4369. 'Inasmuch as I have seen your face, as though seeing the face of God, and you have accepted me' means the affection itself within that perception by which it was instilled reciprocally. This is clear from the meaning of 'seeing a face, as though seeing the face of God' as affection within perception, for 'the face' means things that are interior, 358, 1999, 2434, 3527, 3573, 4066, and 'the face of God' all good, 222, 223, which, when it flows in, imparts affection within perception; and from the meaning of 'accepting me' as instilled affection. It is evident from what has been stated immediately above about the instilling of affection, and so from the sequence of thought, that instilled affection is meant.

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.