6226. And sat upon the bed. That this signifies that this was turned to the natural, is evident from the signification of “bed,” as being the natural (see n. 6188). “Israel’s sitting upon the bed” denotes that spiritual good was turned to the natural, because by “Israel’s bowing himself on the head of the bed” (Genesis 47:31) was signified that spiritual good turned itself to those things which are of the interior natural (n. 6188); and therefore by his removing himself thence and sitting upon the bed is signified that spiritual good turned itself to the natural. What is meant by turning to the interior natural, and to the exterior, cannot be stated to the apprehension, because very few know that the natural is interior and exterior, and that the thought is now in the one and now in the other; and they who do not know this, do not reflect upon it, and consequently cannot have acquired knowledge of it by any experience. And yet this is common with everyone, but with a difference; for the thought is now elevated to what is higher, and now is again let down to what is lower; thus the thought of man now looks upward, and now looks downward.

[2] Besides, everyone can see that Israel’s bowing himself on the head of the bed, and afterward sitting upon the bed, are matters too slight to be mentioned in the most holy Word, unless they enfolded some secret which can be disclosed only by means of the internal sense, consequently only by a knowledge of what each word signifies in the spiritual sense, that is, in the sense in which are the angels. For the angels do not, like man, think from the objects of the world, of the body, and of the earth, but from those of heaven; and what the difference is between these two classes of objects is especially evident from the correspondences treated of at the end of several chapters.