9392. Verses 6-8. And Moses took half of the blood, and put it into basins; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. And he took the book of the covenant, and read it in the ears of the people; and they said, All that Jehovah hath spoken we will do and hear. And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant that Jehovah hath made with you upon all these words. “And Moses took half of the blood,” signifies Divine truth that has been made of the life and of worship; “and put it into basins,” signifies with man in the things of his memory; “and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar,” signifies Divine truth from the Divine Human of the Lord; “and he took the book of the covenant,” signifies the Word in the letter with which the Word in heaven has been conjoined; “and read it in the ears of the people,” signifies for hearkening and obedience; “and they said, All things that Jehovah hath spoken we will do and hear,” signifies the reception of the truth that proceeds from the Divine Human of the Lord, and obedience from the heart and soul; “and Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people,” signifies adaptation to the reception of man; “and said, Behold the blood of the covenant,” signifies thereby the conjunction of the Lord in respect to the Divine Human with heaven and with earth; “that Jehovah hath made with you upon all these words,” signifies that there is conjunction with the Lord through each and all things of the Word.

5700. And for the Egyptians, who did eat with him, alone. That this signifies the separation of the memory-knowledges which are in inverted order, is evident from the representation of the Egyptians, as being memory-knowledges that are in inverted order (of which hereafter); and from the signification of “who did eat with him alone,” as being separation (as just above, n. 5699). By the Egyptians “who did eat with him” are meant the Egyptians who ate at Joseph’s house; that they did not eat with Joseph is plain, because they ate alone. By “Egypt” or the “Egyptians” in a good sense are signified the memory-knowledges of the church (see n. 1462, 4749, 4964, 4966); but in the opposite sense are signified the memory-knowledges which are in inverted order, thus which are contrary to the truths of the church (n. 1164, 1165, 1186). In this sense “Egypt” is mentioned in many passages of the Word. That “Egypt” signifies these memory-knowledges, is because the memory-knowledges of the Ancient Church, which were representative and significative of celestial and spiritual things, and which were cultivated among the Egyptians more than among others, were turned by them into magic; whereby they completely inverted the memory-knowledges of the representative church.

[2] Memory-knowledges are said to be in inverted order when men abuse heavenly order to do evil; for heavenly order is that good be done to all. Hence it comes to pass that when they have thus inverted heavenly order, they at last deny Divine things, the things of heaven, and consequently those of charity and faith. They who become such know how to reason acutely and skillfully from memory-knowledges, because they reason from the senses, and to reason from these is to reason from such things as are external, that is, from such as are of the body and the world, which take direct hold of man’s senses and feelings. Unless such things have been illumined by the light of heaven, and thereby arranged in an entirely different order, they put the man in so great an obscurity as to heavenly things that he not only comprehends none of them, but even wholly denies, and at last rejects them, and then as far as he may, blasphemes them. When memory-knowledges are in order, they are arranged by the Lord in the form of heaven; but when they are in inverted order, they are arranged in the form of hell, and then things most false are in the midst, and those which confirm them are at the sides, while truths are without, and because they are without they can have no communication with heaven where truths reign; and therefore interior things are closed to such persons; for heaven is open by means of things interior.