6296. 'But truly his younger brother will become greater than he' means that good from truth, thus the spiritual man, will receive even greater increase. This is clear from the representation of Ephraim, to whom 'younger brother' refers here, as truth that belongs to the understanding within the natural and is born from the internal, dealt with in 6234, 6238, 6267, though 'Ephraim' at this point is good from truth, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'becoming greater than another' as receiving even greater increase. The reason why here 'Ephraim' is good from truth is that he represents the member of the spiritual Church - the member of the external spiritual Church, to be exact - just as 'Manasseh' represents the member of the external celestial Church, 6295. What makes someone a member of the spiritual Church is good from truth - the internal part of that Church being what 'Israel' represents, the external what 'Ephraim' represents. A member of the spiritual Church differs from a member of the celestial in the fact that the spiritual member's good has been implanted in the understanding part of his mind, whereas the celestial member's has been implanted in the will part, see 863, 875, 895, 927, 928, 1023, 1043, 1044, 2256, 4328, 4493, 5117. This difference goes to explain why 'Ephraim' represents the spiritual man, and 'Manasseh' the celestial man.

[2] The reason why good from truth, or the spiritual man, will receive greater increase than good which gives rise to truth, which is the celestial man, is that the human will has been unceasingly corrupted, so corrupted that at length evil has taken complete possession of it, with the result that nothing sound has remained there. So that a person is not destroyed on account of this the Lord has seen to it that the understanding part of his mind may be regenerated and that he may thereby be saved. This now explains why there are few who still have any soundness in the will part of their mind, thus why there are few who can become celestial people but many who can become spiritual ones; and this in turn explains why those who are spiritual will receive greater increase than those who are celestial. This then is the meaning of 'his younger brother will become greater than he'.

1610. That 'I will make your seed as the dust of the earth' means being multiplied beyond measure is clear without explanation. Here it is said that his seed would be made as 'the dust of the earth', in other parts of the Word as 'the dust of the sea', and in yet other parts as 'the stars of heaven'. Each of these phrases has its own particular meaning. 'Dust of the earth' has regard to those things that are celestial, for, as shown already, 'the earth' means the celestial aspect of love; 'dust of the sea' has regard to those things that are spiritual, for 'the sea', as has also been shown, means the spiritual aspect of love; while 'as the stars of heaven' means both but in a higher degree. And because these things cannot be numbered they therefore became common expressions to describe growth and multiplication beyond measure.

[2] The statement that his seed, that is, the faith that is the expression of love, or simply love, was to be multiplied beyond measure means in the highest sense the Lord, and in particular His Human Essence, for the Lord as regards the Human Essence is called 'the seed of the woman', dealt with in 256. When the Lord's Human Essence is meant, the infinite celestial and spiritual is understood by the words 'multiplied beyond measure'; but when faith that is the expression of charity, or simply charity, among the human race is meant by 'the seed', the multiplication without measure of that seed in everyone who leads a charitable life is understood. Such multiplication takes place in the next life with everyone who leads a charitable life. With him the multiplication of charity and of the faith deriving from it, together with their associated happiness, is so great that one can only describe it as being beyond measure and defying description. When the human race is meant by 'the seed', the multiplication of this in the Lord's kingdom is also beyond measure - not only from those who are inside the Church, and their children, but also from those who are outside the Church, and their children. Consequently the Lord's kingdom or heaven is boundless. That boundlessness will in the Lord's Divine mercy be spoken of elsewhere.