9274. And in the seventh year thou shalt let it lie fallow, and shalt release it. That this signifies the second state, when the man of the church is in good, and thus in the tranquility of peace, is evident from the signification of “the seventh year,” or the Sabbath, as being when man is in good, and is led of the Lord by means of good (see n. 8505, 8510, 8890, 8893); from the signification of “letting the land lie fallow,” that is, not sowing it, as being not to be led by truths, as before; and from the signification of “releasing it,” as being to be in the tranquility of peace. (That the Sabbath also was a representative of the state of peace in which there is conjunction, see n. 8494.) For by the lying fallow, and the release or rest of the land, was represented the rest, tranquility, and peace possessed by those who are in good from the Lord. (That there are two states with the man who is being regenerated and becoming a church; namely, the first when he is led by means of the truths of faith to the good of charity; and the second when he is in the good of charity, see n. 7923, 7992, 8505, 8506, 8512, 8513, 8516, 8539, 8643, 8648, 8658, 8685, 8690, 8701, 8772, 9139, 9224, 9227, 9230)

[2] That there are these two states with the man who is being regenerated and becoming a church, has been heretofore unknown, chiefly for the reason that the man of the church has not made any distinction between truth and good, thus not between faith and charity; and also because he has had no distinct perception of the two faculties of man, which are the understanding and the will; and that the understanding sees truths and goods, and the will is affected with them and loves them. For the same reason he could not know that the first state of the man who is being regenerated is learning truths and seeing them, and that the second state is willing and loving them; and that the things which a man has learned and seen are not appropriated to him until he wills and loves them; for the will is the man himself, and the understanding is his minister. If these things had been known, it might have been known and perceived that the man who is being regenerated is endowed by the Lord with both a new understanding and a new will, and that unless he has been endowed with both, he is not a new man; for the understanding is merely the seeing of the things which the man wills and loves, and thus, as before said, is only a minister. Consequently the first state of the man who is being regenerated is to be led through truths to good, and the second state is to be led by means of good; and when he is in this latter state, the order has been inverted, and he is then led by the Lord; consequently he is then in heaven, and hence in the tranquility of peace.

[3] This state is what is meant by the “seventh day,” and by the “seventh year,” and also by the “jubilee;” that is, by the “Sabbath,” and by the “Sabbath of Sabbaths,” and by the resulting rest of the land; according to these words in Moses:

Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather the produce thereof; but in the seventh year shall be a Sabbath of Sabbaths for the land, a Sabbath unto Jehovah; thou shall neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard; that which groweth of itself of thy harvest thou shalt not reap (Leviticus 25:3-5).

And concerning the jubilee:

In the year of the jubilee, ye shall not sow, nor reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor vintage its undressed vines (Leviticus 25:11).

He who knows nothing about these two states must needs be ignorant of many things contained in the Word; for in the Word, especially the prophetic Word, the two states are distinctly described. Nay, without this knowledge, he cannot apprehend the internal sense of the Word, nor even many things which are in its literal sense, as for example the following which the Lord foretold concerning the last time of the present church, which is there called the “consummation of the age” in these passages:

Then let them that are in Judea flee unto the mountains; let him that is upon the house not go down to take anything out of his house; and let him that is in the field not return back to take his garments (Matthew 24:16-18).

In that day, whosoever shall be upon the house, and his vessels in the house, let him not go down to take them away; and whosoever is in the field let him likewise not return to the things that are behind him. Remember Lot’s wife (Luke 17:31-32).

(That the second state is here described, and that no one ought to return from that state to the first, see n. 3650-3655, 5895, 5897, 8505, 8506, 8510, 8512, 8516.)

[4] That these states are distinct from each other is also involved in these words in Moses:

When thou makest a new house, thou shalt make a compass to thy roof. Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard nor thy field with mixed seed. Thou shalt not plough with an ox and an ass together. Thou shalt not put on a mixed garment of wool and linen together (Deuteronomy 22:8-11; Leviticus 19:19);

by these words is signified that he who is in the state of truth, that is, in the first state, cannot be in the state of good, that is, in the second state, nor the converse. The reason is that the one state is the inverse of the other; for in the first state the man looks from the world into heaven, but in the second state he looks from heaven into the world; because in the first state truths enter from the world through the intellect into the will, and there become goods, because of love; but in the second state the goods so formed go forth from heaven through the will into the intellect, and there appear in the form of faith. It is this faith which is saving, because it is from the good of love, that is, through the good of love from the Lord; for this faith belongs to charity in form.

4925. That behold his brother came out. That this signifies the truth of good, is evident from the signification of a “brother,” as being what is kindred from good (n. 3815, 4267), thus the truth of good; the truth of good is that truth which is from good, or that faith which is from charity. The subject treated of here in the internal sense is primogeniture in the case of those who are being reborn or regenerated by the Lord, consequently primogeniture in the church. It has been a matter of dispute from the most ancient times which is the firstborn, whether the good which is of charity, or the truth which is of faith; and as good does not appear while man is being reborn and made a church, but conceals itself in the interior man, and manifests itself only in a certain affection which does not fall clearly into the sensation of the external or natural man, until he has been reborn—whereas truth makes itself manifest, because it enters through the senses and stores itself in the memory of the external or natural man—therefore many persons have fallen into the error of thinking that truth is the firstborn, and at last even into that of thinking that truth is the essential of the church, and so essential that truth, which they call faith, has power to save without the good which is of charity.

[2] From this one error very many others have been derived, which have infected not only doctrine, but also life; as for instance that no matter how a man lives, provided he has faith he is saved; that even the most wicked are received into heaven if in the hour of death they make profession of such things as are of faith; and that everyone can be received into heaven merely from grace, whatever his life has been. In consequence of holding this doctrine they at last do not know what charity is, nor do they care for it; and finally they do not believe there is such a thing, nor consequently that there is a heaven or a hell. The reason is that faith without charity, or truth without good, teaches nothing; and the more it recedes from good, the more foolish it renders a man. For it is good into which and through which the Lord flows and gives intelligence and wisdom, thus a higher mental view, and also perception as to whether a thing be so or not so.

[3] All this shows how the case is in regard to primogeniture—it actually belongs to good, and to truth only apparently. This then is what is described in the internal sense by the birth of Tamar’s two sons, for by the “double-dyed” which the midwife bound upon the hand is signified good (see n. 4922); by “coming out first” is signified priority (n. 4923); by “drawing back his hand” is signified that good concealed its power, as was said just above; by his “brother coming out” is signified truth; by “thou hast broken upon thee a breach” is signified the apparent separation of truth from good; by his “brother coming out afterward” is signified that good is actually prior; and by “that had the double-dyed upon his hand” is signified acknowledgment that it is good; for good is not acknowledged to be prior until after the man has been reborn, for he then acts from good and from it regards truth and its quality.

[4] These are the things which are contained in the internal sense, which teaches how the case is with good and truth in the man who is being born anew, namely, that good is actually in the first place, but truth apparently; and that good does not appear to be in the first place while the man is being regenerated, but becomes manifestly so when he has been regenerated. But these things need not be further explained here, because they have been explained before (see n. 3324, 3325, 3494, 3539, 3548, 3556, 3563, 3570, 3576, 3603, 3701, 4243, 4244, 4247, 4337). That from ancient times it has been a matter of controversy whether primogeniture belongs to good or to truth, or whether to charity or to faith, has also been shown above (n. 2435).

[5] As the Lord in the supreme sense is the “Firstborn,” consequently love to Him and charity toward the neighbor, therefore it was ordained as a law in the representative church that the firstborn should be Jehovah’s, as we read in Moses:

Sanctify to Me all the firstborn, whatsoever openeth the womb among the sons of Israel, in man and in beast, let them be Mine (Exodus 13:2).

Thou shalt cause to pass to Jehovah everything that openeth the womb, and everything that openeth the offspring of a beast, as many as shall be males to thee, shall be Jehovah’s (Exodus 13:12).

Everything that openeth the womb is Mine; therefore as to all thy cattle thou shalt give the male, that openeth of ox and small cattle (Exodus 34:19).

Everything that openeth the womb of all flesh, which they shall bring to Jehovah, of men and of beasts, shall be thine; nevertheless every first born of man shalt thou surely redeem (Numbers 18:15).

Behold I have taken the Levites from the midst of the sons of Israel, instead of every firstborn that openeth the womb of the sons of Israel; that the Levites may be Mine (Numbers 3:12).

[6] As that which opens the womb is the firstborn, therefore where the word “firstborn” is mentioned, it is also said “that which openeth the womb;” in order that good may be signified. That this signifies good is evident from the particulars in the internal sense, especially from what is related of Tamar’s sons-that Zerah opened the womb with his hand, by whom good is represented, as is evident from the double-dyed upon his hand (n. 4922). Moreover, the “womb,” which is said to be “opened,” is where good and truth are, consequently the church (n. 4918); and to “open the womb” is to give power that truth may be born.

[7] As the Lord alone is the Firstborn—for He is good itself, and from His good is all truth—therefore in order that Jacob, who was not the firstborn, might represent Him, he was permitted to buy the primogeniture from Esau his brother; and because this was not sufficient, he was called Israel, in order that by this name he might represent the good of truth; for Israel in the representative sense is the good which comes by means of truth (n. 3654, 4286, 4598).