4814. 'It happened at that time' means the state belonging to the things that follow. This is clear from the meaning of 'time' as state, dealt with in 2625, 2788, 2837, 3254, 3356, 3404, 3938. The state belonging to the things that follow is indeed the meaning of 'it happened at that time', because what happened next is recorded in the descriptions that follow. What is more, these descriptions carry on from the train of thought contained in the descriptions that go immediately before them. For the subject in the previous chapter is the sons of Jacob and their selling of Joseph. They were persuaded to sell him by Judah, of whom the previous chapter speaks as follows,

Judah said to his brothers, What profit' is there in our killing our brother and our concealing his blood? Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites. Genesis 37:26-27.

The meaning there is that Divine Truth was alienated by the brothers, especially by Judah, who at that point means in the proximate sense the tribe of Judah, and in general the corrupt within the Church who are opposed to all good whatever, see 4750, 4751. A reference back to this is contained in the words 'at that time'. For now the subject is Judah, his sons by the Canaanite woman, and after these his sons by Tamar his daughter-in-law, all of which in the internal sense describes the tribe of Judah so far as things of the Church established among that tribe were concerned.

[2] As for 'time' meaning state, and 'it happened at that time' consequently meaning the state belonging to the things that follow, this is bound to appear quite strange, for the reason that no one can comprehend how the idea of a time can be turned into that of a state; that is, how when reading 'time' in the Word one has to understand something to do with some state. But it should be realized that angels' thoughts are not formed from anything having a temporal or a spatial origin, because they are in heaven. When they left the world they also left behind all idea of time and space and adopted ideas of state, that is, of the state in which good and truth exist. Therefore when a person reads the Word and from this thinks of a certain time and of the things taking place at that time, the angels present with him do not perceive anything to do with a certain time but instead the aspects of a state, to which those things also correspond.

Nor indeed with his interior thought does the reader conceive of a time, only with his exterior thought, as may be recognized from the state when a person's exterior thought lies dormant, that is, while he is asleep, as well as from many other kinds of experience.

[3] But it should be realized that in general there are two kinds of state - a state involving good and one involving truth. The former is called a state of being (esse), but the latter a state of manifestation (existere), for being is the essential characteristic of good, and the manifestation of this the essential characteristic of truth. Space corresponds to a state of being, time to a state of manifestation. From this it may be seen that when a person reads this statement 'and it happened at that time', the angels present with him cannot perceive these words at all in the way that the reader does. Similarly with every other statement, for whatever has been written in the Word is such that among angels it is converted into a corresponding meaning which cannot at all be seen in the sense of the letter; for that which is worldly belonging to the sense of the letter is converted into that which is spiritual belonging to the internal sense.

2025. That 'I will give to you, and to your seed after you, the land of your sojournings' means that the Lord acquired to Himself by His own powers all things meant by 'the land of sojournings' is clear from the meaning of 'sojourning' as receiving instruction, dealt with in 1463. And because man acquires life to himself chiefly through instruction in facts, matters of doctrine, and cognitions of faith, sojourning is consequently the life so acquired. When applied to the Lord it is the life which He obtained for Himself through cognitions, through the conflicts that constituted temptations, and through victories in temptations; and because He obtained it by His own powers, this is what 'the land of your sojournings' means here.

[2] That the Lord obtained all things for Himself by His own powers, and by His own powers united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence and Divine Essence to Human Essence, and that He alone in this way became righteousness, is quite clear in the Prophets, as in Isaiah,

Who is this coming from Edom, marching in the vast numbers of His strength? I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with Me. I looked around and there was no one helping; and I was astonished that there was no one upholding; therefore My own arm brought Me salvation. Isaiah 63:1, 3, 5.

'Edom' stands for the Lord's Human Essence, 'strength' and 'arm' for power. Plain statements to the effect that He acted from His own power are contained in the phrases 'no one helping' and 'no one upholding', and in that about His own arm bringing Him salvation.

[3] In the same prophet,

He saw that there was no one, and wondered that there was nobody to intercede; and His own arm brought salvation to Him, and His righteousness upheld Him. And He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head. Isaiah 59:16-17.

This similarly means that He acted by His own power, and in so doing became righteousness. That the Lord is righteousness is stated in Daniel,

Seventy weeks have been decreed to atone for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophet, and to anoint the Most Holy Place. Daniel 9:24.

And in Jeremiah,

I will raise up for David a righteous branch, and He will reign as king and act with understanding, and He will execute judgement and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell in confidence. And this is His name which they will call Him, Jehovah our Righteousness. Jeremiah 23:5-6; 33:15-16.

For this reason He is also called 'the Habitation of Righteousness' in Jeremiah 31:23; 50:7, and 'wonderful' and 'Hero' in Isaiah 9:6.

[4] The reason why the Lord so many times attributes to the Father that which is His own has been explained above in 1999, 2004; for Jehovah was within Him, and so within every single part of Him. Something similar in man may be used for illustration, although there can be no comparison. Within man is his soul, and because it is within him, the soul is within every individual part of him, that is to say, within every individual part of his thinking and every individual part of his activity. Anything that does not have his soul within it is not part of him. The Lord's soul was Life itself or Being (Esse) itself, which is Jehovah, for He was conceived from Jehovah; thus Life itself was present within every individual part of Him. And because Life itself, or Being (Esse) itself, which is Jehovah, belonged to Him in the way that the soul does to man, so that which was Jehovah's was His, which is what the Lord says in His statements about His being in the bosom of the Father, John 1:18, and about all things that the Father has being His, John 16:15; 17:10-11.

[5] From good which is Jehovah's He united the Divine Essence to the Human Essence, and from truth united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence, and so achieved every single thing all from Himself. Indeed His Human was left to Itself in order that of Himself He might fight against all the hells and overcome them; and because He had life within Himself, as stated, which was His own, He overcame them by His own power and strength, as is also clearly stated in the places quoted from the Prophets. So then, because He acquired all things to Himself by His own powers, He became Righteousness, cleared the world of spirits of hellish genii and spirits, and in so doing rescued the human race from destruction - for the human race is governed by means of spirits - and thus redeemed it. This is why the Old Testament Word speaks so often of Him as Rescuer and Redeemer, and also Saviour, as His name Jesus describes.