6450. 'And he commanded them and said to them' means an introduction. This is clear from what follows in which Israel speaks to his sons about burying him in the cave in the field of Machpelah, where Abraham and Isaac had been buried, by all of which is meant life present in the truths and forms of good of the natural, where interior things and what is inmost exist. And since these things form the subject in what immediately follows, 'commanding his sons and saying to them' means an introduction into them. 'Commanding' means an influx, see 5486, 5732, thus an introduction.

5540. 'All these things will be upon me' means that, when this is so, that which constitutes the Church will have been destroyed. This is clear from the representation of Jacob, who says this about himself, as the Church, dealt with in 5536. When neither the internal represented by 'Joseph' nor faith in the will represented by 'Simeon' exist within the Church, and if the intermediary, represented by 'Benjamin', that effects the joining together is taken away, that which constitutes the Church has been destroyed. These are the factors meant by 'all these things will be upon me'.