5081. 'With his two courtier-ministers' means from both kinds of sensory powers in the body; that is to say, from these [the new natural man] turned away. This is clear from the meaning of 'courtier-ministers', who in this case are the cupbearer and the baker, as both kinds of sensory powers, dealt with above in 5077, 5078. In relation to the interior man, meant by 'lord the king', the bodily senses - sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch - are also ministers, courtiers so to speak. For they serve to provide the interior man with evidence gathered from experience in the visible world and in human society, thereby enabling it to become intelligent and wise. For the human being is born with not even any knowledge, let alone with any intelligence or wisdom. He is born with no more than the capacity to receive and be endowed with these. Such reception and endowment is effected through two different channels, an internal channel and an external one. By the internal channel that which is from the Divine flows in, by the external that which is from the world. The two meet within a person, in which case, so far as the person allows himself to receive light from the Divine, he enters into wisdom. The things that flow in by the external channel come through the bodily senses; yet they do not flow in of their own accord but are called forth by the internal man to serve as a base laid down for celestial and spiritual things flowing in from the Lord by the internal channel. From this it may be seen that the bodily senses are like courtier-ministers. In general everything exterior, in relation to what is interior, is a minister; the entire natural man in relation to the spiritual man is nothing else.

[2] The word used in the original language means minister, courtier, bed-chamber servant, and eunuch. In the internal sense the good and truth of the natural man are meant, as is the case here. But specifically the good of the natural man is meant, as in Isaiah,

Do not let the son of the foreigner who clings to Jehovah say, Jehovah surely separates me from being with His people. Do not let the eunuch say, Behold, I am dry wood. For thus said Jehovah to the eunuchs who keep My sabbaths and choose that in which I delight, and are holding fast to My covenant, I will give those in My house and within My walls a place and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an eternal name which will not be cut off. Isaiah 56:3-5.

In this case 'the eunuch' stands for the good of the natural man, and 'the son of the foreigner for the truth of the natural man; for the Lord's Church is both external and internal. Those who belong to the external Church are natural; those who belong to the internal Church are spiritual. Those who are natural and yet are governed by good are 'the eunuchs', while those governed by truth are 'the sons of the foreigner'. Also, since the truly spiritual or internal ones are to be found solely within the Church, 'the sons of the foreigner' in addition means therefore those who are outside the Church - the gentiles - who are nevertheless governed by the truth as taught by their religion, 2049, 2593, 2599, 2600, 2602, 2603, 2861, 2863, 7263, while 'the eunuchs' means those governed by good.

5077. 'The cupbearer of the king of Egypt' means among the things of the body which are subject to the understanding Part of the mind. This is clear from the meaning of 'the cupbearer' as the external or bodily senses that are subordinate or subject to the understanding part of the internal man, dealt with in what follows below; and from the meaning of 'the king of Egypt' as the natural man, dealt with below in 5079. Since the cupbearer and the baker are the subject of the narrative that follows and these mean the external senses belonging to the body, something must first be said about these. It is well known that the external or bodily senses are five in number - sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch - and also that these constitute the entire life of the body. For without those senses the body has no life at all, for which reason also when deprived of them it dies and becomes a corpse. The actual bodily part of the human being therefore is nothing else than a receiver of sensory impressions and consequently of the life resulting from these. The part played by the senses is the principal one and that by the body the instrumental. The instrumental without its principal which it is fitted to serve cannot even be called the body that a person carries around while living in the world; but the instrumental together with its principal, when they act as one, can be called such. The two together therefore constitute the body.

[2] A person's external senses are directly related to his internal ones, for they have been given to a person and placed within his body to serve his internal man while he is in the world and to exist subject to the sensory powers of that internal man. Consequently when a person's external senses begin to rule his internal ones he is done for. When this happens his internal sensory powers are regarded as no more than servants whose function is to reinforce whatever the external senses imperiously demand. When this is the state in which the external senses operate, order in their case has become turned around, a situation dealt with immediately above in 5076.

[3] A person's external senses are, as stated, directly related to his internal ones, in general to the understanding and to the will. Consequently some external senses are subject or subordinate to the understanding part of the human mind, others are subject to the will part. One sensory power specifically subject to the understanding is sight; another subject to the understanding, and after that to the will also, is hearing. Smell, and more especially taste, are subject to both simultaneously, while the power subject to the will is touch. Much evidence could be introduced to show that the external senses are subject to the understanding and the will, and also to show how they are subject; but it would take up too much space to carry the explanation so far. Something of what is involved may be recognized from what has been shown at the ends of preceding chapters about the correspondence of those senses.

[4] In addition it should be recognized that all truths that are called the truths of faith belong to the understanding part, and that all forms of good which are those of love and charity go with the will part. Consequently it is the function of the understanding to believe, acknowledge, know, and see truth - and good also. But the function of the will is to feel an affection for that truth and to love it; and whatever a person feels an affection for and loves is good. But how the understanding influences the will when truth passes into good, and how the will influences the understanding when it puts that good into effect, are matters for still deeper examination - In the Lord's Divine mercy those matters will be discussed at various points further on.

[5] The reason 'the cupbearer' means the senses subject or subordinate to the understanding Part of the internal man is that everything which serves as drink, or which is consumed as such, for example, wine, milk, or water, is related to truth, which feeds the understanding and so belongs to the understanding. Also, because the external or bodily senses play a ministering role, 'a cupbearer' therefore means those senses or what is perceived by them. For in general 'drinking' has reference to truths which feed the understanding, see 3069, 3071, 3168, 3772, 4017, 4018; the specific meaning of 'wine' is truth deriving from good, or faith from charity, 1071, 1798, while 'water' means truth, 680, 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976. From all this one may now see what 'the cupbearer' means.