3131. 'And Laban ran to the man outside, to the spring' means its inclination, that is to say, the inclination of the affection for good towards truth that was to be introduced into Divine truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'running' as some leaning or inclination towards, as above in 3127; from the representation of 'Laban' as the affection for good, dealt with immediately above in 3129, 3130; from the meaning of 'men' as truth, dealt with in 265, 749, 1007; and from the meaning of 'a spring' also as truth, here Divine truth, dealt with in 2702, 3096, and below in 3137.

[2] These considerations and everything else dealt with show the nature of the internal sense and what arcana exist there. Except from interior exploration of the Word and at the same time from revelation, how can anyone know that these words - 'Laban ran to the man outside, to the spring' - mean the inclination of the affection for good towards truth that was to be introduced into Divine truth? Yet these are the things that angels perceive when these words are read by man. Indeed such are the correspondences between man's ideas and an angel's ideas that while man understands these words according to the sense of the letter and has the idea of Laban running to the man outside, to the spring, an angel perceives the inclination of the affection for good towards truth that was to be introduced into Divine truth. With angels there is no idea of Laban, or of running, or of a spring, but spiritual ideas corresponding to these. The existence of such correspondence between natural things and ideas based on these and spiritual things and ideas may also be seen from what has been stated about correspondences in 1563, 1568, 2763, 2987-3003, 3021.

[3] As to the specific matter dealt with here - that truth was to be introduced into Divine truth - the situation is that at first truth in the natural man was not Divine truth but truth that had the appearance of being Divine. For no truth in its earliest stages is the actual truth but an appearance of truth. In the course of time however it sheds the cloak of appearance and puts on the real essence of truth. To make this intelligible it can be illustrated by examples, for the moment by this alone: It is a Divine truth that the Lord is never angry, never punishes anyone, let alone does evil to anyone, and that from the Lord nothing but good ever comes. Nevertheless in its earliest stages this truth declares that the Lord is angry when someone sins, and that the Lord therefore punishes; indeed with some people it declares that evil comes from the Lord. But as a person progresses from early childhood, grows up, and matures in judgement he casts away that which from the appearance seemed to him to be the truth and gradually takes up the truth itself, which is that the Lord is never angry and does not punish, let alone perform evil. Accordingly it is by means of apparent truth that a person is introduced into actual truth; for it is a general concept that enters first, which in itself is obscure, containing scarcely anything that is to be seen until it has been enlightened by means of particular ideas, and these in turn by specific details. And once it has been enlightened interior things are discernible. In this way the delusions and appearances which are truths at the time of ignorance are dispersed and banished.

2724. 'And there he called on the name of [Jehovah,] the God of Eternity' means worship from it. This is clear from the meaning of 'calling on the name of God' as worship, dealt with in 440. Those who belonged to the Ancient Church did not understand merely name by the word 'name' but the entire nature, see 144, 145, 340, 768, 1754, 1896, 2009. Thus by 'the name of God' they understood everything in one embrace by which God was worshipped, consequently everything of love and faith. But once the internal aspect of worship perished and only the external was left people began to understand nothing else by 'the name of God' than the name. Indeed they went so far as to worship the name itself, being quite indifferent to what the love and the faith were in which their worship was grounded. As a result of this nations began to identify themselves by the names of their gods, the Jews and Israelites setting themselves above the rest because they worshipped Jehovah. They made the utterance and the calling upon the name itself the essential feature of worship; but in fact worship of the name alone is not worship at all, for that practice may exist even among the worst of people who in worshipping the name alone become greater profaners.

[2] Now because 'the name of God' means the entirety of worship, that is, the love and faith in their entirety from which He is worshipped, it is therefore clear what is meant by hallowed be Your name - in the Lord's Prayer, Matthew 6:9, and what by the following words spoken by the Lord,

You will be hated by everyone for My name's sake. Matthew 10:22.

If two of you agree in My name on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. Where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I in the midst of them. Matthew 18:19-20.

He who leaves houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields, for My name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will be allotted the inheritance of eternal life. Matthew 19:29.

Hosanna to the son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Matthew 21:9.

Jesus said, You will not see Me from now on until you say, Blessed is the one coming in the name of the Lord. Matthew 23:39.

You will be hated by all nations for My name's sake. Then many will stumble and betray one another, and hate one another, and all for My name's sake. ¹ Matthew 24:9-10.

As many as received Him, to them He gave power to be sons of God, to those believing in His name, John 1:12.

He who does not believe is judged already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. John 3:17-18.

Jesus said, Whatever you ask in My name, I will do it. John 14:14-15; 15:16; 16:23-24, 26-27.

Jesus said, I have manifested Your name to men. John 17:6.

Holy Father, keep them in Your name whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are one. John 17:11-12.

I made known to them Your name, and I will make known that the love with which You have loved Me may be in them, and I in them. John 17:26.

That you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. John 20:31.

There are in addition very many places in the Old Testament in which the name of Jehovah and of God is not used to mean the name but love and faith in their entirety in which worship is grounded.

[3] But those who worship the name alone, without love and faith, are spoken of in Matthew as follows,

Many will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy through Your name, and cast out demons through Your name, and do many mighty works in Your name? But I will confess to them, I do not know you; depart from Me, you workers of iniquity. Matthew 7:22-23.

As has been stated, once the member of the Church from being internal became external, and began to make worship consist in a name alone, people no longer acknowledged one God but many. For it was a custom among the ancients to add something after the name of Jehovah and by doing that to call to mind some benefit or attribute of His, as in the present verse, 'He called on the name of [Jehovah,] the God of Eternity'. Another example occurs in the next chapter,

Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah Jireh (that is, Jehovah will see). Genesis 22:14.

And the following, among others, are further examples,

Moses built an altar and called the name of it Jehovah Nissi (that is, Jehovah is my banner). Exodus 17:15.

Gideon built an altar to Jehovah and called it [the altar] of Jehovah Shalom (that is, of peace). Judges 6:24.

It was from this custom that those who made worship consist in a name alone came to acknowledge so many gods, and also that among the gentiles, especially those in Greece and Rome, so many gods came to be acknowledged and worshipped, whereas the Ancient Church from which those attributive names derived always worshipped but one God who was revered under so many names, for the reason that by 'name' they understood the essential nature.

Footnotes: