4147. Verses 31-32 And Jacob answered and said to Laban, Because I was afraid; for I said, Perhaps you will take your daughters from me by force. Anyone with whom you find your gods shall not live in the presence of our brothers. Examine for yourself what is with me, and take them to yourself. And Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.

'Jacob answered and said to Laban, Because I was afraid; for I said, Perhaps you will take your daughters from me by force' means the nature of the state if the separation had taken place with the free consent of that good, in that harm would have been done to it so far as affections for truth were concerned. 'Anyone with whom you find your gods shall not live in the presence of our brothers' means that that truth was not 'Laban's', and that what was 'Laban's' truth could not reside in his - 'Jacob's' - good. 'Examine for yourself what is with me, and take them to yourself' means that everything belonging to that good had been separated. 'And Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them' means that they belonged to the affection for interior truth.