160. Verse 24 Therefore a man (vir) will leave his father and his mother and will cling to his wife, and they will be one flesh.

'Leaving father and mother' is leaving the internal man, for the internal is that which conceives and gives birth to the external. 'Clinging to his wife' is in order that the internal man may be within the external. 'Being one flesh' means that they are there together. Previously the internal man, and the external man deriving from the internal, were spirit, but now they have become flesh. In this way celestial and spiritual life was joined on to the proprium in order that they might seemingly be one.

3707. 'And your seed will be as the dust of the earth' means that Divine natural Truth would be as natural good. This is clear from the meaning of 'seed' as truth, dealt with immediately above in 3706, 'your seed' - that is, Jacob's - consequently meaning Divine natural Truth, for as shown above 'Jacob' represents the Lord's Divine Natural; and from the meaning of 'the dust of the earth' as good, dealt with in 1610. Consequently 'your seed will be as the dust of the earth' means in the internal sense that Divine natural Truth will be as Divine natural Good. The reason 'the dust of the earths means good is that 'the earth' means the Lord's kingdom and accordingly good, as shown just above in 3705. 'The dust of the earth' therefore means good, though natural good since the earth, as also shown in that place, means that which is lower in the Lord's kingdom, thus the natural, while heaven when mentioned as well means that which is interior, or the rational. This is why the fruitfulness of good and the multiplication of truth are described in various places by means of expressions stating that someone's seed will be as the stars of heaven and as the dust of the earth. 'The stars of heaven' in that case means rational concepts, and 'the dust of the earth' natural images, which will increase in this fashion. What is meant by natural truth becoming as natural good will in the Lord's Divine mercy be explained later on.