The pattern A : b :: B : a with reference to Cain and Abel, Zarah and Pharez, Manasseh and Ephraim, and Esau and Jacob

In the Word you will often encounter the pattern A : b :: B : a, which is also known in the Far East as the Yin Yang. This pattern serves as a coatrack to hang up spiritual ideas, and it can be discerned in the following pairs without being limited just to these: Cain and Abel, Zara and Pharez, Manasseh and Ephraim, and Esau and Jacob.

The symbolic character Cain, the first murderer, offered a bloodless sacrifice of fruits; whereas Abel, the first victim, offered a bloody sacrifice of livestock. Without going into particular detail here, Cain represents those who merely want to believe in things of the Church intellectually without practicing them in their actual lives. So such a person would for instance memorise "He that hateth his brother is a murderer" while making no effort actually not to hate; because such people believe that Faith-alone-saves, which is a lie called separation of faith and works or the bride and bridegroom sounding no longer.

If we see this relationship between Cain and Abel as a Yin Yang, then Cain is the black teardrop and his offering the white dot, roughly, while Abel is the white teardrop and his offering the black dot.

As for Zara and Pharez, Manasseh and Ephraim, and Esau and Jacob, everyone of these also follows the A : b :: B : a pattern; and every one of these expresses the doctrine that truth is considered the most important thing in the Church but is in fact the second most important; for the most important thing in the Church is actually love/good/charity, but truth appears the most important for a long while.

But when people regenerate, then they recognise that good is the primary thing or first-born of the Church, while truth is something that proceeds from good and only appears to be the first-born. Leaving aside the meanings, one will show you how the A : b :: B : or Yin Yang pattern applies to each of these three remaining pairs.

"17 And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his father's hand, to remove it from Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's head.

18 And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head.

19 And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations" (Genesis 48:17-19).

In this case, the firstborn is Manasseh, who represents will or charity in the Church; whereas Ephraim the second-born represents the understanding or faith/truth of the Church. This why God moves Jacob's hand to bless the second-born rather than the first-born.

For this is meant to represent the way that truth/faith appears to be primary but is actually secondary.(By the way, to put one's right hand on something signifies to particularly bless it, thus is the right hand so significant in assigning apparent primacy.)

A : b :: B : a ::: Manasseh/charity : merely blessed with the left hand :: Ephraim/truth : especially blessed with the right hand

"27 And it came to pass in the time of her travail, that, behold, twins were in her womb.

28 And it came to pass, when she travailed, that the one put out his hand: and the midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread, saying, This came out first.

29 And it came to pass, as he drew back his hand, that, behold, his brother came out: and she said, How hast thou broken forth? this breach be upon thee: therefore his name was called Pharez.

30 And afterward came out his brother, that had the scarlet thread upon his hand: and his name was called Zarah" (Genesis 38:27-30).

In this case, Pharez represents truth/faith while Zarah represents love/charity. As one has noted, love is the primary thing of the Church, from which truth proceeds and all else; but it appears to be secondary, hence the representation of the actually second-born coming out first.

A : b :: B : a ::: Zarah : scarlet thread :: Pharez : his apparently coming out first despite his brother being the actual first

Again, this is entirely representative. When someone only cares about faith, and refuses to admit that faith must be acted out in life, then they are in a state of "breach", which is also known as adultery or the separation of faith and works or the two witnesses being slain on the streets of that great city or the two thieves being crucified alongside Jesus or the bride and bridegroom sounding no longer.

Without going into particular detail, the representative characters known as Esau (love/charity) and Jacob (faith/truth) express basically the same spiritual meaning, which is why it is said that the "elder shall serve the younger".

Actually it isn't so, but it is portrayed as such to accord with the reality that the younger (faith/truth) is generally considered more important to the natural sight and inclination of humankind, with the recognition that love/charity is the actual primary thing of the Church being a latter realisation.

These concepts and portrayals can be quite challenging, and one has made every effort to be precise and clear; but one begs understanding for the difficulty of presenting these matters in everyday speech.

Despite this difficulty, it is important to note these things or else the symbolic pairs of characters mentioned will not make sense. Other than this, be alert for A : b :: B : a everywhere in the Bible. Offhand and to conclude, one would mention the following verse: "And when the Lord saw that Leah was hated, He opened her womb: but Rachel was barren" (Genesis 29:31).