5973. “以色列说” 表现在的属灵良善。这从 “以色列” 的代表清楚可知, “以色列” 是指属灵良善 (参看5801, 5803, 5807, 5817, 5819, 5826, 5832, 5833节)。至于何谓 “以色列” 所代表的属灵良善, 何谓 “雅各” 所代表的属世良善, 可参看前文 (5965节)。不熟悉圣言内义的人绝无可能知道为何雅各有时叫 “雅各”, 有时叫 “以色列”; 因为在同一章, 甚至同一节中, 经上有时用这个名字, 有时用那个名字。这很清楚地表明, 圣言含有内义, 如此处经上说 “他们父亲雅各的灵就苏醒了, 以色列说”。另处也有同样的例子, 如以下经文:

约瑟的兄弟便雅悯, 雅各没有打发他和哥哥们同去; 在前来的人当中, 以色列的儿子们也来。(创世记 42:4, 5).

以色列起程; 神在夜间的异象中对以色列说, 雅各！雅各！雅各说, 我在这里。(创世记 46:1, 2)

雅各就从别是巴起身; 以色列的儿子们接上他们的父亲雅各。(创世记 46:5)

雅各家来到埃及的共有七十人; 约瑟套上他的马车, 上去迎接以色列; . 以色列对约瑟说。(创世记 46:27, 29, 30)

以色列人住在埃及地, 歌珊地; 雅各住在埃及地十七年; 以色列死的日期临近了。(创世记 47:27-29)

有人告诉雅各说, 看哪, 你儿子约瑟到你这里来了。以色列就勉强在床上坐起来; 雅各对约瑟说。(创世记 48:2, 3)

雅各叫了他的儿子们来说, 雅各的儿子们, 你们要聚集而听, 要听从你们的父亲以色列。(创世记 49:1, 2)

他们的怒气可咒, 因为非常暴烈, 他们的忿恨可诅, 因为很严厉！我要使他们分散在雅各中, 使他们散居在以色列。(创世记 49:7)

他的手臂健壮敏捷, 这是因雅各之大能者的手; 以色列的牧者, 以色列的磐石是从那里而出的。(创世记 49:24)

这两个名字的用法也经常出现在先知书中。

Abraham (or Abram, as he was named in the beginning of his story) was the ancestor of all the Children of Israel, through his son Isaac, and of the Arabs, through his son Ishmael.

Abraham represents the Divine good or love. His story foreshadows the life of Jesus, and our spiritual lives, too.

His life can be usefully seen as being divided into three periods. The first period includes the unknown early years from his birth in Ur, and his later move to Haran with his father Terah. The second section starts with Abram's being called by Jehovah to go to Canaan. It includes the adventures he had there, and continues until the events of the 17th chapter of Genesis where he is said to be 99 years old, rich, and powerful - but without a son by his wife Sarai. Once again the Lord appears to him, promises that his progeny will become a great nation, institutes the rite of circumcision, and changes his name to Abraham, adding the "ah" sound from Jehovah. The third and last period of his life sees the birth of Isaac, the death of Sarah (whose name was also changed), and the finding of a wife for Isaac from among Abraham's relatives back in Mesopotamia. Abraham is said to be 175 years old when he dies, as recorded in the 25th chapter of Genesis.

What we are here interested in is the deep representation of Abraham because he prophesies or foreshadows the inmost part of Jesus' life after He is born to Mary centuries after the man Abraham lived on the earth. Abraham represents the Divine good or love. The internal sense of the Word tells us that God himself provided the life into an ovum within Mary, so she could provide a natural body and a natural heredity from the Jewish religion, while the soul of Jesus was kept as a direct possessor of divine life. During Jesus' early life, probably up to adolescence, Jesus lived out those representative actions of Abraham in the innermost parts of his mind and spirit. Abraham as he pastured his sheep and ran his large household had no idea at all that this was true, and early in Jesus' life He didn't realize it either. There must have been perceptions as Jesus grew up, witness his visit to the temple when He was 12, but not a complete understanding until He was fully grown. And further, it isn't only Abraham. When Abraham dies, the representation attaches to Isaac, who represents the rational level of the mind, and then to both Jacob and Esau who represent the natural mind as to truth and good in the mind respectively. And then the trials of the twelve tribes, the kings, and all the sayings of the prophets become that same representation. So Jesus could say to the two disciples that He met on the road to Emmaus, "O fools and slow of heart... and beginning at Moses and all the Prophets He expounded to them in all the scriptures all the things concerning Himself." (The following references are chronologic as Abraham gets older, and are in biblical sequence.) And furthermore, the progress of mental and spiritual life in each one of us is a dim and finite image of that represented by Abraham's life if, that is, we are trying to follow the Lord's laws and precepts to love one another. We too have within us a journey to the land of Canaan, a hardworking sojourn in Egypt, a struggle in the wilderness, and a Saul, a David, and an Ahab. We have our home-grown Amalekites and Philistines. The whole of the Old Testament is a picture of how our spiritual life works.

In Genesis 20:7, Abraham signifies celestial truth, or doctrine from a celestial origin. (Arcana Coelestia 2533)

In Genesis 12:4, As ABRAHAM he represents the Lord as to His Human and Divine Essence; as ABRAM he represents the Lord as to His human essence only. (Arcana Coelestia 1426)

In Genesis 17:5, The name was changed by adding the letter H, so that the Divine Human could he represented, for H is the only letter which involves the Divine: it means I AM, or BEING. (Arcana Coelestia 1416[2])

(Odkazy: Genesis 17, 25)