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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 # 5159

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5159. 'And it happened on the third day' means in the final phase. This is clear from the meaning of 'the third day' as the final phase of a state; for 'day' means state, 23, 487, 488, 493, 893, 2788, 3462, 3785, 4850, and 'third' that which is complete, and so comes last, 1815, 2788, 4495. By the final phase of a state is meant the point when the previous state comes to an end and the new one begins. In the case of the person who is being regenerated a new state begins when order is turned around. The change takes place when interior things are given dominion over exterior ones, and exterior things begin to serve interior ones - which involves both ideas in the understanding and desires in the will. People who are being regenerated are conscious of this change as an inner urge not to allow sensory delights and bodily or earthly pleasures to take control, and draw ideas present in the understanding over to their own side to support them. When this change takes place the previous state has reached its final phase and the new one is entering its first. This is what is meant by 'on the third day'.

[2] In everyone, whether or not he is being regenerated, changes of state take place, and order is turned around. Yet such changes are different in the case of those who are being regenerated than in the case of those who are not being regenerated. With those who are not being regenerated those changes of state or order are due to physical causes or are attributable to causes associated with life in the community. Physical causes are those impulses which arise at one stage in life and subside at another, in addition to the giving of deliberate thought to physical health and a long life in the world. The causes connected with life in the community are the external, visible curbs a person has to place on his real desire, so that he may earn a reputation for being a wise person and a lover of what is righteous and good, when in fact the acquisition of position and material gain is his real reason for pursuing such. But in the case of people who are being regenerated, such changes of state or order are attributable to spiritual causes which spring from goodness and righteousness themselves; and when a person starts to have an affection for these he is at the end of the previous state and at the beginning of the new one.

[3] But as few are capable of seeing the truth of all this, let an example serve to shed light on the matter. Anyone who does not allow himself to be regenerated loves things of the body for their own sake, not for any other reason; and he loves the world too for its own sake. His love does not reach any higher because at heart he refuses to accept anything higher or more interior. On the other hand one who is being regenerated also loves things of the body, and worldly things likewise. Yet he loves them for higher or more interior reasons. He loves things of the body because he wishes to have a healthy mind inside a healthy body. Also, he loves his own mind and its healthiness for an even more interior reason, namely that he may have a wise discernment of what is good and an intelligent understanding of what is true. He also loves worldly things as much as others do, yet for the reason that the world, worldly wealth, possessions, and positions of importance may serve him as the means to put what is good and true or what is just and fair into effect.

[4] This example enables one to see what each one - the regenerate and the unregenerate - is really like, and to see that outwardly the two are apparently alike but that inwardly they are totally different. From this one may also recognize the identity and the essential nature of the causes which bring about the changes of state and turnings around of order that take place with people who are not being regenerated and those that take place with people who are being regenerated. One may also see that in the case of regenerate persons interior things have dominion over exterior ones, whereas in the case of unregenerate persons exterior ones have dominion over interior. The reasons or the ends that a person has in view are what have dominion, for those ends subordinate everything else in a person and make it subject to themselves. The person's whole life is conditioned entirely by his end in view, for that end is what he loves all the time.

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