4722. Verses 18-22 And they saw him from a distance; and before he drew near to them they plotted against him, to put him to death. And they said, a man to his brother, Behold, that dreamer ¹ is coming. So now come, and let us kill him, and let us throw him into one of the pits, and let us say, An evil wild animal has devoured him; and we shall see what his dreams are going to be. And Reuben heard it and rescued him out of their hands, and said, Let us not strike him, [as to his] soul. ² And Reuben said to them, Do not shed blood; throw him into this pit in the wilderness and do not lay a hand on him - so that he might therefore rescue him out of their hands, to return him to his father.

'They saw him from a distance' means the Lord's Divine Human perceived remotely. 'And before he drew near to them they plotted against him, to put him to death' means that they desired to annihilate the Divine Spiritual which proceeded from the Lord's Divine Human. 'And they said, a man to his brother' means the thoughts held mutually by them. 'Behold, that dreamer is coming' means those futile ideas. 'So now come, and let us kill him' means an annihilation of the essential teaching regarding the Lord's Divine Human. 'And let us throw him into one of the pits' means among falsities. 'And let us say, An evil wild animal has devoured him' means a lie invented out of a life of evil desires. 'And we shall see what his dreams are going to be' means that declarations concerning Him were by their reckoning false ones and were seen by them as such. 'And Reuben heard it' means the Church's confession of faith in general. 'And rescued him out of their hands' means deliverance. 'And said, Let us not strike him, [as to his] soul' means that it must not be annihilated because it is the life of religion. 'And Reuben said to them' means an exhortation. 'Do not shed blood' means not to do violence to what is holy. 'Throw him into this pit in the wilderness'' means that for the time being they should conceal it among their falsities. 'And do not lay a hand on him' means, and should not do any violence to it. 'So that he might therefore rescue him out of their hands, to return him to his father' means so that it might lay claim to it for the Church.

Fußnoten:

4679. 'His brothers saw' means things that are matters of faith, and in the proximate sense, the descendants of Jacob. This is clear from the meaning of 'seeing' as recognizing and understanding, dealt with in 2150, 2325, 2807, 3764, 3863, and from the representation of 'Joseph's brothers' as things that are matters of faith. For in the present chapter 'Joseph' represents the Lord's Divine Spiritual or Divine Truth, while 'his brothers' represents the Church which turns aside from charity to faith, then to faith separated from charity, and after that to falsities, see above in 4665, 4671. From this it is clear that by 'Joseph's brothers' here are meant things that are matters of faith; and because the descendants of Jacob were by nature such, these are meant in the proximate sense.