9185. 'If the father utterly refuses to give her to him' means if interior good does not allow the joining together. This is clear from the meaning of 'refusing' as not allowing; from the meaning of 'giving her to him' - to be his wife - as a rightful joining together, dealt with immediately above in 9184; and from the meaning of 'father' as good, dealt with in 3703, 3704, 5581, 5902, 6050, 7499, 8328, 8897. Interior good is meant because from interior good as the father and interior truth as the mother exterior truths and forms of good are conceived and born, which the Word therefore calls sons and daughters.

2623. 'A son' means the Divine Rational. This is clear from the meaning of 'a son'. In the internal sense of the Word 'a son' means truth, 489, 491, 533; and because truth is the principal element in the rational, 2072, 2189, 'a son' also means the rational. But here the Divine Rational is meant in which the principal element is good. 'Isaac' too, to whom 'a son' refers, represents this good, as will be shown further on.