7091. Thus said Jehovah the God of Israel. That this signifies from the Divine Human of the Lord, namely, exhortation to those who are against the truths of the church, is evident from the fact that by “Jehovah the God of Israel” is meant the Lord as to the Divine Human. (That in the Word the Lord is “Jehovah,” see n. 1343, 1736, 2921, 3023, 3035, 5041, 5663, 6281, 6303, 6905.) He is called “the God of Israel,” because by “Israel” is signified the Lord’s spiritual kingdom (n. 6426, 6637), and because the Lord by His coming into the world saved those who were of that kingdom or church (n. 6854, 6914, 7035). The reason why “the God of Israel” is the Lord as to the Divine Human, is that they who are of that church have natural ideas about everything spiritual and heavenly, and also about the Divine; and therefore unless they thought of the Divine as of a natural man, they could not be conjoined with the Divine by anything of affection; for if they thought of the Divine not as of a natural man, they would either have no ideas, or extravagant ones, about the Divine, and would thereby defile the Divine.

Hence it is that by “the God of Israel” is meant the Lord as to the Divine Human, and indeed as to the Divine natural. (That by “Israel” and “Jacob” in the supreme sense is meant the Lord as to the Divine natural; by “Israel,” as to the internal Divine natural; and by “Jacob,” as to the external Divine natural, see n. 4570; also that they who are of the spiritual church were and are saved by the Divine Human of the Lord, n. 2833, 2834; and also that the man of the spiritual church, who is “Israel,” is interior natural, n. 4286, 4402.)

[2] From all this then it is evident why the Lord in the Word is called “Jehovah the God of Israel,” and “Jehovah the HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL.” Everyone can know that the Divine must be so named in agreement with something holy not apparent in the sense of the letter. That the Lord as to the Divine natural is meant by “the God of Israel” is plain from many passages in the Word; manifestly from the following:

That Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy elders of Israel saw the God of Israel, under whose feet was as it were a work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the substance of heaven for cleanness (Exodus 24:9-10).

[3] That it was the Lord and not Jehovah who is called the “Father” is evident from the Lord’s words in John:

No one hath ever seen God (John 1:18). Ye have neither ever heard His voice, nor seen His shape (John 5:37).

In Isaiah:

I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I am Jehovah, who have called thee by thy name, the God of Israel (Isaiah 45:3).

In Ezekiel:

Over the head of the cherubs was as it were the appearance of a sapphire stone, the likeness of a throne; and over the likeness of a throne a likeness as the appearance of a man upon it above; and he had the appearance of fire and a rainbow, and of brightness round about (Ezekiel 1:26-28).

These are called “the glory of Jehovah,” and “of the God of Israel,” in the same (Ezekiel 1:28; 8:4; 9:3; 10:19-20), and also where the new temple is described (Ezekiel 43:2; 44:2); as also in many other passages (Isaiah 17:6; 21:10, 17; 24:15; 41:17; Psalms 41:13; 59:5; 68:8, 35; 6 9:6; 72:18, and elsewhere). So also He is called “the HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL” (Isaiah 1:4; 5:19; 10:20; 17:7; 30:1, 12, 15; 49:7; 60:9, 14; Ezekiel 39:7).

[4] That the “God of Israel” and the “HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL” are the Lord as to the Divine Human is also evident from the fact that He is called the “REDEEMER,” the “SAVIOR,” the “MAKER”—the Redeemer, in Isaiah:

Our Redeemer, Jehovah Zebaoth; His name the HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL (Isaiah 47:4; also Isaiah 41:14; 43:14 48:17; 54:5); also the SAVIOR (Isaiah 43:3); and the MAKER (Isaiah 45:11).

From all this it is also evident that by “Jehovah” in the Word of the Old Testament, no other is meant than the Lord, for He is called JEHOVAH GOD and the HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL, the REDEEMER, the SAVIOR, the MAKER—“Jehovah the Redeemer and Savior” in Isaiah:

That all flesh may know that I Jehovah am thy Savior, and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob (Isaiah 49:26).

That thou mayest know that I Jehovah am thy Savior and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob (Isaiah 60:16; as also (Isaiah 43:14) Isaiah 43:1 (Isaiah 44:6)44:24; (Isaiah 54:8) (Isaiah 63:16) 44:6, 24; 54:8; 63:16; Psalms 19:14).

[5] That the Lord saved Israel, that is, those who are of the spiritual church, is said in Isaiah:

I will make mention of the mercies of Jehovah, the praises of Jehovah, according to all that Jehovah hath recompensed to us; abundant in goodness to the house of Israel. He said, Surely they are My people; sons who do not lie; and therefore He became their Savior; in all their distress He had distress; and the angel of His faces liberated them; because of His love, and His indulgence, He redeemed them; and He took them up, and carried them all the days of eternity (Isaiah 63:7-9).

4570. But Israel shall be thy name. That this signifies the quality of His internal natural, or the quality of the spiritual of this natural, which is “Israel,” and that “and He called his name Israel” signifies His internal natural, or the celestial spiritual of the natural, is evident from the signification of “name,” as being quality (see just above, n. 4568); and from the signification of “Israel,” as being the internal of the Lord’s natural. No one can know why Jacob was called Israel unless he knows what the internal natural is, and what the external natural, and further, what is the celestial spiritual of the natural. These things have indeed been explained above, when Jacob was called Israel by the angel; but as they are of such a nature that very little if anything is known about them, it is necessary to explain again what they are.

[2] There are two things in man that are most distinct from each other, namely, the rational and the natural. The rational constitutes the internal man, and the natural the external; but the natural, like the rational, has also its own external and internal. The external of the natural is from the senses of the body, and from what flows in from the world immediately through these senses. By these man has communication with worldly and bodily things. They who are exclusively in this natural are called sensuous men, for in thought they scarcely go beyond this. But the internal of the natural is constituted of the conclusions drawn analytically and analogically from these things in the external, and yet it draws and deduces its conclusions from the senses. Thus the natural has communication through the senses with worldly and bodily things, and through things analogical and analytical with the rational, and thus with the things of the spiritual world. Such is the natural. There also exists an intermediate which communicates with both the external and the internal, thus by the external with what is in the natural world, and by the internal with what is in the spiritual world. This natural is what Jacob specifically represents, and the internal natural is what Israel represents. The case is the same with the rational, namely, that it is external and internal, and also intermediate; but of the Lord’s Divine providence this subject shall be spoken of in connection with Joseph, for Joseph represents the external of the rational.

[3] But what the celestial spiritual is has already been stated, namely, that the celestial is that which is of good, and the spiritual that which is of truth; thus the celestial spiritual is that which is of good from truth. Now as the Lord’s church is external and internal, and as by the descendants of Jacob must be represented the internals of the church by means of externals, Jacob could therefore no longer be named Jacob, but Israel (see what has been said of this above, n. 4286,4292). Be it known moreover that both the rational and the natural are called celestial and spiritual, celestial when they receive good from the Lord, and spiritual when they receive truth from Him; for the good that inflows from the Lord into heaven is called celestial, and the truth is called spiritual. Jacob’s being called “Israel” signifies in the supreme sense that the Lord, advancing to interior things, made the natural in Himself Divine, both as to its external and as to its internal; for in the supreme sense what is represented has reference to Him.