Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 5334

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5334. Verses 46-49 And Joseph was a son of thirty years when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt; and Joseph came out from before Pharaoh, and went through all the land of Egypt. And in the seven years of abundance of corn the land yielded bunches. And he gathered all the food of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up' the food in the cities; the food of the field of a city which was round about it he laid upa in the midst of it. And Joseph stored up grain like the sand of the sea, very much, until he left off numbering, because it was beyond number.

'And Joseph was a son of thirty years' means a state when the quantity of remnants was complete. 'When he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt' means the presence of the celestial of the spiritual in the natural. 'And Joseph came out from before Pharaoh' means when the natural in general belonged to it. 'And went through all the land of Egypt' means when it made each thing there subordinate and submissive. 'And in the seven years of abundance of corn the land yielded bunches' means initial states when series of truths were multiplied. 'And he gathered all the food of the seven years' means the preservation of truth linked to good, multiplied in the initial phases. 'Which were in the land of Egypt' means within the natural. 'And laid up food in the cities' means that it stored them in the interior parts. 'The food of the field of a city' means that these were proper to and suitable for those interior parts. 'Which was round about it he laid up in the midst of it' means what existed first in the exterior natural was stored away by it in the interior parts of the interior natural. 'And Joseph stored up grain like the sand of the sea, very much' means a multiplication of truth derived from good. 'Until he left off numbering, because it was beyond number' means such as holds the celestial from the Divine within it.

Notes

a lit. gave


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