6027. 'And he sent Judah before him to Joseph' means a communication of the good of the Church with the internal celestial. This is clear from the representation of 'Judah' as the good of the Church, dealt with in 5583, 5603, 5782, 5794, 5837; and from the representation of' Joseph' as the internal celestial, dealt with in 5869, 5877. And 'sending before him', it is self-evident, means communicating. The reason why Judah and not anyone else was sent was so that a direct communication of good with good might be denoted, that is, a direct communication of external good, which 'Judah' represents, with internal good, which 'Joseph' represents. For good that is the good of love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour flows in from Him by way of the internal into the external, the amount of good in the external determining how much is received there. But if merely the truth of faith and no good is present in a person's external, the inflow of good from the Lord by way of the internal cannot be received in the external. For no direct communication with truth can exist there, only an indirect one through good. This is why Judah and not anyone else was sent from Jacob to Joseph.

3548. 'He went to his father, and said, My father. And he said, Behold, here I am; who are you, my son?' means a state of perception resulting from the presence of that truth. This becomes clear from the representation of Isaac, to whom 'father' refers here, and from the representation of Jacob, to whom 'son' refers, dealt with several times already; and also from the meaning of 'saying' as perceiving, also dealt with already. From these and all the other expressions used it is evident that it is a state of perception resulting from the presence of the truth represented by 'Jacob'. But the nature of this truth represented at this point by Jacob is evident from the internal sense of what comes before and after - that in outward form it is like the good and the truth acquired from good which are represented by 'Esau' and meant by his venison, but it is not so in inward form. With one who is being regenerated, that is, prior to his having been regenerated, the truth of the natural presents this outward appearance. Not indeed that the person himself sees it, for he is quite unaware of the presence of good and truth with him while he is being regenerated; but the eyes of angels who see such things in the light of heaven do behold it. Man is not even aware of what the good and the truth of the natural are, and being unaware of what they are he cannot perceive them. And because he does not perceive them in general nor is able to perceive them in particular, he does not perceive their differences, let alone their changes of state. Not perceiving these he is scarcely able to grasp from any description of them what this good and its truth are like. But as they are the subject in this chapter, an explanation is going to be given, so far as this can be made intelligible.