1812. 'He believed in Jehovah' means the Lord's faith at that time. This is clear from the words themselves, and also from the train of thought in the internal sense, the train of thought being that while He lived in the world the Lord was engaged repeatedly in conflicts brought about by temptations, and was repeatedly victorious. And what is meant here by 'believing in Jehovah' is the truth that the Lord was filled repeatedly with an inmost confidence and faith that, because it was pure love out of which He was fighting for the salvation of the whole human race, He could not but be victorious. From the love out of which anyone fights it is known what his faith is. A person who fights out of any other love than love towards the neighbour and love towards the Lord's kingdom is not fighting out of faith, that is, he does not believe in Jehovah but in that which he loves; for the love itself for which he fights constitutes his faith. Take, for example, one who fights out of the love of becoming the greatest in heaven. He does not believe in Jehovah, but rather in himself, for wishing to become the greatest is wishing to have control over others. Thus he fights for control. It is the same with every other example that may be taken. From the love itself therefore out of which a person fights one may know what his faith is.

[2] The Lord however, in all His conflicts brought about by temptations, never fought out of self-love, that is, for Himself, but for all throughout the universe. He did not fight therefore to become the greatest in heaven, for that is contrary to Divine love. He scarcely did so to become the least. He fought solely so that all others might become something and be saved, as He Himself also declares in Mark,

The two sons of Zebedee said, Grant us to sit in Your glory, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left. Jesus said, Whoever would be great among you must be your minister, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man also came not to be ministered to but to minister, and to give His life ¹ as the price of redemption for many. Mark 10:37, 43-45.

This is the love, that is, the faith, out of which the Lord fought, and which is meant by 'believing in Jehovah'.

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3036. 'Who took me from my father's house and from the land of my nativity' means the Divine itself by whom the Lord freed Himself from the evils and from the falsities received from the mother. This is clear from the meaning of 'father's house' here and of 'land of nativity' as that received or inherited from the mother, which was the source of the evil and falsity which the Lord fought against and cast out, and in so doing made His Human Divine by His own power. Please see what has been stated in 3031 about the house and the land from which Abram came, and in what was stated previously to the effect that the Lord's heredity from Jehovah was Divine and from the mother evil, in 1414, 1444; that He fought against the evil inherited from the mother but never committed any evil of His own, 1444, 1573; and that the Lord cast out everything inherited from the mother till at length He was not her son, 2159, 2574, 2649. That which was inherited from the mother is what is meant in the internal sense by 'father's house' and 'land of nativity'. 'Father's house' means the evil inherited from the mother, 'land of nativity' the falsities inherited from her, for where evil exists falsities are present, for the two exist joined together. That He cast them out by His own power, see 1616, ¹ 1813, 1921, 2025, 2026, 2083, 2523.

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