3304. 'And his hand was grasping Esau's heel' means the lowest level of natural good, to which [truth] clung with some power. This is clear from the meaning of 'the hand' as power, dealt with in 878, and as having reference to truth, 3091; from the meaning of 'grasping' as clinging to; from the meaning of 'the heel' as the lowest part of the natural, dealt with in 259; and from the representation of 'Esau' as the good of the natural, dealt with in 3302. From these meanings it is evident that 'his hand was grasping Esau's heel' means the lowest level of natural good, which truth clung to with some power.

[2] The implications of truth clinging with some power to the lowest good of the natural are that when the natural, or the natural man, is being regenerated, the conception of good and truth there is from the rational man, that is, from the spiritual man by way of the rational man, prior to this from the celestial man by way of the spiritual man, and prior to this from the Divine by way of the celestial man. Thus it is an influx which starts with the Divine and, passing through consecutive degrees, terminates in the lowest part of the natural, that is, in the worldly and bodily part. When the lowest natural has been contaminated by what is inherited from the mother, truth is unable to be united to good. It can do no more than cling to it with some power. Nor is truth united to good until the contamination has been eliminated. This is the reason why good but not truth is bred within a human being, and why small children therefore are devoid of all knowledge of truth and why truth has to be acquired through learning and after that joined to good, see 1831, 1832. This also explains why it is said that they struggled together within her, that is, they conflicted, 3289. Consequently when first conceived truth supplants good, as is said regarding Jacob, that he supplanted Esau,

Does he not call his name Jacob, and he has supplanted me these two times. Genesis 27:36.

And in Hosea,

He will make a visitation on Jacob over his ways and requite him according to his deeds; in the womb he supplanted his brother. Hosea 12:2-3.

[3] Those whose attention is fixed solely on the historical details and who cannot take it off these know no more than this, that the details contained here, and also those that have gone before [regarding the circumstances of the twins' birth], foretell what took place between Esau and Jacob, as is also corroborated by what follows. But the Lord's Word is such that the historical details follow their own sequence, while the spiritual details, which belong to the internal sense, follow theirs, so that the historical details are seen by the external man, but the spiritual details by the internal man. This being so a correspondence exists between the two, that is to say, between the external man and the internal man; and this is effected by means of the Word, for the Word serves to unite heaven and earth, as shown many times. Thus when anyone in a holy frame of mind reads the Word, a union is effected of his external man which is on earth with his internal man which is in heaven.

5032. 'As his lord heard his wife's words which she spoke to him' means the communication of falsity which looked like the truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'hearing the words' as communication, for 'hearing' means discerning, 5017, and so being communicated; from the meaning of 'wife' as unspiritual natural truth, dealt with already, though in this case falsity is meant. Actual false-speaking is meant by the things she told him, as above in 5024, and the one to which the falsity is communicated is unspiritual natural good, meant here by 'his lord', as above in 5023. The idea that to that good this falsity looked like the truth is clear from what follows below.

[2] Dealt with here is the fact that unspiritual natural good is easily convinced, so easily that to it falsity looks altogether like truth. For what unspiritual natural good is and what it is like - that is, who those people are with whom that good resides, and what they are like - see above in 4988, 4992, 5008, 5013, 5028. In these places it is shown that they are those who by heredity and consequently adventitiously are disposed to be meek and upright, and so who do what is good from some natural inclination and not from any religious motive. Doing good from some natural inclination is entirely different from doing it from a religious motive. In the world a person cannot distinguish one from the other because he is not immediately aware of inward things; but in the next life he can clearly tell the difference because in that world inward things are laid bare. There thoughts, intentions, and ends in view reveal themselves, being laid bare as if in broad daylight.

[3] This being so I have been allowed to know what those people are like with whom unspiritual good resides and what those are like with whom spiritual good resides. Those with whom unspiritual natural good resides allow themselves to be persuaded by no matter whom, easily so by the evil, for evil spirits and genii are in their element or their life's delight when they can get into another's desires; and once they have entered them they allure that person into every kind of evil. For at such times they convince him that what is false is true. This they can easily do to those with whom unspiritual natural good resides. They cannot do the same to those with whom spiritual good resides because these know from within themselves what evil and falsity are. The reason for this is that when those with whom spiritual good resides lived in the world they welcomed whatever doctrine prescribed, and disciplined their internal man in the same, thereby enabling heaven to act upon their internal man. But when those with whom unspiritual natural good resides lived in the world they did not welcome anything prescribed by doctrine or discipline their internal man in the same. Consequently they have nothing laid down in them into which heaven can operate, but whatever enters them from heaven passes straight through; and when this enters the natural man it is not welcomed there because evil ones, that is, the devil's crew, instantly remove it by smothering it, or repelling it, or perverting it.

[4] Therefore those whose good is wholly natural suffer severely in the next life. Sometimes they complain profusely about being among those in hell even though, they believe, they have done good, just as has everyone else. But they have been told that in their doing of good they were no different from harmless living creatures that are not endowed with reason. They had shown no concern, they are told, for anything good and true that is known to the Church; and since, as a consequence of this, nothing existed in their internal man to receive what was good and true, they now have nothing enabling angels to protect them. Furthermore, under a cloak of goodness, they had performed very many evil deeds.