6299. Saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God set thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh. That this signifies that his own spiritual may be in the truth of the intellectual and the good of the will, is evident from the representation of Israel, as being spiritual good (see n. 5801, 5803, 5806, 5812, 5817, 5819, 5826, 5833); and from the representation of Ephraim, as being the truth of the intellectual, and of Manasseh, as being the good of the will (of which above). That the spiritual, which is “Israel,” may be in them, is signified by the words, “in thee shall Israel bless, and God set thee.”

[2] As regards the spiritual represented by Israel being in the truth of the intellectual and the good of the will, which are “Ephraim and Manasseh,” the case is this. The spiritual good which is represented by Israel is the spiritual of the internal church; whereas the truth and good represented by Ephraim and Manasseh are of the external church (see n. 6296). In order for an internal to be an internal of the church, it must needs be in the external of the church, for the external holds the place of the foundation on which the internal stands, and is the receptacle into which the internal flows. Hence it is that the natural, which is external, must needs be regenerated; for unless it is regenerated, the internal has neither foundation nor receptacle; and if it has no foundation nor receptacle, it utterly perishes. This then is what is meant by his own spiritual being in the truth of the intellectual and the good of the will.

[3] As an illustration of this matter take this example. The very affection of charity which a man feels within himself as a quietude and bliss in benefiting the neighbor without regard to any recompense, is the internal of the church; but to will this good and to do it from truth, that is, because it has been so commanded in the Word, is the external of the church. If the natural, which is the external, is not in agreement, that is, does not will nor do this good, because it sees in it no recompense, thus nothing of self (for in the natural or external man there is such a disposition both from what is hereditary and from what is actual), then the internal has no foundation, nor corresponding receptacle, except such as either rejects, or perverts, or extinguishes the influx; and therefore the internal perishes, that is, is closed and stopped up, so that nothing from heaven can pass into the natural through the internal, except some light of a general nature that passes through the chinks everywhere round about, in order that there may be a faculty of thinking, of willing, and of speaking, but according to that which is in the natural, thus in favor of evil and falsity against good and truth, to which purpose it makes subservient that amount of spiritual light which in a general manner flows in through the chinks everywhere round about.

5806. And he alone is left of his mother. That this signifies that this is the only truth of the church, is evident from the representation of Benjamin, who here is the “only one left,” as being new truth, (as just above, n. 5804); and from the signification of “mother,” as being the church (n. 289, 2691, 2717, 5581). In regard to this, that the truth which Benjamin here represents, and which is described above (see n. 5804) is the only truth of the church, the case is this. This truth is that truth which is from spiritual good (which is “Israel”), and which is represented by Benjamin when with his father; but it is a still more interior truth when with Joseph. The truth which Benjamin represents when with his father, and which is called new truth, is that which alone makes man to be the church; for in this truth, or in these truths, there is life from good. That is to say, the man who is in truths of faith from good, he is the church; but not the man who is in truths of faith and not in the good of charity. For the truths with this man are dead, even though they are the same truths. From this it may be seen what is meant by this being the only truth of the church.