Arcana Coelestia #4364
4364. And he said, What to thee are all these camps which I met? That this signifies the special things which are thence derived, is evident from the signification here of “camps,” as being special things; for they are those enumerated in the foregoing chapter (verses 14-15), namely, two hundred she-goats, and twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty milch camels and their colts, forty heifers and ten bullocks, twenty she-asses and ten foals; by which were meant goods and truths with their things of service, by means of which initiation might be effected (see n. 4263, 4264), consequently special things. The special things here referred to are nothing else than such as confirm truths as being true, and goods as being good. They are accessory to the man’s thoughts and affections, that is, to the things which he knows and loves, and on account of which he favors and affirms a thing to be so. The presents which in the church of olden time were given to kings and priests likewise involved such things. It is well known that another is brought over to one’s opinion, or to what we say is good and true, both by reasons and by affections; and it is these very confirmatory things that are meant by “special things,” and are here signified by “camps;” for which reason it is said that these camps were “to find grace in the eyes of my lord;” and afterwards, “if I pray I have found grace in thine eyes, then accept my present from my hand.”
[2] The case is the same in spiritual things, or in matters of faith, when these are being conjoined with the good of charity. Man believes that goods and truths flow in immediately from heaven, thus without mediums within him; but he is much mistaken. The Lord leads everyone by means of his affections, and thus bends him by a tacit providence, for He leads him through freedom (n. 1937, 1947). That all freedom is of affection or love, may be seen above (n. 2870, 2873); and hence all the conjunction of good with truth is effected in freedom, but not in compulsion (n. 2875-2878, 2881, 3145, 3146, 3158, 4031). When therefore man has been led in freedom to good, truths are then accepted and implanted, and he begins to be affected by them, and is thus introduced little by little into heavenly freedom. When one who has been regenerated (that is, who loves his neighbor, and still more who loves the Lord) reflects upon his past life, he will find that he has been led by many things of his thought and by many of his affection.
[3] What is here specifically meant by the special things which are thence derived, may be seen more clearly from examples. Let the truth which is to be instilled into good be this-that man has life after death. This truth is not accepted unless it is confirmed by special things, as by these-that a man can think not only of the things he sees and feels, but also of those which he does not see and feel; that he can also be affected by them; that he can be conjoined with them by affection, consequently with heaven, nay with the Lord Himself; and that he who can be conjoined with the Divine, can never die. These and many more such things are the special things which first occur, before this truth is being instilled into good, that is, before it is fully believed. This truth does indeed first submit itself, but still the special things cause it to be accepted.
[4] Take as another example the truth that man is a spirit, and that he is clothed with a body while he lives in the world. This also is a truth which is to be instilled into good; for unless it has been so instilled, the man cares nothing for heaven, for he then thinks of himself as he does of the brute animals. But this truth cannot be instilled except by means of special things, as by these-that the body which he carries about serves for uses in this world, namely, that he may see the things that are in the world with material eyes, and may act by material muscles, thereby having powers that are adapted to the heavy things in the world; and that nevertheless there is something more interior which thinks and wills of which the body is the instrumental or material organ; and that a man’s spirit is himself, or the man himself, who acts and feels through these organic forms; and that he can confirm this by many of his own experiences if he is once in the belief that the case is so. All these are special things, which are set forth in advance, and which cause the truth itself that is in question to be instilled into good; and they are derived from it. It is these and similar things that are here signified by the “camps.”
Genesis 31
1
He heard the words of Laban's sons, saying, "Jacob has taken away all that was our father's. From that which was our father's, has he gotten all this wealth."
2
Jacob saw the expression on Laban's face, and, behold, it was not toward him as before.
3
Yahweh said to Jacob, "Return to the land of your fathers, and to your relatives, and I will be with you."
4
Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field to his flock,
5
and said to them, "I see the expression on your father's face, that it is not toward me as before; but the God of my father has been with me.
6
You know that I have served your father with all of my strength.
7
Your father has deceived me, and changed my wages ten times, but God didn't allow him to hurt me.
8
If he said this, 'The speckled will be your wages,' then all the flock bore speckled. If he said this, 'The streaked will be your wages,' then all the flock bore streaked.
9
Thus God has taken away your father's livestock, and given them to me.
10
It happened during mating season that I lifted up my eyes, and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats which leaped on the flock were streaked, speckled, and grizzled.
11
The angel of God said to me in the dream, 'Jacob,' and I said, 'Here I am.'
12
He said, 'Now lift up your eyes, and behold, all the male goats which leap on the flock are streaked, speckled, and grizzled, for I have seen all that Laban does to you.
13
I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you vowed a vow to me. Now arise, get out from this land, and return to the land of your birth.'"
14
Rachel and Leah answered him, "Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house?
15
Aren't we accounted by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and has also quite devoured our money.
16
For all the riches which God has taken away from our father, that is ours and our children's. Now then, whatever God has said to you, do."
17
Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives on the camels,
18
and he took away all his livestock, and all his possessions which he had gathered, including the livestock which he had gained in Paddan Aram, to go to Isaac his father, to the land of Canaan.
19
Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep: and Rachel stole the teraphim that were her father's.
20
Jacob deceived Laban the Syrian, in that he didn't tell him that he was running away.
21
So he fled with all that he had. He rose up, passed over the River, and set his face toward the mountain of Gilead.
22
Laban was told on the third day that Jacob had fled.
23
He took his relatives with him, and pursued after him seven days' journey. He overtook him in the mountain of Gilead.
24
God came to Laban, the Syrian, in a dream of the night, and said to him, "Take heed to yourself that you don't speak to Jacob either good or bad."
25
Laban caught up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountain, and Laban with his relatives encamped in the mountain of Gilead.
26
Laban said to Jacob, "What have you done, that you have deceived me, and carried away my daughters like captives of the sword?
27
Why did you flee secretly, and deceive me, and didn't tell me, that I might have sent you away with mirth and with songs, with tambourine and with harp;
28
and didn't allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters? Now have you done foolishly.
29
It is in the power of my hand to hurt you, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, 'Take heed to yourself that you don't speak to Jacob either good or bad.'
30
Now, you want to be gone, because you greatly longed for your father's house, but why have you stolen my gods?"
31
Jacob answered Laban, "Because I was afraid, for I said, 'Lest you should take your daughters from me by force.'
32
Anyone you find your gods with shall not live. Before our relatives, discern what is yours with me, and take it." For Jacob didn't know that Rachel had stolen them.
33
Laban went into Jacob's tent, into Leah's tent, and into the tent of the two female servants; but he didn't find them. He went out of Leah's tent, and entered into Rachel's tent.
34
Now Rachel had taken the teraphim, put them in the camel's saddle, and sat on them. Laban felt about all the tent, but didn't find them.
35
She said to her father, "Don't let my lord be angry that I can't rise up before you; for I'm having my period." He searched, but didn't find the teraphim.
36
Jacob was angry, and argued with Laban. Jacob answered Laban, "What is my trespass? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued after me?
37
Now that you have felt around in all my stuff, what have you found of all your household stuff? Set it here before my relatives and your relatives, that they may judge between us two.
38
"These twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and your female goats have not cast their young, and I haven't eaten the rams of your flocks.
39
That which was torn of animals, I didn't bring to you. I bore its loss. Of my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night.
40
This was my situation: in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep fled from my eyes.
41
These twenty years I have been in your house. I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times.
42
Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty. God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night."
43
Laban answered Jacob, "The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine: and what can I do this day to these my daughters, or to their children whom they have borne?
44
Now come, let us make a covenant, you and I; and let it be for a witness between me and you."
45
Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a pillar.
46
Jacob said to his relatives, "Gather stones." They took stones, and made a heap. They ate there by the heap.
47
Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed.
48
Laban said, "This heap is witness between me and you this day." Therefore it was named Galeed
49
and Mizpah, for he said, "Yahweh watch between me and you, when we are absent one from another.
50
If you afflict my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, no man is with us; behold, God is witness between me and you."
51
Laban said to Jacob, "See this heap, and see the pillar, which I have set between me and you.
52
May this heap be a witness, and the pillar be a witness, that I will not pass over this heap to you, and that you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, for harm.
53
The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us." Then Jacob swore by the fear of his father, Isaac.
54
Jacob offered a sacrifice in the mountain, and called his relatives to eat bread. They ate bread, and stayed all night in the mountain.
55
Early in the morning, Laban rose up, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them. Laban departed and returned to his place.
