5707. And he multiplied Benjamin’s portion above the portions of them all. That this signifies good for the intermediate above the goods for the truths in the natural, is evident from the signification of “portions,” as being goods (of which just above, n. 5706); from the representation of Benjamin, as being the intermediate (n. 5411, 5413, 5427, 5428, 5443, 5586, 5612); and from the representation of Jacob’s ten sons, above the portions of whom he made Benjamin’s portion, as being truths in the natural (n. 5403, 5419, 5427, 5458, 5512).

[2] From this it is plain that by his “multiplying Benjamin’s portion above the portions of them all” is signified good for the intermediate above the goods for the truths in the natural. The reason why there was good for the intermediate above the goods for the truths in the natural, is that the intermediate is interior, and what is interior abounds with goods more than that which is exterior. Few know how this is, namely, that the interior abounds with goods and truths more than the exteriors. The reason is that few, if any, have hitherto known that the interior is distinct from the exterior, and indeed so distinct that they can be separated, and that when separated the interior lives and the exterior dies, but that so long as they are conjoined, the exterior lives from the interior. If this had first been known, it might then have been known what the interior is as compared with the exterior-that in the interior there are thousands of things which in the exterior appear as one; for the interior is in a purer sphere, and the exterior in a grosser, and that which is in a purer sphere is capable of receiving distinctly thousands of things more than that which is in a grosser sphere. Hence it is that when the man who has led a life of good comes after death into heaven, he can receive thousands of thousands more things of intelligence and wisdom and happiness than when he lived in the world; for in heaven he is in a purer sphere, and is in his interiors, and has put off the grosser things of the body. From all this it is now plain what is meant by good for the intermediate above the goods for the truths in the natural, which is signified by his “multiplying Benjamin’s portion above the portions of them all.”