7836. 'By the number of the souls, [each of them] according to the mouth of his eating, you shall make your count for the member of the flock' means making the good sufficient for innocence by filling it out with truths of good in the exact quantity needed for assimilating innocence. This is clear from the meaning of 'the number of the souls' as the exact quantity of the truths of good, since 'the number' in the Word has reference to truth, and 'a soul' to spiritual good; from the meaning of 'according to the mouth of his eating' as the amount needed for assimilating it, 'eating' meaning assimilating or making one's own, see 3168, 3517, 3596, 3832; and from the meaning of 'the member of the flock' as innocence, dealt with above in 7832. Making the good sufficient for innocence by filling it out is meant by the command to take from the house of an immediate neighbour the number that would be enough for the member of the flock, 'the house' meaning good, see above in 7873. When the expression 'the truth of good' is used here truth springing from good is meant. For when those who belong to the spiritual Church are being regenerated they are brought to the good of charity by means of the truth of faith; but once they have been brought to the good of charity, the truths born from it subsequently are called the truths of good.

[2] But how to understand these matters contained in this verse no one can possibly know unless he knows how the communities in heaven exist in relation to one another; for those communities were represented by the ways in which the children of Israel lived in association with one another according to tribes, families, and households. The communities of heaven are interrelated in a similar way, as follows: Heaven as a whole is one community, which the Lord governs as a single human being. The general communities there are the same in number as the members and various organs a person has, while the specific communities are the same in number as the component parts of each organ or member. And the individual communities are just so many as the smaller parts constituting larger ones. The truth of this is evident from the correspondences of the human being and of his members and various organs with the Grand Man, that is, with heaven, which have been described from experience at the ends of quite a number of chapters. From all this one may see what heaven is like so far as its organization into separate communities is concerned.

[3] But as regards what each community individually is like, it consists of a large number of angels who accord with one another in their types of good. The types of good are varying, for each one's good is peculiar to himself; yet those varying types of good that are in accord with one another are organized by the Lord into the kind of form in which they stand together as a single body of good. Such communities were represented by the fathers' houses among the children of Israel. This is the reason why the children of Israel were divided not only into tribes but also into families and households. And it is also why, when people are mentioned by name [in the Word], the names of their fathers are mentioned in order, right back to the tribe they belong to. It says, for example, of Samuel's father in 1 Samuel 1:11 that he was from Mount Ephraim, and that his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph; and 1 Samuel 9:1 states that Saul's father was from Benjamin, and that his name was Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphiah, the son of a Jeminite man. ¹ Similar details concerning very many other fathers are given. When such were mentioned it was to the end that heaven might know the particular nature of the kind of good represented by that father, as it derived in consecutive degrees from the first.

[4] In heaven furthermore, if a community is not complete as it ought to be, then new members are taken from elsewhere, from some neighbouring community, just the number that will complete the form of that good. As many are taken as are needed in each state and in the changes it undergoes; for the form of good varies as the state changes. It should nevertheless be recognized that in the third or inmost heaven - which is immediately above the heaven where those who are spiritual are, since these constitute the middle or second heaven - innocence reigns. For the Lord, who is perfect innocence, flows directly into that heaven.

[5] But in the second heaven, where those who are spiritual are, the Lord flows in with innocence indirectly, that is to say, by way of the third heaven. This inflow is the means by which the communities in the second heaven are organized or arranged into order in respect of their types of good. Therefore the inflow of innocence is what leads to changes in the states of good and to consequent variations of the patterns linking communities to one another there. From this it becomes clear how one ought to understand the contents of this verse in the internal sense, namely as follows: If someone's individual type of good is insufficient for innocence, it must be joined to the nearest good of truth, in order to make the good sufficient for the innocence by filling it out with truths of good in the exact quantity needed for assimilating innocence.

Poznámky pod čarou:

3832. 'And made a feast' means the introduction. This is clear from the meaning of 'a feast' as making one's own and being joined to, dealt with in 3596. Here it is the introduction, for this precedes the joining together, and is a pledge and witness to it. The feasts which were held in early times by people among whom meaningful signs and representatives existed meant nothing else than the introduction into the mutual love which is the essence of charity. Wedding feasts meant the introduction into conjugial love, and sacred feasts the introduction into spiritual and celestial love, the reason being that 'feasting' or eating and drinking meant making one's own and becoming joined to, as shown in 3596.

[2] This being the meaning of 'feasts' the Lord also spoke in the same vein,

Many will come from the east and from the west and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 8:11.

And elsewhere He said to the disciples,

That you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom. Luke 22:30.

And when He instituted the Holy Supper He said,

I tell you that I shall not drink from now on of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom. Matthew 26:29.

Anyone may see that 'reclining', 'eating', and 'drinking' in the Lord's kingdom do not mean reclining, eating, and drinking, but the kind of thing that exists in that kingdom; that is to say, these experiences are used to mean making the good of love and the truth of faith one's own, and so to mean that which is called spiritual food and celestial food. The quotations given above also show plainly that there is an internal sense within words spoken by the Lord, and that without an understanding of that sense one cannot know what is meant by reclining with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, by eating and drinking at the Lord's table in His kingdom, and by drinking of the fruit of the vine with them in the Father's kingdom. Nor indeed can one know what is meant by eating bread and drinking wine in the Holy Supper.