7155. 'And the officers of the children of Israel saw themselves to be in evil' means being close to damnation. This is clear from the meaning of 'seeing' as discerning, dealt with in 2150, 3764, 4567, 4723, 5400; from the meaning of 'the officers' as those in the nearest position to receive molestations and pass them on, dealt with in 7111, 7136; and from the meaning of 'evil' as damnation, for regarded in itself evil is hell, 6279, thus damnation. The reason why 'being in evil' means being close to damnation is that those who were in the nearest position to receive the molestations and pass them on suffered harm, meant by their being beaten by the taskmasters, 7136, and that the molestation of falsities that were constantly introduced brought them even to the point of despair, 7147. So it is that 'they saw themselves to be in evil' means their discernment that they were close to damnation. For because those who are at the point of despair suppose that they can no longer withstand the attacks made on them, they think that they cannot do anything else but surrender like prisoners to falsities. This is what the state of despair is like; yet in that state they begin to be lifted out of it and be led so to speak from thick darkness into light.

2149. 'Behold, three men standing over him' means the Divine itself, the Divine Human, and the Holy proceeding. This becomes clear without explanation, for everyone knows that a Trinity exists, and that this Trinity is a Unity. That it is a Unity is quite evident in this chapter, as in verse 3 that follows where it is said, 'He said, My Lord, if now I have found grace in your eyes, do not now pass from over your servant', ¹ words that were addressed to the three men. In addition to this it is said -

In verse 10, And He said, 'I will certainly return to you.

In verse 13, And Jehovah said to Abraham.

In verse 15, He said, 'No, but you did laugh'.

In verse 17, And Jehovah said, 'Shall I hide from Abraham that which I am going to do?'

In verse 19, 'For I know him'.

In verse 20, And Jehovah said.

In verse 21, 'I will go down and I will see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it which has come up to Me; and if not, I will know'.

In verse 23, Abraham said, 'Will You also destroy the righteous with the wicked?' In verse 25, 'Far be it from You to do such a thing, far be it from You'.

In verse 26, And Jehovah said, 'If I find fifty righteous persons, I will spare the whole place for their sakes'.

In verse 27, 'I have undertaken to speak to my Lord'.

In verse 28, 'Will You for five destroy the whole city?' And He said, 'I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there'.

In verse 29, He spoke to Him yet again. He said, 'I will not do it for the sake of the forty,.

In verse 30, 'Let not my Lord be incensed'. He said, 'I will not do it if I find thirty there'.

In verse 31, 'I have undertaken to speak to my Lord'. He said, 'I will not destroy it for the sake of the twenty'.

In verse 32, 'Let not now my Lord be incensed. And He said, 'I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten'.

In verse 33, And Jehovah departed, when He had finished speaking to Abraham.

From all these places it becomes clear that the three men who appeared to Abraham meant the Divine itself, the Divine Human, and the Holy proceeding, and that in itself the Trinity is a Unity. The subject at this point in the internal sense is Jehovah's appearing to the Lord and the Lord's perceiving this, though not by means of an appearing such as was made to Abraham, for the event of the three men seen by Abraham is historically true, but it represents Divine perception or a perception received from the Divine which the Lord had when He was in the human. This perception is dealt with in what follows.

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