4919. 'And it happened as she was giving birth' means a bringing forth. This is clear from the meaning of 'giving birth' as acknowledging in faith and action, dealt with in 3905, 3915, 3919. And because that which is acknowledged in faith and action is something that is brought forth, 'giving birth' also means a bringing forth - a bringing forth of good and truth, the essentials of the Church.

3905. 'Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob [any children]' means that interior truth was not yet acknowledged. This is clear from the representation of 'Rachel' as the affection for interior truth, or as interior truth itself, dealt with in 3758, 3782, 3793, 3819; from the meaning of 'bearing' as acknowledging in action as well as in faith, dealt with below; and from the representation of 'Jacob' as the good of natural truth, dealt with in 3669, 3677, 3829, and in the whole of the previous chapter. The reason why 'bearing' means acknowledging in action as well as in faith is that births in the Word mean spiritual births, 1145, 1255, 3860, 3868. Spiritual birth is the acknowledgement of and faith in truth and good, in this verse acknowledgement in action as well as in faith, that is to say, an acknowledgement of the interior truth represented by 'Rachel'. Since something is not acknowledged in faith until a person is living according to it the phrase 'acknowledgement in action as well as in faith' is therefore used. Truths of faith which are not learned for the sake of putting them into action but solely for the sake of knowing them attach themselves to affections for evil and falsity, and as a consequence are not the truths of faith with the person who learns them but within him go against faith.