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.

4576. And the land which I gave unto Abraham and to Isaac, to thee I will give it. That this signifies the Divine good appropriated, is evident from the signification of “land,” as being good. For the land of Canaan which is here meant by “the land,” denotes in the internal sense the Lord’s kingdom, and hence the church, which is the Lord’s kingdom on earth (see n. 1607, 3481, 3705, 4447, 4517), and as it denotes these, it denotes good, for this is the very essential thing of the Lord’s kingdom and church. But in the supreme sense the “land of Canaan” denotes the Lord’s Divine good, for the good which is in the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens and on earth is from the Lord. The above is evident also from the representation of Abraham and Isaac, as being the Lord’s Divine-Abraham the Divine Itself, and Isaac the Divine Human, specifically the Lord’s Divine rational (concerning Abraham see n. 1989, 2011, 3245, 3251, 3439, 3703, 4206, 4207; and Isaac, n. 1893, 2066, 2072, 2083, 2630, 2774, 3012, 3194, 3210, 4180); and from the signification of “giving the land to thee,” as being to appropriate it to the natural; for by Jacob, who here is “thee,” is represented the Lord’s Divine natural, as has been frequently shown. From all this it is evident that by “the land which I gave to Abraham and to Isaac, to thee will I give it” is signified the Divine good appropriated.

4536. GENESIS 35

1. And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and abide there; and make there an altar unto God who appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from before Esau thy brother.

2. And Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the gods of the stranger which are in the midst of you, and purify yourselves, and change your garments:

3. And let us arise, and go up to Bethel, and I will make there an altar unto God who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I walked.

4. And they gave unto Jacob all the gods of the stranger which were in their hand, and the earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.

5. And they journeyed; and a terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.

6. And Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, this is Bethel, he and all the people that were with him.

7. And he built there an altar, and called the place El-Bethel; because there the gods were revealed unto him when he fled from before his brother.

8. And Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried from under Bethel under the oak; and he called the name of it Allon-bacuth.

9. And God was seen by Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him.

10. And God said to him, Thy name is Jacob; thy name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name; and He called his name Israel.

11. And God said to him, I am God Shaddai; be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be from thee, and kings shall go forth from thy loins.

12. And the land which I gave to Abraham and to Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land.

13. And God went up from upon him in the place in which He spoke with him.

14. And Jacob set up a pillar in the place in which He spoke with him, a pillar of stone; and he poured out a drink-offering thereon, and poured oil thereon.

15. And Jacob called the name of the place where God spoke with him, Bethel.

16. And they journeyed from Bethel; and there was still a tract of land to come to Ephrath; and Rachel brought forth, and suffered hard things in her bringing forth.

17. And it came to pass in her suffering hard things in her bringing forth that the midwife said unto her, Fear not, for this also is to thee a son.

18. And it came to pass as her soul was going forth that she was about to die; and she called his name Benoni; and his father called him Benjamin.

19. And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, this is Bethlehem.

20. And Jacob set up a pillar upon her grave; this is the pillar of Rachel’s grave even to this day.

21. And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Eder.

22. And it came to pass, while Israel abode in this land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine, and Israel heard. And the sons of Jacob were twelve.

23. The sons of Leah, Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, and Simeon and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun.

24. The sons of Rachel, Joseph and Benjamin.

25. And the sons of Bilhah Rachel’s handmaid, Dan and Naphtali.

26. And the sons of Zilpah Leah’s handmaid, Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan-aram.

27. And Jacob came unto Isaac his father to Mamre Kiriath-arba, this is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned.

28. And the days of Isaac were a hundred years and eighty years.

29. And Isaac expired and died, and was gathered unto his people, old and sated of days; and Esau and Jacob his sons buried him.

THE CONTENTS.

The subject treated of in the internal sense of this chapter is the residue in the Lord’s natural, that it was made Divine. The interior things of the natural that were made Divine are here “Israel.” The progress toward things still more interior, where is the rational, is described by the birth of Benjamin, and afterwards by the coming of the sons of Jacob to Isaac.