AC 3048 - Camels; AC 3052 - Memory-knowledges and Doctrinal Things

AC 3048 [2]

The subject here is the process
of the conjunction of truth with good
in the Lord's Divine rational;
first, the process of initiation,
the nature of which is described in a series;
here, that the Lord separated in the natural man
the things which were from Himself,
that is, which were Divine,
from those which were of the maternal.
The things which were from Himself,
or which were Divine,
are the things by which the initiation was effected;
and they are here the
"ten camels, of the camels of his lord."
And consequently it is that in the following verses
much mention is made of "camels":
-- as that he made the camels fall on their knees
without the city (verse 11);
-- that Rebekah also gave drink to the camels
(verses 14, 19-20);
-- that they were brought into the house,
and that straw and provender
were given them (verses 31-32);
-- and further, that Rebekah and her girls
rode upon the camels (verse 61);
-- and that Isaac saw the camels coming;
-- and when Rebekah saw Isaac,
that she alighted off her camel (verses 63-64).
Camels are mentioned so often
because of the internal sense,
in which they signify the general memory-knowledges
in the natural man,
from which comes the affection of truth
which is to be initiated into
the affection of good in the rational,
and this in the usual way, as shown above;
for the rational as to truth cannot possibly
be born and perfected
without memory-knowledges and knowledges.

AC 3052

Memory-knowledges and doctrinal things
are distinct from each other in this way:
-- doctrinal things come from memory-knowledges,
for they look to use,
and are procured from memory-knowledges
by means of reflection.