4136. 'Why was it that you concealed your flight, and stole from me, and gave me no indication' means the nature of the state if the separation had taken place with its free consent. This is clear from the meaning of 'concealing your flight' as the separating [of genuine good meant by 'Jacob'] without the consent [of intermediate good meant by 'Laban'], for 'fleeing' means being separated, see 4113, 4114, 4120; from the meaning of 'stealing from me' as taking away that which is cherished and holy, dealt with in 4112, 4133; and from the meaning in this case of 'giving me no indication' as through separation, dealt with in 4113. From all these meanings it follows that these words mean that the separation had taken place without its consent, when it ought to have taken place with its free consent. A state of freedom and consent is meant and described by the words which immediately follow - 'I might have sent you away with gladness and with songs, with drums and with harps'. These however are words used by Laban which express what he believed the situation to be then. But as to what happens with those people who are being regenerated, when intermediate good is separated from genuine good, that is to say, how this is effected with its free consent, see above in 4110, 4111.

[2] None of this can be seen by man since he has no knowledge of how different kinds of good exist with him, still less of how the state of each form of good undergoes change. He does not even have any knowledge of how the good present with him in early childhood is different from and is changed into that of later childhood, or of how this is changed into the good succeeding that, which belongs to youth, and after this into the good belonging to adult years, and lastly into that of old age. With people who are not being regenerated no good undergoes change, only affections and accompanying delights; but with those who are being regenerated changes of state take place with every form of good. And this process continues from early childhood through to the last phase of their life. For the Lord foresees what kind of life someone is going to lead and how he is going to allow the Lord to lead him. And since every single thing, even the smallest, is foreseen, it is also provided. But as for the ways in which changes of state take place with those forms of good, man has no knowledge at all, the chief reason being that he does not possess any cognitions concerning this matter and does not at the present day wish to possess them. And because the Lord does not take the direct way into man to teach him but enters into the cognitions he knows and so takes the indirect way, man cannot possibly have any knowledge of changes of state taking place with those forms of good. Man being such, that is to say, one devoid of all knowledge of this subject, coupled with the fact that at the present day those who allow themselves to be regenerated are few, these matters would not be understood even if they were explained more fully.

[3] The fact that few at the present day know anything about spiritual good, and also that few know anything about freedom, has been made known to me by my experience of people who enter the next life from the Christian world. For the sake of illustration let just one example be mentioned. There was a certain Church dignitary who believed that he was more learned than others, and who was also acknowledged as such by others when he was alive. Because he had led an evil life he was so totally ignorant about good and freedom, and about the delight and blessing which flow from these, that he was not aware of even the smallest difference between hellish delight and freedom and heavenly delight and freedom. Indeed he said that there was no difference. Since such ignorance exists even with those reputed to be more learned than others, one can imagine how dark the shadows would be, indeed one can imagine the nature and the greatness of the resulting delusions, to which the things which might be stated here about good and about freedom - the matters dealt with in the internal sense - would be subjected. Yet in actual fact not so much as one single expression is used in the Word which does not embody a heavenly arcanum, though to man it seems to contain nothing of any importance at all. The reason why it does not seem to do so lies in the lack of knowledge, or the ignorance of heavenly things in which people of today live and also prefer to live.

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.

Notas a pie de página: