3471. And they were bitterness of spirit to Isaac and to Rebekah. That this signifies that from this source there at first came grief, is evident from the signification of “bitterness of spirit,” as being grief; and from the representation of Isaac and Rebekah, as being the Lord’s Divine rational as to Divine good and Divine truth; for in the supreme sense the Lord is the subject here treated of; but in the representative sense, those who are likenesses or images of Him; that is, in the supreme sense it is shown how the Lord made the Human in Himself Divine; and in the representative sense how the Lord regenerates man, that is, makes him celestial and spiritual.

That the regeneration of man is an image of the Lord’s glorification, may be seen above (n. 3043, 3138, 3212, 3296). The reason why there was grief at first, is that when truths are being inserted into natural good, they at first cause pain, for they oppress the conscience, and induce anxieties, because there are concupiscences present, against which spiritual truth combats; but this first grief by degrees diminishes, and at last vanishes away. It is as with a weak and sickly body, which is to be restored to health by painful means; in this state, at first it has grief.

2507. Of Sarah his wife. That this signifies spiritual truth conjoined with the celestial, is evident from the signification of “Sarah” as a wife, as being intellectual truth conjoined with the Divine good, or what is the same, spiritual truth conjoined with the celestial (see n. 1468, 1901, 2063, 2065, 2172, 2173, 2198). What the spiritual is, and what the celestial, has often been stated before (see n. 1155, 1577, 1824, 2048, 2088). That is called Celestial, which is of good, that is, which is of love to the Lord and of charity toward the neighbor; and that Spiritual, which is of truth, that is, which is of faith derived from those loves.