7296. 'And Pharaoh also called the wise men and sorcerers' means a misuse of Divine order. This is clear from the meaning of 'the wise men' as those with a knowledge of spiritual realities and of their correspondence with natural things; (since these things were of a mystical nature those who studied and taught them were called 'the wise' among them. And because the Egyptians devoted themselves to such things they called themselves 'a son of the wise' and 'a son of the kings of old', as is evident in Isaiah,

How do you say to Pharaoh, I am a son of the wise, a son of the kings of old?

The Egyptians called a body of knowledge about spiritual realities wisdom, as did the Chaldeans also, Jeremiah 50:35;) and from the meaning of 'sorcerers' as those who pervert Divine order, thus those who pervert the laws of order. The fact that sorcery and magic have no other meaning than this may be recognized from sorcerers and magicians in the next life, where there are large numbers of them. For people who during their lifetime have used guile and devised many tricks to cheat others, and being successful have at length attributed all things to their own prudence, acquire a knowledge in the next life of magical practices. These are nothing but misuses of Divine order, especially of correspondences; for Divine order requires that every single thing should possess some correspondence. Hands, arms, and shoulders, for example, correspond to power, and therefore a rod does so too; and knowing this they fashion rods for themselves and also, in representative form, produce shoulders, arms, and hands, and then use them to exercise magical power. They can do the same with thousands of other things. A misuse of order and of correspondences exists when things that belong to order are not applied to good ends but to evil ones, for example to exercising control over others and bringing about their destruction; for salvation, thus the doing of good to all, is the end that order holds in view. From this one may see what one is to understand by a misuse of order, meant by 'the sorcerers'.

6004. 'Do not be afraid of going down to Egypt' means that natural truth and all that accompanies it must be introduced into the facts known to the Church. This is clear from the representation of Jacob, the one who is told that he should 'go down to Egypt', as natural truth, dealt with just above in 6001; from the meaning of 'going down' as being introduced into, for in order that the introduction might be represented Jacob went down into Egypt together with all who were his; and from the meaning of 'Egypt' as the facts known to the Church, dealt with in 1462, 4749, 4964, 4966.

[2] What an introduction of truth into the facts known to the Church implies is this: The Church's factual knowledge at that time consisted of representatives and meaningful signs contained in ritual observances, for all the ritual observances of the Church sprang from those representatives and signs, as also did the factual knowledge which helped members of the Church to understand teachings about charity. From that factual knowledge they knew who were really meant by the poor, the needy, the wretched, the afflicted, the oppressed, widows, orphans, strangers, those bound in prison, the naked, the sick, the hungry, the thirsty, the lame, the blind, the deaf, the maimed, and many others whom they identified as distinct kinds of the neighbour. By making such distinctions they taught how charity should be exercised. This was what their factual knowledge at that time was like. But at the present day that knowledge has been completely wiped out, as is evident from the consideration that where these deprived persons are mentioned in the Word scarcely anyone knows more than that those who are literally so deprived are meant, for example that those who are literally widows are meant when 'widows' are mentioned, those literally strangers when 'strangers' are mentioned, those literally in prison when they are mentioned, and so on. The kind of knowledge spoken of here flourished in Egypt, which is why 'Egypt' means factual knowledge. The need for natural truth, which is 'Jacob', to be introduced into such knowledge is represented by Jacob's going down into Egypt with all that was his.

[3] Truths are said to be introduced into factual knowledge when they are gathered together into it so as to exist within it. This is done to the end that when some fact comes to mind the truths that have been gathered into it may be recollected at the same time. When for example someone thinks of a stranger, then because 'a stranger' means people who are to receive instruction, all the ways of exercising charity towards such people instantly spring to mind, which is to say that truths spring to mind. The same thing happens when he thinks of any of the other kinds of deprived persons. Once known facts have been filled with those truths any thought based on those facts expands and spreads far and wide, reaching indeed into many communities in heaven simultaneously. For since such factual knowledge consists of so many truths contained within itself, it opens out in that way without the person's being aware of it. But they must be truths that are held within it. It is also an essential feature of Divine order that interior things should gather themselves into exterior ones, or what amounts to the same, prior things into posterior ones, so that finally everything prior should be gathered into what is last and lowest and coexist with it. This is what happens in the entire natural creation. If this were not true, no one could be fully regenerated; for such a gathering of truths within known facts enables interior things and exterior ones, which would otherwise be at variance, to exist in agreement and act as one. If they are at variance the person cannot be governed by good because he lacks sincerity. Besides, factual knowledge dwells in virtually the same inferior light as a person's physical sight. This inferior light is such that, unless it is brightened from within by the light received from truths, it leads to falsities, especially those that are a product of the illusions of the senses, and to evils that are a product of falsities. The truth of this will be seen from my experience presented at the ends of chapters under Influx.