3041. Verses 8-9 And if the woman is not willing to go after you, you are clear from this my oath; only do not take my son back there. And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and swore to him concerning this matter.

'If the woman is not willing to go after you' means here, as previously, if the affection for truth were not separated. 'You are clear from my oath' means the freedom that the natural man has. 'Only do not take my son back there' means here, as previously, no resulting conjunction. 'And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master' means here, as previously, that the natural man was bound, as regards its power, to the good of conjugial love. 'And swore to him concerning this matter' means a very solemn undertaking.

'The tent,' as in Exodus 26:14, represented the three heavens, and so the celestial and spiritual parts of the Lord's kingdom.

A 'Tent' signifies the celestial and holy aspects of love, because in ancient times people performed holy worship in their tents.

When they began to profane tents with profane worship, the tabernacle was built, and later the temple. This is why the tabernacle and the temple signify the same as 'tent.'

A holy man was therefore called a tent, a tabernacle, and a temple of the Lord. In the highest sense, the Lord regarding His human essence, is a tent, a tabernacle, and a temple. Every celestial person is called these things, and so every thing celestial and holy has acquired these names.

This is why the feast of tabernacles was instituted, when they gathered in the produce of the earth, as a remembrance of those earlier holy times, and it was ordained, that at this feast they should live in tabernacles, like the most ancient people, as in Leviticus 23:39-44, Deuteronomy 16:13, and Hosea 12:9.

(Odkazy: Arcana Coelestia 414)