4700. 'And his father rebuked him and said to him, What is this dream that you have dreamed?' means indignation. This is clear from the meaning of 'rebuking' as being indignant, in particular on account of the declaration of the truth concerning the Lord's Divine Human - that declaration being meant by 'dreaming a dream', dealt with in 4682, 4693, 4695. 'Joseph's father and brothers' at this point are the Jewish religion, an offspring of ancient religion. The external ceremony of that Jewish religion was for the most part like that of the Ancient Church. There was however an internal dimension to external rituals in the case of those who belonged to the Ancient Church, but not in the case of those who belonged to the Jewish semblance of religion. For the Jews did not acknowledge the existence of anything internal; nor do they at the present day. But though they failed to acknowledge it, something internal did exist. External ceremony together with the internal side of it is called 'father' here, but external ceremony devoid of any such internal is called 'brothers'. This accounts for the phrases which follow, stating that 'his brothers envied him' and 'his father kept the matter [in mind]'. The first phrase means the aversion of those whose external ceremony is devoid of anything internal, the second means that truth nevertheless remained within their kind of religion.

[2] It is much the same with the Christian Church. Those of its members among whom external ceremony is devoid of anything internal eat the bread and drink the wine in the Holy Supper; but their thought goes no further than the idea that they should do this because it has been commanded and the Church has complied. Some of these people also believe that the bread and the wine are holy, yet not that the bread and wine contain what is holy because the bread corresponds to the holiness of love and charity in heaven and the wine to the holiness of charity and faith there, 3464, 3735. But those members of the Church among whom external worship is at the same time internal do not venerate the bread and wine but the Lord whom these represent, and from whom springs the holiness of love, charity, and faith. They are led to do this not by doctrine but by love, charity, and faith which have been assimilated by them into their life.

3735. 'And clothing to wear' means being joined to Divine Truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'clothing' as truth, dealt with in 1073, 2576, Divine Truth here since the Lord is the subject; and from the meaning of 'wearing' as making it one's own and being joined to it. As for the nature of the internal sense of the Word, that becomes clear from these and all other details; that is to say, when the sense of the letter refers to bread and to clothing, and also when it does so within historical narrative, as here in 'If God will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear', the angels present with a person at the time have no thought at all of bread but of the good of love, and in the highest sense, of the Lord's Divine Good. Nor do they have any thought at all of clothing but of truth, and in the highest sense, of the Lord's Divine Truth. To them such things as are referred to in the sense of the letter are simply objects for thought regarding heavenly and Divine matters, for such things are vessels existing in the ultimate degree of order.

[2] So when with holiness of mind a person thinks about bread - for example, when he thinks about the bread in the Holy Supper, or about the daily bread in the Lord's Prayer - that thought which he has about bread serves the angels present with him as an object for thought regarding the good of love which comes from the Lord. For the angels do not take hold of anything at all of the person's actual thought concerning bread, but instead their thought concerns good; for such is the correspondence between the two. It is similar when with holiness of mind a person thinks about clothing. The angels' thought in that case concerns truth. So it is with everything else in the Word. From this the nature of the joining together of heaven and earth by means of the Word becomes clear; that is to say, the joining together is such that when with holiness of mind anyone reads the Word he is joined by means of such correspondences more closely to heaven, and through heaven to the Lord, even though that person's thought is concerned solely with things in the Word which are stated in the sense of the letter. His holiness of mind at that time is the product of the influx of celestial and spiritual thoughts and affections such as exist with angels.

[3] So that such influx might exist and from that influx man might be joined to the Lord, the Lord has instituted the Holy Supper where it is explicitly stated that the Lord is the bread and wine. For the Lord's body means His Divine love, and the reciprocal love in man, love such as exists with celestial angels, while His blood in a similar way means His Divine love, and the reciprocal love in man, but love such as exists with spiritual angels. From this it is evident how much of the Divine there is within every individual part of the Word, though man does not know what that Divine content is or the nature of it. People however who, while in the world, have led a good life enter after death into cognitions and a perception of all those things, for at that time they cast off earthly and worldly things and take to themselves heavenly ones, and have, like angels, spiritual and celestial ideas.