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.

3138. These three verses treat of the preparation and enlightenment of the natural man in order that the truth might be called forth thence which was to be conjoined with good in the rational. But with preparation and enlightenment the case is as follows: There are two lights which form the intellectual things of man-the light of heaven, and the light of the world; the light of heaven is from the Lord, who to angels in the other life is a Sun and Moon (see n. 1053, 1521, 1529, 1530); the light of the world is from the sun and moon which appear before the bodily sight. The internal man has its sight and its understanding from the light of heaven; but the external man has its sight and its understanding from the light of the world. The influx of the light of heaven into the things which are of the world’s light, effects enlightenment and at the same time observance; an observance of truth if there is correspondence, and an observance of falsity instead of truth if there is not correspondence. But enlightenment and observance are impossible unless there is affection or love, which is spiritual heat, and which gives life to the things that are enlightened by the light; comparatively as the sun’s light does not give life to the things of the vegetable kingdom, but the heat that is in the light, as is evident from the seasons of the year.

[2] In the verses which next follow, the preparation is further described-namely, that the light of heaven which is the Lord’s Divine light inflowed into the things that were of the light of the world in His natural man, in order that He might bring out thence the truth which was to be conjoined with good in the rational; thus by the ordinary way. And therefore in order that the Lord might make the human Divine by the ordinary way, He came into the world; that is, it was His will to be born as a man, and to be instructed as a man, and to be reborn as a man; but with the difference that man is reborn of the Lord, whereas the Lord not only regenerated Himself, but also glorified Himself, that is, made Himself Divine; and further, that a man is made new by an influx of charity and faith, but the Lord, by the Divine love which was in Him and which was His. Hence it may be seen that the regeneration of man is an image of the glorification of the Lord; or what is the same, that in the process of the regeneration of man may be seen as in an image, although remotely, the process of the Lord’s glorification.