5596. 'Why did you treat me so badly as to tell the man that you had still [another] brother?' means that they separated the truth of good from spiritual good, so as to join it to the spiritual from the internal. This is clear from the meaning of 'treating badly' as separating, for it is their separation of Benjamin from him that Israel calls 'treating badly'; and from the meaning of 'telling' or 'pointing out' as imparting knowledge about what another thinks and reflects on, 2862, 5508, consequently communicating, 4856, and therefore joining together too (for when what is imparted passes into another's will, that communication leads to a joining together, as when Joseph heard that Benjamin was still alive and present with his father, he wanted Benjamin to come to him, and then, when alone with him, wanted to be joined to him, as is evident from the historical details that come after this); from the representation of Joseph as the Divine Spiritual, who, when he is called 'the man', means the spiritual from the internal, dealt with in 5584; and from the representation of Benjamin - to whom their brother, whose existence they had told him about, refers here - as the truth of good, dealt with in 5586. From all this it is evident that 'why did you treat me so badly as to tell the man that you had still [another] brother?' means that they separated the truth of good from spiritual good, so as to join it to the spiritual from the internal.