6273. 'For Manasseh was the firstborn' means since good does indeed occupy the first place. This is clear from the representation of 'Manasseh' as good belonging to the will, dealt with before; and from the meaning of 'the birthright' as the prior and higher position, dealt with in 3325, so that 'the firstborn' is the one who occupies the first place. Is anyone incapable of seeing from natural light alone, provided a superior light brightens it a little, that good occupies the first place, as also do the intentions in a person's will, and that truth occupies the second, as also do the thoughts in his mind? Is anyone also incapable of seeing that the intentions in a person's will cause him to think in one particular way and no other, consequently that the good he possesses causes him to think that this or that is true; so that truth occupies the second place and good the first? Think and reflect on whether truth that composes faith can take root anywhere else than in good, or whether faith other than that which has taken root there is faith. From this you will be able to decide which is the primary or essential element for the Church, that is, for the person in whom the Church exists.

3616. 'And I send and fetch you from there' means that at that point the end in view has been reached. This is clear from what comes before and after; for the end in view, meant here by 'sending and fetching you from there', is reached when truth accords with good, and in that way truth has been made subject to good, and is subservient to it. This end, following Jacob's stay with Laban, is represented by the occasion when Esau ran to meet Jacob, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him, and they wept, Genesis 33:4. For when the end in view, which is conjunction, is reached, the good of the rational flows into the good of the natural directly, and through the good of the natural into the truth there, as well as indirectly through the truth of the rational into the truth of the natural, and through the truth of the natural into the good there, 3573. From this it is evident why Rebekah, who represents the truth of the rational, said to Jacob, who represents the truth of the natural, 'I send and fetch you from there'.