9158. 'For clothing' means [any harm done to or else loss of] truth on the level of the senses. This is clear from the meaning of 'clothing' as truth, dealt with in 4545, 4763, 5319, 5954, 6914, 6917. In general 'clothing' means more external or lower truth that covers more internal or higher truths, 297, 2576, 5248, 6918; here therefore truth on the level of the senses is meant, this being the most external or lowest level, 5081, 5125, 5767, 6564, 6614. The meaning of 'clothes' as truths has its origin in representatives in the next life; for spirits and angels all appear dressed in clothes that are in keeping with the truths of faith they possess, 165, 5248, 5954.

5767. 'And caused to come down, each one his pouch to the earth' means that they brought the contents of the natural down to the level of sensory impressions This is clear from the meaning of 'causing to come down' - when these words are anticipating those that immediately follow them - as bringing to; from the meaning of 'pouch' as the exterior natural, dealt with in 5497; and from the meaning of 'the earth', when it says that they caused their pouches to come down to it, as the ultimate or lowest, thus the sensory level. For this level is the lowest or ultimate one since the senses are positioned at the doorway to the world outside. Bringing down to sensory impressions implies a thorough verification that a thing is so, for in this case even sensory evidence testifies to the inference that is being drawn.