5894. 'And there are still five years' means the duration of that state until remnants shine forth. This is clear from the meaning of 'five' as remnants, dealt with in 5291; and from the meaning of 'years' as states, as immediately above in 5893, duration being meant by still that number of years. From these meanings it is evident that the words used here mean the duration of that state until remnants shine forth. Remnants are the truths and forms of good stored away by the Lord in a person's interior man, see 468, 530, 560, 561, 660, 1050, 1738, 1906, 2284, 5135, 5342. At this point the remnants are recognitions of and affections for truth before good reveals itself. They shine forth together with that good; but until then they are taken out of store in the measure that they can contribute to some useful purpose in life. Such is the nature of the Lord's providential care, indeed His constant care, though a person may know nothing at all about it and does not even have a wish to know. For he refuses to recognize the existence of providence in every detail of life, when in fact it exists in the smallest details of all from the earliest stage of a person's life through to the last, and for evermore after that. The streams of providence coming together at any one point in each person's life are more than any conceivable number. This I know from heaven.

1565. That 'flocks and herds' are the possessions of the external man becomes clear from the meaning of 'flocks and herds' as goods, dealt with in 343, 415. Here however since it is said they belonged to Lot, who was being separated from Abram, they mean those things that were to be separated, thus things that were not good are meant. That 'flocks and herds' also means things that are not good becomes clear from the following places in the Word: In Zephaniah,

I will cause destruction in you, that you will be without inhabitant; and the region of the sea will be dwellings dug out [for shepherds] and folds for the flock. Zephaniah 2:5-6.

In Jeremiah,

I will disperse in you the shepherd and the flock, and I will disperse in you the farmer and his team. Jeremiah 51:23.

In the same prophet,

Go up to Arabia, and lay waste the sons of the east. Their tents and their flocks shall they take. Jeremiah 49:28-29.