1165. In the Word 'Mizraim' or Egypt means knowledge, that is, various facts, by which people wish to probe into the arcana of faith and so confirm the false assumptions acquired in that way. 'Mizraim' also means simply knowledge, and so knowledge that is useful. This is clear not only from the places just quoted but also from very many others which would fill up page after page if they were all included. See Isaiah 19:1-end; Isaiah 30:1-3; 31:1-3; Jeremiah 2:18, 36; Jeremiah 42:14-end; Jeremiah 46:1-end; Ezekiel 16:26; 23:3; Ezekiel 29:1-end; Ezekiel 30:1-end; Hosea 7:11; 9:3, 6; 11:1, 5, 11; Micah 7:12 [NCBS: 7:15]; Zechariah 10:10-11; Psalms 80:8 and following verses.

6683. 'And the midwives said to Pharaoh' means a discernment regarding that true factual knowledge in the natural. This is clear from the meaning of 'saying' in the historical narratives of the Word as a discernment, dealt with often; from the meaning of 'the midwives' as true factual knowledge in the natural, dealt with just above in 6681; and from the representation of 'Pharaoh' as false factual knowledge in general, also dealt with above, in 6679, 6681.