6554. 'And all who went up with him to bury his father' means all that contributes to regeneration. This is clear from the meaning of 'burying' as regeneration and resurrection, dealt with in 2916, 2917, 4621, 6516, and as the restoration to life and establishment of the Church, 5551, 6516. All that contributes to it is meant by 'all who went up with him', for they consisted of the whole house of Joseph, also his father's house, as well as the elders of Pharaoh's house and the elders of the land of Egypt. 'Joseph's house' means things constituting the celestial of the spiritual, 6526; 'his father's house' all the things that belong to spiritual good, 6528; 'the elders of Pharaoh's house' those that accord with good, 6524; and 'the elders of the land of Egypt' those that accord with truth, 6525. From all this it is evident that 'all who went up with him to bury' means all that contributes to regeneration. The reason why 'burying' means regeneration as well as resurrection, and also the restoration to life and establishment of the Church, is that these operations which are meant are similar to one another in what they entail; for regeneration is resurrection, in that when a person is being regenerated he is being turned from one who is dead into one who is alive, thus is rising again. Similarly with the restoration to life and establishment of the Church with a person, for this is effected through regeneration, thus through resurrection from death to life.

5551. 'In sorrow to the grave' means without hope of a restoration to life. This is clear from the meaning of 'sorrow' here as without hope, for sorrow comes when no hope exists any longer; and from the meaning of 'the grave' as resurrection and regeneration, dealt with in 2916, 2917, 3256, 4621, and so a restoration - a restoration of the Church - to life. For if neither the internal represented by 'Joseph' is present within the Church, nor the intermediary represented by 'Benjamin', nor faith in the will, which is charity, represented by 'Simeon', no hope of its restoration to life exists any longer.

[2] It does indeed seem strange that 'the grave' means a restoration to life; but that strangeness is due to man's idea about the grave. He makes no distinction between the grave and death, nor even between the grave and the corpse lying in it. But angels in heaven cannot have any such idea about the grave; theirs is an entirely different one from man's, namely the idea of resurrection and restoration to life. For when a person's corpse is committed to the grave he himself is raised into the next life. When thinking about the grave therefore the angels have no idea of death, only of life and consequently of a restoration to life.