4030. 'That Jacob put the rods before the eyes of the flock in the runners, so that they would come on heat at the rods' means summoned and joined together by His own power. This is clear from the meaning of 'the rods' as power, and when used in reference to the Lord as His own power, dealt with in 4013, 4015; and from the meaning of 'putting before the eyes of the flock in the runners, so that they would be on heat' as summoning them so that they might be joined together, as is evident from what has been stated above in 4018 and elsewhere about the meaning of these expressions.

103. The reason trees here mean perceptions is that the celestial man is the subject of the spiritual man were the subject the meaning would be different, for the character of the subject determines that of the predicate.