4235. 'And the angels of God met him' means enlightenment coming from good. This is clear from the meaning of 'the angels of God' as some aspect of the Lord, in this case the Divine which is within the Lord, for within the Lord there was the Divine itself which is called the Father. The very Essence of the Lord's life, which with man is termed the soul, was from the Divine and was Himself. That Divine is what is normally referred to as the Divine Nature, or rather the Lord's Divine Essence. For in the Word 'the angels of God' means some aspect of the Lord's Divine, see 1925, 2319, 2821, 3039, 4085. This statement about the angels of God meeting him means in the proximate sense an inflowing of the Divine into the Natural, which brought enlightenment; for all enlightenment comes about from an influx of the Divine. As the subject is a turning round of the state within the Lord's Natural, so that good came to occupy the first place and truth the second, and the implanting of truth within good there, dealt with in 4232; and as this could not be effected without enlightenment from the Divine, enlightenment from the good in which the truth was to be implanted is here dealt with first.

As with many common verbs, the meaning of “to say” in the Bible is highly dependent on context. Who is speaking? Who is hearing? What is it about? Is it a command, a message, an apology, instruction? All these things enter into the meaning of “say.” In general, though, “saying” has to do with sharing truth at various levels -- from the most exalted power people can have to perceive the Lord's desires directly to the most basic of orders issued to people at their lowest.