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.

10729. 'Six days shall work be done' means the first state in the regeneration of a person by the Lord, and in the highest sense the first in the glorification of the Lord's Human. This is clear from the meaning of 'six days' - which come before the seventh or the sabbath, and during which work must be done - as the first state in the regeneration of a person by the Lord, a state when a person is in possession of truths and is being led by means of them towards good, and is engaged in conflicts, dealt with in 8510, 8888, 9431, 10360. As regards its further meaning as a state in the glorification of the Lord's Human when He was in the world, employing Divine Truth to fight the hells, and restoring all things there and in the heavens to a state of order, see 10360. There are two states which a person passes through while being regenerated by the Lord; the first exists when he is in possession of truths and is being led by means of them towards good, the second when he is in possession of good and from good sees and loves truths. In the first state the person is, it is true, being led by the Lord, yet by means of what is his own; for when people are motivated by truths they are motivated by something in themselves, but when they are motivated by good they are motivated by the Lord.

[2] From this it is evident that so far as a person allows himself to be led by means of truths towards good he is led by the Lord and towards the Lord; for in all things which have been joined together there is action and response, good being that which acts and truth that which responds. Truth however is never moved to respond of its own accord; it is moved to do so only by good. Consequently so far as truth is receptive of good it acts in response to it, and so far as it acts in response, it is joined to it. From this it also follows that before a person is joined to the Lord, the Lord spurs him on towards Himself by means of truths; and so far as the person allows himself to be led he is joined to the Lord, for God's truths are by nature such that they conform with good, because truths are conformable to good. As a result the person possesses perception, which is essentially a form of response. Allowing oneself to be spurred on or led by means of truths towards good implies living in accordance with them. These things have been mentioned in order that people may have some idea of what the first state of a person being regenerated is like, meant by 'six days of labour'.