4206. 'May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor judge between us' means the Divine flowing into both, that is to say, into the good existing with those inside the Church, and into the good with those outside it. This is clear from the meaning of 'the God of Abraham' as the Lord's Divine regarding those inside the Church, and from the meaning of 'the God of Nahor' as the Lord's Divine regarding those outside the Church; and from this it is evident that these two expressions mean the Divine flowing into both kinds of good. The reasons why 'the God of Abraham' means the Lord's Divine regarding those inside the Church is that 'Abraham' represents the Lord's Divine, and consequently that which comes directly from the Lord, 3245, 3778. Those therefore who are inside the Church are meant in particular by 'Abraham's children', John 8:39. And the reason why 'the God of Nahor' means the Lord's Divine regarding those outside the Church is that 'Nahor' represents the Church consisting of gentiles, and 'his children' those among them who dwell in a brotherly relationship with one another, 2863, 2864, 2868, 3052, 3778. So also at this point, 'Laban' who was Nahor's son represents good that is 'out of line', such as gentiles receive from the Lord.

[2] The reason why such variations involving the Lord are represented is not that those variations exist within the Lord but that His Divine is received variously by men. It is like the life present in man. This life flows into and activates the various sensory and motor organs of the body, and the various members and viscera. At every point variety presents itself, for the eye sees in one way, the ear hears in another, and the tongue discerns in yet another; also the arm and hand have one kind of movement, the lower limbs and feet another; then again the lungs act in one way, the heart in another; also the liver in one way, the stomach in another; and so on. Yet it is one single life that activates them all so variously; not that the life itself acts in different ways but because it is received in different ways. Indeed it is the form that each organ takes that determines how it acts.

3778. 'And he said to them, Do you know Laban the son of Nahor?' means, Did they possess good from that stock? This is clear from the representation of 'Laban' as a parallel good springing from a common stock, dealt with in 3612, 3665, and from the representation of 'Nahor' as that common stock from which the good meant by 'Laban' springs - 'knowing' meaning, in the internal sense, from that source, as is evident from the train of thought. Let a brief statement be made about the representation of a parallel good by means of Nahor, Bethuel, and Laban. Terah who was the father of three sons - Abram, Nahor, and Haran, Genesis 11:27 - represents the common stock from which the Churches sprang. Terah himself was in fact an idolater, but representatives have no regard to the person, only to the actual subject represented by him, see 1361. And since the Jewish representative Church had its beginnings in Abraham and was re-established among his descendants from Jacob, Terah and his three sons take on the representation of Churches. Abram takes on the representation of the genuine Church as it exists among those who possess the Word, while Nahor his brother takes on that of the Church as it exists among gentiles who do not possess the Word. The Lord's Church is spread throughout the whole world, existing also among gentiles who lead charitable lives, as is evident from what has been shown in various places regarding the gentiles.

[2] This then is why Nahor, his son Bethuel, and Bethuel's son Laban represent a parallel good that springs from a common stock, that is, the good which exists with people who belong to the Lord's Church among the gentiles. This good differs from good coming in a direct line from the common stock, in that those gentiles do not have genuine truths which are joined to their good. Instead they have for the most part external appearances which are called illusions of the senses, for they do not possess the Word from which they may receive light. Actually good is in essence a single entity, but it acquires a specific character from the truths implanted in it and in this way is made various. The truths that are seen by gentiles as truths are in general the idea that they should worship some God from whom they seek their own good and to whom they attribute it - though they do not know so long as they live in this world that that God is the Lord; also the idea that they should adore their God under images which they hold sacred; besides many other ideas. But these ideas do not make it any less possible for them to be saved than for Christians, provided that they lead lives in which love to their God and love towards the neighbour are present. For by leading such lives they have the ability to receive interior truths in the next life, see 932, 1032, 1059, 2049, 2051, 2284, 2589-2604, 2861, 2863, 3263. This shows what is meant by a parallel good that springs from a common stock. For Nahor represents those outside the Church who by virtue of good are bound together as brethren, see 2863, 2864, 2868; Bethuel represents good as it exists with those who make up a first group of gentiles, 2865, 3665; and Laban represents the affection for external or bodily good, strictly speaking a parallel good springing from a common stock, 3612, 3665.

[3] This good is such that first of all it serves a person as a means for acquiring spiritual good, for it is external and bodily and derives from external appearances which in themselves are illusions of the senses. In childhood a person acknowledges nothing other than these as truth and good, and although taught what internal good and truth are he still has no more than a bodily concept of it. This being his concept at first, this kind of good and truth is the initial means by which interior truths and goods are brought in. This is the arcanum which Jacob and Laban represent here.