2093. 'Whom Sarah will bear to you' means Divine Truth joined to Divine Good from which it will come forth into being. This is clear from the representation of 'Sarah' as Divine Truth, dealt with already in 2063, 2081, and from the representation of 'Abraham' as Divine Good, dealt with in 2063 and in various places elsewhere.

[2] The manner in which the Lord's first rational was conceived and born has been stated in the previous chapter where Ishmael, who represented that rational, was the subject. This chapter and the next deal with that Rational which was made Divine by the Lord, something He achieved through the marriage-like conjunction of Divine Good with Divine Truth. The only possible way the first rational can be conceived is by the influx of the Internal Man into the External Man's affection for knowledge. Nor can it be born from anything other than the affection for knowledge, an affection represented by 'Hagar, Sarai's servant-girl', as shown in the previous chapter, in 1896, 1902, 1910, and elsewhere in that chapter.

[3] But the second or Divine Rational is not conceived and born in the same way but by the conjunction of Truth in the Internal Man with Good in the same, and the resulting influx. In the Lord's case this was achieved by His own power derived from the Divine itself, that is, from Jehovah. As stated in various places already, His Internal Man was Jehovah. And Good itself, represented by 'Abraham', belonged to the Internal Man, as also did Truth itself, represented by 'Sarah'. Both were on that account Divine, and from them both the Lord's Divine Rational was conceived and born. Indeed it was conceived and born from the influx of good into truth, and so by means of truth, for the principal element in the rational is truth, as stated above in 2072. Hence the statement here 'whom Sarah will bear to you', which means Divine Truth joined to Good from which it will come into being, and at verse 17 above the statement 'Sarah a daughter of ninety years' means that Truth joined to Good will accomplish this.

[4] With all human beings, since each has been created in the likeness and image of God, something similar yet not comparable takes place, in that his first rational too is conceived and born through the influx of his internal man into the life of his external man's affection for knowledge, but his second rational results from the influx of good and truth from the Lord by way of his internal man. This second rational he receives from the Lord when he is being regenerated, for at that time he senses within his rational what the good and truth of faith are. The internal man with anyone is above his rational, and is the Lord's. This is dealt with in 1889, 1940.

1940. That 'I will multiply your seed greatly' means the fruitfulness of the rational man when it submits itself to the controlling power of the interior man allied to good is clear from the meaning of 'seed' as love and faith, dealt with already in 1025, 1447, 1610. Here however 'multiplying seed' means the fruitfulness within the rational of the celestial things of love when the rational has submitted itself to truth that is interior or Divine. 'Being multiplied' has reference to truths but 'being fruitful' to goods, as is clear from what has been stated and shown already in 43, 55, 913, 983. But as the subject is the Lord, 'being multiplied' means being fruitful for the reason that all truth within His Rational became good and so Divine; and this is what is being referred to here. In man's case it is different - his rational is formed by the Lord from truth or the affection for truth. This affection is in him good from which he acts.

[2] As regards multiplication and fruitfulness within man's rational, this cannot be understood unless one knows about influx, regarding which the following may be said of it in general: Within everybody, as stated already, there is the internal man, the rational man, which is in the middle, and the external man. The internal man is the inmost part of him by virtue of which he is a human being and which makes him distinct and separate from animals, which do not possess that inmost part. The internal man is so to speak the door or entrance for the Lord, that is, for celestial and spiritual things that are the Lord's, to come into a person. What goes on there the individual cannot comprehend since it is entirely above his rational from which he thinks. To this inmost or internal man the rational which appears as the person's own is subordinate. Into this rational by way of that internal man flow heavenly things of love and faith from the Lord; and by way of this rational they flow on into the facts that belong to the external man. But how these things flowing in are received depends on the individual person's state.

[3] Unless the rational is submissive to goods and truths that are the Lord's this rational either stifles, or rejects, or perverts the things that flow in, the more so when they flow into facts in the memory that are derived from sensory evidence. These things when so received are meant by the seed that falls either on the pathway, or over stony ground, or among thorns, as the Lord teaches in Matthew 13:3-7; Mark 4:3-7; Luke 8:5-7. But when the rational is submissive and believes the Lord, that is, His Word, the rational is like the ground or good soil into which the seed falls and bears much fruit.