About

ACV7S29 CLICK TO PRINT 5416. Verses 6-8. And Joseph he was the governor over the land; he it was that sold to all the people of the land; and Joseph's brethren came, and bowed down themselves to him with their faces to the earth. And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and spoke hard things with them; and he said unto them, Whence came ye? And they said, From the land of Canaan to buy food. And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him. "And Joseph he was the governor over the land," signifies that the celestial of the spiritual, or truth from the Divine, reigned in the natural where memory-knowledges were; "he it was that sold to all the people of the land," signifies that from this was all appropriation; "and Joseph's brethren came," signifies the general truths of the church without mediation; "and bowed down themselves to him with their faces to the earth," signifies humiliation; "and Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them," signifies perception and acknowledgment by the celestial of the spiritual; "but made himself strange unto them," signifies non-conjunction because without an intermediate; "and spoke hard things with them," signifies hence also non-correspondence; "and he said unto them, Whence came ye?" signifies exploration; "and they said, From the land of Canaan," signifies that they were of the church; "to buy food," signifies to appropriate the truth of good; "and Joseph knew his brethren," signifies that these truths of the church appeared to the celestial of the spiritual from its light; "but they knew not him," signifies that truth from the Divine did not appear in natural light not yet illumined by heavenly light. 5417. And Joseph he was the governor over the land. That this signifies that the celestial of the spiritual, or truth from the Divine, reigned in the natural where memory-knowledges were, is evident from the representation of Joseph, as being the celestial of the spiritual (see n. 4286, 4963, 5249, 5307, 5331, 5332; that the celestial of the spiritual is truth from the Divine will be seen below); from the signification of a "governor," as being one who reigns; and from the signification of "land," here the land of Egypt, as being the natural mind, thus the natural (n. 5276, 5278, 5280, 5288, 5301). (That the celestial of the spiritual reigned in the natural where memory-knowledges were, may be seen above, n. 5313; and also that "Egypt" in the internal sense is memory-knowledge, n. 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462, 4749, 4964, 4966.) That the celestial of the spiritual is truth from the Divine, is because the Lord's internal Human, before it was fully glorified, being the receptacle of the Divine Itself, was the celestial of the spiritual, which must be so called because it cannot be expressed in any other words or forms of thought. This receptacle or recipient of the Divine is the same as truth from the Divine (that "Joseph" is this truth may be seen above, n. 4723, 4727). 5418. He it was that sold to all the people of the land. That this signifies that all appropriation is from him, is evident from the signification of "selling," as being appropriation (see n. 5371, 5374); and from the signification of the "people of the land," as being the truths of the church (n. 2928), here in the natural (n. 5409). 5419. And Joseph's brethren came. That this signifies the general truths of the church without mediation, is evident from the signification of "Joseph's brethren," as being the general truths of the church (of which above, n. 5409). They were "without mediation" because they were without Benjamin, who is the intermediate (as may be seen above, n. 5411, 5413). 5420. And bowed down themselves to him with their faces to the earth. That this signifies humiliation, is evident from the signification of "bowing down themselves," as being humiliation (see n. 2153), and of "with their faces to the earth," as being the humiliation of adoration (n.