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Genesis 39

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1 Now Joseph was taken down to Egypt; and Potiphar the Egyptian, a captain of high position in Pharaoh's house, got him for a price from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.

2 And the Lord was with Joseph, and he did well; and he was living in the house of his master the Egyptian.

3 And his master saw that the Lord was with him, making everything he did go well.

4 And having a high opinion of Joseph as his servant, he made him the overseer of his house and gave him control over all he had.

5 And from the time when he made him overseer and gave him control of all his property, the blessing of the Lord was with the Egyptian, because of Joseph; the blessing of the Lord was on all he had, in the house and in the field.

6 And he gave Joseph control of all his property, keeping no account of anything, but only the food which was put before him. Now Joseph was very beautiful in form and face.

7 And after a time, his master's wife, looking on Joseph with desire, said to him, Be my lover.

8 But he would not, and said to her, You see that my master keeps no account of what I do in his house, and has put all his property in my control;

9 So that no one has more authority in this house than I have; he has kept nothing back from me but you, because you are his wife; how then may I do this great wrong, sinning against God?

10 And day after day she went on requesting Joseph to come to her and be her lover, but he would not give ear to her.

11 Now one day he went into the house to do his work; and not one of the men of the house was inside.

12 And pulling at his coat, she said, Come to my bed; but slipping out of his coat, he went running away.

13 And when she saw that he had got away, letting her keep his coat,

14 She sent for the men of her house and said to them, See, he has let a Hebrew come here and make sport of us; he came to my bed, and I gave a loud cry;

15 And hearing it he went running out without his coat.

16 And she kept his coat by her, till his master came back.

17 Then she gave him the same story, saying, The Hebrew servant whom you have taken into our house came in to make sport of me;

18 And when I gave a loud cry he went running out without his coat.

19 And hearing his wife's account of what his servant had done, he became very angry.

20 And Joseph's master took him and put him in prison, in the place where the king's prisoners were kept in chains, and he was there in the prison-house.

21 But the Lord was with Joseph, and was good to him, and made the keeper of the prison his friend.

22 And the keeper of the prison put all the prisoners under Joseph's control, and he was responsible for whatever was done there.

23 And the keeper of the prison gave no attention to anything which was under his care, because the Lord was with him; and the Lord made everything he did go well.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 4989

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4989. 'And said, Lie with me' means that it desired a joining together. This is clear from the meaning of 'lying with me' as a joining together, that is to say, of spiritual natural good, meant here by 'Joseph', and unspiritual natural truth, meant by 'his lord's wife'; but this would be an unlawful joining together. Joinings together of good and truth, and of truth and good, are described in the Word by means of marriages, see 2727-2759, 3132, 3665, 4434, 4837, and therefore unlawful joinings together are described by means of liaisons with prostitutes. Here therefore the joining of unspiritual natural truth to spiritual natural good is described by his lord's wife's wanting to lie with him. No joining together of these exists internally, only externally, where they appear to be joined together but in fact have no more than a mere association with each other. This also is the reason why it says that she took hold of him by his garment and that he left his garment in her hand; for in the internal sense 'a garment' means what is external, by means of which the two only appear to be joined, that is, they have no more than a mere association with each other, as will be seen below at verses 12-13.

[2] These meanings cannot be seen as long as the mind or thought concentrates solely on the historical details, for in that case there is no thought of anything else than Joseph, Potiphar's wife, and Joseph's flight after leaving behind his garment. But if the mind or thought were to concentrate on what is meant spiritually by 'Joseph', 'Potiphar's wife', and the 'garment', it would be seen that some spiritual but unlawful joining together was also meant here. When this is so, the mind or thought is able to concentrate on what is meant spiritually, provided the belief is present that the historical Word is Divine not by virtue of the mere historical narrative but by virtue of what is spiritual and Divine contained within it. If a person possessed such a belief he would know that its spiritual and Divine content was concerned with the goodness and truth present in the Church and in the Lord's kingdom, and in the highest sense with the Lord Himself. When a person enters the next life, which happens immediately after death, if he is one of those who are being raised up to heaven he will come to realize that he retains none of the historical details recorded in the Word. He knows nothing whatever about Joseph, nor anything about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but only about the spiritual and Divine realities which he has learned from the Word and made part of his own life. These therefore are the kinds of matters inwardly present in the Word, which are called its internal sense.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.