Verses 1-8. A General Summary.

Verses 9-18. The selection of right principles in the mind.

Verses 19-21. Invitation to enter upon the heavenly life.

Verses 22-25. A search into what constitutes the heavenly life.

Verses 26-40. The unwillingness of the unregenerate heart to enter upon it.

Verses 41-46. The attempt to do so from selfhood and defeat in temptation.

3829. 'Jacob said to Laban, Give me my wife' means that general good was now to be joined to the affection for interior truth. This is clear from the representation of 'Jacob' as the good of the natural, dealt with already, in this case general good because the things that constitute the natural are general in comparison with internal things. For countless things flow in from the internal man into the natural or external man where they manifest themselves as a general whole, the more so when the particular things that make up general wholes have not yet been received, as is the case here. This is why the good which 'Jacob' represents is now called general good. The joining of this good to the affection for interior truth is clearly meant, for Rachel, to whom 'my wife' refers here, represents the affection for interior truth, as shown above.