2692. 'And the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven' means comfort. This is clear from the meaning of 'calling out of heaven', also of 'the angel of God', as well as of 'Hagar'. 'Calling out of heaven' means influx, 'the angel of God' the Lord, 2925, 2319, and 'Hagar' the affection for cognitions of truth, 2691. An influx of the Lord into the affection for truth, when utmost grief is felt within that affection because truth has been taken away, is that comfort. That which with man flows in from the Lord is said to be 'called out of heaven', because it passes through heaven, and is clearly discernible there; but in man's perception and thought it is obscured and becomes discernible only through a change in the state of his affection, as here by his receiving comfort.

2691. 'God heard the boy's voice' means help at that point. This is clear from the meaning in the internal sense of 'God hearing the voice 'the words used in the historical sense - as bringing help, and from the meaning of 'the boy' as spiritual truth, dealt with already. Here a state is meant in which the spiritual as regards truth existed, for it is said that 'He heard the boy's voice' and soon after in this verse that 'He heard the boy's voice where he was', that is to say, where he was as to state. And, in the explanations of the verses immediately before, this state was shown to be one of utmost grief because truth had been taken away. The reason it was the boy's voice, not Hagar's, that God is said to have heard is that the state of the spiritual man is the subject. 'The boy', or Ishmael, represents the member of the spiritual Church, 'Hagar his mother' the affection for cognitions of truth, it being within this affection that the grief was felt. Man's rational is born from the affection for factual knowledge as a mother, 1895, 1896, 1902, 1910, 2094, 2524, but his spiritual is born from the affection for cognitions of truth acquired from doctrine, chiefly from the Word. Here the spiritual itself is 'the boy', and the affection for cognitions of truth is 'Hagar'.