Arcana Coelestia, Vol. VI

generated, may be seen above, n. 1904, 2063, 2189, 2697, 2979, 3286, 3288, 3310, 3325, 3330, 3332, 3336, 3470, 3509, 3539, 3548, 3556, 3563, 3570, 3576, 3579, 3603, 3701.) This is also what is meant by the prophetic utterance of Isaac the father to Esau his son:

By thy sword shalt thou live, and thou shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck (Gen. Genesis xxvii. 40).

It is the inversion of state foretold in these prophetic words which is treated of in the present chapter.

4243. I have sojourned with Laban, and have tarried until now. That this signifies that He had imbued Himself with the good signified by "Laban," is evident from the representation of Laban, as being mediate good good that is not yet genuine, but serves to introduce genuine truths, that is, good not genuine, but still serving to introduce genuine truths and goods (see n. 3974, 3982, 3986, 4063); from the signification of "sojourning," as being to be instructed (see n. 1463, 2025); and from the signification of "tarrying" or "staying," as being predicated of a life of truth with good (n. 3613); here being to imbue with. Hence it is evident that by the words, "I have sojourned with Laban, and have tarried until now," is signified that He had imbued Himself with the good signified by Laban. [2] The case herein is this: Truth cannot be implanted in good except by mediate things, such as have been treated of in the preceding chapters, in which is described Jacob's sojourning and tarrying with Laban, and his acquisition of a flock there. In the present chapter is described the process of conjunction, and thus the inversion of state, in the order which exists when truth is being made subordinate to good. Truth is apparently in the first place, when a man is learning truth from affection, but does not yet live so much in accordance with it. But good is in the first place when he lives according to the truth which he has learned from affection; for truth then becomes good, inasmuch as the man then believes it to be good to do according to the truth. They who have been regenerated are in this good; and they also who have conscience, that is, who no longer reason whether a thing is true, but do it because it is true, and thus have imbued themselves with it in faith and in life.