9724. 'And shovels, and basins, and its forks, and its tongs' means known facts that act as containers and serve every purpose. This is clear from the meaning of vessels generally as the items of knowledge or known facts that the external memory possesses, dealt with in 3068, 3069, and - in regard to things of a holy nature - as the cognitions of good and truth which serve as means by which to worship the Lord, 9544. Such also is what the vessels for ministry around the altar mean. But each particular vessel there means the known facts that relate to some specific purpose, so that all the vessels there mean the known facts that serve every purpose.

6649. 'And the land was filled with them' means even to the point at which the Church was complete. This is clear from the meaning of 'being filled' as that which is complete; and from the meaning of 'the land' as the Church, dealt with in 82, 662, 1066, 1067, 1262, 1411, 1413, 1607, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end), 2928, 3355, 4447, 4535, 5577. 'The land of Goshen' where the children of Israel now were means the Church. The fact that this was where the Church was before the children of Israel entered the land of Canaan is clear from what follows - from the absence there of the plagues which occurred elsewhere in Egypt, and also from the presence of light there while darkness reigned elsewhere, Exodus 10:21-23, making that territory entirely separate from all other territories in Egypt. The same fact is also clear from the consideration that 'the land of Goshen' means the middle or inmost part of the natural, 5910, 6028, 6031, 6068, and so means the Church since the spiritual Church exists in the inmost part of the natural.