4184. 'Laban answered and said to Jacob' means an obscure state of perception. This is clear from the meaning of 'answering and saying' as perception; for 'saying' in historical narratives of the Word means perceiving, see 1898, 1919, 2080, 2862, 3395, 3509. The fact that an obscure state of perception is meant is clear from the assertions made here by Laban - that the daughters, the sons, and the flock were his own, when in fact they were not. The meaning in the internal sense is that intermediate good claimed all goods and truths to itself. Regarding these assertions made by Laban, see what has been said already in 3974, 4113.

3395. 'And Isaac said to him, Because I said, Perhaps I may die because of her' means that it would not be received. This is clear from what has been stated above in 3387, at the words 'for he was afraid to say, My wife, [thinking,] The men of the place may perhaps kill me on account of Rebekah'. More plainly than anywhere else 'saying' here means perceiving and thinking.