5531. 'Was in his sack' means in each one's receptacle. This is clear from the meaning of 'a sack' as a receptacle, dealt with in 5489, 5494, 5529. What is meant by a receptacle here must also be stated briefly. A person's natural is divided into receptacles. Each receptacle comprises a general whole within which there are, in ordered groups, less general or relatively particular parts, and specific parts within these. Each general whole, together with its particular and its specific parts, includes within itself its own receptacle which can activate itself, that is, can achieve variations in form and effect changes of state within itself. The receptacles present with a person who has been regenerated are as many in number as the general truths present with him, and each receptacle corresponds to some community in heaven. This ordered condition exists with the person in whom the good of love and consequently the truth of faith are present. From all this one may gain some idea of what is meant by each one's receptacle when this phrase is used to refer to general truths in the natural which are represented by 'the ten sons of Jacob'.

5529. 'And so it was, as they were emptying their sacks' means the use performed by truths in the natural. This is clear from the meaning of 'emptying' - emptying out the corn they had brought back from Egypt - as the use performed by truths (for 'corn' means truth, 5276, 5280, 5292, 5402); and from the meaning of 'sacks' as receptacles within the natural, dealt with in 5489, 5494, and so the natural itself. Regarding the receptacles in the natural, see below in 5531.