3971. And it came to pass when Rachel had borne Joseph. That this signifies the acknowledgment of the spiritual represented by Joseph, is evident from the signification of “bearing,” as being to acknowledge (see n. 3905, 3911, 3915, 3919); from the representation of Rachel, as being the affection of interior truth (n. 3758, 3782, 3793, 3819); and from the representation of Joseph, as being the spiritual kingdom, thus the spiritual man (n. 3969), and consequently the Spiritual; for the Spiritual, being from the Lord, is that which makes the spiritual man, and also the spiritual kingdom. In what is related of Jacob’s sons by the handmaids and Leah, the reception and acknowledgment of general truths has been treated of, and at last their conjunction with the interior man, and thus man’s regeneration even till he is made spiritual; “Joseph” being this spiritual man. In what now immediately follows, the fructification and multiplication of truth and good are treated of, which are signified by the “flock” that Jacob procured for himself by means of the flock of Laban; for after there has been effected the conjunction of the interior man with the external, or of the spiritual man with the natural, there takes place a fructification of good and a multiplication of truth; for this conjunction is the heavenly marriage in man, and these are born from it. From this also it is that fructification and multiplication are signified by “Joseph” in the external sense (n. 3965, 3969). (“Fructification” is said of good; and “multiplication” of truth, n. 43, 55, 913, 983, 2846, 2847.)

3911. Who withholdeth from thee the fruit of the belly. That this signifies that this must be from the internal, is evident from the signification that results from the internal sense of the words; for in the internal sense the “fruit of the belly” signifies the like as “birth,” namely, the acknowledgment of truth and good in faith and in act (n. 3905); and what is more, the consequent conjunction of truth and good. This acknowledgment and conjunction cannot come forth from the external man, but from the internal; for all good inflows from the Lord through the internal man into the external, and there adopts the truths that are insinuated by means of the sensuous things of the external man, and causes the man to acknowledge them in faith and act, and causes them to be adjoined and thus appropriated to the man. That all good inflows from the Lord through the internal man into the truths gathered in the memory of the external man, has been repeatedly shown before. This is what is meant by the explication of the words before us-that this must be from the internal.