3181. Verses 59-61 And they sent away Rebekah their sister, and her nurse, and Abraham's servant and his men. And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, Our sister, may you become thousands of myriads, and may your seed inherit the gate of those who hate you. And Rebekah rose up, and her maids, and they rode on the camels and went after the man. And the servant took Rebekah and went.

'They sent away Rebekah their sister' means separation from the affection for Divine truth. 'And her nurse' means from the innocence belonging to that affection. 'And Abraham's servant and his men' means from the Divine things within the natural man. 'And they blessed Rebekah and said to her' means heartfelt desires resulting from Divine enlightenment. 'Our sister, may you become thousands of myriads' means infinite fruitfulness of the affection for truth. 'And may your seed inherit the gate of those who hate you' means the Lord's spiritual kingdom arising from the marriage of good and truth in the Divine Human, a kingdom possessing charity and faith where evil and falsity had been previously. 'And Rebekah rose up' means a raising up of the affection for truth and the resulting separation. 'And her maids' means subsidiary affections. 'And they rode on the camels' means that the understanding part of the mind was raised up above natural facts. 'And went after the man' means under the guidance of natural Divine Truth. 'And the servant took Rebekah and went' means that natural Divine Good did the introducing.

In most places in the Word, "ten" represents "all," or in some cases "many" or "much." The Ten Commandments represent all the guidance we get from the Lord in life; the ten horns on the beast of Revelation represent all power of falsity; the ten virgins with lamps in Matthew 25 represent all people of the church.

Yet in other places, ten, or especially a "tenth," signifies representing remnants, or tiny scraps of goodness preserved for the future. These can be the remnants of a church -- a few good people that can be built up into a new church. Or they can be tiny subconscious memories of love and joy which the Lord stores in each of us in early childhood, feelings He can use later to draw us toward a life of goodness and affection.

These two meanings seem nearly opposite, but they're actually not. Love is whole and indivisible, so that the tiniest feeling buried inside someone contains all the elements of the love it can become. In a similar way, a remnant of a church that has preserved that church's knowledge has everything it needs to grow into a new church. In a sense, then, those remnants are indeed "all," they're just a version of "all" that is still in a state of potential.