1565. The fact that flock and herd are the possessions of the outer self can be seen from the symbolism of flock and herd as goodness, treated of in §§343 and 415. Here, though, they symbolize things that need to detach, or nongoodness, since they are depicted as belonging to Lot, who separated from Abram. The fact that flock and herd are nongoodness as well can be seen from the following passages in the Word. In Zephaniah:

I will destroy [everything] in you, so that you are without inhabitant; and the region of the sea will consist of dwellings excavated for shepherds and folds for the flock. (Zephaniah 2:5-6)

In Jeremiah:

In you I will scatter shepherd and flock, and in you I will scatter the farmer and the farmer's yoked team. (Jeremiah 51:23)

In the same author:

Go up to Arabia and lay waste to the children of the east. [Others] will take their tents and their flocks. (Jeremiah 49:28-29)

343. Everyone can see that a shepherd of a flock is one who does the good that charity inspires, because the image is common in the Old and New Testaments of the Word. One who leads and teaches is called a shepherd, or pastor, while those who are led and taught are termed the flock. No one who fails to lead people to do the good involved in charity or who fails to teach about that good is a true shepherd; no one who fails to follow the path to goodness or to learn about it is part of the flock.

Of course, it is unnecessary to demonstrate this symbolism of shepherd (or pastor) and flock by passages from the Word, but let me mention these anyway. In Isaiah:

The Lord will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and bread from the produce of the ground. He will pasture your livestock on that day, in a broad meadow. (Isaiah 30:23)

Bread from the produce of the ground is charity. In the same author:

The Lord Jehovih will pasture his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs into his arm and carry them on his chest. He will lead their new mothers gently. (Isaiah 40:11)

In David:

Shepherd of Israel, listen intently, as you lead Joseph like a flock. As you sit upon the guardian beings, shine out! (Psalms 80:1)

In Jeremiah:

I have compared the daughter of Zion to an attractive and delicate woman. Shepherds will come to her, and their flocks will pitch their tents near her all around. They will each graze their space. (Jeremiah 6:2-3)

In Ezekiel:

The Lord Jehovih said, "I will multiply them like a flock of people, like a holy flock, like the flock of Jerusalem at its set [feast] times; in this way the deserted cities will be filled with a flock of people." (Ezekiel 36:37-38)

In Isaiah:

Every flock of Arabia will be gathered to you; the rams of Nebaioth will wait on you. (Isaiah 60:7)

Those who lead the flock toward neighborly kindness are those who gather the flock; those who do not lead toward neighborly kindness are those who scatter the flock. All togetherness and unity are the result of charity, while all dispersal and disjunction come from a lack of charity.