6653. 'And he said to his people' means subordinated factual knowledge. This is clear from the meaning of 'people' as truths, and in the contrary sense as falsities, dealt with in 1259, 1260, 7295, 7581, here factual knowledge separated from truth since it is the people of Egypt. 'Egypt' means factual knowledge, see 6638; but the reason why subordinated factual knowledge is meant here is that the words 'the king said to his people' are used. 'People' means truths because in the Word the term 'people' is used of those who are subject to a king, and 'a king' means truth, 6651. But though 'people' means truths, one understands those in possession of truths. The reason however why truths are spoken of in isolation from anything else is that this is how spirits and angels think and speak of them. For by doing that they gain a complete overall view of a subject, and at the same time see specific details belonging to that subject. They do not contemplate any people in particular who are in possession of truths; for any such contemplation would divert their minds from seeing the complete overall picture, thus from seeing the lull extent of the subject, and so from gaining wisdom. For a concentration of the mind on any people in particular, or on any person in particular, narrows and restricts their ideas, and deprives them of a perception of the full range of the subject from one edge of it to the other. What applies to 'people' applies in a similar way to other terms, in that in the internal sense they mean entities unlimited by anything else, as is the case with nation (meaning good), king (meaning truth), prince (meaning a leading truth), priest (meaning good), son, daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother, sister, father, mother, and very many others.