Arcana Coelestia #4353
4353. 'And kissed him' means an interior joining together brought about by love. This is clear from the meaning of 'kissing' as a joining together brought about by love, dealt with in 3573, 3574, 4215, in this case an interior joining together. The present verse deals with the joining of Divine Natural Good, meant by 'Esau', to Natural Truth, meant by 'Jacob'. It deals with this in general, whereas the verses which follow deal more specifically with that joining together. As regards the actual joining together, it is that which brings about a person's regeneration, for he is regenerated through the joining of the truths he knows to the good he cherishes, that is, through the joining of matters of faith to the deeds of charity. The process of that joining together is described fully in this verse and in those that follow. The subject, it is true, is the Lord - how He made His Natural Divine and therefore how He united Divine Good to Truth within the Natural; but because the regeneration of man is an image of the glorification of the Lord, 3138, 3212, 3296, 3490, that regeneration too is at the same time the subject in the internal sense. And because man can get an idea of regeneration more easily than he can of the Lord's glorification, let His glorification be illustrated by means of man's regeneration.
[2] It is evident from the explanations which have been given that the joining together of good and truths which leads to regeneration is a process that grows more and more interior; that is, truths are joined step by step more interiorly to good. For the object of regeneration is that the internal man may be joined to the external, and so the spiritual man be joined to the natural through the rational. Unless the two are joined together no regeneration is accomplished. Nor can that joining together be effected until good has first been joined to the truths within the natural; for the natural has to exist as the underlying groundwork, and things within the natural have to exist in correspondence with those above them. This is the reason why, when the natural is being regenerated, the joining together of good and truths becomes step by step more interior; for the spiritual first joins itself to the things that are inmost in the natural, and after that through these to those that are more exterior. Nor can man's internal join itself to his external unless the truth within that external becomes the good of truth, that is, becomes truth in will and action, 4337. Only then can they be joined together, for the Lord flows into a person through his internal man, especially through the good there. The good there is able to be joined to the good in the external man, but not directly to the truth.
[3] From this it becomes clear that the truth residing with man must first of all become truth in will and action, that is, become the good of truth, before the joining together of the rational and the natural, or of the internal man and the external, can come about. But in what way truth becomes the good of truth may be clear to anyone who gives his attention to it. Every Divine truth is related to the following two commandments: Love God above all things, and love your neighbour as yourself. These two commandments are the base from which truths are derived, the reason why truths exist, and the end to which truths lead - immediately or remotely. Therefore when truths are translated into action they are introduced step by step into their beginning and into their end, that is to say, into charity towards the neighbour and love to the Lord, and as a consequence truth becomes the good which is called the good of truth. Once truth becomes such it is able to be joined to the internal man, a conjunction which becomes step by step more interior as truths that are more interior are implanted within that good. Action comes first, then the desire for it in the person's will follows. For when a person is led by his understanding to carry out any action, he is at length led by his will to do it, till at last he has taken it on as an action performed habitually. When this point is reached it is introduced into the rational or internal man; and once it has been introduced, truth is no longer that which motivates him when he does a good action but good. For now he begins to feel within it something of what is blessed and so to speak of heaven. This remains with him after death, and by means of it the Lord raises him up to heaven.
Genesis 34
1
Dinah, the daughter of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.
2
Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her. He took her, lay with her, and humbled her.
3
His soul joined to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young lady, and spoke kindly to the young lady.
4
Shechem spoke to his father, Hamor, saying, "Get me this young lady as a wife."
5
Now Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah, his daughter; and his sons were with his livestock in the field. Jacob held his peace until they came.
6
Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to talk with him.
7
The sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it. The men were grieved, and they were very angry, because he had done folly in Israel in lying with Jacob's daughter; a which thing ought not to be done.
8
Hamor talked with them, saying, "The soul of my son, Shechem, longs for your daughter. Please give her to him as a wife.
9
Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves.
10
You shall dwell with us, and the land will be before you. Live and trade in it, and get possessions in it."
11
Shechem said to her father and to her brothers, "Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you will tell me I will give.
12
Ask me a great amount for a dowry, and I will give whatever you ask of me, but give me the young lady as a wife."
13
The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father with deceit, and spoke, because he had defiled Dinah their sister,
14
and said to them, "We can't do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised; for that is a reproach to us.
15
Only on this condition will we consent to you. If you will be as we are, that every male of you be circumcised;
16
then will we give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people.
17
But if you will not listen to us, to be circumcised, then we will take our sister, and we will be gone."
18
Their words pleased Hamor and Shechem, Hamor's son.
19
The young man didn't wait to do this thing, because he had delight in Jacob's daughter, and he was honored above all the house of his father.
20
Hamor and Shechem, his son, came to the gate of their city, and talked with the men of their city, saying,
21
"These men are peaceful with us. Therefore let them live in the land and trade in it. For behold, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters to us for wives, and let us give them our daughters.
22
Only on this condition will the men consent to us to live with us, to become one people, if every male among us is circumcised, as they are circumcised.
23
Won't their livestock and their possessions and all their animals be ours? Only let us give our consent to them, and they will dwell with us."
24
All who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor, and to Shechem his son; and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.
25
It happened on the third day, when they were sore, that two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, each took his sword, came upon the unsuspecting city, and killed all the males.
26
They killed Hamor and Shechem, his son, with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem's house, and went away.
27
Jacob's sons came on the dead, and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister.
28
They took their flocks, their herds, their donkeys, that which was in the city, that which was in the field,
29
and all their wealth. They took captive all their little ones and their wives, and took as plunder everything that was in the house.
30
Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, "You have troubled me, to make me odious to the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I am few in number. They will gather themselves together against me and strike me, and I will be destroyed, I and my house."
31
They said, "Should he deal with our sister as with a prostitute?"
