To “dwell” somewhere, then, is significant – it’s much more than just visiting – but is less permanent than living there. And indeed, to dwell somewhere in the Bible represents entering that spiritual state and engaging it, but not necessary permanently. A “dwelling,” meanwhile, represents the various loves that inspire the person who inhabits it, from the most evil – “those dwelling in the shadow of death” in Isaiah 9, for example – to the exalted state of the tabernacle itself, which was built as a dwelling-place for the Lord and represents heaven in all its details. Many people were nomadic in Biblical times, especially the times of the Old Testament, and lived in tents that could be struck, moved and raised quickly. Others, of course, lived in houses, generally made of stone and wood and quite permanent. In between the two were larger, more elaborate tent-style structures called tabernacles or dwellings; the tabernacle Moses built for the Ark of the Covenant is on this model.

6063. 'And Joseph came and told Pharaoh, and said' means the presence of the internal celestial within the natural where factual knowledge resides, and the consequent influx and perception. This is clear from the meaning of 'coming to someone' as presence, as in 5934; from the representation of 'Joseph' as the internal celestial, dealt with in 5869, 5877; from the meaning of 'telling as an influx, dealt with in 5966; from the representation of 'Pharaoh' as the natural and therefore factual knowledge in general, dealt with in 5799, 6015; and from the meaning of 'saying' in historical narratives of the Word as perception, dealt with in 1791, 1815, 1819, 1822, 1898, 1919, 2080, 2619, 2862, 3509, 5687. From all this it is evident that 'Joseph came and told Pharaoh, and said' means the presence of the internal celestial within the natural where factual knowledge resides, and the consequent influx and perception.

[2] Reference has been made many times before this to the flowing of the internal into the natural or external, and to perception in the natural. It has been shown that the natural is kept in being and receives its life from an influx from the internal, that is, from the Lord through the internal. For without the influx from that source the natural does not have any life, since it exists on the natural level of creation and derives all that it is from there, and the natural level of creation is totally devoid of life. This being so, if a person's natural is to have life there must be an influx from the Lord. It must come not only directly from Him but also indirectly through the spiritual world, consequently into a person's internal, since this exists in the spiritual world, and from there into the natural so that it may have life. The human natural has been formed so that it may receive life thereby. This then is what is meant by a flowing of the internal celestial into the natural where factual knowledge resides. As a result of this influx from the internal, perception takes place in the external or natural, which 'Pharaoh' represents; for influx and perception answer to each other, 5743.