5637. 'And they rose up, and went down to Egypt' means a raising up so as to acquire life from the interior areas of factual knowledge. This is clear from the meaning of 'rising up' as a raising up to the things that belong to spiritual life, dealt with in 2401, 2785, 2912, 2927, 3171, 4103, 4881; from the meaning of 'going down' as to acquire life, for 'going down' here implies much the same as the words used previously in verse 8 - 'Send the boy with me, and we will rise up and go, and we will live and not die' - which mean spiritual life entered into by degrees, dealt with in 5605; and from the meaning of 'Egypt' as factual knowledge, dealt with in 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462, 4749, 4964, 4966, in this case the interior areas of such knowledge since the celestial of the spiritual represented by 'Joseph' is there, which is why the statement 'and stood before Joseph' follows directly after.

[2] The interior areas of factual knowledge are facts existing in the natural which are spiritual ones; and they are spiritual ones there when such facts in the natural have been illuminated by the light of heaven. They have been so illuminated by the light of heaven when a person has a real belief in teachings that are based on the Word; and he has a real belief in these when the good of charity is present in him. For then the good of charity, like a flame, sheds light on the truths and so on the facts he knows. This is how they get the spiritual light they possess. From this one may see what is meant by the interior areas of factual knowledge.

3619. 'Rebekah said to Isaac' means the Lord's perception from Divine Truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'saying' as perceiving, from the representation of 'Rebekah' as the Divine Truth of the Lord's Divine Rational, and from the representation of 'Isaac' as the Divine Good of that Rational, all dealt with already. And because Divine Good is Essential Being (Esse) in itself, and Divine Truth the Life springing from that Being - and the Lord as a consequence of this is primarily the Lord by virtue of Divine Good - the words stating that the Lord's perception comes from Divine Truth are therefore used here. Perception from the Divine Truth of the Rational flows from the area of the understanding, whereas perception from Divine Good flows from that of the will. Yet perception from the understanding does not belong to the understanding but to the will flowing into it, for the understanding is nothing else than the external form which the will is given. Such is the nature of the understanding when it is joined to the will. But until it has been so joined the understanding seems to exist by itself, and the will by itself, though all that actually happens is that the external separates itself from the internal. For when the understanding inwardly desires and thinks something, it is the end in view originating in the will that constitutes its life and governs the thinking there. The reason the understanding receives its life from the end in view is that the end a person has in view is his life, see 1909, 3570. This shows to some extent what is meant in the representative sense by any ordinary human being's perception from truth, and what is meant in the highest sense by the Lord's Perception from Divine Truth.