5100. 'And he asked Pharaoh's courtier-ministers' means those sensory powers. This is clear from the meaning of 'Pharaoh's courtier-ministers' as both kinds of sensory powers, namely those subordinate to the understanding part and those subordinate to the will part, dealt with above in 5081.

'Pharaoh,' in Genesis 40, represents the new natural self. 'Pharaoh' and 'the Egyptians' in the Word, signify the sensory and scientific principles. 'Let Pharaoh live,' as in Genesis 42:16, is a phrase that is employed to say something emphatically, thus to state a certainty. 'Pharaoh and his army' signify people who are in falsities from evil. 'Pharaoh' signifies false ideas infesting the truth of the church. It also signifies scientific ideas, or the natural principle in general.

(Referencias: Arcana Coelestia 1487, Arcana Coelestia 5192; Exodus 16)