5582. 'Turn back, buy a little food for us' means that, so as to have life, they should acquire the good of spiritual truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'buying' as acquiring and making one's own, dealt with in 4397, 5374, 5397, 5406, 5410, 5426; and from the meaning of 'food' as the good of truth, dealt with in 5340, 5342. Here the good of spiritual truth is meant, because this kind of good is the subject in what follows. That the purpose was for them to have life follows from this.

5397. Genesis 42

1. And Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt; and Jacob said to his sons, Why do you look at one another?

2. And he said, Behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt; go down there, and buy for us from there, and let us live and not die.

3. And Joseph's ten brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt.

4. And Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob did not send with his brothers, for he said, Perhaps harm may come to him.

5. And the sons of Israel came to buy in the midst of others who came; for the famine was in the land of Canaan.

6. And Joseph, he was the governor over the land, he was selling to all the people of the land. And Joseph's brothers came and bowed down to him, faces to the earth.

7. And Joseph saw his brothers, and recognized them; and he acted as a stranger to them, and spoke hard words to them, and said to them, Where have you come from? And they said, From the land of Canaan, to buy food.

8. And Joseph recognized his brothers, and they did not recognize him.

9. And Joseph remembered the dreams which he had dreamed involving them; and he said to them, You are spies; you have come to see the nakedness of the land.

10. And they said to him, No, my lord; and your servants come to buy food.

11. All we, the sons of one man are we. We are upright men; your servants are not spies.

12. And he said to them, No, but the nakedness of the land you have come to see.

13. And they said, Twelve are your servants, brothers are we, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and behold, the youngest is with our father today, and one is not.

14. And Joseph said to them, It is as I spoke to you, saying, You are spies.

15. In this manner you will be tested: As sure as Pharaoh lives, ¹ you shall not go out of here unless your youngest brother comes here.

16. Send one of you and let him fetch your brother; and you will be in bonds, and your words will be tested, whether the truth is with you. And if not, as sure as Pharaoh lives, ¹ you are spies.

17. And he shut them up in custody for three days.

18. And Joseph said to them on the third day, Do this and you will live, [for] I fear God:

19. If you are upright men, let one brother among you be in bonds in the house of your custody, and you, go, take corn for the famine of your houses.

20. And bring your youngest brother to me, and your words will be verified, and you will not die. And they did so.

21. And they said, a man to his brother, Assuredly we are guilty concerning our brother, whose anguish of soul we saw when he pleaded with us and we did not hear; therefore this anguish has come to us.

22. And Reuben answered them, saying, Did I not say to you, saying, Do not sin against the boy - and you did not listen? And also, his blood; behold, it is required.

23. And they did not know that Joseph was hearing, because the interpreter was between them.

24. And he turned away from them and wept; and he came back to them and spoke to them; and he took Simeon from them, and bound him before their eyes.

25. And Joseph gave the command to fill ² their vessels with grain, and to restore their silver, each man's in his sack, and to give them provision for the way; and thus he did for them.

26. And they loaded their corn onto their asses, and went from there.

27. And one opened his sack to give fodder to his ass, in a lodging-place, and he saw his silver, and behold, it was in the mouth of his pouch.

28. And he said to his brothers, My silver has been restored, and also behold, it is in my pouch. And their heart went out of them, and they trembled [turning] a man to his brother, saying, What is this that God has done to us?

29. And they came to Jacob their father, to the land of Canaan; and they pointed out to him all that was happening to them, saying,

30. The man, the lord of the land, spoke hard words to us, and took us for men spying out the land.

31. And we said to him, We are upright men; we are not spies.

32. Twelve are we, brothers, the sons of our father; one is not, and the youngest is today with our father in the land of Canaan.

33. And the man, the lord of the land, said to us, By this I shall know that you are upright men: Cause one brother among you to remain with me, and take [food for] the famine of your houses, and go.

34. And bring your youngest brother to me, and I shall know that you are not spies, that you are upright men; I will give you your brother, and you will wander through the land, trading.

35. And so it was, as they were emptying their sacks, that behold, each man's bundle of silver was in his sack; and they saw their bundles of silver, they and their father, and they were afraid.

36. And Jacob their father said to them, You have bereaved me [of my children]; Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and you take Benjamin. All these things will be upon me.

37. And Reuben said to his father - he said, Make my two sons die if I do not bring him back to you; give him into my hand, and I will bring him back to you.

38. And he said, My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he, he alone, is left. And should harm happen to him on the road on which you go, you will cause my grey hair to go down in sorrow to the grave.

CONTENTS

³ The subject at the end of the previous chapter was the influx of the celestial of the spiritual into the known facts present in the natural and the joining of it to these. Now the subject is the influx of the celestial of the spiritual into the truths of faith there which are known to the Church and the joining of it to those truths. Dealt with first is the attempt to gain possession of these truths through the facts known to the Church, which are 'Egypt', and to do so without the intermediary, which is 'Benjamin', along with truth from the Divine, which is 'Joseph'. But this was a failure, and therefore they were returned to where they came from, together with a measure of the good of natural truth freely given.

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