Firstborn, in a supreme sense, represents the Lord as to divine celestial love, and also peope who were of the celestial church. The sanctification of the firstborn, as in Exodus 13, signifies faith in the Lord. The firstborn, in the spiritual sense of the Word, is good, for with infants the good of innocence is first infused by the Lord, by virtue of which man first becomes a man. Since good is of love, and man does not reflect upon his own love, but only upon the thoughts of his memory, and since good has not at first a quality, but acquires one when it is formed in truths, and without a quality nothing is perceived, hence it was unknown that good was the primary principle, or firstborn. Good is first conceived from the Lord in man, and is produced by truths, in which good is manifested, in its own form and effigy. Firstborn, as in Psalm 89:28, signifies the Lord's humanity.

6272. 'Crosswise he put out his hands' means thus out of keeping with true order. This is clear from the meaning of 'crosswise putting out one's hands' as not in keeping with true order; for by acting in that way Israel makes the younger the firstborn and the older the later-born, so that the truth of faith is made prior and higher and the good of charity posterior and lower. (For the birthright consists in holding the prior and higher position, 3325.) How much evil is introduced into the Church by that exchange of positions is perfectly plain, for by making the exchange people cast themselves into such obscurity that they do not know what good is, or thus what truth is. For good is like a flame and truth is like the light that shines from it. If you take away the flame the light perishes too; or if any light is visible it is like a false light which does not come from the flame. That exchange of positions also causes Churches to clash and quarrel with one another about what is true, one group declaring that this idea is true, another that it is false. Worse than that, once they make faith take precedence in a group of people forming the Church, they begin to separate faith from charity, to rate charity as nothing in comparison with faith, and so to have no concern about the life they lead - a way of thinking to which a person is by natural disposition also inclined. The Church as a consequence perishes, for the life he leads is what constitutes the Church in a person, not doctrine divorced from life. Nor thus does trust, which is a high degree of faith, constitute the Church; for genuine trust cannot exist except with those who have charity since a life filled with trust springs from charity. Besides, the good of charity is in reality the firstborn, that is, occupies the first place, while the truth of faith only appears to be, see 3324, 3539, 3548, 3556, 3563, 3570, 3576, 3603, 3701, 4243, 4244, 4247, 4337, 4925, 4926, 4928, 4930, 4977.