4287. 'For as a prince you have contended with God and with men, and have prevailed' means repeated victories in conflicts over truths and goods. This is clear from the meaning of 'contending as a prince' as overcoming in conflicts, in this case conflicts that accompany temptations since these are the subject at present; and from the meaning of 'with God and with men' as conflicts over truths and goods, to be dealt with below.

[2] The subject in the highest sense being the Lord, it is He who is meant in that sense by 'one contending as a prince with God and with men', for by His own power He suffered all temptations and through them overcame the hells. Indeed He allowed into Himself all the hells in their order, and even the angels, as will be explained later on. In so doing he brought into order everything in the heavens and in the hells, and at length glorified Himself, that is, made the Human within Him Divine.

[3] From this it is evident that in the highest sense the Lord is meant by Jacob and Israel, as shown immediately above in 4286. Not only has He Himself 'contended as a prince', that is, has suffered all the conflicts brought about by temptations and has overcome in them, but also He suffers them in every individual human being. But see what has been stated many times already on these matters in the following references,

The Lord suffered the severest temptations, greater than anybody else has done, 1663, 1668, 1787, 2776, 2786, 2795, 2816.

Unlike any others the Lord fought out of Divine love, 1690, 1691 (end), 1789, 1812, 1813, 1820.

The Lord fought against hereditary evil from the mother, so that at length He was not her son; even so, no evil of His own doing was attached to Him, 1444, 1573, 2025, 2574, 2649, 3318 (end).

Through the conflicts brought about by temptations and through repeated victories the Lord arranged all things into the form which heaven possesses, 1928.

And through repeated victories in conflicts brought about by temptations He united the Divine Essence to the Human Essence, 1616, 1737, 1813, 1921, 2025, 2026, 2500, 2523, 2632, 2776.

The Lord suffers the temptations that take place in man, subduing evil and the hells, 987, 1661, 1692 (end).

[4] The arcanum that 'contending with God and with men' means being tempted over truths and over goods is one that is not open to view in the letter. It is clear to anyone, and will also be evident from the explanation given below, that it was not God with whom Jacob contended, for it cannot be said of anyone that he contends with God and prevails. But the internal sense teaches what 'God' and 'men' mean here - that 'God' means truth, and 'men' good. The reason for this is that 'God' in the internal sense means truth, and therefore whenever truth is dealt with the name God is used, 2586, 2769, 2807, 2822, whereas the term 'man' is used to mean good. And 'man' means good because the Lord is the only Man and anyone else is called such by virtue of Him, 49, 288, 565, 1894. A further reason is that by virtue of Him heaven is man and is called the Grand Man, 684, 1276, 3624-3649, 3741-3750. And this also was why the Most Ancient Church which was governed by celestial good was referred to as Man, 478.

[5] Therefore whenever good is dealt with in the Word, 'man' (homo) means good, as in Isaiah,

I will make the male person (vir homo) more rare than gold, and man (homo) than the gold of Ophir. Isaiah 13:12.

In the same prophet,

The inhabitants of the land will be scorched and few male persons (vir homo) left. Isaiah 24:6.

'Male persons' stands for spiritual good or the good of truth. 'Man' stands for good. In the same prophet, The highways have been laid waste, the wayfarer has ceased. He has broken the covenant, he has despised the cities, he has no regard for the male person (vir homo). Isaiah 33:8.

In Jeremiah,

I looked to the earth, and behold, that which is void and empty, and towards the heavens, and they had no light I looked, and behold, there was no man; and all the birds of the air had flown away. Jeremiah 4:23, 25.

In the same prophet, behold, the days are coming, said Jehovah, in which I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast. Jeremiah 31:27.

In Ezekiel,

Your merchants [traded] in the souls of men and vessels of bronze, giving these for your merchandise. Ezekiel 27:13.

In the same prophet, You, O my flock, the flock of My pasture, you are men; I am your God. Ezekiel 34:31.

In the same prophet, They will be cities laid waste, filled with the flock of mankind. Ezekiel 36:38.

In these places 'man' (homo) stands for people who are governed by good, and so stands for good, since good is what causes anyone to be 'man'. Truth however which is grounded in good is referred to in the Word as 'a male person' (vir homo) and also as 'the son of man'.

1573. 'And the Canaanite and the Perizzite were then dwelling in the land' means evils and falsities in the external man. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'the Canaanite' as hereditary evil from the mother in the external man, dealt with already in 1444, and from the meaning of 'the Perizzite' as derivative falsity, dealt with in what follows below. That hereditary evil from the mother resided with the Lord in His external Man, see what has been stated already in 1414, 1444. The fact that falsity resulted from that hereditary evil follows, for where there is hereditary evil falsity is present also. The one is born from the other, but falsity from evil cannot be born until a person has been endowed with facts and cognitions. Evil has nothing to work on or flow into except facts and cognitions. In this way evil belonging to the will part of the mind is turned into falsity in the understanding part, and therefore this falsity also was hereditary because it was born from what was hereditary, though not the falsity that is based on false principles. But it existed in the external man as that which the internal man could see was falsity.

[2] Because hereditary evil from the mother was present before the Lord had been endowed with facts and cognitions, that is, before 'Abram sojourned in Egypt' it is said in verse 6 of the previous chapter that 'the Canaanite was in the land' but not that the Perizzite was there, whereas in the present verse, now that He had been endowed with facts and cognitions, it is said that 'the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelt in the land'. From these considerations it is clear that 'the Canaanite' means evil and 'the Perizzite' falsity. It is also clear from the consideration that the mention of the Canaanite and the Perizzite does not bear any relation to the historical events among which it occurs, for nothing is said about either of them in what has gone before or in what follows. The same is also true with the mention of the Canaanite in verse 6 of the previous chapter. From this it is evident that some arcanum lies concealed here which one cannot know except from the internal sense.

[3] To some it may come as a surprise to say that hereditary evil from the mother was present with the Lord, but as such evil is spoken of so plainly here, and as in the internal sense the Lord is the subject, there can be no doubt that it was present. For no human being can possibly be born from another human being without deriving evil from him or her. But the hereditary evil that is derived from the father is one thing, that from the mother is another. Hereditary evil from the father is more internal and remains for ever, since it can never be rooted out. Such evil did not exist with the Lord because He was born of Jehovah as His Father, and thus was Divine, or Jehovah, as regards internals. But hereditary evil from the mother belongs to the external man, as it did with the Lord, and it is called 'the Canaanite in the land', and derivative falsity 'the Perizzite'. The Lord was in this sense born as any other, and had weaknesses as any other has them.

[4] That the Lord derived hereditary evil from the mother is quite clear from the fact that He underwent temptations. Nobody can ever be tempted who has no evil, for it is the evil present with man that tempts and by means of which he is tempted. That the Lord was tempted, undergoing temptations so serious that no other could ever endure one ten thousandth part of them, that He suffered all alone, and by His own power overcame evil, or the devil and the whole of hell, is also clear. Those temptations are spoken of in Luke as follows,

Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. He was tempted for forty days by the devil, so that He ate nothing in those days. But after the devil had ended every temptation he departed from Him for a time. From there He returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee. Luke 4:1-2, 13-14.

[5] And in Mark,

The Spirit, driving Jesus, made Him go away into the wilderness; and He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted; and He was with the wild beasts. Mark 1:12-13.

Here 'beasts' means hell. In addition to this He is spoken of as being tempted to the point of death, so that His sweat was [like] drops of blood,

And when He was in agony He prayed more earnestly; and His sweat became as great drops of blood falling down upon the ground. Luke 22:44.

[6] No angel can possibly be tempted by the devil, the reason being that as an angel abides in the Lord, evil spirits cannot approach him, even when they are a long way off, but are instantly seized with horror and fright. Much less could hell have approached the Lord if He had been born Divine, that is, without evil from the mother clinging to Him.

[7] That the Lord bore the iniquities and evils of the human race is also a statement commonly made by preachers, yet the diversion of iniquities and evils to Himself can never come about except through a hereditary channel. The Divine cannot take evil upon Itself, and therefore in order that He might overcome evil by His own powers - which no human being has ever been able to do or ever can do - and in so doing might make Himself alone Righteousness, He was willing to be born like any other. Otherwise there would have been no need for Him to be born at all, for the Lord could have assumed Human Essence without going through the process of birth, as He had indeed sometimes done when seen by members of the Most Ancient Church, and also by prophets. Therefore in order that He might be furnished with evil against which He was to fight and over which He was to conquer, and in so doing might join together in Himself the Divine Essence to the Human Essence, He came into the world.

[8] In the Lord however there was no evil of His own, that is, He committed no actual evil, as He Himself also says in John,

Who of you is going to convict Me of sin? John 8:46.

From these considerations it may now be quite evident what is meant by the statement immediately preceding - 'there was strife between Abram's herdsmen and Lot's herdsman'. The reason was that 'the Canaanite and the Perizzite were dwelling in the land'.