Arcana Coelestia volume 7 - Swedenborg Foundation

ARCANA COELESTIA 3933such truths of the church as corresponded; “to buy corn fromEgypt” signifies to appropriate to themselves the good of truth bymeans of memory-knowledges; “but Benjamin, Joseph’s brother”signifies the spiritual of the celestial, which is the intermediate;“Jacob sent not with his brethren” signifies that they were withoutthis intermediate; “for he said, Peradventure mischief may befallhim” signifies that without the celestial of the spiritual, which is“Joseph,” it would perish; “and the sons of Israel came to buy inthe midst of those that came” signifies that it desired that spiritualtruths, like all others, should be procured by means of memoryknowledges;“for the famine was in the land of Canaan” signifiesthat there was desolation as to the things of the church in thenatural.5400. And he saw. That this signifies the things which are of faithis evident from the signification of “seeing” as being the thingswhich are of faith (see n. 897, 2325, 2807, 3863, 3869,4403–4421). For spiritual sight abstracted from such things as areof the world is nothing else than a perception of truth, or of thethings of faith; and therefore in the internal sense nothing else issignified by “seeing.” For the internal sense comes forth when thethings of the world are removed, because the internal sense relatesto such things as are of heaven. The light of heaven, by which issight there, is Divine truth from the Lord, which appears before theeyes of the angels as light, a thousand times brighter than themidday light in the world; and as this light has life in it, therefore atthe same time that it illumines the eyesight of the angels, itillumines also the sight of their understanding, and causes aperception of truth in accordance with the amount and quality ofthe good in which they are. As in the internal sense of this chapterare described the things of faith, or the truths of the church,therefore at the very beginning of the chapter it is said that “hesaw”; and by his “seeing” are signified the things of faith.5401. Jacob. That this signifies the natural as to the truth whichis of the church is evident from the representation of Jacob as beingthe doctrine of truth in the natural, and in the supreme sense the