3394. 'But behold, she is your wife! So how did you come to say, She is my sister?' means, if it was Divine Truth, then it was not also rational truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'Rebekah', to whom 'wife' refers here, as the Divine Truth of the Lord's Divine Rational, dealt with in 3012, 3013, 3077, and from the meaning of 'a sister' as rational truth, dealt with in 3386, so that 'behold, she is your wife! So how did you come to say, She is my sister?' means that being Divine Truth, it cannot be rational truth.

[2] The arcanum lying behind this matter is this: Spiritual people do not have perception as celestial people do, and therefore they do not know that Divine Truth becomes rational truth with a person once he has been regenerated. They do indeed assert that all good and all truth come from the Lord; but when these come to be present in their rational they still suppose that good and truth are their own and so originate so to speak in themselves. For they are unable to be separated from the proprium which desires this. With celestial people however the situation is that they do perceive Divine Good and Truth within the rational, that is, within rational concepts which, when enlightened from the Lord's Divine, are appearances of truth, 3368, and also within the natural, that is, within facts and sensory impressions. And this being the state in which celestial people live they are able to recognize that all good and truth flow in from the Lord, and that it is an ability to perceive what is good and true, which is communicated to them from the Lord as their own and is the cause of their delight, blessedness, and happiness. It was for this reason that the most ancient people who were celestial perceived within the particular objects which they saw with the eyes nothing else than spiritual and celestial things, 1409.

[3] Because this arcanum has to do with the regenerated spiritual person who through his regeneration by the Lord has received Divine Good within a new will and Divine Truth within a new understanding, and because that person perceives nothing other than this - that if the truth were rational it could not be Divine, as stated above, and so if it were Divine it would have nothing in common with rational - it is therefore stated here that if it was Divine Truth, then it was not also rational truth. This also is the reason why such people desire matters of faith to be believed in simplicity without any scrutiny by the rational. They are unaware of the fact that no matter of faith, not even the deepest arcanum of faith, can be grasped by anyone without the aid of some rational idea, or even a natural one, though he has no knowledge of the nature of those ideas, 3310 (end). In this way they are able to protect themselves against those who from a negative attitude argue about the truth of every single thing, 2568, 2588. But to those who have an affirmative attitude of belief in the Word the former is a harmful attitude to adopt, for it is one in which a person's freedom to think may be taken away and his conscience bound even to something extremely heretical, with the result that control is established over the person internally and externally. These are the considerations meant by Abimelech's saying to Isaac, 'Behold, she is your wife! So how did you come to say, She is my sister?'

402. 'A city that was built' means all doctrinal or heretical teaching founded on that heresy. This is clear from the Word wherever the name of any city occurs. In the Word 'city' never means a city but something doctrinal or else something heretical. For angels are totally ignorant of what a city is or what the name of any city is. They never do nor can have any city in mind, for their ideas are of spiritual and celestial things, as shown already. Their perception is solely of what is meant spiritually by cities, and the names of them. For example, by the Holy City, which is also called the Holy Jerusalem, they understand nothing other than the Lord's kingdom in general, or as it exists with each individual who has the Lord's kingdom within him. And the city of Zion or Mount Zion they understand in a similar way, the latter being the celestial degree of faith, the former the spiritual.

[2] And the celestial and spiritual itself is also described by cities, palaces, houses, walls, the foundations of walls, ramparts, gates, bars, and by the temple at the centre, as in Ezekiel 48, and in Revelation 21:15-end. In Revelation 21:2, 10, it is called 'the Holy Jerusalem'; in Jeremiah 31:38 ['the city for Jehovah']; in David, Psalms 46:4, 'the city of God, the holy place of the dwellings of the Most High'; and in Ezekiel 48:35, it is called 'the city, Jehovah is there'. And in Isaiah,

The sons of the foreigner will build up your walls. They will bend down to the soles of your feet, all who disapprove of you, and they will call you the City of Jehovah, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel. Isaiah 60:10, 14.

In Zechariah,

Jerusalem [will be called] the city of truth, and Mount Zion the mountain of holiness. Zechariah 8:3

Here 'city of truth', which is Jerusalem, means the spiritual things of faith, and 'the holy mountain', which is Zion, the celestial things of faith. And whereas the celestial and spiritual things of faith were represented by a city, so all matters of doctrine were meant by the cities of Judah and Israel, each one, when mentioned by name, meaning some specific point of doctrine, though exactly which nobody can know except from the internal sense.

[3] As cities meant matters of doctrine, cities also meant heretical ideas, each one when mentioned by name meaning some specific heretical idea. But at this point solely the consideration that in general a city means doctrinal teaching or else heretical may be established from the following places:

[4] In Isaiah,

On that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt which speak in the lip of Canaan and swear to Jehovah Zebaoth. One of these will be called the city Heres. Isaiah 19:18.

This refers to man's knowledge of spiritual and celestial things at the time of the Lord's Coming. In the same prophet,

Full of tumults, a tumultuous city, an exultant city. Isaiah 22:1, 2.

This refers to 'the valley of vision', which is delusion. In Jeremiah,

The cities of the south are shut up, with none opening them. Jeremiah 13:10.

This refers to people who are in 'the south', that is, who dwell in the light of truth, but blot it out. In the same prophet,

Jehovah thought to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion. He causes rampart and wall to mourn; they have languished together. Her gates have sunk into the ground, He has destroyed and broken in pieces her bars. Lamentations 2:8-9.

Here anyone may see that nothing else is meant by 'wall, rampart, gates and bars' than matters of doctrine.

[5] Similarly in Isaiah,

This song will be sung in the land of Judah, Ours is a strong city, salvation will establish walls and a rampart. Open the gates that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in. Isaiah 26:1-2.

In the same prophet,

I will exalt You, I will confess Your name. You have made the city into a heap, the fortified city into a ruin; let not a palace of aliens be built of the city for ever. Therefore a strong people will honour You, the city of terrifying nations will fear You. Isaiah 25:1-3.

Nor does this refer to any actual city. In Balaam's prophecy,

Edom will be an inheritance, and out of Jacob one will have dominion, and he will accomplish the destruction of the remnant of the city. Numbers 24:18-19.

Here anyone may see that 'the city' does not mean an actual city. In Isaiah,

The city of hollowness has been broken down, every house has been shut up so that none may enter in. There is an outcry in the streets over the wine. Isaiah 24:10-11.

Here 'city of hollowness' stands for hollowness of doctrine. In this and other places 'streets' means the things that constitute a city, namely falsities or truths. In John,

When the seventh angel poured out his bowl the great city was split into three parts and the cities of the nations fell. Revelation 16:17, 19.

That 'a great city' means something heretical, as do 'the cities of the nations', may be clear to anyone. The explanation is also given in Revelation 17:18 that the great city means the woman whom John saw, 'the woman', as shown already, being a Church of that nature.