5587. 'If you are willing to send our brother with us' means if the Church desires a linking together to take place, the intermediary must be there. This is clear from the representation of 'Israel', who was to be the sender, as the Church, dealt with in 4286 - 'if you are willing to send' consequently meaning if the Church so desires; and from the representation of Benjamin, to whom 'brother' refers here, as the intermediary, dealt with immediately above in 5586. From this it is evident that 'if you are willing to send our brother with us' means if the Church desires a linking together to take place between its external and its internal, the intermediary must be there.

5586. 'Unless your brother is with you' means unless the intermediary is with you. This is clear from the representation of 'Benjamin' as the intermediary, dealt with in 5411, 5413, 5443. The intermediary represented by 'Benjamin' serves as the link between the internal and the external, that is, between the spiritual man and the natural man; also, it is the truth of good that goes forth from truth from the Divine, represented by 'Joseph'. This truth of good is called the spiritual of the celestial - 'Benjamin' being the spiritual of the celestial, see 3969, 4592. A person's internal and external are completely distinct and separate from each other; for his internal dwells in the light of heaven, his external in the light of the world. And being completely distinct and separate they cannot be joined together except through the intermediary which derives its existence from both of them.