The basic meaning of "follow" in the Bible is pretty obvious if we consider what it means to "follow the Lord." That obviously doesn't mean we're going to wait for Him to go for a walk and tag along; it means we're going to do the things He said and believe the things He tells us in the Bible. We're going to follow Him by making His precepts a part of our lives. That same idea applies to other cases. When people in the Bible follow something, it means they are making that spiritual thing (whatever spiritual thing is described) a part of their lives. And the order of the language can even be reversed: sometimes things are described as following people (as in Psalm 23: "surely goodness and mercy will follow me..."), which again means that people are making those spiritual qualities a part of their lives.

383. His name was Death, and hell followed with him, signifies eternal damnation. This is evident from the signification of "name," as being the quality of a thing (See above, n. 102, 148), here the quality of the Word with those who are in evils and in falsities therefrom; also from the signification of "death," as being damnation (of which also see above, n. 186, for spiritual death is nothing else; also from the signification of "hell," as being evil and falsity therefrom, since in these and from these hell exists. Moreover, "hell" has the same signification as "death," namely, damnation; but as both are here mentioned, and thus hell is distinguished from death, "hell" signifies eternal damnation, for those who come into hell remain there to eternity; therefore it is also said, "and hell followed with him," "to follow with him" signifying to abide therein, namely, in damnation to eternity. From this it can be seen that "his name was Death, and hell followed with him" signifies eternal damnation.