4855. 'To Timnah' means the state, namely the state when the interests of the Church were consulted. This is also evident from the Book of Judges, where Samson is described as going down to Timnah to take a wife there from the daughters of the Philistines. Judges 14:1-4, 7. There likewise 'Timnah' means a state when the interests of the Church are consulted. The wife he took from the daughters of the Philistines is in the representative sense truth received from what is not good, and so is truth rendered obscure, which is also represented here by 'Tamar' - the Philistines being those who have a knowledge of matters of doctrine regarding faith but who do not lead lives in accordance with these, 1197, 1198, 3412, 3413. In addition to this, the name Timnah appears among the places belonging to the inheritance of the tribe of Dan, Joshua 19:43. All place-names in the Word have spiritual realities and states as their meaning, see 1224, 1264, 1888, 3422, 4298, 4442.

1198. 'From whom they came forth' means that cognitions, as these exist with them, are facts. This is clear from what has been stated. These are not said to have been 'begotten' by those who belonged to Egypt but to have 'gone forth', for they are not such as use natural and factual knowledge to reason about spiritual and celestial things and in so doing fabricate for themselves doctrinal teachings, as do those described before. Instead they learn cognitions of faith from another source, but have no other end in view to knowing and retaining these in the memory than they have with other things in which they have no interest beyond merely knowing them, and only then for the reason that by so knowing they may be promoted to positions of importance, and for other like reasons. So different is knowledge of cognitions of faith from knowledge of natural things that the two have scarcely anything in common. This explains why they are not said to have been 'bore' but to have 'gone forth' from them. Such being the character of 'Philistines' they inevitably pervert cognitions of faith by means of reasonings from them, and as a consequence fabricate false doctrines for themselves. They belong therefore among those who are barely able to be regenerated and to receive charity, both because they are uncircumcised at heart and because the false assumptions and consequently the life of their understanding hinder and prevent.