4395. 'As he was coming from Paddan Aram' means that which happened after the previous state. This is clear from the meaning of 'as he was coming' as that which happened after, and from the meaning of 'Paddan Aram' as cognitions of good and truth, dealt with in 3664, 4107, 4112, though exterior cognitions which serve in the introduction of genuine goods and truths; for Laban dwelt there, and he represents the affection for that kind of good, see 3612, 3665, 3778, 3974, 3982, 3986 (end), 4063, 4189, 4206. Consequently the words 'as he was coming from Paddan Aram' are used because the point was reached when external truths and goods gave way to interior, and so when the previous state gave way to the present one.

1428. 'And Lot went with him' means sensory perception. That 'Lot' represents the Lord as regards His sensory and bodily man becomes clear from the representation of 'Lot' in what follows, where his being separated from Abram and being saved by angels is described. Later on however, once the separation had taken place, Lot takes on another representation, which will in the Lord's Divine mercy be dealt with later on. It is clear that the Lord was born like any other, though from a woman who was a virgin, and that He had sensory perception and bodily desires like any other, but that He differed from any other in that sensory perception and bodily desires were eventually united to celestial things and made Divine. The Lord's actual sensory perception and bodily desires are represented by Lot, or what amounts to the same, His sensory and bodily man as it was during His state of childhood and not as it became once it had been united to the Divine by means of celestial things.