3671. To thee and to thy seed with thee. That this signifies with the good and its derivative truth, is evident from the representation of Jacob, who is here meant by “thee,” as being the good of truth, or the good which is from truth (concerning which see above); and from the signification of “seed,” as being the good and truth of faith (n. 1025, 1447, 1610, 2848, 3373). “With thee” signifies that it was adjoined to the good of truth which is “Jacob.” With good and truth the case is the same as with seeds and the ground; interior good is as the seed which brings forth, but only in good ground; exterior good and truth are as the ground in which the seed brings forth; this seed (that is, interior good and truth) cannot otherwise be rooted. For this reason man’s rational is first of all regenerated, for therein are seeds, and afterwards the natural, in order that it may serve as ground (n. 3286, 3288, 3321, 3368, 3493, 3576, 3620, 3623); and since the natural is as ground, good and truth are capable of being made fruitful and multiplying in the rational, which could not be the case unless they had ground somewhere, in which they might take root like seed. From this comparison it may be seen as in a mirror how the case is with regeneration and with many of its arcana.

[2] To understand good and truth and to will them is of the rational; the perceptions of good and truth therefrom are as seed; but to know them and bring them into act is of the natural. The very memory-knowledges and works are like ground, and when man is affected with the memory-knowledges which confirm good and truth; and especially when he feels a delight in bringing them into act, the seeds are therein, and grow as in their ground. By this means good is made fruitful, and truth is multiplied, and they continually ascend from this ground into the rational, and perfect it. The case is otherwise when man understands good and truth, and also inwardly perceives some inclination of will thereto, but yet does not love to know them, and still less to do them. In this case good cannot be made fruitful nor truth be multiplied, in the rational.

3575. And he smelled the smell of his garments. That this signifies that which was grateful from the truth of good which he perceived, is evident from the signification of the “smell,” as being that which is grateful (n. 925), and of “smelling,” as being to perceive that which is grateful; and from the signification of “garments,” as being truth (n. 297, 1073, 2576); and because they were Esau’s, who is here meant by “his,” and by Esau is represented the good of the natural, therefore it is the truth of good which is signified. The truth of good is that which is produced in the natural by means of the immediate and mediate influx of the rational (see above n. 3573); this truth was that which was desired; but because it could not be produced by immediate influx from the good of the rational, unless at the same time by mediate influx (that is, through the truth of the rational), and as this could not be produced except by means of a number of means, which are what are here described by “Esau” and “Jacob” in the internal sense, therefore by “smelling the smell of his garments” is signified the truth of good which was perceived.