5435. 'And your servants come to buy food' means that they are present to enable the natural to make them - these truths - its own by means of good. This is clear from the meaning of 'servants' as lower things and natural ones when considered in relation to others, dealt with in 2541, 3019, 30201 5161, 5164, 5305, and consequently as truths too, 3409, since truths are subordinate to good and in the Word subordinates are called 'servants' (as is therefore the case here where, in relation to the celestial of the spiritual, truths in the natural are such); from the meaning of 'buying' as being made one's own, dealt with in 4397, 5374, 5406, 5410; and from the meaning of 'food' as celestial and spiritual good, dealt with in 5147, as well as truth linked to good, 5340, 5342, in this place truth that has to be linked to the natural by means of good and so made its own.

[2] There is no other means than good by which truth can be made a person's own. But once it has been made his own by means of good, truth becomes good, for it now acts in unison with it. At the same time the two make so to speak one body, the soul of which is the good. The truths are present within that good like spiritual fibres forming the body. For this reason also the inmost forms going forth from good are meant by the fibres of the body, and truths by the sinews there, 4303, 5189 (end).

5406. 'Go down there, and buy for us from there' means making them its own through that knowledge. This is clear from the meaning of 'going down' as an expression used to describe movement towards things that are more external, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'buying' as making one's own, dealt with in 4397, 5374. The accomplishment of this through that knowledge, factual knowledge, is meant by 'from there', that is to say, from Egypt; for 'Egypt' means factual knowledge, as shown above. Various places in the Word contain the expression to go up or to go down when a movement from one place to another is described. The reason for this usage is not that one place was higher than another but that going up describes a movement towards things that are more internal or superior, while going down describes a movement towards things that are more external or inferior. That is, 'going up' refers to movement towards things that are spiritual and heavenly since these are more internal and are believed to be superior, whereas 'going down' refers to a movement towards natural and earthly things as these are more external and also to outward appearance inferior. This explains why not only here but also everywhere else in the Word one is said to go down from the land of Canaan to Egypt and to come up from Egypt to the land of Canaan. 'The land of Canaan' means that which is heavenly, and 'Egypt' that which is natural; for in the representative sense the land of Canaan is the heavenly kingdom, and consequently celestial and spiritual forms of good and truth, which also reside more internally in a person who is the Lord's kingdom, whereas 'Egypt' in the representative sense is the natural kingdom, and consequently the forms of good and truth which belong to the external Church and exist for the most part as factual knowledge. For the use of 'going up' to describe a movement towards things that are more internal, see 4539.