8587. 'And he called the name of the place Massah' means the essential nature of the state of the temptation. This is clear from the meaning of 'name' and 'calling the name' as the essential nature, dealt with in 144, 145, 1754, 1896, 2009, 2628, 2724, 3006, 3421, 6674, 6887; and from the meaning of 'the place' as the state, dealt with in 2625, 2837, 3356, 3387, 4321, 4882, 5605, 7381. The reason why the essential nature of the state of the temptation is meant is that the temptation is the subject. The essential nature of its state is meant by 'Massah'; also Massah in the original language means temptation. The essential nature of it will be stated in what follows next.

2837. 'Jehovah will see' means the Lord's Providence. This is clear from the meaning of 'seeing', when it has reference to Jehovah or the Lord, as foreseeing and providing, dealt with in 2807 - for Jehovah is the Lord, see 1343, 1736, 2156, 2329. In the literal sense this phrase is a place-name, but in the internal sense it is the character of the state under description that is meant. For periods of time and measurements of space belong solely to the natural order, and therefore when the sense of the letter of the Word passes over from the natural order into heaven the natural idea of those things perishes completely and becomes the spiritual idea which corresponds to them.