3188. 'And Rebekah rose up' means a raising up of the affection for truth and the resulting separation, namely a raising up of it towards the rational, and the separation of it from the natural. This is clear from the meaning of 'rising up' as implying a raising up, dealt with in 2401, 2785, 2912, 2927, 3171, and because a raising up is meant a separation is meant also; and from the representation of 'Rebekah' as the affection for truth, dealt with in 3077, 3179. From this it is evident that 'Rebekah rose up' means a raising up of the affection for truth, and the separation of it from the natural, see 3182.

698. In addition to the hells there are also vastations, about which much is stated in the Word. For a person brings with him into the next life, as the result of sins of his own doing, countless evils and falsities which he accumulates and couples to himself. Even people who have led upright lives do so. Before these can be raised up into heaven their evils and falsities must be dispersed, and this dispersing is called vastation. There are many kinds of vastation, and the time they last may be quite long or quite short. Some people are taken off to heaven within a fairly short period of time, some immediately after death.