Arcana Coelestia #4962
4962. THE INTERNAL SENSE.
Verse 1. And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar bought him, Pharaoh’s chamberlain, prince of the guards, an Egyptian man, of the hand of the Ishmaelites, who had brought him down thither. “And Joseph,” signifies the celestial of the spiritual from the rational; “was brought down to Egypt,” signifies to the memory-knowledges [scientifica] 1 of the church; “and Potiphar bought him, Pharaoh’s chamberlain,” signifies that it was among the interior things of memory-knowledges; “prince of the guards,” signifies those which are primary for interpretation; “an Egyptian man,” signifies natural truth; “of the hand of the Ishmaelites,” signifies from simple good; “who had brought him down thither,” signifies the descent from that good to these memory-knowledges.
Fusnotat:
1. What Swedenborg calls scientifica are defined in this volume (n. 5212) as being “the lowest truths,” which he says “are called scientifica because they are in man’s natural of external memory.” [Reviser]
