4163. Verses 36-42 And Jacob was incensed and wrangled with Laban; and Jacob answered and said to Laban, What is my transgression, what is my sin, that you have hotly pursued after me? Because you have felt around all my vessels, what have you found belonging to all the vessels of your house? Put it here in front of my brothers and your brothers, and let them decide between the two of us. These twenty years I have been with you; your sheep and your she-goats have not miscarried, and I have not eaten the rams of your flock. That which was torn [by beasts] I did not bring to you; I myself bore the loss of it; from my hand you required it - that stolen by day and that stolen by night. This is how I was: By day the heat consumed me, and the cold by night; and my sleep was banished from my eyes. These twenty years I have served you in your house - fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock; and you have changed my wages in ten ways. Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Dread of Isaac, had been with me, you would now have sent me away empty-handed. My affliction and the tiredness of my handsa God has seen, and has given judgement last night.
'Jacob was incensed and wrangled with Laban' means the zeal of the natural. 'And Jacob answered and said to Laban, What is my transgression, what is my sin, that you have hotly pursued after me?' means that it was not because of evil that it had separated itself. 'Because you have felt all around my vessels, what have you found belonging to all the vessels of your house?' means that no truths had been that good's very own but all had been given. 'Put it here in front of my brothers and your brothers, and let them decide between the two of us' means that judgement should be made on the basis of that which is just and fair. 'These twenty years I have been with you' means the proprium. 'Your sheep and your she-goats have not miscarried' means its state as regards good and the good of truth. 'And I have not eaten the rams of your flock' means the truth of good, in that He took nothing of his. 'That which was torn [by beasts] I did not bring to you' means that evil for which He was not blameworthy resided with that good. 'I myself bore the loss of it' means that good came out of it. 'From my hand you required it' means that it came from Himself. 'That stolen by day and that stolen by night' means the evil of merit-seeking in a similar way. 'This is how I was: By day the heat consumed me, and the cold by night; and my sleep was banished from my eyes' means temptations. 'These twenty years I have served you in your house' means the proprium. 'Fourteen years for your two daughters' means the first period, the purpose of which was that He might acquire to Himself the affections for truth. 'And six years for your flock' means the purpose of which was that He might acquire good after that. 'And you have changed my wages in ten ways' means its state towards Him when He was linking those goods to Himself. 'Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Dread of Isaac, had been with me' means but for the Divine and the Divine Human. 'You would now have sent me away empty-handed' means that it would have claimed all things to itself. 'My affliction and the tiredness of my hands God has seen, and has given judgement last night' means that all things were effected by Him by His own power.