4029. 'So it was, whenever those came on heat - those of the flock which came together first' means the things that were spontaneous. This is clear from the meaning of 'coming on heat' as an intense desire, and the effect that resulted from this, dealt with above in 4018, 4019; from the meaning of 'the flock' as truth and good, also dealt with above; and from the meaning of 'those coming together first' as things that are spontaneous. This meaning of 'those which came together first' - namely things that are spontaneous - is evident from the sequence of thought in the internal sense. It is in addition evident from the consideration that anything done from affection is spontaneous, very much so when done from an intense desire, meant by 'coming on heat' - hence the use twice in this verse of the expression 'coming on heat'. And the meaning of 'those which came together first' is still further evident from the derivation of this expression in the original language as becoming joined together through deepest love, as well as from the subject here being the joining of truth and good in the natural which is effected only through that which is spontaneous, that is, done in freedom. From all this it may be seen that 'whenever those came on heat - those of the flock which came together first' or 'wherever those from the flock which came together first came on heat' means truths and goods which are spontaneous, that is, which are the product of freedom, or what amounts to the same, of deepest affection.

A person's feeling of freedom involves everything that is in keeping with his love or affection, see 2870.

Every joining together of truth and good is effected in freedom and none under compulsion, 2875, 3145, 3146, 3158.

Consequently all reformation and regeneration is effected through freedom, 1937, 1947, 2876-2881.

If it were possible to effect it through compulsion all would be saved, 2881.

3145. 'And he ungirded the camels' means freedom for the things that were to be subservient. This is clear from the meaning of 'ungirding' as freeing, and from the meaning of 'the camels' as general facts, and so things that were to be subservient, as dealt with just above in 3143. The situation is that without freedom no production of truth ever takes place in the natural man, nor summoning of it from there into the rational man, where it becomes joined to good. It is in a state of freedom that all these things come about, for it is the affection for truth springing from good that sets them free. Unless truth is learned with an affection for it, and so in freedom, it is not even implanted in the mind, let alone raised up towards the interior parts of the mind to become faith there. For all reformation is effected in freedom; all freedom goes together with affection, and the Lord keeps man in freedom so that he can - as if of himself and from what is his own - have an affection for what is true and good and so be regenerated, see 2870-2893. These are the things meant by 'he ungirded the camels'; and unless those things were meant, the details recorded here would have been too trivial to mention.