2010. Since therefore the “name” signifies the quality and to know what the quality is, we can see what is signified by the words in this verse, “thy name shall no more be called Abram, and thy name shall be Abraham;” to wit, that he was not to be such in quality as in the past, but such as he was about to be. That Abram served other gods, and worshiped the god Shaddai, was shown above (n. 1992); but because he was to represent the Lord, and in fact His internal man, and thus the Celestial of His Love, his former quality was to be blotted out, that is, the name “Abram” was to be so changed in character that the Lord could be represented by it. Therefore the letter H was taken from the name of Jehovah-which letter is the only one in the name “Jehovah” that involves the Divine, and which signifies I AM or BEING (Esse)—and was inserted in his name, and he was called “Abraham.” The case is similar with “Sarai,” spoken of in what follows; to whose name the same letter was also added, and she was called “Sarah.” From this also we can see that in the internal sense of the Word Abraham represents Jehovah or the Lord.

[2] Be it known however that in representations it matters not what a man’s quality is, for in them no attention is paid to the person, but to the thing which he represents (as was said and shown before, n. 665, 1097 the end, 1361). Therefore in the internal sense the signification of these words is that the Lord will put off the human, and will put on the Divine; which also is in a series with what goes before, and likewise with what follows; for a promise is now made concerning the son Isaac, by whom was to be represented the Lord’s Divine rational.

1098. What is meant by “Shem” and what by “Japheth” that is, who is a man of the internal church, and who is a man of the external church; and hence what is meant by “Canaan” will be evident from the following considerations. The man of the internal church attributes to the Lord all the good that he does, and all the truth that he thinks; but the man of the external church does not know how to do this, and yet does what is good. The man of the internal church makes the worship of the Lord from charity, thus internal worship, essential, and external worship not so essential; but the man of the external church makes external worship essential, and does not know what internal worship is, although he has it. And therefore the man of the internal church believes that he is acting against his conscience if he does not worship the Lord from what is internal; while the man of the external church believes that he is acting against his conscience if he does not sacredly observe external rites. There are many things in the conscience of the man of the internal church, because he knows many things from the internal sense of the Word; but there are fewer things in the conscience of the man of the external church, because he knows few things from the internal sense of the Word. The former, that is, the man of the internal church, is he who is called “Shem;” and the latter, that is, the man of the external church, is he who is called “Japheth.” But he who makes worship consist only in externals, and has no charity, consequently no conscience, is called “Canaan.”