6742. 'And the girl went and called the child's mother' means that the Church's truth of good linked things of the Church to it. This is clear from the meaning of 'the girl' as the Church's truth of good, dealt with below; from the meaning of 'calling' as linking, for the reason why she called the mother was in order to link her; and from the meaning of 'the mother' as the Church, dealt with in 289, 2691, 2717, 5581, and so also as things of the Church. In the Word the expression 'virgin' is used; so also is 'girl', though the word rendered 'girl' here rarely occurs in the original language. 'Virgin' means the good that the celestial Church possesses, whereas 'girl' means the truth of good that the spiritual Church possesses, as in David,

They have seen Your goings, O God, the goings of my God, my King, in the sanctuary. The singers went before, players [of stringed instruments] after, in the midst of the girls playing timbrels. Psalms 68:24-25.

The words in these verses all have reference to the truths of good that the spiritual Church possesses. The expression 'God' is used when truth is the subject, see 2769, 2807, 2822, 4402; 'king' means truth, 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 4575, 4581, 4966, 5044, 5068, 6148; 'singers' has reference to truths that the spiritual Church possesses, 418-420, and 'timbrel players' has reference to spiritual good, 4138. From this one may see that 'the girls' are the truths of good which the spiritual Church possesses.

2586. 'For Jehovah had completely closed every womb of Abimelech's house' means sterility, that is to say, of doctrine. This is clear from the meaning of 'completely closing the womb' as preventing conception itself, and from the meaning of 'Abimelech's house' as the good that belongs to the doctrine of faith, from which it is evident that sterility is meant. The reason why in this chapter the name 'God' is used up to this point, and 'Jehovah' for the first time now, is that 'God' is used when truth is the subject but 'Jehovah' when good is the subject. Doctrine is conceived wholly from good as the father, but birth is given to it through truth as the mother, as stated several times already. Here it is the conception of it that is dealt with, and because it is conceived from good the name 'Jehovah' is used; but above it is the birth of it that is dealt with, and because it is given birth through truth the name 'God' is used, as in the previous verse, 'God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his women servants, and they gave birth'.

[2] Similarly in other places in the Word where conception is referred to, as in Isaiah,

Jehovah has called me from the womb. Jehovah who formed me from the womb has said.... I will at that time be precious to Jehovah, and my God will be my strength. Isaiah 49:1, 5.

'Strength' has reference to truth and therefore 'God' is used. In the same prophet,

Thus said Jehovah, your Maker, and He who formed you from the womb. Isaiah 44:2, 24.

And elsewhere. For the same reason also the phrase 'Abimelech's house' is used, which means the good that belongs to the doctrine of faith. As regards 'a house' meaning good, see 2048, 2233, and 'Abimelech' the doctrine of faith, 2509, 2510. The statements that 'they gave birth' and 'the wombs of Abimelech's house were closed on account of Sarah', it is evident, hold a Divine arcanum within them, but this arcanum cannot possibly be disclosed except by means of the internal sense.