Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 4153

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4153. 'Laban came into Jacob's tent, and into Leah's tent, and into the tent of both servant-girls, and did not find them' means that within the holiness which these possessed no such truths were present. This is clear from the meaning of 'a tent' as holiness, dealt with in 414, 1102, 2145, 2152, 3210, 3312, 4128, in this case the holiness which their tents possessed since each one's tent is mentioned - Jacob's, Leah's, and the servant-girls'. The non-presence of those truths within this holiness is meant by the teraphim not being found there in those tents. In the good sense 'teraphim' means truths, see above in 4111; 'Jacob' represents the good of the natural, 'Leah' the affection for external truth, and 'the servant-girls' external affections, each of which have been dealt with already. And because the truths referred to here were not external but internal, the teraphim were not found in the tents of these persons, that is, in the holiness of any of them, but were in Rachel's tent, that is, in the holiness belonging to the affection for interior truth; for 'Rachel' represents the affection for interior truth.


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