3149. 'And [food] was set before him to eat' means that the affection for good in the natural man wished to make Divine things its own. This is clear from the representation of 'Laban', who 'set' the food before him, as the affection for good in the natural man, dealt with in 3129, 3130, and from the meaning of 'eating' as being communicated and made one's own, dealt with in 2187, 2343, that is to say, the Divine things, spoken of above in 3140, 3141.

In Genesis 41:3, this signifies progress from what is external to what is internal. (Arcana Coelestia 5202)