Arcana Coelestia # 3597
3597. Verses 34-40 Even as Esau heard his father's words, he cried out with a great and exceedingly bitter cry, and said to his father, Bless me, me also, my father. And he said, Your brother came in deceitfully, and has taken away your blessing. And he said, Does he not call his name Jacob? And he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing. And he said, Have you not reserved a blessing for me? And Isaac answered, and said to Esau, Behold, I have made him lord over you, and have given all his brothers to him as servants, and I have sustained him with grain and new wine. And for you therefore, what shall I do, my son? And Esau said to his father, Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, me also, my father. And Esau raised his voice, and wept. And Isaac his father answered, and said to him, Behold, of the fatness of the land will be your dwelling-place, and of the dew of heaven from above. And 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.
'Esau heard his father's words' means the discernment of natural good from Divine good. 'And he cried out with a great and exceedingly bitter cry' means the great change that accompanied the inversion of state. 'And said to his father, Bless me, me also, my father' means that natural good desired to be joined to Divine good, even though through it truth was already joined. 'And he said, Your brother came in deceitfully' means the reversal of order. 'And has taken away your blessing' means the conjunction thus effected. 'And he said, Does he not call his name Jacob?' means the nature of natural truth. 'And he has supplanted me these two times' means that order was reversed by this 'He took away my birthright' means the prior position that it occupied. 'And behold, now he has taken away my blessing' means conjunction 'And he said, Have you not reserved a blessing for me?' means, Was not natural good joined in any way at all in that previous state? 'And Isaac answered, and said to Esau' means an informing. 'Behold, I have made him lord over you' means that in that state natural truth would have dominion over natural good. 'And have given all his brothers to him as servants' means that in this case affections for good were to outward appearances subordinate to the affection for truth. 'And I have sustained him with grain and new wine' means, as previously, its good and truth. 'And for you therefore, what shall I do, my son?' means that in that state good has nothing else 'And Esau said to his father' means the discernment of natural good. 'Have you but one blessing, my father?' means, Was it not possible in that case for anything from natural good to be linked to it? 'Bless me, me also, my father' means that it desired to be joined even though through it truth was already joined. 'And Esau raised his voice, and wept' means a further state in the change that took place. 'And Isaac his father answered, and said to him' means a perception that natural good would be made Divine. 'Behold, of the fatness of the land will be your dwelling-place' means life received from Divine Good. 'And of the dew of heaven from above' means from Divine Truth. 'And by your sword you will live, and you will serve your brother' means that all the time truth was joined to good, that good would to outward appearance occupy the lower position. 'And it will be when you have dominion over him' means that it will come to occupy the prior position. 'That you will break his yoke from above your neck' means that good would now be the means through which any joining together was effected - and that truth would be the truth of good.
Genesis 26
1
There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, to Gerar.
2
Yahweh appeared to him, and said, "Don't go down into Egypt. Live in the land I will tell you about.
3
Live in this land, and I will be with you, and will bless you. For to you, and to your seed, I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to Abraham your father.
4
I will multiply your seed as the stars of the sky, and will give to your seed all these lands. In your seed will all the nations of the earth be blessed,
5
because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my requirements, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws."
7
The men of the place asked him about his wife. He said, "She is my sister," for he was afraid to say, "My wife," lest, he thought, "the men of the place might kill me for Rebekah, because she is beautiful to look at."
8
It happened, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was caressing Rebekah, his wife.
9
Abimelech called Isaac, and said, "Behold, surely she is your wife. Why did you say, 'She is my sister?'" Isaac said to him, "Because I said, 'Lest I die because of her.'"
10
Abimelech said, "What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us!"
11
Abimelech commanded all the people, saying, "He who touches this man or his wife will surely be put to death."
12
Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year one hundred times what he planted. Yahweh blessed him.
13
The man grew great, and grew more and more until he became very great.
14
He had possessions of flocks, possessions of herds, and a great household. The Philistines envied him.
15
Now all the wells which his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped, and filled with earth.
16
Abimelech said to Isaac, "Go from us, for you are much mightier than we."
17
Isaac departed from there, encamped in the valley of Gerar, and lived there.
18
Isaac dug again the wells of water, which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father. For the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham. He called their names after the names by which his father had called them.
19
Isaac's servants dug in the valley, and found there a well of springing water.
20
The herdsmen of Gerar argued with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, "The water is ours." He called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him.
21
They dug another well, and they argued over that, also. He called its name Sitnah.
22
He left that place, and dug another well. They didn't argue over that one. He called it Rehoboth. He said, "For now Yahweh has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land."
23
He went up from there to Beersheba.
24
Yahweh appeared to him the same night, and said, "I am the God of Abraham your father. Don't be afraid, for I am with you, and will bless you, and multiply your seed for my servant Abraham's sake."
25
He built an altar there, and called on the name of Yahweh, and pitched his tent there. There Isaac's servants dug a well.
26
Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath his friend, and Phicol the captain of his army.
27
Isaac said to them, "Why have you come to me, since you hate me, and have sent me away from you?"
28
They said, "We saw plainly that Yahweh was with you. We said, 'Let there now be an oath between us, even between us and you, and let us make a covenant with you,
29
that you will do us no harm, as we have not touched you, and as we have done to you nothing but good, and have sent you away in peace.' You are now the blessed of Yahweh."
30
He made them a feast, and they ate and drank.
31
They rose up some time in the morning, and swore one to another. Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.
32
It happened the same day, that Isaac's servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had dug, and said to him, "We have found water."
33
He called it Shibah. Therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.
34
When Esau was forty years old, he took as wife Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite.
