Arcana Coelestia #4345
4345. 'And he put the servant-girls and their sons first, and Leah and her sons further back, and Rachel and Joseph even further back' means an ordering beginning with quite general things in which all else is included. This becomes clear from what has been stated directly above about the meaning of 'the servant-girls, Leah, Rachel, and their sons' to the effect that 'the servant-girls' means the affections for knowledge and for cognitions, 'Leah' the affection for exterior truth, and 'Rachel' the affection for interior truth. The affections for knowledge and for cognitions are the most external ones since knowledge and cognitions are the foundations out of which truths arise and on which they are based. The affection for external truth follows them and is more interior, while the affection for interior truth is more interior still. The more external they are the more general they are too, and the more internal they are the less general they are and in relation to the general are called particular and specific.
[2] With regard to general truths, they are called general because they are made up of the particular truths and so include the particular ones within them. General truths without particular ones are not general truths, but are called such from the particular. They are like a general whole and its parts. No general whole can be called a whole if there are no parts, for the parts make up the whole. Indeed nothing exists in the nature of things which does not first exist from and then continue to exist from things other than itself. That which exists and continues to exist from things other than itself is called general, and the things which compose it and keep it in existence are called particular. Being composed of internal things, external ones in relation to internal are therefore general. The same applies to the human being and his mental faculties: the more external these are the more general they are since they are composed of things that are more interior, while these in turn are composed of those that are inmost.
[3] In relation to the rest of the human being the actual body and the things belonging to the body, as its external senses and its actions are called, are most general. The natural mind and the things belonging to the natural mind are less general because they are more internal, and in relation to the body and bodily things are called particulars. The rational mind however and the things belonging to the rational mind are more internal still, and are - in relation to the body, the natural mind and the things belonging to these - called specifics. These differences are clearly observable by a person when he casts aside his body and becomes a spirit, for then he is able to observe clearly that the things of the body had been nothing more than the most general forms taken by the things of his spirit, and that bodily things received their existence and were kept in existence by those of his spirit. Thus he sees that the things of his spirit in relation to those of his body were particulars. And when the same spirit becomes an angel, that is, when he is raised up into heaven, he is able to observe that the same things which previously he has seen and experienced in an obscure light he now sees and experiences in their particular form and in bright light. For he now observes countless details which previously he had seen and experienced as a single entity.
[4] The same is also evident from what is the case while that person is living in the world. The things which he sees and experiences in early childhood are most general, whereas those which he sees and experiences in later childhood and youth are the particular aspects of those general ones; and those that he sees and experiences in adult years are the specific details of those particular aspects. For as a person advances in years he introduces the particular ideas into general ones acquired in early childhood, and after that specific notions into the particular ideas; for he advances gradually towards more interior things, filling what is the general with the particular, and the particular with the specific. From this one may now see the implications of an ordering beginning with general things in which all else is included, which is the meaning of 'he put the servant-girls and their sons first, Leah and her sons further back, and Rachel and Joseph even further back'.
[5] A similar situation exists when a person is being regenerated, or what amounts to the same, when in him truths are being joined to good; and this situation is the subject here. During that time general affections together with their truths, meant here by 'the servant-girls and their sons', are the first to be introduced into good; after that the less general are introduced, that is, those which in relation to the general are particular, meant here by 'Leah and her sons'; and finally the less general still, that is, those which in relation to the same are specific, meant here by 'Rachel and Joseph'. For when being regenerated a person passes so to speak through comparable phases of life - he experiences early childhood first; after that later childhood and youth; and finally adult years.
Genesis 32
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And Jacob went on his way; and the angels of God met him.
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And when Jacob saw them he said, This is the camp of God. And he called the name of that place Mahanaim.
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And Jacob sent messengers before his face to Esau his brother, into the land of Seir, the fields of Edom.
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And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak to my lord, to Esau: Thy servant Jacob speaks thus -- With Laban have I sojourned and tarried until now;
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and I have oxen, and asses, sheep, and bondmen, and bondwomen; and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favour in thine eyes.
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And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother, to Esau; and he also is coming to meet thee, and four hundred men with him.
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Then Jacob was greatly afraid, and was distressed; and he divided the people that were with him, and the sheep and the cattle and the camels, into two troops.
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And he said, If Esau come to the one troop and smite it, then the other troop which is left shall escape.
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And Jacob said, God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, Jehovah, who saidst unto me: Return into thy country and to thy kindred, and I will do thee good,
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-- I am too small for all the loving-kindness and all the faithfulness that thou hast shewn unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I am become two troops.
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Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and smite me, [and] the mother with the children.
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And thou saidst, I will certainly deal well with thee, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.
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And he lodged there that night; and took of what came to his hand a gift for Esau his brother --
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two hundred she-goats, and twenty he-goats; two hundred ewes, and twenty rams;
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thirty milch camels with their colts; forty kine, and ten bulls; twenty she-asses, and ten young asses.
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And he delivered [them] into the hand of his servants, every drove by itself; and he said to his servants, Go on before me, and put a space between drove and drove.
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And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my brother meets thee, and asks thee, saying, Whose art thou, and where goest thou, and whose are these before thee?
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-- then thou shalt say, Thy servant Jacob's: it is a gift sent to my lord, to Esau. And behold, he also is behind us.
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And so commanded he the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying, According to this word shall ye speak to Esau when ye find him.
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And, moreover, ye shall say, Behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will propitiate him with the gift that goes before me, and afterwards I will see his face: perhaps he will accept me.
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And the gift went over before him; and he himself lodged that night in the camp.
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And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two maidservants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford of the Jabbok;
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and he took them and led them over the river, and led over what he had.
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And Jacob remained alone; and a man wrestled with him until the rising of the dawn.
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And when he saw that he did not prevail against him, he touched the joint of his thigh; and the joint of Jacob's thigh was dislocated as he wrestled with him.
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And he said, Let me go, for the dawn ariseth. And he said, I will not let thee go except thou bless me.
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And he said to him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.
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And he said, Thy name shall not henceforth be called Jacob, but Israel; for thou hast wrestled with God, and with men, and hast prevailed.
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And Jacob asked and said, Tell [me], I pray thee, thy name. And he said, How is it that thou askest after my name? And he blessed him there.
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And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel -- For I have seen God face to face, and my life has been preserved.
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And as he passed over Peniel, the sun rose upon him; and he limped upon his hip.
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Therefore the children of Israel do not eat of the sinew that is over the joint of the thigh, to this day; because he touched the joint of Jacob's thigh -- the sinew.
