When the Bible speaks of "Jehovah," it is representing love itself, the inmost love that is the essence of the Lord. That divine love is one, whole and complete in itself, and Jehovah also is one, a name applied only to the Lord. The divine love expresses itself in the form of wisdom. Love, then, is the essence of God -- His inmost. Wisdom -- the loving understanding of how to put love into action -- is slightly more external, giving love a way to express itself. Wisdom, however, is expressed in a great variety of thoughts and ideas, what the Writings collectively call divine truth. There are also many imaginary gods, and sometimes angels and people can be called gods (the Lord said Moses would be as a god to Aaron). So when the Bible calls the Lord "God," it is in most cases referring to divine truth. In other cases, "God" has reference to what is called the divine human. The case there is this: As human beings, we cannot engage the Lord directly as divine love. It is too powerful and too pure. Instead, we have to approach Him by understanding Him through divine truth. Divine truth, then, is the Lord in human form, a form we can approach and understand. Thus "God" is also used in reference to this human aspect, because it is an expression of truth.

1668. 'And in the thirteenth year they rebelled' means the onset of temptations in childhood. This is clear from the meaning of 'the thirteenth year' and from the meaning of 'rebelling' - the thirteenth year coming between the twelfth and fourteenth. What is meant by twelve has been stated already, and what is meant by fourteen is to follow. 'Thirteen' is the interval between the time when there is no temptation and the time when there is. What 'rebelling' means becomes clear when it is used in reference to the evils present with a person, or to evil spirits, when they have been held in subjection or are subservient and then start to rise up and infest.

[2] Evils, or evil spirits, are in rebellion to the extent that a person who wishes to be governed by goods and truths confirms within himself certain evils and falsities, that is, to the extent that evil desires and falsities introduce themselves into his goods and truths. It is in evil desires and falsities that the life of evil spirits consists, but in goods and truths that the life of angels consists; and from this, infestation and conflict arise. This is so with all who have conscience, and was all the more so with the Lord when a boy, who had perception. With those who have conscience a dull pain arises, but with those who have perception intense pain; and the more interior the perception, the more intense is that pain. From this it becomes clear what the temptation of the Lord, who had interior and inmost perception, was like in comparison with men's.