1796. Is this Eliezer the Damascene. From what has just been said it is now evident that these words denote the external church; and the same appears from the signification of a “Damascene.” Damascus was the principal city of Syria, where there were remains of the worship of the Ancient Church, and whence came Eber, or the Hebrew nation, with which there was nothing but the external of the church (as before said, n. 1238, 1241), thus nothing but the stewardship of the house. That there is in these words something of despair, and consequently of the Lord’s temptation, is evident from the words themselves, and also from the consolation that follows respecting the internal church.