3671. 'You and your seed with you' means to the good and the truth born from this good. This is clear from the representation of Jacob, to whom 'you' refers here, as the good of truth, or good that is a product of truth, dealt with above, and from the meaning of 'seed' as the good and truth of faith, dealt with in 1025, 1447, 1610, 2848, 3373. 'With you' means that it was allied to the good of truth, represented by 'Jacob'. Good and truth are like seeds and the soil. Interior good is like seed that is productive, though not unless it is sown in good soil. Exterior good and truth are like the soil in which it is made productive. The former, that is to say, the seed, which is interior good and truth, cannot otherwise take root. This is why a person's rational is regenerated first of all, for the rational is where the seeds are; then after that the natural is regenerated to serve as the soil for them, 3286, 3288, 3321, 3368, 3493, 3576, 3620, 3623. And because the natural is like the soil, good and truth can be made fruitful and be multiplied within the rational, which could not take place if the soil where the seed has its root were anywhere else. From this comparison one may see as in a mirror what regeneration is like and the numerous arcana that go with it.

[2] Understanding good and truth and willing them is the function of the rational, and perceptions of good and truth resulting from this are like seeds; but knowing them and doing them is the function of the natural. Facts and deeds are like the soil. When a person has an affection for the facts that corroborate what is good and true, the more so when he experiences joy in acting them out, those facts are seeds that are present and growing in the natural as their own proper soil; and there they grow. As a consequence good is made fruitful and truth is multiplied, and they are constantly springing up out of that soil into the rational and perfecting it. The situation is different when a person understands what is good and true, and also interiorly perceives that he wills something, and yet does not desire to know these things, let alone do them. In that case good cannot be made fruitful nor truth be multiplied within the rational.

3286. 'On behalf of his wife because she was barren' means that the Divine Natural did not as yet exist. This is clear from the meaning of 'a wife' as Divine Truth joined to the Divine Good of the Rational, which Truth, as shown in the previous chapter, is represented by 'Rebekah'; and from the meaning of 'barren' as the non-existence as yet of the Divine Natural. For the truth of the matter is that the Divine Natural came into being from the Divine Good of the Rational as the father and from Divine Truth there as the mother. While the Divine Natural does not as yet exist the Truth of the Rational is called 'barren', here 'a barren wife'.

[2] In man's case the situation is that while he is being regenerated the Lord instills good, that is, goodwill to the neighbour, into his rational. This goodwill or good has truth from the natural man allied to it. Once this is completed his natural has still to be regenerated, as anyone may recognize from the fact that the internal or rational man often conflicts with the external or natural; and as long as conflict exists the natural is not regenerate. And while the natural remains unregenerate the rational as regards truth is barren. As is the case in general so it is similarly in every particular instance in which the rational does not agree with the natural; in every such instance the rational as regards truth is called barren.

[3] The work of regeneration revolves for the most part around making the natural man correspond to the rational man, not only in general but also in particular. And the natural man is brought into such correspondence by the Lord by means of the rational. That is to say, good is instilled into the rational, and within this good as the soil truths are planted, after which by means of rational truths the natural is brought into obedience. When it is obedient it in that case corresponds; and to the extent it corresponds a person has been regenerated.