5886. 'Whom you sold into Egypt' means the internal which they had alienated. This is clear from the representation of Joseph, the one whom they had 'sold', as the internal, dealt with in 5805, 5826, 5827; from the meaning of 'selling' as alienating, dealt with in 4752, 4758, while 'Egypt' here means the lowest parts, as it does below in 5889. For placing some subject among the facts one knows without any acknowledgement of it is casting it to the sides, thus to the last or lowest parts of the mind. This is also how it is at the present day with the subject of the internal in the human being. The subject exists, it is true, among known facts because religious teaching provides knowledge of the existence of the internal man. Yet it is cast away to the lowest parts of the mind because there is no acknowledgement of it or belief in its existence, as a result of which it is alienated, not, it is true, from the memory but from faith. In the internal sense 'selling' is alienating matters of faith and charity, consequently the things that make a person a member of the internal Church, as may be recognized from the fact that in the spiritual world no buying or selling like that on earth takes place. Instead there is the making one's own of goodness and truth, meant by 'buying', and the alienation of them, meant by 'selling'. 'Buying' also means a communication of cognitions of goodness and truth, for the reason that 'trade' means the acquisition and communication of such cognitions, 2967, 4453; but in this case selling is said to be done 'not by silver'.

[2] The meaning of 'selling' as alienating is also evident from the following places in the Word: In Isaiah,

Thus said Jehovah, Where is your mother's bill of divorce, whom I have put away? Or who of My usurers is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, because of your sins you have been sold, and because of your transgressions your mother has been put away. Isaiah 50:1.

'Mother' stands for the Church, 'selling' for alienating. In Ezekiel,

The time has come, the day has arrived. Do not let the buyer rejoice, and do not let the seller mourn, because wrath is on the whole multitude of it. For the seller will not return to the thing that has been sold, though his life may still be among the living ones. Ezekiel 7:12-13.

This refers to the land of Israel, which is the spiritual Church. 'The seller stands for one who has alienated truths and subtly introduced falsities.

[3] In Joel,

You have sold the sons of Judah and the sons of Jerusalem to the sons of the Greeks, so that you might remove them far away from their borders. Behold, I will raise them up out of the place to which you have sold them. And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of the sons of Judah, who will sell them to the Sabeans, ¹ a people far off. Joel 3:6-8.

In this reference to Tyre and Sidon 'selling' again stands for alienating. In Moses,

Their rock sold them, and Jehovah shut them up. Deuteronomy 32:30.

'Selling' plainly stands for alienating. In the highest sense 'rock' is the Lord as regards truth, and in the representative sense faith, while 'Jehovah' is the Lord as regards good.

[4] Since 'buying' in the spiritual sense is acquiring to oneself and 'selling' is alienating, the Lord compares the kingdom of heaven to one selling and buying, in Matthew,

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man (homo) finds and hides, and in his joy he goes and sells whatever he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a trader seeking fine pearls, who, when he has found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it. Matthew 13:44-46.

'The kingdom of heaven' stands for the good and truth present with a person, and so for heaven present with him. 'Field' stands for good and 'pearl' for truth, while 'buying' stands for acquiring these and making them one's own. 'Selling all that one has' stands for alienating that which previously was properly one's own, thus alienating evil desires and false ideas, for these are properly one's own.

[5] In Luke,

Jesus said to the young ruler, You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, then you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me. Luke 18:22.

In the internal sense these words mean that everything completely a person's own, which consists of nothing but evil desires and false ideas, ought to be alienated from him, for such desires and ideas are meant by 'all that he has', and then he will receive from the Lord good desires and true ideas, which are 'treasure in heaven'.

[6] This is similar to what is said elsewhere in the same gospel,

Sell your resources and give alms; make for yourselves money bags that do not grow old, a treasure that does not fail in heaven. Luke 12:33.

Anyone can see that this verse holds a meaning other than the literal one. For at the present day 'selling one's resources' would be making oneself a beggar, and depriving oneself of any further opportunity to exercise charity, quite apart from the fact that one would inevitably regard such a course of action as being meritorious. Also it is an invariable truth that there are rich people in heaven as well as poor ones. The meaning other than the literal one contained in this verse is what was stated just above.

[7] Since 'selling' meant alienating what belonged to the Church the following law was therefore laid down,

If a man was not pleased with a wife he had taken from among women captives, she was to be set apart from him. She should certainly not however be sold for silver; no gain was to be made out of her, because he had caused her distress. Deuteronomy 21:14.

'A wife taken from among women captives' stands for truth that is foreign, not from a genuine stock, yet can be linked in some way to the good of the Church present in a person. If however that truth proves to, be in many respects incompatible it can be separated; but it cannot be alienated since it has been joined in some way to that good. This is the spiritual meaning of that law.

[8] There was also this law,

If there is found a man who has stolen a soul from his brothers, from the children of Israel, and has made profit on him, and has sold him, that thief shall be killed, so that you remove evil from the midst of you. Deuteronomy 24:7.

'Those who steal the children of Israel' stands for those who acquire the truths of the Church, not with the intention of living according to them and thus teaching them from their hearts, but with the intention of using those truths for personal profit. The damnation of such a person is meant by 'he shall be killed'.

Poznámky pod čarou:

18. 3. The spiritual meaning is what causes the Word to be Divinely inspired and holy in every word. People in the church say that the Word is holy, and this because Jehovah God spoke it. But because its holiness is not apparent from the letter alone, therefore someone who once doubts its holiness on that account, later finds, when he reads the Word, many things in it to confirm himself in that doubt. For he asks himself then, “Is this holy? Is this Divine?”

Therefore, to keep this kind of thinking from flowing in and prevailing among many people, and so causing the conjunction of the Lord with the church where the Word is to perish, it has pleased the Lord now to reveal the spiritual sense, in order to make known in what the holiness in the Word lies.

[2] But let examples illustrate this as well:

The Word has as it subject sometimes Egypt, sometimes Assyria, sometimes Edom, Moab, the sons of Ammon, Tyre and Sidon, Gog. Someone who does not know that the names of these entities symbolize matters relating to heaven and the church may be led astray into the error of supposing that the Word has much to say about nations and peoples and only a little relating to heaven and the church, thus much about earthly matters and little about ones having to do with heaven. On the other hand, when he know what these entities or their names symbolize, it enables him to return from error into the truth.

[3] The same is the case when a person sees in the Word its frequent mention of gardens, groves, and forests, and the trees in them, such as olives, vines, cedars, poplars, and oaks, as well as the frequent mention of lambs, sheep, goats, calves, and oxen; and also of mountains, hills, and valleys, and the springs, rivers, and waters in them; and still more of the like. Someone who knows nothing of the Word’s spiritual meaning cannot help but believe that these are the only things meant. For he does not know that gardens, groves and forests mean wisdom, understanding and knowledge; that olives, vines, cedars, poplars and oaks mean the church’s celestial, spiritual, rational, natural and sensual goodness and truth; that lambs, sheep, goats, calves and oxen mean innocence, charity, and natural affection; that mountains, hills and valleys mean the higher, lower and lowest planes of the church; and that Egypt symbolizes knowledge, Assyria reason, Edom the natural component, Moab the adulteration of goodness, the sons of Ammon the adulteration of truth, Tyre and Sidon concepts of truth and goodness, and Gog outward worship without any internal worship.

However, when a person knows this, he is able then to see that the Word deals only with matters connected with heaven, and that the earthly expressions are simply the vessels in which these are contained.

[4] But let an example from the Word illustrate this too. We read in the book of Psalms:

The voice of Jehovah is upon the waters; the God of glory causes it to thunder; Jehovah is upon the great waters.... The voice of Jehovah breaks the cedars..., Jehovah shatters the cedars of Lebanon, and makes them skip like a calf, Lebanon and Sirion like the offspring of unicorns. The voice of Jehovah strikes like a flame of fire. The voice of Jehovah causes the wilderness to quake; (it) causes the wilderness of Kadesh to quake. The voice of Jehovah makes deer give birth, and strips the forests bare; but in His temple everyone says, “Glory!” (Psalms 29:3-9)

Someone who does not know that each and every word there is holy and Divine may say to himself, if he is a merely natural person, “What does it mean that Jehovah sits upon the waters, that He shatters cedars with His voice, that He makes them skip like a calf, and Lebanon like the offspring of unicorns, that He makes deer give birth?” And so on.

[5] That is because he does not know that in the spiritual sense these declarations describe the power of Divine truth or of the Word. For in that sense the voice of Jehovah, which in this case is thunder, means Divine truth or the Word in its power. The great waters on which Jehovah sits mean the falsities of the rational self. A calf and the offspring of unicorns mean the falsities of the natural and sensual self. A flame of fire means the affection accompanying falsity. A wilderness and the wilderness of Kadesh mean a church without any truth and one without any goodness. The deer which the voice of Jehovah causes to give birth mean gentiles possessing a natural goodness. And the forests which it strips bare mean the kinds of knowledge and concepts which the Word lays open to them. Consequently the passage says next, “in His temple everyone says, ‘Glory!’ ” which means that there are Divine truths in every constituent of the Word; for the temple symbolizes the Lord, and so also the Word, as well as heaven and the church, and glory symbolizes Divine truth.

It is apparent from this that there is no word in the passage that does not describe the Divine power of the Word against falsities of every kind in natural people, and the Divine power of reforming gentiles.