4910. 'And she said, Acknowledge now to whom these belong, the seal and the cord and the rod' means that one could recognize it from the pledges. This is clear from the meaning of 'the seal, the cord, and the rod' as the pledges of a joining to the external or natural man, dealt with in 4874, 4887.

To beget or to be begotten is very similar in meaning to birth: It represents one spiritual state leading to the next spiritual one. "Beget," however, is generally linked to fatherhood and the man's role in procreation, while bearing and giving birth is solely the woman's province. This leads to some shades of meaning: Since men typically represent true ideas and women good affections, "begetting" often illustrates how ideas can lead us to do what is good, while giving birth often illustrates how good affections lead us to true thoughts. But it's a blurry line, affected by context and sometimes affected by translation issues. In fact, the most famous "begetting" – Jesus's place as God's "only begotten son" – runs contrary to that pattern. God in His essence is perfect divine love, expressed in the form of perfect divine truth. In "begetting" Jesus He gave his own divine truth – His divine expression – a human form, of human flesh. So it was love begetting truth.