Arcana Coelestia # 4341
4341. 'And four hundred men with him' means a state, in this case the state when Divine Good and Truth within the Natural are joined together, since that joining together is the subject. In the Word 'four hundred' means a state of temptation and the duration of it, 1847, 2959, 2966. And since every joining together of good and truth is effected by means of temptations it is the state of temptations that is meant here. For temptations are the means by which goods are joined to truths, see 2272, 3318, and temptations come when good starts to play the leading role, 4248, 4249; also the union of the Lord's Divine Essence with His Human Essence was effected by means of temptations, 1737.
[2] It is not the good itself which is to be joined to truth that is tempted, but the truth. Nor is truth tempted by good but by falsities and evils, and also by misconceptions and illusions, and by the affection for these, which cling to the truths within the natural. For when good flows in, which it does by an internal route, that is, through the internal rational man, the ideas possessed by the natural man which have been formed from the misconceptions of the senses and from illusions resulting from these cannot bear the approach of it, for they do not accord with it; and this gives rise to distress within the natural and to temptation. These are the factors which in the internal sense of this chapter are described by the fear and therefore the distress that Jacob felt, and his consequent state of submission and humiliation when Esau was coming with four hundred men. For the joining together of good and truth is never effected by any other means. From this it may be seen that 'four. hundred men' means a state of temptations - 'four hundred' the actual state itself, 'men' rational truths which have been joined to good when this flows into the natural. For 'men' means things of the understanding and of the rational, see 265, 749, 1007, 3134.
[3] But these considerations are such that they pass into the unlit parts of the human mind, the reason being that while a person is living in the body the difference between the rational and the natural cannot be seen. It is not seen at all by those who are not regenerate, and barely so by those who are, since they neither reflect on nor are even interested in the matter. For knowledge of the interior aspects of the human being has been virtually wiped out, yet in former times that knowledge constituted the whole of intelligence among people within the Church. Those considerations are however able to be substantiated to some extent from what has been shown already about the rational and its influx into the natural, that is to say, from the explanation that the natural is regenerated by means of the rational, 3286, 3288, and that the rational receives truths before the natural does so, 3321, 3368, 3671. It is these truths which flow, accompanied by good, from the rational into the natural that are meant in the internal sense by the four hundred men who accompanied Esau.
Genesis 25
1
Abraham took another wife, and her name was Keturah.
2
She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah.
3
Jokshan became the father of Sheba, and Dedan. The sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim.
4
The sons of Midian: Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah.
5
Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac,
6
but to the sons of Abraham's concubines, Abraham gave gifts. He sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, to the east country.
7
These are the days of the years of Abraham's life which he lived: one hundred seventy-five years.
8
Abraham gave up the spirit, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years, and was gathered to his people.
9
Isaac and Ishmael, his sons, buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron, the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre,
10
the field which Abraham purchased of the children of Heth. Abraham was buried there with Sarah, his wife.
11
It happened after the death of Abraham that God blessed Isaac, his son. Isaac lived by Beer Lahai Roi.
12
Now this is the history of the generations of Ishmael, Abraham's son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's handmaid, bore to Abraham.
13
These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to the order of their birth: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebaioth, then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,
15
Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah.
16
These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their villages, and by their encampments: twelve princes, according to their nations.
17
These are the years of the life of Ishmael: one hundred thirty-seven years. He gave up the spirit and died, and was gathered to his people.
18
They lived from Havilah to Shur that is before Egypt, as you go toward Assyria. He lived opposite all his relatives.
19
This is the history of the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son. Abraham became the father of Isaac.
20
Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Paddan Aram, the sister of Laban the Syrian, to be his wife.
21
Isaac entreated Yahweh for his wife, because she was barren. Yahweh was entreated by him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
22
The children struggled together within her. She said, "If it be so, why do I live?" She went to inquire of Yahweh.
23
Yahweh said to her, "Two nations are in your womb. Two peoples will be separated from your body. The one people will be stronger than the other people. The elder will serve the younger."
24
When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.
25
The first came out red all over, like a hairy garment. They named him Esau.
26
After that, his brother came out, and his hand had hold on Esau's heel. He was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.
27
The boys grew. Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field. Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents.
28
Now Isaac loved Esau, because he ate his venison. Rebekah loved Jacob.
29
Jacob boiled stew. Esau came in from the field, and he was famished.
30
Esau said to Jacob, "Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am famished." Therefore his name was called Edom.
31
Jacob said, "First, sell me your birthright."
32
Esau said, "Behold, I am about to die. What good is the birthright to me?"
33
Jacob said, "Swear to me first." He swore to him. He sold his birthright to Jacob.
34
Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils. He ate and drank, rose up, and went his way. So Esau despised his birthright.
