3952. And he lay with her that night. That this signifies conjunction, is evident without explication. The reason why the foregoing matters have been unfolded in the internal sense merely as to the significations of the words, is that they are of such a nature that they cannot be comprehended unless they are set forth in one series. For the subject treated of is the conjunction of truth with good and of good with truth, which conjunction is the conjugial as understood in the spiritual sense; that is, the conjunction which makes the heavenly marriage with man and in the church. The arcana of this heavenly marriage are described in the above verses, and are there revealed as follows. As before shown the heavenly marriage is that of good with truth and of truth with good, yet is not between good and truth of one and the same degree, but between good and truth of a lower and of a higher degree, that is, not between the good of the external man and the truth of the same, but between the good of the external man and the truth of the internal; or what is the same, not between the good of the natural man and its truth, but between the good of the natural man and the truth of the spiritual man. This conjunction is that which makes the marriage.

[2] It is the same in the internal or spiritual man; the heavenly marriage there is not between the good and the truth in that man; but between the good of the spiritual man and the truth of the celestial man; for the celestial man is relatively in a higher degree. Nor is there a heavenly marriage between the good and the truth in the celestial man; but between the good of the celestial man and the truth Divine which proceeds from the Lord. From this it is also evident that the Divine marriage itself of the Lord is not between the good Divine and the truth Divine in His Divine Human, but between the good of the Divine Human and the Divine Itself, that is, between the Son and the Father; for the good of the Lord’s Divine Human is that which is called in the Word the “Son of God,” and the Divine Itself is called the “Father.”

[3] These are the arcana contained in the internal sense in what is said concerning the dudaim. Everyone can see that there must be some arcanum therein, for to relate that Reuben found dudaim in the field, and that Rachel longed for them, and in return for them promised that their man should lie with Leah; and that Leah went to meet Jacob when he came from the field in the evening, and said that she had hired him with the dudaim-these things would be too trivial to make any part of the history in the Word, unless there was something Divine hidden within them. But what Divine thing is meant no one can know unless he knows what is signified by the sons of Jacob and by the tribes named from them; and unless he also knows the series of the subject in the internal sense; and moreover unless he knows what the heavenly marriage is, for this is what is treated of, namely, that it is the conjunction of the good in the external man with the affection of truth in the internal man.

[4] But in order to the better understanding of this arcanum, I may illustrate it further. The truths of the external man are the memory-knowledges and doctrinal things that the man first learned from his parents, and also from his teachers, then from books, and finally by his own study. The good of the external man is the pleasure and delight that he perceives in these things. The memory-knowledges, which are truths, and the delights, which are good, are conjoined together; but they do not make in him the heavenly marriage, for with those who are in the love of self and of the world, and thence in evil and falsity, the memory-knowledges, and even the doctrinal things, are conjoined with delights; but it is with the delights of these loves, for with these even truths can be conjoined. And yet such persons are out of the heavenly marriage. But when the pleasure or the delight that is the good of the external or natural man is from spiritual love, that is, from love toward the neighbor, toward our country or the state, toward the church and the Lord’s kingdom, and still more when it is from celestial love, which is love to the Lord; and when these flow in from the internal or spiritual man into the delight of the external or natural man and make it; then this conjunction with the memory-knowledges and doctrinal things of the external or natural man constitutes with him the heavenly marriage. This is not possible with the evil, but only with the good, that is, with those who have these things as their end. (But see how the case is with the influx of the internal or spiritual man into the external or natural man, n. 3286, 3288, 3314, 3321.)

[5] As soon as these things have become known, it is possible to know what is signified by each of the things that have been explained above in regard merely to the internal sense of the words-as that Reuben (who is the truth of faith, which is the first of regeneration) found dudaim; that he brought them to his mother Leah (who is the affection of external truth); that Rachel (who is the affection of interior truth) longed for them, and that they were given her; that Leah therefore lay with her man Jacob (who is the good of truth in the natural man) also, in what follows, that there were born to Jacob by Leah the sons Issachar and Zebulun, by whom are signified and represented the things of conjugial love, and thus of the heavenly marriage; and then that Joseph was born, by whom is signified and represented the Lord’s spiritual kingdom, which is the marriage itself that is treated of.

3314. And Rebekah loved Jacob. That this signifies that the Divine truth of the Divine rational loved the doctrine of truth, is evident from the representation of Rebekah, as being the Divine truth of the Divine rational (concerning which see n. 3012, 3013, 3077, and the whole preceding chapter, where Rebekah is treated of); and from the representation of Jacob, as being the doctrine of natural truth, and in the supreme sense the Lord’s Divine natural as to truth (see n. 3305). That the Divine good of the Divine rational loved the good which was in the natural, and the Divine truth of the Divine rational loved the truth which was in the natural, stands thus: It is good and truth that constitute the rational, and it is also good and truth that constitute the natural; the good of the rational flows in without truth-thus immediately-into the good of the natural; and also through truth, thus mediately; whereas the good of the rational flows in through the truth of the rational into the truth of the natural, thus mediately; and also through the good of the natural into the truth there, thus also immediately. Hence it is that there is a closer conjunction of the good of the rational with the good of the natural, than with its truth; which conjunction is signified by “Isaac loving Esau;” and that there is a closer conjunction of the truth of the rational with the truth of the natural, than with its good, which conjunction is signified by “Rebekah loving Jacob.”

[2] These things are indeed such as can with difficulty be apprehended, for the reason especially that the world, even the learned world, is ignorant of the most general truths upon the subject-as that the rational is distinct from the natural, and that it is good and truth which constitute both the rational and the natural; and still less is it known that the rational must flow into the natural in order for man to be able to think, and to will as he thinks. As these most general truths are unknown, the influx spoken of above can with difficulty be comprehended; and yet these are matters in regard to which the angels have light, and perceive things innumerable, and this attended with the delight in which they are when it is given them at the same time to think concerning the Lord’s Divine in respect to the Human. The man who is in good and in whom there is what is angelic while he is in the body, is also gifted with some light from the Lord on these and similar subjects; but he who is not in good feels a loathing when thinking of such things, and the more so the more he thinks of them as applied to the Divine that pertains to the Lord’s Human. It is better therefore that those who are of such a nature should remove their mind from such subjects; for they comprehend nothing of them, and even reject them; saying at heart, What is this to me? will bring me neither honors nor gain.