3793. 'Rachel came with the flock' means the affection for interior truth belonging to the Church and to doctrine. This is clear from the representation of 'Rachel' as the affection for interior truth, and from the meaning of 'the flock' as the Church and also as doctrine, dealt with in 3767, 3768, 3783. To enable it to be known how 'Rachel' represents the affection for interior truth, and 'Leah' the affection for exterior truth, let a brief statement be made about the matter: The natural, which 'Jacob' represents, consists of good and of truth; and within the natural, as within every single part in the human being, and indeed within the whole natural order, there ought to be a marriage of good and truth. Without this marriage nothing is produced, for every act of bringing forth and every effect is from that marriage. When he is born there is no marriage of good and truth within a person's natural because the human being, unlike other creatures, is not born into a condition where Divine order is present. It is true that good which goes with innocence and charity is present, flowing from the Lord in earliest childhood; but no truth is present to which that good may be coupled. As he advances in life this good which has been instilled by the Lord into a person in early childhood is drawn in towards the interior parts and kept there by the Lord so that it may serve to modify the states of life which he experiences subsequently. As a consequence without the good belonging to his infancy and early childhood the human being would be worse and more vicious than any wild animal. When that good belonging to earliest childhood is drawn inwards, evil in that case takes its place and enters the person's natural. Falsity then couples itself to that evil, and a joining together and so to speak a marriage of evil and falsity takes place with him. If a person is to be saved therefore, he has to be regenerated. Evil has to be removed and good instilled by the Lord. And in the measure that he receives good truth is instilled into him so that a coupling, or so to speak marriage, of good and truth takes place.

[2] These are the matters represented by Jacob and his two wives, Rachel and Leah. 'Jacob' now takes on the representation of natural good therefore, and 'Rachel' that of truth. But since all joining of truth to good is effected through affection, it is the affection for truth coupled to good that 'Rachel' represents. Furthermore the natural, like the rational, has an interior and an exterior. 'Rachel' represents the affection for interior truth, and 'Leah' the affection for exterior truth. 'Laban', who is their father, represents a good that springs from a common stock, but is a parallel good, as has been stated. That good is the good which in the parallel line corresponds to the truth of the rational, which is 'Rebekah', 3012, 3013, 3077. Daughters descended from that good therefore represent affections existing within the natural, for these are like daughters fathered by that good. And because those affections are to be coupled to natural good they consequently represent affections for truth - the first representing the affection for interior truth, the second the affection for exterior truth.

[3] The regeneration of a person's natural is altogether like Jacob and Laban's two daughters, Rachel and Leah. Anyone therefore who can see and understand the internal sense of the Word sees this arcanum which has been disclosed to him, but no one else is able to see it except him in whom good and truth are present. No others, no matter how good a perception they may have of the things to do with personal life and life in society and may seem to be highly intelligent, are able to see and then to acknowledge anything at all of that arcanum. Indeed they do not know what good and truth are, for they imagine evil to be good, and falsity to be truth. For this reason the moment good is mentioned the idea of evil presents itself, and the moment truth is mentioned the idea of falsity does so. Consequently they perceive nothing of the things contained in the internal sense, but as soon as they hear anything of it darkness descends which extinguishes the light.

3767. 'And behold, three droves of a flock there, lying nearby it' means the holy things that constitute the Churches and their matters of doctrine. This is clear from the meaning of 'three' as that which is holy, dealt with in 720, 901, and from the meaning of 'droves of a flock' as the things that constitute a Church, and so as matters of doctrine. Specifically 'a flock' means people who are within the Church, and who are learning and being endued with forms of good which are the goods of charity and forms of truth which are the truths of faith. In this case 'a shepherd' means one who teaches those things. In general however 'a flock' means all people who are governed by good and so belong to the Lord's Church throughout the whole world. And since they are all led into what is good and true by means of matters of doctrine, therefore 'a flock' also means matters of doctrine. For the things which make a person such, and the person himself who is such, are both meant in the internal sense by the same expression. For one's understanding of the subject - which in this case is the human being - begins with knowing what makes anyone a human being.

[2] This is why it is stated many times that names mean real things and also the people with whom these real things exist. For example, 'Tyre and Sidon' means cognitions concerning what is good and true and also the people who possess those cognitions. 'Egypt' means knowledge and 'Asshur' reasoning, but these names are used at the same time to mean people with whom that knowledge or reasoning is present. And the same is so with every other name. But speech among angels in heaven is composed of real things that do not involve any concept of persons, and so is composed of universal ideas. The reason for this is that in this way they include countless things in what they say, and in particular for the reason that they attribute everything good and true to the Lord and nothing to themselves. Consequently the ideas which compose their kind of speech know no limits except insofar as those ideas involve the Lord. From these considerations it is now evident why 'a flock' is said to mean the Churches and also their matters of doctrine. 'Droves of a flock' are said to be 'lying nearby the well' because the Word is the source of matters of doctrine - 'a well' meaning the Word, as stated just above in 3765.