4234. 'Jacob went on his way' means the progression of truth so that it might be joined to spiritual and celestial good. This is clear from the representation of 'Jacob' at this point as the truth of the natural. What 'Jacob' represented has been stated already, namely the Lord's Natural. And because the subject in the internal sense where the historical narrative has to do with Jacob is the Lord and how He made His Natural Divine, Jacob therefore first represented truth within that Natural and then truth to which the parallel good meant by Laban had been allied. And once this good had been allied to it Jacob represented that kind of good. That kind of good is not however Divine good within the Natural but intermediate good by means of which He was able to receive Divine good. Jacob represented such intermediate good when he departed from Laban, though essentially that good is truth, which by virtue of being intermediate has the capacity to join itself to Divine good within the Natural. It is that kind of truth that Jacob represents now.

[2] The good however to which that truth was to be joined is represented by 'Esau' - 'Esau' being the Divine Good of the Lord's Divine Natural, see 3300, 3302, 3494, 3504, 3527, 3576, 3599, 3669, 3677. It is the actual joining together of the two - the joining of the Divine truth to the Divine good of the Lord's Divine Natural - that is the subject now in the highest sense. For once Jacob has departed from Laban and come to the Jordan, and so to the place of entry into the land of Canaan, he comes to represent that conjunction; for in the internal sense the land of Canaan means heaven, and in the highest sense the Lord's Divine Human, 3038, 3705. This explains why the words 'And Jacob went on his way' mean the progression of truth so that it might be joined to spiritual and celestial good.

[3] But these matters are such that a full and intelligible explanation of them cannot be given at all, for the reason that not even the learned in the Christian world possess the vaguest notions on the subject. For scarcely any knowledge exists of what man's natural is, or of what his rational is, or of the fact that the two are altogether distinct and separate from each other. Nor is there much knowledge of what spiritual truth is or of the good which goes with that truth, or of the fact that these likewise are distinct and separate. Still less is it known that when a person is being regenerated truth is joined to good, in one distinct and separate way in the natural, in another in the rational, and by means that are countless. In fact it is not even known that the Lord made His Human Divine according to the same order as that by which He regenerates man.

[4] Since therefore not even the vaguest notions exist about these matters, any statements made about them are bound to seem obscure. Nevertheless such statements must be made because the internal sense of the Word cannot be explained in any other way. If nothing else they will show what angelic wisdom is and the nature of it, for the internal sense of the Word is primarily for angels.

2333. 'And in the morning you may rise up and go your way' means being strengthened in this way in good and truth. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'rising up in the morning', and also from the meaning of 'going on one's way'. In the Word 'the morning' means the Lord's kingdom and whatever belongs to the Lord's kingdom, and so primarily the good that flows from love and charity. This will be confirmed from the Word at verse 15. 'Way' however means truth, see 627. From this it follows that after they had been in his house and spent the night there, which meant that they dwelt in the good of charity with him, 'they rose up in the morning and went their way', which means that in this way they were confirmed in good and truth.

[2] These phrases, as do all the rest, show how far removed the internal sense is from the sense of the letter and therefore how hidden from view it is, especially in the historical parts of the Word. They show that this sense is not discernible unless individual expressions are explained according to the meaning they have all through the Word. Consequently when ideas are confined to the sense of the letter, the internal sense is seen as something altogether dark and obscure. Conversely when ideas are confined to the internal sense, the sense of the letter in a similar way is seen as something obscure. Indeed angels see it as nothing, for angels no longer have worldly and bodily ideas as man does, but spiritual and celestial ones, into which the expressions of the sense of the letter are marvellously converted when the Word which man is reading rises up to the sphere in which angels dwell, that is, up to heaven. This happens because of the correspondence of spiritual things with worldly, and of celestial with bodily, a correspondence which is absolutely consistent but whose nature has not been disclosed until now in the explanation of expressions, names, and numbers in the Word as to their internal sense.

[3] So that the nature of that correspondence may be known, or what amounts to the same, how worldly and bodily ideas pass over into corresponding spiritual and celestial ideas when they are raised towards heaven, let 'the morning' and 'way' be taken as examples: When a person reads of 'the morning', as in the phrase here 'rising up in the morning', angels do not conceive the idea of the start to a new day but the idea which 'morning' has in the spiritual sense. The idea they conceive is similar to the statement in Samuel,

The Rock of Israel . . . He is like morning light, when the sun rises on a cloudless morning. 2 Samuel 23:3-4.

And in Daniel,

The Holy One said to me, Up to the evening when it is becoming morning, two thousand three hundred times. Daniel 8:14, 26.

Thus instead of 'the morning' angels perceive the Lord, or His kingdom, or celestial things of love and charity. This they do varyingly according to the train of thought in the Word which a person is reading.

[4] Similarly where a person reads of 'a way', as in 'going on your way' here, they cannot have any idea of a way, but a spiritual or a celestial idea, that is to say, like that in John, when the Lord said,

I am the way and the truth. John 14:6.

Also the idea in David,

Make Your ways known to me, O Jehovah, guide my way in truth. Psalms 25:4-5.

And in Isaiah,

He made him know the way of understanding. Isaiah 40:14.

Thus instead of 'a way' angels perceive truth. They do so in the historical as well as the prophetical sections of the Word; in fact angels no longer have any interest in matters of history as these are not at all in keeping with the ideas they have. Consequently in place of historical details they perceive such things as belong to the Lord and His kingdom, which also follow on one after another in marvellous array and perfect sequence in the internal sense. For this reason, so that the Word may serve angels as well, all historical details there are representative, and each expression serves to mean such things. This special feature is what makes the Word different from all other literature.