7556. 'And now send, assemble your livestock' means that the truth of good should be gathered. This is clear from the meaning of 'assembling' as gathering; and from the meaning of 'livestock' as the good of truth, and also the truth of good, dealt with in 6016, 6045. What the truth of good and the good of truth are, see 2063, 3295, 3332, 3669, 3688, 3882, 4337, 4353, 4390, 5526, 5733. The subject in this and the next two verses is the goodness and truth which the Lord places in safe keeping even within the evil. For goodness and truth which have not been linked to evils and falsities are not laid waste but are stored away interiorly by the Lord and at a later time brought out for use. The goodness and truth placed in safe keeping within a person by the Lord are meant in the Word by 'the remnant', regarding which, see 468, 530, 560, 561, 576, 661, 798, 1738, 1906, 2284, 5135, 5342, 5344, 5897-5899, 6156.

5526. 'I will give you your brother' means that truths will thereby be made forms of good. This becomes clear from the representation of Simeon, who is 'the brother' here whom he would give them, as faith in the will, dealt with in 5482; and from the representation of the ten sons of Jacob, who are the ones here to whom he would be given, as the truths known to the Church present within the natural, dealt with in 5403, 5419, 5427, 5428, 5512. The reason 'I will give you your brother' means that truths will thereby be made forms of good is that when faith in the will is 'given', truths are made forms of good.

[2] For as soon as the truth of faith, which is a matter of doctrine, enters the will it is made the truth of life and truth put into practice, in which case it is called good and also becomes spiritual good; and the Lord uses this good to form a new will in the person. The will causes truth to exist as a form of good for the reason that essentially the will is nothing else than love (for whatever a person loves he wills, and whatever he does not love he does not will), and also for the reason that everything which is a product of love or flows from love is perceived by a person as a form of good since he takes delight in it. From this it follows that everything which is a product of the will or flows from the will is a form of good.