4310. In the internal historical sense 'Jacob called the name of the place Peniel' means a state in which they took on representations. This is clear from the meaning of 'calling the name' as the essential nature, often dealt with already; from the meaning of 'place' as state, dealt with in 2625, 2837, 3356, 3387; and from the meaning of 'Peniel', in this sense, as taking on representations, for representations are the subject in what has gone before and directly follows. The literal meaning of Peniel is explained in the words 'for I have seen God face to face, and my soul is delivered', the spiritual meaning of which is the Lord's presence in that which was represented, dealt with immediately below. So the meaning here is that they took on representations. Names of places, as with the names of persons, and also of actual things, do not have the same meaning in one sense as they do in another. Jacob himself, for example, in the sense of the letter means Jacob himself; in the internal historical sense his descendants, 4281; in the internal spiritual sense the natural man in the case of one who is regenerate; but in the highest sense the Lord's Divine Natural is meant, as has been shown often. This applies to all other names, and so no less to Peniel.

2033. 'You shall keep My covenant' means an even closer union. This is clear from the meaning of 'a covenant' as union and conjunction, dealt with already at verses 2, 4, 7, and in Volume One, in 665, 666, 1023, 1038. The further reference here to the covenant which has been mentioned so many times already denotes a closer union. In the historical sense which has to do with Abraham, nothing else may be said than that he was to keep the covenant; but in the internal sense, in which the Lord is the subject, the historical aspects disappear and things take their place which have to do with being united more closely. The union of the Lord's Human Essence with His Divine Essence was not accomplished all at once but gradually throughout the whole course of His life from early childhood to the end of His life in the world. Thus He was ascending continuously towards glorification, that is, towards union, which is what is stated in John,

Jesus said, Father, glorify Your name. A voice came from heaven, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. John 12:28.

See what has appeared already in 1690, 1864.