3861. 'And she called his name Reuben' means the essential nature of it, which is described. This is clear from the meaning of 'name' and 'calling the name' as the essential nature, dealt with in 144, 145, 1754, 1896, 2009, 2724, 3006, 3421. That nature itself is described by the statement, 'Because Jehovah has seen my affliction, for now my husband will love me', the literal meaning of the name Reuben. Spiritually however all names in the Word mean real things, as has been shown often, see 1224, 1264, 1876, 1888; and among me ancients when a name was given it meant some state, 340, 1946, 2643, 3422. Here it will be seen that the names of all the sons of Jacob mean the universal attributes of the Church. Also one specific universal attribute has been combined within each name, but what that attribute is no one can possibly know unless he knows the internal sense embodied in the words from which each son's name is derived. That is, he needs to know the internal sense embodied in 'has seen' from which Reuben is derived, and in 'has heard' from which Simeon is derived, and in 'has clung to' from which Levi is derived, and in 'to confess' from which Judah is derived, and so on with all the other sons.

3860. 'Leah conceived and bore a son' means spiritual conception and birth from what is external to what is internal. This is clear from the meaning of 'conceiving and bearing' in the internal sense as being regenerated, for a person who is being regenerated is conceived and born anew. Regeneration is for' this reason called rebirth, but that rebirth is spiritual. A person is indeed born a human being from his parents, but he does not become truly human until he is born again from the Lord. Spiritual and celestial life is what makes a person truly human, for that life distinguishes him from animals. This conception and birth is what is meant in the Word by the conceptions and births of all who are mentioned there, and by the words used here, 'Leah conceived and bore a son'. As to its being the generations and births of faith and love that are meant, see 613, 1145, 1255, 2020, 2584, 3856. Those conceptions and births take place from what is external to what is internal, and this is meant by 'Leah conceived and bore', for 'Leah' represents the affection for external truth, 3793, 3819, and 'Reuben' the truth of faith, which is the first stage of regeneration and the external from which it begins. The implications of all this will be evident from all that follows regarding Jacob's children by Leah and by Rachel.