3028. Verses 5-6 And the servant said to him, Perhaps the woman is not willing to go after me to this land. Must I take your son back to the land from which you came? And Abraham said to him, Beware that you do not by any chance take my son back there.

'The servant said to him' means the Lord's perception concerning the natural man. 'Perhaps the woman is not willing to go after me to this land' means doubt in the natural man as to whether that affection was separable. 'Must I take your son back to the land from which you came?' means whether it could nevertheless be joined to the Divine good of the Rational. 'Abraham said to him' means the Lord's perception coming from the Divine. 'Beware that you do not take my son back there' means that it could not possibly be joined.

4496. 'When they were in pain' means evil desires. This is clear from the meaning of 'the pain' that follows circumcision as evil desire. The reason why such desire is meant by that pain following circumcision is that 'circumcision' means purification from self-love and love of the world, 2039, 2044, 2049, 2632, 3412, 3413, 4462, and every desire of the flesh stems from those loves. This is why 'pain' means such desire. Indeed when a person is being purified from those loves, as happens when he is being regenerated, he suffers pain and distress. It is the desires which are being removed that feel the pain and distress. When some arcanum is represented by means of a religious ceremony every part of the ceremony through to the completion of it embodies some facet of that arcanum. For example, the daggers or knives used in circumcision did so, as did their being made of flint, 2093 (end), 2046 (end), 2799; the blood that flowed at that time did so, and the method employed, and thus the state also. The same is also evident from the procedures followed in cleansings, inaugurations, and consecrations, and all other ceremonies. Here 'the pain' that followed circumcision means the desire on the part of Hamor, Shechem, and the men of his city for the external things in which alone Jacob's descendants had any interest, dealt with above in 4493.