5670. 'And he gave fodder to their asses' means instruction regarding good. This is clear from the meaning of 'giving fodder' as providing instruction in good; for 'fodder' means the good that goes with known facts that are factual truths, 3114; and 'giving fodder', which is feeding, means providing instruction in that good, for the reason that 'feeding' means providing instruction, see 5201, while 'asses' means factual knowledge, 5492. From this it is evident that 'giving fodder to asses' means instruction regarding the good that goes with known facts. The good that goes with known facts is the delight gained from factual truths. Factual truths are very general truths which are seen in natural light received from the light of the world. But if they are to be seen as truths, a general influx from the internal must take place, 5668; and this is an enlightenment received from the light of heaven.

3114. 'There is both straw' means factual truths, 'and also much fodder with us' means the goods that go with these. This is clear from the meaning of 'straw' and 'fodder'. The reason 'straw' means factual truths is that it has reference to camels, whose food is such; for when 'camels' means the natural man as regards the general facts there, the food of the natural man - 'straw' - cannot have any other meaning, since no other food exists to sustain his life. The nourishment of the natural man is received from this, for if deprived of that food, that is to say, of knowledge, the natural man would cease to exist. The truth of this is evident from the life after death, for in that life spirits receive such things in place of food, see 56-58, 680, 681, 1480, 1695, 1973, 1974.

[2] Within the natural man, as within the rational man, there exist in general two kinds of things which constitute its essence - those that make up the understanding and those that make up the will. Truths belong to the things constituting the understanding, goods belong to those constituting the will. The truths present in the natural man are factual truths - that is to say, all the things housed in his external memory - and it is these that are meant by 'straw' when camels, and also horses, mules and asses are the subject. But the goods present in the natural man are chiefly the delights that go with an affection for those truths, and it is these goods that are meant by 'fodder'.