'Poor' signifies someone who is not in truths, and people who are ignorant of good and truth, but desire instruction.

(参照: Heaven and Hell 420)

6111. 'And the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished from the presence of the famine' means that this was so in the natural where factual knowledge resides, and within the Church. This is clear from the meaning of 'the land of Egypt' as the natural mind where factual knowledge resides, dealt with in 5276, 5278, 5280, 5288, 5701; from the meaning of 'the land of Canaan' as the Church, dealt with above in 6067; and from the meaning of 'the famine' as desolation, as immediately above in 6110. From these meanings it is evident that 'the land of Egypt languished, and the land of Canaan, from the presence of the famine' means that there is desolation in the natural where factual knowledge resides, and within the Church.