6048. 'And says, What are your works?' means and to know your forms of good. This is clear from meaning of 'works' as forms of good. The reason why 'works' means forms of good is that works originate in the will, and what originates in the will is a form of good or a form of evil, whereas what originates in the understanding, such as spoken words, is a form of truth or a form of falsity. The 'works' done by Jacob's sons, and also by their forefathers, consisted in tending livestock, thus in acting as shepherds; and by these 'works' too forms of good are meant, in particular forms of the good of truth. This meaning has its origin in correspondences, for lambs, sheep, kids, and she-goats, which are members of the flock, correspond to forms of the good of charity; and so do young bulls and oxen, which are members of the herd. The fact that these animals have this correspondence is clear from the consideration that when angels, moved by a heavenly affection, talk to one another about forms of the good of charity, flocks and herds are seen in some places in the world of spirits and also in the first or lowest heaven. Flocks are seen when they talk about interior forms of the good of charity, but herds when they talk about exterior forms, see 3218-3220. This explains why in the Word such deeds are meant by 'flocks and herds'.

[2] In general it should be recognized that every spiritual meaning contained in the Word has its origin in representatives in the next life, and those representatives in correspondences. The reason for this is that the natural world derives its existence from the spiritual world in the way an effect does from its cause, to the end that the spiritual world may flow into the natural world and act as the causes behind things there. In this way everything there is maintained in its proper path and order. For the whole natural creation is a theatre representative of the Lord's kingdom, that is, of the spiritual and celestial realities there, see 2758, 2987-3002, 4939, 5116.