2827. 'And have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me' means the union of the Human to the Divine which was effected by means of the final degree of temptation. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'your son', that is to say, Isaac, as the Divine Rational, dealt with already, or the Divine Human since this has its beginnings in the Rational, 2106, 2194, the expression 'only' being used because it was the only begotten, see 2773; and from the meaning of 'not withholding from Met as causing it to be united, namely to the Divine itself. As regards this union being effected by means of the final degree of temptation, this is evident from all that has gone before.

2822. 'And said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, Here I am' means a perception of comfort in the Divine Good of the Rational following temptation. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'saying' in historical parts of the Word as perceiving, often dealt with already. The reason why here it is a perception in the Divine Good of the Rational is that 'Abraham' here means the Divine Good within the Lord's Rational or Human. What perception in the Divine Good of the Rational is cannot be explained intelligibly, for prior to any explanation of it an idea of the Lord's Divine Human must be formed from knowledge of many things. Until such an idea has been formed all things offered by way of explanation would fall into ideas that were either empty or obscure, which would either pervert truths or bring these among ideas out of keeping with them.

[2] In this verse the Lord's first state following temptation is the subject, which is a state of comfort. This explains why the name God is not now used any more but Jehovah, for God is used when reference is being made to the truth from which the battle is fought, but Jehovah when reference is being made to the good from which comfort springs, 2769. All comfort following temptation is instilled into good, for good is the source of all joy, and from the good it passes over into truth. Here therefore 'Abraham' means the Divine Good of the Rational, as he also does in other places, and wherever the name Jehovah occurs in the same verse.