5340. 'And he gathered all the food of the seven years' means the preservation of truth linked to good, multiplied in the initial phases. This is clear from the meaning of 'gathering' here as preserving (for it says that he gathered it and laid it up in the cities, in the midst of them, which means that he stored it in the interior parts and thereby preserved it; for it was put to use in the years of famine); from the meaning of 'the food' as everything by which the internal man is nourished, namely good and truth, as may be recognized from the correspondence of earthly food which nourishes the external man with spiritual food which nourishes the internal man. Here therefore truth linked to good is meant, because this is what is preserved and stored away in a person's interior parts. 'Seven years' means the initial phases, when truths become multiplied, 5339. From all this it is evident that 'he gathered all the food of the seven years' means the preservation of truth linked to good, multiplied in the initial phases.

[2] The expression 'the preservation of truth linked to good' is used, but because few are aware of what truth linked to good is, let alone of how and when truth becomes linked to good, let something therefore be said about this. Truth comes to be joined to good when a person finds joy in doing good to his neighbour for truth and goodness' own sake, and not for any selfish or worldly reason. When that affection moves a person the truths he hears or reads or thinks about become joined to good; and this can usually be seen in an affection for truth which has that end in view.

1921. 'Do to her what is good in your eyes' means complete control over. This is clear without explanation. In the internal sense these words represent and mean that by His own power the Lord overcame, subdued, and cast out the evil which from what was hereditary had wormed itself also into this first rational, for, as has been stated, the rational was conceived from the Internal Man, which was Jehovah, as a father, and born from the exterior as a mother. Whatever was born from the exterior man possessed this hereditary element within it, thus evil as well. This was what the Lord overcame, subdued, and cast out by His own power and at length made Divine. The fact that He did so by His own power is clear from every single detail in this verse - the comment, 'Your servant-girl is in your hand' which means that He had this rational under His controlling power, followed next by 'so to her what is good in your eyes' which means complete control over it; and immediately after that 'Sarai humiliated her' which means subjection.

[2] These things were said to Sarai, who represents intellectual truth which the Lord Himself had and was the source from which He thought, as stated above in 1904, 1914, and from this truth He had complete control over the rational and also over the natural that was part of the exterior man. Anyone who thinks from intellectual truth and perceives from Divine good - which good was also His because it was the Father's, for He had no other soul - cannot do other than act from the power that is his own. Since therefore by His own power He tamed and cast out the evil present by heredity, it was by His own power as well that He united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence - the one being a consequence of the other.

[3] One who is conceived from Jehovah has no other Internal, that is, has none but Jehovah as his soul; for that reason He was as regards His very life itself Jehovah Himself. Jehovah, or the Divine Essence, cannot be divided in the way a human father's soul from which a child is conceived can be divided. To the extent the offspring moves away from the likeness of its father it moves away from the father himself, more and more so as it grows older. This is why a father's love for his children diminishes as they grow older. In the Lord's case it was different. As He grew older He did not so move away as regards the Human Essence but constantly drew closer until perfect union was achieved. From this it is clear that He is identical with Jehovah the Father, as He Himself also plainly teaches in John 14:6, 8-11.