5890. 'For God sent me before you for the bestowal of life' means the spiritual life they received as ordained by Providence. This is clear from the meaning of 'the bestowal of life' as spiritual life, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'God sent me before you' as ordained by Providence. This meaning - ordained by Providence - becomes clear from Joseph's dreams. In them it was foretold that his brothers, and his father too, would bow down to him, which would never have been foreseen unless it had been ordained providentially. The meaning of 'the bestowal of life' and 'to bestow life' as spiritual life, or new life received through regeneration becomes clear from the single consideration that the spiritual meaning of the Word cannot be anything else. There is natural life and there is spiritual life, natural life being meant in the literal sense of the Word, but spiritual life in its internal sense. What is more, there are many places where even in the sense of the letter 'bestowing life' and simply 'life' are used to mean spiritual life, as in Ezekiel,

When I say to the wicked, You will surely die, and you do not warn him or speak to dissuade the wicked from his evil way so that life may be bestowed on him. Ezekiel 3:18.

In the same prophet,

You have desecrated Me among My people for handfuls of barley and for crusts of bread, to kill souls that ought not to die and to bestow life on souls that ought not to live. You strengthen the hands of the wicked so that he does not turn back from his evil way for life to be bestowed on him. Ezekiel 13:19, 22.

In Hosea,

Jehovah will bestow life on us after two days, and on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live before Him. Hosea 6:1.

In David,

Unless I believed I would see goodness in the land of life. Psalms 27:13.

In John,

To him who conquers I will grant to eat from the tree of life which is in the middle of the paradise of God. Revelation 2:7.

In John the Evangelist,

As the Father raises up the dead and bestows life [on them], so also the Son bestows life on whom He will. John 5:21.

In the same gospel,

It is the Spirit who bestows life; the flesh does not profit anything. The words which I speak, they are spirit and they are life. John 6:63.

In these places 'bestowing life' and 'life' plainly stand for spiritual life, which is life in heaven, a life which is also simply called 'life', as in Matthew,

Narrow and strait is the road that leads to life, and those who find it are few. Matthew 7:14.

And in other places 'entering into life' stands for entering heaven, Matthew 18:8-9; 19:17; Mark 9:43, 45, 47; John 5:24.