6564. Because they requited evil to thee. That this signifies because they had turned away from the good and truth which flow in, is evident from the signification of “evil,” as being a turning away (see n. 5746). That it denotes from the good and truth which flow in, is signified by “they requited to thee,” for “Joseph” is the celestial, and internal good (see n. 5805, 5826, 5827, 5869, 5877), through which good and truth flow in from the Lord. As regards the influx through the internal, the case is this. The Lord continually flows in through man’s internal with good and truth, good giving life and its heat, which is love, and truth giving enlightenment and its light, which is faith. But when this influx advances further, namely, into the exteriors, with the evil it is resisted and rejected, or is perverted or stifled; and then according to the rejection, perversion, or stifling, the interiors are closed, an entrance only remaining open here and there as through chinks round about; and from this there remains to the man the capacity to think and will, but against truth and good. This closing penetrates toward the exteriors more and more, according to the life of evil, and the consequent persuasion of falsity, and this down to the sensuous degree, from which then comes the thought. Pleasures and cravings then carry everything off. In such a state are those who are in the hells; for all considerations of what is honorable and good for the sake of gain, honor, and reputation, are taken away from the evil who come into the other life, and then they are in what is sensuous.

5827. And the one went out from me. That this signifies the seeming departure of internal good, is evident from the signification of “going out,” or going away, as being departure; and from the representation of Joseph as being internal good (of which above). That the departure was seeming only is plain, for Joseph still lived. The case herein is this. By what has been related of Joseph, from beginning to end, is represented in its order the glorification of the Lord’s Human, and consequently in a lower sense the regeneration of man, for this is an image or type of the Lord’s glorification (see n. 3138, 3212, 3296, 3490, 4402, 5688). With the regeneration of man the case is this. In the first state when a man is being introduced through truth into good, the truth appears manifestly, because it is in the light of the world, and not far from the sensuous things of the body. But it is not so with good, for this is in the light of heaven, and remote from the sensuous things of the body, for it is within in man’s spirit. Hence it is that the truth which is of faith appears manifestly, but not good, although this is continually present, and flows in, and makes the truths live. Man could not possibly be regenerated in any other way. But when this state has been passed through, then good manifests itself, and this by love to the neighbor, and by the affection of truth for the sake of life. These also are the things represented by Joseph’s being carried away and not appearing to his father, and by his afterward manifesting himself to him. This also is meant by the seeming departure of internal good, which is signified by “the one went out from me.”