Arcana Coelestia #3469
3469. 'Esau was a son of forty years' means a state of temptation as regards the natural good of truth. This is clear from the representation of 'Esau' as natural good of truth, dealt with in 3300, 3302, 3322, and from the meaning of 'forty years' as a state of temptation - 'forty' meaning temptations, see 730, 862, 2272, and 'years' states, 487, 488, 493, 893. The reason why these details concerning Esau are added immediately after what has been told regarding Abimelech and Isaac is that the subject has been those who do the good of truth, that is, those who live in accordance with matters of doctrine drawn from the literal sense of the Word; for such people were meant by Abimelech, Ahuzzath, and Phicol, as stated above in various places.
[2] People therefore who do the good of truth, or who live in accordance with matters of doctrine, are regenerate as regards interior things, which are their rational concepts, but not yet as regards exterior, which are their natural things. For a person is regenerated as to the rational part of his mind before being regenerated as to the natural part, 3286, 3288. The natural exists wholly in this world, and it is on the natural as their foundation that the person's thought and will are based. This is the reason why, while being regenerated, a person is aware of conflict between his rational or internal man and his natural or external man, and why his external is regenerated much later and with far more difficulty than the internal. Indeed what is closer to the world and closer to the body cannot be easily rendered subservient to the internal man except over a considerable period of time and by means of very many new states into which it has to be brought. These states are states of self-recognition and of recognition of the Lord, that is to say, of his own miserable condition and of the Lord's mercy, and so of humiliation, through conflicts brought about by temptations. This being so, there is immediately added at this point the reference to Esau and his two wives, by which such things are meant in the internal sense.
[3] It is well known to anyone what natural good is, namely the good into which a person is born. But what the natural good of truth is, is known to few, if anyone. There are four types of natural good, or good that one is born with. These are, natural good that stems from the love of good; natural good that stems from the love of truth; also natural good that stems from the love of evil; and natural good that stems from the love of falsity. A person derives the good that he is born with from his parents, whether from father or from mother. For every characteristic which parents have acquired from frequent practice and conduct, that is, which they have taken into themselves by their own actions in life until with them they have become so habitual as to appear natural, is passed on to their children and becomes hereditary. If parents have led a good life from a love of good and have experienced delight and blessedness in that life, and if this is their state when they conceive an offspring, their offspring acquires from them an inclination towards this same form of good. If parents have led a good life from a love of truth - for which good, see 3459, 3463 - and have experienced delight in that life, and if this is their state when they conceive an offspring, their offspring acquires from them an inclination towards that same form of good. And the same applies to those who by heredity receive the good that stems from a love of evil and the good that stems from a love of falsity.
[4] The latter are called good because the kinds of good done by them seem in outward appearance to be good, despite the fact that there is nothing good at all about them. Very many with whom natural good is apparent possess this type of good. Those with whom natural good that stems from love of evil is present tend and incline towards evils of every kind, for they readily allow themselves to be led astray. That good is the source of their susceptibility especially towards foul delights, different kinds of adultery, and also of cruelty. Those with whom natural good stemming from a love of falsity is present incline towards falsities of every kind. Because of that good they seize on false persuasion, especially that used by hypocrites and deceivers, who know how to win people's attention, worm their way into affections, and feign innocence. Into these so-called forms of good - of good that stems from evil or from falsity - the majority are born at the present day in the Christian world, in whom natural good exists, the reason being that their parents have acquired a delight in evil and a delight in falsity through their own actions in life, and in this way have implanted it in their children, and so in their descendants.
Genesis 27
1
It happened, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his elder son, and said to him, "My son?" He said to him, "Here I am."
2
He said, "See now, I am old. I don't know the day of my death.
3
Now therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field, and take me venison.
4
Make me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat, and that my soul may bless you before I die."
5
Rebekah heard when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it.
6
Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying, "Behold, I heard your father speak to Esau your brother, saying,
7
'Bring me venison, and make me savory food, that I may eat, and bless you before Yahweh before my death.'
8
Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command you.
9
Go now to the flock, and get me from there two good young goats. I will make them savory food for your father, such as he loves.
10
You shall bring it to your father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death."
11
Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, "Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man.
12
What if my father touches me? I will seem to him as a deceiver, and I would bring a curse on myself, and not a blessing."
13
His mother said to him, "Let your curse be on me, my son. Only obey my voice, and go get them for me."
14
He went, and got them, and brought them to his mother. His mother made savory food, such as his father loved.
15
Rebekah took the good clothes of Esau, her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob, her younger son.
16
She put the skins of the young goats on his hands, and on the smooth of his neck.
17
She gave the savory food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.
18
He came to his father, and said, "My father?" He said, "Here I am. Who are you, my son?"
19
Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn. I have done what you asked me to do. Please arise, sit and eat of my venison, that your soul may bless me."
20
Isaac said to his son, "How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?" He said, "Because Yahweh your God gave me success."
21
Isaac said to Jacob, "Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not."
22
Jacob went near to Isaac his father. He felt him, and said, "The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau."
23
He didn't recognize him, because his hands were hairy, like his brother, Esau's hands. So he blessed him.
24
He said, "Are you really my son Esau?" He said, "I am."
25
He said, "Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son's venison, that my soul may bless you." He brought it near to him, and he ate. He brought him wine, and he drank.
26
His father Isaac said to him, "Come near now, and kiss me, my son."
27
He came near, and kissed him. He smelled the smell of his clothing, and blessed him, and said, "Behold, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which Yahweh has blessed.
28
God give you of the dew of the sky, of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and new wine.
29
Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers. Let your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you. Blessed be everyone who blesses you."
30
It happened, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob had just gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting.
31
He also made savory food, and brought it to his father. He said to his father, "Let my father arise, and eat of his son's venison, that your soul may bless me."
32
Isaac his father said to him, "Who are you?" He said, "I am your son, your firstborn, Esau."
33
Isaac trembled violently, and said, "Who, then, is he who has taken venison, and brought it me, and I have eaten of all before you came, and have blessed him? Yes, he will be blessed."
34
When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceeding great and bitter cry, and said to his father, "Bless me, even me also, my father."
35
He said, "Your brother came with deceit, and has taken away your blessing."
36
He said, "Isn't he rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright. See, now he has taken away my blessing." He said, "Haven't you reserved a blessing for me?"
37
Isaac answered Esau, "Behold, I have made him your lord, and all his brothers have I given to him for servants. With grain and new wine have I sustained him. What then will I do for you, my son?"
38
Esau said to his father, "Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, my father." Esau lifted up his voice, and wept.
39
Isaac his father answered him, "Behold, of the fatness of the earth will be your dwelling, and of the dew of the sky from above.
40
By your sword will you live, and you will serve your brother. It will happen, when you will break loose, that you shall shake his yoke from off your neck."
41
Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him. Esau said in his heart, "The days of mourning for my father are at hand. Then I will kill my brother Jacob."
42
The words of Esau, her elder son, were told to Rebekah. She sent and called Jacob, her younger son, and said to him, "Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you.
43
Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to Laban, my brother, in Haran.
44
Stay with him a few days, until your brother's fury turns away;
45
until your brother's anger turn away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send, and get you from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?"
46
Rebekah said to Isaac, "I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these, of the daughters of the land, what good will my life do me?"
