3466. Therefore the name of the city is Beersheba. That this signifies the quality of the doctrine thence derived, is evident from the signification of “name,” as being the quality (see above, n. 3465); and from the signification of “city” as being doctrine (see n. 402, 2449, 2712, 2943, 3216); hence comes “Beersheba,” which in the original tongue means “the well of the oath,” thus the doctrine of confirmed truth. (That “Beersheba” is doctrine may be seen above, n. 2723, 2858-2859.) In chapter 21, verses 30-31, it is said:

Because these seven ewe lambs shalt thou take from my hand, that it may be a witness unto me that I have digged this well. Wherefore he called that place Beersheba, because there they sware both of them (Genesis 21:30-31); where by “Beersheba” was signified the state and quality of doctrine, that it was from the Divine, and that by means of it there was conjunction; and because the interiors of that church are there treated of, it is said that “that place” was called Beersheba; whereas here, because the exteriors of that church are treated of, it is said that “the city” was so called; for of interior things is predicated state, which is signified by “place” (n. 2625, 2837, 3356, 3387); but of exterior things is predicated doctrine, which is signified by “city;” for all doctrine has its state and its quality from its interiors.

3375. And I will set up the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father. That this signifies confirmation, is evident from the signification of an “oath,” or of “swearing,” as being confirmation (n. 2842). It is not here said to “set up the covenant” made with Abraham, but the “oath,” for the reason that a “covenant” is predicated of the celestial or of good, but an “oath” of the spiritual or of truths (n. 3037), which are the subject here treated of. And for the same reason in what follows it is not said of Isaac that he “made a covenant with Abimelech,” but that he “sware a man to his brother” (verse 31); whereas it is said of Abraham that he and Abimelech “made a covenant” (Genesis 21:32; see Psalms 105:8-10). By the confirmation here referred to which is signified by an “oath,” there is meant the conjunction of the Lord with those who are in His kingdom; for an “oath” is the confirmation of a covenant; and by a “covenant” is signified conjunction (n. 665, 666, 1023, 1038, 1864, 1996, 2003, 2021).