5827. 'And one went out from me' means an apparent departure of internal good. This is clear from the meaning of 'going out' or going away as a departure, and from the representation of 'Joseph' as internal good, dealt with already. The fact that the departure was only an apparent one is self-evident, since Joseph was still alive. The implications of this are as follows: From start to finish the details recorded regarding Joseph represent in their order the glorification of the Lord's Human. They consequently represent in the lower sense a person's regeneration since this is an image or model of the Lord's glorification, 3178, 3212, 3296, 3490, 4402, 5688.

[2] So far as a person's regeneration is concerned, in the first state, when he is being brought by means of truth into good, truth is plainly visible because it exists in the light of the world and is not far removed from the ideas formed by the bodily senses. This is not the case with good, for good exists in the light of heaven, far from ideas formed by the bodily senses since it resides inwardly in the person's spirit. Consequently the truth of faith is clearly visible but good is not, even though good is constantly present, both flowing into truths and bringing them to life. If that were not so the person could not be regenerated. But once the state is completed, good reveals itself, doing so through love towards the neighbour, and through affection for truth as a guide to life. These things also what are represented by Joseph's being taken away from and not seen by his father, and after that revealing himself to his father. This is how an apparent departure of internal good, meant by 'one went out from me', is to be understood.

5688. 'Is this your youngest brother, whom you said [something about] to me?' means born after all of them, as they well knew. This is clear from the meaning of 'youngest brother' as the one born after all of them, dealt with in what follows; and from the meaning of 'whom you said to me' as that which was perceived by them. For 'saying' means that which has been perceived, see immediately above in 5687, and so means what is well known. The reason Benjamin is called here, as he in fact was, their 'youngest brother' - that is, the one born after all of them, or the youngest by birth - is that in the spiritual sense the intermediary, which 'Benjamin' represents, is likewise the one that comes last. The intermediary in a person is born last of all; for when a person is undergoing spiritual birth - that is, when he is being born again - his rational, which is his inner man, is regenerated first by the Lord, then the natural after that, the rational being the means by which the Lord regenerates the natural, 3286, 3288, 3321, 3493, 4612. Now since the intermediary must be derived from both these - both from the spiritual rational or rational that has been made new, and from the natural - and since the intermediary cannot be derived from the natural unless this too has been made new, the intermediary is inevitably born at a later stage, and then only insofar as the natural is regenerated.

[2] Everything recorded in the Word regarding the sons of Jacob happened for a providential reason, which was that the Word might be written dealing with them and their descendants. This Word was to contain heavenly realities, and in the highest sense Divine ones, which those sons in actual fact represented. This was no less so in the case of Benjamin who, being the one born last of all, represented the intermediary between the internal and the external, that is, between the celestial of the spiritual which was the Lord's when He was in the world and the natural which was also the Lord's and which He was to make Divine.

[3] Everything recorded about Joseph and his brothers represents in the highest sense the glorification of the Lord's Human, that is, the way in which the Lord made the Human within Himself Divine. The reason this is what is represented in the inmost sense is so that in its inmost sense the Word may be completely holy. A further reason is that every detail recorded may contain within itself what can pass into angelic wisdom; for it is well known that angelic wisdom so surpasses man's wisdom that man can hardly begin to comprehend any of it. The actual happiness of the angels resides in the fact that every detail has to do with the Lord; for they abide in Him. Furthermore the glorification of the Lord's Human is the pattern for a person's regeneration, which is why a person's regeneration is also presented in the internal sense at the same time as the subject of the Lord's glorification is dealt with. A person's regeneration and the countless arcana associated with it also passes into angelic wisdom and brings the angels happiness insofar as they apply those arcana to useful services, which look to a person's reformation.