5688. Is this your youngest brother, of whom ye spoke unto me? That this signifies the one born after all, as was also known to them, is evident from the signification of the "youngest brother," as being the one born after all (of which in what follows); and from the signification of the words "of whom ye spoke unto me," as being what was perceived by them. (That "to speak" denotes what is perceived, thus what is known, may be seen just above, n. 5687.) That Benjamin is here called, as he was, their "youngest brother," that is, the one born after all or the youngest in birth, is because it is similar in the spiritual sense with the intermediate which Benjamin represents; for the intermediate is born in man last of all, because when a man is born spiritually, that is, when he is reborn, his rational, which is the internal human, is first regenerated by the Lord, and afterward his natural (see n. 3286, 3288, 3321, 3493, 4612); and as the intermediate partakes of both (of the rational made spiritual, or made new, and also of the natural), and as it cannot take anything from the natural unless this also is made new, therefore the intermediate cannot be born till afterward, and indeed according to the degree in which the natural is being regenerated.
[2] All things that are related in the Word of Jacob's sons had so come to pass of Providence, in order that the Word might be written about them and their descendants, and might contain within it heavenly things, and in the supreme sense Divine things, which they would represent in actual life. So also was it with Benjamin, who being born last, would therefore represent the intermediate between the internal and the external, or between the celestial of the spiritual which the Lord had in the world, and the natural which the Lord also had and was to make Divine.
[3] All that is related of Joseph and his brethren represents in the supreme sense the glorifying of the Lord's Human, that is, how the Lord made the Human in Him Divine. The reason for this being represented in the inmost sense is that the Word might be most holy in its inmost sense, and also that it might contain in every part of it what would enter into the wisdom of the angels; for it is known that angelic wisdom so far surpasses human intelligence that scarcely anything of it can be apprehended by man. It is also the happiness itself of the angels that every detail of the Word has reference to the Lord; for they are in the Lord. Furthermore, the glorifying of the Lord's Human is the pattern of man's regeneration, and hence man's regeneration also is presented in the internal sense of the Word at the same time with the glorification of the Lord. Man's regeneration together with its innumerable mysteries also enters into the angels' wisdom, and affords them happiness according as they apply it to its uses, which are for man's reformation.
