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Genesis 41

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1 And it cometh to pass, at the end of two years of days that Pharaoh is dreaming, and lo, he is standing by the River,

2 and lo, from the River coming up are seven kine, of fair appearance, and fat [in] flesh, and they feed among the reeds;

3 and lo, seven other kine are coming up after them out of the River, of bad appearance, and lean [in] flesh, and they stand near the kine on the edge of the River,

4 and the kine of bad appearance and lean [in] flesh eat up the seven kine of fair appearance, and fat -- and Pharaoh awaketh.

5 And he sleepeth, and dreameth a second time, and lo, seven ears are coming up on one stalk, fat and good,

6 and lo, seven ears, thin, and blasted with an east wind, are springing up after them;

7 and the thin ears swallow the seven fat and full ears -- and Pharaoh awaketh, and lo, a dream.

8 And it cometh to pass in the morning, that his spirit is moved, and he sendeth and calleth all the scribes of Egypt, and all its wise men, and Pharaoh recounteth to them his dream, and there is no interpreter of them to Pharaoh.

9 And the chief of the butlers speaketh with Pharaoh, saying, `My sin I mention this day:

10 Pharaoh hath been wroth against his servants, and giveth me into charge in the house of the chief of the executioners, me and the chief of the bakers;

11 and we dream a dream in one night, I and he, each according to the interpretation of his dream we have dreamed.

12 And there [is] with us a youth, a Hebrew, servant to the chief of the executioners, and we recount to him, and he interpreteth to us our dreams, [to] each according to his dream hath he interpreted,

13 and it cometh to pass, as he hath interpreted to us so it hath been, me he put back on my station, and him he hanged.'

14 And Pharaoh sendeth and calleth Joseph, and they cause him to run out of the pit, and he shaveth, and changeth his garments, and cometh in unto Pharaoh.

15 And Pharaoh saith unto Joseph, `A dream I have dreamed, and there is no interpreter of it, and I -- I have heard concerning thee, saying, Thou understandest a dream to interpret it,'

16 and Joseph answereth Pharaoh, saying, `Without me -- God doth answer Pharaoh with peace.'

17 And Pharaoh speaketh unto Joseph: `In my dream, lo, I am standing by the edge of the River,

18 and lo, out of the River coming up are seven kine, fat [in] flesh, and of fair form, and they feed among the reeds;

19 and lo, seven other kine are coming up after them, thin, and of very bad form, and lean [in] flesh; I have not seen like these in all the land of Egypt for badness.

20 `And the lean and the bad kine eat up the first seven fat kine,

21 and they come in unto their midst, and it hath not been known that they have come in unto their midst, and their appearance [is] bad as at the commencement; and I awake.

22 `And I see in my dream, and lo, seven ears are coming up on one stalk, full and good;

23 and lo, seven ears, withered, thin, blasted with an east wind, are springing up after them;

24 and the thin ears swallow the seven good ears; and I tell unto the scribes, and there is none declaring to me.'

25 And Joseph saith unto Pharaoh, `The dream of Pharaoh is one: that which God is doing he hath declared to Pharaoh;

26 the seven good kine are seven years, and the seven good ears are seven years, the dream is one;

27 and the seven thin and bad kine which are coming up after them are seven years, and the seven empty ears, blasted with an east wind, are seven years of famine;

28 this [is] the thing which I have spoken unto Pharaoh: That which God is doing, he hath shewn Pharaoh.

29 `Lo, seven years are coming of great abundance in all the land of Egypt,

30 and seven years of famine have arisen after them, and all the plenty is forgotten in the land of Egypt, and the famine hath finished the land,

31 and the plenty is not known in the land because of that famine afterwards, for it [is] very grievous.

32 `And because of the repeating of the dream unto Pharaoh twice, surely the thing is established by God, and God is hastening to do it.

33 `And now, let Pharaoh provide a man, intelligent and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt;

34 let Pharaoh make and appoint overseers over the land, and receive a fifth of the land of Egypt in the seven years of plenty,

35 and they gather all the food of these good years that are coming, and heap up corn under the hand of Pharaoh -- food in the cities; and they have kept [it],

36 and the food hath been for a store for the land, for the seven years of famine which are in the land of Egypt; and the land is cut off by the famine.'

37 And the thing is good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all his servants,

38 and Pharaoh saith unto his servants, `Do we find like this, a man in whom the spirit of God [is]?'

39 and Pharaoh saith unto Joseph, `After God's causing thee to know all this, there is none intelligent and wise as thou;

40 thou -- thou art over my house, and at thy mouth do all my people kiss; only in the throne I am greater than thou.'

41 And Pharaoh saith unto Joseph, `See, I have put thee over all the land of Egypt.'

42 And Pharaoh turneth aside his seal-ring from off his hand, and putteth it on the hand of Joseph, and clotheth him [with] garments of fine linen, and placeth a chain of gold on his neck,

43 and causeth him to ride in the second chariot which he hath, and they proclaim before him, `Bow the knee!' and -- to put him over all the land of Egypt.

44 And Pharaoh saith unto Joseph, `I [am] Pharaoh, and without thee a man doth not lift up his hand and his foot in all the land of Egypt;'

45 and Pharaoh calleth Joseph's name Zaphnath-Paaneah, and he giveth to him Asenath daughter of Poti-Pherah, priest of On, for a wife, and Joseph goeth out over the land of Egypt.

46 And Joseph [is] a son of thirty years in his standing before Pharaoh king of Egypt, and Joseph goeth out from the presence of Pharaoh, and passeth over through all the land of Egypt;

47 and the land maketh in the seven years of plenty by handfuls.

48 And he gathereth all the food of the seven years which have been in the land of Egypt, and putteth food in the cities; the food of the field which [is] round about [each] city hath he put in its midst;

49 and Joseph gathereth corn as sand of the sea, multiplying exceedingly, until that he hath ceased to number, for there is no number.

50 And to Joseph were born two sons before the year of famine cometh, whom Asenath daughter of Poti-Pherah, priest of On, hath borne to him,

51 and Joseph calleth the name of the first-born Manasseh: `for, God hath made me to forget all my labour, and all the house of my father;'

52 and the name of the second he hath called Ephraim: `for, God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of mine affliction.'

53 And the seven years of plenty are completed which have been in the land of Egypt,

54 and the seven years of famine begin to come, as Joseph said, and famine is in all the lands, but in all the land of Egypt hath been bread;

55 and all the land of Egypt is famished, and the people crieth unto Pharaoh for bread, and Pharaoh saith to all the Egyptians, `Go unto Joseph; that which he saith to you -- do.'

56 And the famine has been over all the face of the land, and Joseph openeth all [places] which have [corn] in them, and selleth to the Egyptians; and the famine is severe in the land of Egypt,

57 and all the earth hath come to Egypt, to buy, unto Joseph, for the famine was severe in all the earth.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 5342

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5342. 'And laid up food in the cities' means that it stored them - truths linked to good - in the interior parts. This is clear from the meaning here of 'laying up' as storing; from the meaning of 'food' as truth linked to good, dealt with just above in 5340; and from the meaning of 'the cities' as the interior parts of the natural mind, dealt with above in 5297. The idea that truths linked to good are stored in the interior parts of the natural mind, and are preserved there for use subsequently in life, in particular for use in temptations when a person is being regenerated, is an arcanum known to few at the present day. Therefore the nature of this arcanum must be stated. The seven years of abundance of corn mean the truths multiplied initially, and the storage of grain in the cities, in the midst of them, means that those truths linked to good were stored away in a person's interior parts. The seven years of famine and the sustainment provided by the bunches that had been gathered means the state of regeneration effected by means of the truths that had been linked to good and stored away in the interior parts.

[2] The arcanum is this: During the time from earliest infancy through to early childhood a person is led by the Lord into heaven; indeed he is placed among celestial angels who serve to keep him in a state of innocence. This state which infants pass through until early childhood is a well-known one. At the beginning of childhood a gradual shedding of that state of innocence takes place; but even so, the person is kept in a state of charity through the charitable affection which he and his companions feel for one another. During this state, which with many people lasts through to adolescence, he is among spiritual angels. Because he begins at this time to think from what is within himself and to act in accordance with this, he cannot be kept any longer in charity, as he was previously; for now he calls on hereditary evils and allows them to lead him. Once this state has arrived the forms of the good of charity and innocence adopted by him previously are banished, to the extent that forms of evil are present in his thinking and are reinforced by his actions. Actually those forms of good are not banished but are withdrawn by the Lord to interior parts where they are stored away.

[3] But because he does not as yet know any truths, those forms of the good of innocence and charity which he has adopted during those two states do not possess any qualities as yet; for truths give good its qualities, while good gives truths their essence. From this time of life onwards therefore he is being equipped with truths by means of the teaching he receives, and especially by means of his own thoughts about and consequent verification of those truths. Insofar as he is moved at this time by an affection for good, the Lord joins truths to good in him, 5340, and stores them away for [future] use. This is the state that is meant by the seven years of abundance of corn. These truths linked to good are the ones which in a proper sense are called remnants. In the measure therefore that a person allows himself to be regenerated, the remnants serve a useful purpose; for the Lord draws in the same measure on that store of remnants and returns them to the natural. As a result a correspondence of exterior things with interior ones, or natural things with spiritual ones, is brought about; and this happens in the state that is meant by 'the seven years of famine'. This is the arcanum.

[4] At the present day the member of the Church thinks that no matter what anyone's life is like he can nevertheless by an act of mercy be accepted into heaven and enjoy eternal blessedness there; for the member of the Church imagines that it is simply a matter of being let in. But he is much mistaken, because no one can be let into heaven and find acceptance there unless he has acquired spiritual life, and no one can acquire spiritual life unless he is being regenerated, and no one can undergo regeneration except by means of goodness of life coupled to truth taught by doctrine. This is the way spiritual life is acquired by him. The fact that no one can enter heaven unless he has acquired spiritual life through regeneration is stated plainly by the Lord in John,

Truly, truly I say to you, Unless anyone is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. John 9:9.

And just after this,

Truly, truly I say to you, Unless a person has been born from water and the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God. John 3:5.

'Water' is the truth taught by doctrine, 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, and 'the spirit' is goodness of life. No one enters the kingdom simply through being baptized; rather, baptism is the sign denoting regeneration which the member of the Church should call to mind.

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