Arcana Coelestia #5317
5317. 'And Pharaoh took off his ring from upon his hand' means a confirmation regarding the power which belonged at first to the natural. This is clear from the representation of 'Pharaoh' as the natural, dealt with already; from the meaning of 'ring' as a confirmation, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'hand' as power, dealt with in 878, 3091, 3387, 4931-4937, 5296. From this it is evident that 'he took off the ring from upon his hand' means that the natural renounced the power which at first belonged to itself, and that 'he put it onto Joseph's hand', as stated next, means that it passed all that power over to the celestial of the spiritual. The fact that 'the ring upon the hand' means a confirmation regarding power is not easy to show from parallel places in the Word, because no references are made to rings worn on the hand, apart from the following in Luke, where the father of the son who had squandered everything said to his servants,
Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring upon his hand and shoes on his feet. Luke 15:22.
Here also, as before, 'a ring' means a confirmation regarding power in the house, such as a son possesses. The same meaning is evident even from the customs which have come down to us from ancient times, such as the customs followed at betrothals and weddings, also at inaugurations, when rings are placed upon the hand. By these rings too a confirmation regarding power is meant. In addition to this, signets, which were likewise worn on the hand, Jeremiah 22:24, mean consent and confirmation, see 4874.
Labor
'Labor,' as in Genesis 41:51, denotes the combats of temptation. 'To eat the labor of the hands' signifies celestial good which man receives through living a life according to divine truths from the Lord. 'Labor' has respect, in a positive sense, to the things that are of love, and in an opposite sense, to the things that are of evil. It also signifies affliction of soul and crucifixion of the flesh for the sake of the Lord and of eternal life.
(Verweise: Arcana Coelestia 613, Genesis 41)
