Arcana Coelestia #3459
3459. 'And swore, a man to his brother' means confirmation with those who do the good of truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'swearing' or of 'an oath' as confirmation, dealt with in 2842, 3037, 3375, and from the meaning of 'a man to his brother' as the good of truth, or what amounts to the same, one who is governed by that truth - 'man' meaning truth, see 265, 749, 1007, 3134, 3309, and 'brother' good, 2360. For what the good of truth is, see 3295, 3332. This good occurs with those represented here by Abimelech or by the Philistines, of whom Abimelech was the king, that is to say, those who make faith the essential thing of the Church and rank it above charity. No other good exists with such persons than the good of truth. Indeed they extract and draw out of the Word nothing else than references to faith and so to truth. They hardly notice references to good and so to life, and as a consequence they become more firmly convinced by matters of doctrine concerning faith and not by any concerning charity. When they do perform a good action it is one prescribed by matters of doctrine concerning faith. Good prescribed by these is called the good of truth.
[2] The Lord does indeed join Himself to those with whom this good exists, but not in the same way as He does to those who do the good of charity, for love and charity constitute spiritual conjunction, but not so faith except through love and charity. It is for this reason that the words used are not 'they made a covenant with Isaac' but 'they swore, a man to his brother'; for 'a covenant' has reference to good, which is the good of love and charity, whereas 'an oath' has reference to truth, which is the truth of faith, 3375. Also 'dwelling together' meant by 'a feast', 3456, is used in reference to those who do the good of truth. From people such as these in the next life I have been given to know that they have been separated from those who do the good of charity; for the latter are joined more nearly to the Lord than the former, since the former's good is so to speak hard and inflexible, and not communicable, and so is not in heaven but on the threshold of heaven.
Genesis 26:26-35
26
Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath one of his friends, and Phichol the chief captain of his army.
27
And Isaac said unto them, Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you?
28
And they said, We saw certainly that the LORD was with thee: and we said, Let there be now an oath betwixt us, even betwixt us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee;
29
That thou wilt do us no hurt, as we have not touched thee, and as we have done unto thee nothing but good, and have sent thee away in peace: thou art now the blessed of the LORD.
30
And he made them a feast, and they did eat and drink.
31
And they rose up betimes in the morning, and sware one to another: and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.
32
And it came to pass the same day, that Isaac's servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had digged, and said unto him, We have found water.
33
And he called it Shebah: therefore the name of the city is Beer-sheba unto this day.
34
And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite:
35
Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.
