The Lord is called "Jehovah" in the Bible when the text is referring to his essence, which is love itself. He is called "God" when the text is referring to the expression of that love -- which is called Divine Truth. References to other gods, both positive and negative, reflect that meaning. In positive cases -- such as when angels and people are called gods, or when the Lord is referred to as the God of gods -- those gods represent true ideas that come to us from the Lord. In negative cases -- such as when the people of Israel repeatedly adopt the gods of their neighbors -- those gods represent false and twisted thinking that attacks what is good and true.

8608. 'And the hands of Moses were heavy' means that the power to look upwards to the Lord was failing. This is clear from the meaning of 'the hands' as the powers of faith, dealt with above in 8604; and from the meaning of their being 'heavy' - or that the strength to raise his hands was draining away - as the fact that the power to look upwards to the Lord was failing. For 'raising one's hands' means faith that is looking upwards to the Lord, 8604, and 'letting down one's hand' means faith that is looking downwards, away from the Lord, 8606.