209. 'Wretched and poor.' This symbolically means that they have no truths or goods.

Wretched and poor people mean, in the spiritual sense of the Word, people who lack concepts of truth and good, for they are spiritually wretched and poor. They are also meant by the people in the following passages:

I am wretched and poor, O Lord; be mindful of me. (Psalms 40:18) [NCBSP: Psalms 40:17], cf. Psalms 70:5)

Incline Your ear, O Jehovah, and answer me, for I am wretched and poor. (Psalms 86:1)

The impious bare the sword and bend their bow, to cast down the wretched and poor... (Psalms 37:14)

(The impious man) persecuted the wretched and poor man, even to slay the downcast in heart. (Psalms 109:16)

(God) will judge the wretched of the people; He will save the children of the poor... He will deliver the poor man when he cries, and the wretched man... (Psalms 72:4, 12-13)

Jehovah... delivers the wretched man from one who is too strong for him, and the poor man... from those who plunder him. (Psalms 35:10)

(The impious man) devises wicked plans to destroy the wretched with lying words, even when the poor man speaks justly. (Isaiah 37:7)

The wretched shall have their joy in Jehovah, and the poor of mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel. (Isaiah 29:19)

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:3)

See also elsewhere, as Isaiah 10:2; Jeremiah 22:16; Ezekiel 16:49; 18:12; 22:29; Amos 8:4; Psalms 9:18; 69:32-33; 74:21; 109:22; 140:12; Deuteronomy 15:11; 24:14; Luke 14:13, 21, 23.

The wretched and poor mean chiefly people who lack concepts of truth and goodness and yet desire them, since the rich mean people who possess concepts of truth and goodness (no. 206).

5309. 'After God has caused you to know all this' means for the reason that Foresight and Providence belong to that celestial of the spiritual. This is clear from the meaning of 'coming to know', when used in reference to God, as foresight and providence. For one cannot speak of God coming to know since He has an underived knowledge of all things, whereas man's capacity to know something is derived from Him. Therefore when used in reference to God, 'coming to know' means foresight and providence. Foresight is knowing from eternity to eternity, while providence is the performance of what is foreseen. The reason why foresight and providence belong to the celestial of the spiritual is that the Lord, who is the celestial of the spiritual represented by 'Joseph', is the subject at this point in the internal sense.