6302. 'And Israel said to Joseph, Behold, I am dying' means a perception which spiritual good received from the internal celestial regarding new life and regarding the end of the representation. This is clear from the meaning of 'saying' as perception, dealt with above in 6220; from the representation of 'Israel' as spiritual good, also dealt with above, in 6225; from the representation of 'Joseph' as the internal celestial, dealt with in 5869, 5877; and from the meaning of 'dying' as awakening to life, dealt with in 3498, 3505, 4618, 4621, 6036, 6221, and also as the end of the former representation, 3257, 3259, 3276. That end is also meant here by 'dying', for when one who has been representing some aspect of the Church dies another takes his place to continue the line of representation. Thus after Abraham died the line of representation was continued in Isaac, then in Jacob, and after him in his sons. It was similar when Moses died; the sequence of representation continued in Joshua, and then in the judges one after another down to the kings, and so on.

3505. 'Before I die' means the first state of awakening in the natural. This is clear from the meaning of 'dying' as rising again or awakening into life, dealt with in 3326, 3498. That this is the first state is evident from the consideration that it is the good of early childhood and therefore the good of life which comes first in regeneration, which first state up to now has been represented by 'Esau'. Subsequent states, dealt with consecutively, form the subject in this chapter.