4250. 'And he split up the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps' means the preparation and arrangement of truths and goods within the natural so as to receive the good represented by 'Esau'. This is clear from the meaning of 'the people' as truths, and also as falsities, dealt with in 1259, 1260, 3581; from the meaning of 'flocks' as interior goods, and also interior things that are not good; from the meaning of 'herds' as exterior goods, and also exterior things that are not good, dealt with in 2566, 4244; from the meaning of 'camels' as exterior or general truths, and so also as things that are not true, dealt with in 3048, 3071, 3143, 3145; and from the meaning of 'a camp' as order - in the good sense genuine order and in the contrary sense order that is not genuine, dealt with in 4236. The fact that 'splitting up into two' means dividing in two and in so doing arranging oneself to receive is self-evident.

[2] The implications of all this may be seen from what has been stated just above. That is to say, when good flows in, as happens when order is turned around and good takes up the first position, the natural receives light, and within the natural a person can see what genuine truth or good is and what that which is not genuine is. In this case genuine and non-genuine are so distinguished one from the other, that some things are retained while others are removed, as a consequence of which an altogether different order emerges from that which had existed previously. That is what happens when good has dominion over truth, for truths are then nothing else than ministers and servants, and they are arranged in ever closer conformity to heavenly order, to the reception of good by truths, and also to the character of the good, for good gets its specific character from truths.

4244. 'And I have oxen and asses, flocks and men servants and women servants' means acquisitions existing there in their proper order. This is clear from the meaning of 'oxen and asses, flocks and men servants and women servants' as subservient goods and truths, exterior and interior, and so acquisitions in their proper order. 'An ox' means exterior natural good, and 'an ass' exterior natural truth, see 2781; and 'a flock' means interior natural good, 'a man servant' its truth, and 'a woman servant' the affection for that truth, as is clear from the meaning of each, dealt with several times already. Those kinds of good and truth constitute the acquisitions referred to here, which are, it is evident, mentioned in their proper order since exterior ones are meant by 'oxen and asses' and interior ones by 'flocks, men servants and women servants'.