8766. 'And now, if you will indeed hear My voice' means the acceptance of truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'hearing' as obedience, dealt with in 2542, 3869, 4652-4660, and since 'hearing' is obedience it is also acceptance, 5471, 5475, 7216; and from the meaning of 'the voice of Jehovah' as the Word, and so God's truth, dealt with in 219, 220, 6971, 7573.

5471. 'When he pleaded with us and we did not hear him' means its constant entreaty without ever gaining acceptance. This is clear from the meaning of 'pleading' as an entreaty; for a plea not to be alienated, when the subject is the inflow of good from the Divine, is an entreaty to be accepted. Good which flows in from the Lord is constantly at hand and so to speak entreating; but it is up to the individual to accept it. This explains why a plea not to become alienated means a constant entreaty, from which it follows that 'not hearing' means non-acceptance. The sense of the letter refers to a number of persons - to the ten sons of Jacob and to Joseph; but the internal sense makes them all refer to the one same subject. The truths known to the external Church or truths present within the natural, which are represented by 'the ten sons of Jacob', are the truths present within a person's external man, while the celestial of the spiritual, which is represented by 'Joseph', is truth from the Divine present in his internal man. The situation is the same here as it is with historical descriptions in other places in the Word; different spiritual realities are meant by the persons in those descriptions, and those realities all have regard to the one same subject.