7016. 'And said [to him], I will go, I beg you, and return to my brothers who are in Egypt' means being raised to more internal and more spiritual life in the natural. This is clear from the meaning of 'going and returning' as a further state of life, and the further state of life here consists in being raised to more internal and more spiritual life, thus life closer to the Divine, for in reference to the Lord, whom 'Moses' represents, 'going and returning' is used to mean being raised to the Divine Being (Esse) or Jehovah, who was within Him and from whom He came; from the representation of the children of Israel, to whom 'brothers' refers here, as the Lord's spiritual kingdom and consequently the spiritual Church, dealt with in 6426, 6637; and from the meaning of 'Egypt' as the natural, dealt with in 6147, 6252. From all this it is evident that 'I will go, I beg you, and return to my brothers who are in Egypt' means being raised to more internal and more spiritual life in the natural. For just as Moses' dwelling in Midian meant life with those who are guided by the truth that goes with simple good, and so are governed by simple good, 7015, so now his dwelling with the children of Israel means life with those who are guided and governed by the truth and good of the spiritual Church, which is more internal and more spiritual than the former life. Regarding the fact that the good and truth of that Church are in the natural, see 4286, 4402.

6146. 'And the people, he transferred them to the cities' means that facts holding truths within them were assigned to different areas of doctrine. This is clear from the meaning of 'the people' as truths, dealt with in 1259, 1160, 3295, 3581, at this point facts holding truths within them since the people of Egypt are referred to; and from the meaning of 'the cities' as areas of doctrine, dealt with in 402, 2449, 3216, 4492, 4497. Consequently 'transferring the people to the cities' means assigning facts that hold truths within them to different areas of doctrine. This follows from what has gone before - from the description that truths were assigned to a general whole within the natural, 6715. For matters of doctrine are general wholes to which truths are assigned. The teaching of the Church divides up under its own headings, and each heading forms a general whole in the Church. From this one may also see that the transfer of the people by Joseph to the cities was carried out so that the relating of truths to general wholes, and so to different areas of doctrine, might be represented.