3815. 'And Laban said to Jacob, Because you are my brother' means, because they are kindred, by virtue of good. This is clear from the representation of 'Laban' as a parallel good that springs from a common stock, and from the representation of 'Jacob' as the good of the natural, both dealt with above; and from the meaning of 'brother' as good, dealt with in 3803, in this case that which is kindred since these words are spoken by Laban to Jacob, and therefore by good to good. Furthermore every kinship has its origin in good, for good is related to love. It is the nearest degree of love in the line of descent that is called kindred, and is meant in the proper sense by 'brother'. In the spiritual world or in heaven no other kinships or relationships by marriage exist except those of love to the Lord and of love towards the neighbour, or what amounts to the same, those of good. This has been made clear to me by the fact that all the communities that constitute heaven, and that are countless, are quite distinct and separate from one another according to degrees and differences of love and of faith deriving from this, see 685, 917, 2739, 3612.

[2] This has also been made clear to me by the fact that in heaven they do not acknowledge one another because of any family relationship that had been theirs during their lifetime but solely on the basis of good and attendant truth. A father does not acknowledge a son or daughter, a brother does not acknowledge a brother or sister, and even a husband does not acknowledge his wife, unless they have been governed by similar good. They do, it is true, meet when they first enter the next life, but they part company after that; for good itself - that is, love and charity - determines whichever community a person is sent to. Kinship begins in the community in which each person belongs and spreads from there into all places round about.

917. 'According to their families' means pairs. This is clear from what has been stated already in Chapter 7:2, 3, 15, about them going into the ark 'seven by seven of the clean, and two by two of the unclean', whereas in the present verse it is said that they went out 'according to families'. The reason no reference is made to seven by seven of the clean and two by two of the unclean but to 'families' is that the Lord has now brought all things into such order that they represent families. With a regenerate person goods and truths, that is, the things of charity and those of faith deriving from it, interrelate like blood relatives and relatives through marriage, and so they are like families descended from a single stock or parent, in the way they are in heaven, 685. This is the order which the Lord brings to goods and truths. The express meaning in the present verse is that every single good looks upon its own truth as one joined to it in marriage. And just as in general charity looks to faith, so in every individual part good looks to truth. For unless the general whole is the product of the individual part there is no general whole. It is from the individual parts that the general comes into being, and it is by virtue of that that it is called the general. With every person the situation is as follows: As is the person in general so are the most individual details of his affections and ideas. These are what he is composed of or what make him what he is in general. People therefore who have been regenerated become in the most individual details of their person what they are in general character.