivers, thou hast offered a gift; upon a high and lofty mountain hast thou set thy habitation, and thither wentest thou up* to offer sacrifice (Isa. 57:5-7).
In the same:
In that day shall a man look unto his Maker, and his eyes shall see the Holy One of Israel; and he shall not look to the altars the work of his hands, neither shall he see that which his fingers have made, and the groves and the sun images (Isa. 17:7-8).
In Micah:
I will cut off thy graven images and thy pillars out of the midst of thee, and thou shalt no more bow thyself down to the work of thy hands; and I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy cities (Micah 5:13-14).
In Ezekiel:
That their slain may be among their idols, round about their altars, upon every high hill, on all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every tangled oak, the place where they did offer an odor of rest to all their idols (Ezek. 6:13).
[5] From all this it is now manifest from what origin idolatrous worship came, namely, the worship of objects that were representative and significative. The most ancient people who were before the flood saw in each and everything-in mountains, hills, plains, and valleys, gardens, groves, and forests, rivers and waters, fields and plantations, trees and animals of every kind, and the luminaries of heaven-something representative and significative of the Lord’s kingdom; but they never dwelt with their eyes, still less with their minds, on these objects; but these things served them as means for thinking about the celestial and spiritual things in the Lord’s kingdom; and this to such a degree that there was nothing at all in universal nature that did not serve them as such means. The real fact is that everything in nature is representative, which is an arcanum at this day and scarcely believed by anyone. But after the celestial which is of love to the Lord had perished, the human race was then no longer in that state-namely, that from objects as means they could see the celestial and spiritual things of the Lord’s kingdom.
[6] Yet the ancients after the flood knew, from traditions, and from collections made by certain persons, that these things had such a signification; and as they were significative they esteemed them holy. Hence came the representative worship of the Ancient Church; which church, being spiritual, was not in the perception that a thing was so, but was in the knowledge of the fact; for it was relatively in obscurity (n. 2715). Nevertheless they did not worship outward things, but by means of outward things they called to mind inward things; and hence when they were in those representatives and significatives, they were in holiness of worship. They were able to be so because they were in spiritual love, that is, in charity, which they made an essential of worship; and therefore holiness from the Lord could flow into their worship. But when the state of the human race had become so changed and perverted that they removed themselves from the good of charity, and thus no longer believed that there was any heavenly kingdom, or any life after death, but that men were in a similar condition with animals, save only that they could think (as is also believed at this day), then the holy representative worship was turned into idolatry, and the outward things were worshiped. Hence with many Gentiles at that time, and also with the Jews and Israelites, the worship was not representative, but was a worship of the representatives and significatives; that is, of the outward things without the inward.
[7] As regards groves in particular, among the ancients they were of various signification, and indeed according to the kinds of trees in them. Groves of olive-trees signified the celestial things of worship; groves of vines signified the spiritual things of worship; but groves of fig-trees, cedars, fir-trees, poplars, and oaks, signified various things relating to what is celestial and spiritual. In the passage before us mention is made simply of a grove or plantation of trees; and this signifies the things of reason that were adjoined to doctrine and its knowledges; for trees in general signify perceptions (n. 103, 2163), but when they are predicated of the spiritual church they signify knowledges, for the reason that the man of the spiritual church has no other perceptions than those which come through knowledges from doctrine or the Word; for these become of his faith, and thus of conscience, from which he has perception.
* Ibi obtulisti, but eo ascendisti, Apocalypse Explained 405. [Rotch ed.]

sRef Gen@26 @23 S0′ sRef Gen@26 @22 S0′ sRef Gen@21 @33 S0′ 2723. But in regard to Beersheba-“Beersheba” signifies the state and quality of the doctrine, namely, that it is Divine and it is that to which what is of human reason is adjoined-as is evident from the series of things treated of from verse 22 to this verse (see n. 2613, 2614); and also from the signification of the word itself in the original language, which is “the well of the oath,” and “of seven.” That a “well” is the doctrine of faith may be seen above (n. 2702, 2720); that an “oath” is conjunction (n. 2720); and that a “covenant made by an oath,” has the same meaning (n. 1996, 2003, 2021, 2037); and that “seven” denotes what is holy and thus Divine (n. 395, 433, 716, 881); from all which it is evident that “Beersheba” signifies doctrine which is in itself Divine together with things of human reason or appearances adjoined.
sRef Gen@26 @33 S2′ sRef Gen@26 @32 S2′ sRef Gen@21 @31 S2′ sRef Gen@21 @32 S2′ sRef Gen@21 @30 S2′ [2] That the name Beersheba comes from all this is manifest from Abraham’s words:
Because these seven ewe lambs shalt thou take from my hand, that it may be a witness unto me that I have digged this well; therefore he called that place Beersheba, because there they sware both of them; and they struck a covenant in Beersheba (Gen. 21:30-32).
In like manner from Isaac’s words in chapter 26:
It came to pass on that day that Isaac’s servants came and told him concerning the well which they had digged, and said unto him, We have found water; and he called it Shibah (an “oath” and “seven”); therefore the name of the city is Beersheba unto this day (Gen. 26:32-33).
There also wells are spoken of about which there was contention with Abimelech, and a covenant with him is treated of; and by “Beersheba” are signified the things of human reason again adjoined to the doctrine of faith; and because they are again adjoined, and the doctrine thus became adapted to human comprehension, it is called a “city” (that a “city” signifies doctrine in its complex may be seen above, n. 402, 2268, 2450, 2451). Moreover Beersheba is mentioned with a similar signification as to the internal sense in other places (Gen. 22:19; 26:22-23; 28:10; 46:1, 5; Josh. 15:28; 19:1-2; 1 Sam. 8:2; 1 Kings 19:3; and also in the opposite sense, Amos 5:5; 8:13-14).
sRef 2Sam@24 @2 S3′ sRef 2Sam@24 @7 S3′ sRef 2Sam@17 @11 S3′ sRef Judg@20 @1 S3′ sRef 1Ki@4 @25 S3′ sRef 2Sam@3 @10 S3′ sRef 2Sam@24 @15 S3′ sRef 1Sam@3 @20 S3′ [3] The extension of the celestial and spiritual things belonging to doctrine is signified in the internal sense, where the extent of the land of Canaan is described by the expression “from Dan even to Beersheba;” for by the land of Canaan is signified the Lord’s kingdom, and also His church, consequently the celestial and spiritual things of doctrine; as in the book of Judges:
All the sons of Israel went out, and the congregation was assembled as one man from Dan even to Beersheba (Judg. 20:1).
In the book of Samuel:
All Israel from Dan even to Beersheba (1 Sam. 3:20).
And again:
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).
And again:
Hushai said to Absalom, Let all Israel be gathered together, from Dan even unto Beersheba (2 Sam. 17:11).
And again:
David told Joab to go through all the tribes of Israel from Dan even to Beersheba (2 Sam. 24:2, 7).
And again:
There died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men (2 Sam. 24:15).
In the book of Kings:
Judah dwelt under his vine and under his fig-tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon (1 Kings 4:25).

sRef Gen@21 @33 S0′ 2724. And called there on the name of the God of eternity. That this signifies worship therefrom, is evident from the signification of “calling upon the name of God,” as being worship (see n. 440). They who were of the Ancient Church did not by a name understand the name, but all the quality (see n. 144-145, 440, 768, 1754, 1896, 2009); and thus by the “name of God” all that in one complex by which God was worshiped, consequently everything of love and faith; but when the internal of worship perished, and only the external remained, they then began to understand by the name of God nothing else than the name, so much so that they worshiped the name itself, feeling no care about the love and the faith from which they worshiped. On this account the nations began to distinguish themselves by the names of their gods; and the Jews and Israelites set themselves up above the rest, because they worshiped Jehovah, placing the essential of worship in uttering the name and invoking it, when in truth the worship of a name only is no worship, and may also be found among the worst of men, who thereby profane the more.
sRef John@1 @12 S2′ sRef Matt@6 @9 S2′ sRef Matt@19 @29 S2′ sRef John@17 @11 S2′ sRef John@17 @12 S2′ sRef Matt@24 @10 S2′ sRef Matt@18 @20 S2′ sRef Matt@18 @19 S2′ sRef John@17 @6 S2′ sRef Matt@24 @9 S2′ sRef Matt@23 @39 S2′ sRef John@14 @14 S2′ sRef Matt@10 @22 S2′ sRef John@17 @26 S2′ sRef John@3 @18 S2′ sRef John@3 @17 S2′ sRef Matt@21 @9 S2′ sRef John@20 @31 S2′ [2] But as by the “name of God” everything of worship is signified, that is, everything of love and faith from which He is worshiped, it is therefore evident what is meant by “hallowed be Thy Name,” in the Lord’s Prayer (Matt. 6:9); also by what the Lord said:
Ye shall be hated for My name’s sake (Matt. 10:22).
If two shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in the heavens; for where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them (Matt. 18:19-20).
Everyone that hath left houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit eternal life (Matt. 19:29).
Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord (Matt. 21:9).
Jesus said, Ye shall not see Me henceforth till ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord (Matt. 23:39).
Ye shall be hated of all nations for My name’s sake and then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another (Matt. 24:9-10).
As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, to them that believe on His name (John 1:12).
He that believeth not is judged already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God (John 3:18).
Jesus said, Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do (John 14:14-15; 15:16; 16:23-24, 26-27).
Jesus said, I have manifested Thy name unto the men (John 17:6).
Holy Father, keep them in Thy name whom Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, as We are (John 17:11-12).
I have made known unto them Thy name, and will make it known; that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them (John 17:26).
That ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye may have life in His name (John 20:31).
Besides very many passages in the Old Testament, in which by the “name” of Jehovah and of God the name is not meant, but everything of love and faith from which is worship.
sRef Matt@7 @22 S3′ sRef Gen@22 @14 S3′ sRef Ex@17 @15 S3′ sRef Judg@6 @24 S3′ sRef Matt@7 @23 S3′ [3] But they who worship a name only, without love and faith, are thus spoken of in Matthew:
Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied by Thy name, and by Thy name have cast out demons, and in Thy name done many mighty works? But I will confess unto them, I know you not; depart from Me ye that work iniquity (Matt. 7:22-23).
When as before said the men of the church became external, from being internal, and began to place worship in a name alone, they then no longer acknowledged one God, but many. For it was a common thing for the ancients to add something to the name of Jehovah, and thereby call to mind some benefit or attribute of His, as in the passage before us, “he called upon the name of the God of eternity;” and in the following chapter (22), “Abraham called the name of that place, Jehovah-jireh,” that is, “Jehovah shall see” (verse 14). “Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah-nissi,” that is, “Jehovah my banner” (Exod. 17:15); “Gideon built an altar there unto Jehovah, and called it Jehovah-shalom” that is, “Jehovah of peace” (Judges 6:24); besides other places. From this it came to pass that they who placed worship in a name only, acknowledged so many gods; and also that among the Gentiles, especially in Greece and at Rome, so many gods were acknowledged and worshiped; whereas the Ancient Church, from which the epithets emanated, never worshiped but one God, reverenced under so many names, because by the “name” they understood the quality.

sRef Gen@21 @34 S0′ 2725. Verse 34. And Abraham sojourned in the land of the Philistines many days. “Abraham sojourned in the land of the Philistines many days,” signifies that the Lord adjoined to the doctrine of faith very many things from the memory-knowledge of human knowledges [ex scientia cognitionum humanarum].

sRef Gen@21 @34 S0′ 2726. Abraham sojourned in the land of the Philistines many days. That this signifies that the Lord adjoined to the doctrine of faith very many things from the memory-knowledge of human knowledges is evident from the signification of “sojourning,” as being to instruct (see n. 1463, 2025); from the representation of Abraham, as being the Lord (see n. 1965, 1989, 2011, 2501); from the signification of the “land of the Philistines,” or Philistia, as being the memory-knowledge of knowledges (see n. 1197, 1198); and from the signification of “days,” as being the state of the thing which is treated of (n. 23, 487, 488, 493, 893); here, because knowledges from the things of memory and reason are treated of, and it is said “many days,” it signifies relatively very many things. Thus far, from verse 22, rational things from human memory-knowledges, added to the doctrine of faith, are treated of, as is manifest from the explication; and here is the conclusion of them. As regards the subject itself; as in itself it is deep, and as much is said about it in chapter 26, it may be well at present to defer further explication.

2727. CONCERNING MARRIAGES, HOW THEY ARE REGARDED IN THE HEAVENS; AND CONCERNING ADULTERIES.
What genuine conjugial love is, and whence its origin, few at this day know, for the reason that few are in it. Almost all believe that it is inborn, and so flows from a kind of natural instinct, as they say, and this the more, because something of marriage exists also among animals; whereas the difference between conjugial love among human beings and what is of marriage among animals is such as is that between the state of a human being and the state of a brute animal.

2728. And because, as was said, few at this day know what genuine conjugial love is, it shall be described from what has been discovered to me. Conjugial love takes its origin from the Divine marriage of good and truth, and thus from the Lord Himself. That conjugial love is from this, is not apparent to sense nor to apprehension; but still it may be seen from influx and from correspondence, as well as from the Word. From influx, inasmuch as heaven, from the union of good and truth, which inflows from the Lord is compared to a marriage, and is called a marriage: from correspondence, since, when good united to truth flows down into a lower sphere, it forms a union of minds; and when into one still lower, it forms a marriage: wherefore union of minds from good united to truth from the Lord, is conjugial love itself.

2729. That genuine conjugial love is from this, may be seen from the fact that no one can be in it unless he is in the good of truth and the truth of good from the Lord; also from the fact that heavenly blessedness and happiness is in that love; and they who are in it all come into heaven, or into the heavenly marriage. Also from the fact that when angels are conversing about the union of good and truth, there is then presented among good spirits in the lower sphere a representative of marriage; but among evil spirits a representative of adultery. Hence it is that in the Word the union of good and truth is called “marriage;” but the adulteration of good and the falsification of truth, “adultery” and “whoredom” (see n. 2466).

2730. The people of the Most Ancient Church above all on this earth lived in genuine conjugial love, because they were celestial, were in truth from good, and were in the Lord’s kingdom together with the angels; and in that love they had heaven. But their posterity, with whom the church declined, began to love their children, and not their consorts; for children can be loved by the evil, but a consort can be loved only by the good.

2731. From those most ancient people it has been heard that conjugial love is of such a nature as to desire to be altogether the other’s, and this reciprocally; and that when this is experienced mutually and reciprocally they are in heavenly happiness: also, that the conjunction of minds is of such a nature that this mutuality and reciprocity is in everything of their life, that is, in everything of their affection, and in everything of their thought. On this account it has been instituted by the Lord that wives should be affections of good which are of the will, and husbands thoughts of truth which are of the understanding; and that from this there should be a marriage such as there is between the will and the understanding, and between all things thereof with one who is in the good of truth and the truth of good.

2732. I have spoken with angels as to the nature of this mutuality and reciprocity, and they said that there is the image and likeness of the one in the mind of the other, and that they thus dwell together not only in the particulars, but also in the inmosts of life; and that into such a one the Lord’s love and mercy can flow with blessedness and happiness. They said also that they who have lived in such conjugial love in the life of the body are together and dwell together in heaven as angels, sometimes with their children also; but that very few from Christendom at this day have so lived, though all so lived from the Most Ancient Church, which was celestial, and many from the Ancient Church, which was spiritual. But that they who have lived in marriage, joined together not by conjugial love, but by lascivious love, are separated in the other life, because nothing of lasciviousness is tolerated in heaven; and that still more are those separated who have lived in mutual aversion, and more still they who have hated each other. When both first come into the other life, they for the most part meet again, but after much suffering are separated.

2733. There were certain spirits who from practice in the life of the body infested me with peculiar adroitness, and this by a somewhat gentle influx, like a wave, such as that of upright spirits is wont to be; but it was perceived that there was in it craftiness and the like, to captivate and deceive. I at length spoke with one of them who I was told had been in the world the commander of an army. And as I perceived that in the ideas of his thought there was lasciviousness, I spoke with him about marriage. The speech of spirits is illustrated by representatives, which fully express the sense, and many things in a moment of time.
[2] He said that in the life of the body he thought nothing of adulteries. But it was given to tell him that adulteries are horribly wicked-though to such men they do not appear to be so, but even allowable, owing to the delight they take in them, and the persuasion therefrom-which he might also know from the fact that marriages are the nurseries of the human race, and hence also the nurseries of the heavenly kingdom, and on that account are in no wise to be violated, but to be kept holy; as well as from the consideration that being in the other life and in a state of perception he ought to be aware that conjugial love comes down through heaven from the Lord; and that from that love, as from a parent, is derived mutual love, which is the basis of heaven; and also from the fact that when adulterers merely approach heavenly societies they become sensible of their own stench, and cast themselves down toward hell. Further, he might at least know that to violate marriages is contrary to the Divine laws, and contrary to the civil laws of all, and also contrary to the genuine light of reason, because contrary to order both Divine and human; and much more besides.
[3] But he answered that he had never known such things in the life of the body, nor had thought of them. He wished to reason whether they were so; but was told that in the other life truth does not admit of reasonings, for these favor one’s delights, and thus his evils and falsities; and that he ought first to think of the things that had been said, because they were true. Or he ought also to think from the principle most fully known in the world, that one must not do to another what he is not willing that the other should do to him: and thus, if anyone had in such a manner beguiled his wife, whom he loved-as everyone does in the beginning of marriage-would he not himself also at that time, when in a state of wrath about it, if he spoke from that state, have detested adulteries? And at the same time, as he was of superior talent, would he not have confirmed himself against them more than others, even to condemning them to hell? And thus he might have judged himself from himself.

2734. They who in the life of the body have had happiness in marriages from genuine conjugial love, have happiness also in the other life; so that with them the happiness of the one life is continued into that of the other, and becomes there a union of minds, in which is heaven. I have been told that the kinds of celestial and spiritual happiness from it, even only the most universal, cannot be numbered.

2735. Genuine conjugial love is the image of heaven, and when it is represented in the other life this is done by the most beautiful things that can ever be seen by the eyes, or conceived by the mind. It is represented by a virgin of inexpressible beauty, encompassed by a bright cloud, so that it may be said to be beauty itself in essence and form. It has been said that all beauty in the other life is from conjugial love. Its affections and thoughts are represented by diamond-like auras, sparkling as it were with rubies and carbuncles, and these things are attended with delights which affect the inmosts of the mind; but as soon as anything of lasciviousness enters in, they disappear.

2736. I have been instructed that genuine conjugial love is innocence itself, which dwells in wisdom. Those who have lived in conjugial love are in wisdom more than all others in heaven; and yet when viewed by others they appear like little children, in the age of bloom and spring; and whatever then befalls is joy and happiness to them. They are in the inmost heaven, which is called the heaven of innocence. Through this heaven the Lord flows into conjugial love, and angels from that heaven are present with those who live in that love. They are also present with little children in their earliest age.

2737. With those who live in conjugial love, the interiors of their minds are open through heaven even to the Lord; for this love flows in from the Lord through a man’s inmost. From this they have the Lord’s kingdom in themselves, and from this they have genuine love toward little children for the sake of the Lord’s kingdom; and from this they are receptive of heavenly loves above others, and are in mutual love more than others; for this comes from that source as a stream from its fountain.

2738. Mutual love, such as there is in heaven, is not like conjugial love. Conjugial love consists in desiring to be in the other’s life as a one; but mutual love consists in wishing better to another than to one’s self, as is the case with the love of parents toward their children, and as is the love of those who are in the love of doing good, not for their own sake, but because this is a joy to them. Such angelic love is derived from conjugial love, and is born from it as a child from its parent; and for this reason it exists with parents toward their children. This love is preserved by the Lord with parents, even if they are not in conjugial love, in order that the human race may not perish.

2739. From the marriage of good and truth in the heavens descend all loves, which are such as the love of parents toward their children, the love of brothers for one another, and the love for relatives, and so on, according to their degrees in their order. According to these loves, which are solely from good and truth, that is, from love to the Lord and faith in Him, are formed all the heavenly societies; which are so joined together by the Lord as to represent one man, and therefore heaven is also called the Grand Man. There are unutterable varieties, all of which take their origin and are derived from the union of good and truth from the Lord, which union is the heavenly marriage. Hence it is that the origin of all consanguinities and relationships on earth is derived from marriages, and that loves were derived in like manner according to their degrees mutually among themselves; but as there is no conjugial love at this day, consanguinities and relationships are indeed reckoned from marriage, but there are no consanguinities and relationships of love. In the Most Ancient Church the derivations of love were of this nature, and therefore they dwell together in the heavens distinguished as it were into nations, families, and houses, all of which acknowledge the Lord as their only Parent.

sRef Matt@19 @11 S0′ sRef Matt@19 @12 S0′ sRef Matt@19 @7 S0′ sRef Matt@19 @3 S0′ sRef Matt@19 @9 S0′ sRef Matt@19 @8 S0′ sRef Matt@19 @10 S0′ sRef Matt@19 @5 S0′ sRef Matt@19 @4 S0′ sRef Matt@19 @6 S0′ 2740. Genuine conjugial love is not possible except between two consorts, that is, in the marriage of one man with one wife, and by no means with more than one at the same time; for the reason that conjugial love is mutual and reciprocal, and is the alternate life of the one in the other, so that they are as it were a one. Such a union is possible between two, but not among more: more tear that love asunder. The men of the Most Ancient Church, who were celestial and in the perception of good and truth, like the angels, had but one wife. They said that with one wife they perceived heavenly delights and happiness, and that when marriage with more was merely mentioned, they were filled with horror; for as before said the marriage of one husband and one wife comes down from the marriage of good and truth, or from the heavenly marriage, which is of this nature, as is very evident from the Lord’s words in Matthew:
Jesus said, Have ye not read that He who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh; what therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. Moses, for the hardness of your heart, permitted you to put away your wives; but from the beginning it was not so. All cannot receive this word, save they to whom it is given (Matt. 19:3-12).

2741. Good and truth are continually flowing in from the Lord with all, and consequently so is genuine conjugial love; but it is received in various ways; and as it is received, such it becomes. With the lascivious it is turned into lasciviousness, with adulterers into adulteries, its heavenly happiness into unclean delight, thus heaven into hell. The case with this is as with the light of the sun flowing into objects, which is received according to the nature of the objects, and becomes blue, red, yellow, green, dark, and even black, according to the reception.

2742. A certain semblance of conjugial love is found with some, but is not really that unless they are in the love of good and truth. It is a love appearing like conjugial love, but it is for the sake of the love of the world or of self, namely, to be served at home, or to be in security or at ease, or to be ministered to when ill and when growing old; or for the sake of the care of their children whom they love. With some this seeming love is induced from fear of the consort, or for one’s reputation, or fear of misfortunes; and with some from lascivious love. This appears in the first period as if it were conjugial love; for at that time they behave with something like innocence, they sport like little children, they have a perception of joy as of something from heaven; but with the progress of time they do not become united more and more closely, like those who are in conjugial love, but are being separated. Conjugial love also differs with the consorts; with the one it may be more or less, with the other little or nothing; and because of this difference there may be heaven for the one, but hell for the other. The affection and the reception determine this.

2743. A great dog like Cerberus was seen by me, and I asked what it signified, and was told that by such a dog is signified a guard lest anyone should pass in conjugial love from heavenly delight to infernal delight, or the reverse; for they who are in genuine conjugial love are in heavenly delight; but they who are in adulteries are also in a delight which appears to them as heavenly, but is infernal. By the dog is thus represented that those opposite delights must not communicate.