2632. 'Abraham circumcised his son Isaac' means purification of the rational. This is clear from the meaning of 'being circumcised' as being purified, dealt with in 2039, and from the representation of 'Isaac' as the Divine Rational, dealt with in 2630.

[2] The Lord's first rational was born in the way it is with others, that is to say, by means of facts and cognitions. This has been stated already where Ishmael, who represents that rational, is the subject. Because it was born, as with others, by means of facts and cognitions, thus by the external way, which is that of the senses, this rational inevitably included many things that were worldly in origin, for it is from those things that the ideas which the rational possesses are acquired. This was even more so the case with the Lord on account of the heredity He had from the mother. It was those worldly things and this heredity which the Lord gradually cast out of His rational until it was such that it was able to receive the Divine, 2624, 2625. At this point the Lord's Divine Rational, represented by 'Isaac', was born, 2630, not indeed by the external way, which is that of the senses - as was the case with the previous rational - but by the internal way from the Divine itself, 2628, 2629. As this was not accomplished all at once but gradually, 1690, 2033, the rational was purified, and constantly so. It is this purification that is meant by 'Abraham circumcised his son, a son eight days old'. That the Lord gradually made His Rational Divine and purified it constantly is clear also in John,

Jesus said, Father, glorify Your name. A voice therefore came from heaven, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. John 12:28.

'Glorifying' is making Divine, see 1603, 1999.

[3] In the Ancient Church nothing else was represented and meant by circumcision than that a person should be purified from self-love and love of the world, which is also effected gradually and constantly, see 2039, 2046 (end), 2049, 2056, especially when a person has been born anew or regenerated. For at that time the Lord is flowing in by the internal way, that is, through the good that forms part of conscience; and He gradually and constantly separates the things which cling to that person both as a result of hereditary evil and of the evil of his own doing.

1603. 'After Lot had been separated from him' means when the desires of the External Man had been removed so that they did not obstruct. This is clear from the representation of 'Lot' as the External Man, and from what has been said already about his being separated, that is, those things that would cause obstruction. When these had been removed the Internal Man, or Jehovah, acted as one with the External Man, or the Lord's Human Essence. It is the external things that disagree - these alone - which have been spoken of already, that obstruct and so prevent the internal man, when operating into the external, from making it one with itself. The external man is no more than a kind of implement or organ, and does not in itself possess any life at all. From the internal man however it can receive life, and then it seems as though the external man does possess life from itself.

[2] With the Lord however after He had cast out hereditary evil and so purified the organic elements of the Human Essence, these too received life so that the Lord, who was already Life as regards the internal Man, became Life as regards the External Man as well. This is what 'glorification' means in John,

Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God glorified in Him. If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him at once. John 13:31-32.

In the same gospel,

Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You. Now therefore, Father, glorify Me in Your Own Self with the glory which I had with You before the world was. John 17:1, 5.

In the same gospel,

Jesus said, Father, glorify Your name. A voice therefore came from heaven, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. John 12:8.