3243. 'All these were the sons of Keturah' means as regards matters of doctrine and the worship that sprang from these. This is clear from the meaning of 'sons' as truths and matters of doctrine, dealt with in 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, and from the representation of 'Keturah' as Divine Spiritual Truth joined to Divine Spiritual Good, dealt with in 3236, 3237; thus things which belong to the Lord's spiritual kingdom are meant. And because the worship of that kingdom is in accordance with matters of doctrine, therefore the sons of Keturah mean matters of doctrine, and also the worship that sprang from these.

533. Since nothing further is mentioned about Lamech apart from the fact that be beget sons and daughters, who are the conceptions and births of such a Church, there is no need to pause any longer over him. What these births, or sons and daughters, were, becomes clear from the Church, for the character of a Church determines that of its offspring. Both those Churches called Methuselah and Lamech breathed their last just before the flood.