4263. 'Two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats; two hundred sheep and twenty rams' means Divine goods and accompanying truths. This is clear from the meaning of 'she-goats and sheep' as goods, dealt with in 3995, 4006, 4169; from the meaning of 'he-goats and rams' as truths, dealt with in 4005, 4170, in this case Divine goods and truths. The reason why goods and truths are mentioned so many times, and why they are meant by so many different things, is that everything in heaven or in the Church has a relationship with them - everything of love and charity with good, and everything of faith with truth. Yet the genera and species of good and truth are countless, indeed limitless, as becomes clear from the fact that all who are governed by good are within the Lord's kingdom and yet good is not one and the same with one community as it is with another, nor is it even one and the same with one individual within a community as it is with another. For it is by no means possible for one and the same good to exist in two individuals, still less in many, for if one and the same good existed in them, there would not even be two, let alone many of them. Every single whole consists of varying parts, doing so through heavenly harmony and concord.

1486. 'And [he had] flocks and herds, and asses and menservants, and maidservants and she-asses, and camels' means all things in general which constitute factual knowledge. This is clear from the meaning of all of these in the Word. But what each one means specifically would take far too long to show, that is, to show what is meant by flocks and herds, what by asses and menservants, what by maidservants and she-asses, and what by camels. Each has its own particular meaning, but in general they mean all the things constituting the knowledge that is comprised of cognitions and all those constituting factual knowledge. Regarded in themselves facts are 'asses and menservants'; the pleasures that go with them are 'maidservants and she-asses'; 'camels' are general things of service; 'flocks and herds' are possessions. This applies throughout the Word. All things whatever residing with the external man are nothing else than a body of servants, that is, they exist to serve the internal man. This is how it is with all facts, which belong solely to the external man; for these are acquired from earthly and worldly things by means of sensory impressions so that they might serve the interior or rational man; and that this interior man might serve the spiritual man, the spiritual man the celestial man, and the celestial man the Lord. Thus these exist in subordination to one another as things that are exterior beneath those that are interior; and thus also every single thing exists subordinate to the Lord. Facts therefore are the ultimate and outermost things, in which in their order interior things are inclosed; and because facts are ultimate and outermost things, these more than all other things must be things of service. Anyone may recognize what it is that facts are able to serve if he reflects or asks himself the question, What is their use? When he reflects in this way on the use they serve he may also apprehend the nature of the use. Every fact must exist for the sake of a use, and this is its service.

[1486a] Verse 17 And Jehovah struck Pharaoh with great plagues, and his house, because of Sarai, ¹ Abram's wife.

'Jehovah struck Pharaoh with great plagues' means that facts were destroyed. 'And his house' means which He had gathered together. 'Because of Sarai, ¹ Abram's wife' means because of the truth that was to be allied to the celestial.

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