4859. And covered herself in a veil. That this signifies truth obscured, is evident from the signification of “covering herself” or her face “with her veil,” as being to conceal, and thus to obscure the truth which pretended to be from good, as just above (n. 4858); and this for the purpose of conjunction with Judah. For when a bride first approached the bridegroom she covered herself with a veil-as we read of Rebekah when she came to Isaac (Genesis 24:65); and by this were signified appearances of truth (n. 3207). For a wife signifies truth, and a husband good; and as truth does not appear in its quality until it is being conjoined with its good, therefore for the sake of representing this the bride covered herself with a veil on first seeing her husband. The case is similar here with Tamar, for she regarded Shelah Judah’s son as her husband, but because she was not given to him, she regarded his father in his stead as one to perform the duty of a husband’s brother. Therefore she covered herself with a veil as a bride, and not as a harlot, though Judah believed the latter because harlots also were wont at that time to cover their faces, as is evident from verse 15. The reason why Judah so regarded her was that the Jewish nation, which is there signified by “Judah,” regarded the internal truths of the representative church no otherwise than as a harlot; and therefore Judah was conjoined with her as with a harlot, but not so Tamar with him. Because internal truths could not appear otherwise to that nation, therefore truth obscured is here signified by Tamar’s covering herself in a veil. That the truth of the church is obscured to them, is represented also at this day by their covering themselves with veils in their synagogues.

[2] There was a similar representation with Moses when the skin of his face shone as he came down from Mount Sinai, so that he covered himself with a veil whenever he spoke to the people (Exodus 34:28 to the end). Moses represented the Word which is called the Law (see the preface to Genesis 18); for which reason it is sometimes said the “Law and the Prophets” (as in Matthew 5:17, 11:13; 22:36, 40); and sometimes “Moses and the Prophets” (as in Luke 16:29, 31; 24:27, 44). By the shining of the skin of his face was represented the internal of the Word, for the “face” is the internal (n. 358, 1999, 2434, 3527, 4066, 4796, 4797), which being spiritual is in the light of heaven. His veiling his face whenever he spoke to the people represented that internal truth was covered to them, and thus obscured so that they should not have to endure any light from it.

1889. In this chapter it is the same with the names Abram, Sarai, Hagar, and Ishmael; and what they involve may be seen from the CONTENTS, and further on from the explication of each name in its place. But these matters are of a nature that does not admit of easy explication, for the subject treated of in connection with these names is the Lord’s rational, and how it was conceived and born, and what its quality was before it was united to the Lord’s Internal, which was Jehovah. The reason why this subject is not of easy explication, is that at this day it is not known what the internal man is, what the interior, and what the exterior. When the rational is spoken of, or the rational man, some idea can be formed of it; but when it is said that the rational is the intermediate between the internal and the external, few if any comprehend it. Yet as the subject here treated of in the internal sense is the Lord’s Rational Man, and how it was conceived and born by the influx of the internal man into the external, and as it is these very matters that are involved in the historical facts stated concerning Abram, Hagar, and Ishmael, therefore in order to prevent what we have to say in the following explication from being utterly unintelligible, be it known that in every man there is an internal man, a rational man which is intermediate, and an external man, and that these are most distinct from one another. (Concerning this subject see what was said above, n. 978.)