4558. And he built there an altar. That this signifies by sanctification, is evident from the signification of an “altar,” as being the principal representative of the Lord, and thence the holy of worship (see n. 4541), and when predicated of the Lord, His Divine Human, and the Holy which proceeds therefrom (n. 2811). For that which in the church is the principal representative of the Lord, is also in the supreme sense the Lord Himself as to His Divine Human; for that which represents it is, in this sense, the Human Itself. That the natural was sanctified, is signified by his “building there” (that is, in Bethel) an “altar;” for by “Bethel” is signified the Divine natural (see just above, n. 4556).
