241. Verse 18. I counsel thee, signifies the means of reformation of those who are in the doctrine of faith alone. This is evident from what now follows, for the reformation of those who are in that doctrine is now treated of; therefore "I counsel thee" implies precepts as to how such must live that they may be reformed and thus saved.

7910. 'In all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread' means that in their interiors, where good is, truth must be made their own. This is clear from the meaning of 'dwellings' as parts of the mind, thus aspects of intelligence and wisdom, dealt with in 7719, consequently the interiors since intelligence and wisdom reside there, and also good; and from the meaning of 'eating unleavened bread' as making truth one's own, dealt with several times above. As regards the fact that people's interiors are the place where they make things their own, and the fact that the interiors are where good is, it should be recognized that with those who rely on the Lord, that is, who lead a life of faith and charity, good resides in their interiors; and the more deeply it resides in them, the purer and more heavenly that good is. But in their exteriors truth resides; and the more external its seat is, the more bereft of good that truth is. The reason for this is that so far as his interiors are concerned a person is in heaven, the innermost of them being close to the Lord; but so far as his exteriors are concerned he is in the world. Thus it is that the truths of faith enter by an external route, but good by an internal one, 7756, 7757, and thus it also is that people's interiors, where good is, are the place where they make truth their own.

3761. 'Jacob lifted up his feet' means a raising up of the natural. This is clear from the meaning of 'lifting up' as a raising up, and from the meaning of 'the feet' as the natural, dealt with below. The raising up meant here is the subject of the chapter itself, namely a raising up from external truth towards internal good. In the highest sense the subject is how the Lord according to order raised His Natural even up to the Divine, rising up step by step from external truth towards internal good. In the representative sense it is how the Lord according to a similar order makes man's natural new when regenerating him. The fact that a person who is being regenerated in adult life progresses according to the order described in the internal sense of this chapter and of those that follow is known to few. This fact is known to few because few stop to reflect on the matter and also because few at the present day are able to be regenerated; for the last days of the Church have arrived when no charity exists any longer, nor consequently any faith. This being so, people do not even know what faith is, even though the assertion 'men is saved by faith' is on everyone's lips; and not knowing this they therefore have even less knowledge of what charity is. And since they know no more than the terms faith and charity and have no knowledge of what these are essentially, it has therefore been stated that few are able to reflect on the order in accordance with which a person is made new or regenerated, and also that few are able to be regenerated.

[2] Because the subject here is the natural, and the latter is represented by 'Jacob', it is not said that he rose up and went to the land of the sons of the east but that 'he lifted up his feet'. Both these expressions mean a raising up. As regards 'rising up' having this meaning, see 2401, 2785, 2912, 2927, 3171; and as regards the expression 'lifting up the feet' which occurs here, this is used in reference to the natural - 'the feet' meaning the natural, see 2162, 3147. 'The feet' means the natural or natural things because of their correspondence with the Grand Man - currently the subject at the ends of chapters. In the Grand Man those belonging to the province of the feet are those who dwell in natural light and little spiritual light. This also is why the parts beneath the foot - the sole and the heel - mean the lowest natural things, see 259, and why 'a shoe', which is also mentioned several times in the Word, means the bodily-natural, which is the lowest part of all, 1748.