4206. 'May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor judge between us' means the Divine flowing into both, that is to say, into the good existing with those inside the Church, and into the good with those outside it. This is clear from the meaning of 'the God of Abraham' as the Lord's Divine regarding those inside the Church, and from the meaning of 'the God of Nahor' as the Lord's Divine regarding those outside the Church; and from this it is evident that these two expressions mean the Divine flowing into both kinds of good. The reasons why 'the God of Abraham' means the Lord's Divine regarding those inside the Church is that 'Abraham' represents the Lord's Divine, and consequently that which comes directly from the Lord, 3245, 3778. Those therefore who are inside the Church are meant in particular by 'Abraham's children', John 8:39. And the reason why 'the God of Nahor' means the Lord's Divine regarding those outside the Church is that 'Nahor' represents the Church consisting of gentiles, and 'his children' those among them who dwell in a brotherly relationship with one another, 2863, 2864, 2868, 3052, 3778. So also at this point, 'Laban' who was Nahor's son represents good that is 'out of line', such as gentiles receive from the Lord.

[2] The reason why such variations involving the Lord are represented is not that those variations exist within the Lord but that His Divine is received variously by men. It is like the life present in man. This life flows into and activates the various sensory and motor organs of the body, and the various members and viscera. At every point variety presents itself, for the eye sees in one way, the ear hears in another, and the tongue discerns in yet another; also the arm and hand have one kind of movement, the lower limbs and feet another; then again the lungs act in one way, the heart in another; also the liver in one way, the stomach in another; and so on. Yet it is one single life that activates them all so variously; not that the life itself acts in different ways but because it is received in different ways. Indeed it is the form that each organ takes that determines how it acts.

1363. That 'Abram, Nahor, and Haran' were the sons of Terah and also nations that were named after them as their forefathers, and that here these sons mean forms of idolatrous worship, is clear from what has been shown above and also from the fact that 'Terah', whose sons they were, means idolatry. Which forms of idolatrous worship however are meant here by the three sons of Terah and after that by Lot, the son of Haran, becomes clear if the categories of idolatrous worship are examined. There are in general four kinds of idolatrous worship, one more interior than the next. The three more interior types are like sons of the same parent, while the fourth is like the son of the third of these. There are internal and external forms of idolatrous worship. Internal forms are those which condemn a person, external less so. The more interior a form of idolatrous worship is, the more it condemns, while the more exterior it is, the less it does so. Internal idolaters do not acknowledge God but venerate themselves and the world, and treat all their desires as idols. External idolaters however are able to acknowledge God even though they are not aware of who the God of the universe is. Internal idolaters are known by the life they have acquired for themselves; and to the extent that their life is a departure from the life of charity they are interior idolaters. External idolaters are so solely on account of their worship, and although they are indeed idolaters they are nevertheless able to have the life of charity within them. Internal idolaters are capable of profaning holy things, whereas external idolaters are not. Consequently to guard against the profaning of holy things, external idolatry is permitted, as may become clear from what has been stated already in 571, 582, and above at verse 9, in 1327.