3028. Verses 5-6 And the servant said to him, Perhaps the woman is not willing to go after me to this land. Must I take your son back to the land from which you came? And Abraham said to him, Beware that you do not by any chance take my son back there.

'The servant said to him' means the Lord's perception concerning the natural man. 'Perhaps the woman is not willing to go after me to this land' means doubt in the natural man as to whether that affection was separable. 'Must I take your son back to the land from which you came?' means whether it could nevertheless be joined to the Divine good of the Rational. 'Abraham said to him' means the Lord's perception coming from the Divine. 'Beware that you do not take my son back there' means that it could not possibly be joined.

In general, men are driven by intellect and women by affections, and because of this men in the Bible generally represent knowledge and truth and women generally represent love and the desire for good. This generally carries over into marriage, where the man's growing knowledge and understanding and the woman's desire to be good and useful are a powerful combination. In many cases in the Bible, then, "husband" refers to things of truth and understanding, much as "man" does. Magnificent things can happen in a true marriage, though, when both partners are looking to the Lord. If a husband opens his heart to his wife, it's as though she can implant her loves inside him, transforming his intellectual urges into a love of growing wise. She in turn can grow in her love of that blooming wisdom, and use it for joy in their married life and in their caring for children and others in their life. Many couples, even in heaven, stay in that state -- called "Spiritual" -- growing deeper and deeper to eternity. There is the potential, though, for the couple to be transformed: through the nurturing love of his wife the husband can pass from a love of growing wise to an actual love of wisdom itself, and the wife can be transformed from the love of her husband's wisdom into the wisdom of that love -- the actual expression of the love of the Lord they have built together. In that state -- called "Celestial" -- the husband represents love and the desire for good, and the wife represents truth and knowledge.