5741. 'And the men were sent away, they and their asses' means the external natural man was to some extent removed, together with its truths and factual knowledge. This is clear from the representation of Jacob's ten sons, to whom 'the men' refers here, as truths known to the Church which are present in the natural, dealt with in 5403, 5419, 5427, 5458, 5512, and therefore the external natural man, 5680; from the meaning of 'asses' as factual knowledge, dealt with in 5492; and from the meaning of 'sent away and 'not far distant' as the fact that it - the external natural man - was to some extent removed. From all this it is evident that 'the men were sent away, they and their asses, not far distant' means that the external man was to some extent removed, together with its truths and factual knowledge - removed from the internal celestial, which is represented by 'Joseph'.

[2] As to the meaning of 'asses', it should be realized that something different is meant by them when they served as animals that were ridden on; for judges, kings, and their sons used to ride on asses, she-asses, and also mules. At such times 'asses' were a sign of rational truth and good, and also of natural truth and good, see 2781. This explains why, when as judge and king the Lord entered Jerusalem, He rode on a she-ass with her colt, this being a sign indicating His offices of judge and king. But 'asses' had another meaning when they served as beasts of burden, as they did here. In this case they were a sign of factual knowledge. Factual knowledge is just like such a beast of burden. Anyone who, when he thinks about what constitutes a person interiorly, looks no further than factual knowledge contained in a person's memory, presumes that there is no more to a human being than such knowledge. He does not know that factual knowledge constitutes the lowest level of the human personality and is such that most of it becomes hidden from view when the body dies, 2475-2477, 2479, 2480. But What the knowledge contains within itself remains, namely truth and goodness, together with affections for them, or in the case of evil people, falsity and evil, together with affections for these. Factual knowledge is so to speak the body for those things. As long as a person is living in the world, these things - truth and goodness, or else falsity and evil - are held within his factual knowledge since it is their container. And because factual knowledge contains and thus so to speak carries interior things with it, that is therefore meant by asses that serve to carry burdens.