4137. And I would have sent thee away with gladness, and with songs. That this signifies the state in which from its own it (that is, the good signified by “Laban”) had believed itself to be in respect to truths, is evident from the signification of “I would have sent thee away,” as being that it would have separated itself in freedom; but that it had not separated itself when in that state, is evident from what has been said above (n. 4113); which shows that these words were said by Laban in the state in which from his own he had believed himself to be; for to believe from one’s own is to believe from what is not true; whereas to believe not from one’s own, but from the Lord, is to believe from what is true. That the state here referred to is a state as to truths, is signified by “sending with gladness and with songs;” for “gladness” and “songs” are predicated of truths.

[2] There is occasional mention in the Word of “gladness” and of “joy,” and sometimes they are mentioned together; but “gladness” is mentioned when the subject treated of is truth and its affection, and “joy” when it is good and its affection, as in Isaiah:

Behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine (Isaiah 22:13); where “joy” is predicated of good, and “gladness” of truth. In the same:

There is a cry in the streets because of the wine; all gladness shall be made desolate, and all joy shall be banished (Isaiah 24:11).

In the same:

The redeemed of Jehovah shall return, and shall come to Zion with singing, and everlasting joy upon their head; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away (Isaiah 35:10; 51:11).

In the same:

Jehovah shall comfort Zion; joy and gladness shall be found therein, confession and the voice of singing (Isaiah 51:3).

In Jeremiah:

I will cause to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, for the land shall become a waste (Jeremiah 7:34 25:10).

In the same:

The voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that say, Confess ye to Jehovah Zebaoth (Jeremiah 33:11).

In the same:

Gladness and exultation have been gathered from Carmel, and from the land of Moab (Jeremiah 48:33).

In Joel:

Is not the food cut off before our eyes, gladness and exultation from the house of our God? (Joel 1:16).

In Zechariah:

The fast shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness and good feasts (Zech. 8:19).

[3] He who does not know that in everything of the Word there is the heavenly marriage (that is, the marriage of good and truth), might believe that joy and gladness are one thing, and that both are mentioned merely for the sake of greater emphasis, thus that one of the expressions is superfluous. But this is not the case, for not the smallest part of a word is used without a spiritual meaning. In the passages that have been adduced, and in others also, “joy” is predicated of good, and “gladness” of truth (see also n. 3118). That “songs” also are predicated of truth is evident from many passages in the Word, where “songs” are mentioned, as Isaiah 5:1; 24:9; 26:1; 30:29; 42:10; Ezekiel 26:13; Amos 5:23; and other places.

[4] Be it known that all things in the Lord’s kingdom relate either to good or to truth, that is, to the things of love, and to those of the faith of charity. Those which relate to good, or which are of love, are called celestial; but those which relate to truth, or which are of the faith of charity, are called spiritual. For in all things of the Word both in general and in particular the Lord’s kingdom is treated of, and in the supreme sense the Lord Himself; and the Lord’s kingdom is the marriage of good and truth, or the heavenly marriage; and the Lord Himself is He in whom is the Divine marriage, and from whom is the heavenly marriage; and therefore in everything of the Word there is this marriage, as is especially evident in the Prophets, where repetitions of one thing occur, with merely a change of words. But these repetitions are never without meaning, and by one of the expressions is signified what is celestial (that is, what is of love and good), and by the other what is spiritual (that is, what is of the faith of charity or of truth); all of which shows in what manner the heavenly marriage (that is, the Lord’s kingdom), and in the supreme sense the Divine marriage itself (that is, the Lord) is in everything of the Word.

4113. In that he told him not that he was fleeing. That this signifies by the separation, is evident without explication. By “Jacob stole the heart of Laban, in that he told him not that he was fleeing,” is meant in the historical sense that Jacob deprived Laban of the hope of getting possession of all things that were his, and reduced him to a state of distress. For Laban had believed that because Jacob served him, all things that were Jacob’s became his; not only his daughters who were Jacob’s wives, and their sons, but also his flocks, according to the known and received law of that time, as found in Moses:

If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve, and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. If his master give him a wife, and she bear him sons and daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out with his body (Exodus 21:2, 4).

That he had so thought, is manifest from Jacob’s words in what follows in this chapter:

Except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the Dread of Isaac had been with me, surely now hadst thou sent me away empty (Genesis 31:42);

and from Laban’s:

Laban answered and said unto Jacob, The daughters are my daughters, and the sons are my sons, and the flock is my flock, and all that thou seest is mine (Genesis 31:43);

not considering that Jacob was not a bought servant, nor indeed a servant at all, and that he was of a more noble family than he, and also that he had received as his reward both his wives and his flock; so that the law did not apply to Jacob. Now as Jacob by his fleeing had deprived Laban of this hope, and thus had reduced him to a state of distress, it is said that he “stole the heart of Laban the Aramean, by not telling him that he was fleeing.” But by these words in the internal sense is signified the change by the separation of the state signified by “Laban” in respect to good. Concerning change of state by separation, see what has been said just above (n. 4111).