371. De Oudsten duidden met het spreken van Jehovah de innerlijke gewaarwording aan, want zij wisten, dat de Heer hun de innerlijke gewaarwording gaf; deze gewaarwording kon alleen bestaan zolang als de liefde de hoofdzaak was; zodra de liefde tot de Heer en bijgevolg de liefde jegens de naasten ophield, ging de innerlijke gewaarwording te gronde; en er bleef zoveel gewaarwording over als er liefde restte. Dit innerlijke gevoel was de Oudste Kerk eigen, maar nadat het geloof van de liefde was gescheiden, zoals bij degenen die na de vloed, en de naastenliefde door het geloof werd gegeven, volgde het geweten, dat eveneens een innerlijke stem laat horen, maar op een andere wijze, waarover, door de Goddelijke barmhartigheid van de Heer, meer in hetgeen volgt. Wanneer het geweten spreekt, wordt in het Woord evenzo gezegd, dat de Heer spreekt, omdat het geweten zich vormt uit de aan het Woord ontleende openbaringen en erkentenissen, en wanneer het Woord spreekt of een innerlijke stem laat horen, is het de Heer Die spreekt. Daarom is het, zelfs heden nog, hoogst gebruikelijk om te zeggen dat de Heer spreekt, wanneer het handelt over een zaak van het geweten of van het geloof.

2145. 'He was sitting at the tent door' means the holiness which existed with Him at that time, namely the holiness of love, which is meant by 'as the day was getting warmer', dealt with in what follows next. This is clear from the meaning of 'a tent' as holiness, dealt with in 414, 1102, 1566. And for the reason why 'tents' meant forms of holiness, see the same paragraphs. Since the Lord at this time had the perception meant by the oak-groves of Mamre, which is a lower rational perception, yet more interior than that meant by the oak-grove of Moreh, dealt with in 1442, 1443, it is here represented and so is meant by his sitting at the tent door, that is, at the entrance to holiness. As regards perceptions being more interior or less interior, this may be illustrated from the perceptions which the most ancient people had. From these people I have heard that the more they were immersed in mere facts acquired from the objects of hearing and sight the lower their perceptions became; but the more they were raised up from them towards the celestial things of charity and love the more interior these perceptions became, as they were then closer to the Lord.

1566. That 'tents' are his worship which was separating itself from the internal man becomes clear from the meaning of 'a tent' as the holiness of worship, 414, and also from the representation of 'Lot' as the external man to which tents, or worship, have reference. That 'tents' in the contrary sense means worship that is not holy also becomes clear from the following places in the Word: In Hosea,

The nettle will inherit those things, the bramble will be in their tents. Hosea 9:6.

In Habakkuk,

I saw the tents of Cushan, the curtains of the land of Midian shook, Jehovah was angry with the rivers. Habakkuk 3:7-8.

In Jeremiah,

Shepherds and their flocks will come against the daughter of Zion; they will pitch their tents against her round about; they will graze, each off his own space. Jeremiah 6:3.

In David.

He smote all the firstborn in Egypt, the beginning of strength in the tents of Ham. Psalms 78:51.

In the same author,

I have chosen to stand by the threshold in the house of my God rather than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. Psalms 84:10.