5832. And ye will make my gray hairs go down in evil to the grave. That this signifies that spiritual good, and thus the internal of the church, would perish, is evident from the representation of Israel, as being spiritual good (n. 5807, 5812, 5813, 5817, 5819, 5825), and the internal of the spiritual church (n. 4286); from the signification of “gray hairs,” as being the ultimate of the church; and from the signification of “going down in evil to the grave,” as being to perish (n. 4785). “To go down in good into the grave” is to rise again and to be regenerated (n. 2916, 2917, 5551), wherefore “to go down in evil into the grave” is the opposite, thus to perish. As to the internal of the church perishing if the truth represented by Benjamin were to perish, the case is this. In order that good may be good it must have its own truths; and truths must have their own good in order to be truths. Good without truths is not good, and truths without good are not truths. Together they form a marriage, which is called the heavenly marriage. Wherefore if one departs, the other perishes; and the one may depart from the other through a tearing in pieces by evils and falsities.

2917. I will bury my dead from before me. That this signifies that thus He would come forth and rise again from the night in which they were, is evident from the signification of “burying,” as being to rise again (see just above, n. 2916); and from the signification of “dead,” as being the state of shade or of night, that is, of ignorance (see als o above, n. 2908, 2912), out of which the Lord comes forth and rises with man, when He is acknowledged. Before this He is in night, because He does not appear; He rises again with everyone who is being regenerated.