4760. And they brought Joseph into Egypt. That this signifies consultation from memory-knowledges, is evident from the signification of “Egypt” as being memory-knowledges (seen. 1164-1165, 1186, 1462); and when Divine truth is brought to these it is to consult them; for by Joseph as before shown is represented Divine truth. What is meant by consultation about Divine truth from memory-knowledges shall be briefly described. To consult memory-knowledges about Divine truth is to see from them whether it is so. But this is done in one way by those who are in the affirmative that truth is truth, and who when they consult memory-knowledges, confirm the truth by them, and thus strengthen their faith; and in another way by those who are in the negative, who when they consult memory-knowledges cast themselves still more into falsities; for with these the negative rules, but with the former the affirmative. Moreover, this is according to the intellectual faculty of every man. If those who have not a higher, that is, an interior insight, consult memory-knowledges, they do not see the confirmation of truth in them, and they are therefore carried by the memory-knowledges into the negative; but those who have a higher, that is, an interior insight, see confirmations, and if in no other way, still by correspondences.

[2] Take for example the truth that man lives after death. When those who are in the negative as to this being true consult memory-knowledges, they confirm themselves against it by innumerable considerations, such as that brute animals equally live, have sensation, and act, and in many things more acutely than man; and that thought, which man has above the brutes, is a thing which he obtains by coming to maturity later; and that man is this kind of animal; and by a thousand other considerations. Thus it is evident that if those who are in the negative consult memory-knowledges, they cast themselves still more into falsities, so that at last they believe nothing whatever relating to eternal life.

[3] But when those who are in the affirmative as to the truth that man lives after death consult memory-knowledges, they confirm themselves by them, and this also by things innumerable; for they see that everything in nature is below man, and that the brute animal acts from instinct, while man acts from reason, and that brutes cannot but look downward, while man can look upward, and by thought comprehend the things of the spiritual world, and also be affected by them, and even by love be conjoined with God Himself, and thus appropriate to himself life from the Divine; and that it is in order that he may be led and elevated thither that he comes to maturity so late. Moreover, man sees confirmations in everything else that belongs to nature, and at last sees in universal nature a representative of the heavenly kingdom.

[4] It is as is well known a common thing for the learned to have less belief in a life after death than the simple, and in general to see Divine truths less clearly than the simple. The reason of this is that they consult memory-knowledges (of which they possess a greater abundance than others) from a negative standpoint, and thereby destroy in themselves insight from what is higher or interior; and when this is destroyed, they no longer see anything from the light of heaven, but only from the light of the world; for memory-knowledges are in the light of the world, and if these are not illuminated by the light of heaven they induce darkness, however different it may appear to themselves. For this reason it was that the simple believed in the Lord, but not the scribes and Pharisees who were the learned in the Jewish nation, as is evident from these words in John:

Many of the multitude when they heard these words said, This is truly the Prophet. Others said, This is the Christ [Messias]. The Pharisees answered them, Hath any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in Him? (John 7:40-41, 47-48).

And in Luke:

Jesus said, I confess to Thee O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise and intelligent, but hast revealed them unto babes (Luke 10:21);

“babes” denote the simple. Also in Matthew:

Therefore speak I to them by parables; because seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand (Matthew 13:13).

1461. And Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn. That this signifies instruction in knowledges [cognitiones] from the Word is evident from the signification of “Egypt,” and from the signification of “sojourning.” That “Egypt” signifies the memory-knowledge of knowledges, and that “to sojourn” signifies to be instructed, will be seen presently. That in His childhood the Lord was instructed as are other men, is evident from the passages in Luke that were adduced in the explication of verse 9, in n. 1457); and also from what has been said just above concerning the external man, which cannot be reduced to correspondence and agreement with the internal except by means of knowledges. The external man is corporeal and sensuous; nor does it receive anything celestial and spiritual unless knowledges are implanted in it, as in ground; for in these celestial things can have their recipient vessels. But the knowledges must be from the Word. Knowledges from the Word are such that they are open from the Lord Himself; for the Word itself is from the Lord through heaven, and the Lord’s life is in all things of the Word, both in general and in particular, although it does not so appear in the external form. Hence it may be seen that in His childhood the Lord did not will to imbue Himself with any other knowledges than those of the Word, which was open to Him, as before said, from Jehovah Himself, His Father, with whom He was to be united and become One; and this the more, because nothing is said in the Word that does not in its inmosts have regard to Him, and that has not first come from Him; for the Human Essence was only a something that was added to His Divine Essence that was from eternity.