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.

2001. The name 'God' is used because God Shaddai whom Abram worshipped represents the Lord, and also because truth that was to be united to good is the subject. This is evident from what has been stated already. In the Word the Lord is sometimes called Jehovah, sometimes Jehovah God, also the Lord Jehovih, and sometimes God; and there is always a hidden reason for this in the internal sense. When love or good is the subject, or the celestial Church, the name JEHOVAH is used, but when faith or truth is the subject, or the spiritual Church, GOD is used. This is invariably so, the reason being that the Lord's actual Being (Esse) consists of love, and the Being (Esse) emanating from it consists of faith, 709, 732. Here therefore God is used because the subject is truth that was to be united to good. A second reason here is that the Lord was willing to be represented as the god Shaddai, whom Abram worshipped. This is why the name God is retained in what follows, for in this chapter the name Jehovah is mentioned only once but God several times, as in verses 7-8, 15, 18-19, 22-23.