6003. And He said, I am God, the God of thy father. That this signifies the Divine intellectual from which is the influx, is evident from the representation of Isaac, who is here the “father,” as being the Divine rational or intellectual of the Lord (see ab ove n. 5998); for it is said, “God, the God of thy father.” That the influx is from this is because all truth is of the intellectual, thus also natural truth, which is represented by Jacob (n. 6001). (What the Divine rational or intellectual is which is represented by Isaac, see n. 1893, 2066, 2072, 2083, 2630, 3012, 3194, 3210.) In the original tongue, “God” is named in the first place in the singular, but in the second place in the plural; that is, in the first the name is “El,” and in the second it is “Elohim.” The reason is that by “God” in the first place is signified that there is one God and only one, and by “God” in the second place that He has many attributes. Thus arises the name “Elohim” or “God” in the plural, as in the Word almost everywhere. As there are many attributes, and the Ancient Church assigned a name to each, therefore its descendants, with whom the knowledge of such things was lost, believed there were many gods, and each family chose one of them for its God-as Abraham, Shaddai (n. 1992, 3667, 5628), and Isaac, the God who was called “Pachad” or “Dread.” And as the God of each was one of the Divine attributes, therefore the Lord said unto Abram, “I am God Shaddai” (Genesis 17:1), and here unto Jacob, “I am the God of thy father.”

5997. And came to Beersheba. That this signifies charity and faith, is evident from the signification of “Beersheba,” as being the doctrine of charity and of faith (see n. 2858, 2859, 3466), but here, charity and faith, and not their doctrine, for it is predicated of spiritual good, which is “Israel.” Spiritual good is more than doctrine, doctrine being from this good; and therefore he who has arrived at spiritual good has no more need of doctrinal things, which are from others; for he is in the end whither he was tending, and is no longer in the means thereto; and doctrinal things are nothing but the means of arriving at good as the end. This is the reason why by “Beersheba” is signified charity and faith.