6502. And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians. That this signifies preservation from the evils which hindered conjunction, is evident from the signification of “commanding,” as being to flow in (see n. 5732); from the representation of Joseph, as being the internal, of which above (n. 6499); and from the signification of the “physicians,” as being preservation from evils. That it denotes from the evils which hindered conjunction (of which just above, n. 6501), is apparent from the connection. Hence it is evident that by “Joseph commanded his servants the physicians” is signified influx from the internal with respect to preservation from the evils which hindered conjunction. That “physicians” signify preservation from evils is because in the spiritual world diseases are evils and falsities, spiritual diseases being nothing else; for evils and falsities take away health from the internal man, and induce sicknesses on the mind, and at last pains; nor is anything else signified in the Word by “diseases.”

[2] That “physicians,” the “medical art,” and “medicines” in the Word signify preservations from evils and falsities, is evident from the passages where they are named; as in Moses:

If hearing thou hearest the voice of thy God, and doest that which is good in His eyes, and givest ear to His commandments, and keepest all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases upon thee which I have put upon the Egyptians; for I am Jehovah thy physician (Exodus 15:26);

“Jehovah the Physician” denotes the preserver from evils, for these are signified by the “diseases put upon the Egyptians.” That the “diseases put upon the Egyptians” signify evils and falsities originating in reasonings from memory-knowledges and fallacies concerning the arcana of faith, will of the Lord’s Divine mercy be shown when these diseases are treated of; that spiritual things are signified, is evident from the fact that it is said “if they would hear the voice of God, would do good, would give ear to the commandments, and would keep the statutes, then these diseases should not be upon them.”

[3] In the same sense also the Lord calls Himself a “physician” in Luke:

They that are whole have no need of a physician; but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance (Luke 5:31-32); here also a “physician” denotes a preserver from evils, for by the “whole” are meant the righteous, and by the “sick,” sinners.

In Jeremiah:

Is there no balm in Gilead, is there no physician there? why then hath not the health of the daughter of My people come up? (Jeremiah 8:22);

a “physician” denotes preservation from falsities in the church, for the “health of the daughter of My people” denotes the truth of doctrine there.

[4] That “healings,” “cures,” “remedies,” and “medicines” are not spoken of in the Word in a natural but in a spiritual sense, is plain in Jeremiah:

Why hast Thou smitten us, that we have no remedy? they await peace, but there is no good; a time of healing, but behold terror (Jeremiah 14:19; 8:15).

Again:

I will cause to come up to him health and cure, and I will heal them; and I will reveal to them a crown of peace and truth (Jeremiah 33:6).

Again:

There is none that judgeth thy judgment for health, thou hast no medicines of restoration (Jeremiah 30:13).

Again:

Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt; in vain hast thou multiplied medicines; there is no healing for thee (Jeremiah 46:11).

[5] In Ezekiel:

By the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that, there cometh up every tree of food, whose leaf falleth not, neither is the fruit thereof consumed, it is born again in its months, because the waters thereof go forth from the sanctuary; whence the fruit thereof is for food, and the leaf thereof for medicine (Ezekiel 47:12).

The subject here treated of in the prophet is the new house of God, or the new temple, by which is signified a new church, and in an interior sense the Lord’s spiritual kingdom; and therefore the “river upon whose bank cometh up every tree of food” signifies things that belong to intelligence and wisdom (n. 108, 109, 2702, 3051); “trees” signify the perceptions and knowledges of good and truth (n. 103, 2163, 2682, 2722, 2972, 4552); “food,” the goods and truths themselves (n. 680, 4459, 5147, 5293, 5576, 5915); “waters going forth from the sanctuary,” the truths which make intelligence (n. 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, 5668); the “sanctuary,” celestial love, in the supreme sense the Divine Human of the Lord, from whom is this love; the “fruits which are for food,” the goods of love (n. 913, 983, 2846, 2847, 3146); the “leaf which is for medicine,” the truth of faith (n. 885). From this it is plain what “medicine” signifies, namely, that which preserves from falsities and evils; for when the truth of faith leads to the good of life, it preserves, because it withdraws from evils.