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Genesis 27

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1 And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his eldest son, and said to him, My son: and he said to him, Behold, here am I.

2 And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death:

3 Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison;

4 And make me savory meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die.

5 And Rebekah heard when Isaac spoke to Esau his son; and Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it.

6 And Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak to Esau thy brother, saying,

7 Bring me venison, and make me savory meat, that I may eat, and bless thee before the LORD, before my death.

8 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice, according to that which I command thee.

9 Go now to the flock, and bring me from thence two good kids of the goats; and I will make them savory meat for thy father, such as he loveth:

10 And thou shalt bring it to thy father, that he may eat, and that he may bless thee before his death.

11 And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man:

12 My father perhaps will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver; and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing.

13 And his mother said to him, upon me be thy curse, my son; only obey my voice, and go, bring them to me.

14 And he went, and took, and brought them to his mother: and his mother made savory meat, such as his father loved.

15 And Rebekah took goodly raiment of her eldest son Esau, which was with her in the house, and put it upon Jacob her younger son:

16 And she put the skins of the kids of the goats on his hands, and on the smooth part of his neck:

17 And she gave the savory meat, and the bread which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.

18 And he came to his father, and said, My father: And he said, Here am I; who art thou, my son?

19 And Jacob said to his father, I am Esau thy first-born; I have done according as thou badest me: arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me.

20 And Isaac said to his son, How is it that thou hast found it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because the LORD thy God brought it to me.

21 And Isaac said to Jacob, Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou art my very son Esau, or not.

22 And Jacob went near to Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.

23 And he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau's hands: So he blessed him.

24 And he said, Art thou my very son Esau? And he said, I am.

25 And he said, bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son's venison, that my soul may bless thee. And he brought it near to him, and he ate: and he brought him wine, and he drank.

26 And his father Isaac said to him, Come near now, and kiss me, my son.

27 And he came near, and kissed him: and he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him, and said, See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the LORD hath blessed:

28 Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine:

29 Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee; be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee.

30 And it came to pass, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob had yet scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting.

31 And he also had made savory meat, and brought it to his father; and said to his father, Let my father arise, and eat of his son's venison, that thy soul may bless me.

32 And Isaac his father said to him, Who art thou? And he said, I am thy son, thy first-born Esau.

33 And Isaac trembled exceedingly, and said, Who? where is he that hath taken venison, and brought it me, and I have eaten of all before thou camest, and have blessed him? yea, and he shall be blessed.

34 And when Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a great and exceedingly bitter cry, and said to his father, Bless me, even me also, O my father.

35 And he said, Thy brother came with subtilty, and hath taken away thy blessing.

36 And he said, Is he not rightly named Jacob? for he hath supplanted me twice: he took away my birth-right; and behold, now he hath taken away my blessing. And he said, Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me?

37 And Isaac answered and said to Esau, Behold, I have made him thy lord, and all his brethren have I given to him for servants; and with corn and wine have I sustained him: and what shall I do now to thee, my son?

38 And Esau said to his father, Hast thou but one blessing, my father? bless me, even me also, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept.

39 And Isaac his father answered, and said to him, Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above;

40 And by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother: and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck.

41 And Esau hated Jacob, because of the blessing with which his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob.

42 And these words of Esau her elder son were told to Rebekah: and she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said to him, Behold, thy brother Esau, as concerning thee, doth comfort himself, purposing to kill thee.

43 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice: and arise, flee thou to Laban my brother to Haran;

44 And tarry with him a few days, until thy brother's fury shall turn away;

45 Till thy brother's anger shall turn away from thee, and he shall forget that which thou hast done to him: then I will send, and bring thee from thence. Why should I be deprived also of you both in one day?

46 And Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life, because of the daughters of Heth: if Jacob shall take a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these who are of the daughters of the land, what good will my life do me?

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #3610

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3610. 'Behold, Esau your brother is consoling himself concerning you [by planning] to kill you' means, the intention to invert the state and to remove from truth the life from itself. This is clear from the meaning of 'consoling oneself concerning somebody' as calming a turbulence of mind with a hope concerning some person or thing - the pronoun 'you' embodying an inversion of the state of truth; and from the meaning of 'killing you (Jacob)' as removing from truth the life from itself, dealt with just above in 3607, where it has been shown that removing from truth the life [from itself] is not destroying that truth but giving it life. For the situation with the life of truth is that when people with whom truth or the affection for truth is present do not live according to the truth they know and have an affection for, there is in that case a certain satisfaction and delight, stemming from self-love or love of the world, which attaches itself to the affection for truth. That satisfaction and delight seems to be like good, but it is not good except if considered in relation to the use it serves of enabling truths to be brought in and learned, which subsequently can be of service to good itself and to the life of good. When this is the state in which truth dwells, that is, when the affection for truth exists with people, truth is said to have life from itself. But this is not life, as is clear from the fact that life does not dwell in self-love and love of the world, that is, in the satisfaction and delight that goes with these loves, but in celestial and spiritual love and the delight and satisfaction that belongs to that love. Consequently when truth is removed - that is, when those with whom such an affection for truth is present have that life removed from them - then for the first time they receive life, that is, are given life.

[2] These matters cannot be grasped at all by those whose affection is for themselves and the world, for they believe that no other kind of life can possibly exist, and consequently that if that life were removed they would have no life at all. For people possessing that life cannot by any means know what spiritual and celestial life is. But the truth of the matter is that when that life is removed, that is to say, the life belonging to an affection for self and the world, life flows in from the Lord such as is angelic and heavenly, bringing with it wisdom and intelligence that are beyond description. From the point of view of this life from the Lord, the previous life seems to be none at all or to be like the abject life of beasts, for it entails nothing Divine at all apart from being able to think and to talk, and so to have an outward form like everyone else has.

[3] As regards the intention on the part of good to invert the state and to remove from truth the life from itself, meant by the words 'Esau is consoling himself concerning you [by planning] to kill you', the position is that with someone who is being regenerated good intends constantly to bring about an inversion of state and to produce that order in which truth does not occupy the prior position but, in conformity with the state of heaven, the secondary position. This intention however lies concealed deeply within it and is not discerned until it is actually carried into effect. It is like conjugial love, which does not show itself in infancy and childhood but nevertheless lies concealed within, and does not emerge until every single thing has been properly ordered to enable it to manifest itself. During all that time however it is producing all the means suited to it, that is, they are produced from it. Something similar may be seen in the vegetable kingdom in which within every tree and young plant there lies concealed inmostly the effort to produce fruit or seeds. But that effort cannot manifest itself until all the means have been produced first, that is to say, shoots, leaves, and blossom; and when these have been produced, that effort comes into act.

[4] It is the same with those who are being born anew. The conjugial relationship which exists between good and truth lies concealed for a long time but is nevertheless present as the effort within the efficient cause and from this within the effect itself. But it does not appear until everything has been properly ordered, and once everything has been properly ordered only then does it emerge and manifest itself. This effort is what is meant by the intention to invert the state and to remove from truth the life from itself. From this it is evident that the note which is sounded in the internal sense is altogether different from that in the sense of the letter; that is to say, it speaks of truth being brought into order and receiving life, not of the destruction and removal of life from it.

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