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48 127. Esau must ever be in the desire to slay his brother Jacob, (Gen. xxvii. 42, 43,) because to slay, in the internal sense of the word, signifies to deprive of life; and the good which is represented by Esau, must of necessity seek to destroy the life of truth, which is represented by Jacob: inasmuch as the first life of truth is not life, but rather death, whilst selfish and worldly loves are in some degree of connection with it; nor doth truth properly receive life, till that connection is broken, and it becomes vivified, by conjunction with essential good. To slay, therefore, here properly denotes to vivify.

128. The Teraphim of Laban are always to be found in the tent of Rachel, though concealed from Laban himself, (see Gen. xxxi. 34, 35,) because by the Teraphim of Laban are signified and represented the truths in which he was principled; and all truth properly belongs to the internal affection by and from which it is received, which internal affection is represented by Rachel. Truth, therefore, properly belongs to man, only so far as he is in the internal affection of it for its own sake; that is to say, for the sake of the end to which it points, namely, heavenly good of love and charity, and thus eternal conjunction of life with the Father and Fountain of Life, the Lord Jesus Christ.

129. It appears from the history of Rachel, the wife of Jacob, that in bearing her second son, Benjamin, she suffered more pain than in bearing her first son, Joseph; for it is written on the former occasion, that