4560. 'For there the gods were revealed to him' means holy truths. This is clear from the meaning of 'the gods' as holy truths, dealt with in 4402; and the alliance of these to the good represented by 'Jacob' is meant by the revelation of the gods to him there. Jacob's calling the place El Bethel, when yet previously he called it Bethel, Genesis 28:19, and again calls it this in verse 15 below; also, the addition of the phrase here, 'for there the gods (plural) were revealed to him' but in verse 15 below of the phrase, 'where God (singular) spoke to him', is an arcanum. And that arcanum, it is evident, cannot be known except from the internal sense. There are even more arcana lying concealed within these details, but it is not possible for them to be disclosed.