8001. 'Shall eat it' means that he shall be together with them. This is clear from the meaning of 'eating' - eating the Passover lamb together with all the others - as communicating, and being joined together, dealt with in 2187, 5643. For the Passover supper represented, as stated above in 7836, 7891, 7996, 7997, groups of angels associated together according to forms of good and truths; and the statutes regarding foreigners, slaves, strangers, hired servants, and sojourners, who are dealt with in these verses, in the internal sense indicate who exactly could be integrated among them and who could not. This then is why 'eating' means being together with them or integrated among them, while 'not eating' means not being together among them, that is, being set apart from them.

1111. People who have led a good life, public and private, but who have persuaded themselves that they merit heaven by works and who have believed that it is enough merely to acknowledge one God alone as the Creator of the universe, have their false assumptions converted in the next life into such delusions that they seem to themselves to be cutting grass, and are called grass-cutters. They are cold, and endeavour to warm themselves by that cutting activity. Sometimes they go around inquiring of those they meet whether they will provide them with some warmth. This the spirits are indeed able to do for them, but the warmth they receive has no effect on them because it is external and they are wanting internal warmth. Consequently they return to their cutting, and in this way obtain some warmth for themselves from their work. I have felt their cold. They are always hoping that they are going to be carried into heaven. Sometimes they consult about how they can get themselves into that place by their own power. Because these people have performed good works they are among those who are vastated; and at length with the passage of time they are admitted into good communities and receive instruction.