10405. 'And he received [the gold] from their hands' means things favouring their proprium or self. This is clear from the meaning of 'receiving from someone's hand' as receiving such things as are his, thus that belong to the self or are favourable to the self; for 'the hand' means a person's power or capability, and consequently whatever is his, see in the places referred to in 10019, and 10082, 10241.

2727. HOW MARRIAGES ARE REGARDED IN HEAVEN AND ALSO ADULTEROUS SITUATIONS

What genuine conjugial love is and where it originates few know at the present day, the reason being that it exists with few. Almost everyone believes that it is inborn and so flows from, they say, a kind of natural instinct, such belief being strengthened by the fact that the inclination to pair off as in marriage also occurs among animals. But the difference between conjugial love with human beings and that inclination with animals is as the difference between the human condition and that of any animal.