3229. If only the historical narratives, that is, if merely the external or literal sense, constituted the Word, all the historical narratives there would in that case be holy. And what is more, many of the characters mentioned there would be considered holy, and, as indeed happens with many, would come to be venerated as gods merely because they are referred to in the holiest work ever to have been written - for example, those called the Patriarchs, namely, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and after these the twelve sons of Jacob who were forefathers of the tribes; and subsequently David and many more. Yet all these were only human beings, some of whom were little concerned about Divine worship. Moreover I can certify that their present condition is nothing at all out of the ordinary, and also that in heaven they are altogether unknown. Those characters and their state in the next life will in the Lord's Divine mercy be described elsewhere. From this it now becomes quite clear that the external or literal sense is the Word only by virtue of the internal or spiritual sense Lying within it and from which it exists.