3129. 'And Rebekah had a brother' means the affection for good in the natural man. This is clear from the meaning of 'a brother' and of 'a sister' in the Word - 'a brother' being the affection for good, and 'a sister' the affection for truth, dealt with in 367, 2360, 2508, 2524. For in the natural man, as in the rational, all things there are interrelated like blood relatives and relatives by marriage, 2556, 2739. For that reason also the rational mind as well as the natural mind is called a house or family where parents, brothers, sisters, blood relatives, and relatives by marriage exist in order.

2739. From the marriage of good and truth in heaven all loves are descended, which are such as the love of parents towards their children, the love of brothers for one another, love towards other relatives, and so on down in their order according to their degrees of affinity. According to these loves that have their origin solely in good and truth, that is, in love and faith to the Lord, all heavenly communities are formed. And these are joined together by the Lord in such a way that they resemble a human being, which also is why heaven is called the Grand Man. There are indescribable varieties, all of which have their origin in and are derived from the union of good and truth from the Lord, which union is the heavenly marriage. This explains why on earth the origin of all blood relationships and other family relationships is traced back to marriages, and why in a similar way different kinds of love used to be derived according to the degrees of affinity among them. But as conjugial love does not exist at the present day, blood relationships and other family relationships are indeed worked out from marriages, but no comparable relationships of love exist. In the Most Ancient Church derivations of love were of this nature, and therefore in heaven those people dwell together, distinguished so to speak into separate nations, families, and houses, all of which acknowledge the Lord as their one and only parent.