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Genesis 45

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1 And Joseph could not hold·​·himself·​·back before all who were standing by him; and he called, Cause every man to go·​·out from by me! And there stood not a man with him while Joseph made· himself ·known to his brothers.

2 And he gave·​·over his voice in weeping; and the Egyptians heard, and the house of Pharaoh heard.

3 And Joseph said to his brothers, I am Joseph; does my father yet live? And his brothers could not answer him; for they were vexed before him.

4 And Joseph said to his brothers, Approach me, I pray. And they approached. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.

5 And now be· not ·grieved, neither be·​·incensed in your eyes, that you sold me hither; for God sent me before you for keeping·​·alive.

6 For this two·​·years the famine is in the midst of the land; and there are still five years wherein there will be no plowing and harvest.

7 And God sent me before you to set for you a residue in the land, and to make· you ·live for a great deliverance.

8 And now it is not you who have sent me hither, but God; and He set me for a father to Pharaoh, and for a lord to all his house, and I rule in all the land of Egypt.

9 Hasten ye and go·​·up to my father, and say to him, Thus has said thy son Joseph, God has set me for lord to all Egypt; come·​·down to me, stand not back;

10 and thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be near to me, thou, and thy sons, and thy sons’ sons, and thy flocks, and thy herds, and all that thou hast;

11 and I will sustain thee there; for there are still five years of famine; lest thou be dispossessed, thou, and thy house, and all that thou hast.

12 And behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that with my mouth I am speaking to you.

13 And you shall tell my father all my glory in Egypt, and all that you have seen; and hasten ye and bring·​·down my father hither.

14 And he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s necks and wept; and Benjamin wept upon his necks.*

15 And he kissed all his brothers, and wept upon them; and afterwards his brothers spoke with him.

16 And the voice was heard in the house of Pharaoh, saying, The brothers of Joseph have come; and it was·​·good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants.

17 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Say to thy brothers, This do ye; pack your beasts, and go, go·​·into the land of Canaan;

18 and take your father, and your houses*, and come to me; and I will give you the goodness of the land of Egypt, and you shall eat the fat of the land.

19 And now commanded, this do; take for yourselves from the land of Egypt carts for your infants, and for your women, and take·​·up your father, and come.

20 And let not your eye be sparing upon your vessels; for the goodness of the all the land of Egypt, it is for you.

21 And the sons of Israel did so; and Joseph gave them carts, by the mouth of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way.

22 And to all of them he gave to a man changes of raiment; and to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver, and five changes of raiment.

23 And to his father he sent according·​·to this manner: ten donkeys bearing what was from the goodness of Egypt, and ten she·​·donkeys bearing grain and bread and nourishment for his father for the way.

24 And he sent his brothers, and they went; and he said to them, Contend not in the way.

25 And they went·​·up out·​·of Egypt, and came·​·into the land of Canaan to Jacob their father.

26 And they told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, and he is ruler in all the land of Egypt. And his heart failed, because he believed them not.

27 And they spoke to him all the words of Joseph, which he spoke to them; and he saw the carts which Joseph had sent to bear him, and the spirit of Jacob their father lived;

28 and Israel said, It is much; Joseph my son is yet alive; I will go and see him before I die.

   


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

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Arcana Coelestia # 5949

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5949. 'For the good of all the land of Egypt is yours' means that which in the natural mind is of primary importance to them. This is clear from the meaning of 'the land of Egypt' as the natural mind, dealt with in 5276, 5278, 5280, 5288, 5301, 'the good' of all that land meaning that which is of primary importance. These words are also used to mean that if they show no concern for instruments, only for essentials, they will have instruments in abundance. For example, if concern is shown for truths they will have in abundance factual knowledge, which is 'the good of the land of Egypt'; and in a similar way, if concern is shown for good, they will have truths in abundance. Concern does indeed need to be shown for factual knowledge, and for truths also; but they must look to good as their end in view. If a person has his eye on good as that end, he catches sight of what comes out of it, that is, he has a perception of the things that originate in it - a perception that by no means exists unless good is kept as the end in view, that is, unless this end reigns without exception in every single thing.

[2] It is like body and soul. A person should be thoroughly concerned about his body, that it should be fed, clothed, and enjoy worldly pleasures. Yet his concern for all these things should be not for his body's sake but for his soul's; that is to say, his concern should be that his soul may act in a harmonious and proper fashion within a healthy body, so that the body as its organ may respond in perfect obedience to it. Thus the soul must be the end. Yet the soul must not be the final end, only an intermediate one. For a person must be concerned about his soul not for its own sake but for the services it must perform in both worlds. When a person has those services as his end in view he has the Lord as his end; for the Lord fits him for those services and oversees them.

[3] Since few know what having something as one's end in view entails, this too must be stated. Having something as one's end in view is loving it above all else; for what a person loves he has as his end. What a person has as his end is easily recognizable, since it reigns in every part of him. Thus it is present constantly, even when it seems to him that he is giving no thought at all to it; for it resides within and composes his inner life, and thus secretly governs every single part of him. Take for example someone who at heart honours his parents. That honour is present in every single deed done when in their presence and in what he thinks about them when absent from them. It is also noticeable in his gestures and speech. So also with someone who at heart fears and honours God. That fear and honour of Him is present with each of his thoughts, words, and actions because it is contained within them. It is there even when it does not seem to be present, as when he is occupied with affairs quite remote from such fear and honour of Him; for it reigns everywhere, thus in every individual aspect of him. That which reigns in a person is clearly discernible in the next life, for the sphere of his entire life that emanates from him originates in it.

[4] From this one may now see how one is to understand the idea that a person should always have God before his eyes. It does not mean that he has to be thinking about Him all the time but that a fear or love of Him should reign everywhere in him; then in every individual aspect of himself he has God before his eyes. When this is so, that person does not think, speak, or do what is contrary and unpleasing to Him; or if he does, then what reigns everywhere in him and lies concealed within him comes out and warns him.

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