5022. 'And she kept his garment with her' means that it retained outermost truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'keeping with oneself' as retaining, and from the meaning of 'a garment' as outermost truth, dealt with above, in 5006, 5008; for once that truth is removed the spiritual man no longer has anything with which he may protect himself against people who are merely natural, 5008 (end), 5009, and so he suffers harm. For any utterance made in this case by the spiritual man is declared by those who are merely natural to be something they do not perceive and also something that is not true. At the mere mention of anything internal or spiritual they either ridicule it or else call it something arcane, as a result of which any link they may have with the spiritual man is severed. And once that link has been severed the spiritual man undergoes trying experiences at the hands of those who are merely natural. This is also represented by the fact that after the wife used the garment to prove to her husband the accusation she was making, Joseph was thrown into the prison-house.