'Pharaoh,' in Genesis 40, represents the new natural self. 'Pharaoh' and 'the Egyptians' in the Word, signify the sensory and scientific principles. 'Let Pharaoh live,' as in Genesis 42:16, is a phrase that is employed to say something emphatically, thus to state a certainty. 'Pharaoh and his army' signify people who are in falsities from evil. 'Pharaoh' signifies false ideas infesting the truth of the church. It also signifies scientific ideas, or the natural principle in general.

(Odkazy: Arcana Coelestia 1487, Arcana Coelestia 5192; Exodus 16)

5414. 'And the sons of Israel came to buy in the midst of others who came' means the wish to acquire spiritual truths, like all other truths, through factual knowledge. This is clear from the meaning of 'the sons of Israel' as spiritual truths (for 'sons' are truths, see above in 5403, and 'Israel' is the celestial-spiritual man coming out of the natural, 4286, 4570, 4598, so that 'the sons of Israel' are spiritual truths within the natural); from the meaning of 'buying' as being acquired; and from the meaning of 'in the midst of others who came' as like all other truths, that is to say, ones acquired through factual knowledge.