3509. 'And Rebekah said to Jacob her son - she said' means the Lord's perception from Divine Truth concerning natural truth. This is clear from the representation of 'Rebekah' as the Divine Truth of the Lord's Divine Rational, dealt with in 3012, 3013, 3077; from the meaning of 'saying' as perceiving, dealt with in 1791, 1815, 1819, 1822, 1898, 1919, 2080, 2506, 2515, 2552, 2619; and from the representation of 'Jacob' as the Lord's Natural as regards truth, dealt with in 3305. From this it is evident that 'Rebekah said to Jacob her son' means the Lord's perception from Divine Truth concerning natural truth. For on the one hand the Lord wished to acquire truth from the Divine Good of the Divine Rational, represented by 'Isaac', through the good of the Natural, represented by 'Esau', by means of which truth He would glorify, or make Divine, the Natural. But on the other hand the Lord wished to acquire truth from the Divine Truth of the Divine Rational, represented by 'Rebekah', through the truth of the Natural, represented by 'Jacob', by means of which truth He would glorify, or make Divine, the Rational. But these two wishes of His cannot be grasped unless light is thrown on the subject from what happens with man when being regenerated or made new by the Lord. And even then it cannot be grasped unless one knows the situation with the rational as regards good and as regards truth there. So let this matter be discussed briefly.

[2] The rational mind is distinguished into two separate mental powers, one called the will, the other the understanding. That which goes forth from the will when someone is being regenerated is called good, and that which goes forth from the understanding is called truth. Until a person has been regenerated the will does not act in unison with the understanding. Instead the will desires good whereas the understanding desires truth; and so different is each desire from the other that the effort of the will is perceived to be quite distinct and separate from that of the understanding. This is perceived however only by those who stop to reflect, knowing what the will is and the things that constitute this, and what the understanding is and the things that constitute that. But it is not perceived by those who do not know those things and therefore do not stop to reflect. And there is the added reason that the natural mind is regenerated by way of the rational mind, see 3493, and indeed according to order as follows: The good of the rational does not pass directly into the good of the natural and regenerate it but by way of truth which belongs to the understanding, thus giving the appearance that it enters in from the truth of the rational. These are the matters which this chapter deals with in the internal sense; for 'Isaac' is the rational mind as regards good present in the will, 'Rebekah' as regards truth present in the understanding. 'Esau' is the good of the natural springing from the good of the rational, 'Jacob' the truth of the natural springing from the good of the rational by way of the truth there.

[3] These considerations show the kind of arcana contained in the internal sense of the Word; yet there are very few which can be described in a way intelligible to the human mind. The number of those which are beyond man's comprehension and defy description is unlimited. For the more deeply the Word goes, that is, the more interiorly into heaven, the more unlimited and also the more indescribable do they become not only to man but also to angels of the lower heaven. And when it reaches the inmost heaven the angels there perceive that the arcana are infinite and, being Divine are quite beyond their comprehension. Such is the nature of the Word.

3493. 'And his eyes were becoming dark so that he could not see' means when the Rational wished to enlighten the Natural from the Divine. This is clear from the meaning of 'the eyes' as interior or rational sight, dealt with in 2701, and from the meaning of 'seeing' as recognizing and understanding, dealt with in 2150, 2325, 2807. Consequently when 'the eyes' are said 'to be becoming dark' the meaning is that no discernment exists any longer, in this case no discernment of the things present in the natural. This being the meaning of these words, the fact that the Rational wished to enlighten the Natural from the Divine is meant. What this implies may be seen from the following things stated and shown already about the rational and the natural with man when he is being regenerated: The rational is regenerated before the natural, for the reason that the rational is interior and so closer to the Divine, and also is purer and so more suited to receiving the Divine than the natural is; and for the further reason that the natural has to be regenerated by way of the rational, see 3286, 3288, 3321.

[2] When therefore the rational has been regenerated but not the natural the former in that case seems to itself to be made dark, for no correspondence exists between the two. Actually the rational receives its sight from the light of heaven, whereas the natural receives its sight from the light of the world; but unless a correspondence exists between the two the rational is unable to see anything that is in the natural. Everything there is like shadow or even like thick darkness. But once a correspondence does exist, things that are in light in the natural are then apparent to the rational, for things that belong to the light of the world are then enlightened by those that belong to the light of heaven, which are so to speak shining through. But these matters are more clearly evident from what has been stated and shown already about correspondence see 2987, 2989-2991, 3002, 3138, 3167, 3222, 3223, 3225, 3337, 3485. Through what is stated and shown in these paragraphs one may grasp to some extent that the words 'Isaac's eyes were becoming dark so that he could not see' mean that the Rational wished to enlighten the Natural from the Divine, that is to say, to make even the Natural Divine, for the subject in the highest sense is the Lord. Light is thereby shed on this matter by what occurs with man when he is being regenerated and which has been described already; for man's regeneration is an image of the Lord's glorification, 3043, 3138, 3212, 3296, 3490.