5417. 'And Joseph, he was the governor over the land' means that the celestial of the spiritual, or truth from the Divine, reigned in the natural where factual knowledge resided. This is clear from the representation of 'Joseph' as the celestial of the spiritual, dealt with in 4286, 4963, 5249, 5307, 5331, 5332 (as regards the celestial of the spiritual being truth from the Divine, this will be seen below); from the meaning of 'the governor' as the one who reigned; and from the meaning of 'the land', in this case the land of Egypt, as the natural mind, and so the natural, dealt with in 5176, 5278, 5280, 5288, 5301. Regarding the fact that the celestial of the spiritual reigned within the natural where factual knowledge resided, see 5313; and the fact that 'Egypt' in the internal sense means factual knowledge, see 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462, 4749, 4964, 4966. The reason why the celestial of the spiritual is truth from the Divine is that, until it had been fully glorified, the Lord's Internal Human - being the receptacle of His Divine - was the celestial of the spiritual. It has to be called this because no other terms or thought-forms exist to describe it. This receptacle or recipient of the Divine is the same as truth from the Divine; and 'Joseph' is that truth, see 4723, 4727.

5332. 'And gave him Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera the priest of On, for a wife' means the essential nature of the marriage of truth to good, and of good to truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'giving for a wife' as a marriage. The reason the marriage of good to truth, and of truth to good, is meant is that nothing else is understood in a spiritual sense by 'marriages', and therefore nothing else is understood by 'marriages' in the Word. 'The daughter of the priest of On' means the truth of good, since 'a daughter' is the affection for truth and 'a priest' is good; but 'Joseph' is the good of truth that has the Divine within it, which is the same as the celestial of the spiritual. From this it is evident that the marriage of truth to good, and of good to truth, is meant. What is actually meant is the essential nature of this marriage; but this cannot receive any further explanation because the essential nature of what was the Lord's when He was in the world is beyond all understanding, beyond even that of angels. Just a vague idea of it can be formed from the kinds of things that exist in heaven - from the Grand Man and from the celestial of the spiritual existing there as a result of the influx of the Lord's Divine. But that idea is like the darkest shade compared with the light itself; for it is a very general idea indeed, thus scarcely anything compared with the reality it describes.