3854. And Jehovah saw. That this signifies the Lord’s foresight and providence, is evident from the signification of “seeing,” when predicated of the Lord, as being foresight and providence, which will be treated of in the following verse, concerning Reuben, whose name was given from “seeing.” (That “Jehovah” is the Lord, may be seen, n. 1343, 1736, 1793, 2156, 2329, 2921, 3023, 3035.)

[2] As regards foresight and providence in general, it is foresight relatively to man, and providence relatively to the Lord. The Lord foresaw from eternity what the human race would be, and what would be the quality of each member of it, and that evil would continually increase, until at last man of himself would rush headlong into hell. On this account the Lord has not only provided means by which man may be turned from hell and led to heaven, but also from providence He continually turns and leads him. The Lord also foresaw that it would be impossible for any good to be rooted in man except in his freedom, for whatever is not rooted in freedom is dissipated on the first approach of evil and temptation. This the Lord foresaw, and also that man of himself, or from his freedom, would incline toward the deepest hell; and therefore the Lord provides that if a man should not suffer himself to be led in freedom to heaven, he may still be bent toward a milder hell; but that if he should suffer himself to be led in freedom to good, he may be led to heaven. This shows what foresight means, and what providence, and that what is foreseen is thus provided.

[3] And from this we can see how greatly the man errs who believes that the Lord has not foreseen, and does not see, the veriest singulars appertaining to man, and that in these He does not foresee and lead; when the truth is that the Lord’s foresight and providence are in the very minutest of these veriest singulars connected with man, in things so very minute that it is impossible by any thought to comprehend as much as one out of a hundred millions of them; for every smallest moment of man’s life involves a series of consequences extending to eternity, each moment being as a new beginning to those which follow; and so with all and each of the moments of his life, both of his understanding and of his will. And as the Lord foresaw from eternity what would be man’s quality, and what it would be to eternity, it is evident that His providence is in the veriest singulars, and as before said governs and bends the man to such a quality; and this by a continual moderating of his freedom. But concerning this subject, of the Lord’s Divine mercy more hereafter.

3036. That took me from my father’s house, and from the land of my nativity. That this signifies by virtue of which it was that the Lord freed Himself from the things of the mother as to evils and falsities, is evident from the signification here of the “father’s house” and of the “land of nativity,” as being the maternal, or that which was hereditary from the mother, from which came the evil and falsity against which the Lord fought, and which He expelled, and thus made His Human Divine by His own power. (See what was said above, n. 3031, concerning the house and the land from which Abram came; also what was said concerning the Lord’s heredity: That from Jehovah there was what was Divine, and from the mother what was evil (n. 1414, 1444): That He fought against the evil inherited from the mother; but that He had no actual evil (n. 1444, 1573): That the Lord put off all that was inherited from the mother, so that at length He was not her son (n. 2159, 2574, 2649): This heredity from the mother is what is signified in the internal sense by the “father’s house” and the “land of nativity;” by the “father’s house,” the maternal heredity as to evil; and by the “land of nativity,” the maternal heredity as to falsities; for where evil is, there are falsities, for they are conjoined with each other: These He expelled by His own power (n. 1616, 1813, 1921, 2025, 2026, 2083, 2523).