6340. 'And hear Israel your father' means a foretelling regarding them made by spiritual good, in the highest sense the Lord's foresight. This is clear from the meaning of 'hearing' - hearing what will happen at the end of days - as a foretelling; and from the representation of 'Israel' as spiritual good, as in 5801, 5803, 5806, 5812, 5817, 5819, 5826, 5833. And since a foretelling is meant in the internal sense by 'hearing what will happen at the end of days', the Lord's foresight is meant in the highest sense; for the Lord's foresight is the source of every foretelling that is made. When it says that the sons of Jacob should hear Israel, the meaning is that those who belong to the Church should hear the Lord, that is, hear Him in the Word. They should hear what He teaches there about the truths of faith and forms of the good of love, and what He foretells about those in possession of some truth or form of good meant by one or another son of Jacob. They should hear for example what He teaches and foretells about people with whom faith exists separated from charity, who are meant here by Reuben, Simeon, and Levi; about those with whom celestial good is present, who are meant by Judah; about those with whom spiritual good is present, who are meant by 'Joseph'; and so also about those with whom whatever is meant by the rest of Jacob's sons is present.

5801. 'Have you a father, or a brother?' means the good that is the source, and the truth that is the means. This is clear from the representation of Israel, to whom 'a father' refers here, as spiritual good or the good of truth, dealt with in 3654, 4598, good that is the source being meant because spiritual good is the source from which truths in the natural derive; and from the representation of Benjamin, to whom 'a brother' refers here, as truth, truth that is the means being meant because truth is the means by which the truths of the Church present in the natural, represented by 'Jacob's sons', are joined to spiritual good, represented by 'Israel'. And since the joining together is effected by means of that truth, much is said about how their father loved Benjamin, who represents that truth, and about how Judah together with the rest could not return to their father unless Benjamin was with them. For more about that truth, see below in 5835. ¹

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