Swedenborg Arcana Caelestia Vol. IV (1750)

4074. "And he said to them, I see the faces of your father, that he is not at all toward me as yesterday or the day before," signifies a change of state in the good signified by Laban, as is evident from what was said above in n. 4067, where these same words occur.

4075. "And the God of my father was with me," signifies that all things that are His are from the Divine. This is evident from the fact that "the God of my father," when predicated of the Lord, is the Divine which is His own; and "was with me" means that all things that are His are from that source. The Lord, when He made the Human in Himself Divine, also had societies of spirits and angels around Him, for He willed that all things should be done according to order. But He gathered to Himself those that served the purpose, and as it pleased Him, He changed them. Yet He took nothing of good and truth from them and applied it to Himself, but [received it] from the Divine. Thus He also reduced both heaven and hell into order, and this successively, until He fully glorified Himself. That societies of spirits and angels could serve a use and yet nothing be taken from them can be illustrated by examples: Societies that are such that they believe good is from themselves, and therefore place merit in their goods, served the use of introducing [the Lord] into the knowledge of such good, and thereby into the wisdom of good without merit, such as is that which is from the Divine. That knowledge, and the resulting wisdom, was not from those societies, but through them. Take as another example societies that believe they are very wise, and yet reason about good and truth, and about every detail whether it is so—such are most of the societies of the spiritual. They served the use of introducing into the knowledge of those things, and [showing] how much they are in the shade relatively; and were it not for the Divine having mercy on them, they would perish, and [be led] into more things that are from the Divine, which were not from them, but through them. Let there be yet another example of societies that are in love toward God, and believe that if they look at the Infinite and worship an hidden God, they can be in love toward Him; when yet they are not, unless they make that Infinite finite by some idea, or place an hidden God as visible to themselves by means of finite intellectual ideas—because otherwise, it would be looking into darkness and embracing with love that which is there, thus many confused and unformed things according to each person's ideas. Such also served a use to introduce into the knowledge of what their interiors were like, and what their love was, and also into compassion, and that they could not be saved unless the Lord's Human also became Divine, into which they might look. This wisdom was also not from them, but through them from the Divine. It is the same with the rest. Hence it is evident how it stands with this: that nothing was taken from the good signified by Laban, but that all things that are the Lord's were from the Divine, that is, from Himself.

4076. "And you know that with all my strength I have served your father," signifies that it was from His own power. This is evident from the signification of "serving," which is exertion (discussed in n. 3824, 3846); but when it is predicated of the Lord, it is His own power (discussed in n. 3975, 3977), and even more so when it is said "with all my strength."

4077. "And your father deceived me, and changed my wages ten times," signifies the state of that good toward Him when He applied to Himself those things belonging to that good, and [signifies] the greatest change. This is evident from the signification of "father"—here Laban—who is mediate good, discussed before; from the signification of "wages," which is what is from Himself, discussed in n. 3996, 3999; and from the signification of "ten times," which is the greatest change ("ten" is the greatest, n. 1088; and "times" are changes). The very state of that good, when the Lord from His own Self applied to Himself those things which were of that good, which was changed, is involved.