24. Verse 6 And God said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let there be a distinguishing of the waters from the waters.

After the Spirit of God, which is the Lord's mercy, has brought out into the daylight cognitions of truth and good, and has shed the light of dawn to reveal that the Lord does exist, and that He is good itself and truth itself, and that no good or truth exists except from the Lord, a distinction is at that point made between the internal man and the external man, and so between cognitions which reside with the internal man and the facts which belong to the external man. The internal man is called 'an expanse, and the cognitions residing with the internal man are called 'the waters above the expanse', while the facts belonging to the external man are called 'the waters below the expanse'.

[2] Until his regeneration starts a person is not aware of even the existence of the internal man, let alone the identity of the internal man. Submerged in bodily and worldly concerns he imagines there is no difference between the two. Furthermore he has submerged in those same concerns the things that belong to the internal man and has made one thorough obscurity out of things that are distinct and separate. For this reason it is first said, 'Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters', and then, 'Let there be a distinguishing of the waters from the waters', and not a distinguishing of the waters. But this is followed immediately by the statement, Verses 7-8, And God made the expanse and He made a distinction between the waters that were under the expanse and the waters that were above the expanse; and it was so. And God called the expanse Heaven.

[3] The second thing therefore that a person notices when being regenerated is that he is starting to become aware of the existence of the internal man, or that what reside in the internal man are goods and truths which are the Lord's alone. And since the external man during regeneration is such as still imagines that he is the source of the good deeds he performs, or of the truth he utters, and since such a person, by means of them, is led by the Lord to do good and to speak truth as if they were his own, therefore the identification of those under the expanse comes first, and the identification of those above the expanse follows. It is also a heavenly arcanum that the Lord uses those things that are man's own - both his illusions of the senses and his desires - to lead and direct him towards the things that are goods and truths. Every single movement of regeneration is accordingly a progression from evening to morning - from external man to internal, that is, from earth to heaven. This is why the expanse, or internal man, is now called 'heaven'.

4388. Verses 17-20 And Jacob travelled on to Succoth, and built a house for himself, and made booths for his cattle; therefore he called the name of the place Succoth. And Jacob came to Salem, the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, as he was coming from Paddan Aram; and he encamped towards the face of the city. And he bought the portion of the field where he had stretched his tent, from the hand of the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for a hundred kesitahs. And he set up an altar there and called it El Elohe Israel.

'Jacob travelled on to Succoth' means the state of the life of the good from truth at that time. 'And built a house for himself' means an increase of good from truth within that state. 'And made booths for his cattle' means an increase in a similar way of the things which exist in general within good from truth at that time. 'Therefore he called the name of the place Succoth' means the nature of that state. 'And Jacob came to Salem, the city of Shechem' means interior truths of faith which go with a state of serenity. 'Which is in the land of Canaan' means within the Lord's kingdom. 'As he was coming from Paddan Aram' means that which happened after the previous state. 'And he encamped towards the face of the city' means application. 'And he bought the portion of the field' means making the good that springs from that truth its own. 'Where he had stretched his tent' means holiness. 'From the hand of the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem' means that the origin of that truth lay in a Divine stock from a different source. 'A hundred kesitahs' means that which is complete. 'And he set up an altar there' means interior worship. 'And called it El Elohe Israel' means that it originated in the Divine Spiritual.