4470. 'Then we will take our daughter and go' means that there would be no joining together. This is clear from the meaning of 'a marriage' as the joining together of good and truth, dealt with above in 4466. 'Taking their daughter and going' therefore means not giving her in marriage, and so means that there would be no joining together. At this point Jacob's sons speak as Jacob their father, for they do not say 'we will take our sister' but 'our daughter'. The reason for this is evident from the internal sense, namely that it was a matter for the father either to refuse or accept, in accordance with the law set out in Exod 22:16, 17. But because the subject here is those descended from Jacob and their semblance of religion, it is his sons, by whom that kind of religion is represented, who answer here in place of their father Jacob himself could not do so because here he represents the Ancient Church, 4439.