3974. 'Give me my womenfolk' means that the affections for truth belonged to that natural, 'and my children' means as did the truths born from those affections. This is clear from the meaning of 'womenfolk' or 'wives' as affections for truth - his wife 'Leah' meaning the affection for external truth, and 'Rachel' the affection for internal truth, both dealt with often above; and from the meaning of 'children' as truths born from those affections. For 'sons' means truths, 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, 3373, and the children born of the womenfolk truths that spring from those affections.

It was a regulation among the Ancients that women given to slaves belonged to the master with whom they served, and so did the children born from them, as may be seen in Moses,

If you buy a Hebrew slave he shall serve for six years; and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing. If his master has given him a wife and she has borne him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall belong to her master, and he shall go out by himself. ¹ Exodus 21:2, 4.

It was because this was also a regulation in the Ancient Church and was therefore well known to Laban that he laid claim to Jacob's wives and children, as is evident in the next chapter,

Laban said to Jacob, The daughters are my daughters, and the sons are my sons, and the flock is my flock, and all that you see belongs to me. Genesis 31:43.

And because Jacob knows this he says to Laban, 'Give me my womenfolk and my children'. But this regulation as stated in Moses in the verses quoted above represented the right of the internal or rational man to the goods and truths of the external or natural man which the latter has obtained for itself. For a slave represented the truth of the natural man as that truth exists at first before genuine truths are instilled. The truth which is present at first is not truth but the outward appearance of it. Nevertheless it serves as the means by which genuine truths and goods are introduced, as has been shown already. For this reason once goods and truths have been instilled through that truth present at first, that is, through the service it renders, it is dispensed with, but the genuine truths obtained in that way are retained. It was for the sake of this representation that this law about slaves was laid down.

[2] But as for Jacob, he was not a slave who had been purchased, but a man from a more distinguished family than Laban. He himself - that is to say, Jacob - purchased Laban's daughters, and so also the children by them, through the service he rendered; for they were his instead of wages. Consequently Laban's assumptions concerning them were not correct. Furthermore 'a Hebrew slave' means the truth which serves to introduce genuine goods and truths, and his wife the affection for natural good. But Jacob's position was different from that of a slave. He represented the good of natural truth, and his wives the affections for truth. Nor does Laban have the same representation as the master in the law that has been quoted relating to a Hebrew slave. That is to say, he does not represent the rational, but a parallel good, 3612, 3665, 3778, which is such that it is not genuine good but the outward appearance of the genuine, serving to introduce truths, 3665, 3690, which were accordingly 'Jacob's'.

[3] These details which have been presented are indeed such as fall within the mental grasp of none but a very few, for most people do not know what the truth and good of the natural are, and that these are different from the truth and good of the rational. Still less do they know that goods and truths which are not genuine but only so to external appearance serve to introduce genuine truths and goods, especially at the outset of regeneration. All the same, as these details are contained in the internal sense of these words, and also in the internal sense of those that follow concerning Laban's flock from which Jacob obtained a flock for himself, they ought not to be passed over in silence. There will perhaps be some who grasp them. Any who have a strong desire to know such things, that is, who are stirred by an affection for spiritual good and truth, receive enlightenment in such matters.

Voetnoten:

1361. The fact that the Church became representative as the result of idolatry nobody is able to know unless he knows what a representative is. The things that were represented in the Jewish Church, and in the Word, are the Lord and His kingdom, and therefore the celestial things of love and the spiritual things of faith. These are the things that are represented, in addition to many things that go with them, such as everything belonging to the Church. Those that represent are either persons or else things in the universe or on this earth; in short, all things that are objects of the senses, so much so that scarcely any object is incapable of being representative. It is a general law of representation however that no attention is paid to the representative person or thing, but to the actual subject being represented.

[2] For example: Every king who has lived - in Judah or Israel, or even in Egypt and elsewhere - could represent the Lord Their royal status itself is representative, and thus the worst king of all was able to represent Him, such as the Pharaoh who promoted Joseph over the land of Egypt, or Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon, Daniel 2:37-38, or Saul and all the other kings of Judah and Israel, no matter what kind of men they were. The anointing of them, by virtue of which they were called 'Jehovah's anointed', carried that representation with it. In the same way all priests, however many there were, represented the Lord. Their priestly status itself is representative. This applies even to priests who were evil and immoral, for in representatives no attention is paid to the character of the person involved. And not only human beings but also animals were representative, for example all those used in sacrifice. Lambs and sheep represented celestial things, doves and turtle doves spiritual, as did rams, he-goats, young bulls, and oxen, though these latter represented lower types of celestial and spiritual things.

[3] Nor, as has been stated, was it just living creatures that were representative but also inanimate objects, such as the altar and even the stones of the altar; also the Ark and the Tabernacle together with everything in it; and the Temple too together with everything in it, a fact that anyone is capable of seeing. The lamps, the loaves, and Aaron's garments were accordingly representative. And not only these but also all the religious ceremonies in the Jewish Church. In the Ancient Churches representatives extended to every object of the senses, such as mountains and hills, and valleys, plains, rivers, streams, springs, reservoirs, woods, trees in general, and every kind of tree in particular, so that every single tree had some definite meaning. Once the Church of meaningful signs had come to an end these things became representatives. These considerations make clear what is to be understood by representatives. And seeing that not only human beings, no matter who or of what character, but also animals and even inanimate objects, could represent celestial and spiritual things - which are things belonging to the Lord's kingdom in heaven and those belonging to the Lord's kingdom on earth - it is consequently clear what a representative Church is.

[4] Representatives were such that to spirits and angels all things that were carried out according to the prescribed ritual appeared holy, as when the high priest, who had washed himself with water, ministered dressed in the robes of his office, and stood before the lighted candles, no matter what kind of man he was, even the most immoral and an idolater at heart. And the same applied to all other priests, for, as has been stated, in representatives no attention is paid to the person, but only to the actual thing being represented. The representation was completely abstracted from the person, as it was from the oxen, young bulls, or lambs that were sacrificed, or from the blood that was poured out around the altar, or again from the altar itself, and so on.

[5] This representative Church was established after all internal worship had perished, when worship became not only wholly external but also idolatrous It was established so that heaven might be joined in some measure to the earth, that is, the Lord might be joined to human beings by means of heaven. And this came about after conjunction by means of the internal things of worship had perished. The nature of this conjunction by means of representatives alone will in the Lord's Divine mercy be discussed later on. Representatives do not start until the next chapter, where every single thing from then on is purely representative. At the moment the subject is the state of those who were their forefathers, before some of them and their descendants became representative, whose worship, as shown above, was idolatrous.