3839. And he said unto Laban, What is this that thou hast done unto me? That this signifies indignation, is evident from the affection in these words, and in those which follow. It is evident that it is an affection of indignation which according to the historical series falls into these words. There are two things which constitute the internal sense of the Word, namely, affections and actual things; the affections that lie hidden in the expressions of the Word are not manifest to man, but are stored up in its inmost recesses; nor can they be made manifest to him, because during his life in the body he is in worldly and corporeal affections, which have nothing in common with the affections in the internal sense of the Word; these latter being affections of spiritual and celestial love, which man is the less capable of perceiving because there are few who are in them, and these few are mostly simple persons, who are not able to reflect upon their affections, while all the rest do not even know what genuine affection is. These spiritual and celestial affections are contained in charity toward the neighbor, and in love to God. Those who are not in them believe that they are not anything, when yet they fill the whole heaven, and this with unspeakable variety. Such affections together with their varieties are what are stored up in the internal sense of the Word, and are there, not only in each series, but also in each expression, nay, in each syllable, and they shine forth before the angels when the Word is being read by those who are in simple good and who are at the same time in innocence; and this, as before said, with unlimited variety.
[2] There are principally two kinds of affections which shine forth from the Word before the angels, namely, affections of truth and affections of good-affections of truth before the spiritual angels, and affections of good before the celestial angels. Affections of good, which are of love to the Lord, are altogether unutterable to man, and are therefore incomprehensible; but affections of truth, which are of mutual love, may in some measure be comprehended as to what is most general, yet only by those who are in genuine mutual love, and this not from any internal perception, but from such as is obscure.
[3] For example, in regard to the affection of indignation, which is here treated of-whoever does not know what the affection of charity is, in consequence of not being in it, can have no other idea than of such indignation as a man has when anything evil is done to him, which is the indignation of anger. The angels however have no such indignation, but an indignation altogether different, which is not of anger, but of zeal, in which there is nothing of evil, and which is as far removed from hatred or revenge, or from the spirit of returning evil for evil, as heaven is from hell; for it springs from good. But as before said the nature of this indignation cannot be expressed by any words.
[4] The case is similar in regard to the other affections which are from good and truth, and which are of good and truth, as is also evident from the fact that the angels are solely in ends, and in the uses of ends (n. 1317, 1645, 3645). Ends are nothing else than loves or affections (n. 1317, 1568, 1571, 1909, 3425, 3796); for what a man loves, that he regards as an end. And this being the case, the angels are in the affections of the things that are in the Word; and this with all variety, according to the kinds of affections in which the angels are. From this it is sufficiently evident how holy the Word is; for in the Divine love, that is, in the love which is from the Divine, there is holiness, and therefore in the things contained in the Word.
