3362. THE INTERNAL SENSE.
In the twenty-first chapter Abimelech was treated of, in that he made a covenant with Abraham, and that then Abraham reproved him concerning a well of waters which his servants had seized. In the present chapter a nearly similar occurrence is repeated between Abimelech and Isaac, resembling it also in this respect, that just as Abraham had said that his wife was his sister, so also said Isaac; from which it is evident that some Divine arcanum therein is the reason why these things occurred a second time, and were again related; and also that on both occasions mention is made of wells, concerning which it would little concern us to know, unless something Divine were concealed therein. But the internal sense teaches what is therein, and that the subject is the conjunction through truths of the Lord with those who are in His kingdom in the heavens and on earth; with the angels through appearances of truth of a higher degree; and with men through appearances of truth of a lower degree; consequently through the Word, in the internal and external senses of which are contained these appearances. For truths Divine themselves are such that they can never be comprehended by any angel, still less by any man, because they surpass every faculty of their understanding. Yet in order that there may be conjunction of the Lord with them, truths Divine flow in with them in appearances; and when truths Divine are with them in such appearances, they can be both received and acknowledged. This is effected by adaptation to the comprehension of each person; and therefore appearances, that is, truths angelic and human, are of three degrees. These are the Divine arcana contained in the internal sense of that which was related in a former chapter concerning the doings of Abimelech and Abraham; and in this chapter concerning those of Abimelech and Isaac.