4358. And said, Who are these to thee? That this signifies acknowledgment, may be seen from the fact that interrogations in the sense of the letter are not interrogations in the supreme sense; for the Lord, who is treated of in this sense, has no need to interrogate man, because He knows all things both in general and in particular. Hence this interrogation, “Who are these to thee?” signifies acknowledgment. For by Esau is represented the Lord as to Divine good natural; and Divine good immediately acknowledges the truths that it conjoins with itself. And moreover all good does this, for good cannot have being without what it calls truths, nor can truths without that which they call good. They conjoin themselves of themselves; but such as the good is, such are the truths it conjoins with itself. It is good that acknowledges them, and couples itself as a husband with a wife; for the conjunction of good with truths is marriage in the spiritual sense (see n. 2508, 2618). (That good acknowledges its own truth, and truth its own good, and that they are conjoined see n. 3101, 3102, 3161, 3179, 3180.)

3101. To know whether Jehovah had prospered his way or not. That this signifies inquiry concerning Divine truth, what it was, is evident from the signification of a “way,” as being truth (see n. 627, 2333); whether it was Divine is signified by its being said “whether Jehovah had prospered it,” which is the same as inquiring whether it was from Jehovah, or from the Divine, and thus what truth it was; for truths which are called forth from the natural man into the rational are not all received; but only those which agree with the good there, and thus by insemination and insertion act as one with it; the rest, although they had appeared as truths before they were elevated, still are not received, because they are not acknowledged. It is good that acknowledges its own truth, and it is truth that acknowledges its own good. That the truth was acknowledged for what it was, and that thus it was received, is also clear from what now follows.