8974. 'When you buy a Hebrew slave' means those within the Church who are imbued with the truths of religious teachings and not with the good that accords with those truths. This is clear from the meaning of 'buying' as acquiring to oneself and making one's own, dealt with in 4397, 5374, 5397, 5406, 5410, 5426, 7999; and from the meaning of 'a Hebrew slave' as those within the Church who are imbued with the truths of religious teachings and not with the goodness of life that accords with those truths. For 'a slave' or 'a servant' has reference to those who are imbued with truth and not with complementary good, and in general to truth in relation to good, 3409. And 'Hebrew' has reference to things connected with the Church and to those connected with some servitude; for its reference to things connected with the Church, see 5136, 5236, 6675, 6684, and for its reference to those connected with some servitude, 1703, 1741, 5013.

Since the regulations that come next refer to male slaves and female slaves from the children of Israel, what they hold within them in the internal sense must be stated. Anyone can see that they contain the arcana of heaven, since they were declared and commanded by Jehovah on Mount Sinai to Moses orally, and since they follow very soon after the words of the Ten Commandments. Without such arcana they would be no more than civil and criminal laws like those of other nations on earth, which do not have any arcanum of heaven within them. But the arcana they contain are not evident except to angels in heaven. Consequently they do not become evident to people in the world except through the internal sense, because this sense teaches the way in which angels perceive the Word, and therefore teaches the arcana which the Word holds within itself. What those arcana are, and the nature of them, will be evident below from the explanation of specific details.

[2] So that a person may have a general idea of those things, a brief statement is needed to show what 'Hebrew slaves' in particular means in the internal sense. In the spiritual Church, which the children of Israel represented, there are two kinds of people. There are those who are imbued with the truth of faith but not with the complementary goodness of life, and there are those who are imbued with the good of charity and with the complementary truth of faith. Those imbued with the good of charity and complementary truth of faith constitute the truest part of the Church, being members of the internal Church. In the internal sense of the Word they are those called 'the children of Israel'. They are intrinsically free, because they are imbued with good; for those who are led by the Lord through good are free, 892, 905, 2870-2893. Those however who are imbued with the truth of faith and not with the complementary goodness of life are members of the external spiritual Church. These are the ones who are meant in the internal sense of the Word by 'Hebrew slaves'. The reason why these people are represented by slaves or servants is that relatively the things which belong to the external Church are nothing other than a body of servants. The same applies also to the relationship of the truth of faith-to the good of charity; for the truth of faith acts like a servant to lead a member of the Church into the good of charity.

[3] In addition it should be recognized that those who think that the all of the Church, thus the all of salvation, consists in the truth of faith and not in the good of charity, and also those who do good solely in a spirit of obedience and not out of love and affection, cannot be regenerated in the way that those people are who are imbued with the good of charity, that is, who do good out of love and affection. They can, it is true, be reformed, but not regenerated. The reformation of them is the subject in the internal sense at this point, in the laws regarding male slaves and female slaves. The arcana of that reformation are not known to anyone at the present day, the reason being that almost everywhere within the Church people are ignorant of what difference the truth of faith can make to salvation, and what difference the good of charity can make. Indeed people are ignorant of what charity is, and also that charity and faith must be married to each other if anything of the Church is to come into being in a person; for the marriage of goodness and truth constitutes the Church itself, because it is heaven within a person, 2173, 2618, 2728, 2729, 2803, 3132, 3155, 4434, 4823, 5194, 5502, 6179.

5139. Verses 16-19 And the chief of the bakers saw that he had interpreted what was good, and he said to Joseph, I also was in my dream, and behold, three baskets with holes in them were on my head. And in the highest basket there was some of every kind of food for Pharaoh, the work of the baker, and the birds were eating them out of the basket, from upon my head. And Joseph answered and said, This is the interpretation of it: The three baskets are three days. In yet three days Pharaoh will lift up your head from upon you, and will hang you on wood; and the birds will eat your flesh from upon you.

'And the chief of the bakers saw' means the discernment of the sensory power subject to the will part of the mind. 'That he had interpreted what was good' means what was going to take place. 'And he said to Joseph' means the perception of the celestial within the natural. 'I also was in my dream' means a foretelling. 'And behold, three baskets' means consecutive degrees forming the will. 'With holes in them were on my head' means without a termination anywhere at all in the middle. 'And in the highest basket' means the inmost degree of the will. 'There was some of every kind of food for Pharaoh' means full of celestial good for nourishing the natural. 'The work of the baker' means according to every useful purpose served by that power of the senses. 'And the birds of the air were eating them out of the basket, from upon my head' means that falsity originating in evil would consume it. 'And Joseph answered and said' means revelation resulting from the perception received by the celestial within the natural. 'This is the interpretation of it' means what it held within it. 'The three baskets' means the consecutive degrees of the will. 'Are three days' means even to the final one. 'In yet three days' means that within the final one. 'Pharaoh will lift up your head from upon you' means a decision based on foresight. 'And will hang you on wood' means a casting aside and condemnation. 'And the birds will eat your flesh from upon you' means that falsity originating in evil will consume every one of those sensory impressions.