3676. 'To Laban the son of Bethuel the Aramean' means a parallel good. This is clear from the representation of 'Laban' as a parallel good that springs from a common stock, also dealt with above in 3665, and from the representation of 'Bethuel' as good existing with those who make up a first group of gentiles, dealt with in 2865, 3665, from which good, as from a common stock, comes the good which 'Laban' represents. The reason Bethuel is here surnamed 'the Aramean' is that 'Aram' or Syria means cognitions of good and truth, 1232, 1234, 3249, and these cognitions are the subject here.

[2] The external truth from which good springs, meant by 'Jacob' here, is nothing else than cognitions, for cognitions are the truths that are absorbed first by anyone. Cognitions are also what people in the earliest stage of regeneration possess instead of truths. Cognitions however are not in themselves truths, yet they are such by virtue of the Divine things present within them; and only when these shine through them are they first made truths. Till then they are no more than general vessels by means of which and within which truths can be received, as those cognitions are which have been referred to already at the end of 3665, and as all the facts are that one learns at first.

3249. 'Eastwards to the land of the east' means towards the good of faith. This is clear from the meaning of 'the east' and 'the land of the east', to be dealt with below. The good of faith which is meant by 'the land of the east' is nothing else but that which in the Word is called charity towards the neighbour. And charity towards the neighbour is nothing else than a life according to the Lord's commandments. This is what 'the land of the east' means, see 1250. Those therefore who possessed cognitions regarding the good of faith were called 'the sons of the east'. The land of the sons of the east was Aram or Syria - Aram or Syria meaning cognitions of good, see 1232, 1234, and Aram Naharaim or Syria of the [Two] Rivers cognitions of truth, 3051. And because the Syrians, or 'the sons of the east' means those who possessed cognitions of good and truth, they above all others were referred to as wise, as in 1 Kings where Solomon is referred to,

The wisdom of Solomon surpassed the wisdom of all the sons of the east. 1 Kings 4:30.

And in Matthew, in reference to those who came to Jesus at His birth,

Wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? for we have seen His star in the east and have come to worship Him. Matthew 2:1-2.

[2] Indeed in Syria there existed the final remnants of the Ancient Church, which is why cognitions of good and truth still remained there, as also becomes clear from Balaam who not only worshipped Jehovah but also prophesied concerning the Lord and called Him,

A star out of Jacob and a sceptre out of Israel. Numbers 24:17.

The fact that he belonged to the sons of the east in Syria is self-evident, for he says of himself when delivering his discourse,

From Syria Balak has brought me, the king of Moab from the mountains of the east. Numbers 23:7.

The fact that Aram or Syria was where the sons of the east lived is made additionally clear from the consideration that when Jacob went to Syria he is said to have gone to the land of the sons of the east, Genesis 29:1.