3161. 'Behold, Rebekah is before you; take her and go, and let her be your master's son's wife, as Jehovah has spoken' means consent inspired from the Lord. This too could be shown by an explanation of all the individual words, the general import of these in the internal sense being the meaning that has just been stated. The implications are as follows: When the Lord lived in the world He made the Human within Himself Divine by His own power, the human with everyone having its beginnings in the inmost part of the rational, 2106, 2194. This verse describes how He made it Divine, that is to say, already so as of good and of truth. The good there came from His essential Divinity, that is, from Jehovah the Father from whom He had been conceived; but the truth there had to be acquired by the ordinary way, as with every other human being.

[2] It is well known that nobody is born rational but merely into the ability to become so, and that he becomes rational by means of factual knowledge, that is to say, by means of cognitions which divide up into many genera and species, the first of which are the means leading on to those next to them, and so on in order to the last of all which are cognitions of the spiritual things of the Lord's kingdom and are called matters of doctrine. These latter cognitions are learned in part from the doctrine of faith, in part directly from the Word, and in part therefore by a person's own efforts, as is also well known. As long as these matters of doctrine remain solely in the memory they are merely factual truths and have not as yet been made over to the individual as his own. They first become made over to him when he starts to love them for the sake of life, and more so when he applies them to life. When this happens truths are raised up from the natural memory into the rational part of the mind and are there joined to good. And when they have been joined they are no longer matters of knowledge but of life, for in that case a person is no longer learning from truths how to live but actually living by them. In this way truths come to be his own and become matters of the will. He accordingly enters the heavenly marriage, for the heavenly marriage consists in good and truth joined together in the rational. With men these things are accomplished by the Lord.

[3] But in Himself the Lord did this by Himself, unaided. From the Divine itself He not only begot the Rational as regards Good, but also through this the Natural as regards Truth, which He joined to Good. For it is good that chooses truth for itself and also gives form to it, for good acknowledges nothing else as truth but that which is compatible with it. Thus Divine good that was the Lord's moulded Truth for itself. Nor did it acknowledge as Truth anything else than that which would be compatible with Divine Good, that is, which would be Divine of Itself. Thus He achieved every single thing by His own power. These are the things that are meant by 'acknowledgement that it was the Lord's alone' and by 'consent inspired from the Lord'.

3033. 'Beware that you do not take my son back there' means that it could not possibly be joined to that affection. This is clear from what has been stated just above in 3031, where the meaning in the internal sense of taking his son back to the land from which Abraham came is explained. The fact that an affection which is incompatible with truth cannot be joined to the good of the Rational may be seen from what has been stated already about good and truth when joined together, or what amounts to the same, about the heavenly marriage, 2173, 2507, 2727-2759. The fact that the ancients therefore established a marriage between the affection for good and the affection for truth, see 1904; and also that falsity cannot possibly be joined to good, nor truth to evil, since they are by nature complete opposites, 2388, 2429, 2531; and that good is introduced into the cognitions of truth as its recipient vessels, and in this way conjunction is effected, 1469, 1496, 1832, 1900, 1950, 2063, 2189, 2261, 2269, 2428, 2434, 2697.

[2] It is not possible for falsity to be joined to good, nor truth to evil, but only falsity to evil and truth to good. This I have been allowed to perceive from actual observation; and I have perceived that the following is the truth of the matter: Whenever anyone who possesses the affection for good, that is, who wills good from the heart, gives any thought to what he ought to will and do, his will for good in that case flows into his thought about it and there attaches itself to and places itself within the cognitions present there as its recipient vessels. And by means of that joining together his will for good impels him to think, will, and act in the way he does. It is so to speak an ingrafting of good in truths or in cognitions of truth. But it is different with someone who has no affection for good, only for evil, that is, someone who wills what is evil - such as one who supposes that everything is good which benefits him personally, making him important and rich, and so enhancing his own position and wealth; and such is his end in view. Whenever that person gives any thought to what he ought to will and do, his will in like manner flows into his thought. There it activates the cognitions which resemble truth, and so impels him to think, will and act. In this case cognitions are used in a wrong way by him and he supposes that he can use certain general ideas which he has absorbed from the literal sense of the Word or from some other source of knowledge in any way he thinks. So it is evil that is coupled to falsity; for truth present there is deprived completely of all that makes it essentially the truth.

[3] In the next life, no matter how much better informed than others they seemed to be during their lifetime, such spirits are more stupid than others. To the extent they are convinced that they possess the truth they bring thick darkness to others. Such spirits as these were once present with me for quite some time, but they were insensitive to any affection for good deriving from truth, no matter how many truths which they had known during their lifetime were called to mind, for evil resided with them to which truths could not be joined. Nor are these spirits able to remain in the company of spirits who are good, but if any natural good at all resides with them they undergo vastation even to the point of not knowing any truth at all, and then some truth is introduced into the good that remains, insofar as the tiny amount of good remaining is capable of receiving it. Those however with whom an affection for good from the heart has been present are receptive of all truth, depending on the extent and character of the good that existed with them.