2970. 'Which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre' means the nature and extent of regeneration. This is clear from the meaning of 'Machpelah' as regeneration by means of the truth of faith, and from the meaning of 'Mamre' as the nature and extent of it. When the word 'cave' is combined with the name Machpelah - that is, when the expression 'the cave of Machpelah' is used - faith enveloped in obscurity is meant by it, 2935. But when Machpelah is mentioned by itself, and then followed by the phrase 'the field and the cave', regeneration is meant, for 'the field and the cave' means the good and truth of faith by means of which regeneration is accomplished. Furthermore Machpelah was a plot of land in which also there was a grave, which means regeneration, 2916. But 'Mamre', being Hebron, as stated below in verse 19, or 'in Hebron', as stated in Genesis 13:18, here means nothing else than the particular kind of a thing and the measure in which this exists. In this case the kind of regeneration and the measure of it is meant when 'Mamre' is linked with 'Machpelah'; the kind of Church and the degree to which it exists when 'Mamre' is linked with 'Hebron'; and the kind of perception and the measure of the same when 'Mamre' is linked with 'the oak-groves', as in 1616. Thus Mamre merely defines the state of the thing, for it was a place where Abraham dwelt, Genesis 13:18, and where Isaac dwelt and to which Jacob came, Genesis 35:27.

2915. 'I am a stranger and an inhabitant among you' means their first state when, although the Lord was not known to them, He was nevertheless able to be with them. This is clear from the representation of 'Abraham' as the Lord, often dealt with already, and from the meaning of 'being a stranger among them' and 'being an inhabitant among them' as not being known but nevertheless being with them. It is evident from what comes before and after that this is the internal sense, for the subject is a new Church, and in this verse the first state of that Church. This state is such that first of all they do not know the Lord, yet because they lead good and charitable lives, and in public life they are just and fair, and in private life honourable and correct, they are the kind of people with whom the Lord is able to be present. For the Lord is present with man in good, and so in justice and fairness, and further still in honourableness and correctness (honourableness being the sum total of all the private virtues, correctness simply the form that honourableness takes). These are the kinds of good that follow one another consecutively, and are the levels with man on which the Lord bases conscience, and consequently intelligence and wisdom. People however with whom these qualities do not exist, that is to say, with whom they do not proceed from the heart or affection, cannot have anything of heaven planted within them. There is no level, nor any ground, thus nothing to receive them. And as they cannot have anything of heaven planted within them, neither can the Lord be present there. The Lord may be said to be present according to the good that is present, that is, according to the nature of that good. And the nature of this good is determined by the state of innocence, love and charity in which the truths of faith have been, or are able to be, implanted.