166. Presented above are things which the Word contains in this chapter. Yet those which have been uncovered are few. And since the subject is the celestial man, whom scarcely anyone knows of nowadays, these few things are bound to seem obscure to some people.

6652. 'Who did not know Joseph' means which is completely alienated from the internal. This is clear from the meaning of 'not knowing as being alienated, for anyone who does not know the truth and does not wish to know it is alienated from the Church's truth (the fact that alienation is meant here is evident from what follows, for the king afflicted the sons of Israel - who represent the Church, 6637 - harshly and rigorously); and from the representation of 'Joseph' as the internal, dealt with in 6177, 6224. Factual knowledge alienated from the internal is factual knowledge opposed to the Church, for the goodness and truth that constitute the Church flow in by way of the internal. But if they are not received by the natural the internal is closed, and so the person is alienated from goodness and truth. When this happens no other factual knowledge in the natural is recognized as true than that which is false. These falsities then multiply, while genuine truths are banished out of doors.