3924. Verses 7-8 And Bilhah, Rachel's servant-girl, conceived again and born a second son to Jacob. And Rachel said, With the wrestlings of God I have wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed. And she called his name Naphtali.

'Bilhah, Rachel's servant-girl, conceived again and bore' means here, as previously, reception and acknowledgement. 'A second son to Jacob' means a second general truth. 'And Rachel said, With the wrestlings of God I have wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed' in the highest sense means [the Lord's] own power, in the internal sense temptation in which a person overcomes, in the external sense resistance offered by the natural man. 'And she called his name Naphtali' means the essential nature of it.

144. As to 'calling by name' meaning recognizing their nature, it must be realized that the ancients understood nothing else by 'a name than the essential nature of a real thing, and by 'seeing and calling them by name' recognizing the nature of such. This was why they gave their sons and daughters names in keeping with the things that were meant by them; for there was something unique to every name, as a means of knowing the origin and nature of those children, as will also be seen later on where, in the Lord's Divine mercy, the twelve sons of Jacob are dealt with. Since therefore a name embodied a person's origin and nature nothing else was meant by 'calling by name'. This manner of speaking was customary among them; but anyone who does not understand is sure to wonder whether they do have these meanings.