4242. 'And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall you say to my lord Esau' means the first acknowledgement that good occupied the higher position. This becomes clear from the meaning here of 'commanding the messengers to say' as reflection and consequent perception that this is so, dealt with in 3661, 3682, and therefore as acknowledgement; and from the representation of 'Esau' as good, dealt with above in 4234, 4239. The acknowledgement that it occupied the higher position is meant by his calling Esau not his brother but his 'lord' and also by calling himself in the next breath his 'servant', and likewise further on. For while a person is being regenerated truth seemingly occupies first position and good second, but once he has been regenerated good occupies first and truth second, see 1904, 2063, 2189, 2697, 2979, 3286, 3288, 3310 (end), 3325, 3330, 3332, 3336, 3470, 3509, 3539, 3548, 3556, 3563, 3570, 3576, 3579, 3603, 3701. This is also what is meant by the prophetic utterances made by father to son - when Isaac declared to Esau,

By your sword you will live, and you will serve your brother; and it will be, when you have dominion over him, that you will break his yoke from above your neck. Genesis 27:40.

It is the turning round within this state, foretold in these prophetic utterances, that is dealt with here.

1062. That 'Shem' means the internal Church, 'Ham' the corrupted Church, 'Japheth' the external Church, is also clear from what follows, for the nature of each one is described. As with every other Church, the Ancient Church included people who were internal, people who were internal but corrupted, and people who were external. Internal people are those who make charity the chief thing of faith. Corrupted internal people are those who make faith devoid of charity the chief thing of faith. And external people are those who give little thought to the internal man but who nevertheless perform charitable works and reverently keep up the religious observances of the Church. Apart from these three kinds of people no others exist who are to be called members of the spiritual Church. And since they were all members of the Church they are referred to as those who 'went out of the ark'. Those in the Ancient Church who were internal people, that is, who made charity the chief thing of faith, were called Shem; those in it who were internal but corrupt - namely those who made faith devoid of charity the chief thing of faith - were in the Ancient Church called Ham; while those in that Church who were external and gave little thought to the internal man but who nevertheless performed charitable works and reverently kept up the religious observances of the Church were named Japheth. The nature of each one is dealt with in what follows.