3187. 'And may your seed inherit the gate of those who hate you' means the Lord's spiritual kingdom sprung from the marriage of good and truth in the Divine Human, a kingdom possessing charity and faith where evil and falsity had been previously. This becomes clear from what has been stated and explained above in 2851 where practically the same words occur. 'Seed' means those who are called spiritual, and so in the universal sense means all who constitute the Lord's spiritual kingdom, or what amounts to the same, that kingdom itself. This is clear from the meaning of 'seed' as charity and faith, dealt with in 1025, 1447, 1610, 1940, consequently as those in whom charity received through faith is present. These are they who are spiritual, see 2088, 2184, 2507, 2708, 2715, 2954, and to whom charity and faith come from the marriage of good and truth in the Lord's Divine Human, and so to whom salvation comes, 2661, 2716, 2833, 2834.

[2] In the Ancient Church there existed this customary expression of a heartfelt desire which was said to a betrothed virgin when about to be married - 'may you become thousands of myriads, and may your seed inherit the gate of your enemies (or those who hate you)'. But the wise of that Church understood spiritual things by these words. That is to say, to them that customary expression meant that when people entered into the marriage of good and truth - that is, once they were regenerate - goods and truths would become fruitful by thousands of myriads, that is, without end. That expression also meant to them that charity and faith would assume the position previously occupied by evil and falsity. But when the wisdom of the Ancient Church died out they no longer understood that customary expression in a spiritual way but in an altogether worldly one. That is to say, they meant that they would have countless descendants who would take possession of and inherit the land of the gentile nations. Jacob's descendants more than all others understood the expression in this way and convinced themselves that this was how it was to be understood from the fact that they not only did increase enormously but also inherited the land, which to them was 'the gate of their enemies'. They did not know that all these things were representatives, that is to say, representatives of the Lord's celestial and spiritual kingdom, and that consequently after the expulsion of evils and falsities good and truth took their place. This will be especially clear when, in the Lord's Divine mercy, those representatives are explained.

[3] In particular, that is to say, with each individual person who becomes the Lord's kingdom, the situation is that before he becomes the kingdom, that is, before he is regenerated, nothing but evil and falsity exists within. Indeed hellish and devilish spirits are in possession of that which is called 'the gate', dealt with in 2851. But when he is becoming the Lord's kingdom, that is, being regenerated, evils and falsities, or what amounts to the same, hellish and devilish spirits, are driven away from there, and good and truth enter in and inherit that position. A conscience for good and truth is in that case present. And what applies to the individual in particular applies also to people in general. This shows what these words are used to mean in the internal sense.

1914. That 'may the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant-girl into your bosom' means its unwillingness to take any blame is clear without explanation. In the internal sense these words embody within themselves the truth that the Lord perceived this first rational to be such as despised intellectual truth, and for that reason He reproached it. The Lord did indeed think from intellectual truth, as stated above in 1904; and because that truth was superior to the rational, He was able to perceive and see the nature of the rational, that is to say, that it held that truth in contempt.

[2] The Lord's being able from the interior man to perceive and see the nature of the new rational within Himself becomes clear from the fact that what is interior is able to perceive that which occurs in the exterior, or what amounts to the same, what is higher is able to see that which occurs in that which is lower, but not the reverse. Moreover, those who have conscience are able and are accustomed to do the same, for when anything contrary to the truth constituting conscience enters their thought or the intentions of their will, they not only recognize it for what it is but also pour blame upon it; indeed it grieves them that their own nature is such. This is all the more true of those who have perception, for perception is more interior within the rational. What then could the Lord not do who had Divine celestial perception and whose thought sprang from the affection for intellectual truth which is above the rational? Therefore He could not be anything else but righteously angry since He knew that no evil or falsity at all stemmed from Himself and that from the affection for truth He strove anxiously with all His might so that the rational might be pure. From this it becomes clear that the Lord did not despise intellectual truth, yet perceived that the first rational with Him did so.

[3] What thinking from intellectual truth is cannot be explained intelligibly, all the less so because nobody except the Lord has ever thought from that affection and that kind of truth. Anyone who thinks from them is above the angelic heaven, for the angels of the third heaven do not think from intellectual truth but from the interior part of the rational. But to the extent that the Lord united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence, He thought from Divine Good itself, that is, from Jehovah.

[4] The early fathers of the Most Ancient Church, who had perception, thought from the interior rational. The fathers of the Ancient Church, who did not have perception but conscience, thought from the exterior or natural rational. But all who do not have conscience never think from the rational at all, since they have no rational however much they appear to do so. Instead they think from the sensory and the bodily experience of the natural. People who do not have conscience are unable to think from the rational for the reason, as has been stated, that they have no rational. The rational man is one in whom the good and truth of faith are the substance of his thought and never one who thinks in opposition to these. Those in whom evil and falsity are the substance of their thought are insane as to their thought and therefore the rational cannot be attributed to them.