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.

4567. 'God was seen by Jacob again, when he was coming from Paddan Aram; and He blessed him' means interior natural perception. This is clear from the meaning of 'God was seen' as interior perception. 'Seeing' means understanding and perceiving, see 2150, 2807, 3764, 3863, 4403-4421, and therefore the words 'God was seen' used in reference to the Lord mean perception from the Divine, which is the same as interior perception. The possession by the natural of this perception is meant by 'God was seen by Jacob', for 'Jacob' represents the Lord's natural, as has been shown many times. 'Again, when he was coming from Paddan Aram' means after He had absorbed cognitions of good and truth, which, being meant by 'Paddan Aram', are dealt with in 3664, 3680, 4112. 'He blessed him' means progress towards the more interior aspects of the natural, and the joining together there of good and truth. For 'blessing' is used to refer to all the good which anyone has conferred on him by the Divine, 1420, 1422, 2846, 3017, 3406; in particular the expression refers to the joining together of good and truth, 3504, 3514, 3530, 3565, 3584.