9043. 'And her offspring come out' means if in spite of this it is made stronger in the natural. This is clear from the meaning of 'coming out' - when it refers to good that is being formed out of truths - as the passing of that good from the internal or spiritual man into the external or natural man, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'offspring' as forms of good that have developed out of truths and then been acknowledged because they are both known and perceived and thereby been made stronger. For 'bearing offspring' in the spiritual sense means acknowledging in faith and action, 3905, 3915, 3919, 6585. The situation is that a person who is conceived anew, carried so to speak in the womb, and born - that is, who is being regenerated - first of all takes in from the teachings of the Church or from the Word matters of faith and charity. These are stored away at this time among items of knowledge in the memory that belongs to the external or natural man. From there they are summoned into the internal man and stored away in the memory belonging to the internal man. Regarding both these memories a person possesses, see 2469-2494. This is the beginning of spiritual life with a person; but the person is not as yet regenerate. For him to be regenerate his external or natural man must be subservient, and as a result must be in agreement with his internal man.

A person has not been regenerated until his external or natural man has also been regenerated, see 8742-8747.

The external man is regenerated by the Lord by means of the internal, 3286, 3321, 3493, 4588, 5651, 6299, 8746.

The whole person has been regenerated when his natural has been, 7442-7443.

[2] Now seeing that aspects of regeneration are expressed in the Word by the phases of a person's generation or birth from his parents in the world, one may recognize from the process of regeneration described above what is understood or meant in the spiritual sense by 'conception', 'being carried in the womb', 'going out of the womb', and 'offspring'. That is to say, 'going out of the womb' means passing from the internal man into the external or natural man; and 'offspring' means spiritual good, or the good of charity springing from the truths of faith, that comes from the internal man and is present in the external or natural. When good is present in the natural, then the person is new. Good now constitutes his life, and truths emanating from good constitute his outward form He is like an angel, for good constitutes angels' life and truths their outward form, which is the human form. But this makes no sense to the natural man.

6585. 'Were born on Joseph's knees' means that they were from good joined to truth from the internal. This is clear from the meaning of 'bearing on the knees' as goodness and truth joined together, dealt with in 3915; and from the representation of 'Joseph' as the internal, dealt with in 6499. The statement that the sons of Machir were born on Joseph's knees implies that Joseph recognized them as his own; for when that expression is used the meaning is that they are adopted as one's own, as may be seen from the sons born from Bilhah, Rachel's maidservant. Referring to those sons Rachel says,

Behold, my maidservant Bilhah; go [in] to her, and let her bear [a child] upon my knees, and I too shall be built up from her. Genesis 30:3.

The reason why the sons were recognized by Joseph as his own is that 'Manasseh' represents the Church's area of will, thus its good; and the internal, which 'Joseph' represents, flows into it with good, but not with truth except through good. This is why they are spoken of as ones who

'were born on Joseph's knees'.