4565. 'And its name was called Allon Bacuth' means the essential nature of the natural which was cast out. This is clear from the meaning of 'calling the name' as the essential nature, dealt with in 144, 145, 1754, 1896, 2009, 2724, 3006, 3421. In the original language 'Allon Bacuth' means an oak of weeping; and that place was called this because 'an oak' means the lowest part of the natural, into which and finally outside which hereditary evil was cast. As regards 'an oak' meaning the lowest part of the natural and also that which lasts for ever, see 4552. But 'weeping' means the final farewell - hence the custom to weep for the dead when they were being buried, even though people recognized that through burial merely the corpse was cast away, and those who had lived in what was now their corpse were still alive so far as the interior aspects of them were concerned. From this one may see what the essential nature is that is meant by 'Allon Bacuth' or an oak of weeping.

144. As to 'calling by name' meaning recognizing their nature, it must be realized that the ancients understood nothing else by 'a name than the essential nature of a real thing, and by 'seeing and calling them by name' recognizing the nature of such. This was why they gave their sons and daughters names in keeping with the things that were meant by them; for there was something unique to every name, as a means of knowing the origin and nature of those children, as will also be seen later on where, in the Lord's Divine mercy, the twelve sons of Jacob are dealt with. Since therefore a name embodied a person's origin and nature nothing else was meant by 'calling by name'. This manner of speaking was customary among them; but anyone who does not understand is sure to wonder whether they do have these meanings.