Spiritual Meaning of GENESIS 36:1
next  -  text  -  summary  -  Genesis  -  BM Home  -  Full Page

AC 4640. Verse 1. And these are the births of Esau; he is Edom. "And these are the births of Esau," signifies derivations in the Lord‘s Divine good natural; "he is Edom," signifies the Lord’s Divine Human in respect to the natural and the corporeal.

AC 4641. And these are the births of Esau. That this signifies derivations in the Lord‘s Divine good natural, is evident from the signification of "births," as being derivations of good and truth (n. 1330, 3263, 3279, 3860, 3868, 4070); and from the representation of Esau, as being the Lord’s Divine good natural (n. 3302, 3322, 3494, 3504, 3576, 3599). This good is the subject now treated of in this chapter; but as it is of such a nature as not to fall into the understanding of any man, and scarcely of any angel, this good is therefore described by mere names. For the Lord‘s Divine good natural, which is represented by Esau, is what He had Divine from birth, since He was conceived of Jehovah, and hence from birth he had the Divine being, which He had as His soul, and consequently as the inmost of His life

[2] This was clothed outwardly by what He took on from the mother; and as this was not good but in itself evil, He therefore expelled it by His own power, especially by the combat of temptations; and this human, which He made new in Himself, He then conjoined with the Divine good which He had from birth. Jacob represented the good which He procured to Himself by His own power, and which has been treated of in the preceding chapters. This is the good which He conjoined with the Divine good, and He thus made the human in Himself all Divine. The good which Esau represents flowed in by an internal way, and through rational good into natural immediately; but the good which Jacob and Israel represent, flowed in by an external way, and the Divine went to meet it through rational good, but mediately through the truth of the rational into the natural. Isaac represents this rational good, and Rebekah this rational truth (n. 3314, 3573, 4563).

AC 4642. He is Edom. That this signifies the Lord’s Divine Human in respect to the natural and the corporeal, is evident from the representatives of Edom, as being the Lord‘s Divine Human in respect to natural good, to which are adjoined the doctrinal things of truth (n. 3302, 3322, 4241), thus in respect to the natural and the corporeal. For doctrinal things are like a body to truth, or in a spiritual sense are the bodily things of natural truth. Hence it is that by Edom is represented the Lord’s Divine Human in respect to the natural and the corporeal. Doctrine is as it were the embodiment of truth, because doctrine is not in itself truth, but truth is in doctrine as the soul in its body.

[2] In what now follows the Lord‘s Divine good natural is treated of, but its derivations are described by names for the reason stated above that the derivations of this good transcend the understanding of everyone, even that of an angel. For the angels are finite, and what is finite does not comprehend what is infinite. Nevertheless when this chapter is read, the derivations contained in the names are represented to angels in a general way by the influx of Divine love from the Lord, and the influx by a celestial flame which affects them with Divine good.

[3] He who believes that the Word is not inspired as to its smallest jot, and he who believes that it is inspired in any other way than that each single series represents Divine things, and thence heavenly and spiritual things, and that each single word signifies these, must needs suppose that these names involve nothing more than the genealogies from Esau. But what are genealogies to the Word? and what is there Divine in them? But the names in the Word all signify real things, (n. 1224, 1264, 1876, 1888, 4442), and in every place where their signification is unfolded.

Author:  E. Swedenborg (1688-1772).

Design:  I.J. Thompson, Feb 2002.

www.BibleMeanings.info