3118. 'The man bowed, and bowed down to Jehovah' means gladness and joy. This is clear from the meaning of 'bowing' and of 'bowing down' as being glad and joyful. Bowing and bowing down are movements of the body that express humility, or humility in act, either in a state of grief or in a state of joy - in a state of grief when things do not turn out as one wishes, in a state of joy when they do turn out well, as here when Rebekah, according to the prayer already in the man's heart, gave him a drink from her pitcher, and also gave a drink to the camels. For bowing down can be a movement of the body expressing joy as well, see 2927, 2950. The reason why gladness is mentioned as well as joy is that 'gladness' in the Word has reference to truth, but 'joy' to good. Furthermore gladness belongs to the face whereas joy belongs to the heart; or what amounts to the same, gladness belongs to spiritual affection, or to truth, joy to celestial affection, or to good. Thus gladness occurs in a less degree than joy, as also does 'bowing' than 'bowing down'. This is also evident from the fact that the spiritual member of the Church merely bows before the Lord and calls upon grace, whereas the celestial member of the Church bows down before the Lord and pleads for mercy, 598, 981, 2423. Both are mentioned here on account of the marriage of truth and good existing in every individual part of the Word, 683, 793, 801, 2516, 2712.

2516. 'Behold, you will die because of the woman' means that the doctrine of faith would be ruined if the rational were consulted as regards the contents of that doctrine. This is clear from the meaning of Abimelech, to whom 'you' refers here, as the doctrine of faith; from the meaning of 'dying' as being brought to ruin; and from the meaning of 'a sister', called 'the woman' here, as the rational, dealt with in 2508. Consequently the statement that Abimelech would die because of the woman means that the doctrine of faith would be brought to ruin if the rational were consulted.

[2] The reason no doctrine of faith from the rational exists is that the rational is immersed in the appearances of good and truth, and such appearances are not truths in themselves, as shown already in 2053, 2196, 2203, 2209. What is more, the rational bases itself on illusions, which are the product of external sensory impressions confirmed by facts which introduce haziness into those appearances of truth. The rational for the most part is merely human, as also becomes clear from its birth. This then is why nothing of the doctrine of faith can even be started, let alone be built up from it. Such doctrine must stem from the Lord's Divine itself and His Divine Human. This is the origin of it, so much so indeed that the Lord is doctrine itself. It is for this reason also that in the Word He is called the Word, the truth, the light, the way, and the door. Furthermore - and this is an arcanum - all doctrine is derived from Divine Good and Divine Truth and possesses the heavenly marriage within it. Doctrine which does not possess this within it is not the genuine doctrine of faith. Consequently every detail of the Word, the source of doctrine, holds the image of a marriage within it, see 683, 793, 801.

[3] It does indeed seem in the literal or external sense of the Word as though the doctrine of faith possessed much from the rational and indeed from the natural. But the reason for this is that the Word exists for the sake of man, for whom it has been adapted in this way. Nevertheless in itself the Word is spiritual from a celestial origin, that is, it is derived from Divine Truth joined to Divine Good. The fact that doctrine would be brought to ruin if the rational were consulted as regards the contents of that doctrine will be illustrated by examples in what follows.