4593. 'And Rachel died, and was buried on the way to Ephrath' means the end of the initial affection for interior truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'dying' as ceasing to be as previously, dealt with in 494, and so the end; from the representation of 'Rachel' as the affection for interior truth, dealt with in 3758, 3782, 3793, 3819; from the meaning of 'being buried' as the casting aside of the initial state and the raising up of a new one, dealt with in 2916, 2917, 3256; and from the meaning of 'Ephrath' as the spiritual of the celestial in the initial state, dealt with in 4585. From this it is evident that 'Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath' means the end of the initial affection for interior truth and the raising up of a new one meant by 'Bethlehem', dealt with below in the next paragraph.

[2] In the genuine sense 'Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath' means that an inherited characteristic was cast out for ever by means of temptations, that characteristic being the human affection for interior truth, cast out by the Divine affection. This also explains why this son was called Ben-oni, or Son of pain, by his mother, but Benjamin, or Son of the right hand, by his father. Present in the human affection derived from the mother there is a hereditary characteristic that holds evil within it, whereas in the Divine affection nothing but good is present. In the human affection there is a self-concern which has the glory of self and the world as the end in view, but in the Divine affection a self-concern exists that it should effect the salvation of the human race, as accords with the Lord's words in John,

I pray for those whom You have given Me, for all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; but I am glorified in them; that they may all be one, as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they may also be one in Us. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them that they may be one even as We are one, I in them and You in Me. John 17:9-10, 21-23.