120. But are a synagogue of Satan. That this signifies the doctrine of all their falsities, is evident from the signification of synagogue, as being doctrine (concerning which we shall speak presently); and from the signification of Satan, as being the hell whence all falsities go forth. There are two kinds of hells, one in which are those who are in evils, and the other in which are those who are in the falsities of evil. The hell in which the former are, is by one expression called the Devil, and that in which the latter are, is called by one expression Satan. That the hells are thus named is totally unknown to those who are unacquainted with the particulars concerning them, and who have formed the opinion about the devil that he was created an angel of light, and that, because he rebelled, he was cast down with his crew, and in this way hell was made. (That the hells are called by the names Devil and Satan, may be seen in the work, Heaven and Hell 311, 544, 553; and in the small work, The Last Judgment, in the article where it is shown that heaven and hell are from the human race, n. 14-22.) Besides, it should be known, that as all goods and truths proceed out of the heavens from the Lord, so all evils and falsities are from the hells. He who believes that they proceed from any other source is much deceived.

[2] Man is only a receptacle of these, and to whichever he turns himself, he receives therefrom. If he turns himself to heaven, which is brought about by the goods of love and the truths of faith, he then receives goods and truths from the Lord; but if he turns himself to hell, which is brought about by the evils of love and the falsities of faith, he then receives evils and falsities from hell. Now, because all evils and falsities are from the hells, and as the hells are designated, by one expression, either the Devil or Satan, it follows, that by the Devil are also signified all evils, and by Satan all falsities. This is why a synagogue of Satan signifies all kinds of false doctrine.

[3] The reason why by synagogue is signified doctrine is, that doctrine was taught in the synagogues, and also because differences in doctrinal matters were there adjusted. That doctrine was taught in the synagogues, is clear from Matthew 4:23; 9:35 13:54; Mark 1:21, 22, 29, 39; 6:2; Luke 4:15, 16, 44; 13:10, 14; John 18:20. That differences in doctrinals were adjusted in the synagogues, may be concluded from what is said in Matthew 10:17; Mark 13:9; Luke 12:11; 21:12; John 9:22; 12:42; 16:2, 3.

That there was every kind of false doctrine among the Jewish nation, is evident from many things known concerning that nation; for instance, that they deny the Lord, that they expect a Messiah who shall establish an earthly kingdom, and exalt them above all the other nations of the world; that they place all worship in externals, and reject the internals of worship which belong to faith and love to the Lord; that they regard all things in the Word as referring to themselves, and falsify it by traditions of their own invention, as may be seen, Matthew 15:6-9; Mark 7:1-13. Moreover, what the character of that nation has been from the beginning, as to their interiors, is evident from the song of Moses (in Deuteronomy 32), and from many other places. (See also the citations from Arcana Coelestia, in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 248.)

5402. 'That there was corn in Egypt' means the intention to acquire truths to itself through factual knowledge, which is 'Egypt'. This is clear from the meaning of 'corn' as the truths known to the Church, or the truths of faith - 'an abundance of corn' being a multiplication of truth, see 5276, 5280, 5292; and from the meaning of 'Egypt' as factual knowledge, dealt with in 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462, and, in the genuine sense, facts known to the Church, see 4749, 4964, 4966. As is evident from the words that come immediately after them, the ones used here imply an intention to acquire these truths to itself. The expression 'facts known to the Church', which 'Egypt' stands for here, is used to mean all the cognitions of truth and good before they become linked to the interior man, that is, through the interior man to heaven, and thus through heaven to the Lord. The teachings of the Church and its religious observances, in addition to its cognitions about why and how these represent spiritual realities and the like, all exist as nothing more than known facts until a person sees from the Word whether they are truths, and having done so makes them his own.

[2] There are two ways of acquiring the truths of faith, one way being through religious teaching, the other through the Word. When religious teaching alone is the way by which a person acquires them, he pins his faith on those who have deduced such truths from the Word, and assures himself that they are indeed truths because others have said that they are. Thus he does not believe those truths on account of any faith of his own but on account of that possessed by others. When however he gathers those truths for himself from the Word and assures himself for that reason that they are truths, he believes them on account of their Divine origin and so on account of a faith received from the Divine. Initially everyone within the Church acquires the truths that constitute faith from religious teaching; indeed this is how he ought to acquire them because he is not as yet equipped with judgement of his own that will enable him to see those truths from the Word. At this time those truths are for him no different from factual knowledge. But once he does possess the judgement to see them on his own, and if he does not consult the Word to the end that he may see from there whether they are indeed truths, they remain with him as factual knowledge. If however he does consult the Word with an affection for and an intention to know truths, and having found them there acquires them from their own true source, he receives the truths of faith from the Divine and makes them his own. These and other matters like them are what the internal sense is dealing with here; for 'Egypt' is that factual knowledge, while 'Joseph' is truth received from the Divine and so truth obtained from the Word.