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.

1140. This chapter, and the next as far as Eber, continue the most ancient style; yet here it lies between the style of made-up history and that of true history. For by Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham, Japheth, and Canaan, nothing else was meant nor is meant than, in the abstracted sense, the Ancient Church as to the varieties of its worship; that is to say, Shem is used to mean internal worship, Japheth to mean external worship corresponding to this, Ham to mean corrupted internal worship, and Canaan to mean external worship separated from internal. Noah and his sons never were actual persons but varieties of worship so named because all other differing forms of worship, that is, every specific difference, could be traced back to them as to the basic differences. Consequently nothing else was meant by Noah than the Ancient Church in general, as the parent incorporating all the rest. Indeed the names in this chapter, apart from Eber and his descendants, are used to mean just so many nations - just so many nations as constituted the Ancient Church, a Church that was spread abroad widely throughout areas surrounding the land of Canaan.