4824. 'And she called his name Onan' means the essential nature of this, that is to say, of the evil referred to immediately above in 4823. This is clear from the meaning of 'calling the name' as the essential nature, dealt with in 4822. 'Onan' means and implies the nature of that evil.

4822. 'And he called his name Er' means the essential nature of that falsity. 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, namely the nature of the falsity of the Church, dealt with immediately above in 4821. The expression 'the nature of the falsity' is used because falsities differ from one another, even as truths do, so much so that the different types of falsity can hardly be counted; and each type of falsity has its own specific nature by which it is distinguished from any other. Common falsities reign among the wicked in every Church, but each person's falsity varies in keeping with the life he leads. The falsity which existed in the Jewish Church and is referred to here was falsity springing from the evil of self-love and of love of the world based on this, see 4818.