4. As long as the mind confines itself to the sense of the letter alone one cannot possibly see that its contents are such. Take for instance these first sections of Genesis: From the sense of the letter the only subject matter people recognize is the creation of the world, and the Garden of Eden which is called Paradise, and Adam as the first man to be created. Who thinks anything different? The fact that these things contain arcana however which have never been revealed up to now will be sufficiently clear from what follows - especially clear from the fact that the subject of Genesis 1 is, in the internal sense, the NEW CREATION of man, that is, in general his REGENERATION, and in particular the Most Ancient Church. And the subject is presented in such a way that not the smallest part of any expression fails to have a representation, carry a spiritual meaning, or embody something within itself.

1676. 'As far as El-paran which is over into the wilderness' means the range of their extension. This becomes clear from the fact that the Horites were smitten and made to flee as far as that place. The wilderness of Paran is mentioned in Genesis 21:21; Numbers 10:12; 12:16; 13:3, 26; Deuteronomy 1:1. What 'El-paran which is in the wilderness' means here cannot be easily explained beyond this, that the Lord's first victory over the hells meant by those nations did not as yet extend any further. But how far it did extend is meant by 'El-paran which is over into the wilderness'.

[2] Anyone who has not been given to know heavenly arcana may imagine that there was no necessity for the Lord's Coming into the world to fight with the hells, and by means of the temptations He suffered to war successfully against them and overcome them, since Divine Omnipotence could at any point have subdued them and confined them to their own particular hells. That it was nevertheless necessary stands as an unchanging truth. To disclose merely the most general aspects of those arcana however would take up a whole work, and would also provide opportunities for reasonings about Divine mysteries which, though disclosed, people's minds would not grasp. Nor would the majority wish to grasp them.

[3] It is enough therefore if people know and, since it is so, believe it to be an eternal truth that unless the Lord had come into the world and by means of the temptations which He suffered had overcome and conquered the hells, the human race would have perished, and that if He had not done so none who have lived on this planet even from the time of the Most Ancient Church could have been saved.