3450. Verses 28-29 And they said, We saw clearly that Jehovah was with you, and we said, Let there be now a solemn agreement between us, between us and you, and let us make a covenant with you. If you do us no harm as we have not touched you and as we have done to you nothing but good, and have sent you away in peace; you are now the blessed of Jehovah.

'They said, We saw clearly that Jehovah was with you' means that they knew the Divine to be present within it. 'And we said, Let there be now a solemn agreement between us, between us and you, and let us make a covenant with you' means that their matters of doctrine concerning faith, regarded in themselves, should not be refused recognition. 'That you do us no harm as we have not touched you and as we have done to you nothing but good, and have sent you away in peace' means that they had not done and would not do violence to the internal sense of the Word. 'You are now the blessed of Jehovah' means that it came from the Divine.

3447. 'Abimelech went to him from Gerar' means the doctrine of faith which has regard to rational concepts. This is clear from the representation of 'Abimelech' as the doctrine of faith which has regard to rational concepts, dealt with in 2504, 2509, 2510, 3391, 3393, 3398, and from the meaning of 'Gerar' as faith, dealt with in 1209, 2504, 3365, 3384, 3385. For what doctrine having regard to rational concepts is, see 3368. From here to verse 33 the subject has to do with those among whom the literal sense of the Word and from this matters of doctrine concerning faith exist, and with the agreement of those matters of doctrine, insofar as they are drawn from the literal sense, with the internal sense; for 'Abimelech, and Ahuzzath his companion, and Phicol the commander of his army' represent those matters of doctrine. They are those who make faith the essential thing, and who, though they do not reject charity, rank it below faith, and so rate doctrine above life. Almost all our Churches today are like this, with the exception of that which exists in Christian Gentilism where people are allowed to venerate saints and images of them.

[2] As within every Church that is the Lord's some people are internal and others are external - the internal being those whose affection is for good, the external those whose affection is for truth - so it is also with those who are represented here by Abimelech, his companion, and the commander of his army. Those who are internal have been dealt with already in Chapter 21:22-33, where it is said of Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army that they came to Abraham and made a covenant with him in Beersheba, see 2719, 2720. But those who are external are dealt with here.