5648. 'Because they were brought to Joseph's house' means that the truths belonging to the natural were to be linked and made subservient to the internal. This is clear from the meaning of 'being brought to Joseph's house' as being joined and made subservient to the internal. For 'Joseph' represents the internal since he represents truth from the Divine, which is the celestial of the spiritual, dealt with in 5307, 5331, 5332, 5417, 5469; 'the house' means both a person's internal and his external, 3128, 3538, 4973, 5023, in this case the internal because the expression 'Joseph's house' is used; and 'being brought to' - to the internal - means becoming linked to it. And as becoming linked to it is meant, being made subservient to it is meant as well, the reason being that when the natural becomes linked to the internal it is made subservient to it. For the dominion which has belonged previously to the natural man comes to belong subsequently to the spiritual. This dominion will in the Lord's Divine mercy be discussed later on.

[2] Let a brief statement be made about what the situation is with the internal sense. The internal sense of the Word exists primarily for the benefit of those in the next life. When present with someone [on earth] who is reading the Word those in the next life perceive it according to its internal sense, not its external sense. For they do not understand any expressions used by man, only the sense lying behind those expressions; nor to understand that sense do they employ the natural thoughts that are men's, only their own thoughts, which are spiritual ones. The transformation of the natural sense residing with man into that spiritual sense takes place instantaneously, like a person's immediate conversion of someone else's language into his own which is a different one. It is in that kind of way that the natural sense proper to man's thought is converted into the spiritual sense; for spiritual language or speech belongs properly to angels, but natural language properly to man. The reason for the immediate transformation of the one sort of language into the other is that a correspondence exists between every single thing in the natural world and every single thing in the spiritual world.

[3] Now because the internal sense of the Word exists primarily for the benefit of those in the spiritual world, the kinds of details contained here in the internal sense that have been mentioned are ones that exist for their benefit and give them pleasure and delight. But the more internal those details are the further removed they are from the range of understanding present in men, for whom none but matters of a worldly and bodily nature bring pleasure and delight. When this is the situation they consider the spiritual matters contained in the internal sense as of little value; indeed they loathe them. Let anyone examine himself to see whether or not the ideas contained in the internal sense of the narrative that follows below are to him worthless and loathsome. Yet such ideas are what give angelic communities utmost delight. From this anyone who stops to reflect may also see the kind of difference there is between men's delights and angels' delights, as well as what it is that angels consider wisdom to consist in and what it is that men consider it to consist in. That is to say, angels consider wisdom to consist in the kinds of things that man regards as being worthless and that he is averse to, while man considers wisdom to consist in the kinds of things in which angels have no interest at all; indeed many people consider it to consist in the kinds of things which angels cast aside and have nothing to do with.

5469. 'Assuredly we are guilty concerning our brother' means that they were blameworthy because they had alienated the internal by their non-acceptance of good. This is clear from the meaning of 'being guilty' as being blameworthy and subject to the imputation [of sin] because good and truth have been cast aside, dealt with in 3400; and from the representation of Joseph, 'their brother' concerning whom they were guilty, as the internal which they had cast aside or alienated. For Joseph and Benjamin represent the internal aspect of the Church, while the remaining ten sons of Jacob represent its external aspect - 'Rachel', from whom Joseph and Benjamin were born, being the affection for interior truth, and 'Leah' the affection for exterior truth, 3758, 3782, 3793, 3819.

[2] In this chapter 'Joseph' represents the celestial of the spiritual or truth from the Divine, which is the internal; 'Benjamin' represents the spiritual of the celestial, which is the intermediary going forth from the internal; and the remaining 'ten sons of Jacob' represent the truths known to the external Church and so truths that are present in the natural, as stated many times above. This chapter also deals with the joining of the internal aspect of the Church to its external aspect, corporately and in every specific part; for each person individually must be a Church if he is to form part of the Church as a corporate whole. But in the highest sense the chapter deals with the way in which the Lord united the Internal to the External within His Human so as to make this Divine.