1029. 'With every wild animal of the earth' means lower things of the understanding or will which derive from these. This too is clear from what has been shown already about the meaning of 'a wild animal', for with everybody there are interior things and exterior. The interior are rational concepts which are here meant by 'birds', and affections which are meant by 'beasts'. The exterior are facts and delights which are meant here by 'wild animals of the earth'. That 'bird', 'beast', and 'wild animal' do not mean any bird, beast, or wild animal but that which is living with a regenerate person anyone may know and deduce from the fact that, in spite of the statement, 'I will establish My covenant with every living soul that is with you, with birds, with beasts, and with every wild animal with you', God cannot possibly enter into a covenant with animals. He can do so only with man who is being described by means of those animals as to his interior and exterior things.

When the Bible speaks of "Jehovah," it is representing love itself, the inmost love that is the essence of the Lord. That divine love is one, whole and complete in itself, and Jehovah also is one, a name applied only to the Lord. The divine love expresses itself in the form of wisdom. Love, then, is the essence of God -- His inmost. Wisdom -- the loving understanding of how to put love into action -- is slightly more external, giving love a way to express itself. Wisdom, however, is expressed in a great variety of thoughts and ideas, what the Writings collectively call divine truth. There are also many imaginary gods, and sometimes angels and people can be called gods (the Lord said Moses would be as a god to Aaron). So when the Bible calls the Lord "God," it is in most cases referring to divine truth. In other cases, "God" has reference to what is called the divine human. The case there is this: As human beings, we cannot engage the Lord directly as divine love. It is too powerful and too pure. Instead, we have to approach Him by understanding Him through divine truth. Divine truth, then, is the Lord in human form, a form we can approach and understand. Thus "God" is also used in reference to this human aspect, because it is an expression of truth.