5694. And he came to the bed-chamber, and wept there. That this signifies in itself, not apparently, is evident from the signification of “coming to the bed-chamber,” as being in one’s self, so as not to appear. It was customary with the ancients to speak of “entering into the chamber,” and also of then “shutting the door,” when they meant the doing of anything that was not to appear. This form of speaking was derived from the significatives in the Ancient Church; for by “house” in the spiritual sense they understood man (see n. 3128), and by the “rooms” and “bed-chambers” they understood man’s interiors. Therefore “coming or entering into the chamber” signified to be in one’s self, consequently so as not to appear; and because “entering the chamber” was significative, it is therefore frequently mentioned in the Word, as in Isaiah:

Go, My people, enter into thy bed-chambers, and shut thy door after thee; hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the anger be overpast (Isaiah 26:20).

That “entering into the bed-chambers” does not here mean to do so literally, but to keep one’s self in concealment, and in one’s self, is very evident.

[2] In Ezekiel:

He said unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his image? For they say, Jehovah seeth us not (Ezekiel 8:12); where “to do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his image” denotes inwardly within themselves, in the thoughts. The interior things of their thought and affection were represented to the prophet by chambers, and were called “chambers of the image.”

[3] In Moses:

Abroad shall the sword bereave, and out of the chambers terror, both young man and virgin, the suckling with the old man (Deuteronomy 32:25); where the “sword” denotes the vastation of truth and the punishment of falsity (see n. 2799); “terror out of the chambers” denotes out of man’s interiors. That the “chambers” here are not the chambers that are meant is evident.

[4] In David:

Who watereth the mountains from His chambers (Psalms 104:13);

“to water the mountains” in the spiritual sense is to bless those who are in love to the Lord, and in love toward the neighbor (that a “mountain” is the celestial of love, see n. 795, 1430, 4210); hence “from His chambers” is from the interiors of heaven.

In Luke:

Whatsoever ye have spoken in the darkness shall be heard in the light, and that which ye have spoken in the ear in the bed-chambers shall be proclaimed upon the roofs (Luke 12:3); where also “bed-chambers” denote the interiors of man, namely, what he has thought, what he has purposed, and what he has endeavored to do.

In Matthew:

When thou prayest, enter into thy bed-chamber, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray in secret (Matthew 6:6);

“to enter into the bed-chamber and pray” means not in the outward appearance; for this was said representatively.

4210. And Jacob sacrificed a sacrifice in the mountain. That this signifies worship from the good of love, is evident from the signification of a “sacrifice,” as being worship (see n. 922, 923, 2180); and from the signification of a “mountain,” as being the good of love (n. 795, 796, 1430). “Sacrifice” signifies worship because sacrifices and burnt-offerings were the chief things of all the worship in the later or Hebrew representative church. They also sacrificed on mountains, as is evident from various passages in the Word, because “mountains,” from their height, signified things which are high, such as are those which are of heaven and are called celestial; and hence in the supreme sense they signified the Lord, whom these people called the Most High. They thought in this way from the appearance, for things which are more interior appear higher, as does heaven to man. This is interiorly within him, yet man supposes that it is on high. For this reason where what is high is mentioned in the Word, in the internal sense there is signified that which is interior. In the world it must be supposed that heaven is on high, both because the visible heavens spread above us are so called, and because man is in time and place, and therefore thinks from ideas thence derived; and also because few know what that which is interior is, and still fewer that there is there neither place nor time. It is for this reason that the language of the Word is in agreement with the ideas of man’s thought; and if instead of being so it had been in accordance with angelic ideas, the result would have been that men would have perceived nothing at all; but everyone would have stood wondering what it was, and whether it was anything at all, and so would have rejected it as being destitute of anything fit for the understanding.