9026. 'And he does not die' means, and it is not wiped out. This is clear from the meaning of 'dying' as ceasing to be such, dealt with in 494, 6587, 6593, and therefore as being wiped out, at this point not being wiped out. Since the internal sense deals here with the agreement of the truths of faith with things stated in the literal sense of the Word, and since things stated in the literal sense of the Word cannot be wiped out, being truths on the lowest level of order, no reference is made here to a man who is struck and as a result dies, only to a man who is struck but does not as a result die. For things stated in the literal sense of the Word can, it is true, be weakened but they cannot be wiped out; and also after they have been weakened they can be separated, and then be restored by the use of explanations. This is what is meant by the regulations regarding a man who, having been struck by a companion, rises up and walks on his staff.

[2] A person who probes into the inner contents of the Word can see that there was some hidden reason - a reason beyond human understanding unless this is enlightened by the light of heaven - why the Lord stipulated that the striker should be guiltless if the one who had been struck rose from his bed and walked outside on his staff; and especially why the Lord stipulated that no vengeance should be taken on someone if he strikes his slave but the slave does not die within a day or two, because he is his silver (in spite of the fact that it is the taking of human being's life, for one who is a slave is still a human being). But the hidden reason why the Lord made these stipulations is not evident except with the aid of the internal sense, in which the Church's truths derived from the Word are the subject. What can happen to these truths is similar, for by a man quarrelling with and striking his companion, and also by a man striking his male or female slave, are meant the kinds of things to which those actions correspond in the spiritual sense, which are being explained here. Among the Israelite nation it was a representative Church that was established, that is, a Church in which the inner realities of heaven and the Church were to be represented by means of outward things. Therefore things were stipulated, indeed commanded, such as would cease to have any validity as laws once the Lord had disclosed and revealed the inner realities of the Church. Since then people have been required to lead an inward life, which is a life of faith and charity, as well as an outward life shaped by inner realities.

6587. 'And Joseph said to his brothers, I am dying' means a foretelling that the internal of the Church is about to come to an end. This is clear from the meaning of 'Joseph' as the internal, dealt with in 6499, here the internal of the Church since the establishment of the Church by the internal, that is, by the Lord through the internal, has been the subject in what has gone before; and from the meaning of 'dying' as ceasing to be such, dealt with in 494, thus coming to an end. 'Dying' also means the final period of the Church, 2908, 2912, 2917, 2923; and a foretelling regarding that final period is meant by 'Joseph said to his brothers', for in what follows from here to the end of the chapter the subject is a further state of the Church. From all this it is evident that 'Joseph said to his brothers, I am dying' means that the internal of the Church is about to come to an end.

[2] The situation is that for the Church to exist it must be internal and external; for there are those who are in the internal domain of the Church and there are those who are in its external domain, the former being few, but the latter very many. Even so, those with whom the internal Church exists must have the external Church with them also, for the internal of the Church is inseparable from its external; and those with whom the external Church exists must have the internal Church with them also, though with them the internal Church exists in obscurity.

[3] The internal of the Church consists in willing good from the heart and being stirred by an affection for good, while the external of that internal consists in performing such good and doing so in accordance with the truth of faith, the knowledge of which springs from good. But the external of the Church consists in the sacred performance of religious observances and the practice of charitable works as instructed by the Church. From all this it is clear that the internal of the Church is the good of charity in the will. Therefore when this comes to an end the Church itself also comes to an end, for the good of charity is the essential constituent of the Church. After that external worship does, it is true, remain as it was before; yet now it is not worship but ceremony which is preserved because it is the established custom. But such ceremony, which seems to be worship, is like the shell without the nut; for it is the external that remains but does not have anything internal within it. When the Church is like this it is at its end.