4538. 'God said to Jacob' means the perception which the kind of natural good that 'Jacob' now represents received from the Divine. This is clear from the meaning of 'saying' in historical descriptions in the Word as perceiving, dealt with in 1602, 1791, 1815, 1822, 1898, 1919, 2061, 2080, 2238, 2260, 2619, 2862, 3395, 3509, so that 'God said' means perception received from the Divine; and from the representation of 'Jacob' in the highest sense here as the Lord as regards natural good. Jacob's representation in the Word has been shown in previous sections; but because it is varying, his representation must be discussed briefly here.

[2] In the highest sense 'Jacob' represents in general the Lord's Divine Natural. But the Lord's Natural, when He glorified it, was different at the beginning of the process of glorification from what it was during this and at the end of it; and this is why Jacob's representation was varying. That is to say, at the beginning of the process the Lord's Natural as regards truth is represented by him, during that process the Lord's Natural as regards the good of truth, and at the end of it as regards good. For the Lord's glorification advanced from truth to the good of truth, and finally to good, as shown many times in what has gone before. The end of the process being the subject at present, 'Jacob' represents the Lord as regards natural good. See what has been shown already about these matters, that is to say, about Jacob's representation in the highest sense - how at the beginning of the process he represents the Lord's Divine Natural as regards truth, 3305, 3509, 3525, 3546, 3576' 3599, during it the Lord's Divine Natural as regards the good of truth, 3659, 3669, 3677, 4234, 4273, 4337. But now he represents the Lord's Divine Natural as regards good, for the reason, as stated, that it is the end of the process.

[3] Such was the process which took place when the Lord made His Natural Divine. A similar process also takes place when the Lord regenerates man, for when the Lord made His Human Divine He was pleased to do things in the same sequence as He does when He makes man new. This explains why it has been stated frequently that man's regeneration is an image of the Lord's glorification, 3138, 3212, 3296, 3490, 4402. When the Lord makes man new He first of all supplies him with the truths of faith, for without the truths of faith he does not know who the Lord is, what heaven is, or what hell is; he does not even know of their existence, let alone of the countless things which have to do with the Lord, His kingdom in heaven, and His kingdom on earth, which is the Church. Nor does he know the identity or nature of the opposite of these, namely the things of hell.

[4] Until he does know these things no one can know what good is. The word 'good' is not used to mean the public good or the good of the individual, for one can learn in the world about these through laws and regulations and through reflection on human customs and habits, which is why gentiles outside the Church know such things too. 'Good' is a word used to mean spiritual good, which in the Word is called charity, and this good in general implies willing and doing to another that which is good not for any selfish reason but out of delight and affection for doing it. This good is spiritual good, which no one can possibly arrive at except through the truths of faith, which are taught by the Lord through the Word and regular preaching of the Word.

[5] Once a person has been supplied with the truths of faith he is then gradually led by the Lord to will the truth, and from willing it to putting it into practice. This truth is called the good of truth, for that good is truth present in will and action and is called the good of truth because truth which has been a matter of doctrine now becomes a matter of life. When at length the person takes delight in willing good and so putting it into practice, it is no longer called the good of truth, but simply good. For now he is regenerate, and it is no longer truth leading him to will and do what is good, but good moving him to will and put truth into practice. And the truth now practiced by him is also so to speak good, since that truth derives its essential being from that in which it originates - in good. From all this one may see what is meant by the statement that in the highest sense 'Jacob' represents the Lord's Natural as regards good, and one may see where that representation has its origin. The reason why 'Jacob' here represents this good is that the subject now in the internal sense is further advances, that is to say, advances made into more interior parts of the natural, which are meant by 'Israel', 4536. No one who is being regenerated by the Lord can be led to those more interior things until the truth present with him has become good.

3043. 'You are clear from my oath' means the freedom that the natural man has. This is clear from the meaning of 'the servant', to whom Abraham's words are addressed, as the natural man, 3019, and from the meaning of 'being clear if the woman is unwilling to follow' in the proximate sense as not being bound if the affection for truth were not separated. These words, it is evident, imply the freedom that the natural man has; for the affection for truth, which is the subject here, and also its separation, is in the internal sense attributed to the natural man. In the historical sense these words do indeed have other connotations, but in the internal sense their implications are such.

[2] Regarding human freedom, see what has been stated and shown already in 892, 905, 1937, 1947, 2744, 2870-2893, for these paragraphs show what is implied by freedom. Freedom is attributed to the natural man, but not so much to the rational man, because it is by way of the rational man and into the natural man that good flows in, in heavenly freedom, from the Lord. It is the natural man that is the recipient of that good, and in order that it may receive it and so be joined to the heavenly freedom flowing in by way of the rational man, the natural man is left in freedom. For freedom goes with love or affection. If the natural man does not receive an affection for truth from an inflowing affection for good, that man is in no sense joined to the rational. This is how it is with man, whom the Lord reforms by means of freedom, see 1937, 1947, 2876-2878, 2881.

[3] In the Lord's case He too left the Natural in freedom when He made His Rational Divine as regards truth, that is, when He allied Divine Truth to the Divine Good of the Rational, for He was willing to make His Human Divine in the ordinary way. The ordinary way is that which occurs in anyone who is being reformed and regenerated. The actual reformation and regeneration of man is therefore a replica of what took place in the Lord. For by reformation and regeneration he becomes a new person, and is consequently called one begotten anew, and one created anew; and to the extent that he has been reformed he seems to have the Divine within him. But there is this difference, that the Lord made Himself Divine by His own power, whereas man is not able to effect the slightest reformation by his own power, only from the Lord. The expression 'seems to have the Divine' is used because man is solely a recipient of life, whereas the Lord is Life itself as to both Essences, see 1954, 2021, 2658, 2706, 3001.