6229. 'God Shaddai showed Himself to me in Luz in the land of Canaan' means the Divine appearing within the natural in a previous state. This is clear from the meaning of 'God Shaddai' as the Divine, for He who was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was called Shaddai, 3667, 5628, and was Jehovah Himself or the Lord, thus the Divine, as may be seen from Genesis 28:13, 19; from the meaning of 'showed Himself to me' as the fact that He appeared; from the meaning of 'Luz' as the natural in a previous state, dealt with in 4556; and from the meaning of 'the land of Canaan' as the Church, dealt with before. From all this it is evident that 'God Shaddai showed Himself to me in Luz in the land of Canaan' means the Divine appearing within the natural where the spiritual Church's truth existed.

4556. 'And Jacob came to Luz which is in the land of Canaan' means the natural as it was in the previous state, while 'that is, Bethel' means the Divine Natural. This is clear from the meaning of 'Luz' as the natural as it was in the previous state, that is, the actual natural which was human. But this was made Divine, and that is the meaning of 'that is, Bethel'; for 'Bethel' is the Divine Natural, see 4089, 4539. This also explains why, when Bethel is referred to by name elsewhere in the Word, the expression 'Luz, that is, Bethel' or 'Bethel, formerly Luz' is used, as in Joshua,

The boundary of the lot of the children of Benjamin between the children of Judah and the children of Joseph went out to Luz, to the side of Luz southwards, that is, Bethel. Joshua 18:13.

And in the Book of Judges,

The house of Joseph went up to Bethel and spied out Bethel; and the name of the city formerly was Luz. Judges 1:23.