4284. 'And he said, I will not let you go unless you bless me' means that a joining together was to take place. This is clear from the meaning of 'not letting you go' as the fact that the temptation was not going to come to an end, dealt with immediately above in 4283, and from the meaning of 'blessing' as conjunction, dealt with in 3504, 3514, 3530, 3584. From this it is evident that 'I will not let you go unless you bless me' means that it would not come to an end until the conjunction was effected, that is, when the joining together was to take place.

4275. 'Until dawn came up' means before natural good, meant by 'Jacob', was joined to the celestial-spiritual, that is, to the Divine good of truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'the dawn' in the highest sense as the Lord, in the representative sense as His kingdom, and in the universal sense as the celestial element of love, dealt with in 2405, and in this case the celestial-spiritual. For when the dawn came up Jacob received the name Israel, by which the celestial-spiritual man is meant. Before the coming up of the dawn therefore means before natural good, now meant by 'Jacob', was joined to celestial-spiritual good. What celestial-spiritual is will be stated below at verse 28, where Israel is the subject.