4195. And Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha. That this signifies its quality on the part of the good represented by Laban, is evident from the signification of “calling,” and of “calling by name,” as being the quality (see n. 144, 145, 1754, 2009, 2724, 3421). In the idiom of Syria whence Laban came, “Jegar-sahadutha” means “the heap of witness.” In ancient times such heaps were for a sign, or for a witness, and afterwards were also for worship; here, for a sign and for a witness; for a sign, that the boundary was there; and for a witness, that a covenant was made there, and that neither of them should pass it to do evil to the other; as is evident also from Laban’s words:

This heap be witness, and the pillar be witness, that I will not pass over this heap to thee, and that thou shalt not pass over this heap to me, and this pillar, for evil (Genesis 31:52).

From this it is manifest what “Jegar-sahadutha” (or “the heap of witness”) involves. But in the internal sense it signifies the quality of good from truths on the part of Laban, that is, on the part of those who are in the goods of works, that is, on the part of the Gentiles.