In general, men are driven by intellect and women by affections, and because of this men in the Bible generally represent knowledge and truth and women generally represent love and the desire for good. This generally carries over into marriage, where the man's growing knowledge and understanding and the woman's desire to be good and useful are a powerful combination. In many cases in the Bible, then, "husband" refers to things of truth and understanding, much as "man" does. Magnificent things can happen in a true marriage, though, when both partners are looking to the Lord. If a husband opens his heart to his wife, it's as though she can implant her loves inside him, transforming his intellectual urges into a love of growing wise. She in turn can grow in her love of that blooming wisdom, and use it for joy in their married life and in their caring for children and others in their life. Many couples, even in heaven, stay in that state -- called "Spiritual" -- growing deeper and deeper to eternity. There is the potential, though, for the couple to be transformed: through the nurturing love of his wife the husband can pass from a love of growing wise to an actual love of wisdom itself, and the wife can be transformed from the love of her husband's wisdom into the wisdom of that love -- the actual expression of the love of the Lord they have built together. In that state -- called "Celestial" -- the husband represents love and the desire for good, and the wife represents truth and knowledge.

3597. Verses 34-40 Even as Esau heard his father's words, he cried out with a great and exceedingly bitter cry, and said to his father, Bless me, me also, my father. And he said, Your brother came in deceitfully, and has taken away your blessing. And he said, Does he not call his name Jacob? And he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing. And he said, Have you not reserved a blessing for me? And Isaac answered, and said to Esau, Behold, I have made him lord over you, and have given all his brothers to him as servants, and I have sustained him with grain and new wine. And for you therefore, what shall I do, my son? And Esau said to his father, Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, me also, my father. And Esau raised his voice, and wept. And Isaac his father answered, and said to him, Behold, of the fatness of the land will be your dwelling-place, and of the dew of heaven from above. And by your sword you will live, and you will serve your brother; and it will be when you have dominion over him, that you will break his yoke from above your neck.

'Esau heard his father's words' means the discernment of natural good from Divine good. 'And he cried out with a great and exceedingly bitter cry' means the great change that accompanied the inversion of state. 'And said to his father, Bless me, me also, my father' means that natural good desired to be joined to Divine good, even though through it truth was already joined. 'And he said, Your brother came in deceitfully' means the reversal of order. 'And has taken away your blessing' means the conjunction thus effected. 'And he said, Does he not call his name Jacob?' means the nature of natural truth. 'And he has supplanted me these two times' means that order was reversed by this 'He took away my birthright' means the prior position that it occupied. 'And behold, now he has taken away my blessing' means conjunction 'And he said, Have you not reserved a blessing for me?' means, Was not natural good joined in any way at all in that previous state? 'And Isaac answered, and said to Esau' means an informing. 'Behold, I have made him lord over you' means that in that state natural truth would have dominion over natural good. 'And have given all his brothers to him as servants' means that in this case affections for good were to outward appearances subordinate to the affection for truth. 'And I have sustained him with grain and new wine' means, as previously, its good and truth. 'And for you therefore, what shall I do, my son?' means that in that state good has nothing else 'And Esau said to his father' means the discernment of natural good. 'Have you but one blessing, my father?' means, Was it not possible in that case for anything from natural good to be linked to it? 'Bless me, me also, my father' means that it desired to be joined even though through it truth was already joined. 'And Esau raised his voice, and wept' means a further state in the change that took place. 'And Isaac his father answered, and said to him' means a perception that natural good would be made Divine. 'Behold, of the fatness of the land will be your dwelling-place' means life received from Divine Good. 'And of the dew of heaven from above' means from Divine Truth. 'And by your sword you will live, and you will serve your brother' means that all the time truth was joined to good, that good would to outward appearance occupy the lower position. 'And it will be when you have dominion over him' means that it will come to occupy the prior position. 'That you will break his yoke from above your neck' means that good would now be the means through which any joining together was effected - and that truth would be the truth of good.