6418. 'The son of a fertile one beside a spring' means the fruitfulness of truth from the Word. This is clear from the meaning of 'the son' as truth, dealt with in 489, 491, 533, 2623, 2803, 2813, 3773, 3704; from the meaning of 'a fertile one' as the fruitfulness of truth, for fertility, like bearing and birth, applies in the spiritual sense to truth and good, 1145, 1255, 3860, 3868, 4070, 4668, 5598; and from the meaning of 'a spring' as the Word, dealt with in 2702, 3424, 4861. From this it is evident that 'the son of a fertile one beside a spring' means the fruitfulness of truth from the Word. Those who belong to the Lord's spiritual Church, the Church represented here by 'Joseph', come to know what good is from truth received from the Word, and so are introduced into good by means of truth. Then follows the fruitfulness meant by 'a fertile one'.

3971. 'It happened, when Rachel had borne Joseph' means acknowledgement of the spiritual represented by Joseph. This is clear from the meaning of 'bearing' as acknowledging, dealt with in 3905, 3911, 3915, 3919; from the representation of 'Rachel' as the affection for interior truth, dealt with in 3758, 3782, 3793, 3819; and from the representation of 'Joseph' as the spiritual kingdom and so the spiritual man, dealt with in 3969, and therefore as the spiritual; for having its origin in the Lord, the spiritual is that which makes the spiritual man and also the spiritual kingdom what they are. By means of Jacob's sons by the servant-girls and by Leah, the sections prior to this have dealt with the reception and acknowledgement of general truths, and eventually with the joining of those truths to the interior man, and so have dealt with man's regeneration up to and including his becoming spiritual. 'Joseph' is that spiritual man. The present sections coming directly after them deal with the fruitfulness and the multiplication of truth and good, which are meant by the flock which Jacob obtained for himself by means of Laban's flock.

[2] Indeed after the joining of the interior man to the external man has taken place, that is, of the spiritual and the natural, fruitfulness of good and multiplication of truth take place, for that joining together of the two is the heavenly marriage with man. It is from this marriage that such fruitfulness and multiplication spring. This also is why 'Joseph' in the external sense means fruitfulness and multiplication, 3965, 3969, the expressions 'fruitfulness' being used in reference to good, and 'multiplication' to truth, 43, 55, 913, 983, 2846, 2847.