Genesi 27:3
To many Protestant and Evangelical Italians, the Bibles translated by Giovanni Diodati are an important part of their history. Diodati’s first Italian Bible edition was printed in 1607, and his second in 1641. He died in 1649. Throughout the 1800s two editions of Diodati’s text were printed by the British Foreign Bible Society. This is the more recent 1894 edition, translated by Claudiana.
Arcana Coelestia # 4242
4242. And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye say unto my lord Esau. That this signifies the first acknowledgment of good as being in the higher place, may be seen from the signification here of “commanding the messengers to say,” as being reflection and the consequent perception that it is so (see n. 3661, 3682), consequently acknowledgment; and from the representation of Esau, as being good (n. 4234, 4239). That good was in the higher place is signified by his not calling Esau his “brother,” but his “lord,” and also (as follows) by his calling himself his “servant,” and afterwards speaking in the same manner. (That while man is being regenerated truth is apparently in the first place and good in the second; but good in the first place and truth in the second when he has been regenerated, may be seen above, n. 1904, 2063, 2189, 2697, 2979, 3286, 3288, 3310, 3325, 3330, 3332, 3336, 3470, 3509, 3539, 3548, 3556, 3563, 3570, 3576, 3579, 3603, 3701.) This is also what is meant by the prophetic utterance of Isaac the father to Esau his son:
By thy sword shalt thou live, and thou shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck (Genesis 27:40).
It is the inversion of state foretold in these prophetic words which is treated of in the present chapter.
Arcana Coelestia # 3286
3286. For his woman, because she was barren. That this signifies that the Divine natural was not yet, is evident from the signification of a “woman,” as being Divine truth conjoined with the good of the rational, which truth was in the preceding chapter shown to be represented by Rebekah; and from the signification of “barren,” as being that the Divine natural was not yet. For the case herein is this: The Divine natural had its origin from the Divine good of the rational as a father, and from the Divine truth therein as a mother; and when the Divine natural is not yet, then the truth of the rational is said to be “barren,” here a “barren woman.”
[2] As regards man, the case is that when he is being regenerated, good is insinuated by the Lord into his rational (that is, good will to the neighbor), to which will or good is adjoined truth from the natural man; but when this has been done, the natural is not yet regenerate, as may be known from the fact that the internal or rational man often fights with the external or natural man; and so long as there is combat the natural is not regenerate; and when this is not regenerate, the rational is barren as to truth. Such is the case in general; and in like manner in every particular in which the rational dissents from the natural, the rational is said in that particular to be barren as to truth.
[3] The work of regeneration is chiefly concerned in bringing about the correspondence of the natural man to the rational man, not only in general, but also in particular; and the natural man is reduced to correspondence by the Lord through the rational, in that good is insinuated into the rational, and in this good as in ground truths are implanted, and then by means of rational truths the natural is reduced to obedience; and when it obeys, then it corresponds; and insofar as it corresponds, so far is the man regenerate.
