4396. 'And he encamped towards the face of the city' means application, that is to say, to the goods of that truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'encamping', strictly speaking, as an arrangement in conformity with true order, dealt with in 4236, though here application, since encamping here denotes settling down with his herds and flocks, which above in 4364 have also been called 'a camp'; and from the meaning of 'towards the face of the city' as towards the goods of that truth, for 'the face' means things that are interior, 358, 1999, 2434, 3527, 3573, 4066, and consequently affections for good or truth which shine out of the face. 'The city' means truth, see 402, 2268, 2449, 2451, 2712, 2943, 3216.

4066. 'And Jacob saw Laban's face' means a change of state with that good when the good meant by Jacob was departing from it. This is clear from the representation of 'Jacob' as the good of the Natural, and from the representation of 'Laban' as intermediate good, both of which have often been dealt with already; and from the meaning of 'the face' as things that are interior, 358, 1999, 2434, 3527, 3573, in this case as changes of such interiors, or what amounts to the same, changes of state, for it is said that he saw his face 'and behold, he was not at all friendly towards him as before'. The reason why in the Word the things that are interior are meant by 'the face' is that those things shine out of a person's face, and present themselves in his face as in a mirror or in an image; and so 'the face' or the countenance means the states in which a person's thoughts and those in which his affections reside.