Arcana Coelestia, Vol. VII

THE CONTENTS.

4960. In the internal sense here the subject treated of is the Lord, how He made His internal man Divine. "Jacob" was the external man, as described in the preceding chapters; "Joseph" is the internal man, as described in this and the following chapters.
4961. And because this was done according to Divine order, this order is here described; and also temptation, which is the means of conjunction.

THE INTERNAL SENSE.

4962. Verse 1. And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar bought him, Pharaoh's chamberlain, prince of the guards, an Egyptian man, of the hand of the Ishmaelites, who had brought him down thither. "And Joseph," signifies the celestial of the spiritual from the rational; "was brought down to Egypt," signifies to the memory-knowledges scientifica lowest truths stored in the natural or external memory of the church; "and Potiphar bought him, Pharaoh's chamberlain," signifies that it was among the interior things of memory-knowledges; "prince of the guards," signifies those which are primary for interpretation; "an Egyptian man," signifies natural truth; "of the hand of the Ishmaelites," signifies from simple good; "who had brought him down thither," signifies the descent from that good to these memory-knowledges.
4963. And Joseph. That this signifies the celestial of the spiritual from the rational, is evident from the representation of Joseph, as being the celestial spiritual man that is from the rational (n. 4286); here therefore, because it treats of the Lord, Joseph represents the Lord's internal man. Every one who is born a man is external and internal; his external is that which is seen with the eyes, and by which he is in company with men, and by which the things proper to the natural world are done; and the internal is that which is not seen with the eyes, and by which man is in company with spirits and angels, and by which the things proper to the spiritual world are done. The reason why every man has an internal and an external, or is an internal and an external man, is that through man there may be a conjunction of heaven with the world; for heaven flows in through the internal man into the external, and thereby perceives what is in the world; and the external man which is in the world thence perceives what is in heaven. It is to this end that man has been so created.