6681. 'And the king of Egypt called the midwives' means that those under the influence of falsities planned a course of action against those who had true factual knowledge in the natural. This is clear from the meaning of 'calling' here as planning a course of action, for the purpose of the calling was the destruction of truths, but the planned course of action was made to fail because the truths were kept safe by the Divine, meant by 'the midwives feared God', 6678 (the evil in the next life who molest the good likewise plot with one another, as I have been allowed to know from experience); from the meaning of 'the king of Egypt' as those under the influence of falsities, dealt with just above in 6679; and from the meaning of 'the midwives as the natural where true factual knowledge resides, dealt with in 4588, 6673, 6675, 6678. From all this it is evident that 'the king of Egypt called the midwives' means that those under the influence of falsities planned a course of action against those who had true factual knowledge in the natural.

6673. 'And the king of Egypt said to the midwives of the Hebrew women. means an influx from separated factual knowledge into the natural where the Church's true factual knowledge resided. This is clear from the meaning of 'saying' as an influx, dealt with in 5743, 6291; from the meaning of 'the king of Egypt' as separated factual knowledge which is opposed to the Church's truths, dealt with in 6651; from the meaning of 'the midwives' as the natural, dealt with in 4588, 4921; and from the meaning of 'the Hebrew women as things belonging to the Church, dealt with in 5136, 5236, and so also as the Church's true factual knowledge. The reason why the natural is meant by 'the midwives' is that the natural receives what flows in from the internal and in so doing acts like a midwife.