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Genesis 41

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1 And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed, and behold, he stood by the river.

2 And behold, there came up out of the river seven kine, fine-looking and fat-fleshed, and they fed in the reed-grass.

3 And behold, seven other kine came up after them out of the river, bad-looking and lean-fleshed, and stood by the kine on the bank of the river.

4 And the kine that were bad-looking and lean-fleshed ate up the seven kine that were fine-looking and fat. And Pharaoh awoke.

5 And he slept and dreamed the second time; and behold, seven ears of corn grew up on one stalk, fat and good.

6 And behold, seven ears, thin and parched with the east wind, sprung up after them.

7 And the thin ears devoured the seven fat and full ears. And Pharaoh awoke; and behold, it was a dream.

8 And it came to pass in the morning, that his spirit was troubled; and he sent and called for all the scribes of Egypt, and all the sages who were therein, and Pharaoh told them his dream; but [there was] none to interpret them to Pharaoh.

9 Then spoke the chief of the cup-bearers to Pharaoh, saying, I remember mine offences this day.

10 Pharaoh was wroth with his bondmen, and put me in custody into the captain of the life-guard's house, me and the chief of the bakers.

11 And we dreamed a dream in one night, I and he; we dreamed each according to the interpretation of his dream.

12 And there was there with us a Hebrew youth, a bondman of the captain of the life-guard, to whom we told [them], and he interpreted to us our dreams; to each he interpreted according to his dream.

13 And it came to pass, just as he interpreted to us, so it came about: me has he restored to my office, and him he hanged.

14 Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph; and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon. And he shaved [himself], and changed his clothes, and came in to Pharaoh.

15 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I have dreamt a dream, and there is none to interpret it. And I have heard say of thee, thou understandest a dream to interpret it.

16 And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, It is not in me: God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.

17 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, In my dream, behold, I stood on the bank of the river.

18 And behold, there came up out of the river seven kine, fat-fleshed and of fine form, and they fed in the reed-grass.

19 And behold, seven other kine came up after them, poor, and very ill-formed, and lean-fleshed -- such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for badness.

20 And the lean and bad kine ate up the seven first fat kine;

21 and they came into their belly, and it could not be known that they had come into their belly; and their look was bad, as at the beginning. And I awoke.

22 And I saw in my dream, and behold, seven ears came up on one stalk, full and good.

23 And behold, seven ears, withered, thin, parched with the east wind, sprung up after them;

24 and the thin ears devoured the seven good ears. And I told it to the scribes; but there was none to make it known to me.

25 And Joseph said to Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh is one. What God will do he has made known to Pharaoh.

26 The seven fine kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one.

27 And the seven lean and bad kine that came up after them are seven years; and the seven empty ears, parched with the east wind, will be seven years of famine.

28 This is the word which I have spoken to Pharaoh: what God is about to do he has let Pharaoh see.

29 Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout the land of Egypt.

30 And there will arise after them seven years of famine; and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt, and the famine will waste away the land.

31 And the plenty will not be known afterwards in the land by reason of that famine; for it will be very grievous.

32 And as regards the double repetition of the dream to Pharaoh, it is that the thing is established by God, and God will hasten to do it.

33 And now let Pharaoh look himself out a man discreet and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt.

34 Let Pharaoh do [this]: let him appoint overseers over the land, and take the fifth part of the land of Egypt during the seven years of plenty,

35 and let them gather all the food of these coming good years, and lay up corn under the hand of Pharaoh, for food in the cities, and keep [it].

36 And let the food be as store for the land for the seven years of famine, which will be in the land of Egypt, that the land perish not through the famine.

37 And the word was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all his bondmen.

38 And Pharaoh said to his bondmen, Shall we find [one] as this, a man in whom the Spirit of God is?

39 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Since God has made all this known to thee, there is none [so] discreet and wise as thou.

40 Thou shalt be over my house, and according to thy commandment shall all my people regulate themselves; only concerning the throne will I be greater than thou.

41 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt.

42 And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it on Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in clothes of byssus, and put a gold chain on his neck.

43 And he caused him to ride in the second chariot that he had; and they cried before him, Bow the knee! and he set him over all the land of Egypt.

44 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I am Pharaoh; and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt.

45 And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphnath-paaneah, and gave him as wife Asnath the daughter of Potipherah the priest in On. And Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.

46 And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from Pharaoh, and passed through the whole land of Egypt.

47 And in the seven years of plenty the land brought forth by handfuls.

48 And he gathered up all the food of the seven years that was in the land of Egypt, and put the food in the cities; the food of the fields of the city, which were round about it, he laid up in it.

49 And Joseph laid up corn as sand of the sea exceeding much, until they left off numbering; for it was without number.

50 And to Joseph were born two sons before the year of famine came, whom Asnath the daughter of Potipherah the priest in On bore to him.

51 And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh -- For God has made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house.

52 And the name of the second he called Ephraim -- For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.

53 And the seven years of plenty that were in the land of Egypt were ended;

54 and the seven years of the dearth began to come, according as Joseph had said. And there was dearth in all lands; but in all the land of Egypt there was bread.

55 And all the land of Egypt suffered from the dearth. And the people cried to Pharaoh for bread; and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, Go to Joseph: what he says to you, that do.

56 And the famine was on all the earth. And Joseph opened every place in which there was [provision], and sold grain to the Egyptians; and the famine was grievous in the land of Egypt.

57 And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph, to buy [grain], because the famine was grievous on the whole earth.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 5344

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5344. 'Which was round about it he laid up in the midst of it' means that what existed first in the exterior natural was stored away by it in the interior parts of the interior natural. This is clear from the meaning of 'round about' as things on the outside and so in the exterior natural; and from the meaning of 'the midst' as things on the inside, dealt with in 1074, 2940, 2973, and so in the interior natural. The reason 'in the midst of it (the city)' means in the interior parts of the interior natural is that 'a city' means the interior parts, 5297, 5342. The interior parts of the interior natural are those parts in it which are called spiritual ones, and the spiritual parts in it are those parts which belong to the light of heaven and are therefore able to shed light on the parts there which belong to the light of the world, which strictly speaking are called natural ones. It is in the spiritual parts of the interior natural that the truths linked to good have been stored away.

[2] Those spiritual parts there are what correspond to the angelic communities in the second heaven, and a person is in communication with this heaven through his remnants. This heaven is the one that is opened when a person is being regenerated, and it is the one that is shut when a person does not allow himself to be regenerated. For remnants - that is, truths and forms of good stored away in interior parts - are nothing else than correspondences with the communities belonging to that heaven.

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

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Arcana Coelestia # 5342

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5342. 'And laid up food in the cities' means that it stored them - truths linked to good - in the interior parts. This is clear from the meaning here of 'laying up' as storing; from the meaning of 'food' as truth linked to good, dealt with just above in 5340; and from the meaning of 'the cities' as the interior parts of the natural mind, dealt with above in 5297. The idea that truths linked to good are stored in the interior parts of the natural mind, and are preserved there for use subsequently in life, in particular for use in temptations when a person is being regenerated, is an arcanum known to few at the present day. Therefore the nature of this arcanum must be stated. The seven years of abundance of corn mean the truths multiplied initially, and the storage of grain in the cities, in the midst of them, means that those truths linked to good were stored away in a person's interior parts. The seven years of famine and the sustainment provided by the bunches that had been gathered means the state of regeneration effected by means of the truths that had been linked to good and stored away in the interior parts.

[2] The arcanum is this: During the time from earliest infancy through to early childhood a person is led by the Lord into heaven; indeed he is placed among celestial angels who serve to keep him in a state of innocence. This state which infants pass through until early childhood is a well-known one. At the beginning of childhood a gradual shedding of that state of innocence takes place; but even so, the person is kept in a state of charity through the charitable affection which he and his companions feel for one another. During this state, which with many people lasts through to adolescence, he is among spiritual angels. Because he begins at this time to think from what is within himself and to act in accordance with this, he cannot be kept any longer in charity, as he was previously; for now he calls on hereditary evils and allows them to lead him. Once this state has arrived the forms of the good of charity and innocence adopted by him previously are banished, to the extent that forms of evil are present in his thinking and are reinforced by his actions. Actually those forms of good are not banished but are withdrawn by the Lord to interior parts where they are stored away.

[3] But because he does not as yet know any truths, those forms of the good of innocence and charity which he has adopted during those two states do not possess any qualities as yet; for truths give good its qualities, while good gives truths their essence. From this time of life onwards therefore he is being equipped with truths by means of the teaching he receives, and especially by means of his own thoughts about and consequent verification of those truths. Insofar as he is moved at this time by an affection for good, the Lord joins truths to good in him, 5340, and stores them away for [future] use. This is the state that is meant by the seven years of abundance of corn. These truths linked to good are the ones which in a proper sense are called remnants. In the measure therefore that a person allows himself to be regenerated, the remnants serve a useful purpose; for the Lord draws in the same measure on that store of remnants and returns them to the natural. As a result a correspondence of exterior things with interior ones, or natural things with spiritual ones, is brought about; and this happens in the state that is meant by 'the seven years of famine'. This is the arcanum.

[4] At the present day the member of the Church thinks that no matter what anyone's life is like he can nevertheless by an act of mercy be accepted into heaven and enjoy eternal blessedness there; for the member of the Church imagines that it is simply a matter of being let in. But he is much mistaken, because no one can be let into heaven and find acceptance there unless he has acquired spiritual life, and no one can acquire spiritual life unless he is being regenerated, and no one can undergo regeneration except by means of goodness of life coupled to truth taught by doctrine. This is the way spiritual life is acquired by him. The fact that no one can enter heaven unless he has acquired spiritual life through regeneration is stated plainly by the Lord in John,

Truly, truly I say to you, Unless anyone is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. John 9:9.

And just after this,

Truly, truly I say to you, Unless a person has been born from water and the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God. John 3:5.

'Water' is the truth taught by doctrine, 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, and 'the spirit' is goodness of life. No one enters the kingdom simply through being baptized; rather, baptism is the sign denoting regeneration which the member of the Church should call to mind.

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