3302. And they called his name Esau. That this signifies its quality, namely, the quality of the natural as to good, is evident from the signification of “calling a name,” or of “calling by name,” as being to know what the thing is, thus its quality (see n. 144, 145, 440, 768, 1754, 1896, 2009, 2724, 3237); and from the fact that all names whatever in the Word in the internal sense denote actual things (n. 1224, 1888); and such is the case with the name Esau. That “Esau” signifies the Lord’s Divine natural as to Divine good when first conceived, is evident from what has been already said, and from what follows concerning Esau, as also from other parts of the Word; but as Esau and Edom have nearly the same signification, with the difference that “Edom” is the Divine natural as to good to which are adjoined the doctrinal things of truth, therefore at verse 30, where Esau is called “Edom,” of the Lord’s Divine mercy this will be confirmed by passages from the Word.

144. That to “call by name” signifies to know the quality, is because the ancients, by the “name” understood the essence of a thing, and by “seeing and calling by name” they understood to know the quality. The reason was that they gave names to their sons and daughters according to the things which were signified, for every name had something peculiar in it, from which, and by which, they might know the origin and the nature of their children, as will be seen in a future part of this work, when, of the Lord’s Divine mercy, we come to treat of the twelve sons of Jacob. As therefore the names implied the source and quality of the things named, nothing else was understood by “calling by name.” This was the customary mode of speaking among them, but one who does not understand this may wonder that such things should be signified.