9001. 'He shall deal with her according to the judgement of daughters' means that it will then be like a genuine affection for truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'according to the judgement' as with the same rights, for 'the judgement' means an external truth or a right such as exists in a civic state where the Church is representative, dealt with in 8972; and from the meaning of 'daughter' as an affection for truth, dealt with in 2362, 3024, 3963, at this point a genuine affection for truth, since 'a female slave' means an affection for truth springing from natural delight, 8993, and so an affection that is not genuine until betrothed either to master or to son. But when it has been betrothed, that is, joined to spiritual truth, meant by master and by son, it comes to be like a genuine affection; for then the natural is subordinated to spiritual truth, and when subordinated it is directed no longer by itself but by the spiritual truth under which it is subordinated. So it is that the natural comes to be like the spiritual, since it acts in unison with it; and also the life that spiritual truth possesses passes then into the natural and gives it life. But being betrothed or joined to a female slave is different from being joined to a daughter, in that the latter joining together takes place in the internal man but the former in the external man.

3963. 'Afterwards she bore a daughter' means the affection for all these, and also means the Church of faith in which good is present. This is clear from the meaning of 'a daughter' as an affection, and also as a Church, dealt with in 2363. But as to what the object of the affection is, or what kind of Church is meant, this is evident from whatever is added on to the word 'daughter'. For example, it is evident from the addition of 'Zion' after 'daughter' that the celestial Church, which is called 'the daughter of Zion', is meant; from the addition of 'Jerusalem' that the spiritual Church, which is referred to as 'the daughter of Jerusalem', is meant, and so on. In the present verse, in which nothing is added on to it, 'daughter' means the Church of faith in which good is present. For up to this point the subject has been the general truths which constitute faith in which good is present, and the reception and acknowledgement of those truths, that is to say, the truths that were meant, as has been shown, by the ten sons of Jacob dealt with above. And since immediately after these sons reference is made to the birth of a daughter it is evident from the train of thought that a Church is meant in which all these truths are present.

[2] Whether you call it the Church of faith in which good is present, or you call it the spiritual Church, it amounts to the same; or again if you call it the affection for all these, that is, all these general truths. For it is from the affection for truth in which good is present, and the affection for good from which truth springs, that the Church has its being, not from the affection for truth in which good is not present or the affection for good from which truth does not spring. People who are governed by an affection for truth but not by the good from which truth springs, that is, who do not live according to truths, are much mistaken when they say that they belong to the Church. Though within a congregation, they are outside the Church, for they are governed by the affection for evil to which truth cannot be joined. Their affection for truth does not originate in the Lord but in themselves, for they have themselves in view, their intention being by means of the truth they know to earn repute, and thereby important positions and wealth. But they do not have the Church in view, or the Lord's kingdom, let alone the Lord. But people governed by the affection for good from which truth does not spring do not belong to the Church even though they are within a congregation, for they are governed by natural good, not by spiritual, and allow themselves to be led into every kind of evil and also of falsity, provided that evil is made to look like good and falsity to look like truth, see 3470, 3471, 3518.