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.

In the physical world, the places we inhabit and the distances between them are physical realities, and we have to get our physical bodies through the physical space between to get from one physical place to another physical place. In the spiritual world, however, the "places" we inhabit and the “distances” between them are spiritual realities, which means they are reflections of our thoughts and affections. "Going" from one place to another, then, is a change in spiritual state -- exploring different thoughts and embracing different feelings. Since the Bible is a spiritual book, "going" there also indicates a change or progression in spiritual state, from one mode of thinking and feeling to another mode of thinking and feeling. Obviously, this makes the precise meaning of "go" in the Bible highly dependent on context: Who is going? Where are they going? Why are they going there? Are they following someone or something? Those questions are crucial to the precise meaning. Used on its own, though, "going" represents the normal progression of life, moving through spiritual states as the Lord intends. This has its roots in early Biblical times, when people were nomadic and moved from place to place in a regular progression of life.