3289. 'And the sons struggled together within her' means conflict, which is the subject here. This is clear from the meaning of 'struggling' as conflicting, and from the meaning of 'sons' here as the Natural both as regards good and as regards truth. For Esau and Jacob, who are 'the sons' here, represent the Lord's Divine Natural - 'Esau' the good of the Divine Natural, 'Jacob' the truth - as will be clear from what is stated further on. This struggle or conflict is also the subject in the present chapter, being a struggle or conflict over priority - whether good is prior or whether truth is. Or what amounts to the same, whether charity which is akin to good is prior or faith which is akin to truth. In the spiritual Church this was from earliest times a point over which many were in conflict with one another. And since that question of priority is the subject in what follows, it is here said that 'the sons struggled together within her' meaning conflict, which is the subject here.