3677. The brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau. That this signifies the affinity from the mother with the good of truth which is “Jacob” and with the truth of good which is “Esau,” is evident from the representation of Rebekah, as being the Lord’s Divine rational as to Divine truth (of which frequently above); and from the representation of Jacob, as being the good of truth, or the good which is from truth in the natural; and from the representation of Esau, as being the truth of good, or the good from which is truth in the natural (see a bove, n. 3669). And because all the goods and truths that are in the natural or external man are conceived and born of the rational or internal man; that is, of the good of the rational as a father, and of the truth thereof as a mother (n. 3314, 3573, 3616), therefore by the above words is signified the affinity from the mother with the good of truth which is “Jacob” and with the truth of good which is “Esau.”

[2] Moreover they are circumstanced in precisely the same way; but to explain these things to the apprehension is very difficult, because even the most general facts in regard to the subject are at this day unknown-as for instance, what spiritual good is and what its truth, and that there are innumerable genera of good and its truth, and still more innumerable species, also that they are conjoined with each other by degrees as it were of consanguinity and affinity. These most general things being unknown, a description of the degrees and affinities would fall into mere shade, and the more so because the learned of the day do not desire to know such things, for they love to stray in the mere shell; and to dispute, not concerning the quality of such things, but whether they exist or not; and so long as they are in this state they desire to know nothing whatever concerning these innumerable kinds of good and truth.

3616. And I will send and take thee from thence. That this signifies then the end, is evident from what goes before and from what follows; for the end, which is here signified by “sending and taking thee from thence,” is when truth is in agreement with good, and thus truth serves in subordination to good; this end, after the tarrying of Jacob with Laban was ended, is represented by Esau when he ran to meet Jacob, and embraced him, and fell upon his neck, and kissed him, and they wept (Genesis 33:4); for when the end is, that is, the conjunction, then the good of the rational flows immediately into the good of the natural, and through the good into its truth, and also mediately through the truth of the rational into the truth of the natural, and through this into the good therein (n. 3573). From this it is evident why it was said by Rebekah, by whom is represented the truth of the rational, to Jacob, by whom is represented the truth of the natural, “I will send and take thee from thence.”