5632. 'And I, even as I have been bereaved, I shall be bereaved' means that before these things take place the Church must be deprived of its own truths. This is clear from the representation of Israel, who says this regarding himself, as the Church, dealt with in 3305, 4286; and from the meaning of 'being bereaved' as being deprived of the truths which belong to the Church, dealt with in 5536. The fact that such a deprivation must occur before these things take place is a self-evident one. For if the good of faith represented by 'Simeon', 5630, does not exist, and if interior truth, which is the intermediary, represented by 'Benjamin' does not exist, no truth belonging to the Church exists other than the kind of truth which is solely on the lips and not in the heart.