1020. That these things are meant becomes clear from the fact that everything put together as history from Genesis 1 down to Eber in Chapter 11 means something different from what appears in the letter, and from the consideration that the historical narratives there are purely made-up history customary among the most ancient people. When attesting the truth of some matter they would say that 'Jehovah said it'. Here however 'God' is used because the subject is the spiritual Church. And they did the same when anything true was being, or had been, put into effect.

1713. 'He and his servants' means the Rational Man and those things in the External Man that were obedient. This is clear from the meaning of the pronoun 'he', that is, of Abram, as the Interior Man, dealt with above, and from the meaning of 'servants' as things that are obedient. All things in the external man, before this has been set free and reclaimed, are called 'servants' or 'slaves', for they are wholly obedient to the interior man. For example, present with the exterior man there are affections and there is factual knowledge. The former originate in the goods of the interior man, the latter in the truths of the same. When these are made to act so that they conform with the interior man they are said to 'serve and obey'. Here therefore 'servants' means nothing else than the things in the External Man that were obedient.