1556. All the way to the place where his tent had been before means to the holy traits that existed before he became steeped in knowledge. This can be seen from the symbolism of a tent as holy attributes of faith (dealt with previously at §§414, 1452) and from the remarks just above.

Consequently, it means that the Lord returned to the heavenly qualities he possessed before he had absorbed factual and religious knowledge, as can be seen from the words of the last chapter: "And Abram moved from there onto a mountain to the east of Bethel and spread his tent" (verse 8 [§§1450-1455]). This was before he set out for Egypt, that is, before the Lord became steeped in factual and religious knowledge.

1452. The symbolism of and spread his tent as the holy attributes of faith can be seen from the symbolism of a tent as the holy quality of love and consequently the holy quality of the faith that comes of love, as shown before, in §414. Abram's spreading of the tent there means that [faith] now took its start.