6125. 'In exchange for horses' means factual knowledge supplied from the understanding. This is clear from the meaning of 'horses' as ideas forming the understanding, dealt with in 2760-2762, 3217, 5321; and since they are spoken of in connection with Egypt, which means factual knowledge, 'horses' here are factual knowledge supplied from the understanding. But what factual knowledge supplied from the understanding is must be stated. There is an understanding part and there is a will part in the human mind, and these are situated not only in his internal man but also in his external. The human understanding is developing and growing from early childhood through to manhood, and it consists in a discernment of things gained from experience and formal knowledge, also a discernment of causes from effects as well as of consequences from a chain of causes. Thus the understanding part consists in a comprehension and perception of such things as are part of everyday life, public and private. An inflowing of light from heaven brings it into existence, and for that reason everyone's understanding is capable of being made more perfect. Understanding is given to everyone in accordance with his effort to make use of what he knows, in accordance with the life he leads, and in accordance with his individual character; no one lacks it provided he is of sound mind. A person is given it to the end that he may have freedom of choice, that is, have the freedom to choose good or evil. Unless he possesses an understanding like the one just described, he has no power of his own to make that choice; thus nothing could possibly be made his own.

[2] In addition to this it should be recognized that the understanding part of a person's mind is that which receives what is spiritual, so that it is the recipient of spiritual truth and good. For no good at all, that is, no charity, nor any truth at all, that is, any faith, can be instilled into anyone if he does not have that understanding part; but they are instilled in the measure that he does have it. This also explains why a person is not regenerated by the Lord until adult life when he does possess an understanding. Till then the good of love and the truth of faith fall like seed into utterly infertile soil. But once a person has been regenerated his understanding serves the function of enabling him to see and perceive what good is and from this what truth is. For the understanding converts things belonging to the superior light of heaven into those belonging to the inferior light of the natural world, as a consequence of which the former are then seen within the latter in the same way as a person's inner affections are seen in his face when it lacks all pretence. And because the understanding serves that function, many places in the Word where the spiritual side of the Church is referred to refer also to its power of understanding, a matter which will in the Lord's Divine mercy be dealt with elsewhere.

[3] From all this one may now see what is meant by factual knowledge supplied from the understanding, namely known facts which lend support to the things a person grasps and perceives with his understanding, whether those things are bad or good. Such facts are what are meant in the Word by 'horses from Egypt', as in Isaiah,

Woe to those who go down into Egypt for help, and rely on horses and trust in chariots because they are many, and on horsemen because they are extremely strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel and do not seek Jehovah. For Egypt is man (homo), not God; and his horses are flesh, not spirit. Isaiah 31:1, 3.

'Horses from Egypt' stands for factual knowledge supplied from a perverted understanding.

[4] In Ezekiel,

He rebelled against him by sending his ambassadors to Egypt, that ha might give him horses and many people. Will he prosper? Will he who does this be rescued? Ezekiel 17:15.

'Horses from Egypt' again stands for factual knowledge supplied from a perverted understanding, which knowledge is resorted to in matters of faith, though there is no belief in the Word, that is, in the Lord, apart from what that knowledge provides. Thus no belief ever comes to exist, for within a perverted understanding a negative attitude reigns.

[5] The destruction which such factual knowledge underwent is represented by the drowning of Pharaoh's horses and chariots in the Sea Suph; and since that knowledge is meant by 'horses' and false matters of doctrine by 'chariots', his horses and chariots are mentioned so many times in the description of that event, see Exodus 14:17-18, 27, 26, 28. And the Song of Moses and Miriam consequently contains these words,

Pharaoh's horse went, also his chariot, also his horsemen, into the sea; but Jehovah made the waters of the sea come back over them. Sing to Jehovah, for He has highly exalted Himself; He has thrown the horse and its rider into the sea. Exodus 15:19, 21.

[6] Similar factual knowledge is also meant by the things required before-hand for a king over Israel, in Moses,

If they desire a king, from among their brothers shall a king be set over them. Only let him not multiply horses for himself nor lead the people back into Egypt in order to multiply horses. Deuteronomy 17:15-16.

'A king' represented the Lord as regards Divine Truth, 1672, 1728, 2015, 2069, 3009, 3670, 4575, 4581, 4789, 4966, 5044, 5068, thus as regards intelligence since this comes, when it is genuine, from Divine Truth. The need for intelligence to be acquired through the Word, which is Divine Truth, and not through factual knowledge taken from one's own understanding is meant by the injunction that the king should not multiply horses or lead the people back into Egypt in order to multiply horses.

3660. 'And blessed him' means that this good was accordingly joined [to the rational]. This is clear from the meaning of 'being blessed' as being joined to, dealt with in 3504, 3514, 3530, 3565, 3584. The reason why Isaac the father now blessed Jacob his son [a second time] - even though the latter had come to him deceitfully and had taken the blessing that was Esau's, an action that had made Isaac tremble, as is evident from verses 27:33, 35 of the previous chapter - is that he now perceived it was to be Jacob's descendants, not Esau's, who were to have possession of the land of Canaan. It was on account of this perception that the blessing was re-affirmed by Isaac. The deceit which had made Isaac tremble however meant and foretold the false impression which that nation would give in regard to representatives. That is to say, there was nothing in the least genuine or from the heart in its representation of the Divine or the heavenly things of the Lord's kingdom. Thus that nation was not at all like the Ancient Church but was interested only in things that were external separated from anything internal. Nor indeed did their interest end there, for they fell away so many times into plain idolatry.

[2] But what the expression being joined to, or conjunction, describes, meant in the internal sense by 'being blessed', has been stated already, namely this: Both the good and the truth of the natural were to be linked to the rational, or what amounts to the same, the external man to the internal. For to make His Natural Divine, the Lord imparted such good and truth to it as could correspond to the good and truth of the Divine Rational. Unless goods and truths in the one correspond to those in the other no conjunction is possible. The goods and truths of the natural, that is, those proper to the natural man, are countless, so countless that a person can hardly know the most general kinds of them, though when natural good and truth are referred to these are seen by him as a simple whole; for the entire natural, and everything there, is nothing else. This being so one may see that goods and truths of the natural exist which are able to accommodate the goods and truths of the rational, and goods and truths of the natural exist which are not able to do so; consequently that goods and truths of the natural exist which, by means of correspondence, are able to be linked to the goods and truths of the rational. It is the latter that are referred to in this chapter and those that follow.

[3] The ability to know those goods and truths and to distinguish one from another, and also to see the nature of them and so to see how suited they are for conjunction, can hardly exist in anyone as long as he does not think from what is interior, that is, from the enlightenment provided by the light of heaven. For at this time such things seem to him to be both obscure and joyless. But such things are nevertheless suited to the mental grasp and understanding of angels, and also to the mental grasp of spirits; for their thoughts are not interspersed with concerns about worldly, bodily, and earthly things, as they had been previously when they lived as men in the world. They - that is to say, angels and spirits - receive the delight of intelligence and the blessedness of wisdom when they have such things from the internal sense of the Word. Indeed the Divine is in that case shining on them, for in the highest sense the Lord is the subject, and in the representative sense the Church and regeneration. They come consequently within the Divine sphere of the Lord and of His ends and purposes.