3332. And Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils. That this signifies the good of life gifted with the good of truth and the good of doctrinal things, is evident from the representation of Esau, as being the good of life (n. 3300, 3322); and from the signification of “bread,” as being the good of love in general, both celestial and spiritual (n. 276, 680, 2165, 2177), thus also the good of truth, for this is spiritual good; and from the signification of “pottage of lentils,” as being the good of doctrinal things; for “pottage” signifies a chaotic mass of doctrinal things (n. 3316), and “lentils” the good thereof. That Jacob gave them to Esau, in the internal sense signifies that these goods come through the doctrine of truth, which is represented by Jacob (n. 3305).

[2] In this last verse, by these words and those which follow there is described the progress as to truth and good of the spiritual man when being regenerated, namely, that he first learns the doctrinal things of truth, next is affected by them (which is the good of the doctrinal things), then that by taking a mental view of these doctrinal things he is affected with the truths in them (which is the good of truth), and lastly that he wills to live according to them, which is the good of life. In this way the spiritual man when being regenerated advances from the doctrine of truth to the good of life. But when he is in the good of life the order is inverted, and from this good he looks to the good of truth, from this to the good of doctrinal things, and from this to the doctrinal things of truth. From this it may be known how man from being a sensuous man becomes spiritual, and of what quality he is when he becomes spiritual.

[3] That these goods, namely, the good of life, the good of truth, and the good of doctrinal things, are distinct from each other can be seen by those who carefully consider the matter. The good of life is that which flows from the will; the good of truth is that which flows from the understanding; and the good of doctrinal things is that which flows from memory-knowledge. The good which is doctrinal has these other goods within it.

[4] That “lentils” signify the good of doctrinal things, is evident from the fact that wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, spelt, are such things as mean bread, but with a difference according to the species; that “bread” in general denotes good is manifest from what has been stated and shown above (n. 276, 680, 2165, 2177); thus different species of good are signified by the cereals in question, the more noble species of good by “wheat and barley,” but the less noble by “beans and lentils;” as is also manifest from Ezekiel:

Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and spelt, and put them into one vessel, and make thee bread thereof (Ezekiel 4:9).

3316. And Jacob boiled pottage. That this signifies a chaotic mass of doctrinal things, is evident from the representation of Jacob, as being the doctrine of natural truth (n. 3305), thus the doctrinal things which are in the natural man; and from the signification of “pottage,” as being a chaotic mass of such things. “Boiling it,” signifies amassing, for in the original tongue the expression is proper to pottage, as if it had been said that he “pottaged pottage,” that is, he amassed it. The first state of the conjunction of good and truth is that which is described in this and the following verses, down to the end of the chapter.

[2] The first state of the man who is being regenerated, or in whom truth is being conjoined with good, is that first of all in his natural man, or in its storehouse called the memory, there are amassed the doctrinal things of truth without any certain order. The doctrinal things at that time therein may be compared to some undigested and uncompounded mass, and to a kind of chaos. But this is to the end that they may be reduced to order, for whatever is to be reduced to order is at first in this state of confusion; and this is what is signified by the pottage which Jacob boiled, that is, amassed. These doctrinal things are not reduced to order by themselves, but by the good which flows into them, and the good reduces them into order in exact proportion to the amount and the quality of its action upon them. When good first longs for and desires these doctrinal things, to the end that it may conjoin them with itself, it manifests itself under the appearance of the affection of truth. This is what is signified by Esau’s saying to Jacob, “Cause me to sup I pray of the red, this red.”

[3] These things do indeed appear remote from the sense of the letter; nevertheless, when these words are read by man, and are apprehended by him according to the sense of the letter, the angels who are then with him have no idea at all of pottage, or of Jacob, or of Esau, or of what is red, or of supping of what is red, but instead thereof they have a spiritual idea which is altogether different and remote from such natural ideas, and into this spiritual idea these natural things are instantly turned. It is the same with other things in the Word; as for example when man reads of bread, the angels have no perception of bread, but instantly instead of bread they perceive celestial love and all that belongs thereto, that is, to love to the Lord; and when wine is read of in the Word, they do not perceive wine, but instead of wine spiritual love and all that belongs thereto, that is, to love toward the neighbor. So when pottage or pulse is read of, they do not perceive pottage or pulse, but doctrinal things not yet conjoined with good, thus an inordinated mass of them. This shows the nature and quality of the angelic thought and perception, and how remote it is from the thought and perception of man. If man thought in like manner when he is in a holy state, as when he attends the Holy Supper, and instead of bread perceived love to the Lord, and instead of wine love toward the neighbor, he would be in thought and perception like that of the angels, who would then approach nearer to him, till at last they could consociate their thoughts, but only so far as the man was at the same time in good.

[4] That “pottage” or “pulse” signifies a chaotic mass, is evident also from what is said in the book of Kings concerning the sons of the prophets and Elisha:

Elisha came back to Gilgal, and there was a famine in the land; and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him; and he said to his lad, Set on the great pot and boil pottage for the sons of the prophets; and one went out into the field to gather herbs, and he found a vine of the field and gathered from it gourds of the field his garment full, and came and shred them into the pot of pottage, because they knew not; and they poured out to the men to eat; and it came to pass, in their eating of the pottage, that they cried out and said, O man of God there is death in the pot! And they could not eat; and he said, Take ye meal; and he put it into the pot, and said, Pour out for the people; and they did eat, and there was no evil word in the pot (2 Kings 4:38-41).

In the internal sense these words signify things altogether different from that which they signify in the sense of the letter. A “famine in the land” signifies a scarcity of the knowledges of good and truth (n. 1460); the “sons of the prophets” signify those who teach (n. 2534); “pottage” signifies an ill-assorted mass of memory-knowledges; and “meal,” the truth which is from good, or the spiritual which is from the celestial (n. 2177); thus that Elisha put meal in the pot, and there was then no evil in it, signifies that that chaotic mass was amended by means of spiritual truth from the Lord’s Word; for Elisha represented the Lord as to the Word (n. 2762). Apart from this spiritual sense, this story concerning the pottage and the change in it by the meal, would not have been worthy of relation in the most holy Word. It was for the sake of the representation of such things that this miracle was wrought, as also is the case with the rest of the miracles in the Word, all of which have Divine things concealed within them.