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.

932. There is no need to confirm from the Word that 'seedtime and harvest' means the person who is to be regenerated, and consequently the Church, because the comparison and likening of the individual to a field and so to 'seedtime' and of the Lord's Word to 'seed', and of what it accomplishes to 'produce' or 'harvest', occurs so frequently. This anybody can also gather from these same expressions which are part of his everyday vocabulary. In general the reference is to all men, and the fact that not one ever fails to have seed from the Lord sown within him, no matter whether he is inside the Church or outside of it, that is, whether he knows the Lord's Word or whether he does not.

[2] Without this implanting of seed from the Lord nobody can do the least good thing. Every good that stems from charity, even among gentiles, is seed obtained from the Lord. Although with gentiles it is not the good of faith as it may be inside the Church, it can nevertheless develop into the good of faith. In fact gentiles who have led charitable lives, as they are accustomed to do in the world, on being instructed by angels in the next life embrace and accept teaching about true faith and embrace and accept faith that accompanies charity, far more easily than Christians. These matters will in the Lord's Divine mercy be dealt with later on. In particular however the subject here is the person who is to be regenerated, that is to say, the Church will not fail to emerge somewhere on earth. This is the meaning here of 'during all the days of the earth, seedtime and harvest'. The statement that seedtime and harvest, which are the Church, will always be emergent somewhere on earth has regard to the content of the previous verse, that is to say, man will no longer be able to destroy himself in the way that the final descendants of the Most Ancient Church did.