9373. Come up unto Jehovah. That this signifies conjunction with the Lord, is evident from the signification of “coming up,” as being to be raised toward interior things (see n. 3084, 4539, 4969, 5406, 5817, 6007), consequently also to be conjoined (n. 8760). That it denotes conjunction with the Lord, is because by “Jehovah” in the Word is meant the the Lord, (n. 1343, 1736, 1793, 2004, 2005, 2018, 2025, 2921, 3023, 3035, 5663, 6280, 6303, 6905, 8274, 8864, 9315). A secret which also lies hidden in the internal sense of these words, is that the sons of Jacob, over whom Moses was the head, were not called and chosen; but they themselves insisted that Divine worship should be instituted among them (according to wh at has been said in n. 4290, 4293); and therefore it is here said, “and He said unto Moses, Come up unto Jehovah,” as if not Jehovah, but another, had said that he should come up. For the same reason in what follows it is said that “the people should not go up” (verse 2); and that “Jehovah sent not His hand unto the sons of Israel who were set apart” (verse 11); and that “the appearance of the glory of Jehovah was like devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the sons of Israel” (verse 17); and lastly that Moses, being called the seventh day, “entered into the midst of the cloud.” For by “the cloud” is meant the Word in the letter (n. 5922, 6343, 6752, 6832, 8106, 8443, 8781); and with the sons of Jacob the Word was separated from its internal sense, because they were in external worship without internal, as can be clearly seen from the fact that now, as before, they said, “all the words which Jehovah hath spoken we will do” (verse 3); and yet scarcely forty days afterward they worshiped a golden calf instead of Jehovah; which shows that this was hidden in their hearts while they were saying with their lips that they would serve Jehovah alone. But nevertheless those who are meant by “the called and the chosen” are those who are in internal worship, and who from internal worship are in external; that is, those who are in love to and faith in the Lord, and from this in love toward the neighbor.

4307. That in the internal historical sense by “Jacob asked and said, Tell I pray thy name,” are signified evil spirits, may be seen from many things in this sense, in which these words and those which follow are predicated of the posterity of Jacob; for the internal sense is determined by its application to the subject treated of. That not good spirits, but evil ones are signified by him who wrestled with Jacob, may be seen from the fact that by “wrestling” is signified temptation (n. 3927, 3928, 4274); and temptation is never caused by good spirits, but by evil, for temptation is the excitation of the evil and falsity that are in the man (n. 741, 751, 761, 1820, 4249, 4299). Good spirits and angels never excite evils and falsities, but defend man against them, and bend them to good; for good spirits are led by the Lord, and from the Lord nothing ever proceeds but holy good and holy truth. That the Lord tempts no one, is known from the doctrine received in the church, and may also be seen above (n. 1875, 2768). From this, and also from the fact that the posterity of Jacob gave way in every temptation, both in the wilderness and afterwards, it is evident that not good spirits, but evil, are signified by him who wrestled with Jacob. Moreover that nation, which is here signified by “Jacob,” was not in any spiritual and heavenly love, but in bodily and worldly love (n. 4281, 4288-4290, 4293); and the presence of spirits with men is determined in accordance with their loves. Good spirits and angels are present with those who are in spiritual and heavenly love, and evil spirits with those who are solely in bodily and worldly love; and this so much that everyone may know the quality of the spirits with him by merely observing the quality of his loves, or what is the same, the quality of his ends; for everyone has for an end that which he loves.

[2] The reason why the spirit called himself God was that Jacob believed this; like his posterity, who constantly believed that Jehovah was in their holy external, when yet Jehovah was present only representatively, as will be evident from what follows. They also believed that Jehovah led into temptations, that all evil was from Him, and that He was in anger and fury when they were punished. For this reason it was so expressed in the Word, in accordance with their belief, when yet Jehovah never leads into temptations, nor is there ever anything evil from Him, nor is He ever in anger, and still less in fury (see n. 223, 245, 592, 696, 1093, 1683, 1874, 1875, 2395, 3605, 3607, 3614). This is also the reason why he who wrestled with Jacob was not willing to reveal his name. That in the internal spiritual sense by him who wrestled with Jacob is meant the angelic heaven (n. 4295), is because the Lord, who in the supreme sense is there represented by Jacob, allowed angels also to tempt Him; and because the angels were at that time left to what is their own, as was shown in the number cited.

3128. And told her mother’s house according to these words. That this signifies toward natural good of every kind whithersoever enlightenment could reach, is evident from the signification of the “mother’s house,” as being the good of the external man, that is, natural good. (That a “house” denotes good may be seen above, n. 2233, 2234, 2559; also that man’s external or natural is from the mother, but the internal from the father, n. 1815.) The good with man is compared in the Word to a “house,” and on this account a man who is in good is called a “house of God;” but internal good is called the “father’s house,” and the good that is in the same degree is called the “house of the brethren;” but external good, which is the same as natural good, is called the “mother’s house.” Moreover all good and truth are born in this manner, namely, by the influx of internal good as of a father into external good as of a mother.

[2] As this verse treats of the origin of the truth which is to be conjoined with good in the rational, it is therefore said that Rebekah (by whom this truth is represented) ran to the house of her mother, for that was the origin of this truth. For as before said and shown, all good flows in by an internal way (that is, by the way of the soul) into man’s rational, and through this into his faculty of knowing, even into that which is of the senses; and by enlightenment there it causes truths to be seen. Truths are called forth thence, and are divested of their natural form, and are conjoined with good in the midway, that is, in the rational, and at the same time they make the man rational, and at last spiritual. But how these things are accomplished is utterly unknown to man; because at this day it is scarcely known what good is, and that it is distinct from truth; still less that man is reformed by means of the influx of good into truth, and by the conjunction of the two; neither is it known that the rational is distinct from the natural. And when these things, which are most general, are not known, it cannot possibly be known how the initiation of truth into good, and the conjunction of the two, is effected-which are the subjects treated of in this chapter in its internal sense. But whereas these arcana have been revealed, and are manifest to those who are in good, that is, who are angelic minds, therefore however obscure they may appear to others, they nevertheless are to be set forth, because they are in the internal sense.

[3] Concerning the enlightenment from good through truth in the natural man, which is here called the “mother’s house,” the case is this: Divine good with man inflows into his rational, and through the rational into his natural, and indeed into its memory-knowledges, that is, into the knowledges and doctrinal things therein, as before said; and there by a fitting of itself in, it forms truths for itself, through which it then enlightens all things that are in the natural man. But if the life of the natural man is such that it does not receive the Divine good, but either repels it, or perverts it, or suffocates it, then the Divine good cannot be fitted in, thus it cannot form for itself truths; and consequently the natural can no longer be enlightened; for enlightenment in the natural man is effected from good through truths; and when there is no longer enlightenment, there can be no reformation. This is the reason why in the internal sense the natural man also is much treated of in regard to its quality; thus whence truth is, namely, that it is from good there.