5886. Whom ye sold into Egypt. That this signifies the internal which they had alienated, is evident from the representation of Joseph, who is “he whom they sold,” as being the internal (see n. 5805, 5826, 5827); and from the signification of “selling,” as being to alienate (n. 4752, 4758). By “Egypt” is here signified things lowest (as below, n. 5889); for to account anything among memory-knowledges without acknowledgment is to cast it out to the sides, thus to ultimate or lowest things. This also is the case with man’s internal at this day. This is indeed one of the memory-knowledges, because it is known from doctrine that there is an internal man, but it has been rejected to lowest things, because it is not acknowledged and believed; so that it has been alienated, not indeed from the memory, but from faith. That in the internal sense “to sell” is to alienate the things of faith and charity, consequently those which make a man of the internal church, may be seen from the fact that in the spiritual world there is no buying or selling such as there is on earth, but the appropriation of good and truth which is signified by “buying,” and the alienation of them which is signified by “selling.” By “selling” is also signified the communication of the knowledges of good and of truth, for the reason that by “trading” is signified the procuring and communication of these knowledges (n. 2967, 4453), but in this case the selling is said to be “not by silver.”

[2] That “to sell” denotes alienation is evident from the following passages in the Word.

In Isaiah:

Thus hath said Jehovah, Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement, whom I have sent away? or who is there of My usurers to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your sins ye have been sold, and for your transgressions has your mother been sent away (Isaiah 50:1);

“mother” denotes the church; and “selling,” to alienate.

In Ezekiel:

The time is come, the day is come near; let not the buyer be glad, and let not the seller mourn; for wrath is upon all the multitude thereof. For the seller shall not return to the thing that is sold, though their life be yet among the living (Ezekiel 7:12-13);

speaking of the “land of Israel,” which is the spiritual church; the “seller” denotes him who had alienated truths and had insinuated falsities.

[3] In Joel:

The sons of Judah and the sons of Jerusalem have ye sold to the sons of the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their borders. Behold I will stir them up out of the place whither ye have sold them, and I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the sons of Judah, who shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off (Joel 3:6-8);

speaking of Tyre and Sidon; “to sell” here also denotes to alienate.

In Moses:

Their Rock hath sold them, and Jehovah hath shut them up (Deuteronomy 32:30);

“to sell” plainly denotes to alienate; “rock” in the supreme sense is the Lord as to truth, in the representative sense it is faith; “Jehovah” is the Lord as to good.

[4] As in the spiritual sense “to buy” is to procure for oneself, and “to sell” is to alienate, therefore the kingdom of heaven is compared by the Lord to one who sells and buys, in Matthew:

The kingdom of the heavens is like unto a treasure hidden in the field; which when found, a man hideth, and in his joy he goeth away and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Again, the kingdom of the heavens is like unto a merchant man seeking beauteous pearls; who when he had found one precious pearl, went away and sold all that he had, and bought it (Matthew 13:44-46);

“the kingdom of the heavens” denotes the good and the truth with man, thus heaven with him; “field” denotes good; and “pearl,” truth; “to buy” denotes to procure and appropriate these to himself; “to sell all that he hath,” denotes to alienate his own which he had before, thus evils and falsities, for these are of one’s own.

[5] In Luke:

Jesus said unto the young prince, Yet lackest thou one thing; sell all that thou hast, and distribute to the poor, then wilt thou have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me (Luke 18:22);

in the internal sense by these words is meant that all things of his own, which are nothing but evils and falsities, must be alienated, for these things are “all that he hath;” and that he should then receive goods and truths from the Lord, which are “treasure in heaven.”

[6] In like manner what is said in the same:

Sell your means, and give alms; make you purses that wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not (Luke 12:33); everyone sees that there is another sense in these words, because for anyone to sell his means would be at this day to make himself a beggar, and to deprive himself of all capacity any longer to exercise charity, besides being unable to avoid placing merit therein; and it is an established truth that there are rich in heaven as well as poor. The other sense which is within these words is that which was told just above.

[7] As “to sell” signified to alienate the things of the church, it was therefore the law that:

A wife married from the female captives, if she did not please, should be sent away whither she would, but should not in any case be sold for silver, and no profit be made of her, because he had afflicted her (Deuteronomy 21:14);

a “wife from the female captives” denotes alien truth not from a genuine stock, but which may be adjoined in some way with the good of the church appertaining to man; yet this truth if in some respects not in agreement may be removed, but not alienated, because it has been in some measure conjoined. This is the spiritual meaning of this law.

[8] So with the following law:

If a man be found who hath stolen a soul of his brethren of the sons of Israel, and hath made gain therein, and hath sold him, the thief shall be killed, that thou mayest put away the evil from the midst of thee (Deuteronomy 24:7);

“thieves of the sons of Israel” denote those who acquire for themselves the truths of the church, not with the end of living according to them, and thus teaching them from the heart, but of making profit for themselves thereby: that such a thief is damned is signified by its being said that “he shall die.”

5826. Ye know that my wife bare me two sons. That this signifies that if there be spiritual good which is of the church, there will be internal good and truth, is evident from the representation of Israel, who says this of himself, as being spiritual good from the natural (of which just above, n. 5825); from the representation of Rachel, who is here the “wife who bare him two sons,” as being the affection of interior truth (see n. 3758, 3782, 3793, 3819); and from the representation of Joseph and Benjamin, who are the “two” whom she bare, as being internal good and truth-Joseph internal good, and Benjamin interior truth.

[2] In regard to this, that there will be internal good and truth if there be spiritual good which is of the church, the case is this. The spiritual good which Israel represents is the good of truth, that is, truth in the will and in act. This truth, or this good of truth, in man, makes him to be the church. When truth has been implanted in the will (which is perceived by the fact that the man is affected with truth for the sake of the end that he may live according to it), then there is internal good and truth. When man is in this good and truth, then the kingdom of the Lord is in him, and consequently he is the church, and together with others like him makes the church in general. From this it may be seen that in order that the church may be the church, there must be spiritual good, that is, the good of truth, but by no means truth alone-from which at this day the church is called the church, and one church is distinguished from another. Let everyone think within himself whether truth would be anything unless it had life for the end. What are doctrinal things without this end? and what the precepts of the Decalogue without a life according to them? For if anyone is acquainted with these, and with all their meaning in its fullness, and yet lives contrary to them, of what benefit are they? have they any effect at all? except, with some, damnation? The case is similar with the doctrinals of faith from the Word, which are precepts of Christian life, for they are spiritual laws. Neither do these conduce to anything unless they become of the life. Let a man consider within himself whether there is anything in him that is anything except what enters into his very life; and whether the life of man, which is life, is anywhere else than in his will.

[3] From this then it is that it is said by the Lord in the Old Testament, and confirmed in the New, that all the Law and all the Prophets are founded in love to God, and love to the neighbor, thus in the life itself, but not in faith without life; therefore by no means in faith alone, consequently neither in confidence, for this is impossible without charity. If this appears with the evil in times of danger, or when death is at hand, it is a spurious or false confidence; for not the least of this confidence appears in them in the other life, however much they may have professed it with apparent ardor at the approach of death. That faith, whether you call it confidence or trust, effects nothing with the wicked, the Lord Himself teaches in John:

As many as received, to them gave He the power to be sons of God, to them that believe in His name; who were born, not of bloods, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:12-13).

[4] They who are “born of bloods” are those who do violence to charity (see n. 374, 1005), also who profane truth (n. 4735); they who are “born of the will of the flesh” are those who are in evils from the love of self and of the world (n. 3813); and they who are “born of the will of man” are those who are in persuasions of falsity; for a “man” signifies truth, and in the opposite sense falsity. They who are “born of God” are those who have been regenerated by the Lord, and thence are in good. These are they who receive the Lord, and these are they who believe in His name, and these are they to whom He gives the power to be sons of God, but not to the others; from which it is very plain what faith alone effects for salvation.

[5] Moreover in order that man may be regenerated and become the church, he must be introduced through truth to good; and he is introduced when truth becomes truth in the will and in act. This truth is good, and is called the good of truth, and produces new truths continually; for then for the first time it makes itself fruitful. The truth which is thence brought forth or made fruitful is what is called internal truth, and the good from which it is, is called internal good; for nothing becomes internal until it has been implanted in the will, because what is of the will is the inmost of man. So long as good and truth are outside of the will, and in the understanding only, they are outside of the man; for the understanding is without, and the will is within.