2504. And he sojourned in Gerar. That this signifies instruction thence in the spiritual things of faith, is evident from the signification of “sojourning,” as being to be instructed (see n. 1463, 2025); and from the signification of “Gerar,” as being what is spiritual of faith. Gerar is named in several places in Genesis (as chapter 10; 26:1, 6, 17, 20, 26); and in these it signifies faith, and this for the reason that Gerar was in Philistia; and by “Philistia” is signified the mere memory-knowledge of the knowledges of faith (see n. 1197, 1198); and it was Gerar where the king of the Philistines dwelt. Hence it is that faith itself is signified by “Gerar” (n. 1209); and by the “king of Gerar,” the truth itself of faith; for “king” in the internal sense is truth (n. 1672, 2015, 2069). Thus by “Abimelech” is signified the doctrine of faith, concerning which in what follows.

[2] In general there are intellectual things of faith, rational things of faith, and memory-knowledges of faith. They thus proceed in their order from interiors to exteriors. The things of faith which are inmost are called intellectual; those which proceed from them or thence are the rational things of faith; and those which proceed again from these are the memory-knowledges of faith. They are-to use the language of the learned-as prior to posterior, or what is the same, as higher to lower, that is, as interior to exterior. It indeed appears to man as if the memory-knowledge of faith were first, and that the rational then came forth from it, and at length the intellectual; and this for the reason that man advances in this way from his childhood. Nevertheless, although man is not aware of it, the intellectual flows in continually into the rational, and this into the faculty of knowing; ¹ but in childhood obscurely, in adult age more evidently, and at last in full light when the man has been regenerated. Then it is apparent that this is the order, and still more fully in the other life (see n. 1495). All these are called “spiritual things;” which are distinguished in this way into degrees, and succeed one another in such an order. The spiritual things of faith are all the truths which are from good, that is, from a celestial origin. Whatever is derived from the celestial is a spiritual thing of faith.

Fotnoter:

1902. And Abram harkened to the voice of Sarai. That this signifies that it could not be done in any other way, may be seen from the connection in the internal sense, and from the necessity that exists for the rational to be born in this way. If man were imbued with no hereditary evil, the rational would then be born immediately, from the marriage of the celestial things of the internal man with its spiritual things, and the faculty of knowing would be born through the rational, so that on coming into the world a man would at once have in himself all the faculty of reason and of knowing, for this would be in accordance with the order of influx, as may be inferred from the fact that all animals whatever are born into all the faculty of knowing that is necessary and helpful in securing food, safety, habitation, and procreation, because their nature is in accordance with order. Why then is man not born into it, except for the reason that order has been destroyed in him, for he alone is born into no knowledge?

[2] The cause of his being so born is evil inherited from his father and mother. By reason of this all his faculties are turned in a contrary direction in regard to truths and goods, and therefore cannot be reduced into correspondent forms by the immediate influx of what is celestial and spiritual from the Lord. This is the reason why man’s rational must be formed by an altogether different process, that is, in a different way, namely, by means of knowledges [scientifica et cognitiones] introduced through the senses, thus flowing in by an external way, and so in inverted order. Man is thus made rational by the Lord in a miraculous manner. This is meant by “going in unto the handmaid,” by which is signified the conjunction of the internal man with the exterior man; and also by “Abram’s hearkening to the voice of Sarai,” which signifies that it could not be done in any other way.

[3] The Lord, being born as are other men, and because He had a nature inherited from the mother, was like other men also in respect to the miraculous formation of the rational by means of knowledges, to the end that by combats of temptations and by victories He might reduce all things into order. Therefore was His rational conceived and born in the same way as with other men, but with the difference that inmostly in all things that were His, in both general and particular, there was the Divine, or Jehovah, and thus the life of love toward the whole human race, for whom and for whose salvation He fought in all His temptations.