4290. In the internal historical sense, by “he said, I will not let thee go unless thou bless me,” is signified that they insisted upon being representative; for their insisting is signified by “I will not let thee go,” and representing a church by being “blessed.” In regard to this subject—that the posterity of Jacob insisted upon being representative of a church, and that they were chosen above all other nations—this cannot indeed be made so evident from the historicals of the Word in the sense of the letter, for the reason that the historicals of the Word in the sense of the letter enfold within them deep secrets of heaven, and therefore these so follow in the series; and also because the names themselves signify things; many names indeed in their supreme sense signify the Lord Himself, such as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That these in the supreme sense signify the Lord, has been shown many times in what precedes (see n. 1965, 1989, 2011, 3245, 3305, 3439).

[2] That the posterity of Jacob were not chosen, but insisted that a church should be among them, may be seen from many passages of the Word, from its internal historical sense, and openly in the following.

In Moses:

Jehovah spoke unto Moses, Go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast made to go up out of the land of Egypt, into the land of which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it; I will not go up in the midst of thee, for thou art a stiffnecked people; lest I consume thee in the way. And when the people heard this evil word, they mourned, and put off everyone his ornament from upon him. And Moses took the tent, and pitched it for himself without the camp, in removing far from the camp. And Moses said unto Jehovah, See, Thou sayest unto me, Make this people go up, and Thou hast not made known to me whom Thou wilt send with me. Now therefore I pray if I have found grace in Thine eyes, make known to me I pray Thy way, that I may know concerning Thee, that I have found grace in Thine eyes; behold also that this nation is Thy people. He said therefore, My faces shall go until I give thee rest (Exodus 33:1-7, 12-14).

It is here said that Moses made the people go up out of the land of Egypt, and then that they put off their ornament and mourned, and that Moses pitched his tent without the camp, and that thereby Jehovah assented; thus plainly showing that they themselves insisted.

[3] In the same:

Jehovah said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke Me, and how long will they not believe in Me, for all the signs which I have wrought in the midst of them? I will smite them with the pestilence, and will extinguish them, and will make of thee a nation greater and mightier than they. But Moses supplicated, and Jehovah being entreated said, I will be gracious according to thy word: nevertheless, I live, and the whole earth shall be filled with the glory of Jehovah; for as to all those men who have seen My glory, and My signs which I wrought in Egypt, and in the wilderness, yet have tempted Me these ten times, and have not obeyed my voice, surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked Me see it. Your bodies shall fall in this wilderness; but your little children will I bring in (Numbers 14:11-12, 20-23, 29, 31).

From these words it is also manifest that Jehovah willed to extinguish them, and consequently not to set up a church among them, but that they insisted and it was therefore done—besides many other times also, when Jehovah willed to utterly destroy that nation so often rebellious, but as often suffered Himself to be entreated by their supplications.

[4] The like is also involved in Balaam’s not being permitted to curse that people (Numbers 22,23, 24); and in other places also, where it is said that Jehovah repented that He had brought in that people; also that Jehovah was entreated; and also that He so often made a new covenant with them. Such things are signified in the internal historical sense by the words “I will not let thee go, unless thou bless me.” The same is also signified by Jacob’s taking away the birthright from Esau, and also by his taking the blessing from him by fraud (Genesis 25 and 27).

3304. And his hand laid hold on Esau’s heel. That this signifies the lowest of the good of the natural to which it adhered with some power, is evident from the signification of “hand,” as being power (see n. 878; and that it is predicated of truth, n. 3091); from the signification of “laying hold of,” as being to adhere; from the signification of “heel,” as being the lowest of the natural (see n. 259); and from the representation of Esau, as being the good of the natural (see n. 3302). Hence it is evident that “his hand laid hold on Esau’s heel” signifies the lowest of the good of the natural to which truth adhered with some power.

[2] As regards truth adhering with some power to the lowest good of the natural, the case is this: The natural, or the natural man, when being regenerated, has its conception as to good and truth from the rational, or through the rational from the spiritual; through this from the celestial; and through this from the Divine. Thus does the influx follow in succession, and beginning from the Divine descends until it terminates in the lowest of the natural, that is, in the worldly and corporeal. When the lowest natural is affected with faults by what is hereditary from the mother, truth cannot be united to good, but can only adhere to it with some power; nor is truth united to good until these faults have been driven away. This is the reason why although good is indeed born with man, truth is not; and therefore infants are devoid of any knowledge of truth; and truth has to be learned, and afterwards conjoined with good (see n. 1831, 1832). Hence also it is said that they “struggled together in the midst of her,” that is, they fought (n. 3289). From this it follows that from the first conception truth supplants good, as is said of Jacob in regard to Esau:

Is not he named Jacob? For he hath supplanted me these two times (Genesis 27:36).

And in Hosea:

To visit upon Jacob his ways, according to his doings will he recompense him; in the womb he supplanted his brother (Hos. 12:2-3).

[3] They who keep the mind solely in the historicals, and who are not able to withdraw it from them, do not know but that these and former passages simply foretell the events which came to pass between Esau and Jacob, and this conviction is confirmed also by what follows. But the Word of the Lord is of such a nature that the historicals are in their own series, while the spiritual things of the internal sense are in theirs; so that the former may be viewed by the external man, and the latter by the internal man, and that in this way there may be a correspondence between the two, namely, between the external man and the internal; and this by means of the Word, for the Word is the union of earth and heaven, as has been frequently shown. Thus in everyone who is in a holy state while reading the Word, there is a union of his external man which is on the earth, with his internal man which is in heaven.