1752. That 'except for what the young men have eaten' means good spirits is clear from what comes before and what comes after. In what has gone before, at verse 13 above, Mamre, Eshkol, and Aner are referred to as being Abram's allies. By these, as is evident from the explanation given at that verse, the state of the Lord's Rational Man in relation to the External Man as regards the nature of its goods and truths was meant; and so the angels who were present with the Lord when He was engaged in conflict were meant. The same is clear from what follows immediately below. Here those who accompanied Abram are called 'young men', by whom none other than good spirits are meant, whereas by 'the men', referred to immediately after, angels are meant. The fact that angels were present with the Lord when He fought against the hells is clear from the Word, and also from the fact that when He was engaged in the conflicts brought about by temptations the angels were bound to be present, to whom the Lord from His own power gave the strength and seemingly the power to fight in company with Him; for all the power which angels have derives from the Lord.

[2] That angels fight against those who are evil becomes clear from what has been stated in various places already about the angels that reside with man - how they protect man and ward off the evils with which spirits from hell assault him, dealt with already in 50, 227, 228, 697, 968. Yet all the power they have derives from the Lord. Good spirits are indeed angels as well but lower ones, for they are in the first heaven, while angelic spirits are in the second, and angels properly so called are in the third, dealt with in 459, 684. Such is the form of government in the next life that good spirits are subordinate to angelic spirits, and angelic spirits to angels themselves, so that they all constitute one angelic community. Good spirits and angelic spirits are those called 'young men' here, while angels themselves are called 'men'.