45. This was how people who lived in most ancient times envisaged matters of the understanding and those of the will. Among the Prophets therefore, and consistently throughout the Old Testament Word, like matters are represented by various kinds of living creatures. There are two kinds of beasts - evil ones, because they are harmful, and good ones, because they are gentle. Evil [and harmful] things in man were meant by such beasts as bears, wolves, and dogs, while good and gentle things were meant by beasts such as calves, sheep, and lambs. As the subject here is those persons who are to be regenerated, 'the beasts' are good and gentle ones, which mean affections. Things of a baser nature that derive from the body are called 'wild animals of the earth'. These are desires and pleasures.

1450. 'He removed from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel' means the Lord's fourth state when He was a boy. This becomes clear from what comes before and after, thus also from the train of thought itself, namely this: The Lord had first of all to be endowed from infancy with the celestial things of love - the celestial things of love consisting in love towards Jehovah and love towards the neighbour, and in innocence itself present in those loves. From these, as from the very sources of life, flows every single thing, for all other things are simply derivatives. These celestial things are implanted in a person chiefly in the state of infancy through to childhood, and in fact independently of cognitions; for they flow in from the Lord and stir that person with affection before he knows what love is or what affection is, as the infant state shows, and after that the state of early childhood. Those things with man are the 'remnants' that have been referred to several times which are implanted by the Lord and stored away for use in his later life. For these matters, see 468, 530, 560, 561, 660, 661. Since the Lord was born as any other is born, He too was introduced according to order into celestial things, step by step from infancy on into childhood, and after that into cognitions. These things as experienced by the Lord are described in the present verse, and represented in those that follow by Abram's sojourning in Egypt.