6726. And she laid him in the sedge at the bank of the river. That this signifies that at first it was among false memory-knowledges, is evident from the signification of "sedge," as being memory-knowledges (of which presently); and from the signification of the "river of Egypt," as being falsity (see n. 6693). (How the case herein is, that they who are being initiated into truth Divine are at first placed among falsities, see just above, n. 6724.) That "sedge" denotes memory-knowledge, is because every herb in the Word signifies some kind of memory-knowledge; the sedge that is at the bank of a river signifies memory-knowledge of low value; as also in Isaiah:
The streams shall recede, and the rivers of Egypt shall be dried up; the reed and the sedge shall wither away (Isa. 19:6);
"streams" denote things of intelligence (n. 2702, 3051); "the rivers of Egypt shall be dried up" denotes things of memory-knowledge; "the reed" and "the sedge" denote the lowest memory-knowledges, which are sensuous. "Sedge" denotes false memory-knowledges in Jonah:
The waters compassed me about even to the soul; the deep was round about me, the sedge [here seaweed] was bound about my head (Jonah 2:5);
in this prophetic utterance is described a state of temptations; "the waters which compassed even to the soul" denote falsities (that "inundations of waters" denote temptations and desolations, see n. 705, 739, 790, 5725); "the deep round about" is the evil of falsity; "the seaweed bound about the head" denotes false memory-knowledges besetting truth and good, as is the case in a state of desolation.
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