“Life” in the Bible has reference to what we love, to our affections, because what we care

about actually makes us who we are. “Light” has to do with our thinking, our intellect –

which is not life itself, but defines and guides our lives. This verse, then, in saying “in

him was life,” reveals that it is divine truth that inspires our feelings, that makes us want

what is good. And when we want what is good, that will be “the light of men,” inspiring

us to seek and understand true ideas that can help us actually be good and do what is

good.

So divine truth – the exquisite expression of the Lord’s love – is not only the driving

force behind creation, it is also the agent that creates our own internal lives, inspiring our

desires for good and through them our understanding of what is true.

(références: Apocalypse Revealed 200; Arcana Coelestia 2894, 4687 [2-3]; Teachings about the Lord 1; True Christian Religion 39)

4686. 'Behold, we were binding sheaves in the middle of the field' means that they were teaching from doctrine. This is clear from the meaning of 'a sheaf' as doctrine, and consequently of 'binding sheaves' as teaching from doctrine, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'a field' as the Church, dealt with in 2971, 3766, 4440, 4443. 'The middle of the field' means the more internal part of the Church and so those who are governed by faith that is grounded in some charity - 'the middle' meaning in the internal sense that which is more internal and that which is inmost, 1074, 2940, 2973. For every Church has members in the middle, that is, those who are its inmost ones. They consist of those governed by charity, or in this case by faith grounded in some charity. With these the Lord is present because the Lord is present within charity and through charity within faith, 4672. It is also evident that these people are meant from what follows - from the description that Joseph's sheaf arose and the remaining sheaves gathered around it. By 'Joseph's sheaf' is meant doctrine drawn from the Lord's Divine Truth.

[2] The reason 'a sheaf means doctrine is that 'a field' means the Church, as has just been stated, while the grain-crop in the field means truth present in the Church. Thus a sheaf of the crop means doctrine containing truth. 'Sheaves' has a similar meaning in David,

Those who sow in tears will reap with singing; he who indeed goes forth weeping, carrying a cast of seed, will indeed come with singing, carrying his sheaves. Psalms 126:5-6.

This refers to people who have been in spiritual captivity and then have been set free. 'Carrying a cast of seed' stands for instruction in truths, 'coming with singing' for the gladness that results from the affection for truth, 'carrying sheaves' for matters of doctrine belonging to that truth.