3304. 'And his hand was grasping Esau's heel' means the lowest level of natural good, to which [truth] clung with some power. This is clear from the meaning of 'the hand' as power, dealt with in 878, and as having reference to truth, 3091; from the meaning of 'grasping' as clinging to; from the meaning of 'the heel' as the lowest part of the natural, dealt with in 259; and from the representation of 'Esau' as the good of the natural, dealt with in 3302. From these meanings it is evident that 'his hand was grasping Esau's heel' means the lowest level of natural good, which truth clung to with some power.

[2] The implications of truth clinging with some power to the lowest good of the natural are that when the natural, or the natural man, is being regenerated, the conception of good and truth there is from the rational man, that is, from the spiritual man by way of the rational man, prior to this from the celestial man by way of the spiritual man, and prior to this from the Divine by way of the celestial man. Thus it is an influx which starts with the Divine and, passing through consecutive degrees, terminates in the lowest part of the natural, that is, in the worldly and bodily part. When the lowest natural has been contaminated by what is inherited from the mother, truth is unable to be united to good. It can do no more than cling to it with some power. Nor is truth united to good until the contamination has been eliminated. This is the reason why good but not truth is bred within a human being, and why small children therefore are devoid of all knowledge of truth and why truth has to be acquired through learning and after that joined to good, see 1831, 1832. This also explains why it is said that they struggled together within her, that is, they conflicted, 3289. Consequently when first conceived truth supplants good, as is said regarding Jacob, that he supplanted Esau,

Does he not call his name Jacob, and he has supplanted me these two times. Genesis 27:36.

And in Hosea,

He will make a visitation on Jacob over his ways and requite him according to his deeds; in the womb he supplanted his brother. Hosea 12:2-3.

[3] Those whose attention is fixed solely on the historical details and who cannot take it off these know no more than this, that the details contained here, and also those that have gone before [regarding the circumstances of the twins' birth], foretell what took place between Esau and Jacob, as is also corroborated by what follows. But the Lord's Word is such that the historical details follow their own sequence, while the spiritual details, which belong to the internal sense, follow theirs, so that the historical details are seen by the external man, but the spiritual details by the internal man. This being so a correspondence exists between the two, that is to say, between the external man and the internal man; and this is effected by means of the Word, for the Word serves to unite heaven and earth, as shown many times. Thus when anyone in a holy frame of mind reads the Word, a union is effected of his external man which is on earth with his internal man which is in heaven.

5595. 'And Israel said' means a perception received from spiritual good. This is clear from the meaning of 'saying' as perceiving, dealt with already; and from the representation of 'Israel' as spiritual good, dealt with in 3654, 4598. And as 'Israel' represents spiritual good, he also represents the internal Church, 3305, 4286; for that Church is a Church by virtue of its spiritual good. Spiritual good is truth made into good; for truth is made into good when a person leads a life in keeping with that truth. When he does this, truth passes into his will and from there into action and becomes part of his life; and when truth becomes part of his life it is no longer called truth but good. But the will which transforms truth into good is the new will formed in the understanding part of his mind; and that good is called spiritual good. Spiritual good differs from celestial good in that celestial good is implanted in the will part of a person's mind. But this matter has been dealt with quite a number of times before.

[2] The reason why Jacob is not called Jacob now, as he is in Verse Genesis 42:36 of the previous chapter, but Israel is that good is the subject here, whereas truth was the subject in the previous chapter. In the previous chapter the speaker was therefore Reuben, who represents the truth of doctrine taught by the Church, 3861, 3866, 4731, 4734, 4761, 5542; but in the present chapter the speaker is Judah, by whom the good of the Church is represented, 3654, 5583. Good becomes the subject now because this time the joining together is effected of the internal, which is 'Joseph', and the external, which is 'the ten sons of Jacob', through the intermediary, which is 'Benjamin'. That joining of the internal to the external is effected through good.