476. That 'male and female' means the marriage of faith and love has been stated and shown already. That is to say, 'male' or man (vir) means the understanding and what belongs to the understanding, and so what belongs to faith, while 'female' means the will, or what belongs to the will, and so what belongs to love. This also is why she was called Eve, from a word meaning life, which belongs to love alone. 'Female' therefore also means the Church, as also shown already, and 'male' the man (vir) of the Church. At present the subject is the state of the Church at the time it was spiritual and shortly to become celestial, which is why the word 'male' comes first, as it does also in 1:26-27. Furthermore the expression 'to create' has regard to the spiritual man. As soon however as that marriage has taken place, that is, the Church has become celestial, it is no longer called 'male and female' but 'Man' (Homo) who by virtue of the marriage means both. Consequently 'and He called their name Man', which means the Church, follows next.

2033. 'You shall keep My covenant' means an even closer union. This is clear from the meaning of 'a covenant' as union and conjunction, dealt with already at verses 2, 4, 7, and in Volume One, in 665, 666, 1023, 1038. The further reference here to the covenant which has been mentioned so many times already denotes a closer union. In the historical sense which has to do with Abraham, nothing else may be said than that he was to keep the covenant; but in the internal sense, in which the Lord is the subject, the historical aspects disappear and things take their place which have to do with being united more closely. The union of the Lord's Human Essence with His Divine Essence was not accomplished all at once but gradually throughout the whole course of His life from early childhood to the end of His life in the world. Thus He was ascending continuously towards glorification, that is, towards union, which is what is stated in John,

Jesus said, Father, glorify Your name. A voice came from heaven, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. John 12:28.

See what has appeared already in 1690, 1864.