4198. 'And Mizpah, for he said, Let Jehovah watch between me and you' means the presence of the Lord's Divine Natural, that is to say, within the good that 'Laban' represents now. This is clear from the meaning of 'watching' or keeping watch as presence, for one who keeps watch on another, or sees him from high up in a watchtower, is present with his sense of sight with him below. What is more, when used in reference to the Lord, 'seeing' means Foresight and Providence, 2837, 2839, 3686, 3854, 3863, and so presence too, but through Foresight and Providence.

[2] As regards the Lord's presence, the Lord is present with everyone, yet only to the extent He is received; for all receive their life from the Lord alone. The life in people who receive His presence within good and truth is the life of intelligence and wisdom, whereas the life of those who do not receive His presence within good and truth but within evil and falsity is the life of insanity and foolishness. All the same, the latter have the capacity to be intelligent and wise. The fact that they do have that capacity is shown by their knowing how to counterfeit and imitate the outward appearance of what is good and true and to win people over by means of that outward appearance. This would not be possible if they did not have that capacity. The nature of the presence is meant by 'Mizpah', at this point the nature of it with those whose works are inherently good, that is, with the gentiles, who are represented here by 'Laban'. Indeed the name Mizpah in the original language is derived from the verb 'to watch'.

4192. 'Gather stones; and they took stones and made a heap' means truths arising out of good. This is clear from the meaning of 'stones' as truths, dealt with just above in 4190, and from the meaning of 'a heap' as good. The reason why 'a heap' means good is that in former times before they used to construct altars people made heaps and ate on them as a witness to their being joined together in love. But later on, when the representatives of the ancients were regarded as being holy, instead of heaps they built altars, which also consisted of stones but arranged more methodically, Joshua 22:28, 34. This is why 'a heap' has a similar meaning to an altar, namely the good of love, the stones of it meaning the truths of faith.