7143. 'Saying, Why do you deal thus with your servants?' means that under the present circumstances they could not perform their prescribed function. This is clear from the meaning of 'a servant' as one who ministers and performs a function. Because that person is being of service he is referred to as a servant, as in various places in the Word. One who is obedient is called 'a servant' or 'a slave', see 1713, while 'serving' describes diligent effort, 3824, 3846. And since the narrative that follows on from here implies that they could not endure that service [imposed on them], it is evident that 'why do you deal thus with your servants?' means that under the present circumstances they could not perform their prescribed function.

1713. 'He and his servants' means the Rational Man and those things in the External Man that were obedient. This is clear from the meaning of the pronoun 'he', that is, of Abram, as the Interior Man, dealt with above, and from the meaning of 'servants' as things that are obedient. All things in the external man, before this has been set free and reclaimed, are called 'servants' or 'slaves', for they are wholly obedient to the interior man. For example, present with the exterior man there are affections and there is factual knowledge. The former originate in the goods of the interior man, the latter in the truths of the same. When these are made to act so that they conform with the interior man they are said to 'serve and obey'. Here therefore 'servants' means nothing else than the things in the External Man that were obedient.