2434. That 'he said to him, Behold, I have accepted you as regards this matter also' means assent, provided that the interior aspects of that truth derive anything from good. This is clear from the meaning of 'face'. 'Face' occurs very many times in the Word and in those places it means the interiors, as shown in 358, 1999; and when the word 'face' is used in reference to Jehovah or the Lord it means mercy, peace, and good, 222, 223. Here therefore 'face' means good which is interiorly within truth, so that 'accepting the face' means assent, provided that the interior aspects of that truth derive anything from good. 'As regards this matter' means as regards this thing. Unless truth has good within it, it is not truth, see 1496, 1832, 1900, 1904, 1928, 2063, 2173, 2269, 2401, 2403, 2429; and the source of man's blessing and happiness after death is not truth but the good lying within truth, 2261. Consequently blessing and happiness are for him increased the more good there is lying within truth. That good lies within truth and causes it to be truth becomes clear also from goods and truths as they exist in worldly things. When a person takes in and acknowledges something within these as being good, then whatever regards that good with favour he calls the truth. But whatever does not regard it with favour he rejects and calls falsity. He may also call something the truth which does not regard that good with favour; but in that case he is pretending one thing and thinking another. The same also applies in spiritual things.

1496. 'I might have taken her to be my wife (mulier)' means that this being so He could have done violence to the truth that was to be joined to what is celestial. This becomes clear from what has just been stated as well as from what was stated above at verse 13. As to truth being joined to that which is celestial, the situation is that regarded in itself truth learned in childhood is nothing else than a vessel adapted for that which is celestial to be introduced into it. By itself truth has no life except from the celestial flowing in. The celestial consists in love and charity, and all truth exists from these; and because all truth exists from these it is nothing else than a kind of vessel. What is more, truths themselves are plainly manifested as such in the next life, for there it is not the truths themselves that are seen but the life they have within them, that is, the celestial things within them that consist of love and charity. It is from these that truths are made celestial and are called celestial truths. From this it may now become clear what intellectual truth is, and also that intellectual truth opened a way to celestial things residing with the Lord. Factual truth is one thing, rational truth another, and intellectual truth yet another. They follow on consecutively. Factual truth is a matter of knowledge; rational truth is factual truth confirmed by reason; while intellectual truth is joined to an internal perception that the thing is so. This kind of truth resided with the Lord in childhood, and with Him opened the way to celestial things.