1165. In the Word 'Mizraim' or Egypt means knowledge, that is, various facts, by which people wish to probe into the arcana of faith and so confirm the false assumptions acquired in that way. 'Mizraim' also means simply knowledge, and so knowledge that is useful. This is clear not only from the places just quoted but also from very many others which would fill up page after page if they were all included. See Isaiah 19:1-end; Isaiah 30:1-3; 31:1-3; Jeremiah 2:18, 36; Jeremiah 42:14-end; Jeremiah 46:1-end; Ezekiel 16:26; 23:3; Ezekiel 29:1-end; Ezekiel 30:1-end; Hosea 7:11; 9:3, 6; 11:1, 5, 11; Micah 7:12 [NCBS: 7:15]; Zechariah 10:10-11; Psalms 80:8 and following verses.

4661. The preliminary section of the previous chapter continued the explanation of what the Lord foretold about the last period of the Church, that section dealing with what He foretold by means of the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25:1-13. After this another parable follows, the one about the servants to whom a man going away on a journey gave talents. He gave five to the first, two to the second, and one to the third, which they were to trade with. He who received five talents used them to gain five more; he who received two used his to gain two more; but he who received one hid it in the ground. But this parable holds practically the same ideas within it as those in the parable of the ten virgins, so let us move on to and explain the final section in that chapter - Matthew 25:31-end - which in the letter reads as follows: