4678. Verses 4-11 And his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, and they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him. And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him all the more. ¹ And he said to them, Hear now this dream which I have dreamed. Behold, we were binding sheaves in the middle of the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and also stood up, and behold, your sheaves gathered round it and bowed down to my sheaf. And his brothers said to him, Are you indeed going to reign over us? Or are you indeed going to have dominion over us? And they hated him all the more ¹ for his dreams and for his words. And he dreamed yet another dream, and he recounted it to his brothers, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream again, and behold, the sun and the moon, and the eleven stars were bowing down to me. And he recounted it to his father and to his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall we indeed come - I and your mother, and your brothers - to bow down to you to the earth? And his brothers envied him; and his father kept the matter ² [in mind].

'His brothers saw' means things that are matters of faith - in the proximate sense, the descendants of Jacob. 'That their father loved him more than all his brothers' means that [the Lord's Divine Spiritual or Divine Truth] was joined to the Divine Natural - in the proximate sense, to the Ancient Church meant by 'father'. 'And they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him' means contempt and aversion. 'And Joseph dreamed a dream' means a declaration concerning Himself. 'And he told it to his brothers' means to the adherents to faith separated from charity. 'And they hated him all the more' means still greater contempt and aversion. 'And he said to them, Hear now this dream which I have dreamed' means the contents of the declaration. 'Behold, we were binding sheaves in the middle of the field' means that they were teaching from doctrine. 'And behold, my sheaf arose and also stood up' means teaching concerning the Lord's Divine Human. 'And behold, your sheaves gathered round it' means those who were governed by faith. 'And bowed down to my sheaf' means worship. 'And his brothers said to him' means the adherents to faith separated from charity. 'Are you indeed going to reign over us? Or are you indeed going to have dominion over us?' means, Were the concepts in their understandings and the desires in their wills to be made subject to it? 'And they hated him all the more for his dreams and for his words' means still greater contempt and aversion on account of that declaration of truth. 'And he dreamed yet another dream' means a further declaration. 'And he recounted it to his brothers, and said' means to the adherents to faith separated from charity. 'Behold, I have dreamed a dream again' means the contents. 'And behold, the sun and the moon' means natural good and natural truth. 'And the eleven stars' means cognitions of good and truth. 'Were bowing down to me' means worship. 'And he recounted it to his father and to his brothers' means being given to know it. 'And his father rebuked him and said to him, What is this dream that you have dreamed?' means indignation, 'father' at this point being the Jewish religion, an offspring of ancient religion. 'Shall we indeed come - I and your mother, and your brothers - to bow down to you to the earth?' means, Will the Church come to worship? 'And his brothers envied him' means their aversion. 'And his father kept the matter [in mind]' means that truth remained within their semblance of religion.

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337. THE INTERNAL SENSE

Since the subject in this chapter is the degeneration of the Most Ancient Church - that is, the falsification of doctrine - and consequently the heresies and sects which the names of Cain and his descendants cover, it must be realized that nobody can begin to understand how doctrine was falsified, that is, understand the nature of the heresies and sects of that Church, unless he has a proper knowledge of the nature of the true Church. From the latter the nature of those heresies and sects can be recognized. The Most Ancient Church has been dealt with quite extensively already; and it has been shown that it was the celestial man, and that it acknowledged no other faith than faith that originated in love to the Lord and towards the neighbour. It was through that love from the Lord that they possessed faith, that is, a perception of everything that was a matter of faith. Consequently they were not even willing to mention faith for fear of separating it from love, as shown already in 200-203.

[2] Such is the nature of the celestial man, that nature being described also by means of representatives in David where the Lord is referred to as 'the King', and the celestial man as 'the King's son',

Give the King Your judgements, and the King's son Your righteousness. The mountains will bring peace to the people, and the hills, in righteousness. They will fear You with the sun and towards the face ¹ of the moon, a generation of generations. In his days the righteous man will flourish, and much peace, until the moon will be no more. Psalms 72:1, 3, 5, 7.

'The sun' means love, 'the moon' faith, 'mountains' and 'hills' the Most Ancient Church. 'A generation of generations' means the Church that came after the Flood. The statement 'until the moon will be no more' is made because faith will then be love. See also what is written in Isaiah 30:26.

[3] Such was the nature of the Most Ancient Church and such its doctrine. Nowadays things are altogether different, for now faith comes first. But by means of faith the Lord imparts charity, at which point charity becomes the chief thing. Consequently doctrine in most ancient times was falsified when people made profession of faith and in so doing separated faith from love. People who falsified doctrine in this way, or who separated faith from love, that is, made profession of faith alone, were at that time called 'Cain'; and such a thing with them was a gross error.

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