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Genesis 45

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1 Then Joseph couldn't control himself before all those who stood before him, and he cried, "Cause everyone to go out from me!" No one else stood with him, while Joseph made himself known to his brothers.

2 He wept aloud. The Egyptians heard, and the house of Pharaoh heard.

3 Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph! Does my father still live?" His brothers couldn't answer him; for they were terrified at his presence.

4 Joseph said to his brothers, "Come near to me, please." They came near. "He said, I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.

5 Now don't be grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.

6 For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are yet five years, in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest.

7 God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to save you alive by a great deliverance.

8 So now it wasn't you who sent me here, but God, and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of all his house, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

9 Hurry, and go up to my father, and tell him, 'This is what your son Joseph says, "God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me. Don't wait.

10 You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you will be near to me, you, your children, your children's children, your flocks, your herds, and all that you have.

11 There I will nourish you; for there are yet five years of famine; lest you come to poverty, you, and your household, and all that you have."'

12 Behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaks to you.

13 You shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that you have seen. You shall hurry and bring my father down here."

14 He fell on his brother Benjamin's neck, and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck.

15 He kissed all his brothers, and wept on them. After that his brothers talked with him.

16 The report of it was heard in Pharaoh's house, saying, "Joseph's brothers have come." It pleased Pharaoh well, and his servants.

17 Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Tell your brothers, 'Do this. Load your animals, and go, travel to the land of Canaan.

18 Take your father and your households, and come to me, and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and you will eat the fat of the land.'

19 Now you are commanded: do this. Take wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come.

20 Also, don't concern yourselves about your belongings, for the good of all of the land of Egypt is yours."

21 The sons of Israel did so. Joseph gave them wagons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way.

22 He gave each one of them changes of clothing, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of clothing.

23 He sent the following to his father: ten donkeys loaded with the good things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and provision for his father by the way.

24 So he sent his brothers away, and they departed. He said to them, "See that you don't quarrel on the way."

25 They went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan, to Jacob their father.

26 They told him, saying, "Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt." His heart fainted, for he didn't believe them.

27 They told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them. When he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob, their father, revived.

28 Israel said, "It is enough. Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die."

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 5920

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5920. 'And the eyes of my brother Benjamin' means especially as a result of perception by the intermediary. This is clear from the meaning of 'the eyes' and 'seeing' as understanding and consequently perceiving, as above in 5919; and from the representation of 'Benjamin' as the intermediary, dealt with in 5411, 5413, 5443, 5639, 5688, 5822. The implications of this are as follows: Because 'Benjamin' represented the intermediary - and this intermediary was interior truth, 5600, 5631, directly dependent on internal good, represented by 'Joseph' - it possessed a clearer and sharper perception than that possessed by the truths beneath it, that is, by the external truths which his ten brothers represented. For the closer truth and good are to the internal, the more perfect is their power of perception; they are nearer the centre of the light in heaven and so are closer to the Lord. For the flow of Divine Good and Truth from the Lord passes through continuous degrees that serve as mediators to one another and are so positioned one after another. As a consequence people who dwell in the first or initial degrees receive the flow with clearer perception, because they are nearer the source, than those who dwell in the middle or outermost degrees. Like light goodness and truth become progressively dimmer at distances away from their source; for the increasingly imperfect things that exist in consecutive degrees make them duller. From all this one may see how to understand the idea of attesting especially as a result of perception by the intermediary; for the intermediary is more internal, while the truths represented by 'Jacob's sons' are more external.

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