6284. 'And the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac' means, and the essential nature of internal goodness and truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'the name' as the essential nature, as immediately above in 6283; and from the representation of 'Abraham and Isaac' as internal goodness and truth, dealt with above in 6276. Internal goodness and truth must be present within external goodness and truth if the latter are to be goodness and truth. For as stated above in 6275, the external is merely something that provides an outward form in which the internal can exist and lead a life in accord with what flows into it from the Lord. And the internal too is merely something providing an outward form when considered in relation to what is supreme, namely the Lord. He is the Source of all life, and things below Him are forms that are merely receivers of life, ranged by degrees in order down to the last and lowest, which is the body.

3420. 'Which the Philistines had been stopping up after Abraham's death' means that people who had no more than a knowledge of cognitions refused to recognize these truths. This is clear from the meaning of 'stopping up' as not wishing to know, and what amounts to the same, refusing to recognize and so effacing, dealt with above in 3412; and from the representation of 'the Philistines' as those who have no more than a knowledge of cognitions, dealt with in 1197, 1198, 3412, 3413. It is the knowledge of cognitions that those ruled by matters of doctrine concerning faith possess, and they have no wish to know the truths that are the sources of cognitions or matters of doctrine. The truths that are the sources of cognitions or matters of doctrine are those that have to do with life and that have regard to charity towards the neighbour and love to the Lord. Religious teaching, which consists of matters of doctrine and of recognized facts, does no more than teach those things. Anyone therefore who teaches what ought to be done, but does not do it himself, does not wish to know truths since they run counter to his life. And things contrary to his life he also refuses to recognize. These are the reasons why the matters of doctrine concerning love and charity which in the Ancient Church constituted the whole of religious teaching have been effaced.