4077. 'And your father has deceived me, and has changed my wages in ten ways' means the state of good in relation to Himself when, acting of Himself, He applied to Himself the things which constituted that good, and also a very great change in that good. This is clear from the meaning of 'father', who in this case is Laban, as intermediate good, dealt with already; from the meaning of 'wages' as His acting of Himself, dealt with in 3996, 3999; and from the meaning of 'ten ways' as a very great change - 'ten' meaning very great, 1988, and 'ways' changes. All this implies a change in the actual state of that good when, acting of Himself, the Lord applied to Himself the things constituting that good. Now if instead of the good meant by 'Laban' a community of spirits or angels is thought of such as are governed by that kind of good, what is involved is then made plain. Communities do not readily depart from someone with whom they have been present; but when a person with whom they are present departs they become annoyed, and they react in a way similar to Laban's behaviour here towards Jacob. Indeed even if they do perceive that some good has come to that person through them they say that it has done so from them; for when they are annoyed evil governs what they say.

[2] A similar situation exists with a person who is being regenerated. That is to say, the Lord applies communities to that person which serve to introduce genuine goods and truths, not from those communities but through them. And when the one who is being regenerated is transferred to other communities those which have been present hitherto are annoyed. But such communities are not visible to him because he does not believe that he is within any community of spirits or angels. They are however clearly visible to angels, and also to those who in the Lord's Divine mercy are allowed to talk to them and go among them as one of them. This is how I have been given to know about such things.

[3] Spirits deplore very much the fact that man does not know about such things too, not even that they are present with him, and more still the fact that many deny not only their presence but also the very existence of hell and of heaven. This ignorance however they attribute to human stupidity, for man does not in actual fact possess the smallest amount of thought or the smallest amount of will except by means of influx through those spirits themselves from the Lord. And it is through them as a means that the Lord governs the human race, and in particular every member of it.

3982. 'And he said, Indicate your wages to me, and I will give them' means that it would of itself impart that which was desired. This becomes clear without explanation. The things that have been mentioned up to now are not such as can be explained easily and intelligibly. One reason for this is that the mind cannot be turned away instantaneously from the historical details concerning Laban and Jacob to the spiritual matters which are the subject in the internal sense; for the historical picture always lingers and fills one's whole mental view, and yet it must completely fade so to speak, in order that things which are not historical may be comprehended in a connected sequence. Another reason why the things mentioned up to now cannot be explained intelligibly is that one needs to have a clear conception of the types of good which the two of them - Laban and Jacob - represent. And one also needs to know that the good which Laban represents is such that it is of limited use - namely the use it serves to introduce genuine truths and goods; and that once it has performed that use it is discarded. The nature of that good has been discussed already. It is like the unripe part of fruits when they are first formed. Through that which is unripe, juice is introduced, and once the unripe part has served its purpose it passes away and the fruits ripen by means of other fibres, and at length by means of the fibres carrying the real juice.

[2] It is well known that a person learns many things in early and later childhood, the sole purpose being that through them as means he may learn things that are more useful, and then through these, things that are more useful still, until finally he learns those that have to do with eternal life; and that when he learns the latter the earlier things he has learnt are virtually obliterated. In a similar way when somebody is being born anew from the Lord he is led by means of many affections for good and truth which are not affections for genuine good and truth but those which enable him to have a mental grasp of the genuine and after that to be endued with them. Once he has been endued with them the previous things sink into oblivion and are discarded, because they have served solely as means. The same also applies to the parallel good meant by 'Laban' in relation to the good of truth meant by 'Jacob', and also by each one's flock, dealt with below.

[3] These are the arcana contained in these words and those that follow, but they have been conveyed within a historical description so that the Word may be read with pleasure even by children and by the simple - the end in view being that when these persons take delight in the historical sense the angels present with them may enter into the holiness of the internal sense; for the internal sense is suited to the intelligence of angels, while the external sense is suited to that of men. In this way man is in fellowship with angels, though he is not directly conscious of it. All that he perceives from that fellowship is a kind of delight in which holiness is present.