436. 'Her son whose name she called Seth' means new faith, through which charity may be received. This is clear from what has been stated already and also from where Cain is spoken of as having 'a sign placed on him lest anyone should kill him'. In the present context the meaning is this: Faith separated from love was meant by 'Cain', charity by 'Abel'. The annihilation of charity by separated faith was meant by Cain's killing Abel, and the preservation of faith, for the reason that through it charity could be implanted by the Lord, was meant by the statement about 'Jehovah putting a sign on Cain lest anyone should kill him'. After that, the Lord's conferment, through faith, of the holiness of love, and of good deriving from it, was meant by 'Jabal whom Adah bore'; and the conferment of the spiritual manifestation of faith by 'his brother Jubal'; and the existence of natural good and truth from these is meant by 'Tubal-cain whom Zillah bore'. These two verses conclude and so summarize all these matters; 'the man and his wife' means that new Church which was earlier on called Adah and Zillah, while Seth means faith through which charity is implanted. In the next verse Enosh means charity that has been implanted through faith.

The "midst" of something in the Bible represents the thing that is most central and most important to the spiritual state being described, the motivation that drives everything else. In general this will be something we love or feel, because at the core of things we are what we love; our loves define us.

(References: Apocalypse Revealed 44, 90, 268; Arcana Coelestia 2252, 2940, 10153, 10365, 10557, 10635, 10641)