6502. 'And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians' means preservation from evils which would hinder it, that is to say, the joining together. This is clear from the meaning of 'commanding' as flowing into, dealt with in 5732; from the representation of 'Joseph' as the internal, dealt with just above in 6499; and from the meaning of 'the physicians' as preservation from evils (for it is apparent from the train of thought here that the preservation is from evils which would hinder the joining together referred to immediately above in 6501). From all this it is evident that 'Joseph commanded his servants the physicians' means an influx from the internal regarding preservation from evils which would hinder the joining together. The reason why 'the physicians' means preservation from evils is that in the spiritual world 'sicknesses' are evils and falsities. Spiritual diseases are nothing else, for evils and falsities rob the internal man of good health; they introduce mental disorders and at length states of depression. Nothing else is meant in the Word by 'sicknesses'.

[2] In the Word 'physicians', 'medicine', and 'medicaments' mean forms of preservation from evils and falsities. This is clear from places where they are mentioned, as in Moses,

If you obediently hear the voice of your God, and do what is good in His eyes, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will not put on you any sickness that I put on the Egyptians; for I, Jehovah, am your Physician. Exodus 15:26.

'Jehovah the Physician' stands for the preserver from evils; for these evils are meant by 'sicknesses on the Egyptians'. The fact that 'sicknesses on the Egyptians' means evils and falsities that arise when people reason about the arcana of faith on the basis of factual knowledge and false notions will in the Lord's Divine mercy be shown where those sicknesses are dealt with. But spiritual ones are meant, as is evident from its being said that if they heard the voice of God, did what was good, gave ear to His precepts, and kept His statutes, none of those sicknesses would be put on them.

[3] In addition the Lord calls Himself 'a Physician' in the same sense in Luke,

Those who are healthy have no need of a physician but those who are ill. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Luke 5:31, 32

Here also 'a physician' stands for a preserver from evils; for 'those who are healthy' is used to mean the righteous, and 'those who are ill' sinners. In Jeremiah,

Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no recovery for the health of the daughter of My people? ¹ Jeremiah 8:22.

'A physician' stands for preservation from falsities in the Church, for 'the health of the daughter of My people' is the truth of doctrine there.

[4] In the Word healing, cures, remedies, and medicaments are spoken of not in a natural but in a spiritual sense, as is evident in Jeremiah,

Why have You stricken us so that there is no remedy for us? Await peace, but no good comes; a time of healing, but behold, terror. Jeremiah 14:19; 8:15.

In the same prophet,

I will bring health and curing to it, ² and I will heal them, and reveal to them the crown of peace, and truth. Jeremiah 33:6.

In the same prophet,

There is none judging your judgement for healthiness; you have no restorative medicaments. Jeremiah 30:13.

In the same prophet,

Go up to Gilead, and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt! In vain you have multiplied medicaments; there is no healing for you. Jeremiah 46:11.

[5] In Ezekiel,

Beside the river there is rising up upon its bank, on this side and on that, every tree for food, whose leaf does not fall and whose fruit does not fail; it is reborn monthly, for its waters are flowing out from the sanctuary, wherefore its fruit is for food, and its leaf for a medicament. Ezekiel 47:12.

Here the prophet is describing a new house of God or a new temple, by which a new Church is meant, and in a more internal sense the Lord's spiritual kingdom. Therefore by 'the river upon whose bank there is rising up every tree for food' is meant things that belong to intelligence and wisdom, 108, 109, 2702, 3051 - 'trees' are perceptions and recognition of what is good and true, 103, 2163, 2682, 2722, 2972, 4552; 'food' is forms of good and truths themselves, 680, 4459, 5147, 5293, 5576, 5915; 'waters going out from the sanctuary' are truths that compose intelligence, 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, 5668; 'the sanctuary' is celestial love, and in the highest sense the Lord's Divine Human, which is the source of that love; 'fruits which are for food' means forms of the good of love, 917, 983, 2846, 2847, 3146; and 'leaf which is for a medicament' means the truth of faith, 885. From this it is evident what 'a medicament' means, namely that which preserves from falsities and from evils; for the truth of faith, when it leads to goodness of life because it leads away from evil, acts as a preserver.

Fusnotat:

3573. 'And kiss me, my son' means as to whether union is possible. This is clear from the meaning of 'kissing' as a uniting and joining together resulting from affection. Kissing, which is an external activity, is nothing else than the desire to become joined together, which is an internal activity; the two activities also correspond. The subject here, as is evident from what has been stated above, in the highest sense is the glorification of the Natural within the Lord, that is, how the Lord made the Natural within Him Divine. But in the representative sense the subject is the regeneration of the natural present in man and so the joining together of the natural and the rational; for the natural is not regenerate until it has been joined to the rational. This joining together is effected by means of both direct and indirect influx of the rational into the good and the truth of the natural; that is to say, by means of influx from the good of the rational directly into the good of the natural, and through the good of the natural into the truth of the natural, and by means of influx indirectly through the truth of the rational into the truth of the natural and from there into the good of the natural.

[2] These instances of a joining together are the subject here. They cannot possibly be achieved except through the means provided by the Divine. Indeed they are effected by means such as are quite unknown to man and of which he can gain scarcely any idea through the things which belong to the light of the world, that is, which belong to the natural light with him, but rather through the things belonging to the light of heaven, that is, to rational light. Nevertheless all those means have been disclosed in the internal sense of the Word, and are evident to those who know the internal sense, and so to angels who see and perceive countless details relating to this subject, of which scarcely one can be drawn out and explained adequately for man to grasp it.

[3] Yet from effects and the signs of those effects this joining of the rational to the natural is to some extent evident to man, for the rational mind, that is, the inward areas of will and understanding with a person ought to present themselves in his natural mind. Just as the natural mind presents itself in the face and facial expressions, so much so that the face is the outward expression of the natural mind, so ought the natural mind to be the outward expression of the rational mind. When rational and natural are joined together, as they are with those who are regenerate, whatever a person wills and thinks inwardly within his rational makes itself evident in his natural; and this in turn makes itself evident in the face. This is what the face is to angels and what it was to the most ancient people who were celestial. Indeed they were never afraid that others might know their ends and intentions, for they willed nothing but good. For anyone who allows himself to be led by the Lord never intends or thinks anything else. Where a state such as this exists the rational as regards good joins itself to the good of the natural directly, and through the good of the natural to the truths of the natural. It also joins itself indirectly through the truth there in the rational to the truth in the natural, and through this to the good there. All this effects an indissoluble joining together.

[4] But how far mankind is removed at the present day from this state, and so from the heavenly state, may be seen from the belief that practical wisdom requires one, in the world, to use words, also to perform acts, as well as to adopt facial expressions which are other than what one in fact thinks and intends. Indeed it is believed that one should so control the natural mind itself that in unison with its face it acts in quite an opposite way from inward thoughts and desires that flow from an evil end in view. To the most ancient people this was utterly abominable, and people who behaved in that way were expelled as devils from their community. From these considerations, as from effects and the signs of those effects, one may see what the joining together of the rational or internal man as regards good and truth with his natural or external man implies. One may thus also see what one who is an angel is like and what one who is a devil is like.