In this chapter, Jacob is old, and near death. Joseph comes to see him, bringing his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. Overall, this story respresents a phase of our spiritual rebirth, in which our natural mind is no longer predominant, and deeper spiritual, even celestial, loves are coming to the fore.
“Joseph was told” (verse 1) represents an awareness of good and true things flowing from the inner part of our minds outward. Secrets of Heaven 6221 explains that “dying” (in cases such as this) refers to the process of regeneration, or being made anew. Swedenborg writes that this “is bound to seem too far-fetched to be believed,” but “angels have no knowledge at all of death or sickness and form no mental image of them.” Instead, they think of death as part of a continuation of life.
Israel strengthening himself indicates that truth in our natural self is now able to perceive good, because we are now connected with our inner self, symbolized by Joseph’s presence (verse 2).
Jacob's speaking to Joseph (verse 3) means that there will be a renewed exchange between our natural or material self [Jacob] and our more internal or spiritual self. When we receive spiritual ideas from God, we get them first in the most interior parts of our soul and mind, and they flow outward to our more exterior mind and body. New good and charitable ideals we’ve received from God prompt outer behaviors. The Lord can't reach our natural minds without first going through these inner channels. (See Secrets of Heaven 6230).
When God gives the land to Jacob’s descendants, it's showing that people who love others and believe in God will have the His kingdom within them even while they're still on earth. Love for others is fruitful, and the truth we have multiplies. (Secrets of Heaven 6232).
Joseph’s two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, (verse 5) represent a new kind of goodness and truth. Jacob saying, “They are mine” represents the natural part of us in relation to goodness and truth. The reason why Jacob counts them in with his other sons is that all of Jacob’s sons represent parts of our lives where the Lord is present within us. Ephraim symbolizes our understanding, and Manasseh symbolizes our will. Our understanding and will together make up our mind, which is where we receive internal truths from God.
When truth is first accepted, it is in the outer parts of our minds (as in verse 6). As more truths continue to be revealed, they lead us to a more profound understanding of spiritual matters. (See Secrets of Heaven 6239).
In Jacob’s blessing, he says that any children Joseph has after Ephraim and Manasseh will belong to Joseph, and Jacob (the outermost part) won’t claim them. In other words, once a person has a new will (Manasseh) and understanding (Ephraim), the rational part of their minds opens. Any truths and good that come after that will proceed from the deepest parts of a person, symbolized by Joseph (See Secrets of Heaven 6240).
The true rational part of our mind is distinguished from the natural rationality that exists before a person becomes open to spiritual truths. Swedenborg describes it this way, “Rationality consists in seeing inwardly and perceiving that what is good is indeed good, and from this that what is true is indeed true, for such vision and perception of these things comes from heaven” (See Secrets of Heaven 6240).
Jacob’s wife dying (verse 7) signifies the end of affection for inner truth. The meaning of Ephrath concerns a former, inner connection between truth and good. At first, a person has an affection for truth, for learning religious teachings. A later, better state is when a person's affection for truth focuses on implementing teachings in our daily lives, and not merely just studying them. The former state is impure because, while becoming spiritually intelligent, the person is “also moved at the same time by a desire for reputation and glory.” In this new state the person “casts aside glory and reputation as . . . ends in view and instead embraces the good of life, that is, love and caring towards the neighbor” (Secrets of Heaven 6247).
Loving truth for the sake of living is different from loving it for the sake of personal gain. In Genesis 48:8, Jacob asks, “Who are these?” This represents our outer self questioning the quality and origin of a new attitude to heavenly things.
“Joseph said to his father” (verse 9) is a response originating from the Lord. This results in a blessing, or a “foretelling regarding goodness and truth” (Secrets of Heaven 6254). In spiritual life, true blessings only come from God.
Israel’s dim eyes indicate obscure thinking (verse 10). This is because Jacob had “reached the final phase of his representation” (Secrets of Heaven 6256). The good coming from natural truth becomes relatively dim as more complex ideas from deeper parts of our mind become present. It might be like being in a light that is much brighter than your eyes are used to, thus making it difficult to see.
“Then Joseph brought them near him” shows how external self can accept internal truths from God. “Kissing” represents an affection for truth, and “embracing” an affection for good. Jacob embracing Joseph’s sons is a natural representation of embracing good on a spiritual level. Swedenborg explains that “every spiritual affection has a corresponding gesture that a person performs with his or her body” (Secrets of Heaven 6261).
Israel's speaking to Joseph (verse 11) corresponds with love flowing from our internal self to external self. Our internal self cannot actually possess love, because the love it feels belongs to the Lord. It possesses no love in and of itself, as indicated by the phrase “I had not thought,” but it feels the flow of love. In this wonderful state, we can also discern the goodness and truth springing from that outward flow, as represented by Joseph’s sons. (See Secrets of Heaven 6263, 6264).
Verse 12 draws us deeper into this wonderful state of receiving spiritual love. Joseph brings his sons from beside his knees, representing how good things in the will (Manasseh) and true things in the understanding (Ephraim) are now enriched from our spiritual truths (Joseph). From there, they become more present in our natural, more outward self (Jacob).
Joseph's bowing is an expression of humility before the Lord. We must do this on a spiritual level, because our natural mind possesses no ability to humble itself before the Lord. These ideas demonstrate that life first comes from the Lord and then flows to the natural world (See Secrets of Heaven 6266).
Ephraim represents new truth in understanding. His position on the left shows that truth is meant to take on a supporting role to will. Manasseh represents new good belonging to the will, and his position on the right shows that this good is meant to occupy the primary position.
Israel lays his right hand on Ephraim’s head (verse 14). This means “he considered truth to occupy the first place and good … the second place” (Secrets of Heaven 6269). This is the way we start out in life, thinking that truth takes precedence over love. Before being regenerated, a person is “not conscious of what the good of charity is because it comes from an interior route” (Secrets of Heaven 6269). The entire story of Joseph is about learning to see things in a deeper way. It does not describe people who are first starting out in their spiritual life, but those who have made progress, and now need to see how all things come from the Lord.
Israel “guiding his hands knowingly,” shows his belief that truth should be primary. He places love in a secondary position. However, the importance of love being primary can be seen by the following image. Good is like a flame and truth is like the light that shines from it. If you take away the flame, the light perishes, too.
Swedenborg notes that if people saw love and charity were what's most important, they wouldn’t split up into so many different religious organizations. “Instead, they would speak of one Church that included everyone leading a good life” (Secrets of Heaven 6269).
Here, Israel is identifying Joseph’s children with Joseph himself, since the new truth and good that Ephraim and Manasseh represent only have life because of the spiritual truths represented by Joseph (verse 15). On a natural level, the new good and truth are clothed so they can be a part of our daily lives.
Joseph’s father talks about God and his forefathers. Abraham represents the Divine itself, and Isaac represents the rational ability of God. As complex and difficult as it is to understand God, we can think of this rational ability as the part of God that arranges everything He creates.
In the Old Testament, Jehovah God’s presence flowed into the natural world through heaven, but only could be seen by people on earth when it took on an angelic appearance. (See Exodus 3 with the story of Moses and the burning bush). Over time, people distanced themselves so far away from heaven that Jehovah God could no longer reach them. The magnitude of His love, and His desire to save people from hell caused Jehovah to take on a human form. This is the reason Jesus was born on earth and why He was glorified or made divine. Through His teachings the Lord Jesus was, and is still, able to reach out to people and redeem them (See Secrets of Heaven 6280).
Joseph represents the innermost, or celestial, realms within us. These are the areas most closely associated with love. Israel represents good that comes from truth that is not quite as profound as what Joseph represents. Here our innermost realm sees that our outer self considers truth to occupy the primary position (See Secrets of Heaven 6287) and does not approve of this. It is like looking deep within and seeing that love is motivating us, but then not actually being able to act according to love. The reason why the deepest parts of our mind feel this way is because they operate in the light of heaven.
Joseph takes hold of his father’s hand. This symbolizes spiritual ideas flowing into Israel’s limited thinking. When spiritual ideas move into our thought processes concerning the material world, they begin to replace our old ways of thinking. (See Secrets of Heaven 6289). Think of the times when we were filled with love to do something, and how it overtakes our whole being, compared with the dimmer motivation of deciding to do something because simply we know it's true. Joseph grasping his father’s hand represents the way our inner self really wants us to see that love comes to us first from the Lord. “To remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head” shows that the celestial or most loving part of us wants to steer us away from the error of thinking that truth is more important than love.
Placing a hand on a person’s head for a blessing was an ancient custom. Doing this was a representative act, “denoting that a blessing should be imparted to a person’s understanding and will, thus to their real self” (Secrets of Heaven 6292). In this verse (18), the inflow is becoming stronger. It is giving the person a new way of thinking and providing new direction.
Joseph’s father saying, “I know, my son, I know” shows that our outer self recognizes the importance of love.
Jacob saying, “His younger brother shall be greater” is the reverse of true order. Since the time represented by the story of Adam and Eve being expelled from the garden, the will of humankind has been corrupted and revived, again and again. God had to change His way of leading people to moral living by shifting His focus to altering people’s understanding instead of their will. This is meant to explain why Jacob says Ephraim’s increase will be greater than Manasseh’s. But here, with inflow from the deepest parts of the mind, people become able to see and understand that love is what’s most important (See Secrets of Heaven 6296).
To give a little sense of how these things differ, the deepest or celestial things within a person (represented by Joseph) have “a concern for good [love], and from this for truth.” The more external things (represented by Israel) have “a concern for truth, and from this for good” (Secrets of Heaven 6295).
Israel's blessing of Joseph’s children (verse 20) speaks to the foresight and providence of God - evil is foreseen and good is provided. The true blessing is the foreseeing of evil which God then tries to turn towards good (See Secrets of Heaven 6298). With any true blessing, spiritual matters must reside in the natural world. If not, our spirit has no foundation to come into our physical body. For example, when a person enjoys a calm and blissful feeling in doing something for another without thought of reward, it is from the spirit. Doing good because it serves heaven requires our natural mind to cooperate. If the natural mind does not cooperate, we block the flow of spiritual ideas (See Secrets of Heaven 6299).
“God will be with you” shows that we will have some awareness of Divine Providence’s operation. The Lord here is trying to bring us back to “the land of your fathers,” as spoken to Joseph. That is, the Lord wants to lead us towards a time when we are willing to follow, in innocence, as we were before we turned away from Him.
When it says that Israel takes the land from the hand of the Amorite, this symbolizes victory over evil. “Whenever the children of Israel represented the things of heaven, [the nations around them] represented the things of hell; thus the land of Canaan represented every state that exists in the next life” both good and evil (Secrets of Heaven 6306). Here, Manasseh and Ephraim represent the new good flowing into the will and the new truths flowing into the understanding, “which are the two constituents of the Church” (Secrets of Heaven 6305). In its essence “church” means the inflow of Divine truth from heaven into the minds of people in the natural world.
