3933. 'And Zilpah, Leah's servant-girl, bore Jacob a son' means acknowledgement, that is to say, of external truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'bearing' as acknowledgement; from the meaning of 'a servant-girl' as an affirmative means joining two together; and from the meaning of 'a son' as truth, dealt with in 489, 491, 533, 1147.

491. The same things are meant by 'sons and daughters' in verses 4, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19, 26, 30, of this chapter, but the character of a Church determines that of its 'sons and daughters', or goods and truths. Here they are truths and goods that men perceived most clearly, for they have regard to the Most Ancient Church, the head and forefather of all other Churches that followed after it.