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Genesis 31

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1 And he heard the words of Laban's sons, saying, Jacob has taken away all that was our father's, and of what was our father's he has acquired all this glory.

2 And Jacob saw the countenance of Laban, and behold, it was not toward him as previously.

3 And Jehovah said to Jacob, Return into the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred; and I will be with thee.

4 And Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the fields to his flock,

5 and said to them, I see your father's countenance, that it is not toward me as previously; but the God of my father has been with me.

6 And you know that with all my power I have served your father.

7 And your father has mocked me, and has changed my wages ten times; but God suffered him not to hurt me.

8 If he said thus; The speckled shall be thy hire, then all the flocks bore speckled; and if he said thus: The ringstraked shall be thy hire, then all the flocks bore ringstraked.

9 And God has taken away the cattle of your father, and given [them] to me.

10 And it came to pass at the time of the ardour of the flocks, that I lifted up mine eyes, and saw in a dream, and behold, the rams that leaped upon the flocks were ringstraked, speckled, and spotted.

11 And the Angel of God said to me in a dream, Jacob! And I said, Here am I.

12 And he said, Lift up now thine eyes, and see: all the rams that leap upon the flock are ringstraked, speckled, and spotted; for I have seen all that Laban does to thee.

13 I am the ùGod of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, where thou vowedst a vow to me. Now arise, depart out of this land, and return to the land of thy kindred.

14 And Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house?

15 Are we not reckoned of him strangers? for he has sold us, and has even constantly devoured our money.

16 For all the wealth that God has taken from our father is ours and our children's; and now whatever God has said to thee do.

17 And Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives upon camels,

18 and carried away all his cattle, and all his property that he had acquired -- the cattle of his possessions that he had acquired in Padan-Aram, to go to Isaac his father, into the land of Canaan.

19 And Laban had gone to shear his sheep. And Rachel stole the teraphim that [belonged] to her father.

20 And Jacob deceived Laban the Syrian, in that he did not tell him that he fled.

21 And he fled with all that he had; and he rose up and passed over the river, and set his face [toward] mount Gilead.

22 And it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled.

23 And he took his brethren with him, and pursued after him seven days' journey, and overtook him on mount Gilead.

24 And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said to him, Take care thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.

25 And Laban came up with Jacob; and Jacob had pitched his tent on the mountain; Laban also with his brethren pitched on mount Gilead.

26 And Laban said to Jacob, What hast thou done, that thou hast deceived me, and hast carried away my daughters as captives of war?

27 Why didst thou flee away covertly, and steal away from me, and didst not tell me, that I might have conducted thee with mirth and with songs, with tambour and with harp;

28 and hast not suffered me to kiss my sons and my daughters? Now thou hast acted foolishly.

29 It would be in the power of my hand to do you hurt; but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, Take care that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.

30 And now that thou must needs be gone, because thou greatly longedst after thy father's house, why hast thou stolen my gods?

31 And Jacob answered and said to Laban, I was afraid; for I said, Lest thou shouldest take by force thy daughters from me.

32 With whomsoever thou findest thy gods, he shall not live. Before our brethren discern what is thine with me, and take [it] to thee. But Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.

33 And Laban went into Jacob's tent, and into Leah's tent, and into the two handmaids' tents, and found nothing; and he went out of Leah's tent, and entered into Rachel's tent.

34 Now Rachel had taken the teraphim and put them under the camel's saddle; and she sat upon them. And Laban explored all the tent, but found nothing.

35 And she said to her father, Let it not be an occasion of anger in the eyes of my lord that I cannot rise up before thee, for it is with me after the manner of women. And he searched carefully, but did not find the teraphim.

36 And Jacob was angry, and he disputed with Laban. And Jacob answered and said to Laban, What is my fault, what my sin, that thou hast so hotly pursued after me?

37 Whereas thou hast explored all my baggage, what hast thou found of all thy household stuff? Set [it] here before my brethren and thy brethren, and let them decide between us both.

38 These twenty years have I been with thee: thy ewes and thy she-goats have not cast their young, and the rams of thy flock I have not eaten.

39 What was torn I have not brought to thee; I had to bear the loss of it: of my hand hast thou required it, [whether] stolen by day or stolen by night.

40 Thus it was with me: in the day the heat consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep fled from mine eyes.

41 I have been these twenty years in thy house: I have served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy flock; and thou hast changed my wages ten times.

42 Had not the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, been with me, it is certain thou wouldest have sent me away now empty. God has looked upon my affliction and the labour of my hands, and has judged last night.

43 And Laban answered and said to 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; but as for my daughters, what can I do this day to them, or to their sons whom they have brought forth?

44 And now, come, let us make a covenant, I and thou; and let it be a witness between me and thee.

45 And Jacob took a stone, and set it up [for] a pillar.

46 And Jacob said to his brethren, Gather stones. And they took stones, and made a heap, and ate there upon the heap.

47 And Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, and Jacob called it Galeed.

48 And Laban said, This heap is a witness between me and thee this day. Therefore was the name of it called Galeed,

49 -- and Mizpah; for he said, Let Jehovah watch between me and thee, when we shall be hidden one from another:

50 if thou shouldest afflict my daughters, or if thou shouldest take wives besides my daughters, -- no man is with us; see, God is witness between me and thee!

51 And Laban said to Jacob, Behold this heap, and behold the pillar which I have set up between me and thee:

52 [let] this heap be witness, and the pillar a witness, that neither I pass this heap [to go] to thee, nor thou pass this heap and this pillar [to come] to me, for harm.

53 The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us! And Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac.

54 And Jacob offered a sacrifice upon the mountain, and invited his brethren to eat bread: and they ate bread, and lodged on the mountain.

55 And Laban rose early in the morning, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them; and Laban went and returned to his place.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #4096

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4096. 'Rachel answered, and Leah, and they said to him' means a reciprocation by the affections for truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'answering', when assent is being given, as that which is reciprocal, dealt with in 2919, and as receptivity, 2941, 2957; and from the representation of 'Rachel' as the affection for interior truth, and of 'Leah' as the affection for external truth, dealt with in 3758, 3782, 3793, 3819. In the sections previous to this the subject in the internal sense has been the good of the natural meant by 'Jacob' when it was being separated from intermediate good meant by 'Laban', and how that good of the natural linked to itself the affections for truth which are meant by 'Rachel and Leah'.

[2] The subject now is the reciprocal application to good of those affections for truth. This application is contained in the internal sense of the words which Rachel and Leah utter now. But these matters are such that they do not come within the range of anyone's understanding unless he has been informed about them and takes delight in knowing about such things, and consequently has the discernment of spiritual matters as his end in view. All others have no interest at all in such matters and cannot even direct their minds towards them. For having worldly and earthly things as their end in view all others cannot detach their thoughts and feelings from those things; and if they did detach them they would not take any delight in doing so, for in that case they would be departing from and removing themselves from the things which they have as their end in view, that is, which they love. Let anybody like this put himself to the test, to see whether he has any wish to know how good links itself to affections for truth and how affections for truth apply themselves to that good, and whether knowing this irritates him or not. He will then say that such items of knowledge are of no use to him, and also that he does not get anything out of them.

[3] But if someone discusses with him the kind of things that are connected with his business in the world, no matter how very complex these matters may be, and he is told where another's affections lie and also how he can use these to draw that person to himself by bending his own mind and words in his direction, he not only grasps what he is told but also perceives further ideas within it. It is similar with one who desires and strives to investigate the abstruse areas of knowledge. He loves to look at, and does look at, more complicated things than those within what is told to the person just mentioned above. But when spiritual good and truth are referred to he finds it a bore and also turns away from it. These things have been stated so that people may know what the member of the Church is like at the present day.

[4] But the whole idea of good linking itself to truths by means of affections, and of truths applying themselves to good, is less clear when imagination or thought is focused on good and on truth than when it is focused on the communities of spirits and angels through which good and truth flow in. For as stated in 4067, that which man wills and thinks originates in these, that is, it flows in from them, and appears as if it existed within him. To know the part played by those communities of spirits and angels in this case is to know the actual causes; and to know the part played by the heaven of angels is to know the ends behind these causes. There are also the historical details which are added to illustrate the matter and so enable it to be seen more plainly.

[5] In the internal sense the subject is the linking of good to truths, and the application of those truths to good within the natural. For as has often been stated, 'Jacob' is the good in the natural, and 'his wives' affections for truth. Good which is the good of love and charity flows in from the Lord, doing so through the angels present with man. It does not flow into anything else with man than the cognitions discerned by him. And good being established in these, thought is concentrated on the truths thus known to him, and from these further things are aroused which are related to them and harmonize with them. And this activity continues until the person thinks that a thing is true and from affection wills it because it is true. When this point is reached the good joins itself to the truths and the truths apply themselves in freedom; for all affection leads to freedom, 2870, 2875, 3158, 4031.

[6] But even when this point is reached, the spirits who have become linked to that person arouse doubts, and sometimes even denials. But insofar as affection prevails he is brought to an affirmative attitude and is at the same time confirmed in truths through those very doubts and denials. When good enters in this manner there is no perception of its doing so through angels, since it enters by such an interior way and passes into the parts of his mind that are darkened by worldly and bodily interests. But it should be realized that good does not flow in from angels but through them from the Lord. This all the angels also confess, and for that reason never claim that anything good is theirs; indeed they are angry when anyone attributes it to them. From all that has been said then, as from causes themselves, some idea may be had of what happens when good is linked to truths, and when these apply themselves to good, the subject at this point in the internal sense.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.