3667. 'God Shaddai will bless you' means the temptations to which that truth and good was subjected and by means of which the joining together was effected. This is clear from the meaning of 'God Shaddai' as temptations, dealt with below, and from the meaning of 'being blessed' as a joining together, dealt with in 3504, 3514, 3530, 3565, 3584. Since Jacob' now represents the good of truth, as shown above in 3659, that good and truth is here meant by 'you'. The reason why 'God Shaddai' means temptations is that in ancient times people gave the Supreme Deity, or the Lord, various illustrious names. They used these in accordance with His attributes and in accordance with the kinds of good derived from Him, as well as in accordance with the kinds of truth, which are manifold, as everyone knows. By all those descriptive names members of the Ancient Church meant none but the one God, namely the Lord, whom they called Jehovah. But after the Church fell away from goodness and truth, and at the same time from such wisdom, they started to worship as many gods as there were descriptive names of the one God - so much so that each nation, and at length each family, acknowledged one of them as its own god. This was how so many gods came into being, who are also referred to in various places in the Word.

[2] The same happened in the family of Terah, Abraham's father, and also in Abraham's house. The fact that they worshipped other gods, see 1356, 2559, and in particular God Shaddai, 1992. And the fact that the worship of that God persisted in that house is also clear from the following places in Moses,

I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Shaddai, and by My name Jehovah I was not known to them. Exodus 6:3.

This explains why Abraham was told, I am God Shaddai; walk before Me and be blameless. Genesis 17:1.

And in the present case Isaac told Jacob, 'God Shaddai will bless you'. The truth of this is also quite evident from this chapter in which, after the Lord had said in a dream, 'I am Jehovah, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac', in verse 13, Jacob then said,

If God will be with me, and guard me on this road on which I am walking, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, and I come back in peace to my father's house, then Jehovah will be my God. Verses 20-21.

From this it is evident that neither did the house of Jacob acknowledge Jehovah, but that Jacob would acknowledge Him as his God if He conferred benefits on him. It was just the same as it is in Christian Gentilism at the present day.

[3] But as regards the specific name God Shaddai, the Lord had been called by this in the Ancient Church in respect to temptations, and to the blessings and benefits following temptations, as shown in Volume Two, in 1992. This is why here in the internal sense 'God Shaddai' means temptations. Temptations are the means by which the conjunction of good and truth is effected - see what has been stated and shown already about temptations, in the paragraphs referred to in 2819.

2819. As regards the Lord's temptations in general, some were more external, others more internal. The more internal they were, the more severe they were. His inmost temptations are described in Matthew 26:37-39, 42, 44; 27:46; Mark 14:33-36; 15:34; Luke 22:42-44. But see what has been stated already regarding the Lord's temptations, namely the following:

The Lord first of all fought from goods and truths which were appearances of goods and truths, 1661.

Out of Divine love towards the whole human race He fought against the evils of self-love and of love of the world, 1690, 1691 (end), 1789, 1812, 1813, 1820.

He alone has fought out of Divine love, 1812, 1813.

All the hells fought against the Lord's love, which was the salvation of the whole human race, 1820.

The Lord suffered the severest temptations of all, 1663, 1668, 1787.

By means of temptations and victories the Lord by His own power became righteousness, 1813, 2025.

The Lord effected the union of the Human Essence to the Divine Essence by means of temptations and victories, 1737, 1813, 1921, 2025, 2026.

See also what has been stated already about temptations in general, in 59, 63, 227, 847.

Temptation is a power-struggle over whether good or evil, truth or falsity, is to prevail, 1923.

Temptations involve feelings of anger, and many other emotions, 1917.

Temptations are celestial, spiritual, or natural, 847.

In temptations evil genii and spirits attack the things that belong to a person's love, and so the things that constitute his life, 847, 1820.

What temptations accomplish, 1692, 1717, 1740.

The purpose of temptation therefore is that bodily things may be subdued, 857.

Evils and falsities with a person who is being regenerated are subdued by means of temptations, not done away with, 868.

Truth goes into battle first, 1685.

A person fights from the goods and truths which he has acquired by means of cognitions even when they are not in themselves goods and truths, 1661.

Spirits and evil genii activate the falsities and evils within man, and this leads to temptations, 741, 751, 761.

In temptations a person assumes that the Lord is absent, when in fact He is at such times more present, 840.

A person cannot by any means endure by himself the conflicts brought about by temptations, for they are conflicts against every hell, 1692 (end).

The Lord alone fights in man, 1661, 1692.

By means of temptations evil genii and spirits are deprived of their power to do evil and to inspire falsity within man, 1695, 1717.

Temptations take place with those who have conscience, and are more intense with those who have perception, 1668.

Temptations take place rarely at the present day; instead occasions of anxiety occur, which are something different and have a different origin, 762.

Persons who are dead spiritually are not able to suffer the conflicts brought about by temptations, 270.

All temptations bring with them despair over the end in view, 1787, 1820.

After temptations fluctuation occurs, 848, 857.

By means of temptations the good learn that [left to themselves] they are nothing but evil, and that all things are subject to mercy, 2334.

By means of temptations goods become joined more closely to truths, 272.

People are not saved by virtue of enduring temptations if they go under, or if they imagine that they have acquired merit through them, 273.

Every temptation involves freedom, greater freedom than outside of temptations, 1937.