5905. Verses 9-13 Make haste and go up to my father, and say to him, Thus said your son Joseph: God has established me as lord for all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay. And you shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near to me, you and your sons, and the sons of your sons, and your flocks, and your herds, and everything that belongs to you. And I will sustain you there, for there are still five years of famine, lest perhaps you are wiped out, you and your household, and all that belongs to you. And behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that with my mouth I am speaking to you. And you must tell my father about all my glory in Egypt, and all that you see; and you must make haste, and cause my father to come down here.

'Make haste and go up to my father' means to spiritual good. 'And say to him, Thus said your son Joseph' means the perception this good had regarding the internal celestial. 'God has established me as lord for all Egypt' means that it sets in order every single thing in the natural. 'Come down to me, do not delay' means a sure joining together. 'And you shall dwell in the land of Goshen' means the middle of the natural. 'And you shall be near to me' means an everlasting joining together. 'You and your sons, and the sons of your sons' means spiritual good, and all derivatives from it, and further derivatives from these. 'And your flocks, and your herds' means natural good, interior and exterior. 'And everything that belongs to you' means whatever is dependent on that good. 'And I will sustain you there' means a constant influx of spiritual life from the internal celestial. 'For there are still five years of famine' means the duration of the lack of good. 'Lest perhaps you are wiped out' means lest it perishes. 'You and your household, and all that belongs to you' means spiritual good and everything belonging to it. 'And behold, your eyes see' means attesting as a result of perception. 'And the eyes of my brother Benjamin' means especially as a result of perception by the intermediary. 'That with my mouth I am speaking to you' means a revelation. 'And you must tell my father about all my glory in Egypt' means a communication of the spiritual heaven in the natural with spiritual good. 'And all that you see' means whatever is recognized and perceived there. 'And you must make haste, and cause my father to come down here' means a closer joining together.

5278. 'And all the abundance of corn in the land of Egypt will be thrust into oblivion' means the removal of truth and the seeming deprivation of it in both parts of the natural. This is clear from the meaning of forgetting or 'being thrust into oblivion' as a removal and the seeming deprivation that results from this; from the meaning of 'the abundance of corn' as the multiplication of truth, that is, truth that has been multiplied, dealt with just above in 5276; and from the meaning of 'the land of Egypt' as the natural mind or a person's natural, both parts of it in this case, as just above in 5276.

[2] The reason forgetting or 'being thrust into oblivion' means a removal and seeming deprivation is that something akin to this happens to the memory and to thought that relies on it. The actual matters that a person is thinking about are immediately beneath his attention, while related matters spread out in order around them, extending to unrelated ones furthest away, which at that time are in oblivion. Matters of a contrary nature are separated from these, hanging downwards and revealing themselves underneath, where they serve to counterbalance what is above them. This ordered arrangement is effected by means of good flowing in. Such is the way in which the whole of a person's thought is ordered. The truth of this can be seen from people's thoughts in the next life. There in the light of heaven it is quite normal for people's thoughts to be presented sometimes in a visual manner, at which times the form in which those thoughts are arranged is demonstrated. From this it may be seen that 'forgetting' in the internal sense means nothing else than a removal and seeming deprivation.