8470. 'Take it, each for whoever is in his tent' means sharing with them, and therefore a common good. This is clear from the meaning of 'tent' as a community in respect of good. 'Tent' here is similar in meaning to house, for during their wanderings they lived in tents. The command that each should take for whoever was in his tent means sharing with them, and so also therefore a common good. Since all this has to do with the situation that comes about among communities in heaven, as stated immediately above in 8469, something further will be stated about it, in order that people may know what to understand by sharing with others in a community, and by a common good resulting from this - the things meant by the command that each should take for whoever was in his tent.

[2] Each member of a community in heaven shares his good with all in the community, and all there share theirs with each member. From this arises the good held in common by all, called a common good. This good links up with the common good in other communities, and from this arises an even more common good, and finally a most common. This kind of sharing goes on in heaven; and it makes them all a single whole. They are exactly like a person's organs and members, which - though various and dissimilar - nevertheless present themselves as a single whole by communicating with one another in similar ways. Love alone, which is spiritual togetherness, makes possible the linking of those varieties of good. The overall power forming and arranging into order every single one is the Divine Good of Divine Love emanating from the Lord.

8469. 'The number of your souls' means the amount for all in a community, that is to say, the amount of the good of truth meant by 'the manna'. This is clear from the meaning of 'according to the number of souls' as the amount sufficient for all in a community. For when 'an omer a head' means the amount sufficient for each individual, 'according to the number of souls' means the amount for all in a community. The subject here is good as it exists with those who belong to the Lord's spiritual kingdom, the good which is meant by 'the manna' and which will be given in an amount sufficient for each person and sufficient for a community. For each household among the children of Israel represented one community in heaven, 7836, 7891, 7996, 7997.

The situation with the communities in heaven is that heaven is made up of countless communities that are distinct and separate from one another. All in each community share a common good, which is distinct from the good of other communities. Also each member of a community possesses a particular kind of good, distinct from the good any other in the community possesses. The different kinds of good that members of a community possess, which are distinct and so various but nevertheless compatible, compose a form called a heavenly form. Heaven as a whole is made of such forms. They are called forms when they are thought of as combinations of good, but communities when they are thought of as combinations of persons. These things were represented by the divisions of the children of Israel into tribes, families, and households.