Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 4675

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4675. 'And Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons' means a joining of the Divine Spiritual of the Rational to the Divine Spiritual of the Natural. This is clear from the representation of Jacob, when he is called 'Israel', as the Divine Spiritual of the Natural, or the celestial manifestation of the spiritual from the natural, dealt with in 4286, 4598; from the representation of 'Joseph' as the Divine Spiritual of the Rational, or the celestial manifestation of the spiritual from the rational, dealt with in 4286, 4592; and from the meaning of 'loving' as being joined together, for love is a joining together spiritually. From all this it is evident that 'Israel loved Joseph' means a joining of the Divine Spiritual of the Rational to the Divine Spiritual of the Natural. That joining together being referred to here, Jacob is not called Jacob at this point, as he is above in verses 1 and 2, but 'Israel'. From this change of name too one may conclude that the internal sense here contains a specific arcanum. But the exact nature of that joining together - of the Divine Spiritual of the Rational to the Divine Spiritual of the Natural - cannot as yet be explained because it is not the subject in the present chapter but in those that follow, where it is going to be explained as far as it is possible to do so. Only this need be mentioned here, that the expression spiritual is used both of the rational and of the natural, for the spiritual is Divine Truth received from the Lord, which is called the spiritual of the rational when it shines within the rational or the internal man, and the spiritual of the natural when it shines from there within the natural or the external man.


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