2173. That “Sarah” is here the Lord as to truth, is evident from the representation of Sarah, as being intellectual truth adjoined to good; here, as being rational truth, for the same reason as just now stated in regard to Abraham. (That Sarah represents truth may be seen above, n. 1468, 1901, 2063, 2065). In the historicals of the Word good and truth cannot be represented otherwise than by a marriage, for this is really the case with them, for there is a Divine marriage between things celestial and spiritual, or what is the same, between those which are of love and those which are of faith, or again what is the same, between those of the will and those of the understanding. The former are of good, the latter are of truth. There is such a marriage in the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens; such also in the Lord’s kingdom on the earth (that is, in the church); such a marriage in every man, in every single thing of him, nay, in the veriest singulars of all. That which is not in such a marriage does not live. Nay, from that Divine marriage there is such a marriage in universal nature, and in every particular of it, but under other form and appearance, otherwise nothing whatever would there subsist. Because there is such marriage in everything, therefore with the Prophets every matter is expressed in a twofold manner, especially in Isaiah-one expression referring to what is celestial, or to good, and the other to what is spiritual, or to truth (see n. 683, 793, 801). That in everything there is a resemblance of a marriage, may be seen above (n. 718, 747, 917, 1432). Hence it is that the Lord’s good is represented by Abraham, and His truth by Sarah.

801. From the description of these antediluvians as here given, it is evident what was the style of writing among the most ancient people, and thus what the prophetic style was. They are described here and up to the end of this chapter; in these verses they are described in respect to their persuasions, and in verse 23 in respect to their cupidities; that is, they are first described in respect to the state of the things of their understanding, and then in respect to the state of the things of their will. And although with them there were in reality no things of understanding or of will, still the things contrary to them are so to be called; that is to say, such things as persuasions of falsity, which are by no means things of understanding, and yet are things of thought and reason; and also such things as cupidities, which are by no means things of will. The antediluvians are described, I say, first as to their false persuasions, and then as to their cupidities, which is the reason why the things contained in verse 21 are repeated in verse 23, but in a different order. Such also is the prophetic style.

[2] The reason is that with man there are two lives: one, of the things of the understanding; the other, of the things of the will, and these lives are most distinct from each other. Man consists of both, and although at this day they are separated in man, nevertheless they flow one into the other, and for the most part unite. That they unite, and how they unite, can be established and made clear by many illustrations. Since man therefore consists of these two parts (the understanding and the will, of which the one flows into the other), when man is described in the Word, he is described with distinctiveness as to the one part and as to the other. This is the reason of the repetitions, and without them the description would be defective. And the case is the same with every other thing as it is here with the will and the understanding, for things are circumstanced exactly as are their subjects, seeing that they belong to their subjects because they come forth from their subjects; a thing separated from its subject, that is, from its substance, is no thing. And this is the reason why things are described in the Word in a similar way in respect to each constituent part, for in this way the description of each thing is full.