5258. Verses 17-24 And Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, In my dream, behold, I was standing on the bank of the river. And behold, out of the river seven cows were coming up, fat-fleshed and beautiful in form; and they fed in the sedge. And behold, seven other cows were coming up after them, weak and extremely bad in form and lean-fleshed; I have not seen any like them in all the land of Egypt for badness. And the lean and bad cows devoured the first seven fat cows. And they devoured them completely,a and no one would have known that they had devoured them completely;b and their appearance was malign, as it had been in the beginning. And I awoke. And I saw in my dream, and behold, seven heads of grain were coming up on one stalk, full and good. And behold, seven heads, dried up, thin, and scorched by an east wind, were sprouting after them. And the thin heads swallowed up the seven good heads. And I told it to the magi, and there was no one to point out the meaning to me.
'And Pharaoh spoke to Joseph' means thought expressed by the natural but belonging to the celestial of the spiritual. 'In my dream' means what has been foreseen in a state of obscurity. 'Behold, I was standing on the bank of the river' means from boundary to boundary. 'And behold, out of the river' means at the boundary. 'Seven cows were coming up' means the truths belonging to the natural. 'Fat-fleshed' means which were embodiments of charity. 'And beautiful in form' means which were expressions of faith resulting from these. 'And they fed in the sedge' means instruction. 'And behold, seven other cows were coming up after them' means falsities present in the natural close by them. 'Weak and extremely bad in form' means empty and lacking in faith. 'And lean-fleshed' means lacking in charity too. I have not seen anything like them in all the land of Egypt for badness' means which were such that they could not by any means be joined to forms of truth and good. 'And the lean and bad cows devoured.....' means that falsities which were not expressions of faith and not embodiments of charity would banish.....'The first seven fat cows' means truths which were expressions of faith derived from charity. 'And they devoured them completely' means an interior banishing. 'And no one would have known that they had devoured them completely' means that the truths of good were no longer discernible. 'And their appearance was malign, as it had been at the beginning' means that no communication or joining together existed. 'And I awoke' means a state of enlightenment. 'And I saw in my dream' means still more foreseen in obscurity. 'And behold, seven heads of grain were coming up on one stalk' means facts known to the natural, which facts existed linked together. 'Full and good' means into which facts matters of faith and charity could be instilled. 'And behold, seven heads, dried up, thin, and scorched by an east wind' means facts that are useless and full of evil desires. 'Were sprouting after them' means appearing close by them. 'And the thin heads swallowed up the seven good heads' means that the facts which were useless banished the facts which were useful. 'And I told it to the magi' means a consultation with facts of an interior kind. 'And there was no one to point out the meaning to me' means that nothing at all was discerned from these.
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