4131. And Laban said to Jacob. That this signifies a state of communication, namely, of the good now signified by “Laban” with the good now represented by Jacob, is evident from the signification of “saying,” as here being communication (as n. 3060). Inasmuch as something of conjunction had been effected (concerning which see just above, n. 4124, 4127, 4129); and as the words “Laban said to Jacob” immediately follow, communication is signified by “saying.”

4129. And Laban pitched with his brethren in the mountain of Gilead. That this signifies the state of this good in somewhat of that conjunction, is evident from the representation of Laban, as being the good now separated from the good represented by Jacob; from the signification of “pitching,” as being the state of this good (it is not said that he “pitched a tent,” because the state referred to was not a state of the holy of love, except by somewhat of that conjunction); from the signification of “brethren,” as being the goods with which the good signified by “Laban” had been consociated (see n. 4121); and from the signification of the “mountain of Gilead,” as being where there is the first and the last of conjunction (see n. 4117). From this it is manifest that by “Laban pitched with his brethren in the mountain of Gilead,” is signified the state of this good in somewhat of that conjunction. What further is involved in the words that have now been explained, cannot be so well set forth to the apprehension, except from the things that happen in the other life, when societies of spirits and angels are adjoined to a man by the Lord, and are separated from him; such being the process of their adjunction and separation, in accordance with the order there existing. The steps of this process have been fully described in this chapter, but as they are wholly unknown to man, to set them forth in detail would be to speak mere arcana, some of which have been already stated, where the subject treated of was the conjunction and the separation of societies with a man in the process of regeneration. Suffice it to know that the arcana of this process are here contained in the internal sense, and that they are so great and of such a nature, that they cannot be fully set forth to the apprehension even as to one thousandth part of them.