4137. 'For I might have sent you away with gladness and with songs' means the state in which - thinking from the proprium - it had believed itself to be as regards truths. This is clear from the meaning of 'I might have sent you away' as that it would have separated itself in freedom. But the fact that it had not separated itself when in that state is clear from what has been stated already in 4113. From this it is evident that these words were uttered by Laban in the state in which - thinking from the proprium - he had believed himself to be. For when a person's belief is based on his own thought it is not the truth, whereas when it is not based on his own thought but is received from the Lord it is based on the truth. The state referred to at this point is a state as regards truths, and this is meant by 'sending away with gladness and with songs', for gladness and songs have reference to truths.

[2] In the Word the expressions 'gladness' and 'joy' are used in various places, sometimes the two appearing together. But 'gladness' is used when truth or the affection for truth is the subject, and 'joy' when good or the affection for good is, as in Isaiah,

Behold, joy and gladness consist in slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine. Isaiah 22:13.

Here 'joy' has reference to good and 'gladness' to truth. In the same prophet,

There will be an outcry in the streets over [the lack of] wine, all gladness will be made desolate, and the joy of the earth ¹ will be banished. Isaiah 24:11.

In the same prophet,

The ransomed of Jehovah will return, and come to Zion with song, and everlasting joy upon their heads; they will obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing will flee away. Isaiah 35:10; 51:11.

In the same prophet,

Jehovah will comfort Zion. Joy and gladness will be found in her, confession and the voice of song. Isaiah 51:3.

In Jeremiah,

I will make to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, for the land will become a waste. Jeremiah 7:34; 25:10.

In the same prophet,

The voice of joy and the voice of gladness, and the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those that say, Give thanks ² to Jehovah Zebaoth. Jeremiah 33:11.

In the same prophet,

Joy and exultation have been plucked from Carmel, and from the land of Moab. Jeremiah 48:33

In Joel,

Is not the food cut off before our eyes, gladness and exultation from the house of our God? Joel 1:16.

In Zechariah, The fast will be to the house of Judah one of joy and gladness and good feasts. Zechariah 8:19.

[3] Anyone who does not know that the heavenly marriage, that is, the marriage of good and truth, is present in every detail of the Word might suppose that these two - joy and gladness - are exactly the same as each other and that both are used merely for the sake of greater emphasis, so that one of them is superfluous. But this is not the case, for not even the smallest part of an expression is used which lacks the spiritual sense. In the places that have been quoted, and in others too, 'joy' has reference to good and 'gladness' to truth, see also 3118. The fact that 'songs' also has reference to truths is clear from many places in the Word where songs are mentioned, for example Isaiah 5:1; 24:9; 26:1; 30:29; 42:10; Ezekiel 26:13; Amos 5:23; and elsewhere.

[4] It should be recognized that everything in the Lord's kingdom has reference either to good or to truth, that is, to the things that are aspects of love or to those that are aspects of faith wedded to charity. Those which have reference to good or aspects of love are called celestial, while those which have reference to truth or aspects of faith wedded to charity are called spiritual. Since in every single detail of the Word the Lord's kingdom is the subject and in the highest sense the Lord Himself; and since the Lord's kingdom consists in a marriage of goodness and truth, or the heavenly marriage, and the Lord Himself is the one in whom the Divine marriage exists and from whom the heavenly marriage derives, that marriage is present in every single part of the Word. It stands out in particular in the Prophets where repetitions of one and the same thing occur with merely a change of words. In no case however are those repetitions pointless, for one expression means that which is celestial, that is, which has to do with love or good, and the other that which is spiritual, that is, which has to do with faith wedded to charity, or with truth. These considerations show how the heavenly marriage, that is, the Lord's kingdom, is present in every detail of the Word, and how in the highest sense the Divine marriage itself or the Lord is present there.

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4113. 'By not giving him any indication that he was fleeing' means through the separation. This becomes clear without explanation. The statement that 'Jacob stole the heart of Laban the Aramean by not giving any indication that he was fleeing' is used in the historical sense to mean that Jacob deprived Laban of the hope of gaining possession of everything that was his and drove him into a state of dismay. For Laban believed that because Jacob served him everything belonging to Jacob would become his - not only his own daughters, who were Jacob's wives, and his daughters' sons, but also Jacob's flocks, according to the law known and accepted in those times, which is recorded in Moses,

If you buy a Hebrew slave he shall serve you six years; and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing. If his master has given him a wife and she has borne him sons and daughters, the wife and her children shall belong to her master, and he shall go out by himself. ¹ Exodus 21:2, 4.

The fact that Laban had this law in mind is evident from Jacob's words later on in this chapter,

Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Dread of Isaac, had been with me, you would now have sent me away empty-handed. Genesis 31:42.

And from Laban's words,

Laban answered and said to Jacob, The daughters are my daughters, and the sons are my sons, and the flock is my flock, and all that you see is mine. Genesis 31:43.

Laban was not taking into consideration the fact that Jacob had not been bought as a slave, nor indeed was a slave, or that he belonged to a more illustrious family than he himself did, or also that Jacob had received his wives as well as the flock as wages. All this being so, that law did not apply to Jacob. Because by his fleeing Jacob now deprived Laban of that hope and as a consequence drove him into a state of dismay it is said that 'he stole the heart of Laban the Aramean by not giving any indication that he was fleeing'. In the internal sense however these words mean a change as regards good of the state meant by 'Laban' through separation. Concerning a change of state effected through separation, see what has been stated just above in 4111.

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