9315. When Mine angel shall go before thee. That this signifies a life in accordance with the commandments of the Lord, is evident from the signification of “going before thee,” when said of the Lord, who is here the “angel of Jehovah,” as being to teach the commandments of faith and of life, thus also a life in accordance with these commandments (that “to go,” and “to journey,” denote to live, see n. 1293, 3335, 4882, 5493, 5605, 8417, 8420, 8557, 8559); and from the signification of “the angel of Jehovah,” as being the Lord as to the Divine Human (of which above, n. 9303, 9306). That the Lord as to the Divine Human is meant by the “angel,” is because the many angels who appeared before the coming of the Lord into the world were Jehovah Himself in a human form, that is, in the form of an angel. This is very evident from the fact that the angels who appeared were called “Jehovah,” as for instance those who appeared to Abraham and were called “Jehovah” (Genesis 18:1, 13-14, 17, 20, 26, 33); also the angel who appeared to Gideon, of whom we read in Judges, and who also was called “Jehovah” (6:12, 14, 16, 22-24); besides others elsewhere. Jehovah Himself in the human form, or what is the same, in the form of an angel, was the Lord.

[2] At that time His Divine Human appeared as an angel; of which the Lord Himself speaks in John:

Jesus said, Abraham rejoiced to see My day; and he saw it, and was glad. Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am (John 8:56, 58).

Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was (John 17:5).

That Jehovah could not appear in any other way, is evident also from the words of the Lord in John:

Ye have not heard the voice of the Father at any time, nor seen His shape (John 5:37).

Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he who is with the Father, he hath seen the Father (John 6:46).

From these passages it may be known what is meant by the Lord from eternity.

[3] The reason why it pleased the Lord to be born a man, was that He might put on the Human actually, and make it Divine, in order to save the human race. Know therefore that the Lord is Jehovah Himself or the Father in a human form, which also the Lord Himself teaches in John:

I and the Father are one (John 10:30).

Jesus said, From henceforth ye have known and have seen the Father; He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father. Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me (John 14:7, 9, 11).

All things that are Mine are Thine, and all Thine are Mine (John 17:10).

[4] This great mystery is stated in John in these words:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. The same was in the beginning with God. All thing were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father. No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath set Him forth (John 1:1-3, 14, 18);

“the Word” denotes the Divine truth which has been revealed to men; and because this could not be revealed except by Jehovah as a Man, that is, except by Jehovah in a human form, thus by the Lord, therefore it is said, “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word.” It is known in the church that by “the Word” is meant the Lord, because this is plainly said: “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father.” That the Divine truth could not be revealed to men except by Jehovah in a human form, is also clearly stated: “no man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath set Him forth.”

[5] From all this it is evident that the Lord from eternity was Jehovah, or the Father, in a human form; but not yet in the flesh, for an angel has no “flesh.” And because Jehovah or the Father willed to put on the whole human, for the salvation of the human race, therefore He took on the flesh also. Wherefore it is said “God was the Word, and the Word was made flesh.” And in Luke:

Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; handle Me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have (Luke 24:39);

by these words the Lord taught that He was no longer Jehovah under the form of an angel; but that He was Jehovah Man, which is also meant by these words of the Lord:

I came out from the Father, and am come into the world; again I leave the world, and go unto the Father (John 16:28).

(That the Lord when in the world made His Human Divine, see n. 1616, 1725, 1813, 1921, 2025, 2026, 2033, 2034, 2083, 2523, 2751, 2798, 3038, 3043, 3212, 3241, 3318, 3637, 3737, 4065, 4180, 4211, 4237, 4286, 4585, 4687, 4692, 4724, 4738, 4766, 5005, 5045, 5078, 5110, 5256, 6373, 6700, 6716, 6849, 6864, 6872, 7014, 7211, 7499, 8547, 8864, 8865, 8878; also that He expelled all the human that was from the mother, until at last He was not the son of Mary, n. 2159, 2649, 2776, 4963, 5157; see especially n. 3704, 4727, 9303, 9306, and what has been shown about these things in the passages cited in n. 9194, 9199)

3241. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, and Letushim, and Leummim. That this signifies the derivations from the second class, is evident from the representation of Dedan, as being those who are in the good of faith, properly those who are in the truth of faith from good (n. 3240, at the end). That the derivations are from a second class is manifest. By these three sons of Dedan are especially signified the truths of faith from good; but what is signified by each can indeed be told, but cannot be confirmed by other passages from the Word, because the names are not mentioned elsewhere.

[2] In the kingdom of the Lord there are innumerable varieties as to goods and truths, and yet of these innumerable varieties one heaven is constituted; for the varieties are so many that no one society is exactly like another, that is, is never in the same good and truth (n. 684, 685, 690). The one heaven therein is constituted of the many varieties so disposed by the Lord that they agree, the agreement or harmony of the many being imparted by the Lord, by means of all referring themselves to Him (n. 551). The case herein is the same as with the organs, members, and viscera of the body, not one of which is exactly like another. They are all different and yet make a one, and this by reason of their all referring themselves to one soul, and through this to heaven, and thus to the Lord; for whatever is unconnected with the Lord is nothing. From this it is evident that the differences of truth and of good are innumerable in species; but their genera, and these the most general, which are spiritual churches, are signified by these sons and grandsons of Abraham.

[3] As they who are of the spiritual church have no perception of what is good and true, like those of the celestial church, but acknowledge as truths the things they have learned, they are on this account continually in dispute concerning them, reasoning whether a thing is true; and each person abides in that doctrine (and calls it true) which is of his own church. This is the source of so many differences. Moreover very many form their conclusions concerning things good and true from appearances and fallacies-one in one way, another in another, but none from any perception; they do not even know what perception is; and as their understanding is thus in obscurity as to the goods and truths of faith, it is not surprising that dissensions should arise concerning the most essential of all the things of faith, namely, concerning the Divine, the Human, and the Holy Proceeding of the Lord. The celestial perceive that these are not three, but One; but the spiritual abide in the idea of three, although they desire to think that they are One. Seeing then that there are dissensions concerning that which is the most essential, it is evident that the varieties and differences of doctrinal things must be innumerable. From this all may know whence come the derivations signified by those who are here named. But granting the existence of so many varieties and differences of doctrinal things (that is, of so many derivations), they nevertheless together form one church when all acknowledge charity as essential to the church; or what is the same, when they regard life as the end of doctrine; that is, when they inquire how the man of the church lives, and not so much what his sentiments are; for in the other life everyone receives from the Lord a lot in accordance with his good of life, and not in accordance with his truth of doctrine separated from the good of life.