Arcana Coelestia #1565
1565. That “flock and herd” signify the possessions of the external man, is evident from the signification of “flock” and “herd,” as being goods (see n. 343, 415); but here they signify things that are to be separated, and thus things that are not good, because they are attributed to Lot, who was being separated from Abram. That “flock” and “herd” signify also things not good, is evident from the following passages of the Word.
In Zephaniah:
I will destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant. And the sea coast shall be habitations dug out for shepherds, and folds for a flock (Zeph. 2:5-6).
In Jeremiah:
I will disperse in thee the shepherd and the flock; and I will disperse in thee the husbandman and his yoke (Jeremiah 51:23).
In the same:
Go ye up to Arabia, and lay waste the sons of the east; their tents and their flocks shall they take (Jeremiah 49:28-29).
Jeremiah 49:28-29
28
Of Kedar, and of the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck. Thus says Yahweh: Arise, go up to Kedar, and destroy the children of the east.
29
Their tents and their flocks shall they take; they shall carry away for themselves their curtains, and all their vessels, and their camels; and they shall cry to them, Terror on every side!
