3795. 'For she was a shepherdess' or one who feeds the flock means that the affection for interior truth contained in the Word is that which teaches. This is clear from the meaning of 'a shepherd' or one who feeds the flock ¹ as one who leads and teaches, dealt with in 343, and from the representation of Rachel, to whom 'she' refers here, as the affection for interior truth, dealt with just above in 3793. The reason why interior truth is said to come from the Word is that it was the well to which Rachel came with the flock - 'a well' meaning the Word, see 3765. What is more, it is the affection for interior truth that teaches, for it is by virtue of that affection that the Church is the Church and a shepherd or pastor is a pastor. The reason 'a shepherd' and one who feeds the flock means in the Word those who lead and teach is that 'the flock' means those who are led and taught, and therefore means Churches and also the doctrines which a Church teaches, 3767, 3768, 3783. The fact that shepherd or pastor and flock have these meanings is very well known in the Christian world, for these are the terms used for those who teach and those who learn. It is therefore superfluous to confirm these points from the Word.

Fußnoten:

7501. 'For if you refuse to send them away and you still hold them back' means if they obstinately continued to molest them. This is clear from the meaning of 'refusing' as behaving obstinately, and therefore 'refusing to send away' is obstinately refusing to leave; and from the meaning of 'holding back' as continuing to molest, for those who are molested are held back by the evil spirits who molest them. The situation when this happens - when those who are molested by evil spirits are held back by them - is as follows: When evil spirits attack someone they know how to worm their way into the delights bound up with his desires, and also into the ideas attractive to his basic way of thinking, thus into the objects of his love. And for as long as they have wormed their way in like this they hold back the one they molest like a captive; and he cannot break free, however hard he tries, without Divine help from the Lord. For his love and their worming their way into the delights intrinsic to his love binds him to them. Such is the nature of this art that is practised by evil spirits and genii in the next life. What it is like is also evident from something similar in the world; when one person worms his way into the delights intrinsic to another person's love he captivates him and also leads him on.