6675. 'He said, When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstools' means a discernment of the truth and good flowing from the internal into the Church's factual knowledge. This is clear from the meaning of 'acting as a midwife' as the reception of goodness and truth flowing from the internal into the natural, for inasmuch as the natural receives influx it is 'a midwife', see 4588, 6673; from the meaning of 'the Hebrew women as things that belong to the Church, dealt with in 5136, 5236; from the meaning of 'seeing' as a discernment, dealt with in 2150, 3764, 4567, 4723, 5400; and from the meaning of 'the birthstools' as things in the natural that receive the forms of good and the truths flowing from the internal, thus true factual knowledge, since that knowledge is what receives them. From this it is evident that 'when you act as midwives to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstools' means a discernment of the truth and good flowing from the internal into the Church's factual knowledge, which resides in the natural.

6673. 'And the king of Egypt said to the midwives of the Hebrew women. means an influx from separated factual knowledge into the natural where the Church's true factual knowledge resided. This is clear from the meaning of 'saying' as an influx, dealt with in 5743, 6291; from the meaning of 'the king of Egypt' as separated factual knowledge which is opposed to the Church's truths, dealt with in 6651; from the meaning of 'the midwives' as the natural, dealt with in 4588, 4921; and from the meaning of 'the Hebrew women as things belonging to the Church, dealt with in 5136, 5236, and so also as the Church's true factual knowledge. The reason why the natural is meant by 'the midwives' is that the natural receives what flows in from the internal and in so doing acts like a midwife.