3160. 'And Laban answered, then Bethuel, and they said, From Jehovah has this thing come; we cannot speak to you bad or good' means acknowledgement that it was the Lord's alone. This could be shown by an explanation of the internal sense of all the individual words; yet the inference to be drawn is evident without any such explanation. 'From Jehovah has this thing come' clearly means that it is from the Lord, because the name 'Jehovah' mentioned so many times in the Old Testament is used to mean no one other than the Lord, see 1343, 1736, 1815, 2156, 2329, 2921, 3023, 3035. The embodiment of arcana within these words may be known from the consideration that here it was Laban - the brother - who answered, and then Bethuel - the father - not the father and the mother; and that the virgin herself did not answer until after that. The reason for this is that Laban as her brother represents the affection for good in the natural man, 3129, 3130, and Bethuel the origin of the affection for good. The affection for good and the affection for truth in the natural man are related to each other as brother and sister. But the affection for truth once summoned from the natural man into the rational man and joined to good there is as a married woman.

[2] The arcanum embodied here in Laban and Bethuel's manner of reply - that is, in the brother speaking first, then the father - is that when good from the rational man flows into the natural man, it does not flow directly into the truth there but into the good, and then by way of the good into the truth. Unless that good flows in as described, the affection for truth cannot come into being. The affection for good in the natural man is that which acknowledges, and so is the first to consent, for a direct communication exists between rational good and natural good, but no direct communication between rational good and natural truth. Regarding the parallelism that exists between them, see 1831, 1832. Here two ancient customary sayings occur - 'from Jehovah has the thing come' meaning that it was done by Jehovah, and also 'we cannot speak to you bad or good' meaning that people did not dare either to deny or to affirm. Reference to the acknowledgement being the Lord's alone follows next.

2157. 'If now I have found grace in your eyes' means the respectful regard that became a feature of the Lord's state when He took notice of that perception. This becomes clear from the affection that produces the state of humility which these actual words imply and also those that follow immediately after, 'Do not, I beg of you, pass from over your servant', which also imply a state of humility. Within every individual part of the Word there are both affection and subject matter. Celestial angels perceive the Word as it exists in the internal sense as to the affection there, whereas spiritual angels perceive it as it exists in the internal sense as to the subject matter there. Those who perceive the Word in the internal sense as to the affection there do not pay any attention at all to the words, which are expressions of the subject matter, but instead form ideas for themselves from the affection and the consecutive details of that affection, and do so with endless variety. Here, for example, when they come to the words, 'If now I have found grace in your eyes, do not, I beg of you, pass from over your servant', they perceive the Lord's state of humiliation in the Human, yet only the affection that produces humility. From that affection - in a manner, variety, and profusion beyond words - they form celestial ideas for themselves which can hardly be called ideas. Rather they should be called so many 'lights' engendered by affections and perceptions - which follow one another in a continuous sequence according to the chain of affection that runs through the things present in the Word that is being read.

[2] From this it becomes clear that the perception, thought, and speech of celestial angels are more indescribable and far richer than the perception, thought, and speech of spiritual angels, the latter being limited to the subject matter, according with the sequence of expressions that are used. (That the nature of the speech of celestial angels is such, see Volume One, in 1647.) This explains why these words, 'If now I have found grace in your eyes', mean in the celestial sense the respectful regard that became a feature of the Lord's state when He took notice of that perception. What is more, 'finding grace in your eyes' was a customary phrase used in every expression of respect, as becomes clear from the respect offered by Laban to Jacob,

Laban said to him, If now I have found grace in your eyes. Genesis 30:27.

And from that offered by Jacob to Esau,

Jacob said, No, I beg of you; if now, I have found grace in your eyes. Genesis 33:10.

And similar examples occur elsewhere in the Word.