AC 3160 - Laban and Bethuel

AC 3160 [1, 2]

And Laban and Bethuel answered and said,
The word has gone forth from Jehovah;
we cannot speak unto you evil or good.
(Genesis 24:50)

. . . by "Jehovah," so often named in the Old Testament,
no other is ever meant than the Lord.

The secret reason why Laban and Bethuel answered,
that is, the brother first and then the father,
is that while good from the rational person
is flowing into the natural,
it does not flow immediately into the truth there,
but into the good there,
and through the good into the truth;
and unless there is this influx
the affection of truth cannot come into actual being.
The affection of good in the natural person
is that which acknowledges,
and thus is that which first consents;
for there is an immediate communication
between rational good and natural good,
but not between rational good and natural truth.