6532. 'They left behind in the land of Goshen' means that those things were in the inmost part of [the Church's] factual knowledge. This is clear from the meaning of 'the land of Goshen' as the middle or inmost part within the natural, where the Church's factual knowledge resides, dealt with in 5910, 6028, 6031, 6068. The existence of the interior and the exterior forms of the good of innocence and charity, 6529-6531, in that inmost part is meant when it says that they left behind the young children, flocks and herds in the land of Goshen; for in whatever place things are left, that is where they are. Thus 'they left behind' here does not in the internal sense mean leaving behind but being there, that is to say, in the inmost part of the Church's factual knowledge, which is 'the land of Goshen'.

5910. 'And you shall dwell in the land of Goshen' means the middle of the natural. This is clear from the meaning of 'dwelling' as living, dealt with in 1293, 3384, 3613, 4451; and from the meaning of 'the land of Goshen' as the middle or inmost part. Because that land was situated in Egypt and 'Egypt' means the factual knowledge present in the natural, 'Goshen' means the middle or inmost part of the natural. Goshen was the best region in the land of Egypt; and what is the best - the best in the natural where factual knowledge exists - is situated in the middle or centre. For the actual good there acts like a kind of sun, shedding light from itself on the truths to the sides of it.