9266. 'For a gift blinds those whose eyes are open' means that gain prevents truths from being seen. This is clear from the meaning of 'a gift' as any kind of gain, dealt with immediately above in 9265; from the meaning of 'blinding', when it refers to truths, as preventing them from being seen; and from the meaning of 'those whose eyes are open', or those who can see, as those who have a knowledge of truths and can see clearly what the truth is. For 'seeing' means knowing, understanding, and acknowledging truths, and also possessing faith, 897, 2150, 2325, 2807, 3764, 3863, 3869, 4403-4421, 5114, 5286, 5400, 6805, 8688, 9128. This explains why 'those whose eyes are open' are elsewhere called 'the wise',

A gift ¹ blinds the eyes of the wise. Deuteronomy 16:19.

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5286. 'And now let Pharaoh see' means provision to be made by the natural. This is clear from the meaning of 'seeing' as making provision; for 'seeing' here implies an action, one that Pharaoh is to take. But when 'seeing' does not imply the taking of an action, it means understanding and discerning, as shown in 2150, 2325, 2807, 3764, 3863, 4403-4421, 4567, 4723, 5114. The situation so far as provision made by the natural is concerned is this: A person's natural - that is, his natural mind which is beneath his rational mind - cannot by itself see to any provision whatever that has to be made. It seems to do so by itself, but any provision it does make is seen to by what is interior. This sees within the exterior what provision needs to be made, almost as a person sees himself in a mirror in which his image seems to exist. This particular matter is presented in the internal sense by Joseph speaking in the way he does to Pharaoh - 'Joseph' representing the celestial of the spiritual, which is what is interior, and 'Pharaoh' the natural, which is what is exterior - and by its seeming to Pharaoh that Joseph was the very man with intelligence and wisdom, about whom Joseph was speaking.