3956. 'And Leah said, God has given me my reward, because I gave my servant-girl to my husband' in the highest sense means Divine Good wedded to Truth, and Truth wedded to Good; in the internal sense heavenly conjugial love; and in the external sense mutual love. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'reward'. 'Reward' is mentioned in various places in the Word, but few know what is meant there by 'reward'. It is well known in the Churches that man can merit nothing through the good deeds which he performs, for the good deeds which he performs are not his but the Lord's, and that merit-seeking or the earning of merit has man himself in view and so joins itself to self-love and to thought of superiority over others, consequently to contempt for others. Works therefore which are done for the sake of reward are not good in themselves since they do not spring from a genuine source, that is to say, out of charity towards the neighbour. Charity towards the neighbour holds within itself the desire that the neighbour will fare as well as oneself, and in the case of the angels the desire that he will fare better than themselves. Such is the nature of the affection that goes with charity. Consequently the affection that goes with charity loathes all idea of merit and so every good action done with a view to reward. Reward for people who have charity consists in their having the ability to do good, in being allowed to do it, and in the recipient's willing acceptance of it. This is the actual delight, indeed blessing, that is present with people with whom the affection that goes with charity exists.

[2] This shows what is meant by 'reward' which is mentioned in the Word, namely the delight and blessing belonging to the affection that goes with charity, or what amounts to the same, the delight and blessing belonging to mutual love, 3816, for the affection that goes with charity is one and the same as mutual love; see what has been stated already on these matters in 1110, 1111, 1774, 1835, 1877, 2027, 2273, 2340, 2373, 2400. From these paragraphs it is evident that at this point 'reward' in the external sense means mutual love. In the sense higher than this, which is the internal sense, 'reward' means heavenly conjugial love, as may be seen from what has been stated already about the heavenly marriage in 2618, 2739, 2741, 2803, 3024 (end), 3132, 3952 - that is to say, it is the joining together of good and truth, and mutual love is the offspring of that conjunction or marriage, 2737, 2738. From all this one may see that in the internal sense 'reward' means heavenly conjugial love.

[3] As regards 'reward' meaning in the highest sense Divine Good wedded to Truth, and Truth wedded to Good, this is evident from the fact that from these comes the heavenly marriage. For that union of the two exists within the Lord and proceeds from Him; and when it passes into heaven, the conjugial relationship between good and truth is effected, and through this relationship mutual love exists. From what has been stated here and in what has gone before one may see what is meant in the internal sense by these words spoken by Leah, 'God has given me my reward, because I gave my servant-girl to my husband'; 'a servant-girl' has meant an affirmative means that serves in the joining together of the external man and the internal man, 3913, 3917, 3931. So until those things meant by the sons of the servant-girls have been affirmed and acknowledged no joining together of good and truth, and so no mutual love, is able to come about, for those affirmations must of necessity come first. These are the considerations meant by these words.

2373. 'Now we will do more harm to you than to them' means that they would reject the good of charity even more than they rejected the Lord's Divine Human and His Holy proceeding. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'Lot' as good that flows from charity, for Lot represents those with whom the good of charity is present, 2324, 2351, 2371; and from the meaning of 'the men', who were angels, as the Lord as regards the Divine Human and His Holy proceeding, dealt with above. From this it is evident that 'doing more harm to you than to them' has this meaning. Those inside the Church who are immersed in evil reject charity even more than they deny the Lord, the reason being that in so doing they can look favourably upon their own lusts through a semblance of religion and engage in external worship which has no internal, that is, a worship of the lips and not of the heart; and the more they regard this worship to be Divine and Holy, the greater the positions and wealth they attain. And in addition to this there are many other hidden yet manifest reasons. For the fact of the matter is that the person who rejects charity, that is to say, rejects it in doctrine and at the same time in life, also rejects the Lord. Though he does not dare to do so with the lips he nevertheless does so in his heart, a fact which is expressed even in the sense of the letter by the statement 'they came near to break down the door' which means that they went so far as to try and destroy them both. But what prevents the actual realization of the attempt is no hidden matter.