THE NEW JERUSALEM AND ITS HEAVENLY DOCTRINE

ACCORDING TO WHAT HAS BEEN HEARD FROM HEAVEN

WITH AN INTRODUCTION CONCERNING THE NEW HEAVEN AND THE NEW EARTH

"Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all things shall be added unto you." (Matthew 6:33)

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 up ¹ 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.

Footnotes:

1258. That 'from these the nations on the earth were spread abroad' means that in these all the forms of that Church's worship took rise, all forms that entailed goods and those that entailed evils, and that these goods or evils are meant by 'the nations', is clear from the meaning of 'nations'. As stated already, nation is used to mean a number of families grouped together, for a number of families that recognized the same father made up one nation in the Most Ancient and Ancient Churches. But with regard to 'nations' in the internal sense meaning forms of the Church's worship, and in particular as to the goods or the evils entering into that worship, the situation is that when angels contemplate families and nations they never envisage a nation, but only the worship existing with it. For they contemplate all from the point of view of essential character, that is, what kind of people they are. The essential character or quality of a person from which heaven contemplates him is charity and faith. This any person may easily grasp if he considers that when he contemplates any individual, or any family, or any nation, he is thinking mainly of their character, each person doing so from that which rules in him at the time. A mental image of their character instantly comes to mind, and it is from this image that he considers them. This applies even more to the Lord, and from Him to the angels, who are incapable of contemplating a person, family, or nation except from the point of view of their character as regards charity and faith. This is why in the internal sense 'nations' means nothing other than the Church's worship, and indeed as regards the essential character of that worship, which is good stemming from charity and the truth of faith from this. When the expression 'nations' occurs in the Word, angels never dwell on the idea of a nation in accordance with the historical sense of the letter, but on the idea of the good and truth present with the nation that is mentioned.