6235. 'prior to my coming to you, to Egypt' means before the truth of the natural existed within factual knowledge. This is clear from the meaning of 'prior to my coming to you' as before it was present; from the representation of Jacob, who says this regarding himself, as the truth of the natural, dealt with above in 6223; and from the meaning of 'Egypt' as factual knowledge within the natural, dealt with in 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462, 4749, 4964, 4966, 5700, 6004. The coming of Jacob and his sons into Egypt represented the instillation of truths into the Church's factual knowledge, as the two previous chapters have shown, see 6004.