6783. 'And he said, Why have you hastened to come today?' means a perception that now it was a certain joining together. This is clear from the meaning of 'said', in the historical narratives of the Word, as perception, dealt with often; and from the meaning of 'hastening to come' as a certain joining together. For the meaning of 'hastening' as certainty, see 5284, and for 'coming' as a joining together, immediately above in 6782. What is meant here is not a certain joining together that was effected through the daughters' hastening to come to their father but one that was effected through truth that the law from God possessed, represented by 'Moses'. This is what was perceived.

5284. 'And God is hastening to do it' means a total fulfillment. This is clear from the meaning of 'doing', when used in reference to God, as providence, dealt with in 5264, and therefore also the fulfillment, for what is of Divine Providence is certainly fulfilled; and from the meaning of 'hastening to do' as a total fulfillment. 'Hastening' or hastiness does not in the internal sense describe swiftness but certainty, also completeness, and so it means a total fulfillment. For hastiness has a temporal connotation, but in the spiritual world there is no time. Instead of time there is state, so that hastiness, which has temporal associations, is connected in that world with the kind of state that corresponds to hastiness. The nature of that corresponding state is one in which many forces are at work simultaneously, and these are such as accomplish certain and complete fulfillment.