3527. And I am a smooth man. That this signifies the quality of natural truth relatively, is evident from the representation of Jacob who is here speaking, as being the natural as to truth (see n. 3305); and from the signification of a “smooth man,” as being its quality, concerning which something shall now be said. Before it can be known what these things signify, it must be known what is meant by “hairy,” and what by “smooth.” The interiors in man present themselves in a kind of image in his exteriors, especially in his face and its expression; at the present day his inmosts are not seen there, but his interiors are in some measure seen there, unless from infancy he has learned to dissemble, for in this case he assumes to himself as it were another lower mind, and consequently induces on himself another countenance; for it is the lower mind that appears in the face. More than others, hypocrites have acquired this from actual life, thus from habit; and this the more in proportion as they are deceitful. With those who are not hypocrites, rational good appears in the face from a certain fire of life; and rational truth from the light of this fire. Man knows these things from a certain connate knowledge, without study; for it is the life of his spirit as to good and as to truth which thus manifests itself; and because man is a spirit clothed with a body, he has such knowledge from the perception of his spirit, thus from himself; and this is the reason why a man is sometimes affected with the countenance of another; although this is not from the countenance, but from the mind which thus shines forth. But the natural appears in the face in a more obscure fire of life, and a more obscure light of life; and the corporeal hardly appears at all except in the warmth and fairness of the complexion, and in the change of their states according to the affections.

[2] Because the interiors thus manifest themselves in especial in the face, as in an image, the most ancient people who were celestial men and utterly ignorant of dissimulation, much more of hypocrisy and deceit, were able to see the minds of one another conspicuous in the face as in a form; and therefore by the “face” were signified the things of the will and of the understanding; that is, interior rational things as to good and truth (n. 358, 1999, 2434); and in fact interior things as to good by the blood and its redness; and interior things as to truths by the resultant form and its fairness; but interior natural things by the outgrowths thence, such as the hairs and the scales of the skin, namely, the things from the natural as to good by the hairs, and the things from the natural as to truth by the scales. Consequently they who were in natural good were called “hairy men,” but they who were in natural truth, “smooth men.” From these considerations it may be seen what is signified in the internal sense by the words, “Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man,” namely, the quality relatively to one another of natural good and natural truth. From all this it is evident what Esau represents, namely, the good of the natural, for he was called “Esau” from being hairy (Genesis 25:25), and “Edom” from being ruddy (Genesis 25:30). Mount Seir, where he dwelt, has the same meaning, namely, what is hairy; and because it had this meaning there was a mountain by which they went up to Seir that was called the bare or smooth mountain (Josh. 11:17; 12:7); which was also representative of truth ascending to good.

[3] That “hairy” is predicated of good, and thence of truth, and also in the opposite sense of evil, and thence of falsity, was shown above (n. 3301); but that “smooth” is predicated of truth, and in the opposite sense of falsity, is evident also from the following passages in the Word.

In Isaiah:

Ye that inflame yourselves with gods under every green tree; in the smooth things of the valley is thy portion (Isaiah 57:5-6

where “inflaming” is predicated of evil; and the “smooth things of the valley,” of falsity. Again:

The workman strengthens the smelter, him that smoothes with the hammer along with the beating on the anvil, ¹ saying to the joint, It is good (Isaiah 41:7); where the “workman strengthening the smelter” is predicated of evil; and “smoothing with the hammer,” of falsity.

In David:

They make thy mouth smooth as butter; when his heart approacheth his words are softer than oil (Psalms 55:21); where a “smooth or flattering mouth” is predicated of falsity; and the “heart and its soft things,” of evil. Again:

Their throat is an open sepulcher, they speak smooth things with their tongue (Psalms 5:9);

“the throat an open sepulcher” is predicated of evil; “the tongue speaking smooth things,” of falsity.

In Luke:

Every valley shall be filled up; and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places level ways (Luke 3:5); where “valley” denotes what is lowly (n. 1723, 3417); “mountain and hill,” what is lifted up (n. 1691); “the crooked become straight,” the evil of ignorance turned into good, for “length” and what belongs thereto are predicated of good (n. 1613); the “rough places made level ways,” the falsities of ignorance turned into truths. (That “way” is predicated of truth, see n. 627, 2333.)

Fußnoten:

2333. And in the morning ye shall rise and go on your way. That this signifies confirmation in good and truth, may be seen from the signification of “rising in the morning,” and also from the signification of “going on the way.” In the Word “morning” signifies the Lord’s kingdom and whatever belongs to the Lord’s kingdom, thus principally the good of love and of charity, as will be confirmed from the Word at verse 15; and a “way” signifies truth (see n. 627 r which reason it is said that after they had been in his house and had passed the night there (by which is signified that they had an abode in the good of charity that was with him), they should “rise in the morning and go on their way,” by which is signified being thereby thus confirmed in good and truth.

[2] From this, as from other passages, it is evident how remote from the sense of the letter, and consequently how much unseen, is the internal sense, especially in the historical parts of the Word; and that it does not come to view unless the meaning of every word is unfolded in accordance with its constant signification in the Word. On this account, when the ideas are kept in the sense of the letter, the internal sense appears no otherwise than as something obscure and dark; but on the other hand when the ideas are kept in the internal sense, the sense of the letter appears in like manner obscure, nay, to the angels as nothing. For the angels are no longer in worldly and corporeal things, like those of man, but in spiritual and celestial things, into which the words of the sense of the letter are wonderfully changed, when it ascends from a man who is reading the Word to the sphere in which the angels are, that is, to heaven; and this from the correspondence of spiritual things with worldly, and of celestial things with corporeal. This correspondence is most constant, but its nature has not yet been disclosed until now in the unfolding of the meaning of the words, names, and numbers in the Word, as to the internal sense.

[3] That it may be known what is the nature of this correspondence, or what is the same, how worldly and corporeal ideas pass into corresponding spiritual and celestial ideas when the former are elevated to heaven, take as an example “morning” and “way.” When “morning” is read, as in the passage before us to “rise in the morning,” the angels do not get an idea of any morning of a day, but an idea of morning in the spiritual sense, thus such a one as is described in Samuel: “The Rock of Israel He is as the light of the morning when the sun riseth, a morning without clouds” (2 Samuel 23:3-4); and in Daniel: “The holy one said unto me, Until evening, when morning comes, two thousand three hundred” (Daniel 8:14, 26). Thus instead of “morning” the angels perceive the Lord, or His Kingdom, or the heavenly things of love and charity; and these in fact with variety according to the series of things in the Word which is being read.

[4] In like manner where “way” is read—as here, to “go on your way”—they can have no idea of a way, but another idea which is spiritual or celestial, namely, like that in John, where the Lord said: “I am the way and the truth” (John 14:6); and as in David: “Make Thy ways known to me, O Jehovah, lead my way in truth” (Psalms 25:4-5); and in Isaiah: “He made Him to know the way of understanding” (Isaiah 40:14). Thus instead of “way” the angels perceive truth, and this in both the historical and the prophetical parts of the Word. For the angels no longer care for the historical things, as these are altogether inadequate to their ideas; and therefore in place of them they perceive such things as belong to the Lord and His kingdom, and which also in the internal sense follow on in a beautiful order and well-connected series. For this reason, and also in order that the Word may be for the angels, all the historical things therein are representative, and each of the words is significative of such things; which peculiarity the Word has above all other writing.