In this chapter, Jacob is old, and near death. Joseph comes to see him, bringing his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. Overall, this story respresents a phase of our spiritual rebirth, in which our natural mind is no longer predominant, and deeper spiritual, even celestial, loves are coming to the fore.

“Joseph was told” (verse 1) represents an awareness of good and true things flowing from the inner part of our minds outward. Secrets of Heaven 6221 explains that “dying” (in cases such as this) refers to the process of regeneration, or being made anew. Swedenborg writes that this “is bound to seem too far-fetched to be believed,” but “angels have no knowledge at all of death or sickness and form no mental image of them.” Instead, they think of death as part of a continuation of life.

Israel strengthening himself indicates that truth in our natural self is now able to perceive good, because we are now connected with our inner self, symbolized by Joseph’s presence (verse 2).

Jacob's speaking to Joseph (verse 3) means that there will be a renewed exchange between our natural or material self [Jacob] and our more internal or spiritual self. When we receive spiritual ideas from God, we get them first in the most interior parts of our soul and mind, and they flow outward to our more exterior mind and body. New good and charitable ideals we’ve received from God prompt outer behaviors. The Lord can't reach our natural minds without first going through these inner channels. (See Secrets of Heaven 6230).

When God gives the land to Jacob’s descendants, it's showing that people who love others and believe in God will have the His kingdom within them even while they're still on earth. Love for others is fruitful, and the truth we have multiplies. (Secrets of Heaven 6232).

Joseph’s two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, (verse 5) represent a new kind of goodness and truth. Jacob saying, “They are mine” represents the natural part of us in relation to goodness and truth. The reason why Jacob counts them in with his other sons is that all of Jacob’s sons represent parts of our lives where the Lord is present within us. Ephraim symbolizes our understanding, and Manasseh symbolizes our will. Our understanding and will together make up our mind, which is where we receive internal truths from God.

When truth is first accepted, it is in the outer parts of our minds (as in verse 6). As more truths continue to be revealed, they lead us to a more profound understanding of spiritual matters. (See Secrets of Heaven 6239).

In Jacob’s blessing, he says that any children Joseph has after Ephraim and Manasseh will belong to Joseph, and Jacob (the outermost part) won’t claim them. In other words, once a person has a new will (Manasseh) and understanding (Ephraim), the rational part of their minds opens. Any truths and good that come after that will proceed from the deepest parts of a person, symbolized by Joseph (See Secrets of Heaven 6240).

The true rational part of our mind is distinguished from the natural rationality that exists before a person becomes open to spiritual truths. Swedenborg describes it this way, “Rationality consists in seeing inwardly and perceiving that what is good is indeed good, and from this that what is true is indeed true, for such vision and perception of these things comes from heaven” (See Secrets of Heaven 6240).

Jacob’s wife dying (verse 7) signifies the end of affection for inner truth. The meaning of Ephrath concerns a former, inner connection between truth and good. At first, a person has an affection for truth, for learning religious teachings. A later, better state is when a person's affection for truth focuses on implementing teachings in our daily lives, and not merely just studying them. The former state is impure because, while becoming spiritually intelligent, the person is “also moved at the same time by a desire for reputation and glory.” In this new state the person “casts aside glory and reputation as . . . ends in view and instead embraces the good of life, that is, love and caring towards the neighbor” (Secrets of Heaven 6247).

Loving truth for the sake of living is different from loving it for the sake of personal gain. In Genesis 48:8, Jacob asks, “Who are these?” This represents our outer self questioning the quality and origin of a new attitude to heavenly things.

“Joseph said to his father” (verse 9) is a response originating from the Lord. This results in a blessing, or a “foretelling regarding goodness and truth” (Secrets of Heaven 6254). In spiritual life, true blessings only come from God.

Israel’s dim eyes indicate obscure thinking (verse 10). This is because Jacob had “reached the final phase of his representation” (Secrets of Heaven 6256). The good coming from natural truth becomes relatively dim as more complex ideas from deeper parts of our mind become present. It might be like being in a light that is much brighter than your eyes are used to, thus making it difficult to see.

“Then Joseph brought them near him” shows how external self can accept internal truths from God. “Kissing” represents an affection for truth, and “embracing” an affection for good. Jacob embracing Joseph’s sons is a natural representation of embracing good on a spiritual level. Swedenborg explains that “every spiritual affection has a corresponding gesture that a person performs with his or her body” (Secrets of Heaven 6261).

Israel's speaking to Joseph (verse 11) corresponds with love flowing from our internal self to external self. Our internal self cannot actually possess love, because the love it feels belongs to the Lord. It possesses no love in and of itself, as indicated by the phrase “I had not thought,” but it feels the flow of love. In this wonderful state, we can also discern the goodness and truth springing from that outward flow, as represented by Joseph’s sons. (See Secrets of Heaven 6263, 6264).

Verse 12 draws us deeper into this wonderful state of receiving spiritual love. Joseph brings his sons from beside his knees, representing how good things in the will (Manasseh) and true things in the understanding (Ephraim) are now enriched from our spiritual truths (Joseph). From there, they become more present in our natural, more outward self (Jacob).

Joseph's bowing is an expression of humility before the Lord. We must do this on a spiritual level, because our natural mind possesses no ability to humble itself before the Lord. These ideas demonstrate that life first comes from the Lord and then flows to the natural world (See Secrets of Heaven 6266).

Ephraim represents new truth in understanding. His position on the left shows that truth is meant to take on a supporting role to will. Manasseh represents new good belonging to the will, and his position on the right shows that this good is meant to occupy the primary position.

Israel lays his right hand on Ephraim’s head (verse 14). This means “he considered truth to occupy the first place and good … the second place” (Secrets of Heaven 6269). This is the way we start out in life, thinking that truth takes precedence over love. Before being regenerated, a person is “not conscious of what the good of charity is because it comes from an interior route” (Secrets of Heaven 6269). The entire story of Joseph is about learning to see things in a deeper way. It does not describe people who are first starting out in their spiritual life, but those who have made progress, and now need to see how all things come from the Lord.

Israel “guiding his hands knowingly,” shows his belief that truth should be primary. He places love in a secondary position. However, the importance of love being primary can be seen by the following image. Good is like a flame and truth is like the light that shines from it. If you take away the flame, the light perishes, too.

Swedenborg notes that if people saw love and charity were what's most important, they wouldn’t split up into so many different religious organizations. “Instead, they would speak of one Church that included everyone leading a good life” (Secrets of Heaven 6269).

Here, Israel is identifying Joseph’s children with Joseph himself, since the new truth and good that Ephraim and Manasseh represent only have life because of the spiritual truths represented by Joseph (verse 15). On a natural level, the new good and truth are clothed so they can be a part of our daily lives.

Joseph’s father talks about God and his forefathers. Abraham represents the Divine itself, and Isaac represents the rational ability of God. As complex and difficult as it is to understand God, we can think of this rational ability as the part of God that arranges everything He creates.

In the Old Testament, Jehovah God’s presence flowed into the natural world through heaven, but only could be seen by people on earth when it took on an angelic appearance. (See Exodus 3 with the story of Moses and the burning bush). Over time, people distanced themselves so far away from heaven that Jehovah God could no longer reach them. The magnitude of His love, and His desire to save people from hell caused Jehovah to take on a human form. This is the reason Jesus was born on earth and why He was glorified or made divine. Through His teachings the Lord Jesus was, and is still, able to reach out to people and redeem them (See Secrets of Heaven 6280).

Joseph represents the innermost, or celestial, realms within us. These are the areas most closely associated with love. Israel represents good that comes from truth that is not quite as profound as what Joseph represents. Here our innermost realm sees that our outer self considers truth to occupy the primary position (See Secrets of Heaven 6287) and does not approve of this. It is like looking deep within and seeing that love is motivating us, but then not actually being able to act according to love. The reason why the deepest parts of our mind feel this way is because they operate in the light of heaven.

Joseph takes hold of his father’s hand. This symbolizes spiritual ideas flowing into Israel’s limited thinking. When spiritual ideas move into our thought processes concerning the material world, they begin to replace our old ways of thinking. (See Secrets of Heaven 6289). Think of the times when we were filled with love to do something, and how it overtakes our whole being, compared with the dimmer motivation of deciding to do something because simply we know it's true. Joseph grasping his father’s hand represents the way our inner self really wants us to see that love comes to us first from the Lord. “To remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head” shows that the celestial or most loving part of us wants to steer us away from the error of thinking that truth is more important than love.

Placing a hand on a person’s head for a blessing was an ancient custom. Doing this was a representative act, “denoting that a blessing should be imparted to a person’s understanding and will, thus to their real self” (Secrets of Heaven 6292). In this verse (18), the inflow is becoming stronger. It is giving the person a new way of thinking and providing new direction.

Joseph’s father saying, “I know, my son, I know” shows that our outer self recognizes the importance of love.

Jacob saying, “His younger brother shall be greater” is the reverse of true order. Since the time represented by the story of Adam and Eve being expelled from the garden, the will of humankind has been corrupted and revived, again and again. God had to change His way of leading people to moral living by shifting His focus to altering people’s understanding instead of their will. This is meant to explain why Jacob says Ephraim’s increase will be greater than Manasseh’s. But here, with inflow from the deepest parts of the mind, people become able to see and understand that love is what’s most important (See Secrets of Heaven 6296).

To give a little sense of how these things differ, the deepest or celestial things within a person (represented by Joseph) have “a concern for good [love], and from this for truth.” The more external things (represented by Israel) have “a concern for truth, and from this for good” (Secrets of Heaven 6295).

Israel's blessing of Joseph’s children (verse 20) speaks to the foresight and providence of God - evil is foreseen and good is provided. The true blessing is the foreseeing of evil which God then tries to turn towards good (See Secrets of Heaven 6298). With any true blessing, spiritual matters must reside in the natural world. If not, our spirit has no foundation to come into our physical body. For example, when a person enjoys a calm and blissful feeling in doing something for another without thought of reward, it is from the spirit. Doing good because it serves heaven requires our natural mind to cooperate. If the natural mind does not cooperate, we block the flow of spiritual ideas (See Secrets of Heaven 6299).

“God will be with you” shows that we will have some awareness of Divine Providence’s operation. The Lord here is trying to bring us back to “the land of your fathers,” as spoken to Joseph. That is, the Lord wants to lead us towards a time when we are willing to follow, in innocence, as we were before we turned away from Him.

When it says that Israel takes the land from the hand of the Amorite, this symbolizes victory over evil. “Whenever the children of Israel represented the things of heaven, [the nations around them] represented the things of hell; thus the land of Canaan represented every state that exists in the next life” both good and evil (Secrets of Heaven 6306). Here, Manasseh and Ephraim represent the new good flowing into the will and the new truths flowing into the understanding, “which are the two constituents of the Church” (Secrets of Heaven 6305). In its essence “church” means the inflow of Divine truth from heaven into the minds of people in the natural world.

6148. 'Only the ground of the priests he did not buy' means that the internal obtained for itself from the natural every capacity to receive good, because every such capacity came from itself. This is clear from the representation of 'Joseph', about whom these things are said, as the internal, dealt with already; from the meaning of 'the ground' as the receptacle of truth, dealt with above in 6135-6137, at this point the capacity to receive good, for the capacity of something is its inherent ability to receive, which causes a receptacle to be a receptacle (that capacity comes from good, that is, from the Lord through good, for if the good of love did not flow in from the Lord no one would ever have the capacity to receive truth or good. That inflow of the good of love from the Lord causes everything present inwardly in a person to be of a receptive nature. The truth that the capacity to receive good comes from the natural is meant by the fact that the ground lay in Egypt, since 'Egypt' means the natural in respect of factual knowledge, 6142); from the meaning of 'the priests' as good, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'not buying' as not taking those capacities to itself - not in the way that it made truths and forms of the good of truth, together with their receptacles, its own, which came about through periods of desolation and sustainment - for the reason that those capacities came from itself, from the internal. All these meanings serve to show that 'only the ground of the priests he did not buy' means that the internal obtained for itself from the natural every capacity to receive good, because every such capacity came from itself.

[2] The implications of all this are that a person's capacities to receive truth and good come directly from the Lord; he obtains them without any help at all from himself. A person's capacity to receive goodness and truth is maintained in him unceasingly; and from that capacity he possesses understanding and will. But a person does not receive them if he turns to evil. The capacity to receive does, it is true, remain, but its access to thought and sensitivity is blocked, on account of which his capacity to see what is true and have a sensitive awareness of what is good perishes. And it perishes to the extent that he turns to evil and in faith and life becomes firmly settled in it. The fact that a person contributes nothing whatever to his capacity to receive truth and good is well known from the Church's teaching that nothing at all of the truth of faith and nothing at all of the good of charity comes from man but from the Lord. Yet a person can destroy that capacity residing with him. From all this one may now see how one should understand the idea that the internal obtained for itself from the natural every capacity to receive good, because every such capacity came from itself. The expression 'from the natural' is used because the inflow of good from the Lord is effected by the Lord through the internal into the natural; and once the capacity to receive has been obtained from there, the inflow takes place, for now there is reception, see 5828.

[3] So far as the meaning of 'the priests' as forms of good is concerned, it should be recognized that there are two realities which go forth from the Lord - goodness and truth. Divine Good was represented by priests, and Divine Truth by kings; and this is why 'the priests' means forms of good and 'the kings' truths. Regarding the attribution of Priesthood and Kingship to the Lord, see 1728, 2015 (end), 3670. In the representative Ancient Church those two offices of priest and king existed jointly in one personage, the reason for this being that goodness and truth which go forth from the Lord are united; and they are also joined together in heaven among the angels.

[4] A personage in the Ancient Church in whom the two offices existed joined together was called Melchizedek, a name meaning king of righteousness. This may be seen from the following statement about Melchizedek who came to Abraham, ¹

Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; and he was a priest to God Most High. And he blessed Abraham. Genesis 14:18-19.

His representation of the Lord in both offices is evident from the fact that he was a king and at the same time a priest, and from the fact that he was allowed to bless Abraham and offer him bread and wine, which even at that time were the symbols of the good of love and the truth of faith. His representation of the Lord in both offices is further evident in David,

Jehovah has sworn and will not repent, You are a priest for ever after the manner of Melchizedek. Psalms 110:4.

These words were spoken in reference to the Lord. 'After the manner of Melchizedek' means that He is both King and Priest, that is, in the highest sense that Divine Good and Divine Truth go forth together from Him.

[5] Because a representative Church was going to be established also among the descendants of Jacob, they too were to have a single personage to represent jointly Divine Good and Divine Truth, which go forth from the Lord united. But on account of the wars and the idolatry of that people the two were in fact divided right from the start; those who ruled over the attended to sacred duties were referred to as the priests, who belonged to the seed of Aaron and were the Levites. At a later time the two functions were joined together in a single person, as they were in Eli and Samuel. Yet because the nature of the people was such that the representative Church could not be established among them, only a representative of the Church, on account of the practice of idolatry prevalent among them, the two functions were allowed to be separated. The Lord was then represented in respect of Divine Truth by kings and in respect of Divine Good by priests. The separation took place because the people desired it, not because the Lord took any pleasure in it, as is clear from the Word of Jehovah to Samuel,

Obey the voice of the people in all that they have said to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them; and show them the right of the king. 1 Samuel 8:7-end; 12:19-20.

[6] The reason why the two functions were not meant to be separated was that Divine Truth separated from Divine Good condemns all people, whereas Divine Truth united to Divine Good saves them. Judged by Divine Truth a person is condemned to hell, but Divine Good brings him out of there and raises him into heaven. Salvation comes of mercy and so sprigs from Divine Good; but damnation exists when a person rejects mercy and so casts Divine Good away from himself, as a consequence of which he is left to be judged by Truth. As regards 'kings' representing Divine Truth, see 1672, 1728, 2015, 2069, 3009, 3670, 4575, 4581, 4966, 5044, 5068.

[7] 'The priests' represented the Lord in respect of Divine Good, and for that reason good is meant by them. This becomes clear from the internal sense of all that was prescribed regarding the priesthood when Aaron was chosen, and after him the Levites, such as these prescriptions:

The High Priest alone should enter the Holy of holies and minister there. [Leviticus 16.]

Things holy to Jehovah were to be for the priest. Leviticus 23:20; 27:21.

They were not to have any portion or inheritance in the land, but Jehovah would be their portion and inheritance. Numbers 18:20; Deuteronomy 10:9; 18:1.

The Levites were given to Jehovah instead of the firstborn, and they were given by Jehovah to Aaron. Numbers 3:9, 12-13, Numbers 3:40-end; 8:16-19.

The high priest and the Levites were to be in the middle of the camp when they pitched it and when they were journeying. Numbers 1:50-54; 2:17; 3:23-38; 4:1-end.

No one from the seed of Aaron who had a blemish in himself was to approach to offer burnt offerings or sacrifices. Leviticus 21:17-20.

And there are many other prescriptions besides these, such as those in Leviticus 21:9-13, and elsewhere.

[8] In the highest sense all these prescriptions relating to the priests represented the Lord's Divine Good and therefore in the relative sense the good of love and charity. Aaron's vestments however, called 'vestments of holiness', represented Divine Truth from Divine Good. These matters will in the Lord's Divine mercy be dealt with in the explanations of what appears in Exodus.

[9] Since truth is meant by 'kings' and good by 'priests', 'kings and priests' are mentioned together many times in the Word, as in John, Jesus Christ has made us kings and priests to His God and Father. Revelation 1:6; 5:10.

By virtue of the truth of faith we are said to have been made 'kings', and by virtue of the good of charity to have been made 'priests', so that the truth and good residing with those who abide in the Lord have been joined together, in the way they are in heaven, as stated above. This is what is meant by 'being made kings and priests'.

[10] In Jeremiah,

It will happen on that day, that the heart of the king and of the princes will perish, and the priests will be dumbfounded and the prophets left wondering. Jeremiah 4:9.

In the same prophet,

The house of Israel is ashamed, they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets. Jeremiah 2:26.

In the same prophet,

The kings of Judah, the princes, the priests, and the prophets, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Jeremiah 8:1.

In these places 'kings stands for truths, 'princes' for first and foremost truths, 1482, 1089, 5044, 'priests' for forms of good, and 'prophets' for those who teach, 2534.

[11] Quite apart from this it should be recognized that Joseph did not buy the ground of the priests. The fact that this was representative of the consideration that the whole of a person's capacity to receive truth and good comes from the Lord is evident from a similar law in Moses regarding the fields belonging to the Levites,

The field of the country surrounding the cities of the Levites shall not be sold, for it is their eternal possession. Leviticus 25:34.

The meaning here in the internal sense is that no one ought to lay any claim to the good of the Church, which is the good of love and charity, because that good is from the Lord alone.

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