6284. 'And the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac' means, and the essential nature of internal goodness and truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'the name' as the essential nature, as immediately above in 6283; and from the representation of 'Abraham and Isaac' as internal goodness and truth, dealt with above in 6276. Internal goodness and truth must be present within external goodness and truth if the latter are to be goodness and truth. For as stated above in 6275, the external is merely something that provides an outward form in which the internal can exist and lead a life in accord with what flows into it from the Lord. And the internal too is merely something providing an outward form when considered in relation to what is supreme, namely the Lord. He is the Source of all life, and things below Him are forms that are merely receivers of life, ranged by degrees in order down to the last and lowest, which is the body.

6275. 'And he blessed Joseph' means a foretelling about the truth belonging to the understanding and the good belonging to the will, both of which possess life from the internal. This is clear from the meaning of 'blessing' as a foretelling, dealt with in 6230, 6254; and from the representation of Ephraim and Manasseh, to whom the name 'Joseph' applies here, as truth belonging to the understanding and good belonging to the will within the natural, which are born from the internal, dealt with in 6234, 6249. The fact that the name 'Joseph' is used to mean his sons is evident from the actual blessing, which declares,

The angel redeeming me from every evil, may he bless the boys, and in them will my name be called.

And the reason why they are called 'Joseph' is that the goodness and truth within the natural, which are represented by 'Manasseh and Ephraim', exist there as the internal itself.

[2] Internal and external are, it is true, distinct and separate from each other; but within the natural, where they are both together, the internal resides as if within a form of its own, perfectly suited to it. That form does not at all act independently but under the direction of the internal within it, and so is merely an agent. It is like the efficient cause within an effect. The efficient cause and the effect are distinct and separate from each other; yet the efficient cause resides within the effect as if the effect were its own form, perfectly suited to it, and through that form it acts as the cause in the sphere where the effect is produced. Something similar to this goes on with goodness and truth in a person's natural, which are born from the internal. The internal clothes itself with such things as belong to the natural, so that it can reside there and lead its life there. But the things with which it clothes itself are nothing else than coverings, which do not act independently.