6416. Verses 22-26. Joseph is the son of a fruitful one, the son of a fruitful one over a fountain, of a daughter, she marcheth upon the wall. And embitter him, and shoot at him, and hate him, the archers. And he shall sit in the strength of his bow, and the arms of his hands are made strong by the hands of the mighty Jacob; from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel. By the God of thy father, and He shall help thee, and with Shaddai, and He shall bless thee, with blessings of heaven above, with blessings of the deep that lieth beneath, with blessings of the breasts and of the womb. The blessings of thy father shall prevail above the blessings of my progenitors, even to the desire of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of the Nazirite of his brethren. “Joseph is the son of a fruitful one,” signifies the spiritual church, in the supreme sense the Lord as to the Divine spiritual; “the son of a fruitful one over a fountain,” signifies fruitfulness from truth from the Word; “of a daughter, she marcheth upon the wall,” signifies for fighting against falsities; “and embitter him” signifies resistance by falsities; “and shoot at him,” signifies that they fight from these falsities; “and hate him, the archers,” signifies with all hostility; “and he shall sit in the strength of his bow,” signifies that he is safe by means of the fighting truth of doctrine; “and the arms of his hands are made strong,” signifies the power of the forces for fighting; “by the hands of the mighty Jacob,” signifies by the omnipotence of the Lord’s Divine Human; “from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel,” signifies that from this is all the good and truth in the spiritual kingdom; “by the God of thy father, and He shall help thee,” signifies the God of the Ancient Church; “and with Shaddai,” signifies the Lord the benefactor after temptations; “and He shall bless thee with the blessings of heaven above,” signifies with good and truth from within; “with blessings of the deep that lieth beneath,” signifies with the memory-knowledges that are in the natural; “with blessings of the breasts,” signifies with the affections of good and truth; “and of the womb,” signifies their conjunction; “the blessings of thy father shall prevail above the blessings of my progenitors,” signifies that this church has spiritual good from the natural, not from the rational; “even to the desire of the everlasting hills,” signifies to celestial mutual love; “they shall be on the head of Joseph,” signifies these things as to the interiors; “and on the crown of the head of the Nazirite of his brethren,” signifies as to the exteriors.

1053. And the bow shall be in the cloud. That this signifies man’s state, is evident from what has been said and shown above concerning the bow in the cloud, namely, that a man or a soul in the other life is known among angels from his sphere, and that this sphere, whenever it pleases the Lord, is represented by colors, like those of the rainbow, in variety according to the state of each person relatively to faith in the Lord, thus relatively to the goods and truths of faith. In the other life colors are presented to view which from their brightness and resplendence immeasurably surpass the beauty of the colors seen on earth; and each color represents something celestial and spiritual. These colors are from the light of heaven, and from the variegation of spiritual light, as said above. For angels live in light so great that the light of the world is nothing in comparison. The light of heaven in which angels live, in comparison with the light of the world, is as the noonday light of the sun in comparison with candlelight, which is extinguished and becomes a nullity on the rising of the sun. In heaven there are both celestial light and spiritual light. Celestial light—to speak comparatively—is like the light of the sun, and spiritual light is like the light of the moon, but with every difference according to the state of the angel who receives the light. It is the same with the colors, because they are from the light. The Lord Himself is to the heaven of the celestial angels a Sun, and to the heaven of the spiritual angels, a Moon. These things will not be credited by those who have no conception of the life which souls live after death, and yet they are most true.