3438. And Jehovah appeared to him in that night, and said. That this signifies the Lord’s perception concerning that obscurity, is evident from the signification of “Jehovah appearing and saying,” when predicated of the Lord, as being to perceive from the Divine (that by “Jehovah appearing to him” is signified from the Divine, may be seen above, n. 3367; and that “saying” denotes perceiving, n. 2862, 3395); for Jehovah was in Him; thus so long as the human was not yet glorified, the appearing of Jehovah was Divine perception, or perception from the Divine; and therefore by “Jehovah appearing to him and saying” this is signified; and from the signification of “night,” as being a state of shade or obscurity (n. 1712). By this obscurity is signified the literal sense of the Word, for relatively to the internal sense this is as shade to light.

[2] A few words shall be said in order that it may be further known how the case is with the literal sense of the Word. Relatively to the literal sense, the internal sense is like the interior or celestial and spiritual things of a man relatively to his exterior or natural and bodily things, his interiors being in the light of heaven, and his exteriors in the light of the world. What the difference is between the light of heaven and the light of the world, consequently between what is of the light of heaven and what is of the light of the world, may be seen above (n. 1521-1533, 1619-1632, 1783, 1880, 2776, 3138, 3167, 3190, 3195, 3222, 3223, 3225, 3337, 3339, 3341, 3413), namely, that it is like the difference between the light of day and the shade of night.

Man, being in this shade, and not being willing to know that in truth from the Lord there is light, cannot believe otherwise than that his shade is light, and also on the other hand that the light is shade; for he is like a bird of night, which as it flies in the shade of night thinks that it is in the light but when in the light of day, that it is in the shade. For with such a person the internal eye (that is, the understanding), by which man sees interiorly, has been formed no differently than this, because he has not formed it differently; for he opens it when he looks downward, that is, to worldly and bodily things, and shuts it when he should look upward, that is, to spiritual and heavenly things. With such persons the case is the same in respect to the Word-that which appears in its literal sense they believe to be of light; but that which appears in the internal sense they believe to be of shade (for the Word appears to everyone in accordance with his quality); the fact being that relatively to its literal sense the internal sense of the Word is as the light of heaven to the light of the world (n. 3086, 3108); that is, as the light of day to the light of night.

[3] In the internal sense there are singulars, myriads of which together make one particular that is presented in the literal sense; or what is the same, in the internal sense there are particulars, myriads of which together make in the literal sense one general; and it is this general that is seen by man, but not the particulars which are in it and which constitute it. Nevertheless the order of the particulars in the general is apparent to man, but in accordance with his quality; and this order is the holiness that affects him.

1733. Possessor of the heavens and the earth. This signifies the conjunction of the internal man or Jehovah with the interior and the exterior man, as appears from the signification of “heaven and earth.” That which is interior in man is called “heaven;” and that which is exterior is called “earth.” The reason why “heaven” signifies that which is interior in man, is that a man as to his interiors is an image of heaven, and so is a kind of little heaven. Primarily the Lord’s interior man is heaven, because the Lord is the all in all of heaven, and thus is heaven itself. It follows from this that the exterior man is called the earth. For the same reason also, by the “new heavens” and the “new earth,” spoken of in the Prophets and in Revelation, nothing else is meant than the Lord’s kingdom, and everyone who is a kingdom of the Lord, or in whom the Lord’s kingdom is. That “heaven and earth” signify these things may be seen, as to “heaven,” n. 82, 911; and as to “earth,” n. 82, 620, 636, 913.

[2] That here “God Most High, Possessor of the heavens and earth,” signifies the conjunction in the Lord of the internal man with the interior and exterior man, may be seen from the fact that as to His internal man the Lord was Jehovah Himself; and because the internal man or Jehovah led and instructed the external, as a father his son, therefore relatively to Jehovah He is called, as to the external man, the “Son of God;” but relatively to the mother, He is called the “Son of Man.” The Lord’s internal man, which is Jehovah Himself, is what is here called “God Most High;” and before plenary conjunction or union was effected, it is called “Possessor of the heavens and earth,” that is, Possessor of all things which are in the interior and the exterior man; for these, as before said, are here meant by “the heavens and the earth.”