4836. 'And Onan knew that the seed would not be his' means a loathing and hatred. This is clear from the representation of 'Onan' as evil, dealt with in 4823, 4824; and because 'not providing seed for a brother', or not performing the duty of a brother-in-law, means having no desire for the good and truth of the Church or the continuation of it, 4834, the words used here mean a loathing and hatred, for evil is nothing else than loathing and hatred directed against the good and truth of the Church.

3317. And Esau came from the field. That this signifies the pursuit of the good of life, is evident from the representation of Esau, as being the good of life of natural truth (concerning which see n. 3300); and from the signification of “coming from the field,” as being the pursuit of good; for meditating in the field denotes cogitating in good (n. 3196), because a “field” denotes the good of the church (n. 2971).