5605. They have the Word of the ancient Church, which Moses mentioned, calling it "the wars of Jehovah" [Num. 21:14], and the prophetical enunciations, about which [he speaks] ¹ . They said that this Word has been written so that they can be instructed in the details. It was also inspired, but because it ceased to be suitable to subsequent people another word (sic) was written. The nature of this Word is evident from the first Books of Genesis, which are taken from it.

Footnotes:

4310. In the internal historical sense 'Jacob called the name of the place Peniel' means a state in which they took on representations. This is clear from the meaning of 'calling the name' as the essential nature, often dealt with already; from the meaning of 'place' as state, dealt with in 2625, 2837, 3356, 3387; and from the meaning of 'Peniel', in this sense, as taking on representations, for representations are the subject in what has gone before and directly follows. The literal meaning of Peniel is explained in the words 'for I have seen God face to face, and my soul is delivered', the spiritual meaning of which is the Lord's presence in that which was represented, dealt with immediately below. So the meaning here is that they took on representations. Names of places, as with the names of persons, and also of actual things, do not have the same meaning in one sense as they do in another. Jacob himself, for example, in the sense of the letter means Jacob himself; in the internal historical sense his descendants, 4281; in the internal spiritual sense the natural man in the case of one who is regenerate; but in the highest sense the Lord's Divine Natural is meant, as has been shown often. This applies to all other names, and so no less to Peniel.