3776. 'My brothers, where are you from?' means, What is the origin of the charity there? This is clear from the meaning of 'brothers' as people governed by good, and consequently as good itself and therefore as charity, dealt with in 367, 2360, 3303, 3459, and from the meaning of 'Where are you from?' as, What is the origin? From these considerations it is also evident that the matters which in the sense of the letter are expressed as a question and have reference to persons fall in the internal sense into a mental image which has no reference to any person. For when the historical descriptions that belong to the letter leave man and pass into heaven they cease to be anything among the angels in heaven. From this it is clear that Jacob's question addressed to the men of Haran, 'My brothers, where are you from?' means, What is the origin of the charity there? The implications of this are that charity which looks like charity in outward appearance is not always charity inwardly. It is from the end in view that one recognizes which kind of charity it is and where it originates. Charity which springs from a selfish or a worldly end in view is not charity inwardly. Nor indeed ought it to be called charity. But charity which springs from the neighbour, the common good, heaven, and so the Lord, as the end in view is charity itself and contains the affection for doing good from the heart, and therefore contains the delight of life, which in the next life becomes a blessed delight. It is highly important for a person to know this if he is to know what the Lord's kingdom is within himself. Inquiry concerning this charity, or what amounts to the same, concerning this good, is the subject in the present verses. And the question is first put here, What is the origin of the charity there? meant by the question, 'My brothers, where are you from?'

367. Apart from showing that charity is the 'brother' of faith and that 'field' means all that comprises doctrine, there is no need to confirm these considerations from similar usages in the Word. That charity is the brother of faith may be clear to anyone from the very nature or essence of faith. The brother relationship between these two was also represented by Esau and Jacob, and was the reason why they struggled for the birthright and the superior position this carried with it. The relationship was also represented by Perez and Zerah, the sons Tamar had by Judah, Genesis 38:28-30, where again the question of primogeniture arises. It was represented by Ephraim and Manasseh as well, Genesis 48:13-14, wherein a similar way the matter of the birthright and the higher position it carried occurs. And there are many other examples. Indeed these two, faith and charity, are both the offspring of the Church. Faith is called 'a man' (vir), as Cain is in verse 1 of this chapter, while charity is called 'a brother', as in Isaiah 19:2; Jeremiah 17:14 and in other places. In Amos 1:9 the union of faith and charity is called 'a covenant between brothers'.

[2] As has been stated, that which Jacob and Esau represented was similar to the meaning of Cain and Abel. The fact that Jacob in a similar manner wished to supplant Esau is also clear 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.

But the fact that Esau, that is, charity represented by Esau, would nevertheless be the superior is clear from the prediction made through their father Isaac,

By your sword will you live, and you will serve your brother; but when you have dominion over him you will cast away his yoke from above your neck. Genesis 27:40.

Or what amounts to the same, a gentile or new Church is represented by Esau, and the Jewish Church by Jacob. This is why it was stated so many times that they were to recognize gentile nations as brothers. Charity was also the reason for everyone being referred to as 'a brother' in the gentile or Primitive Church, and for the Lord calling 'brothers' those who hear the Word and do it, Luke 8:21. Hearers of it are those who have faith, doers those who have charity. But those who are hearers, that is, say they have faith, but are not doers, that is, have no charity, are not brothers, for the Lord likens them to the foolish, Matthew 7:24, 26.