3933. And Zilpah Leah’s handmaid bore Jacob a son. That this signifies the acknowledgment of external truth, is evident from the signification of “bearing,” as being acknowledgment; from the signification of a “handmaid,” as being an affirmative conjoining means; and from the signification of a “son,” as being truth (n. 489, 491, 533, 1147).

491. The same things are signified by “sons” and “daughters” in this chapter (verses 4, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19, 26, 30), but such as is the church, such are the “sons and daughters” that is, such are the goods and truths; the truths and goods here spoken of are such as were distinctly perceived, because they are predicated of the Most Ancient Church, the principal and parent of all the other and succeeding churches.