6499. 'And Joseph fell upon his father's face' means an influx of the internal into the affection for good. This is clear from the meaning of 'falling upon someone's face' as an influx; from the representation of 'Joseph' as the internal, dealt with in 5805, 5826, 5827, 5869, 5877, 6177, 6224; from the meaning of 'face' as affection, dealt with in 4796, 4797, 5102; and from the representation of Israel, to whom 'father' refers here, as spiritual good or the good of truth, dealt with in 3654, 4598, 5801, 5807, 5806, 5812, 5817, 5819, 5826, 5833. From all this it is evident that 'Joseph fell upon his father's face' means an influx of the internal into the affection for spiritual good.

[2] The reason why an influx of the internal into the affection for spiritual good is meant is that here the internal sense deals with the spiritual Church that the Lord established. For 'Israel' means the good of truth or spiritual good; but since this good constitutes the spiritual Church, 'Israel' also means that Church, 4286, 6426. For that good to come into existence an influx from the internal celestial represented by 'Joseph' is necessary; for without the influx from it that good is not good, because there is no affection attached to it.

The internal sense of what comes after this continues to deal with the establishment of that Church, 6497. The reason why that Church is described by 'Israel' who has now died and is soon to be buried is that in the internal sense death is not meant by 'death', nor burial by 'burial'. Rather, new life is meant by 'death', 3498, 3505, 4618, 4621, 6036, and regeneration by 'burial', 2916, 2917, 5551.

5551. 'In sorrow to the grave' means without hope of a restoration to life. This is clear from the meaning of 'sorrow' here as without hope, for sorrow comes when no hope exists any longer; and from the meaning of 'the grave' as resurrection and regeneration, dealt with in 2916, 2917, 3256, 4621, and so a restoration - a restoration of the Church - to life. For if neither the internal represented by 'Joseph' is present within the Church, nor the intermediary represented by 'Benjamin', nor faith in the will, which is charity, represented by 'Simeon', no hope of its restoration to life exists any longer.

[2] It does indeed seem strange that 'the grave' means a restoration to life; but that strangeness is due to man's idea about the grave. He makes no distinction between the grave and death, nor even between the grave and the corpse lying in it. But angels in heaven cannot have any such idea about the grave; theirs is an entirely different one from man's, namely the idea of resurrection and restoration to life. For when a person's corpse is committed to the grave he himself is raised into the next life. When thinking about the grave therefore the angels have no idea of death, only of life and consequently of a restoration to life.