1925. 'The angel of Jehovah found her' means thought in the interior man, that is to say, thought residing with the Lord. This becomes clear from the representation and meaning of 'the angel of Jehovah'. Mention is made several times in the Word of 'the angel of Jehovah', and in every case when used in the good sense it represents and means some essential quality with the Lord and from the Lord. Which one it represents and means however becomes clear from the train of thought. They were indeed angels who were sent to men and women, and who also spoke through the prophets. Yet what they spoke did not originate in those angels but was something imparted through them. In fact their state at the time was such that they knew no other than that they were Jehovah, that is, the Lord. But as soon as they had finished speaking they returned to their previous state and spoke as they normally did from themselves.

[2] This was the case with the angels who uttered the Word of the Lord, as I have been given to know from much similar experience in the next life, experience that will be presented in the Lord's Divine mercy further on. This is the reason why angels were sometimes called Jehovah, as is quite clear from the angel that appeared in the bramble-bush to Moses, concerning whom the following is recorded,

The angel of Jehovah appeared to Moses in a flame of fire from the middle of the bramble-bush. Jehovah saw that he turned aside to see, and God called to him from the middle of the bramble-bush God said to Moses, I am who I am. And God said again to Moses, Thus shall you say to the children of Israel, Jehovah the God of your fathers has sent me to you. Exodus 3:2, 4, 14-15.

From these verses it is evident that it was an angel who appeared to Moses as a flame in the bramble-bush and that he spoke as Jehovah, because the Lord or Jehovah was speaking through him.

[3] So that man may be spoken to by means of articulated sounds heard in the natural world, the Lord employs angels as His ministers by filling them with the Divine and by rendering unconscious all that is their own, so that for the time being they know no other than that they themselves are Jehovah. In this way the Divine of Jehovah which belongs in highest things comes down into the lowest constituting the natural world in which man sees and hears. It was similar in the case of the angel who spoke to Gideon, of whom the following is said in the Book of Judges,

The angel of Jehovah appeared to Gideon and said to him, Jehovah is with you, O mighty man of strength. And Gideon said to him, Forgive me for asking, ¹ O my Lord; why has all this befallen us? And Jehovah looked on him and said, Go in this might of yours. And Jehovah said to him, Surely I will be with you. Judges 6:12-14, 16.

And further on,

Gideon saw that he was the angel of Jehovah, and Gideon said, Alas, Lord Jehovih! Inasmuch as I have seen the angel of Jehovah face to face. ² And Jehovah said to him, Peace be to you; do not fear. Judges 6:22-23.

Here similarly it was an angel, but his state was such at that time that he knew no other than that he was Jehovah, or the Lord. Elsewhere in the Book of Judges,

The angel of Jehovah went up from Gilgal to Bochim, and he said, I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land which I swore to give to your fathers. I said, I will not break my covenant with you, even for ever. Judges 2:1.

Here similarly the angel speaks in the name of Jehovah, declaring that he brought them out of the land of Egypt, though in fact it was not the angel who led them out but Jehovah, as is stated many times elsewhere.

[4] From this it may become clear how angels spoke through the prophets - that it was the Lord Himself who spoke, yet through angels, and that the angels spoke nothing at all from themselves. That the Word comes from the Lord is clear from many places, as also in Matthew,

To fulfill what the Lord had spoken through the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin will be with child and give birth to a son. Matthew 1:22-23.

And there are other places besides this. It is because the Lord speaks through angels when He speaks to man that the Lord is also called an angel in various places in the Word. In these instances 'angel' means, as stated, some essential quality residing with the Lord and deriving from Him, as is the case here where it is the Lord's interior thought. This also is the reason why in this chapter the angel is named Jehovah and also God, as in verse 13, 'And Hagar called the name of Jehovah who was speaking to her, You are a God who sees me'.

[5] In other places 'angels' is used in a similar way to mean some specific attribute that is the Lord's, as in John,

The seven stars are the angels of the seven Churches. Revelation 1:20.

There are no angels of Churches, but by 'angels' is meant that which constitutes the Church, and thus which is the Lord's in regard to the Churches. In the same book,

I saw the wall of the Holy Jerusalem, great and high, having twelve gates, and above the gates twelve angels, and names written which are those of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. Revelation 21:12.

Here 'twelve angels' has the same meaning as 'the twelve tribes', namely all things of faith, and so the Lord from whom faith and all that belongs to it is derived. In the same book,

I saw an angel flying in mid-heaven, having an eternal gospel. Revelation 14:6.

Here 'an angel' means the gospel that is the Lord's alone.

[6] In Isaiah,

The angel of His presence ³ saved them; ⁴ in His love and in His pity He redeemed them, and lifted them up and carried them all the days of eternity. Isaiah 63:9.

Here 'the angel of His presence" is used to mean the Lord's mercy towards the entire human race in redeeming it. Similarly in Jacob's blessing of the sons of Joseph,

May the angel who has redeemed me from every evil bless the boys. Genesis 48:16.

Here also the redemption, which is the Lord's, is meant by 'the angel'. In Malachi,

Suddenly there will come to His temple the Lord whom you are seeking, and the angel of the covenant in whom you delight. Malachi 3:1.

Here it is plainly evident that the Lord is meant by 'the angel'. The expression 'the angel of the covenant' is used here because of His Coming into the world. In Exodus it is plainer still that 'an angel' means the Lord,

Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way, and to bring you to the place which I have prepared. He will not tolerate your transgression, for My name is within him. Exodus 23:20-21.

From this it is now clear that 'an angel' in the Word is used to mean the Lord; but just what aspect of the Lord is evident from the train of thought in the internal sense.

Footnotes:

4235. 'And the angels of God met him' means enlightenment coming from good. This is clear from the meaning of 'the angels of God' as some aspect of the Lord, in this case the Divine which is within the Lord, for within the Lord there was the Divine itself which is called the Father. The very Essence of the Lord's life, which with man is termed the soul, was from the Divine and was Himself. That Divine is what is normally referred to as the Divine Nature, or rather the Lord's Divine Essence. For in the Word 'the angels of God' means some aspect of the Lord's Divine, see 1925, 2319, 2821, 3039, 4085. This statement about the angels of God meeting him means in the proximate sense an inflowing of the Divine into the Natural, which brought enlightenment; for all enlightenment comes about from an influx of the Divine. As the subject is a turning round of the state within the Lord's Natural, so that good came to occupy the first place and truth the second, and the implanting of truth within good there, dealt with in 4232; and as this could not be effected without enlightenment from the Divine, enlightenment from the good in which the truth was to be implanted is here dealt with first.

4232. Genesis 32

1. And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him.

2. And Jacob said when he saw them, This is God's camp. And he called the name of that place Mahanaim.

3. And Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau, to the land of Seir, the field of Edom.

4. And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall you say to my lord Esau, Thus says your servant Jacob, With Laban I have sojourned, and have stayed until now.

5. And I have oxen and asses, flocks and men servants and women servants; and I am sending to tell my lord, so as to find favour in your eyes.

6. And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to your brother, to Esau, and he also is coming to meet you, and four hundred men with him.

7. And Jacob was exceedingly afraid, and was distressed; and he split up the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps.

8. And he said, If Esau comes towards one camp and smites it, the camp that is left will escape.

9. And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Jehovah, who says to me, Return to your land, and to the place of your nativity, and I will deal well with you,

10. I am not worthy of all the mercies and of all the truth which You have shown to Your servant, for with just my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I have become two camps.

11. Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he comes and smites me, the mother with the children. ¹

12. And You have said, I will certainly deal well with you and I will make your seed like the sand of the sea which cannot be counted for multitude.

13. And he spent that night there, and took from what came into his hand a gift for Esau his brother:

14. Two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats; two hundred sheep and twenty rams;

15. Thirty milking camels and their colts; forty young cows and ten young bulls; twenty she-asses and ten foals

16. And he gave them into the hand of his servants, drove by drove separately; and he said to his servants, Pass over in front of me and put a space between drove and drove.

17. And he commanded the first, saying, When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, saying, To whom do you belong; and where are you going; and whose are these in front of you?

18. Then you shall say, They belong to your servant Jacob; it is a gift sent to my lord Esau; and behold, he also is behind us.

19. And he commanded the second also, the third also, and all also following the droves, saying, In this manner ² shall you speak to Esau when you find him.

20. And you shall also say, Behold, your servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the gift that is going in front of me, and after that I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me.

21. And the gift passed over in front of him, and he spent that night in the camp.

22. And he rose up that night, and took his two wives (femina), and his two servant-girls, and his eleven sons, and passed over at the passage of Jabbok.

23. And he took them and made them pass over the river, and made all that he had pass over.

24. And Jacob remained alone; and a man wrestled with him until dawn came up.

25. And he ³ saw that he did not prevail against him, and he touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him.

26. And he ³ said, Let me go, for the dawn is coming up. And he said, I will not let you go unless you bless me.

27. And he ³ said to him, What is your name? And he said, Jacob.

28. And he' said, Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for as a prince you have contended with God and with men, and have prevailed.

29. And Jacob asked and said, Tell me, I pray, your name. And he said, Why is it that you ask my name? And he blessed him there.

30. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, [saying,] For I have seen God face to face, and my soul is delivered.

31. And the sun rose on him as he passed over Penuel, and he was limping on his thigh.

32. Therefore the children of Israel do not eat the sinew of that which was displaced, which is on the hollow of the thigh, even to this day, because he touched, in the hollow of Jacob's thigh, the sinew of that which was displaced.

CONTENTS

The subject now in the internal sense is a turning round of the state within the Natural, so that good comes to occupy the first place and truth the second. The implanting of truth within good is dealt with in verses 1-23, and the wrestlings involved in the temptations which have to be endured then, in verses 24-32. At the same time the subject is the Jewish nation - how even though it was incapable of receiving anything of the Church, that nation did nevertheless represent things of the Church.

Footnotes: