4357. 'And saw the women and their sons' means, of the affections for truth and of the truths which belong to those affections. This is clear from the meaning of 'the women', who in this case are Leah and Rachel's servant-girls, as affections for truth, dealt with in 3758, 3782, 3793, 3819, 4344, and from the meaning of 'sons' as truths, dealt with in 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, 3373, in this case the truths which belong to those affections.

These verbs in the Bible indicate a conflict between two spiritual states, and the effort it takes to attain the higher state. It's easy to see this when facing temptation -- giving in is so easy to do that we have to urge and pressure ourselves to resist; we have to make it really important to ourselves. Such experiences can also come, though, as we advance from a good spiritual state to a better one -- it might mean letting go of some easy, comfortable, simple ideas in order to explore more challenging, nuanced ones, and it takes a level of urgency to accomplish that as well.

(Verweise: Arcana Coelestia 2338, 2406, 7964)