4707. 'In Shechem' means the broad outlines. This is clear from the meaning of 'Shechem' as truth derived from an ancient Divine stock, dealt with in 4399, 4454, and as doctrine, 4472, 4473. At this point it is the broad outlines of doctrine concerning faith that are meant, for what a name has reference to is determined by the subject of the train of thought in which it appears. The broad outlines are also the general aspects of doctrine, it being general aspects that are received first, then specific details follow after that.

2080. That 'God said' means the reply that was perceived is clear from the meaning of 'saying' as perceiving, dealt with just above in 2077. And because in the previous verse the words 'Abraham said' were used, which meant perception, and in this verse the words 'God said' (or replied) occur, a perceived reply, that is, a reply received in the form of perception, is consequently meant. All perception entails both a proposition and a reply, the perception of the two being expressed here in the historical sense by the phrases 'Abraham said to God' and 'God said'. That 'God's saying' means perceiving, see 1791, 1815, 1819, 1822, 1898, 1919, and in various places above in this chapter.