6652. Who knew not Joseph. That this signifies which were completely alienated from the internal, is evident from the signification of “not knowing,” as being to be alienated; for he who does not know truth, and does not desire to know it, is alienated from the truth of the church (that alienation is here signified is plain from what follows, for he severely and cruelly afflicted the sons of Israel, by whom is represented the church, n. 6637); and from the representation of Joseph, as being the internal (n. 6177, 6224). Memory-knowledges alienated from the internal are memory-knowledges opposed to the church; for the good and truth which make the church flow in through the internal; and if these are not received by the natural, the internal is closed, and so the man is alienated from good and truth, and then no other memory-knowledges which are in the natural are acknowledged as truths than those which are false. These are then multiplied, and the truths themselves are cast out of doors.

5803. We have a father, an old man. That this signifies that they have spiritual good as the source, is evident from the representation of Israel, who is here the “father,” as being spiritual good which is the source (of which just above, n. 5801). In regard to the representation of Israel, it may be seen above (n. 4286, 4292, 4570) that he represents the spiritual church, and indeed its internal, which is the good of truth, or spiritual good from the natural. (What spiritual good or the good of truth is, may also be seen above, n. 5526, 5733)