3927. And Rachel said, With the wrestlings of God have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed. That this signifies in the supreme sense own power; in the internal sense, temptation in which there is victory; and in the external sense, resistance by the natural man, is evident from the signification of the “wrestlings of God” and of “wrestling,” as being temptations; for temptations are nothing else than wrestlings of the internal man with the external, or of the spiritual man with the natural; for each desires to rule, and when dominion is in question, combat arises, which is here called “wrestling.” That “to prevail” is to overcome, is evident without explication.

[2] That in the supreme sense these words signify own power, is because the Lord, when He was in the world and in the human there, sustained all temptations from His own power, and conquered from His own power; differently from every man, who never sustains any spiritual temptation and conquers in it from his own power; for it is the Lord who sustains and conquers within him. (See what has been stated and shown on these subjects before, namely, That the Lord sustained the most grievous temptations, beyond all others, n. 1663, 1668, 1690, 1737, 1787, 1789, 1812, 1813, 1815, 1820, 2776, 2786, 2795, 2813, 2816, 3318: That the Lord combated and conquered from His own power, n. 1616, 1692, 1813, 3381: And that the Lord alone combats in man, n. 1692.)

[3] That in the internal sense the “wrestlings of God” and “prevailing” denote the temptations in which man conquers, is evident from what has been said just above. But that in the external sense there is signified resistance by the natural man is because all temptation is nothing else; for as before said in spiritual temptations there is dispute about dominion, as to which shall have the supremacy, the internal man or the external; or what is the same, the spiritual man or the natural, for these are opposed to each other (n. 3913). For when man is in temptations, his internal or spiritual man is ruled by the Lord through angels; but his external or natural man through infernal spirits; and the combat between them is that which is perceived by the man as temptation. When a man is such in faith and life that he can be regenerated, he will conquer in temptations; but when he is such that he cannot be regenerated, he yields in temptations. That there is resistance by the natural man, is signified by its being said that she “wrestled with her sister;” for by “Leah,” who is here the “sister,” is signified the affection of the external man; but by “Rachel,” the affection of the internal man (n. 3793, 3819).

2795. And will come again to you. That this signifies conjunction afterwards, is also evident without explication. As the Lord’s most grievous and inmost temptations are treated of in this chapter, all the states that He assumed when He underwent these temptations are described. The first state is described in the third verse (Genesis 22:3), the second state in this verse, the third state in the verse next following, and the rest afterwards. But these states cannot be expounded to the common apprehension unless many things are first known, not only respecting the Lord’s Divine, as here represented by Abraham, but also respecting His Divine Human as represented by Isaac, and respecting the state of this rational when He engaged in and underwent the combats of temptation (this being the “boy”); and also what and of what quality the former rational was, and also the natural which it had; and likewise what the state was when the one was adjoined to the other, and what the state was when they were more or less separated. Moreover many things concerning temptations must be known, as what exterior and interior temptations are, and hence what were the inmost and most grievous temptations the Lord had, and which are treated of in this chapter. So long as these things are unknown, the things contained in this verse cannot possibly be described to the comprehension; and if they should be described, even most clearly, they would still appear obscure. To the angels, who are in the light of heaven from the Lord, all these things are manifest and clear, indeed blessed, because they are most heavenly.

[2] Here we will merely say that the Lord could not be tempted at all when He was in the Divine Itself, for the Divine is infinitely above all temptation; but He could be tempted as to His human. This is the reason why when He was to undergo the most grievous and inmost temptations, He adjoined to Himself the prior human, that is, the rational and the natural of it, as described in verse 3; and why He afterwards separated Himself from these, as is said in this verse; but nevertheless retaining something by means of which He could be tempted; which is the reason why it is not here said, “Isaac my son,” but “the boy,” by whom is meant the Divine rational in such a state, namely, in a state of truth, prepared for the most grievous and inmost combats of temptations (see n. 2793). That neither the Divine Itself nor the Divine Human could be tempted, must be evident to everyone simply from the fact that not even the angels can approach the Divine, much less the spirits who induce temptations, and still less the hells. Hence it is manifest why the Lord came into the world, and put on the human state itself with its infirmity; for thus He could be tempted as to the human, and by means of the temptations subjugate the hells, and reduce each and all things to obedience and into order, and save the human race which had removed itself so far away from the supreme Divine.