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Genesis 39

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1 And Joseph was brought·​·down to Egypt; and Potiphar, the chamberlain of Pharaoh, prince of the guards, an Egyptian man, bought him from the hand of the Ishmaelites*, who had brought· him ·down thither.

2 And Jehovah was with Joseph, and he was a man who prospered; and he was in the house of his lord the Egyptian.

3 And his lord saw that Jehovah was with him, and that Jehovah made all that he did to prosper in his hand.

4 And Joseph found grace in his eyes, and he ministered to him; and he appointed him over his house, and all that he had he gave into his hand.

5 And it was, from the·​·time that he appointed him over his house, and over all that he had, that Jehovah blessed the house of the Egyptian because·​·of Joseph; and the blessing of Jehovah was in all that he had, in the house and in the field.

6 And he left all that he had in the hand of Joseph; and he knew not anything that was with him, except the bread which he ate. And Joseph was beautiful in form, and beautiful in appearance.

7 And it was, after these words*, and the wife of his lord lifted·​·up her eyes to Joseph, and she said, Lie with me.

8 And he refused, and said to his lord’s wife, Behold, my lord knows not what is with me in the house, and all that he has he has given into my hand.

9 He is not greater in this house than I; and he has not kept·​·back from me anything but thee, because thou art his wife; and how shall I do this great evil, and sin to God?

10 And it was, as she spoke to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not to her, to lie beside her, to be with her.

11 And it was as this day, and he came·​·into the house to do his work*; and no man of the men of the house was there in the house.

12 And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me; and he forsook his garment in her hand, and fled, and went·​·forth outside.

13 And it was as she saw that he had left his garment in her hand, and had fled outside,

14 that she called to the men of her house, and said to them, saying, See, he has brought us a Hebrew man to mock us; he came to me to lie with me, and I called with a great voice;

15 and it was, when he heard that I lifted·​·high my voice and called, that he left his garment beside me, and fled, and went·​·forth outside.

16 And she placed his garment beside her, until his lord came to his house.

17 And she spoke to him according·​·to these words, saying, The Hebrew servant whom thou hast brought to us, came to me to mock me;

18 and it was, as I lifted·​·high my voice and called, that he left his garment beside me, and fled outside.

19 And it was, when his lord heard the words of his wife, which she spoke to him, saying, According·​·to these words did thy servant to me; that his anger was·​·fierce.

20 And Joseph’s lord took him, and put him into the jail house, the place where the king’s bound ones were bound; and he was there in the jail house.

21 And Jehovah was with Joseph, and stretched·​·out mercy to him, and gave him grace in the eyes of the prince of the jail house.

22 And the prince of the jail house gave into Joseph’s hand all the bound ones that were in the jail house; and all that they did there, he was the doer.

23 Nor did the prince of the jail house see anything of all that was in his hand, because Jehovah was with him; and that which he did, Jehovah made prosper.

   


Thanks to the Kempton Project for the permission to use this New Church translation of the Word.

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Arcana Coelestia # 4966

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4966. 'The chief of the attendants' means which facts come first and foremost in explanations. This is clear from the meaning of 'the chief of the attendants' as the facts which come first and foremost in explanations, dealt with in 4790. Ones which come first and foremost in explanations are those which are pre-eminently suitable for explaining the Word, and so for coming to understand teachings drawn from the Word about love to God and charity towards the neighbour. It should be recognized that the factual knowledge of the people of old was entirely different from that existing at the present day. As stated above, the factual knowledge of the people of old had to do with the correspondences of things in the natural world with realities in the spiritual world. Knowledge which at the present day is called philosophical knowledge, such as Aristotelian systems and their like, did not exist among them. This is also evident from the books written by ancient authors, most of which consisted of descriptions of such things as were signs of, represented, and corresponded to more internal realities, as may be seen from the following evidence, and ignoring all else.

[2] They envisaged Helicon on a mountain and took it to mean heaven, and Parnassus on a hill below that, and took it to mean factual knowledge. They spoke of a flying horse, called Pegasus by them, which broke open a fountain there with its hoof; they called branches of knowledge virgins; and so on. For with the help of correspondences and representatives they knew that 'a mountain' meant heaven, 'a hill' the heaven beneath this, which is heaven as it exists among men, a horse' the power of understanding, 'its wings with which it flew' spiritual things, 'its hoof' that which was natural, 'a fountain' intelligence, while three virgins called 'the Graces' meant affections for good, and virgins who were named 'the Heliconians and 'the Parnassians' meant affections for truth. To the sun they likewise allotted horses, whose food they called ambrosia and whose drink they called nectar; for they knew that 'the sun' meant heavenly love, 'horses' powers of the understanding which sprang from that love, while 'food' meant celestial things and 'drink' spiritual ones.

[3] The Ancients are also the originators of customs that are still followed when kings are crowned. The king has to sit on a silver throne, wear a purple robe, and be anointed with oil. He has to wear a crown on his head, while holding in his hands a sceptre, a sword, and keys. He has to ride in regal splendour on a white horse shed with horseshoes made of silver; and he has to be waited on at table by the chief nobles of the kingdom. And many other customs are followed besides these. The Ancients knew that 'a king' represented Divine Truth that is rooted in Divine Good, and from this they knew what was meant by a silver throne, a purple robe, anointing oil, crown, sceptre, sword, keys, white horse, horseshoes made of silver, and what was meant by being waited on at table by the chief nobles. Who at the present day knows the meaning of any of these customs, or where the information exists to show him their meaning? People refer to them as symbols, but they know nothing at all about correspondence or representation. All this evidence shows what the factual knowledge possessed by the Ancients was like, and that this knowledge gave them a discernment of spiritual and heavenly realities, which at the present day are scarcely known to exist.

[4] The factual knowledge that has replaced that of the Ancients, and which strictly speaking is called philosophical knowledge, tends to draw the mind away from knowing such things because such knowledge can also be employed to substantiate false ideas. Furthermore, even when used to substantiate true ones it introduces darkness into the mind, because for the most part mere terms are used to substantiate them, which few people can understand and which the few who do understand them argue about. From this it may be seen how far the human race has departed from the learning of the Ancients, which led to wisdom. Gentiles received their factual knowledge from the Ancient Church, whose external worship consisted in representatives and meaningful signs and whose internal worship consisted in the realities represented and meant by these. This was the kind of factual knowledge that is meant in the genuine sense by 'Egypt'.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.