4163. Verses 36-42 And Jacob was incensed and wrangled with Laban; and Jacob answered and said to Laban, What is my transgression, what is my sin, that you have hotly pursued after me? Because you have felt around all my vessels, what have you found belonging to all the vessels of your house? Put it here in front of my brothers and your brothers, and let them decide between the two of us. These twenty years I have been with you; your sheep and your she-goats have not miscarried, and I have not eaten the rams of your flock. That which was torn [by beasts] I did not bring to you; I myself bore the loss of it; from my hand you required it - that stolen by day and that stolen by night. This is how I was: By day the heat consumed me, and the cold by night; and my sleep was banished from my eyes. These twenty years I have served you in your house - fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock; and you have changed my wages in ten ways. 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. My affliction and the tiredness of my hands ¹ God has seen, and has given judgement last night.

'Jacob was incensed and wrangled with Laban' means the zeal of the natural. 'And Jacob answered and said to Laban, What is my transgression, what is my sin, that you have hotly pursued after me?' means that it was not because of evil that it had separated itself. 'Because you have felt all around my vessels, what have you found belonging to all the vessels of your house?' means that no truths had been that good's very own but all had been given. 'Put it here in front of my brothers and your brothers, and let them decide between the two of us' means that judgement should be made on the basis of that which is just and fair. 'These twenty years I have been with you' means the proprium. 'Your sheep and your she-goats have not miscarried' means its state as regards good and the good of truth. 'And I have not eaten the rams of your flock' means the truth of good, in that He took nothing of his. 'That which was torn [by beasts] I did not bring to you' means that evil for which He was not blameworthy resided with that good. 'I myself bore the loss of it' means that good came out of it. 'From my hand you required it' means that it came from Himself. 'That stolen by day and that stolen by night' means the evil of merit-seeking in a similar way. 'This is how I was: By day the heat consumed me, and the cold by night; and my sleep was banished from my eyes' means temptations. 'These twenty years I have served you in your house' means the proprium. 'Fourteen years for your two daughters' means the first period, the purpose of which was that He might acquire to Himself the affections for truth. 'And six years for your flock' means the purpose of which was that He might acquire good after that. 'And you have changed my wages in ten ways' means its state towards Him when He was linking those goods to Himself. 'Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Dread of Isaac, had been with me' means but for the Divine and the Divine Human. 'You would now have sent me away empty-handed' means that it would have claimed all things to itself. 'My affliction and the tiredness of my hands God has seen, and has given judgement last night' means that all things were effected by Him by His own power.

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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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