6249. 'And Israel saw Joseph's sons' means a discernment regarding the Church's understanding and will. This is clear from the meaning of 'seeing' as discernment, dealt with in 2150, 3764, 4403-4421, 4567, 4723, 5400; and from the representation of Ephraim and Manasseh as the Church's understanding and will, born from the internal, which is 'Joseph', dealt with in 5354, 6222.

1584. That 'Lot lifted up his eyes' means that the external man received light from the internal is clear from the meaning of 'lifting up the eyes', which is seeing, in the internal sense, perceiving. Here 'lifting up the eyes' means receiving light, for this expression is used in reference to Lot, or the external man; and by perceiving the nature of the External Man when joined to the Internal Man, that is, the nature of its beauty, the external man receives light from the internal and possesses the Divine vision that is the subject here. Nor can there be any doubt that when He was a boy, the Lord as regards His external Man frequently had such Divine vision, for He alone was to join the external Man to the internal Man. The External Man was His Human Essence, while the Internal Man was His Divine Essence.