4111. 'And Rachel stole the teraphim which belonged to her father' means a change, as regards truth, of the state meant by 'Laban'. This is clear from the meaning of 'stealing' here as taking away that which is cherished and holy, and so changing the state; from the meaning of 'the teraphim' as truths, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'father', who in this case is Laban, as the good meant by him, dealt with already. 'Father' too means good, 3703. From this it is evident that 'Rachel stole the teraphim which belonged to her father' means a change, as regards truth, of the state meant by 'Laban'.

[2] What is implied in all this may be seen from the state in which spirits dwell when they are being separated. The states of good and truth in which spirits dwell are determined by the communities they are in, for as shown already, all thought flows in through others, doing so most immediately through those in whose community they are at the time. When therefore they are removed from one community and sent into another the states of their thoughts and affections are changed, and so therefore are the states of truth and good in which they dwell. If however they are sent into communities unlike themselves they take no delight in it, and consequently feel coerced; and therefore they are separated from them and taken to communities which are like themselves. This explains why the evil are unable to be present in and to stay among communities of the good, or the good to do so among communities of the evil, and also why all spirits and angels are distinguished into separate communities in accordance with those affections that belong to love. But every affection belonging to love contains many and varying features, 3078, 3189, 4005, though one feature is predominant. Each spirit therefore is capable of being in a number of communities, but he strives to get to the one in which his predominant affection reigns, and to which at length he is brought.

[3] As regards the good meant by 'Laban' and a change in the state of that good, as long as it was present with the good represented by 'Jacob' it was closer to the Divine; for 'Jacob' means that good within the Natural, and being closer to the Divine was also at that time in a more perfect state of truth and good. But when it was separated from it, it entered another state as regards truth and good, for in general changes of state in the next life are nothing else than movements towards the Divine or away from the Divine. This then shows what is understood by a change of state when the good meant by 'Laban' was separated.

[4] The reason why 'Rachel stole the teraphim which belonged to her father' means a change of state as regard truth is that by 'the teraphim' are meant his gods, as is evident from what follows below. For in verse 30 Laban says to Jacob, 'Why did you steal my gods?' and in verse 32 Jacob replies, 'Anyone with whom you find your gods shall not live in the presence of our brothers'. In the internal sense 'gods' means truths, which is also the reason why the name 'God' is used in the Word when truth is the subject, see 2586, 2769, 2807, 2822.

[5] The teraphim were idols which were used when people consulted God or asked Him something. And because the replies which they received were to those people Divine truths, truths were therefore meant by them, as in Hosea,

The children of Israel sat many days with no king and with no prince and with no sacrifice, nor ephod and teraphim. Hosea 3:4.

'Ephod and teraphim' stands for Divine truths which they received through the replies given, for when they asked God something they also put on the ephod, 1 Samuel 23:9-12. In Zechariah,

The teraphim speak iniquity, and the diviners see a lie, and the dreams speak vanity. Zechariah 10:2.

Here too 'the teraphim' stands for replies, but in that state iniquitous ones.

[6] And because 'the teraphim' had this kind of meaning, some also had them in their houses, even though this was forbidden. One such person was Micah, in the Book of Judges,

Micah had a house of God and he made an ephod and teraphim, and he consecrated ¹ one of his sons to be his priest. And some of the Danites said to their brethren, Do you know that in these houses there is an ephod and teraphim, and a graven image and a molten image? And when they had entered Micah's house and took the graven image, the ephod and the teraphim, and the molten image... And the priest's heart was glad, ² and he took the ephod and the teraphim, and the graven image. And Micah pursued the children of Dan, then he said, You have taken my gods which I made, and the priest, and have gone away. What have I more? Judges 17:5; 18:14, 18, 20, 24.

Michal too, David's wife, had them, as described in 1 Samuel,

Michal, David's wife, took the teraphim, and placed them in the bed and covered them over with a garment. Saul's messengers came, but behold, the teraphim were in the bed. 1 Samuel 19:13, 16.

The fact that they were however idols which were forbidden is evident from what is said in reference to them in 1 Samuel 15:23; 2 Kings 23:24; Ezekiel 21:21.

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1152. And wine and oil signifies profaned worship from truths and goods that are from a celestial origin. This is evident from the signification of "wine," as being truth (of which presently); also from the signification of "oil," as being good from a celestial origin (See n. 375). "Wine" signifies truth from a celestial origin because it is here joined with "oil" which means good from that origin. For in this verse, as in the former, there are pairs, of which one signifies what belongs to truth, and the other what belongs to good, both from the same origin; and from this it follows that "wine" signifies truth from a celestial origin, because "oil" signifies good from that origin. That "wine" in the Word signifies truth or spiritual good may be seen above (n. 376); for truth from a celestial origin coincides with spiritual good. It is the same with oil; when the oil of holy anointing is meant, "oil" signifies the good of celestial love, but when the oil with which they anointed themselves on festal days is meant, it signifies the good of spiritual love.

(Continuation respecting the Athanasian Faith)

[2] It has been said above that it is a law of the Divine providence that man himself should compel himself; but this means that he should compel himself from evil, and does not mean that he should compel himself to good; for it is possible for man to compel himself from evil, but not to compel himself to good that in itself is good. For when a man compels himself to good and has not compelled himself from evil he does good from himself and not from the Lord, for he compels himself to it for the sake of self, or for the sake of the world, or for the sake of recompense, or from fear; and such good is not in itself good, because the man himself or the world or recompense is in it as its end, and not the good itself, thus neither the Lord; and it is love and not fear that makes good to be good. For example, to compel oneself to do good to one's neighbor, to give to the poor, to endow churches, to do what is righteous, thus to compel oneself to charity and truth before compelling oneself from evils and thereby removing them, would be like a palliative treatment by which the disease or ulcer is healed externally; or like an adulterer compelling himself to act chastely, or a proud man to act humbly, or a dishonest man to act honestly in external conduct.

[3] But when a man compels himself from evils he purifies his internal, and when that is purified he does good from freedom without compelling himself to do it; for so far as a man compels himself from evil so far he comes into heavenly freedom, and everything good that is in itself good is from that freedom, and to such good man does not compel himself. The appearance is that compelling oneself from evil and compelling oneself to good necessarily go together, but they do not. I know from the evidence of experience of many who have compelled themselves to do goods, but not from evils; and when such were explored it was found that evils from within clung to the goods, and in consequence their goods were like idols or images made of clay or dung; and it was said that such persons believe that God may be gained over by praise and gifts, even from an impure heart. Nevertheless, before the world a man may compel himself to goods without compelling himself from evil, since in the world he is rewarded for so doing; for in the world the external is regarded and rarely the internal; but before God it is not so.