3086. To have any idea at all, even a very general one, of the things contained here in the internal sense, it should be recognized that the whole of this chapter is dealing with Divine truth that was to be joined to Divine Good. That is to say, Divine Good flowed into the natural man, that is, into the facts, cognitions, and matters of doctrine there, for these belong to the natural man insofar as they are in his memory. And by means of that influx, Divine Good brought light and life, and ordered all that was there; for all light, life, and order in the natural man result from influx from the Divine, as anyone may know if he pays the matter any attention. By means of that influx affection comes into being, first of all a general affection for truth, the affection dealt with in these two verses - its origin, in 3077, 3078; its nature, in 3079-3081; and the initial stage of its introduction, in 3082-3084. But the verses that follow directly after them, in the internal sense describe that process further, that is to say, investigation of that truth, and also the separation of the elements received from the mother which had been allied to it first of all, and so on. But I realize that these arcana are too deep to be understood easily, the reason being, as has been stated, that they are not known. Nevertheless since the internal sense describes them, and does so in great detail, what else is to be done but explain them, no matter how much they appear to be beyond human apprehension? At least one may see from this how deep the arcana are within the internal sense of the Word, and also that those arcana are such as to be hardly visible at all in the light of the world which man has during his lifetime, but that they are always seen more clearly and plainly to the extent that he passes from the light of the world into the light of heaven, the light into which he passes after death, and so sees in the light in which blessed and happy souls, that is, angels, dwell.

2541. 'And called his servants' means rational concepts and factual knowledge. This is clear from the meaning of 'servants' in the Word, dealt with further on at verse 14, in 2567. Within the person who is in the Lord's kingdom, that is, who is the Lord's kingdom, there are celestial things, spiritual things, rational concepts, factual knowledge, and sensory impressions; and all these are ordered one beneath another. Celestial things and spiritual things hold the primary position and are the Lord's; rational concepts come next in order beneath them and are subservient to them; factual knowledge in turn comes beneath and serves rational concepts; and lastly sensory impressions come beneath and serve factual knowledge. The things which are subservient, or which serve, are in these relationships servants, and in the Word they are called 'servants'. Anyone whose thought is based solely on sensory impressions and factual knowledge is unaware of these things existing in their ordered sequence; and anyone who does know something about them nevertheless has only a very obscure idea because he is still immersed in bodily interests. Angels however have a very distinct idea, for thousands, indeed myriads, of distinct and separate ideas existing with angels do not present themselves to men except as one single obscure idea, as for example with the words that occur here, 'Abimelech called his servants and spoke all these words in their ears; and the men were very much afraid'. In these words angels perceive deeper arcana than man can possibly grasp or is indeed able to believe; that is to say, they perceive how the Lord brought rational concepts and factual knowledge into a condition of obedience, yet in such a way that He did not bring into that condition the rational concepts and the factual knowledge themselves but the affections rising up against the celestial and the spiritual things of doctrine; for it was when those affections had been brought into subjection that rational concepts and factual knowledge were brought into a condition of obedience and at the same time into order. These matters are to angels some of the most common and general; but to man they are perhaps some of the most obscure or are unintelligible.