5352. 'For God has made me forget all my labour' means a removal after temptations have finished. This is clear from the meaning of 'forgetting' as removal, 5170, 5278; and from the meaning of 'labour' as conflicts, and so temptations. From these meanings one may see that 'God has made me forget all my labour' means a removal after temptations - a removal of the evils that caused distress. The fact that these things are meant is also evident from what is recorded about Joseph in the land of Canaan when among his brothers, and after that in Egypt. In the land of Canaan he was thrown into the pit and sold; in Egypt he served as a slave and was kept in prison for several years. Temptations were meant by those experiences, as has been shown already; and the fact that those experiences are what is meant by 'labour' is self-evident.

3548. 'He went to his father, and said, My father. And he said, Behold, here I am; who are you, my son?' means a state of perception resulting from the presence of that truth. This becomes clear from the representation of Isaac, to whom 'father' refers here, and from the representation of Jacob, to whom 'son' refers, dealt with several times already; and also from the meaning of 'saying' as perceiving, also dealt with already. From these and all the other expressions used it is evident that it is a state of perception resulting from the presence of the truth represented by 'Jacob'. But the nature of this truth represented at this point by Jacob is evident from the internal sense of what comes before and after - that in outward form it is like the good and the truth acquired from good which are represented by 'Esau' and meant by his venison, but it is not so in inward form. With one who is being regenerated, that is, prior to his having been regenerated, the truth of the natural presents this outward appearance. Not indeed that the person himself sees it, for he is quite unaware of the presence of good and truth with him while he is being regenerated; but the eyes of angels who see such things in the light of heaven do behold it. Man is not even aware of what the good and the truth of the natural are, and being unaware of what they are he cannot perceive them. And because he does not perceive them in general nor is able to perceive them in particular, he does not perceive their differences, let alone their changes of state. Not perceiving these he is scarcely able to grasp from any description of them what this good and its truth are like. But as they are the subject in this chapter, an explanation is going to be given, so far as this can be made intelligible.