4163. Verses 36-42. 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? 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. 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. The torn I brought not unto thee, I bore the loss of it, from my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. 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. 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. 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.

“And Jacob was wroth, and chode with Laban,” signifies the zeal of the natural; “and Jacob answered and said to Laban, What is my trespass? What is my sin, that thou hast hotly pursued after me?” signifies that it was not of evil that He separated Himself; “whereas thou hast felt about all my vessels, what hast thou found of all the vessels of thy house?” signifies that no truths of good had been his own, but all had been given; “set it here before my brethren and thy brethren, and let them judge between us two,” signifies that there be judgment from what is just and equitable; “these twenty years have I been with thee,” signifies His own; “thy sheep and thy she-goats have not cast their young,” signifies its state as to good and the good of truth; “and the rams of thy flock have I not eaten,” signifies the truth of good in that He had taken nothing of his; “the torn I brought not unto thee,” signifies that evil not by His fault was with that good; “I bore the loss of it,” signifies that good came of it; “from my hand didst thou require it,” signifies that it was from Him; “whether stolen by day or stolen by night,” signifies the evil of self-merit in like manner; “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,” signifies temptations; “these twenty years have I served thee in thy house,” signifies His own; “fourteen years for thy two daughters,” signifies the first period in order that He might acquire to Himself therefrom the affections of truth; “and six years for thy flock,” signifies that He might afterwards acquire good; “and thou hast changed my reward ten ways,” signifies its state toward Him when He was applying these goods to Himself; “except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the Dread of Isaac, had been with me,” signifies unless the Divine and the Divine Human; “surely now hadst thou sent me away empty,” signifies that it would have claimed all things for itself; “God hath seen my misery and the weariness of my hands, and judged yesternight,” signifies that all things were from Him by His own power.