4385. 'And Esau said, Let me now place with you some of the people who are with me' means that some truths supplied by the truth of good might be joined. This is clear from the meaning of 'placing with you' as joining together, and from the meaning of 'the people who are with me' as some truths supplied by the truth of good 'The people' means truths, see 1259, 1260, 2928, 3295, 3581; and therefore 'the people who are with me' means truths of good. What truths of good are has been stated a number of times already. They are those truths which proceed from good and which the good flowing in by way of the internal man into the external holds within itself. As regards those truths being meant by the four hundred men that Esau had with him, see above in 4341. At this point therefore some of those truths are meant since the expression 'some of the people who are with me' is used.

3295. 'And [one] people will prevail over [the other] people' means that at first truth must be superior to the good of truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'people' as truth, dealt with immediately above in 3294, and from the meaning of 'prevailing over' as being superior to. The 'people' mentioned first means truth, whereas the 'people' mentioned second means the good of truth. The good of truth is good which arises out of truth, and, as it exists first of all, is truth. It is called good however because it looks like good. Consequently 'people' also means this good, which is called the good of truth as it is when it first arises.

[2] To have any concept of this good it should be recognized that until he has been regenerated a person does good from truth, but after he has been regenerated he does it from good. Or to make the point clearer still, before he has been regenerated the good he does is a product of the understanding, but after he has been regenerated it is a product of the will. Good therefore which is a product of the understanding is not in itself good but truth, whereas good that is a product of the will is good. For example, when a person does not honour his parents but then learns from the Ten Commandments to do so, his honouring of them is at first a product of the commandment. Such honouring however, being a product of the commandment, is not in itself good because it does not flow from love. It flows either from obedience to the law or from fear of the law, but is nevertheless called the good of truth. When it first arises however it is truth, for at that time it is not good that he performs but truth. When however his honouring of them is the product of love it is in that case good. The same is so in every other example that could be taken.