5964. 'And they went up out of Egypt' means a departure from the factual knowledge which the Church possesses. This is clear from the meaning of 'going up' out of there as departing (one speaks of 'going up' from Egypt to the land of Canaan, but of 'going down' from that land to Egypt, for a reason given several times already; at this point 'going up' means going away); and from the meaning of 'Egypt' in the proper sense as factual knowledge which the Church possesses, dealt with in 4749, 4964, 4966. The reason such factual knowledge is meant here is that it is what they had in Egypt while they were with Joseph, 5958. The subject now to the final verse of this chapter is a removal from factual knowledge about what is good and true and so from that which the Church possesses, which removal is meant above in 5962 by a concealment and here by a departure. In the Word this state is meant by 'evening'. When passing through that state people depart from celestial and spiritual realities and move towards the kinds of things that do not have what is spiritual or celestial in them. But that concealment or departure does not come about because the Lord conceals Himself or departs but because the people themselves do so. For they cannot be held back any longer, because it does not suit them, from their self-reliance. That state therefore comes about when they are left to themselves or become self-reliant. And as far as self-reliance takes over or they become steeped in it, so far do they depart from the things of heaven, and so far does good cease to be perceptible to them or truth to be visible. From all this it is evident that the Lord does not conceal Himself, but that man, spirit, or angel conceals himself.