'Pharaoh,' in Genesis 40, represents the new natural self. 'Pharaoh' and 'the Egyptians' in the Word, signify the sensory and scientific principles. 'Let Pharaoh live,' as in Genesis 42:16, is a phrase that is employed to say something emphatically, thus to state a certainty. 'Pharaoh and his army' signify people who are in falsities from evil. 'Pharaoh' signifies false ideas infesting the truth of the church. It also signifies scientific ideas, or the natural principle in general.

(Odkazy: Arcana Coelestia 1487, Arcana Coelestia 5192; Exodus 16)

5192. 'Pharaoh' is the natural in general which has now become inactive, leaving everything to the celestial of the spiritual, which is 'Joseph'. The seven years of the abundance of corn in the land of Egypt are the factual knowledge to which good from the celestial of the spiritual can be attached, while the seven years of famine are subsequent states when no good is present within factual knowledge except that coming from the Divine celestial of the spiritual, which is received from the Lord's Divine Human. A detailed explanation of this is given in what follows below.