4539. Arise, go up to Bethel. That this signifies that the perception is concerning the Divine natural, is evident from the signification of “arising,” as being elevation (see n. 2401, 2785, 2912, 2927, 3171, 4103), here the elevation of the natural to the Divine; from the signification of “to go up,” as being more toward the interiors (of which in what follows); and from the signification of “Bethel,” as being the Divine in the natural, or in the ultimate of order (n. 4089). For in the original language “Bethel” means the “house of God,” and as the house of God is where the knowledges of good and truth are, by “Bethel” in the proximate sense are signified these knowledges (as shown above, n. 1453). But as the interiors are terminated and closed in the ultimates of order, and are together there, and as it were dwell together in one house; and as the natural in man is the ultimate with him in which his interiors are terminated, therefore by “Bethel” or the “house of God” is properly signified the natural (n. 3729, 4089), and indeed the good therein, for in the internal sense a “house” is good (n. 2233, 2234, 3720, 3729); moreover knowledges are in the natural, or in the ultimate of order.

[2] That “to go up” denotes toward the interiors is because interior things are what are called higher things (n. 2148), and therefore when progress toward interior things is treated of in the internal sense, the expression “to go up” is employed, as “to go up” from Egypt to the land of Canaan, and in the land of Canaan itself “to go up” to the interior parts, and from all parts of it to Jerusalem, and in Jerusalem itself to the house of God there. For example “to go up” from the land of Egypt to the land of Canaan, in Moses:

Pharaoh said to Joseph, Go up and bury thy father; and Joseph went up, and all the servants of Pharaoh went up with him; and there went up with him both chariots and horsemen (Genesis 50:6-7, 9).

And in the book of Judges:

And the angel of Jehovah went up from Gilgal to Bochim, and he said, I made you go up out of Egypt (Judg. 2:1);

for by “Egypt” in the internal sense is signified that memory-knowledge which is to serve for apprehending the things of the Lord’s kingdom; and by the “land of Canaan” is signified the Lord’s kingdom. And as memory-knowledges are lower, or what is the same, are exterior, and the things of the Lord’s kingdom are higher, or what is the same, interior, therefore one is said “to go up from Egypt to the land of Canaan,” and on the other hand “to go down from the land of Canaan to Egypt” (Genesis 42:2-3; 43:4-5, 15).

[3] In the land of Canaan itself “to go up” to its interior parts, in Joshua:

Joshua said, Go up and spy out the land; and the men went up and spied out Ai; and they returned unto Joshua and said unto him, Let not all the people go up; let about two thousand men or about three thousand men go up; so there went up thither of the people about three thousand men (Josh. 7:2-4);

as the “land of Canaan” signifies the Lord’s kingdom, the parts which were more remote from its ultimate boundaries signified things interior, and therefore the expression “to go up” is here used. In like manner from all the surrounding parts to Jerusalem; and in Jerusalem to the house of God (1 Kings 12:27-28; 2 Kings 20:5, 8; Matthew 20:18; Mark 10:33; Luke 18:31 other places). For Jerusalem was the inmost of the land, because by it was signified the Lord’s spiritual kingdom; and the house of God was the inmost of Jerusalem, because by it was signified the Lord’s celestial kingdom, and in the supreme sense the Lord Himself. Hence men spoke of “going up” to them. From all this it is evident what is signified by “arise, go up to Bethel,” namely, progress toward the interiors, which is the subject treated of in this chapter (n. 4536).

1919. Abram said unto Sarai. That this signifies perception, is evident from what was said above (n. 1898). The Lord’s perception was represented and is here signified by this which Abram said to Sarai; but His thought from the perception, by that which Sarai said to Abram. The thought was from the perception. They who are in perception think from nothing else; but still perception is one thing and thought another. To show that this is the case, take conscience as an illustration.

[2] Conscience is a kind of general dictate, and thus an obscure one, of the things that flow in through the heavens from the Lord. Those which flow in present themselves in the interior rational man and are there as in a cloud, which cloud is from appearances and fallacies concerning the truths and goods of faith. But thought is distinct from conscience, and yet it flows from conscience; for they who have conscience think and speak according to it, and the thought is little else than an unfolding of the things which are of conscience, and thereby the partition of them into ideas and then into words. Hence it is that they who have conscience are kept by the Lord in good thoughts respecting the neighbor, and are withheld from thinking evil; and therefore conscience can have no place except with those who love their neighbor as themselves, and think well concerning the truths of faith. From what has been advanced we may see what the difference is between conscience and thought; and from this we may know what the difference is between perception and thought.

[3] The Lord’s perception was immediately from Jehovah, and thus from the Divine good; but His thought was from intellectual truth and the affection of it, as before said (n. 1904, 1914). The Lord’s Divine perception cannot be apprehended by any idea, not even of angels, and therefore it cannot be described. The perception of the angels (spoken of n. 1354, etc., 1394, 1395) is scarcely anything in comparison with the perception which the Lord had. The Lord’s perception, being Divine, was a perception of all things in the heavens, and therefore also of all things on earth, for such is the order, connection, and influx, that he who is in the perception of the former is also in the perception of the latter.

[4] But after the Lord’s Human Essence had been united to His Divine Essence, and at the same time had become Jehovah, the Lord was then above that which is called perception, because He was above the order that is in the heavens and thence on the earth. It is Jehovah who is the source of order, and hence it may be said that Jehovah is Order itself, for He from Himself governs order; not as is supposed in the universal only, but also in the veriest singulars, for the universal comes from these. To speak of the universal, and to separate from it the singulars, would be nothing else than to speak of a whole in which there are no parts, and therefore to speak of a something in which there is nothing. So that to say that the Lord’s Providence is universal, and is not a Providence of the veriest singulars, is to say what is utterly false, and is what is called an ens rationis [that is, a figment of the imagination]. For to provide and govern in the universal, and not in the veriest singulars, is to provide and govern absolutely nothing. This is true philosophically, and yet wonderful to say, philosophers themselves, even those who soar the highest, apprehend the matter differently, and think differently.