6463. 'And he gathered up his feet towards the bed' means that [spiritual good] turned itself - its lower things in which interior ones are present - towards the good and truth of the lower natural. This is clear from the meaning of 'gathering up the feet' as turning oneself towards lower things (when 'the feet' means lower things, 'gathering up' clearly means turning oneself towards; for 'the feet' are the things which compose the natural, see 2162, 3147, 3761, 3986, 4280, 4938-4952, thus which are lower ones, 6436. The fact that lower things in which interior ones are present are meant is evident from what was stated above in 6451); and from the meaning of 'the bed' as the natural, dealt with in 6188, 6226, thus the good and truth of the natural since these make up a person's natural. The reason why the good and truth of the lower natural are meant is that this part of the natural, in accordance with the explanations given in 6451, 6452, is what interior things turn themselves towards. For the natural has a lower part and a higher one, or an interior part and an exterior one, see 3293, 3294, 5118, 5126, 5497, 5649.

[2] Since 'Israel' represents spiritual good from the natural, and 'Jacob' spiritual truth in the natural, while 'his sons' represent forms of good and truths in the natural, divided into separate groups, the word bed is therefore used; for the natural is meant by it, 6188, 6226, as for example when it says here that, after he had finished speaking to his sons, he gathered up his feet towards the bed. Other examples of the usage occur where it says that, when Joseph came to him, Israel strengthened himself and sat on the bed, 6226, and also where it says that, after he had spoken to Joseph about burying him in the grave of his fathers, Israel bowed himself over the head of the bed, 6188. This also accounts for the following remarkable occurrence: When one thinks of Jacob a bed with a man lying on it is seen in the world of spirits. It is seen some distance away overhead, in front over on the right. The reason for its appearance is that an idea of Jacob in the mind is converted in heaven into an idea of the natural; for in heaven they do not perceive anything of Jacob but perceive that which is represented by him, namely the natural, which is also meant by 'the bed'.

6188. 'And Israel bowed himself over the head of the bed' means that it turned towards things of the interior natural. This is clear from the meaning of 'bowing oneself' here as turning oneself; and from the meaning of 'the bed' as the natural, dealt with below. Thus 'the head of the bed' is that within the natural which is higher, that is, more internal; for wherever 'the head' is mentioned in the Word, what is more internal is meant. This is in relation to the body, which is more external. In saying that it turned towards things of the interior natural one means that natural truth, which is 'Jacob', was to be raised up to spiritual good, which is 'Israel', in accordance with what was stated and explained above in 6183.

[2] The reason 'the bed' means the natural is that the natural exists beneath the rational and serves it as a kind of bed. For the rational reclines so to speak on the natural, and since the natural is accordingly what is spread beneath, it is therefore called 'the bed', as also in Amos,

"As the shepherd rescues from the mouth of the lion two legs or a piece of an ear, so will the children of Israel dwelling in Samaria be rescued, on the corner of a bed and on the end of a couch." Amos 3:12.

'On the corner of a bed' stands for within the lowest part of the natural, 'on the end of a couch' for within sensory awareness. For the people of Israel, whose capital city was Samaria, represented the Lord's spiritual kingdom. One speaks of that kingdom being, as is said of father Israel here, 'over the head of the bed', because spiritual good, which is represented by 'father Israel', is 'the head of the bed'. But when people turn away from that good to what belongs to the lowest part of the natural and to what belongs to sensory awareness, one speaks of them being 'on the corner of a bed and on the end of a couch'. The same prophet speaks of "Those who lie on beds of ivory, and stretch out on their couches, but feel no grief over the ruin of Joseph". Amos 6:4, 6.

'Beds of ivory' are the pleasures of the lowest part of the natural that are pursued by haughty people. 'Feeling no grief over the ruin of Joseph' stands for feeling no concern at all that good from the internal has been reduced to nothing. In David,

If I come into the tent of my house, if I go up onto the couch of my bed . . . Psalms 132:3.

'The tent of my house' stands for the holiness of love, 414, 1102, 2145, 2152, 3312, 4128, 4391, 4599. 'Going up onto the couch of a bed' stands for up onto the natural, to truth that derives from the good of love. 'Coming into the tent of one's house and going up onto the couch of one's bed' is a prophetical saying which, as anyone may see, nobody can understand without the internal sense.