5417. 'And Joseph, he was the governor over the land' means that the celestial of the spiritual, or truth from the Divine, reigned in the natural where factual knowledge resided. This is clear from the representation of 'Joseph' as the celestial of the spiritual, dealt with in 4286, 4963, 5249, 5307, 5331, 5332 (as regards the celestial of the spiritual being truth from the Divine, this will be seen below); from the meaning of 'the governor' as the one who reigned; and from the meaning of 'the land', in this case the land of Egypt, as the natural mind, and so the natural, dealt with in 5176, 5278, 5280, 5288, 5301. Regarding the fact that the celestial of the spiritual reigned within the natural where factual knowledge resided, see 5313; and the fact that 'Egypt' in the internal sense means factual knowledge, see 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462, 4749, 4964, 4966. The reason why the celestial of the spiritual is truth from the Divine is that, until it had been fully glorified, the Lord's Internal Human - being the receptacle of His Divine - was the celestial of the spiritual. It has to be called this because no other terms or thought-forms exist to describe it. This receptacle or recipient of the Divine is the same as truth from the Divine; and 'Joseph' is that truth, see 4723, 4727.

5288. 'And set him over the land of Egypt' means which will set in order all that is in the natural mind. This is clear from the meaning of 'setting over something' as appointing one who will set in order, thus as setting in order; and from the meaning of 'the land of Egypt' as the natural mind, as above in 5276, 5278, 5279. The pronoun 'him' used here refers to a man with intelligence and wisdom, by whom truth and good are meant. From this it is evident that the words used here mean that truth and good will set in order all that exists in the natural it is indeed good and truth which set every single thing in order in the natural mind, for when good and truth flow in, they do so from within and in that way place every single thing in its proper position.

[2] The person who does not know about the nature of the human power of thought, or who does not know about the human ability to look at things, see what they are, analyse them, form conclusions regarding them, and finally transmit them to the will and through the will into action, will see nothing wondrous in any of this. Such a person imagines that all this happens naturally he is totally unaware of the fact that every single thought flows in from the Lord by way of heaven, and that but for that inflow from the Lord a person cannot have any thought at all, and also that as that inflow is diminished, so is his thought. Nor therefore does that person know that good flowing in from the Lord by way of heaven sets all things in order, shaping them into an image of heaven, so far as the person allows this to happen. Nor consequently does he know that such inflowing thought possesses the heavenly form. The heavenly form is the form in which the communities of heaven exist set in their proper order, a form that accords with the one which good and truth going forth from the Lord produce.