3819. 'The name of the elder was Leah' means the nature of the affection for external truth; 'and the name of the younger Rachel' means the nature of the affection for internal truth. This is clear from the representation of 'Leah' as the affection for external truth, and of 'Rachel' as the affection for internal truth, both dealt with in 3793; and from the meaning of 'the name' as the nature of, dealt with in 144, 145, 1754, 1896, 2009, 2724, 3006. Leah is called 'the elder' because external truth is learned first, and Rachel 'the younger' because internal truth is learned from then on after that; or what amounts to the same, a person first of all feels an affection for external truths, and from then on after that an affection for internal truths. external truths provide the basic outline for internal truths, for they are the general outlines into which particular details are added. Unless a person has a general outline of the idea of a thing he does not make sense of any particular aspect of it. This explains why the literal sense of the Word contains general truths but the internal sense particular truths. General truths are called external, but particular truths internal. And because truths devoid of affection are not truths because there is no life to them, the affections for them are therefore meant when external and internal truths are referred to.

1068. That 'Noah began to be a man of the ground' means in general a person who has been instructed from matters of doctrine concerning faith is clear from the meaning of 'the ground', dealt with already in 268, 566, as the member of the Church, or what amounts to the same, the Church. For if the Church is to exist at all the individual must be the Church. The Church is called 'the ground' from the fact that it receives the seeds of faith, which are the truths and goods of faith. 'The ground' is distinguished from 'the earth' or 'the land' - which, as has been shown, also means the Church - as faith is from charity. As charity includes faith within itself so does earth or land include the ground. Consequently when the Church is dealt with in general it is called 'the earth' or 'the land', and when dealt with specifically it is called 'the ground', as here. For that which is general is a complex whole consisting of the things deriving from it. The matters of doctrine which the members of the Ancient Church possessed had come down, as stated already, from revelations and perceptions of the Most Ancient Church which had been preserved, and in which they had faith, such as those we have today in the Word. Those matters of doctrine were their Word. 'Noah began to be a man of the ground' therefore means a person who has been instructed from matters of doctrine concerning faith.