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.

2429. 'It is small' means from the small amount of it which he had. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'a city' as truth, dealt with immediately above. The reference to its being 'small' means a small amount of truth, here acting from the small amount he had, as is clear from what comes before and after. As regards this matter, namely that those with the affection for truth possess little truth in comparison with those with the affection for good, this becomes clear from the consideration that they see truth from a poor and obscure good residing with them.

[2] The truth present with someone is altogether as is the good with him. Where there is little good there is little truth. They are present in the same ratio and are of the same degree, or as people say, they march in step with each other. This may indeed seem a paradox but it is nevertheless the truth. Good is the actual essence of truth, and truth without its essence is not truth. Although it looks as though it were, it is no more than something that merely resounds, and is like an empty vessel.

[3] For anyone to have the truth within him he must not only know it, but also acknowledge it and have faith in it. When he does he possesses truth for the first time, for in that case it has an influence on him and remains. It is different when he merely knows the truth but does not acknowledge it and have faith in it. In that case he does not have the truth within him, as applies to many who are governed by evil. They can know of truths, sometimes better than anybody else, but they nevertheless do not possess it. Indeed their possession of it is so much the less because at heart they deny it.

[4] It is provided by the Lord that no one should possess - that is, acknowledge and believe - a greater amount of truth than of the good which he receives. This is why here it is said of the city, which means truth, that 'it is small', and again in this same verse 'is it not small?' and also in verse 22 that 'he called the name of the city Zoar', which means small in the original language. The reason for this is that the subject here is people with the affection for truth, and not so much with the affection for good.