3103. 'And the man took a gold nose-jewel' means Divine Good. This is clear from the meaning of 'a gold nose-jewel' as good, and here, since the Lord is the subject in the internal sense, as Divine Good, which, since it comes from the Rational, is called 'the man'. For 'a man' means the rational, see 265, 749, 1007. In ancient times when forms of worship in Churches were representative and people knew what those forms meant, it was customary when initiating marriages to give a gold nose-jewel and bracelets to the bride because the Church was represented by the bride, its good by 'the nose-jewel' and its truth by 'the bracelets'. They did so because it was well known that conjugial love as it existed with a bride and wife came down from the marriage of the Lord's Divine Good and Divine Truth, see 2508, 2618, 2727-2729. The gold jewel was placed on the nose, as is evident also from where it is said later on that the servant put the jewel on her nose, verse 47, because 'the nose' meant the life of good. It had this meaning because the nose is used for breathing, which in the internal sense means life, and also for smelling, which means the delight of love, namely good, 96, 97.

[2] As regards 'a nose-jewel' being a sign of the good involved in marriage, this is also clear from other places in the Word, as in Ezekiel,

I adorned you with ornaments and put bracelets on your hands and a chain on your neck, and I put a jewel on your nose. Ezekiel 16:11-12.

This refers to the Ancient Church, meant by Jerusalem here and described as a bride to whom bracelets, a chain, and a nose-jewel were given. 'Bracelets on the hands' were a representative sign of truth, 'a jewel on the nose' a representative sign of good. In Isaiah,

Because the daughters of Zion are haughty the Lord will make bald the crown of their heads, and will take away the rings and the nose-jewels, the changes of clothes, the robes. Isaiah 3:16-18, 21-22.

'The daughters of Zion that are haughty' stands for affections for evil within the Church, 2362, 3024. 'The rings and the nose-jewels' that will be removed stands for good and the signs of it. 'The changes of clothes' and 'the robes' stand for truth and the signs of it. In Hosea,

I will visit on her the days of the baals to whom she burned incense and decked herself with her nose-jewel and her other jewellery and went after her lovers. Hosea 2:13.

This refers to the perverted Church and to the new one following it. 'Nose-jewel' also stands for a sign of the good of the Church. When those jewels were fitted to the ears they again meant good, though good put into practice, and in the contrary sense evil put into practice, as in Genesis 35:4; Exodus 32:2, 4.

1895. 'She had an Egyptian servant-girl' means the affection for knowledge. This is clear from the meaning of 'a servant-girl' and from the meaning of 'Egypt'. Sarai, who is the mistress or lady, represents and means truth allied to good, as stated already. Truth allied to good is in the genuine sense intellectual truth, but rational truth comes below this and so is inferior. The latter is born from knowledge and cognitions that have been made living by means of an affection corresponding to them. Because this affection is part of the exterior man, it ought to be subservient to intellectual truth, which resides inmostly, in the way that a servant-girl is subservient to her mistress or a maid to the lady of - the house. That affection therefore is what is represented and meant by 'the servant-girl Hagar'.

[2] No one can have much understanding of anything said about these matters until he knows what intellectual truth is in the genuine sense and also in what way the rational is born, namely from the internal man as the father, and from the exterior or natural man as the mother. Unless the two are joined together nothing rational ever comes into being. The rational is not born from knowledge and cognitions, as people suppose, but from the affection for them, as becomes clear merely from the fact that nobody can possibly become rational unless some delight in or affection for such knowledge and cognitions burns within him. The affection constitutes the maternal life itself, while the celestial and spiritual within that affection constitute the paternal life. Consequently it is the degree and the quality of a person's affection that determine the degree and the quality of the rationality that is developed in him. In themselves facts and cognitions are nothing other than things that are dead, or instrumental causes, which are made alive by the life that belongs to affection. This is how everyone's rational man is conceived. The reason why the servant-girl was Egyptian and why that fact is mentioned is that 'Egypt' means knowledge, as has been shown already in 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462,