6417. 'The son of a fertile one is Joseph' means the spiritual Church, in the highest sense the Lord's Divine spiritual. This is clear from the representation of 'Joseph' in the highest sense as the Lord's Divine spiritual, in the internal sense as the spiritual kingdom and the good of faith, and in the external sense as fruitfulness and multiplication, dealt with in 3969, 3971; and since 'Joseph' is the fruitfulness of good and the multiplication of truth, he is called 'the son of a fertile one'. 'Joseph' is used here to refer to the Lord's spiritual kingdom, while above 'Judah' is used to refer to His celestial kingdom; for there are two kingdoms constituting heaven, the celestial and the spiritual. The celestial kingdom constitutes the inmost or third heaven, the spiritual kingdom the middle or second heaven; and the Lord is seen by the spiritual kingdom as the moon, but by the celestial kingdom as the sun, 1053, 1521, 1529-1531, 4060. When one says that 'Joseph' in the highest sense represents the Lord's Divine Spiritual, the following is involved: The Lord is nothing else than Divine Good. What goes forth from His Divine Good and flows into heaven is in His celestial kingdom called the Divine celestial, but in His spiritual kingdom the Divine spiritual, so that one uses the expression Divine spiritual or Divine celestial with reference to receptivity.

3971. 'It happened, when Rachel had borne Joseph' means acknowledgement of the spiritual represented by Joseph. This is clear from the meaning of 'bearing' as acknowledging, dealt with in 3905, 3911, 3915, 3919; from the representation of 'Rachel' as the affection for interior truth, dealt with in 3758, 3782, 3793, 3819; and from the representation of 'Joseph' as the spiritual kingdom and so the spiritual man, dealt with in 3969, and therefore as the spiritual; for having its origin in the Lord, the spiritual is that which makes the spiritual man and also the spiritual kingdom what they are. By means of Jacob's sons by the servant-girls and by Leah, the sections prior to this have dealt with the reception and acknowledgement of general truths, and eventually with the joining of those truths to the interior man, and so have dealt with man's regeneration up to and including his becoming spiritual. 'Joseph' is that spiritual man. The present sections coming directly after them deal with the fruitfulness and the multiplication of truth and good, which are meant by the flock which Jacob obtained for himself by means of Laban's flock.

[2] Indeed after the joining of the interior man to the external man has taken place, that is, of the spiritual and the natural, fruitfulness of good and multiplication of truth take place, for that joining together of the two is the heavenly marriage with man. It is from this marriage that such fruitfulness and multiplication spring. This also is why 'Joseph' in the external sense means fruitfulness and multiplication, 3965, 3969, the expressions 'fruitfulness' being used in reference to good, and 'multiplication' to truth, 43, 55, 913, 983, 2846, 2847.