2693. 'And said to her, What is the matter, Hagar?' means perception regarding one's state. This is clear from the meaning of 'saying' in historical parts of the Word as perceiving, dealt with already, and from the meaning of 'What is the matter, Hagar?' as its state at the time. Although He questions her and says, 'What is the matter, Hagar?' the meaning here is that the Lord knew its state. In the sense of the letter this is a question asked by the Lord, but in the internal sense the infinite perception of all things is meant. One reads in various places in the Word of people being questioned about their state, but the reason why they are questioned is this: Man has no other belief than that no one knows his thoughts, let alone the state of his affection. An added reason is that people may be helped by being able to express their feelings (sensa animi), which usually does them good, see 1701, 1931.
Arcana Coelestia # 1702
1702. That 'Abram the Hebrew' is the Interior Man to whom the Internal or Divine Man was joined becomes clear from the meaning of Abram the Hebrew, that is, from Abram's descriptive name used here 'the Hebrew'. In what has gone before and in what follows where Abram is referred to he is not called 'the Hebrew'. Only here is he called such, and therefore something distinct with regard to the Lord is represented and meant by 'Abram the Hebrew'. What is represented and meant becomes clear from the internal sense, namely this, that the Interior Man was joined to the Internal or Divine Man, as becomes clear also from the train of thought in the internal sense. The name 'the Hebrews' occurs in the Word when something to do with service is meant, whatever it may be, as becomes clear from what follows. The Interior Man is such that it serves the Internal or Divine Man, and therefore the Interior Man is here called 'Abram the Hebrew'.
[2] What the interior man is scarcely anyone knows, and therefore let this be described briefly. The interior man is situated between the internal man and the external man, it being by means of the interior man that the internal man communicates with the external. Without the interior man between them no communication from one to the other is ever possible. The celestial is distinct and separate from the natural, and still more from the bodily; and unless there is something in between through which communication is established the celestial cannot possibly operate into the natural, still less into the bodily. The interior man is called the rational man, and because that man is situated between the two, it communicates in one direction with the internal man where there is good itself and truth itself, and in the other with the external man where there is evil and falsity. By means of this communication with the internal man a person is able to think about celestial and spiritual things, or look upwards, which animals cannot do; and by means of his communication with the external man a person is able to think about worldly and bodily things, or look downwards almost in the way animals do which likewise possess ideas of earthly things. In short, the interior man, or the man between internal man and external, is the rational man itself, which is spiritual or celestial when looking upwards but merely animal when looking downwards.
[3] It is well known that a person can be aware of the fact that he is speaking in one way while thinking in another, and doing one thing while willing another, and that presence and deception are present; also that reason or rationality exists, and that this is something interior since it is able to dissent; also that with one who is to be regenerated something interior exists which battles with that which is exterior. This interior something which thinks differently and wills differently from that which is exterior, and which battles with it, is the interior man. Within this interior man conscience resides in the case of the spiritual man and perception in the case of the celestial man. This Interior Man, which was joined in the Lord's case to the Divine Internal Man, is that which is here called 'Abram the Hebrew'.
Genesis 22
1
And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.
2
And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
3
And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.
4
Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.
5
And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you,
6
And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.
7
And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?
8
And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.
9
And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.
10
And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
11
And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
12
And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
13
And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.
14
And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.
15
And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,
16
And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:
17
That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
18
And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
19
So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beer-sheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beer-sheba.
20
And it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, Behold, Milcah, she hath also born children unto thy brother Nahor;
21
Huz his firstborn, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram,
22
And Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel.
23
And Bethuel begat Rebekah: these eight Milcah did bear to Nahor, Abraham's brother.
24
And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, she bare also Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maachah.
