The Bible

 

Genesis 31

Study

   

1 And he heareth the words of Laban's sons, saying, `Jacob hath taken all that our father hath; yea, from that which our father hath, he hath made all this honour;'

2 and Jacob seeth the face of Laban, and lo, it is not with him as heretofore.

3 And Jehovah saith unto Jacob, `Turn back unto the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred, and I am with thee.'

4 And Jacob sendeth and calleth for Rachel and for Leah to the field unto his flock;

5 and saith to them, `I am beholding your father's face -- that it is not towards me as heretofore, and the God of my father hath been with me,

6 and ye -- ye have known that with all my power I have served your father,

7 and your father hath played upon me, and hath changed my hire ten times; and God hath not suffered him to do evil with me.

8 `If he say thus: The speckled are thy hire, then bare all the flock speckled ones; and if he say thus: The ring-straked are thy hire, then bare all the flock ring-straked;

9 and God taketh away the substance of your father, and doth give to me.

10 `And it cometh to pass at the time of the flock conceiving, that I lift up mine eyes and see in a dream, and lo, the he-goats, which are going up on the flock, [are] ring-straked, speckled, and grisled;

11 and the messenger of God saith unto me in the dream, Jacob, and I say, Here [am] I.

12 `And He saith, Lift up, I pray thee, thine eyes, and see -- all the he-goats which are going up on the flock [are] ring-straked, speckled, and grisled, for I have seen all that Laban is doing to thee;

13 I [am] the God of Bethel where thou hast anointed a standing pillar, where thou hast vowed a vow to me; now, arise, go out from this land, and turn back unto the land of thy birth.'

14 And Rachel answereth -- Leah also -- and saith to him, `Have we yet a portion and inheritance in the house of our father?

15 have we not been reckoned strangers to him? for he hath sold us, and he also utterly consumeth our money;

16 for all the wealth which God hath taken away from our father, it [is] ours, and our children's; and now, all that God hath said unto thee -- do.'

17 And Jacob riseth, and lifteth up his sons and his wives on the camels,

18 and leadeth all his cattle, and all his substance which he hath acquired, the cattle of his getting, which he hath acquired in Padan-Aram, to go unto Isaac his father, to the land of Canaan.

19 And Laban hath gone to shear his flock, and Rachel stealeth the teraphim which her father hath;

20 and Jacob deceiveth the heart of Laban the Aramaean, because he hath not declared to him that he is fleeing;

21 and he fleeth, he and all that he hath, and riseth, and passeth over the River, and setteth his face [toward] the mount of Gilead.

22 And it is told to Laban on the third day that Jacob hath fled,

23 and he taketh his brethren with him, and pursueth after him a journey of seven days, and overtaketh him in the mount of Gilead.

24 And God cometh in unto Laban the Aramaean in a dream of the night, and saith to him, `Take heed to thyself lest thou speak with Jacob from good unto evil.'

25 And Laban overtaketh Jacob; and Jacob hath fixed his tent in the mount; and Laban with his brethren have fixed [theirs] in the mount of Gilead.

26 And Laban saith to Jacob, `What hast thou done that thou dost deceive my heart, and lead away my daughters as captives of the sword?

27 Why hast thou hidden thyself to flee, and deceivest me, and hast not declared to me, and I send thee away with joy and with songs, with tabret and with harp,

28 and hast not suffered me to kiss my sons and my daughters? -- now thou hast acted foolishly in doing [so];

29 my hand is to God to do evil with you, but the God of your father yesternight hath spoken unto me, saying, Take heed to thyself from speaking with Jacob from good unto evil.

30 `And now, thou hast certainly gone, because thou hast been very desirous for the house of thy father; why hast thou stolen my gods?'

31 And Jacob answereth and saith to Laban, `Because I was afraid, for I said, Lest thou take violently away thy daughters from me;

32 with whomsoever thou findest thy gods -- he doth not live; before our brethren discern for thyself what [is] with me, and take to thyself:' and Jacob hath not known that Rachel hath stolen them.

33 And Laban goeth into the tent of Jacob, and into the tent of Leah, and into the tent of the two handmaidens, and hath not found; and he goeth out from the tent of Leah, and goeth into the tent of Rachel.

34 And Rachel hath taken the teraphim, and putteth them in the furniture of the camel, and sitteth upon them; and Laban feeleth all the tent, and hath not found;

35 and she saith unto her father, `Let it not be displeasing in the eyes of my lord that I am not able to rise at thy presence, for the way of women [is] on me;' and he searcheth, and hath not found the teraphim.

36 And it is displeasing to Jacob, and he striveth with Laban; and Jacob answereth and saith to Laban, `What [is] my transgression? what my sin, that thou hast burned after me?

37 for thou hast felt all my vessels: what hast thou found of all the vessels of thy house? set here before my brethren, and thy brethren, and they decide between us both.

38 `These twenty years I [am] with thee: thy ewes and thy she-goats have not miscarried, and the rams of thy flock I have not eaten;

39 the torn I have not brought in unto thee -- I, I repay it -- from my hand thou dost seek it; I have been deceived by day, and I have been deceived by night;

40 I have been [thus]: in the day consumed me hath drought, and frost by night, and wander doth my sleep from mine eyes.

41 `This [is] to me twenty years in thy house: I have served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy flock; and thou changest my hire ten times;

42 unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the Fear of Isaac, had been for me, surely now empty thou hadst sent me away; mine affliction and the labour of my hands hath God seen, and reproveth yesternight.'

43 And Laban answereth and saith unto Jacob, `The daughters [are] my daughters, and the sons my sons, and the flock my flock, and all that thou art seeing [is] mine; and to my daughters -- what do I to these to-day, or to their sons whom they have born?

44 and now, come, let us make a covenant, I and thou, and it hath been for a witness between me and thee.'

45 And Jacob taketh a stone, and lifteth it up [for] a standing pillar;

46 and Jacob saith to his brethren, `Gather stones,' and they take stones, and make a heap; and they eat there on the heap;

47 and Laban calleth it Jegar-Sahadutha; and Jacob hath called it Galeed.

48 And Laban saith, `This heap [is] witness between me and thee to-day;' therefore hath he called its name Galeed;

49 Mizpah also, for he said, `Jehovah doth watch between me and thee, for we are hidden one from another;

50 if thou afflict my daughters, or take wives beside my daughters -- there is no man with us -- see, God [is] witness between me and thee.'

51 And Laban saith to Jacob, `Lo, this heap, and lo, the standing pillar which I have cast between me and thee;

52 this heap [is] witness, and the standing pillar [is] witness, that I do not pass over this heap unto thee, and that thou dost not pass over this heap and this standing pillar unto me -- for evil;

53 the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, doth judge between us -- the God of their father,' and Jacob sweareth by the Fear of his father Isaac.

54 And Jacob sacrificeth a sacrifice in the mount, and calleth to his brethren to eat bread, and they eat bread, and lodge in the mount;

55 and Laban riseth early in the morning, and kisseth his sons and his daughters, and blesseth them; and Laban goeth on, and turneth back to his place.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #4149

Study this Passage

  
/ 10837  
  

4149. With whomsoever thou findest thy gods, he shall not live before our brethren. That this signifies that the truth was not his [Laban’s], and that his truth could not subsist in his [Jacob’s] good, is evident from the signification of “gods,” here the teraphim, as being truths (see n. 4111), yet not the truths of the good signified by “Laban,” but those of the affection represented by Rachel. As these truths are here signified by “gods,” it is therefore stated that Rachel stole them, and more is said of them in what follows, which would not have been told if that deed had not involved arcana that are manifest only in the internal sense. And as the truths which are here the subject treated of are not those of the good signified by “Laban,” but those of the affection of truth represented by Rachel, therefore by the words, “with whomsoever thou findest thy gods, he shall not live before our brethren,” is signified that the truth was not his, and that his truth could not subsist in his [Jacob’s] good.

[2] With this arcanum the case is this: Every spiritual good has its own truths; for where this good is, there are its truths. Regarded in itself good is one, but it becomes various by means of truths; for truths may be compared to the fibers that compose one of the bodily organs, in accordance with the form of which fibers there results the organ, and consequently its operation, which operation is effected by means of the life that flows in through the soul; and this life is from the good which is from the Lord. It is thus that good, although one, is yet various with every individual, so various as never to be similar in every respect with one as with another. Hence also it is that the truth of one can never subsist in the good of another. For all the truths with everyone who is in good communicate with one another, and produce a certain form, and therefore the truth of one cannot be transferred into another; but when it is transferred, it passes into the form of him who receives it, and puts on another aspect. But this arcanum is too deep to be expounded in a few words. From this it follows that the mind of one is never altogether like that of another; but that great as is the number of men, so great is the variety in respect to affections and thoughts; and also that the universal heaven consists of angelic forms in perpetual variety, which being disposed by the Lord into the heavenly form act as and produce a one. For a one is never composed of the same things, but of things various in form, which make a one according to their form. From all this it is now evident what is meant by his [Laban’s] truth not subsisting in his [Jacob’s] good.

  
/ 10837  
  

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