4774. 'Recognize now whether this is your son's tunic or not' means whether there was any likeness. This is clear from the meaning of 'recognize whether this is' as whether it is like. These words are closely connected with the ones that come both before them and after them. That is to say, they relate to the comparison that was brought about of falsified goods and truths with the genuine goods and truths of the Church, meant by the statement that they brought the tunic which had been dipped in blood to their father, 4772. This explains why 'recognize now whether this is your son's tunic' means that a comparison should be made to see whether it was like, that is, whether there was any likeness.

4772. 'And brought it to their father' means comparison with the goods and truths of the Ancient Church and of the Primitive [Christian] one. This is clear from the representation of Jacob, to whom 'father' refers here, as the Ancient Church, dealt with in 4680, 4700, and also the Primitive Church, that is, the Christian Church when it first began, dealt with below. 'Bringing the tunic' in the condition in which it now was to the Church means in the internal sense bringing about a comparison of falsified goods and truths with the genuine goods and truths of the Church. ¹ The reason Jacob here represents not only the Ancient Church but also the Primitive one - that is, the Christian Church when it first began - is that the two are exactly alike so far as internal features are concerned and differ from each other only so far as external ones are concerned. The external features of the Ancient Church consisted of all the representatives of the Lord and of the celestial and spiritual realities of His kingdom, which are love and charity, and faith derived from these, and so the kinds of things that constitute the Christian Church. When therefore the external features of the Ancient Church, and also of the Jewish, are opened out and are so to speak stripped away from what is present within them, the Christian Church is laid bare. This was also meant by the veil in the Temple being torn apart, Matthew 27:51; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45. This explains why Jacob 'their father' represents not only the Ancient Church but also the Primitive Christian one.

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