6340. 'And hear Israel your father' means a foretelling regarding them made by spiritual good, in the highest sense the Lord's foresight. This is clear from the meaning of 'hearing' - hearing what will happen at the end of days - as a foretelling; and from the representation of 'Israel' as spiritual good, as in 5801, 5803, 5806, 5812, 5817, 5819, 5826, 5833. And since a foretelling is meant in the internal sense by 'hearing what will happen at the end of days', the Lord's foresight is meant in the highest sense; for the Lord's foresight is the source of every foretelling that is made. When it says that the sons of Jacob should hear Israel, the meaning is that those who belong to the Church should hear the Lord, that is, hear Him in the Word. They should hear what He teaches there about the truths of faith and forms of the good of love, and what He foretells about those in possession of some truth or form of good meant by one or another son of Jacob. They should hear for example what He teaches and foretells about people with whom faith exists separated from charity, who are meant here by Reuben, Simeon, and Levi; about those with whom celestial good is present, who are meant by Judah; about those with whom spiritual good is present, who are meant by 'Joseph'; and so also about those with whom whatever is meant by the rest of Jacob's sons is present.

5806. 'And he alone is left to his mother' means that this is the only truth the Church possesses. This is clear from the representation of Benjamin, to whom 'the only one left' refers here, as new truth, dealt with just above in 5804; and from the meaning of 'mother' as the Church, dealt with in 289, 2691, 2717, 5581. With regard to the fact that this truth - represented here by 'Benjamin', and described above in 5804 - is the only truth the Church possesses, the situation is this: Such truth is truth springing from spiritual good, which is 'Israel'; and it is what 'Benjamin' represents when he is with his father, whereas truth even more interior is represented by him when he is with Joseph. The truth which Benjamin represents when he is with his father and which is called new truth is the only truth that enables a person to be a Church, for this new truth or those truths [spoken of in 5804] hold life received from good within them. That is, the person with whom the truths of faith exist rooted in good is a Church, not so the person with whom the truths of faith but no good of charity exist. With the latter person the truths are dead, even though they may have been the same truths. From all this one may see what the situation is with regard to the fact that this truth is the only truth the Church possesses.