4619. 'And was gathered to his peoples' means that it was now among the things which belonged to the Divine Natural. This is clear from the meaning, when representatives are involved, of 'being gathered to his peoples' as its ceasing to be the subject any longer, dealt with in 3255, 3276, and so here that it was now among the things which belonged to the Divine Natural, as also follows from what has been stated immediately above in 4618. The ancients used to say, when anyone died, that he was gathered to his peoples; and when they said this they meant in the proximate sense that he was among his own in the next life. For every human being while living in the body is in company with spirits and angels as to his spirit, and also comes among the same after death, 1277, 2379. This was what they meant by 'the peoples' to whom he was gathered. But in the internal sense of the Word, where the goods and truths of the Church, or the Lord's kingdom, are the subject, 'being gathered to one's peoples' means being among truths and goods which accord or correspond. Truths and goods exist with all heavenly communities, but because truths and goods there are interrelated as in blood relationships and relationships by marriage on earth, with every variation involved in these, 685, 917, 3815, 4121, 'his peoples' therefore means the truths which govern concordant communities, that is, communities which abide in those truths. As regards 'peoples' meaning truths, see 1259, 1260, 2928, 3295, 3581.