6584. 'Also the sons of Machir, Manasseh's son' means and so far as its will and the derivatives from that were concerned. This is clear from the representation of 'Manasseh' as the area of will in the Church, dealt with in 5351, 5357, 5754, 6222, 6238, 6267, 6296; and from the meaning of his sons and his sons' sons, to whom 'the sons of Machir' refers here, as derivatives, as above in 6583. The derivatives of the Church's will, which are meant by 'the sons of Machir', are aspects of good joined to truths, thus truths from good, for truths that have been derived from good are forms of good. As regards 'the sons of Machir', that they are aspects of good joined to truths, this is meant by their being born on Joseph's knees, as stated in what immediately follows; and as regards their being truths from good, this may be seen in the Book of Judges,

Out of Machir lawgivers will come down. Judges 5:14.

'Lawgivers' stands for truths from good, 6372.

6296. 'But truly his younger brother will become greater than he' means that good from truth, thus the spiritual man, will receive even greater increase. This is clear from the representation of Ephraim, to whom 'younger brother' refers here, as truth that belongs to the understanding within the natural and is born from the internal, dealt with in 6234, 6238, 6267, though 'Ephraim' at this point is good from truth, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'becoming greater than another' as receiving even greater increase. The reason why here 'Ephraim' is good from truth is that he represents the member of the spiritual Church - the member of the external spiritual Church, to be exact - just as 'Manasseh' represents the member of the external celestial Church, 6295. What makes someone a member of the spiritual Church is good from truth - the internal part of that Church being what 'Israel' represents, the external what 'Ephraim' represents. A member of the spiritual Church differs from a member of the celestial in the fact that the spiritual member's good has been implanted in the understanding part of his mind, whereas the celestial member's has been implanted in the will part, see 863, 875, 895, 927, 928, 1023, 1043, 1044, 2256, 4328, 4493, 5117. This difference goes to explain why 'Ephraim' represents the spiritual man, and 'Manasseh' the celestial man.

[2] The reason why good from truth, or the spiritual man, will receive greater increase than good which gives rise to truth, which is the celestial man, is that the human will has been unceasingly corrupted, so corrupted that at length evil has taken complete possession of it, with the result that nothing sound has remained there. So that a person is not destroyed on account of this the Lord has seen to it that the understanding part of his mind may be regenerated and that he may thereby be saved. This now explains why there are few who still have any soundness in the will part of their mind, thus why there are few who can become celestial people but many who can become spiritual ones; and this in turn explains why those who are spiritual will receive greater increase than those who are celestial. This then is the meaning of 'his younger brother will become greater than he'.