3702. 'And behold, Jehovah was standing above it' means the Lord at the highest point. This becomes clear from the fact that the Lord is called Jehovah so many times in the Old Testament Word, see 1736, 3023, 3035, and that in the New Testament Word He is not referred to anywhere as Jehovah but as the Lord instead, 2921. As regards the meaning of 'standing above it' as being at the highest point, this is clear without explanation. The arcanum concealed in the internal sense of these words is that every good and truth come down from the Lord and go up to Him, that is, He is the First and the Last. For the human being has been so created that Divine things that are the Lord's may come down through him even to the lowest things of the natural order, and from the lowest things of the natural order may go up to Him. Thus the human being was created to be the means through which the Divine was linked to the natural world, and the natural world was linked to the Divine, and in this way through the human being as the means linking the two together, the lowest degree of the natural order might receive life from the Divine - which would be a reality if mankind had lived in accordance with Divine order.

[2] The creation of the human being in this particular form is evident from the fact that his body is a world in miniature, because every arcanum that is part of the natural world is also stowed in the body. Each arcanum present in the ever-changing sky is also stowed in the eye; and each one in the air is also stowed in the ear. Anything floating unseen and active in the air is stowed - where it is detected - in the organ of smell, anything unseen that is present in water or any other fluid is stowed in the organ of taste. And actual changes of state likewise occur in the sense of touch throughout the body. Besides these even further arcana are stored away in the body which could be detected by a person within his interior organs if his life accorded with order. From this it is evident that a descent of the Divine through the human being into the lowest degree of the natural order would take place, and from the lowest degree of the natural order an ascent to the Divine, if only the human being with heartfelt faith, that is, with love, acknowledged the Lord as his Final and Primary end.

[3] A state such as this existed with the most ancient people, who were celestial, for whatever they discerned with any of their senses was to them a means to thought about things which are the Lord's, and so about the Lord and His kingdom. This was the source of the delight they gained from worldly and earthly things, see 1409, 2896, 2897, 2995. Furthermore whenever these people contemplated in this fashion the lower and the lowest things of the natural order, such things appeared to them to have life in them; for the life from which these came down existed in those people's internal sight and perception. The objects which they saw with their eyes were so to speak images of that life, and although those images were inanimate they were nevertheless animate to those people. This is the kind of perception that celestial angels have of every thing in the world, as I have often been allowed to perceive, and it is also the source of the kind of perception which young children have, see 2297, 2298. This shows what those people are like through whom Divine things that are the Lord's come right down to the lowest things of the natural order, and from the lowest things of the natural order rise up to Him - people that represent Divine communication and the consequent joining together, meant in the highest sense by 'the angels going up and coming down the stairway set up on the earth, and its top reaching to heaven, with Jehovah standing above it'.

2508. 'She is my sister' means rational truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'a sister' as rational intellectual truth, dealt with in 1495. That rational truth is meant by 'a sister' cannot be seen by anyone except from the heavenly marriage; for the things that descend from that marriage have links with one another - resembling the ties of blood-relationships and relationships by marriage on earth, concerning which see 685, 917 - and in ways endlessly varying. The heavenly marriage exists solely between Divine Good and Divine Truth. Conceived from that marriage there exist with man the capacities to understand, to be rational, and to have knowledge; for without this conception from the heavenly marriage no one can possibly be endowed with understanding, reason, or knowledge, and cannot consequently be a human being. Insofar therefore as he draws from the heavenly marriage he is human. The heavenly marriage exists within the Lord Himself, so that the Lord is that marriage itself; for He is Divine Good itself and at the same time Divine Truth. The heavenly marriage exists with angels and men insofar as love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour, and consequently insofar as faith derived from these exist with them, that is, insofar as the Lord's good and the truth derived from this do so. When this is the case with them they are called 'daughters and sons', and in relation to one another 'sisters and brothers', but with differences. The reason rational truth is called 'a sister' is that it is conceived from the influx of Divine Good into the affection for rational truths. The good conceived in this way in the rational is called 'a brother', and the truth 'a sister'. But this will be clearer from the words spoken by Abraham in verse 12 of this chapter, 'And also she is truly my sister, my father's daughter but not my mother's daughter; and she became my wife'.