The Bible

 

Genesis 34:12

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12 Ask me never so much dowry and gift, and I will give according as ye shall say unto me: but give me the damsel to wife.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #4520

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4520. 'I and my house' means as regards truth and good. This is clear from the representation of Jacob, to whom 'I' refers here, as the Church, in particular the Church as regards truth (as may be deduced from what has been shown concerning Jacob's representation in 3305, 3509, 3525, 3546, 3576, 3599, 3775, 4234, 4337; that is to say, he represents the Lord as regards Divine Natural Truth. For in representations when a person in the highest sense represents the Lord as regards the Divine Truth of His Natural, he also represents the Lord's kingdom as regards Divine Truth there, and consequently the Church as regards truth, because these correspond to each other; for all truth within His kingdom and Church is the Lord's); and from the meaning of 'a house' as the Church as regards good, dealt with in 2233, 2234, 3720.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #3599

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3599. 'And Isaac his father answered, and said to him' means a perception that natural good would be made Divine. This is clear from the representation of 'Isaac' as the Lord's Divine Rational as regards the Divine Good there, dealt with in 3012, 3194, 3210, from the meaning, in historical descriptions in the Word, of 'laying' as perceiving, often dealt with already, and from the representation of 'Esau', to whom Isaac addressed these words, as Natural good, also dealt with many times above. That it would be made Divine is clear from the blessing which is the subject in what follows. It has been stated above that 'Esau' represents the Lord's Divine Natural as regards Divine Good, and 'Jacob' His Divine Natural as regards Divine Truth; but here 'Esau' represents Natural good that was to be made Divine, and in the verses prior to this 'Jacob' has represented Natural truth which too was to be made Divine. The implications of all this may become clear from what has been stated above in 3494, 3576. Yet to make the matter clearer still let a further brief statement be made about it here.

[2] Natural good, which Esau represents at first, is the Lord's Natural when He was a young child. This was Divine from the Father but human from the mother; and to the extent it was from the mother it was steeped in hereditary evil Its nature being such it was not able instantly to exist within that kind of order in which it could receive the Divine that was present inmostly, but it had first of all to be brought into order by the Lord. It is similar with the truth which Jacob represents; for where good is, so must truth be if it is to be anything at all. The whole area of thought, where truth resides, is joined to the area of will, where good resides. This is so even with young children. Once therefore the Lord had brought into order the Natural as regards Good and as regards Truth within Himself - into the kind of order in which the Natural received the Divine, so that He Himself was flowing in from His own Divine - and once He had gradually driven out everything human received from the mother, 'Esau' at that point represents the Lord's Divine Natural as regards Good, and 'Jacob' His Divine Natural as regards Truth.

[3] But Esau and Jacob represent the Divine Good and the Divine Truth of the Lord's Divine Natural when they have been joined together as brothers. Regarded in themselves Divine Good and Divine Truth are a single power working together to give form to and to receive good and truth that are put into practice. The latter, that is to say, good and truth put into practice, are dealt with later on. These considerations show how many are the arcana contained in the internal sense of the Word. Those arcana are such that not even the most general aspects of them are intelligible to man, as is the case perhaps with those that have just been referred to. How then [can he grasp] the countless specific details regarding them? But they are suited to the grasp and understanding of angels who gain from the Lord heavenly ideas concerning these things and others like them, which ideas are enlightened by representatives full of indescribable pleasantness and bliss. From this one can have an idea of what angelic wisdom is like, yet only a remote idea of it because such things remain in the unenlightened part of man's understanding.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.