Arcana Coelestia volume 7 - Swedenborg Foundation

ARCANA COELESTIA 3648the guards set Joseph over them, and he ministered to them; and theywere for days in custody. “And it came to pass” signifies a new state,and the things which follow; “after these words” signifies after thethings which precede; “that they sinned” signifies inverted order;“the butler of the king of Egypt” signifies in those things in thebody which are subject to the intellectual part; “and the baker”signifies in those things in the body which are subject to the willpart; “to their lord the king of Egypt” signifies that they werecontrary to the new state of the natural man; “and Pharaoh waswroth” signifies that the new natural man averted itself; “over histwo court ministers” signifies from the sensuous things of the bodyof both kinds; “over the prince of the butlers, and over the princeof the bakers” signifies in general from the sensuous thingssubordinate to the intellectual part and to the will part; “and he putthem into the custody” signifies rejection; “of the house of theprince of the guards” signifies by those things which are primary forinterpretation; “unto the prison house” signifies among falsities;“the place where Joseph was bound” signifies the state of thecelestial of the natural now as to these things; “and the prince of theguards set Joseph over them” signifies that the celestial of thenatural taught them from things primary for interpretation; “andhe ministered to them” signifies that he instructed them; “and theywere for days in custody” signifies that they were long in a state ofrejection.5074. And it came to pass. That this signifies a new state and thethings which follow is evident from the fact that the expression “itcame to pass,” or “it was,” in the Word, involves a new state (see n.4979, 4999); and that in the original language it serves as a mark ofdistinction between the series of things which precede and thosewhich follow (see n. 4987); hence it also signifies the things whichfollow.5075. After these words. That this signifies after the things whichprecede is evident from the signification of “words” in the originallanguage as being things; here therefore “after these words” meansafter these things, thus after the things which precede. That“words” in the original language signify things also is because