4282. Verses 26-28. And he said, Let me go, for the dawn ariseth. And he said, I will not let thee go unless thou bless me. And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel; for as a prince hast thou contended with God and with men, and hast prevailed. “And he said, Let me go, for the dawn ariseth,” signifies that temptation ceased when conjunction was at hand; “and he said, I will not let thee go, unless thou bless me,” signifies that conjunction was to be effected; “and he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob” signifies the quality of good from truth; “and he said, Thy name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel,” signifies the Divine celestial spiritual now; “Israel” is the celestial spiritual man which is in the natural, and thus is natural; the celestial spiritual man itself, which is rational, is “Joseph;” “for as a prince hast thou contended with God and with men, and hast prevailed,” signifies continual victories in combats as to truths and goods.

[2] In the internal historical sense, in which Jacob and his posterity are treated of, by the same words are signified the things which follow; by “Let me go, for the dawn ariseth,” is signified that what was representative before they came into representatives of the land of Canaan should depart from the posterity of Jacob; by “and he said, I will not let thee go unless thou bless me,” is signified that they would insist upon being representative; by “and he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob,” is signified that they were the posterity of Jacob with their quality; by “and he said, Thy name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel,” is signified that they could not represent as Jacob, but as from a new quality given them; by “for as a prince hast thou contended with God and with men, and hast prevailed,” is signified because of the contumacy which was in their cupidities and phantasies.

9379. 'And they shall not come near' means no separate joining together or presence. This is clear from the representation of Aaron, his sons Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders, who are the ones here who 'shall not come near', as the Word in its outward sense, religious teachings, and the Church's leading truths, dealt with above in 9374-9376; and from the meaning of 'coming near' as the Lord's togetherness with and presence among people, dealt with immediately above in 9378, in this instance as no such togetherness or presence, since it says that Moses alone and not they themselves shall come near. The reason why no separate joining together or presence is meant is that Moses at this point represents the Word in general or the Word in its entirety, 9372, as well as the Word in its inward sense, 9374, whereas Aaron, his sons, and the seventy elders represent the Word in its outward sense and the things derived from it. Since there can be no separate joining of these to the Lord, because the Lord is the Word in its entirety, the words of explanation are 'no such joining or any separate presence'.