3447. 'Abimelech went to him from Gerar' means the doctrine of faith which has regard to rational concepts. This is clear from the representation of 'Abimelech' as the doctrine of faith which has regard to rational concepts, dealt with in 2504, 2509, 2510, 3391, 3393, 3398, and from the meaning of 'Gerar' as faith, dealt with in 1209, 2504, 3365, 3384, 3385. For what doctrine having regard to rational concepts is, see 3368. From here to verse 33 the subject has to do with those among whom the literal sense of the Word and from this matters of doctrine concerning faith exist, and with the agreement of those matters of doctrine, insofar as they are drawn from the literal sense, with the internal sense; for 'Abimelech, and Ahuzzath his companion, and Phicol the commander of his army' represent those matters of doctrine. They are those who make faith the essential thing, and who, though they do not reject charity, rank it below faith, and so rate doctrine above life. Almost all our Churches today are like this, with the exception of that which exists in Christian Gentilism where people are allowed to venerate saints and images of them.

[2] As within every Church that is the Lord's some people are internal and others are external - the internal being those whose affection is for good, the external those whose affection is for truth - so it is also with those who are represented here by Abimelech, his companion, and the commander of his army. Those who are internal have been dealt with already in Chapter 21:22-33, where it is said of Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army that they came to Abraham and made a covenant with him in Beersheba, see 2719, 2720. But those who are external are dealt with here.

3385. 'And the men of the place asked about his wife' means questions that people ask about Divine Truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'asking about' as the asking of questions; from the meaning of 'the men of the place (that is to say, of Gerar)' as people who possess matters of doctrine concerning faith - 'Gerar' meaning matters of faith, see 1209, 2504, and so 'the men of the place' people whose state is such; and from the meaning of 'wife', who is Rebekah here, as the Divine Truth of the Lord's Divine Rational, dealt with in 3012, 3013, 3077. The subject in previous verses has been the consideration that appearances of truth are the product of Divine influx from the Lord into a person's rational concepts. Now the subject is the reception of those appearances, and indeed first by people who possess matters of doctrine concerning faith, and who are meant by 'the men of the place (which is Gerar)' who belong to the first class of those called spiritual. In fact because these do not have perception, as those who are celestial do, and in comparison with whom they are in obscurity, 1043, 2088, 2669, 2708, 2715, 2718, 2831, 3235, 3241, 3246, they always question whether a thing is so, and also whether it is Divine Truth. And because they do not have perception by which they see whether it is so, they are given something which is an appearance of the truth, such as falls within the range of their rational thought, that is, within their mental grasp and so can be received by them. Everyone is allowed to believe truths in the measure that he understands them. If this were not so there would be no reception of them because there would be no acknowledgement. These are the matters which are the subject now.