5998. And sacrificed sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. That this signifies worship therefrom and influx from the Divine intellectual, is evident from the signification of “sacrificing sacrifices,” as being worship (see n. 922, 923, 2180); and from the representation of Isaac, as being in the supreme sense the Divine rational or intellectual of the the Lord, (n. 1893, 2066, 2072, 2083, 2630, 3012, 3194, 3210). That influx therefrom into worship is signified, follows, for the worship meant is that from charity and faith, which are signified by “Beersheba” (n. 5997), where he sacrificed. That Jacob sacrificed to the God of his father Isaac, shows what was the nature of the fathers of the Jewish and Israelitish nation, namely, that each of them worshiped his own God. That the God of Isaac was a God other than Jacob’s, is evident from the fact that he sacrificed to him, and that in the visions of the night it was said unto him, “I am God, the God of thy father;” and also from the fact that he swore by the same in these words: “The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us; and Jacob sware by the Dread of his father Isaac” (Genesis 31:53). And it is also evident that at first Jacob did not acknowledge Jehovah, for he said, “If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way in which I walk, and will give me bread to eat, and garment to put on, and I return in peace to my father’s house, then shall Jehovah be my God” (Genesis 28:20-21). Thus he acknowledged Jehovah conditionally.

[2] It was their custom to acknowledge the gods of their fathers, but their own in especial. This custom they derived from their fathers in Syria; for Terah, Abram’s father, and also Abram himself when there, worshiped other gods than Jehovah (n. 1356, 1992, 3667). Their posterity, who were called “Jacob” and “Israel,” were consequently of such a disposition that at heart they worshiped the gods of the Gentiles, and Jehovah only with the mouth and in name alone. The reason why they were such was that they were in externals alone without any internal, and such men can believe no otherwise than that worship consists merely in uttering the name of God and in saying that He is their God, and this so long as He is their benefactor; and that worship does not at all consist in a life of charity and faith.

3194. Isaac came from coming from [or to] Beer-lahai-roi. That this signifies Divine good rational born from Divine truth itself, is evident from the representation of Isaac, as being the Lord’s Divine rational (see n. 2083, 2630); here, as to the Divine good therein, because Divine truth called forth out of the natural (which Divine truth is represented by Rebekah) was not as yet conjoined with good; this conjunction is treated of in the verses which follow; and also from the signification of “to come from coming from Beer-lahai-roi,” as denoting to be born from Divine truth; Beer-lahai-roi in the original tongue signifies “the fountain to the Living One that seeth me;” as above (Genesis 16:13-14) where we read:

Hagar called the name of Jehovah that was speaking unto her, “Thou art the God that seeth me; for she said, Have I also here seen after Him that seeth me? Therefore she called the fountain Beer-lahai-roi (the fountain to the Living One that seeth me).

What is signified by these words may be seen above (n. 1952); where also it is evident that the “fountain” is Divine truth; and that the “Living One that seeth me” is Divine good rational, which is there called the Lord’s interior man, from Divine truth. The case in regard to this very deep arcanum is this: The veriest Divine has Good and Truth; the Lord as to the Divine Human came forth from the Divine good, and was born of the Divine truth; or what is the same, the very esse [or being] of the Lord was Divine good, and the very existere [or manifestation] was Divine truth; and this was the source of the Lord’s Divine good rational, with which He conjoined the Divine truth from the Human.