7194. 'And by My name Jehovah I was not known to them' means that in a state involving temptations those who belonged to the spiritual Church gave no thought to Divine things that the Church possesses. This is clear from the meaning of 'the name of Jehovah' as everything in its entirety by which God is worshipped, dealt with in 2724, 3006, 6674, thus everything Divine within the Church ('the name of Jehovah' is used strictly speaking to mean the Lord's Divine Human, 2628, 6887, and since the whole of faith and the whole of love, which are the Divine things within the Church, come through and from His Divine Human, everything in its entirety composing Divine worship is meant by that Human); and from the meaning of 'not being known' as a situation in which people have no knowledge of, that is, give no thought to those things - Divine things within the Church - that is to say, during a state involving temptations, which are meant by 'God Shaddai'. That is the reason why it says that He was known to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but not by His name Jehovah. This is the internal sense of these words; but the external or historical sense is different. From this sense it becomes clear that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did not worship Jehovah but God Shaddai, see 1992, 3667, 5628, and that Abraham did not know Jehovah, 1756, 2559. Yet the name Jehovah appears in the historical narratives concerning Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and the reasons for this are that this part of the Word was written by Moses, to whom Jehovah's name was made known, and that Jehovah's name is used in those historical narratives for the sake of the internal sense. For throughout the Word Jehovah is used when the good of love is referred to, but God when the truth of faith is referred to, 709, 732, 1096, 2586, 2769, 2807, 2822, 3921 (end), 4402.

1756. All these matters presented above are those which in general are embodied in the internal sense of this chapter; but the whole train of thought, and its beauty, cannot be seen when every single thing is explained according to the meaning of the words, as they would be if they were comprehended in a single idea. When all are comprehended in a single idea those things which hitherto have lain scattered now appear beautifully joined and linked together. The situation is as with someone who listens to another speaking but pays attention solely to the words he uses. In this case he does not grasp the speaker's idea nearly so well as he would if he paid no attention to the words and their particular shades of meaning; for the internal sense of the Word in relation to the external or literal sense is very similar to speech in relation to the actual words used when these are scarcely listened to, still less paid attention to, as when the mind is intent on the sense alone of the things meant by the words used by the speaker.

[2] The most ancient manner of writing represented real things by the use of persons and of expressions which they employed to mean things entirely different from those persons or expressions. Secular authors of those times compiled their historical narratives in this way, including those things which had to do with public life and private life. Indeed they compiled them in such a way that nothing at all was to be taken literally as written, but something other was to be understood beneath the literal narrative. They even went so far as to present affections of every kind as gods and goddesses, to whom the heathen subsequently offered up divine worship, as every well-educated person may know, for ancient books of that kind are still extant. This manner of writing they derived from the most ancient people who lived before the Flood, who used to represent heavenly and Divine things to themselves by means of visible objects on earth and in the world, and in so doing filled their minds and souls with joys and delights when they beheld the objects in the universe, especially those that were beautiful on account of their form and order. This is why all the books of the Church in those times were written in the same style. Job is one such book; and Solomon's Song of Songs is an imitation of them too. Both the books mentioned by Moses in Numbers 21:14, 27, were of this nature, in addition to many that have perished.

[3] Because it had come down from antiquity this style was later venerated both among the gentiles and among the descendants of Jacob, so much so that whatever was not written in this style was not venerated as Divine. This is why when they were moved by the prophetic spirit - as were Jacob, Genesis 49:3-27; Moses, Exodus 15:1-21; Deuteronomy 33:2-end; Balaam, who was one of the sons of the east in Syria, where the Ancient Church continued to exist, Numbers 23:7-10, 19 24; 24:5-9, 17-24; Deborah and Barak, Judges 5:2-end; Hannah, 1 Samuel 2:2-10; and many others - they spoke in that same manner, and for many hidden reasons. And although, with very few exceptions, they neither understood nor knew that their utterances meant the heavenly things of the Lord's kingdom and Church, they were nevertheless struck and filled with awe and wonder, and sensed that those utterances carried what was Divine and Holy within them.

[4] But that the historical narratives of the Word are of a similar nature, that is to say, that the particular names and particular expressions used represent and mean the celestial and spiritual things of the Lord's kingdom, the learned world has not yet come to know, except that the Word is inspired right down to the tiniest jot, and that every single detail has heavenly arcana within it.