624. It is clear that a state which is not a state of the Church is the subject here from the fact that in this verse and those that follow in chapter the name God is used, whereas in previous verses it was Jehovah. When the Church does not exist the name God is used, but when it does exist, it is Jehovah; for example in Genesis 1, when the Church did not exist, He was called God, but in the next chapter when it did, He was called Jehovah God. 'Jehovah' is the holiest of names, and belongs to the Church alone. Not so 'God', for no nation was without gods. Consequently the same holiness was not attached to the name God. Nobody was allowed to utter the name Jehovah except him who had knowledge of the true faith; but anyone was allowed to utter the name God.

4089. 'I am the God of Bethel' means the Divine within the Natural. This is clear from the meaning of 'Bethel' as good as it exists within the ultimate degree of order, dealt with in 3729, and consequently within the natural, for the natural is the ultimate degree of order, it being that by which celestial and spiritual things are bounded. From this it is evident that 'the God of Bethel' means the Divine within the Natural. Since Bethel means good within the natural it also means cognitions of celestial things within it, for these are cognitions of good.