Spiritual Meaning of GENESIS 27:30-33
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AC 3585. Verses 30-33. And it came to pass as Isaac made an. end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob was scarcely yet gone out from the faces of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came from his hunting. And he also made dainties, and brought unto his father; and he said unto his father, Let my father arise and eat of his son‘s hunting, that thy soul may bless me. And Isaac his father said unto him, Who art thou? and he said, I am thy son, thy firstborn, Esau. And Isaac shuddered with exceeding great shuddering, and said, Who then is he that hath hunted hunting, and brought it to me, and I have eaten of all before thou camest and blessed him? Yea, and he shall be blessed. "And it came to pass as Isaac made an end of blessing Jacob," signifies when the first conjunction had been thus effected; "and Jacob was scarcely yet gone out from the faces of Isaac his father," signifies progression and change of state; "that Esau his brother came from his hunting," signifies the truth of good and its arrival; "and he also made dainties, and brought unto his father," signifies things desirable and delightful to the Divine rational; and he said unto his father, Let my father arise, and eat of his son’s hunting," signifies that it should appropriate to itself the truth of natural good "that thy soul may bless me," signifies that there might be conjunction and Isaac his father said unto him, Who art thou? and he said, I am thy son, thy firstborn, Esau," signifies a state of perception concerning natural good and the derivative truth; "and Isaac shuddered with exceeding great shuddering," signifies a great alteration in respect to the inversion of the state; "and said, Who then is he that hath hunted hunting, and brought it to me," signifies an inquisition concerning that truth; and I have eaten of all before thou camest," signifies that it was appropriated; "and blessed him; yea, and he shall be blessed," signifies that it had been conjoined.

AC 3586. And Jacob came to pass as Isaac made an end of blessing Jacob. That this signifies when the first conjunction had been thus effected, is evident from the signification of "blessing," as being conjunction (n. 3504, 3514, 3530, 3565, 3584); thus "as Isaac made an end of blessing" signifies when conjunction had been effected; that the first conjunction was with truth, represented by Jacob, is evident from what has been already said.

AC 3587. And Jacob was yet scarcely gone out from the faces of Isaac his father. That this signifies progression and change of state, is evident from the signification of "going out from the faces," as being when those things ceased which were represented by Jacob, thus when the state was changed; for the subject is now Esau, and in the internal sense the good of the natural, how as before said this comes forth from the inmost and manifests itself; and when reformation has been accomplished by the ministry of truth, has the dominion.

AC 3588. That Esau his brother came from his hunting. That this signifies the truth of good and its arrival is evident from the representation of Esau, as being the good of the natural from the signification of "coming," as being arrival; and from the signification of "hunting," as being the truth which is from good (n. 3501).

AC 3589. And he also made dainties, and brought unto his father. That this signifies things desirable and delightful to the Divine rational, is evident from the signification of dainties," as being the delightful things which are of good and the pleasant things which are of truth (n. 3502, 3536), the delightful things which are of good are the desirable things, and the pleasant things which are of truth are the delightful things for the affection of good is that which desires, and then the affection of truth is that which delights.

AC 3590. And he said unto his father, Let my father arise, and eat of his son‘s hunting. That this signifies that the Divine rational should appropriate to itself the truth of natural good, is evident from the representation of Isaac, who here is the "father," as being the good of the rational from the signification of "eating," as being to appropriate (n. 2187, 2343, 3168, 3513); and from the signification of "hunting," as being the truth of natural good (n. 3588).

AC 3591. That thy soul may bless me. That this signifies that there might be conjunction, is evident from the signification of "being blessed," as being conjunction (n. 3504, 3514, 3530, 3565, 3584).

AC 3592. And Isaiah his father said unto him, Who art thou? and he said, I am thy son, thy firstborn, Esau. That this signifies a state of perception concerning natural good and the derivative truth, is evident from what was said above (n. 3548-3550), at (verses 18 and 19), where similar words occur.

AC 3593. And Isaac shuddered with exceeding great shuddering. That this signifies a great alteration in respect to the inversion of the state, is evident from the signification of" shuddering," as being an alteration; that it is in respect to the inversion of the state, is evident from what has been said above concerning the two states of the man who is being regenerated-the state before he has been regenerated, and the state after he has been regenerated-namely, that in the state before he has been regenerated, truths apparently have the dominion; while in the state after he has been regenerated, truths give place, and good receives the dominion, on which subject see what has been frequently shown above, (n. 1904, 2063, 2189, 2967, 2979, 3286, 3288, 3310, 3325, 3330, 3332, 3336, 3470, 3509, 3539, 3548, 3556, 3563, 3570, 3576, 3579).

AC 3594. And said, Who then is he that hath hunted hunting, and brought it to me. That this signifies an inquisition concerning that truth, is evident from the representation of Jacob, in reference to whom it is here said, "Who is he," as being the natural as to truth; and from the signification of "hunting," as being truth from good (n. 3501); here, an inquisition concerning that truth, as to whether it was from good.

AC 3595. And I have eaten of all before thou camest. That this signifies that it had been appropriated, is evident from the signification of "eating," as being to be appropriated (n. 2187, 2343, 3168, 3513).

AC 3596. And blessed him; yea, and he shall be blessed. That this signifies that it has been conjoined, is evident from the signification of "being blessed," as being to be conjoined (n. 3504, 3514, 3530, 3565, 3584). How the case is with the appropriation and conjunction of the truth represented by Jacob may be seen from what has been said above. But as these subjects are of such a nature as to transcend the apprehension of the natural man, and cannot be seen except in the light in which is the rational or internal man, in which light at the present day there are but few, because few are being regenerated, therefore it is better to illustrate them no further, for the illustration of things unknown and transcending the apprehension does not bring them into light, but into more shade. Moreover such things are to be built upon ideas of natural truths, through which they are to be apprehended, and at the present day these also are wanting. This is the reason why the words just preceding have been explained so briefly, and merely as to the internal sense of the expressions.

[2] From what has been said it may be seen what is involved in the statement that Isaac asked hunting of his son, that he might eat of it before he blessed him, and that he did not bless him till after he had eaten, and thus that after eating followed the blessing of him who prepared and brought the dainties-as is also evident from Isaac’s words (here concerning Jacob), "he brought to me, and I have eaten of all before thou camest, and blessed him; yea, and he shall be blessed." The reason referred to appears from the internal meaning of the rituals of the Ancient Church; for with them eating signified appropriation and conjunction-conjunction that is to say with him with whom or of whose bread they had eaten. Food in general signified what is of love and charity, that is, the same as celestial and spiritual food-bread what is of love to the Lord, and wine what is of charity toward the neighbor. When these had been appropriated, the persons were conjoined thus they spake to each other from affection, and were consociated together. Feasts with the ancients were nothing else, nor was anything else represented in the Jewish Church by their eating together of the holy things, nor was anything else represented in the primitive Christian Church by their dinners and suppers.

GENESIS 27:30-33    previous  -  next  -  text  -  summary  -  Genesis  -  Full Page

Author:  E. Swedenborg (1688-1772). Design:  I.J. Thompson, Feb 2002. www.BibleMeanings.info