1165. In the Word 'Mizraim' or Egypt means knowledge, that is, various facts, by which people wish to probe into the arcana of faith and so confirm the false assumptions acquired in that way. 'Mizraim' also means simply knowledge, and so knowledge that is useful. This is clear not only from the places just quoted but also from very many others which would fill up page after page if they were all included. See Isaiah 19:1-end; Isaiah 30:1-3; 31:1-3; Jeremiah 2:18, 36; Jeremiah 42:14-end; Jeremiah 46:1-end; Ezekiel 16:26; 23:3; Ezekiel 29:1-end; Ezekiel 30:1-end; Hosea 7:11; 9:3, 6; 11:1, 5, 11; Micah 7:12 [NCBS: 7:15]; Zechariah 10:10-11; Psalms 80:8 and following verses.

6235. 'prior to my coming to you, to Egypt' means before the truth of the natural existed within factual knowledge. This is clear from the meaning of 'prior to my coming to you' as before it was present; from the representation of Jacob, who says this regarding himself, as the truth of the natural, dealt with above in 6223; and from the meaning of 'Egypt' as factual knowledge within the natural, dealt with in 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462, 4749, 4964, 4966, 5700, 6004. The coming of Jacob and his sons into Egypt represented the instillation of truths into the Church's factual knowledge, as the two previous chapters have shown, see 6004.