3839. 'And he said to Laban, What is this you have done to me?' means indignation. This is clear from the affectional content of these words and of those that follow; for as accords with the sequence of events in this historical narrative it is the feeling of indignation that is expressed in these words. There are two elements which constitute the internal sense of the Word - affections and subject-matter. The affections lying within expressions of the Word are not visible to man but are concealed there inmostly. Nor can they be visible since man during his lifetime is governed by worldly and bodily affections, which have nothing in common with the affections present in the internal sense of the Word. That sense contains affections which belong to spiritual and celestial love, affections which mankind is that much less capable of perceiving because those in whom they exist are few, and the few in whom they do exist are for the most part simple people who have no ability to reflect on affections. All others do not even know what genuine affection is. These affections that belong to celestial and spiritual love manifest themselves in charity towards the neighbour and in love to God. Those in whom such affections do not exist do not believe that they are anything at all, when in fact those affections fill the whole of heaven, doing so in varying ways beyond description. These are the affections, together with the variations of them, which have been stored away in the internal sense of the Word, residing not only in every sentence but also in every expression, indeed in every detail. And they reveal themselves to angels when the Word is read by people in whom simple good and at the same time innocence are present; and they reveal themselves, as has been stated, in ways unendingly various.

[2] There are principally two kinds of affections which shine out of the Word for angels to see - affections for truth and affections for good. Affections for truth reveal themselves to spiritual angels, affections for good to celestial angels. The latter, namely affections for good, which belong to love to the Lord, are altogether indescribable to man and are consequently incomprehensible too. But affections for truth, which belong to mutual love, are to some extent comprehensible in their most general aspects, though only to people in whom mutual love is present. And even those general aspects are not comprehensible to them from any internal perception except one that is obscure.

[3] Take for example the affection or feeling of indignation referred to in this verse. Anyone who does not know what charitable affection is, for the reason that this is not present in him, can have no other idea of what it is but the kind of indignation that is aroused in a person when some wrong is done to him - which in reality is a feeling of anger. But that kind of indignation does not exist with angels but an altogether different kind, which is not the expression of anger but of zeal, and holds nothing evil in it at all. This indignation is as far away from hatred, or revenge, or repaying evil with evil, as heaven is from hell; for it wells up out of good. But the nature of that indignation, as has been stated, cannot be expressed by any words. The situation is similar with all other affections which originate in good and truth and which belong to good and truth.

[4] This is also evident from the fact that angels are concerned solely with ends in view, and with the purposes engendered by those ends, 1317, 1645, 3645. Ends in view are nothing else than loves or affections, 1317, 1568, 1571, 1909, 3425, 3796; for what a person loves he has as his end in view. This being so, angels are acquainted with the affections enclosed in the subject-matter of the Word; and this entails every variation according to the types of affections present in the angels. From this it becomes quite clear how holy the Word is, for Divine love, that is, love coming from the Divine, has holiness within it, and so therefore do the subjects within the Word.

1317. That 'this they have started to do' means that they are now starting to become different becomes clear from the train of thought. 'Having started to do' here means their thought or intention, and therefore their end in view, as is clear also from the statement that comes next -'and now they will not be held back from anything which they have thought of doing'. The reason why in the internal sense end in view is meant is that the Lord regards nothing else in man but the end he has in view. Whatever his thoughts and deeds may be, varying in countless ways, they are all good provided the end in view is good. But if the end is bad everything is bad. The end in view controls every single thing a person thinks or does. The angels present with man, being the Lord's, control nothing of the man except his ends. In controlling these they also control his thoughts and deeds, since all of these are determined by the end. A person's end in view is his very life. Everything he thinks and does receives its life from the end, for, as has been stated, it is determined by the end. As is a person's end in view therefore, so is the life within him. His end is nothing else than his love, for nobody can have as his end in view anything other than that which he loves. Even someone who thinks one thing but does another has that which he loves as his end. The presence, or the deceit, holds within itself that end, which is self-love or love of the world, and the resulting delight of his life. From these considerations anyone may deduce that a person's life is such as his love is. These then are the ideas meant by 'having started to do'.

1568. That 'the land was unable to bear them, that they might dwell together' means that the things which belonged to the celestial internals could not remain together with the former ones, that is to say, with those things meant here by 'Lot', is evident from the following considerations: 'Abram', as has been stated, represents the Lord, and at this point His Internal Man, while 'Lot' represents the external, and at this point the things that had to be separated from the external Man, with which things internals could not dwell together. In the external man there are many things with which the internal man is able to dwell together, such as affections for good and the delights and pleasures arising from them, for those delights and pleasures are the effects of the goods of the internal man and of his joys and happiness. When these are the effects they correspond perfectly, for in that case they belong to the internal man and not to the external man. For an effect, as is well known, is not the product of an effect but of an efficient cause. Take, for example, charity: when this shines out of the face, it is produced not by the face but by the charity within that so controls the face and produces the effect. Or take, for example, the innocence seen in the expressions on small children's faces, in the ways they act, and so in the games they play with one another: that innocence does not belong essentially to their expressions or actions but is derived from innocence from the Lord which flows in through their souls. Thus their expressions and actions are effects; so also with every other example taken.

[2] From these considerations it is clear that many things exist with the external man which are able to dwell or accord with the internal. But there are also many things which do not accord, that is, with which the internal man is unable to dwell, namely all that streams forth from self-love and love of the world; for everything resulting from these loves regards self or the world as its end in view. With these, celestial things that go with love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour cannot agree, for celestial things regard the Lord as the end in view, and His kingdom and all that belongs to Him and His kingdom similarly as ends. The ends which self-love and love of the world have in view look to things of a more external or lower kind, whereas those which love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour have in view look to things of a more internal or higher kind. From these considerations it becomes clear that they are too discordant ever to remain together.

[3] To know what produces a correspondence and agreement of the external man with the internal and what produces disagreement one has only to reflect on the ends, or what amounts to the same, on the loves by which one is ruled; for people's loves constitute the ends they have in view, indeed whatever is loved by them is looked upon as an end. Such reflexion will show what one's life is really like and what it will be like after death, since it is from a person's ends, or what amounts to the same, his ruling loves, that his life is formed. The life of each individual is never otherwise. If the things which do not agree with eternal life, that is, with spiritual and celestial life - which is eternal life - are not removed during a person's lifetime they have to be removed in the next life. But if they are irremovable that person is bound to be unhappy for ever.

[4] These things have now been mentioned so that it may be known that in the external man there are things which agree with the internal and things which do not, that those which do agree cannot possibly remain together with those that do not, and also that those things in the external man which do agree come from the internal man, that is, from the Lord by way of the internal man; as for example, in the case of a face radiant with charity, or a charitable face, or in the case of the innocence seen in the expressions on the faces and in the actions of young children, as has been stated. The things which do not accord however belong to man and his proprium. From this one may know what 'the land was unable to bear them, that they might dwell together' means. Here, in the internal sense, the Lord is the subject; and since the Lord is the subject so also is every likeness and image of Him, namely His kingdom, the Church, and every member of that kingdom or of the Church; and therefore here the things residing with men are presented. These same things that resided with the Lord before He overcame evil, that is, the devil and hell, by His Own power, and so became celestial, Divine, and Jehovah even as to His Human Essence, must be seen in relation to His state at that time.