6012. And the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father. That this signifies that truths which are spiritual caused natural truth to advance, is evident from the representation of the sons of Israel, as being spiritual truths (see n. 5414, 5879); and from the representation of Jacob, as being natural truth (n. 3305, 3509, 3525, 3546, 3599, 3775, 4009, 4234, 4520, 4538). The reason why "they carried" denotes that they caused to advance, is that it is predicated of spiritual truths relatively to natural truth, and natural truth cannot be advanced from any other source than spiritual truth, for its life and force of acting are thence derived. It is for this reason that the sons of Jacob are here called the "sons of Israel," and that Jacob is called "Jacob."
