2015. That 'kings will come out of you' means that all truth comes from Him is clear from the meaning of 'a king' as truth in both the historical and the prophetical sections of the Word, as stated in 1672 but not yet shown to be so. From the meaning of 'nations' as goods, and from the meaning of 'kings' as truths, the nature of the internal sense of the Word becomes clear, and also how remote it is from the sense of the letter. No one reading the Word, especially the historical section, believes anything other than that 'nations' referred to there means nations, or that 'kings' there means kings, and therefore that the nations mentioned there, or the kings, are the real subject of the very Word itself. But when the idea of nations and also of kings reaches angels it perishes altogether, and good and truth take their place instead. This is bound to seem strange and indeed a paradox, but it is nevertheless the truth. The matter may also become clear to anyone from the fact that if nations were meant in the Word by 'nations' and kings by 'kings', the Word of the Lord would hardly embody anything more than some historical or other piece of writing and so would be something of a worldly nature, when in fact everything in the Word is Divine and so is celestial and spiritual.

[2] Take merely the statement in the present verse about Abraham's being made fruitful, nations being made of him, and kings coming out of him. What else is this but something purely worldly and nothing at all heavenly? Indeed these assertions entail no more than the glory of this world, a glory which is absolutely nothing in heaven. But if this is the Word of the Lord then its glory must be that of heaven, not that of the world. This also is why the sense of the letter is completely erased and disappears when it passes into heaven, and is purified in such a way that nothing worldly at all is intermingled. For 'Abraham' is not used to mean Abraham but the Lord; nor is 'being fruitful' used to mean his descendants who would increase more and more but the endless growth of good belonging to the Lord's Human Essence. 'Nations' do not mean nations but goods, and 'kings' do not mean kings but truths. Nevertheless the narrative in the sense of the letter remains historically true, for Abraham was indeed spoken to in this way; and he was indeed made fruitful in this way, with nations as well as kings descending from him.

[3] That 'kings' means truths becomes clear from the following places: In Isaiah,

The sons of the foreigner will build up your walls, and their kings will minister to you. You will suck the milk of nations, and the breast of kings will you suck. Isaiah 60:10, 16.

What 'sucking the milk of nations and the breast of kings' means is not at all evident from the letter but from the internal sense, in which being endowed with goods and instructed in truths is meant. In Jeremiah,

There will enter through the gates of this city kings and princes seated on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses. Jeremiah 17:25; 22:4.

'Riding in chariots and on horses' is a prophecy meaning the abundance of things of the understanding, as becomes clear from very many places in the Prophets. Thus the prophecy that 'kings will enter through the gates of the city' means in the internal sense that they were to be endowed with truths of faith. This sense of the Word is the heavenly sense into which the worldly sense of the letter passes.

[4] In the same prophet,

Jehovah has spurned in His fierce indignation king and priest. The gates of Zion have sunk into the ground, He has destroyed and broken in pieces her bars. King and princes are among the nations; the law is no more. Lamentations 2:6, 9.

Here 'king' stands for the truth of faith, 'priest' for the good of charity, 'Zion' for the Church, which is destroyed and its bars broken in pieces. Consequently 'king and princes among the nations', that is, truth and what belongs to truth, will be so completely banished that 'the law is no more', that is, nothing of the doctrine of faith will exist any more. In Isaiah,

Before the boy knows to refuse evil and to choose good, the ground will be abandoned which you loathe in the presence of its two kings. Isaiah 7:16.

This refers to the Lord's Coming. 'The land that will be abandoned' stands for faith which at that time would not exist. 'The kings' are the truths of faith which would be loathed.

[5] In the same prophet,

I will lift up My hand to the nations and raise My ensign to the peoples; and they will bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters will be carried on their shoulder. Kings will be your foster fathers and their queens your wet-nurses. Isaiah 49:22-23.

'Nations' and 'daughters' stand for goods, 'peoples' and 'sons' for truths, as shown in Volume One. That 'nations' stands for goods, 1259, 1260, 1416, 1849, as does 'daughters', 489-491, while 'peoples' stands for truths, 1259, 1260, as does 'sons', 489, 491, 533, 1147. 'Kings' therefore stands for truths, in general by which they will be nourished, and 'queens' for goods by which they will be suckled. Whether you speak of goods and truths or of those who are governed by goods and truths it amounts to the same.

[6] In the same prophet,

He will spatter many nations, kings will shut their mouths because of him, ¹ for that which has [not] been told them they have seen, and that which they have not heard they have understood. Isaiah 52:15.

This refers to the Lord's Coming. 'Nations' stands for those who are stirred by an affection for goods, 'kings' those who are stirred by an affection for truths. In David,

Now, O kings, be intelligent; be instructed, O judges of the earth. Serve Jehovah with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son lest He perhaps be angry and you perish in the way. Psalms 2:10-12.

'Kings' stands for people who are governed by truths, and who by virtue of truths are also in many places called 'king's sons'. 'The Son' here stands for the Lord, and he is called the Son here because he is Truth itself, and the source of all truth.

[7] In John,

They will sing a new song, You are worthy to take the Book and to open its seals. You have made us kings and priests to our God so that we shall reign on the earth. Revelation 5:9-10.

Here people who are governed by truths are called 'kings'. The Lord also calls them 'the sons of the kingdom' in Matthew,

He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the seed are the sons of the kingdom, and the tares are the sons of the evil one. Matthew 13:37-38.

In John,

The sixth angel poured out his bowl over the great river Euphrates and its water was dried up to prepare the way of the kings who were from the east. Revelation 16:12.

'Euphrates' clearly does not mean the Euphrates, nor does 'kings from the east' mean kings from that quarter. What 'Euphrates' does mean may be seen in 120, 1585, 1866, from which it is evident that 'the way of the kings who were from the cast' means truths of faith that derive from goods of love.

[8] In the same book,

The nations that are saved will walk in its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory and honour into it. Revelation 21:24.

Here 'nations' stands for people who are governed by goods, 'kings of the earth' for those who are governed by truths, which is also evident from the fact that the details here are prophetical, not historical. In the same book,

With the great harlot seated on many waters the kings of the earth have committed whoredom and have become drunk with the wine of her whoredom. Revelation 17:2.

And elsewhere in the same book,

Babylon has given all nations drink from the wine of the fury of her whoredom; and the kings of the earth have committed whoredom with her. Revelation 18:1, 3, 9.

Here similarly it is clear that 'the kings of the earth' does not mean kings, for the subject is the falsification and adulteration of the doctrine of faith, that is, of truth, which are 'whoredom'. 'Kings of the earth' stands for truths that have been falsified and adulterated.

[9] In the same book,

The ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom but are receiving authority as kings for one hour, together with the beast. These will be of one mind, and they will hand over power and authority to the beast. Revelation 17:12-13.

That 'kings' here does not mean kings may also be evident to anyone. If kings were meant, then 'ten kings receiving authority as kings for one hour' would be quite unintelligible, as similarly with the following words in the same book,

I saw the beast and the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered to make war with Him who was sitting on the horse, and with His army. Revelation 19:19

In verse 13 of the same chapter it is stated explicitly that the One who was sitting on the horse was The Word of God, against which the kings of the earth are said to have been gathered. 'The beast' stands for goods of love that have been profaned, 'kings' for truths of faith that have been adulterated; these are called 'kings of the earth' because they exist within the Church - 'earth' meaning the Church, see 662, 1066, 1067, 1262. 'The white horse' stands for the understanding of truth, 'He who was sitting on the horse' for the Word. This matter is plainer still in Daniel 11, describing the war between the king of the south and the king of the north, by which is meant the conflict of truths with falsities. Here such conflicts are described as a war that took place in history.

[10] Since 'a king' means truth, what is meant in the internal sense when the Lord is called King, and also a Priest, is made clear; and what essential quality of the Lord was represented by kings, and what by priests, is also made clear. 'Kings' represented His Divine Truth, and 'priests' His Divine Good. All the laws of order by which the Lord governs the universe as King are truths, while all the laws by which He governs the universe as Priest and by which He rules even over truths themselves are goods. For government from truths alone condemns everyone to hell, but government from goods lifts them out of that place and raises them up into heaven; see 1728. Because, in the Lord's case, these two - truths and goods - are joined together, they were also represented in ancient times by kingship and priesthood combined, as with Melchizedek who was at one and the same time king of Salem and priest to God Most High, Genesis 14:18. And at a later time among the Jews where the representative Church was established in a form of its own He was represented by judges and priests, and after that by kings.

[11] But because 'kings' represented truths which ought not to be paramount for the reason, already stated, that they condemn, the very idea was so objectionable that the Jews were reproached for it. The nature of truth regarded in itself has been described in 1 Samuel 8:11-18, as the rights of a king; and previous to that, in Moses, in Deuteronomy 17:14-18, they had been commanded through Moses to choose genuine truth deriving from good, not spurious truth, and not to pollute it with reasonings and factual knowledge. These are the considerations which the directive concerning a king given in the place in Moses referred to above embodies within itself. No one can possibly see this from the sense of the letter, but it is nevertheless evident from the details within the internal sense. This shows why 'a king' and 'kingship' represented and meant nothing other than truth.

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1992. 'I am God Shaddai' means, in the sense of the letter, the name of Abram's God, by means of which the Lord was represented before them at first. This is clear from references in the Word to Abram and his father's house worshipping other gods. Surviving in Syria, where Abram came from, there were remnants of the Ancient Church, and many families there retained its worship, as is clear in the case of Eber who came from those parts and from whom the Hebrew nation descended. They likewise retained the name Jehovah, as is evident from what has been shown in Volume One, in 1343, and from Balaam, who also came from Syria, and who offered sacrifices and called his God Jehovah. That he came from Syria is indicated in Numbers 23:7; that he offered sacrifices, in Numbers 22:39-40; 23:1-3, 14, 29; and that he called his God Jehovah, in Numbers 2:8, 13, 18, 31; 23:8, 12, 16.

[2] But in the case of the house of Terah, Abram and Nahor's father, this was not so. That house was one of the gentile families there which had not only lost the name of Jehovah but also served other gods; and instead of Jehovah they worshipped Shaddai, whom they called their own god. The fact that they had lost the name of Jehovah is clear from the places quoted in Volume One, in 1343; and the fact that they served other gods is explicitly stated in Joshua,

Joshua said to all the people, Thus said Jehovah, the God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt of old beyond the River, Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods. Now fear Jehovah, and serve Him in sincerity and truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River, and in Egypt, and serve Jehovah. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve Jehovah, choose this day whom you are to serve, whether the gods which your fathers served who were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites. Joshua 24:2, 14-15.

The fact that Nahor as well, Abram's brother, and the nation that descended from him, served other gods is also clear from Laban the Syrian, who lived in the city of Nahor and worshipped the images or teraphim which Rachel stole, Genesis 24:10; 31:19, 30, 32, 34 - see what has been stated in Volume One, in 1356. That instead of Jehovah they worshipped Shaddai, whom they called their god, is plainly stated in Moses,

I, Jehovah, appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Shaddai, and by My name Jehovah I was not known to them. Exodus 6:2-3.

[3] These references show what Abram was by disposition in his younger days, namely an idolater like other gentiles, and that even up to and during the time he was in the land of Canaan he had not cast the god Shaddai away from his mind; and this accounts for the declaration here, 'I am God Shaddai', which in the sense of the letter means the name of Abram's god. And from Exodus 6:2-3, that has just been quoted, it is evident that it was by this name that the Lord was first represented before them - before Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

[4] The reason the Lord was willing to be represented before them first of all through the name Shaddai is that the Lord is never willing to destroy quickly, still less immediately, the worship implanted in someone since earliest childhood. He is unwilling to destroy it because it would be an uprooting and so a destroying of the deeply implanted feeling for what is holy which is expressed in adoration and worship, a feeling which the Lord never crushes but bends. The holiness which is expressed in worship and has been inrooted since earliest childhood is such that it does not respond to violence but to gentle and kindly bending. The same applies to gentiles who during their lifetime have worshipped idols and yet have led charitable lives one with another. Because the holiness expressed in their worship has been inrooted since earliest childhood it is not removed all of a sudden in the next life but gradually. For people who have led charitable lives one with another are able to have implanted in them without difficulty the goods and truths of faith; these they subsequently receive with joy, charity being the soil itself. This is what happened in the case of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that is to say, the Lord allowed them to retain the name God Shaddai; indeed He went so far as to speak of Himself as God Shaddai, which He did because of what that name meant.

[5] Some translators render Shaddai as the Almighty, others as the Thunderbolt-hurler. But strictly speaking it means the Tempter, and the One who does good following temptations, as is clear in Job who, because he suffered many temptations, mentions Shaddai so many times, such as the following places in his book make clear,

Behold, blessed is the man whom God reproves; and despise not the chastening of Shaddai. Job 5:17.

The arrows of Shaddai are with me, the terrors of God are arrayed against me. Job 6:4.

He will forsake the fear of Shaddai. Job 6:14.

I will speak to Shaddai, and I desire to dispute with God. Job 13:3.

He has stretched forth his hand against God, and emboldens himself against Shaddai. Job 15:25.

His eyes will see his destruction and he will drink of the wrath of Shaddai. Job 21:20.

As for Shaddai, you will not find him. He is great in power and judgement, and in the abundance of righteousness. He will not afflict. Job 37:23.

Also in Joel,

Alas for the day! For the day of Jehovah is near, and as destruction from Shaddai will it come. Joel 1:15.

This becomes clear also from the actual word Shaddai, which means vastation, thus temptation, for temptation is a variety of vastation. But because the name had its origins among the nations in Syria, he is not called Elohim Shaddai but El Shaddai; and in Job he is called simply Shaddai, with El, or God, mentioned separately.

[6] Because comfort follows temptations people also attributed the good that comes out of temptations to the same Shaddai, as in Job 22:17, 23, 25-26; and they also attributed to him the understanding of truth which resulted from those temptations, 32:8; 33:4. And because in this way he was regarded as a god of truth, for vastation, temptation, chastisement, and reproving belong in no way to good but to truth, and because the Lord was represented by means of it before Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the name was retained even among the Prophets. But with the latter Shaddai was used to mean truth, as in Ezekiel,

I heard the sound of the cherubs' wings, like the sound of many waters, like the sound of Shaddai as they were coming, a sound of tumult, like the sound of a camp. Ezekiel 1:24.

In the same prophet,

The court was full of the brightness of the glory of Jehovah, and the sound of the wings of the cherubs was heard as far as the outer court, like the voice of the god Shaddai when he speaks. Ezekiel 10:4-5.

Here Jehovah stands for good, Shaddai for truth. 'Wings' likewise in the Word means in the internal sense things that are matters of truth.

[7] Isaac and Jacob too used the name God Shaddai in a similar way, namely as one who tempts, rescues from temptation, and after that does good to them. Isaac addressed his son Jacob when he was about to flee on account of Esau,

God Shaddai bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you. Genesis 28:3.

Jacob addressed his sons when they were about to journey into Egypt to buy grain and were so greatly afraid of Joseph,

May God Shaddai grant you mercy before the man, and may He send back with you your other brother and Benjamin. Genesis 43:14.

Jacob, by now Israel, when blessing Joseph, who had experienced the evils of temptation more than his brothers and had been released from them, declared,

By the God of your father, and He will help you; and with Shaddai, and He will bless you. Genesis 49:25.

This then explains why the Lord was willing to be represented at first as God Shaddai whom Abram worshipped when He declared,

I am God Shaddai.

And later on He referred to Himself in a similar way before Jacob, I am God Shaddai; be fruitful and multiply. Genesis 35:11.

And a further reason is that the subject of the internal sense in what has gone before has been temptations.

[8] The worship of Shaddai with them had its origin, as it did with a certain nation which in the Lord's Divine mercy will be described later on, and also with those who belonged to the Ancient Church, in the fact that quite often they heard spirits who reproached them and who also afterwards consoled them. The spirits who reproached them were perceived as being on the left side below the arm; at the same time angels were present from the head who overruled the spirits and toned down the reproaching. And because they imagined that everything declared to them through the spirits was Divine, they called the reproaching spirit Shaddai. And because he also afterwards gave consolation they called him God Shaddai. Since they had no understanding of the internal sense of the Word, people in those days, including the Jews, possessed that kind of religion in which they imagined that all evil and so all temptation came from God just as all good and thus all comfort did. But that in actual fact this is not at all the case, see Volume One, in 245, 592, 696, 1093, 1874, 1875.