4590. And it came to pass as her soul was in departing that she was about to die. That this signifies a state of temptations, is evident from the signification of the "soul going forth and dying," as being the utmost of temptation, which exists when the old man is dying and the new man is receiving life. That this is the signification is manifest from what precedes, in that her "suffering hard things in bringing forth" denotes the temptation of interior truth (n. 4586, 4587); and from what follows at verse 19, that "Rachel died."
