4184. 'Laban answered and said to Jacob' means an obscure state of perception. This is clear from the meaning of 'answering and saying' as perception; for 'saying' in historical narratives of the Word means perceiving, see 1898, 1919, 2080, 2862, 3395, 3509. The fact that an obscure state of perception is meant is clear from the assertions made here by Laban - that the daughters, the sons, and the flock were his own, when in fact they were not. The meaning in the internal sense is that intermediate good claimed all goods and truths to itself. Regarding these assertions made by Laban, see what has been said already in 3974, 4113.