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Genesis 40

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1 And it came to pass after these things, that the butler of the king of Egypt and his baker had offended their lord the king of Egypt.

2 And Pharaoh was wroth with two of his officers, with the chief of the butlers, and with the chief of the bakers.

3 And he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, into the prison, the place where Joseph was bound.

4 And the captain of the guard charged Joseph with them, and he served them; and they continued a season in custody.

5 And they dreamed a dream both of them, each man his dream in one night, each man according to the interpretation of his dream; the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were bound in the prison.

6 And Joseph came to them in the morning, and looked upon them, and behold, they were sad.

7 And he asked Pharaoh's officers that were with him in the ward of his lord's house, saying, Why look ye so sad to-day?

8 And they said to him, We have dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter of it. And Joseph said to them, Do not interpretations belong to God? tell me them, I pray you.

9 And the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, In my dream, behold, a vine was before me;

10 And on the vine were three branches: and it was as though it budded, and its blossoms shot forth; and its clusters brought forth ripe grapes:

11 And Pharaoh's cup was in my hand: and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand.

12 And Joseph said to him, This is the interpretation of it: The three branches are three days;

13 Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head, and restore thee to thy place: and thou shalt deliver Pharaoh's cup into his hand, after the former manner when thou wast his butler.

14 But think on me when it shall be well with thee, and show kindness to me, I pray thee, and make mention of me to Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house:

15 For indeed I was stolen away from the land of the Hebrews: and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon.

16 When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said to Joseph, I also was in my dream, and behold, I had three white baskets on my head:

17 And in the uppermost basket there was of all manner of bake-meats for Pharaoh; and the birds ate them out of the basket upon my head.

18 And Joseph answered, and said, This is the interpretation of it: The three baskets are three days:

19 Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head from off thee, and shall hang thee on a tree; and the birds shall eat thy flesh from off thee.

20 And it came to pass the third day, which was Pharaoh's birth-day, that he made a feast to all his servants: and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants.

21 And he restored the chief butler to his butlership again; and he gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand:

22 But he hanged the chief baker: as Joseph had interpreted to them.

23 Yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 5081

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5081. 'With his two courtier-ministers' means from both kinds of sensory powers in the body; that is to say, from these [the new natural man] turned away. This is clear from the meaning of 'courtier-ministers', who in this case are the cupbearer and the baker, as both kinds of sensory powers, dealt with above in 5077, 5078. In relation to the interior man, meant by 'lord the king', the bodily senses - sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch - are also ministers, courtiers so to speak. For they serve to provide the interior man with evidence gathered from experience in the visible world and in human society, thereby enabling it to become intelligent and wise. For the human being is born with not even any knowledge, let alone with any intelligence or wisdom. He is born with no more than the capacity to receive and be endowed with these. Such reception and endowment is effected through two different channels, an internal channel and an external one. By the internal channel that which is from the Divine flows in, by the external that which is from the world. The two meet within a person, in which case, so far as the person allows himself to receive light from the Divine, he enters into wisdom. The things that flow in by the external channel come through the bodily senses; yet they do not flow in of their own accord but are called forth by the internal man to serve as a base laid down for celestial and spiritual things flowing in from the Lord by the internal channel. From this it may be seen that the bodily senses are like courtier-ministers. In general everything exterior, in relation to what is interior, is a minister; the entire natural man in relation to the spiritual man is nothing else.

[2] The word used in the original language means minister, courtier, bed-chamber servant, and eunuch. In the internal sense the good and truth of the natural man are meant, as is the case here. But specifically the good of the natural man is meant, as in Isaiah,

Do not let the son of the foreigner who clings to Jehovah say, Jehovah surely separates me from being with His people. Do not let the eunuch say, Behold, I am dry wood. For thus said Jehovah to the eunuchs who keep My sabbaths and choose that in which I delight, and are holding fast to My covenant, I will give those in My house and within My walls a place and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an eternal name which will not be cut off. Isaiah 56:3-5.

In this case 'the eunuch' stands for the good of the natural man, and 'the son of the foreigner for the truth of the natural man; for the Lord's Church is both external and internal. Those who belong to the external Church are natural; those who belong to the internal Church are spiritual. Those who are natural and yet are governed by good are 'the eunuchs', while those governed by truth are 'the sons of the foreigner'. Also, since the truly spiritual or internal ones are to be found solely within the Church, 'the sons of the foreigner' in addition means therefore those who are outside the Church - the gentiles - who are nevertheless governed by the truth as taught by their religion, 2049, 2593, 2599, 2600, 2602, 2603, 2861, 2863, 7263, while 'the eunuchs' means those governed by good.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.