6521. Verses 7-9 And Joseph went up to bury his father, and there went up with him all Pharaoh's servants, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, and the whole house of Joseph, and his brothers, and his father's house; only their young children, and their flocks, and their herds they left behind in the land of Goshen. And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen; and it was an extremely large army. ¹

'And Joseph went up to bury his father' means the steps taken by the internal to re-establish the Church. 'And there went up with him all Pharaoh's servants' means that it had attached to itself the factual knowledge belonging to the natural. 'The elders of his house' means the things that would accord with good. 'And all the elders of the land of Egypt' means the things that would accord with truth. 'And the whole house of Joseph' means aspects of the celestial of the spiritual. 'And his brothers' means the truths coming forth from this. 'And his father's house' means spiritual good. 'Only their young children' means innocence. 'And their flocks' means charity. 'And their herds' means the exercising of charity. 'They left behind in the land of Goshen' means that those things were in the inmost part of the Church's factual knowledge. 'And there went up with him both chariots' means matters of doctrine. 'And horsemen' means intellectual concepts. 'And it was an extremely large army' means truths and forms of good banded together.

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6499. 'And Joseph fell upon his father's face' means an influx of the internal into the affection for good. This is clear from the meaning of 'falling upon someone's face' as an influx; from the representation of 'Joseph' as the internal, dealt with in 5805, 5826, 5827, 5869, 5877, 6177, 6224; from the meaning of 'face' as affection, dealt with in 4796, 4797, 5102; and from the representation of Israel, to whom 'father' refers here, as spiritual good or the good of truth, dealt with in 3654, 4598, 5801, 5807, 5806, 5812, 5817, 5819, 5826, 5833. From all this it is evident that 'Joseph fell upon his father's face' means an influx of the internal into the affection for spiritual good.

[2] The reason why an influx of the internal into the affection for spiritual good is meant is that here the internal sense deals with the spiritual Church that the Lord established. For 'Israel' means the good of truth or spiritual good; but since this good constitutes the spiritual Church, 'Israel' also means that Church, 4286, 6426. For that good to come into existence an influx from the internal celestial represented by 'Joseph' is necessary; for without the influx from it that good is not good, because there is no affection attached to it.

The internal sense of what comes after this continues to deal with the establishment of that Church, 6497. The reason why that Church is described by 'Israel' who has now died and is soon to be buried is that in the internal sense death is not meant by 'death', nor burial by 'burial'. Rather, new life is meant by 'death', 3498, 3505, 4618, 4621, 6036, and regeneration by 'burial', 2916, 2917, 5551.