2320. The reason there were only two angels on this occasion, whereas three men had stayed with Abraham, is an arcanum which cannot be explained in a few words. It does become clear to a certain extent from the consideration that in this chapter the subject is judgement, that is to say, the salvation of those who have faith and the condemnation of those who have not. It is also clear from the Word that judgement belongs to the Lord's Divine Human and His Holy proceeding. That it belongs to the Divine Human may be seen in John,

The Father does not judge anyone, but has given all judgement to the Son. John 5:22.

'The Son' is used to mean the Divine Human, see 2159. That judgement belongs to the Holy proceeding from the Lord's Divine Human is also clear, again in John,

If I go away I will send the Paraclete to you; and when He comes He will convince the world in regard to sin and righteousness and judgement. John 16:7-8.

And that the Holy proceeds from the Lord is clear in the same gospel,

He will not speak from Himself but will receive it from what is Mine and declare it. John 16:13, 15.

This referred to when the Human had become Divine, that is, when the Lord had been glorified, as is stated in the same gospel,

The Holy Spirit was not yet because Jesus was not yet glorified. John 7:39.

2288. That 'Abraham returned to his place' means that the Lord returned to the state which had been His before He perceived these matters is clear from the representation of 'Abraham' in this chapter as the Lord when the human state existed with Him, and from the meaning of 'place' as state, dealt with in Volume One, in 1273, 1378. Thus here 'returning to his place' in the internal sense means returning to the state which had been His previously. The fact that the Lord had two kinds of states when He lived in the world - the state of humiliation and the state of glorification - has been stated and shown already. His state of humiliation occurred when He was in the human, which He had derived by heredity from the mother, His state of glorification when He was in the Divine, which He possessed from Jehovah His Father. The former state, namely that of the human derived from the mother, the Lord cast off completely and He took on a Divine Human when He passed out of the world and returned to the Divine itself which had been His from eternity, John 17:5, together with the Human that had been made Divine, from both of which the Holy proceeding exists that fills the whole heaven. Thus from the Divine itself and the Divine Human through the Holy that proceeds from these He governs the universe.