3375. 'And I will fulfil the oath which I swore to Abraham your father' means confirmation. This is clear from the meaning of 'an oath' or 'swearing' as confirmation, dealt with in 2842. Here it does not say that the covenant made with Abraham is to be fulfilled but that 'the oath' will be. The reason for this is that 'a covenant' has reference to what is celestial, which is good, whereas 'an oath' has reference to what is spiritual, namely truths, see 3037; and truths are the subject here. For the same reason also in verse 31 below it is not said of Isaac that he made a covenant with Abimelech but that 'he swore to him, a man to his brother', whereas in Genesis 21:32 it is said of Abraham that he and Abimelech 'made a covenant'; see Psalms 105:9. By the confirmation here which is meant by 'an oath' is understood the Lord's being joined to those who are in His kingdom, for an oath is the confirmation of a covenant, and by 'a covenant' is meant being joined together, 665, 666, 1023, 1038, 1864, 1996, 2003, 2021.

1864. That 'on that day Jehovah made a covenant with Abram' means the joining together of the Lord's Interior Man and His Internal Man is clear from the meaning of 'a covenant' as a joining together, dealt with already in 665, 666, 1023, 1038. Here, because in the internal sense the Lord is the subject, it means an interior conjunction. For the Lord advanced more and more towards conjunction and union with Jehovah His Father, till at length He became one, that is, the Human Essence itself also became Jehovah, who was the Lord's Internal itself. These things were represented by 'the covenant which Jehovah made with Abram'. Anyone may see that Jehovah never makes a covenant with man, for such would be contrary to the Divine. What is man but something base and filthy, which of itself thinks and does nothing but evil? All the good that he does comes from Jehovah. From this it becomes clear that this covenant, like every other covenant made with Abram's descendants, was nothing else than a representative of the Divine and of the heavenly things of the kingdom of God. This particular covenant made with Abram was a representative of the joining together of the Lord's Human Essence and His Divine Essence, that is, Jehovah. That it was a representative of the joining together of the Lord's Interior Man and His Internal Man, that is, Jehovah, is clear from what has gone before - that the Lord joined and united Himself more and more through the conflicts brought about by temptations and through victories. What the Interior Man was has been stated already, namely that which was between the Internal and the External.