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 whichsee 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.

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 (Jeremiah 6:3).

In David:

He smote all the firstborn in Egypt, the beginning of strength in the tents of Ham (Psalms 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 (Psalms 84:10).