4061. GENESIS 31

1. And he heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, Jacob hath taken all that was our father’s; and from that which was our father’s hath he made all this abundance.

2. And Jacob saw the faces of Laban, and behold he was not at all with him as yesterday and the day before.

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

4. And Jacob sent, and called Rachel and Leah to the field unto his flock.

5. And he said unto them, I see your father’s faces, that he is not at all toward me as yesterday and the day before; and the God of my father hath been with me.

6. And ye know that with all my strength I have served your father.

7. And your father hath deceived me, and hath changed my reward ten ways, and God hath not suffered him to do evil with me.

8. If he said thus, The speckled shall be thy reward, then all the flock bare speckled; and if he said thus, The party-colored shall be thy reward, then all the flock bare party-colored.

9. And God hath taken away the acquisition of your father, and hath given it to me.

10. And it came to pass at the time that the flock grew warm, that I lifted up mine eyes, and saw in a dream, and behold the he-goats which leaped upon the flock were party-colored, speckled, and grizzled.

11. And the angel of God said unto me in the dream, Jacob; and I said, Behold me!

12. And he said, Lift up I pray thine eyes, and see all the he-goats which leap upon the flock, party-colored, speckled, and grizzled; for I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee.

13. I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst a pillar, where thou vowedst a vow unto me; now arise, go forth out of this land, and return unto the land of thy nativity.

14. And Rachel and Leah answered and said unto him, Have we any longer a portion and inheritance in our father’s house?

15. Are we not counted of him strangers? For he hath sold us, and devouring hath also devoured our silver.

16. For all the riches which God hath taken away from our father, they are ours and our sons’; and now all that God hath said unto thee, do.

17. And Jacob arose, and lifted his sons and his women upon the camels.

18. And he carried away all his acquisition, and all his substance which he had gathered, the acquisition of his purchase, which he had gathered in Paddan-aram, to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan.

19. And Laban was gone to shear his flock; and Rachel stole the teraphim which were her father’s.

20. And Jacob stole the heart of Laban the Aramean, in that he told him not that he was fleeing.

21. And he fled, he and all that he had; and he arose and passed over the river, and set his face toward the mountain of Gilead.

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

23. And he took his brethren with him, and pursued after him a way of seven days, and joined him in the mountain of Gilead.

24. And God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream by night, and said unto him, Take heed to thyself lest thou speak with Jacob from good even to evil.

25. And Laban came up with Jacob, and Jacob pitched his tent in the mountain; and Laban pitched with his brethren in the mountain of Gilead.

26. And Laban said to Jacob, What hast thou done, that thou hast stolen my heart, and hast carried away my daughters as captives of the sword?

27. Wherefore hast thou concealed thyself to flee? and hast stolen me? and hast not told me? And I would have sent thee away with gladness, and with songs, with timbrel, and with harp.

28. And thou hast not suffered me to kiss my sons and my daughters; now thou hast acted foolishly.

29. Let my hand be to God to do you evil! And the God of your father spake unto me yesternight, saying, Take heed to thyself that thou speak not with Jacob from good even to evil.

30. And now going thou hast gone, because longing thou hast longed toward thy father’s house; wherefore hast thou stolen my gods?

31. And Jacob answered and said to Laban, Because I was afraid, for I said, Perchance thou wilt take away thy daughters from me by force.

32. With whomsoever thou findest thy gods, he shall not live before our brethren; search thou what is with me, and take it to thee. And Jacob knew not that Rachel had stolen them.

33. And Laban came into Jacob’s tent, and into Leah’s tent, and into the tent of the two handmaids, and found them not; and he went out of Leah’s tent, and came into Rachel’s tent.

34. And Rachel had taken the teraphim, and put them in the camel’s straw, and sat upon them; and Laban felt about all the tent, and found them not.

35. And she said to her father, Let there not be anger in the eyes of my lord, that I cannot rise up before thee, for the way of women is upon me. And he searched and found not the teraphim.

36. And Jacob was wroth, and chode with Laban; and Jacob answered and said to Laban, What is my trespass? What is my sin, in that thou hast hotly pursued after me?

37. Whereas thou hast felt about all my vessels, what hast thou found of all the vessels of thy house? Set it here before my brethren and thy brethren, and let them judge between us two.

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

39. The torn I brought not unto thee, I bare the loss of it, from my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night.

40. Thus I was; in the day the heat consumed me, and the cold in the night, and my sleep has been chased from mine eyes.

41. These twenty years have I served thee in thy house, fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy flock, and thou hast changed my reward ten ways.

42. Except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the Dread of Isaac, had been with me, surely now hadst thou sent me away empty. God hath seen my misery and the weariness of my hands, and judged yesternight.

43. And Laban answered, and said unto 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; and what can I do this day unto these my daughters, or unto their sons which they have borne?

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

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

46. And Jacob said unto his brethren, Gather stones; and they took stones, and made a heap, and they did eat 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 he called the name of it Galeed;

49. And Mizpah; for he said, Jehovah watch between me and thee, for we shall be hidden a man from his fellow.

50. If thou shalt afflict my daughters, and if thou shalt take women over my daughters, there is no man 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. This heap be witness, and the pillar be witness, that I will not pass over this heap to thee, and that thou shalt not pass over this heap to me, and this pillar, for evil.

53. The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor judge between us, the God of their father; and Jacob swear by the Dread of his father Isaac.

54. And Jacob sacrificed a sacrifice in the mountain, and called his brethren to eat bread; and they did eat bread, and tarried all night in the mountain.

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

THE CONTENTS.

The subject here treated of in the internal sense is the separation of the good and truth represented by Jacob and his women, from the good signified by “Laban,” in order that the former might be conjoined with the Divine from a direct Divine stock; and also the state of both as regards the separation.

1066. And from these was the whole earth overspread. That this signifies that from them were derived all doctrines, both true and false, is evident from the signification of “earth.” “Earth” or “land” in the Word, is used with various meanings. In the universal sense it denotes the place or region where the church is, or where it has been, as the land of Canaan, the land of Judah, the land of Israel. Thus it denotes universally everyone that belongs to the church, since the land is predicated of the man who is in it, as we know in common speech. In ancient times therefore when men spoke of the “whole earth” they did not mean the whole globe, but only the land where the church was, and thus the church itself; as is evident from the following passages in the Word.

In Isaiah:

Behold, Jehovah maketh the earth empty; the earth shall be utterly emptied; the earth shall mourn and be confounded; the earth also shall be polluted under the inhabitants thereof; therefore shall the curse devour the earth; therefore the inhabitants of the earth shall be burned, and man shall be left feeble. The cataracts from on high are opened, and the foundations of the earth do shake; the earth is utterly broken; the earth is clean dissolved; the earth is moved exceedingly; the earth reeling shall reel like a drunken man, and shall be moved to and fro like a hut, and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it, and it shall fall, and not rise again (Isaiah 24:1, 3-6, 18-20).

The “earth” here denotes the people who are in it, and in fact the people of the church, thus the church itself, and the vastated things of the church, of which when vastated it is said that they are “emptied” “moved exceedingly” “reel like a drunken man” “move to and fro” and “fall, not to rise again.”

[2] That by “earth” or “land” is signified man, consequently the church, which is of man, may be seen in Malachi:

All nations shall call you happy; for ye shall be a delightsome land (Malachi 3:12).

That “earth” denotes the church is seen in Isaiah:

Have ye not understood the foundations of the earth? (Isaiah 40:21), where the “foundations of the earth” denote the foundations of the church.

Again:

For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth (Isaiah 65:17; 66:22; Revelation 21:1).

“New heavens and a new earth” denote the kingdom of the Lord and the church.

In Zechariah:

Jehovah, who stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him (Zechariah 12:1), meaning the church.

Also, as before, in Genesis:

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth (Genesis 1:1).

And the heavens and the earth were finished (Genesis 2:1).

These are the nativities of the heavens and of the earth (Genesis 2:4), everywhere denoting the church created, formed, and made.

In Joel:

The earth quaked before Him, the heavens trembled, the sun and the moon were darkened (Joel 2:10), meaning the church and the things of the church; when these are vastated, “heaven and earth” are said to quake, and the “sun and moon” to grow dark, that is, love and faith.

[3] In Jeremiah:

I beheld the earth, and lo a void and emptiness; and the heavens, and they had no light (Jeremiah 4:23).

Here the “earth” plainly denotes the man in whom there is not anything of the church.

Again:

The whole earth shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full consummation; for this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black (Jeremiah 4:27-28).

Here also the church is meant, whose exteriors are the “earth” and the interiors the “heavens” of which it is said that they shall be black, with no light in them, when there is no longer wisdom of good and intelligence of truth. Then the earth also is empty and void; and in like manner the man of the church who should be a church.

That by the “whole earth” is meant in other places also only the church, may be seen in Daniel:

The fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all the kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces (Daniel 7:23); the “whole earth” denotes the church and what is of the church; for the Word does not treat, like profane writings, of monarchial sovereignties, but of the holy things and states of the church, which are here signified by the “kingdoms of the earth.”

[4] In Jeremiah:

A great tempest shall be raised up from the uttermost parts of the earth; and the slain of Jehovah shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth (Jeremiah 25:32-33);

here “from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth” means the church and everything that is of the church.

In Isaiah:

The whole earth is at rest and is quiet; they break forth into singing (Isaiah 14:7),

where the “whole earth” denotes the church.

In Ezekiel:

When the whole earth rejoiceth (Ezekiel 35:14), where also the “whole earth” denotes the church.

In Isaiah:

I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth (Isaiah 54:9), where the “earth” denotes the church, because the church is there treated of.

[5] Because “land” or “earth” in the Word signifies the church, it signifies also what is not the church, for every such word has contrary or opposite meanings; as for example the various lands of the Gentiles; in general all lands outside the land of Canaan. “Land” is therefore taken also for the people and for the man outside the church, and hence for the external man, for his will, his Own, and so forth. The term is rarely used in the Word for the whole world, except when the whole human race is meant as regards their state, whether of the church or not of the church. And because the earth is the containant of the ground, which also signifies the church, and the ground is the containant of the field, the word “earth” signifies, because it involves, many things; and what it signifies is evident from the subject treated of, which is that of which the term is predicated. From all this it is evident that by the “whole earth” that was overspread by the sons of Noah, is not signified the whole world, or the whole human race, but all the doctrines both true and false that were of the churches.