1754. Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre, symbolize characteristics of [the angels], as can be seen from remarks concerning these men above at verse 13 of the current chapter [§1705]. To be specific, their names symbolize good impulses and true ideas used in the struggle, and not so much the angels themselves, because it is the young men and adult men who symbolize angels, as noted. Angels never have any name but are differentiated by the quality of their goodness and truth. Consequently, a name in the Word symbolizes nothing else than a person's vital essence and its character, as already shown (§§144, 145, 340). The same thing can also be seen in Isaiah, where he says of the Lord:
His name will be called Miraculous, Counselor, God, Hero, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)
[2] His name means what he is like — miraculous, a counselor, God, hero, eternal father, and prince of peace. In Jeremiah, where he too speaks of the Lord:
This is his name that they will call him: Jehovah our justice. (Jeremiah 23:5-6)
This says explicitly that his name is his justice. In Moses, too, where he also speaks of the Lord:
He will not put up with your transgressing, since my name is in the middle of him. (Exodus 23:21)
Here too his name stands for the divinity of his essential nature. In addition it can be seen from many verses in the Word that say, "they called on Jehovah's name;" 1 that they were "not to take up Jehovah's name unworthily" [Exodus 20:7]; and in the Lord's Prayer, "may your name be held sacred" [Matthew 6:9; Luke 11:2]. It is the same with angels' names, and here with the names of Eshcol, Aner, and Mamre, who represent angels: they symbolize the characteristics of angels.
Fusnotat:
1. For passages that speak of calling on Jehovah's name, see, for instance, Genesis 4:26; 12:8; 13:4; 21:33; 26:25. [LHC]
