4029. 'So it was, whenever those came on heat - those of the flock which came together first' means the things that were spontaneous. This is clear from the meaning of 'coming on heat' as an intense desire, and the effect that resulted from this, dealt with above in 4018, 4019; from the meaning of 'the flock' as truth and good, also dealt with above; and from the meaning of 'those coming together first' as things that are spontaneous. This meaning of 'those which came together first' - namely things that are spontaneous - is evident from the sequence of thought in the internal sense. It is in addition evident from the consideration that anything done from affection is spontaneous, very much so when done from an intense desire, meant by 'coming on heat'- hence the use twice in this verse of the expression 'coming on heat'. And the meaning of 'those which came together first' is still further evident from the derivation of this expression in the original language as becoming joined together through deepest love, as well as from the subject here being the joining of truth and good in the natural which is effected only through that which is spontaneous, that is, done in freedom. From all this it may be seen that 'whenever those came on heat - those of the flock which came together first' or 'wherever those from the flock which came together first came on heat' means truths and goods which are spontaneous, that is, which are the product of freedom, or what amounts to the same, of deepest affection.