3160. 'And Laban answered, then Bethuel, and they said, From Jehovah has this thing come; we cannot speak to you bad or good' means acknowledgement that it was the Lord's alone. This could be shown by an explanation of the internal sense of all the individual words; yet the inference to be drawn is evident without any such explanation. 'From Jehovah has this thing come' clearly means that it is from the Lord, because the name 'Jehovah' mentioned so many times in the Old Testament is used to mean no one other than the Lord, see 1343, 1736, 1815, 2156, 2329, 2921, 3023, 3035. The embodiment of arcana within these words may be known from the consideration that here it was Laban - the brother - who answered, and then Bethuel - the father - not the father and the mother; and that the virgin herself did not answer until after that. The reason for this is that Laban as her brother represents the affection for good in the natural man, 3129, 3130, and Bethuel the origin of the affection for good. The affection for good and the affection for truth in the natural man are related to each other as brother and sister. But the affection for truth once summoned from the natural man into the rational man and joined to good there is as a married woman.

[2] The arcanum embodied here in Laban and Bethuel's manner of reply - that is, in the brother speaking first, then the father - is that when good from the rational man flows into the natural man, it does not flow directly into the truth there but into the good, and then by way of the good into the truth. Unless that good flows in as described, the affection for truth cannot come into being. The affection for good in the natural man is that which acknowledges, and so is the first to consent, for a direct communication exists between rational good and natural good, but no direct communication between rational good and natural truth. Regarding the parallelism that exists between them, see 1831, 1832. Here two ancient customary sayings occur - 'from Jehovah has the thing come' meaning that it was done by Jehovah, and also 'we cannot speak to you bad or good' meaning that people did not dare either to deny or to affirm. Reference to the acknowledgement being the Lord's alone follows next.

3166. 'And he gave precious things to her brother' means spiritual things passing from there to natural good. This is clear from the meaning of 'precious things' as spiritual things, dealt with in what follows, and from the meaning of 'a brother' as natural good, dealt with in 3160, and also of 'Laban', to whom 'her brother' refers here, as the affection for good in the natural man, dealt with in 3129, 3130. It is also clear from other parts of the Word that 'precious things' means spiritual things, for example, from the reference to Joseph in Moses,

Blessed by Jehovah is his land, in regard to the precious things of heaven, to the dew, and to the deep lying beneath, and to the precious things of the fruits of the sun, and to the precious things of the produce of the months, and to the precious things of the eternal hills, and to the precious things of the earth and of its fulness. Deuteronomy 33:13-16.

Here 'the precious things of heaven', 'the precious things of the fruits of the sun', 'the precious things of the produce of the months', 'the precious things of the eternal hills', and 'the precious things of the earth' mean various kinds of spiritual things. The word 'precious' was also applied to precious stones, pearls, balms, spices, and similar commodities, which all mean spiritual things.

[2] What spiritual things are has been stated many times already, namely that in the Lord's kingdom there are celestial things and there are spiritual things. Celestial things are forms of good, spiritual things forms of truth from that good. Nothing exists in the universe that is unrelated to good or to truth. Everything to do with use and life is related to good, whereas everything to do with doctrine and knowledge, in particular concerning use and life, is related to truth. Or what amounts to the same, that which belongs to the will is called good or evil, whereas that which belongs to the understanding is referred to as truth or falsity. Good therefore, being that alone which is the expression of love and charity and which flows in from the Lord, is celestial, whereas truth, being that which springs from good, is spiritual. The reason 'precious things' were given to the brother when 'vessels of silver, vessels of gold, and garments' were given to the sister when she became a bride was that the brother meant good in the natural man, and this good is enlightened when truth is introduced into good in the rational. Indeed this is the origin of all enlightenment of good and truth in the natural man.