9845. 'According to their generations' means both kinds in the order in which they are begotten and proceed one from the other. This is clear from the meaning of 'generations' as matters of faith and charity, or forms of truth and goodness in the spiritual world, dealt with in 613, 2020, 2584, 6239, 9042, 9079, so that 'according to generations' means according to the order in which they are begotten and proceed one from the other, that is to say, good from truth and truth from good. For there are two states which the person undergoing new birth from the Lord passes through, the first being a state of truth, the other a state of good. While in the first state the person is led by means of truths towards good, but in the second he is led by means of good. This second state is the state of heaven with a person; for a person is not in heaven until good is present within him, see what has been shown above in 9832. From all this it is evident what 'according to the generations of the sons of Israel' means. The words 'in the order in which they are begotten and proceed one from the other' are used because even as good is begotten by means of truths, so does it afterwards proceed from them; and in a similar way even as truths are begotten from good, so do they afterwards proceed. For they are begotten in consecutive stages and proceed subsequently in the order of their consecutive stages of birth. But these matters have been stated for the benefit of those who know about the way in which series of things are produced in consecutive stages.

9079. 'Whether it strikes a son with its horn or strikes a daughter with its horn' means an assault made by an affection for evil on truths and forms of the good of faith that are derived from interior things. This is clear from the meaning of 'striking with the horn' as injuring, as above in 9065, thus an assault; and from the meaning of 'a son' as the truth of faith, and of 'a daughter' as the good of faith, dealt with in 489-491, 533, 1147, 2362, 2623. The reason why they are truths and forms of the good of faith which are derived from interior things is that interior things are like parents, from which forms of good and truths are born like sons and daughters. For the forms of good and the truths with a person who has been regenerated are interrelated like different generations. Some come in the parent's place, some in that of the children, some in that of the sons-in-law and daughters-in-law, some in that of the grandsons and granddaughters, and so on. They are interrelated therefore through blood relationships and relationships by marriage; and there are families of them with many lines of descent.

[2] The communities of heaven are arranged in this kind of order; so too are the truths and forms of good with a person who is being regenerated, which also is why he becomes a heaven in miniature. Furthermore, and this is an arcanum, the forms of good and the truths with a person love one another, and in accordance with that love they acknowledge one another, and accordingly exist in association with one another. This has its origin among angelic communities, in which angels love one another, acknowledge one another, and live in association with one another, depending on how similar and close together their forms of good are. And what is amazing, when people governed by a similar good come together, even if they have never seen one another before, it is as though they have seen one another since early childhood. It is from this origin that the forms of good and the truths present with a person link themselves to one another according to the form heaven takes, producing a likeness of heaven in him. But the Lord is the source of all this, both in heaven and in an angelic person, that is, in a person who is being regenerated and becoming an angel.