5913. 'And your flocks, and your herds' means natural good, interior and exterior. This is clear from the meaning of 'flock' as interior good, dealt with in 2566, in this case interior natural good since the flocks belonged to Israel, who represents spiritual good from the natural, 5906; and from the meaning of 'herd' as exterior natural good. The reason why 'herd' means exterior good and 'flocks' interior good is that the animals which constituted a herd, such as oxen and young bulls, were signs, when used in sacrifices, of external forms of the good of charity and also of the forms of good present in the external man. But the animals constituting flocks, such as lambs, sheep, she-goats, were signs of internal forms of the good of charity and also of the forms of good present in the internal man. Consequently people in whom these forms of good are present are referred to in the Word by the single term 'flock', and the one who leads them by the term 'pastor' or 'shepherd'.

5906. 'Make haste and go up to my father' means to spiritual good. This is clear from the representation of Israel, to whom 'father' refers here, as spiritual good from the natural, dealt with in 5801, 5803, 5806, 5812, 5817, 5819, 5826, 5833. The reason why spiritual good is the father of the internal celestial - even though spiritual good, because it comes from the natural, is external when considered in relation to the internal celestial - is that a person must be external before his internal man can develop. For progress is made in order, from exterior things to interior ones, for example, from factual knowledge to intellectual concepts, after which the exterior things must serve as the foundation on which the interior ones rest. This progression, or birth of one from another, is the reason for calling the external 'the father' of the internal, consequently the reason why spiritual good from the natural, which is 'Israel', should be the father of the internal celestial, which is 'Joseph'.