ACV8 S31 6497-6520

Click to Print Reading Genesis 50 1. And Joseph fell upon the faces of his father, and wept upon him, and kissed him. 2. And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father; and the physicians embalmed Israel. 3. And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of the embalmed; and the Egyptians wept for him seventy days. 4. And the days of weeping for him passed away, and Joseph spake unto the house of Pharaoh, saying, If I pray I have found grace in your eyes, speak I pray in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, 5. My father made me swear, saying, Lo, I die: in my sepulcher which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. And now I pray let me go up, and bury my father, and I will return. 6. And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear. 7. And Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, 8. And all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father's house: only their babes, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen. 9. And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen; and the army was exceeding great. 10. And they came to the threshing-floor Atad, which is in the passage of the Jordan, and they wailed there a very great and grievous wailing; and he made a mourning for his father seven days. 11. And the inhabitant of the land, the Canaanite, saw the mourning in the threshing-floor Atad, and they said, This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians; wherefore they called the name of it Abel-mizraim, which is in the passage of the Jordan. 12. And his sons did unto him as he had commanded them: 13. And his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a possession of a sepulcher, from Ephron the Hittite, upon the faces of Mamre. 14. And Joseph returned into Egypt, he and his brethren, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father. 15. And Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, and they said, Peradventure Joseph will hate us, and returning will return unto us all the evil that we requited to him. 16. And they commanded Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying, 17. Thus shall ye say unto Joseph, I pray forgive I pray the transgression of thy brethren, and their sin, because they requited evil to thee; and now forgive I pray the transgression of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him. 18. And his brethren also went and fell down before him; and they said, Behold we are thy servants. 19. And Joseph said unto them, Fear ye not; for am I in God's stead? 20. And you thought evil against me, but God thought it for good, in order to do as it is this day, to keep alive a great people. 21. And now fear ye not: I will sustain you, and your babes. And he comforted them, and spake upon their heart. 22. And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he and his father's house; and Joseph lived a hundred and ten years. 23. And Joseph saw Ephraim's sons of the third generation: the sons also of Machir the son of Manasseh were born upon Joseph's knees. 24. And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die; and visiting God will visit you, and will make you go up out of this land unto the land which He sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 25. And Joseph took an oath of the sons of Israel, saying, Visiting God will visit you, and ye shall make my bones go up from hence. 26. And Joseph died, a son of a hundred and ten years; and they embalmed him, and he was put in an ark in Egypt. 6497. The Contents After treating of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, by whom in the supreme sense is represented the Lord, this last chapter of Genesis in the internal sense treats of the church-that after the celestial church had perished, a spiritual church was instituted by the Lord. The beginning and progress of this church are described in the internal sense, and at the close of the chapter, its end; and that in its stead the mere representative of a church was instituted among the descendants of Jacob. 6498. The Internal Sense. Verses 1-3. And Joseph fell upon the faces of his father, and wept upon him, and kissed him. And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father; and the physicians embalmed Israel. And forty days were fulfilled for him, for so are fulfilled the days of the embalmed; and the Egyptians wept for him seventy days. "And Joseph fell upon the faces of his father," signifies the influx of the internal into the affection of good; "and wept upon him," signifies sorrow; "and kissed him," signifies the first conjunction; "and Joseph commanded his servants the physicians," signifies preservation from the evils which hindered; "to embalm his father," signifies lest it should be infected with any contagion; "and the physicians embalmed Israel," signifies what was done for the preservation of the good which is from truth; "and forty days were fulfilled for him," signifies states of preparation by means of temptations; "for so are fulfilled the days of the embalmed," signifies that these are states of preservation; "and the Egyptians wept for him," signifies the sadness of the memory-knowledges of the church; "seventy days," signifies a full state. 6499. And Joseph fell upon the faces of his father. That this signifies the influx of the internal into the affection of good, is evident from the signification of "falling upon the faces" of anyone, as being influx; from the representation of Joseph, as being the internal (see n. 5805, 5826, 5827, 5869, 5877, 6177, 6224); from the signification of the "face," as being affection (n. 4796, 4797, 5102); and from the representation of Israel, who is here the "father," as being spiritual good, or the good of truth (n. 3654, 4598, 5801, 5803, 5806, 5812, 5817, 5819, 5826, 5833). Hence it is evident that by "Joseph fell upon the faces of his father" is signified the influx of the internal into the affection of spiritual good. That the influx of the internal into the affection of spiritual good is signified, is because in the internal sense the subject treated of is the spiritual church, that it was instituted by the Lord; for by "Israel" is signified the good of truth, or spiritual good, and this good makes the spiritual church, wherefore also by "Israel" this church is signified (n. 4286, 6426). In order that this good may come into existence, there must be influx from the internal celestial, which is represented by Joseph; for without influx from this, spiritual good is not good, because it is of no affection. In what follows in the internal sense the institution of this church is continued (n. 6497). That this church is described by Israel now dead and presently to be buried, is because in the internal sense by "death" is not signified death, nor by "burial" burial, but by "death" is signified new life (n. 3498, 3505, 4618, 4621, 6036), and by "burial" regeneration (n. 2916, 2917, 5551). 6500. And wept upon him. That this signifies sorrow, is evident without explication. By the sorrow here signified by "weeping" is not meant in the internal sense sorrow for death as it is in the external, but for the good of the spiritual church, that it cannot be elevated above what is natural; for the Lord flowing in through the internal continually wills to perfect this good, and to draw it toward Himself, but still it cannot be elevated to the first degree of the good that belongs to the celestial church. For the man of the spiritual church is comparatively in obscurity, and reasons about truths as to whether they are truths, or confirms what is called doctrine, and this without perception whether what he confirms is true or not; and when he has confirmed it with himself, he fully believes that it is true, even though it is false; for there is nothing that cannot be confirmed, this being the work of ingenuity, not of intelligence, still less of wisdom; and what is false may be confirmed more readily than what is true, because it favors the cupidities, and agrees with the fallacies of the senses. Such being the nature of the man of the spiritual church, he cannot possibly be elevated above what is natural; and this is the source of the sorrow which is signified by "Joseph wept upon him." 6501. And kissed him. That this signifies the first conjunction, is evident from the signification of "kissing," as being conjunction from affection (see n. 3573, 3574, 4215, 4353, 5929, 6260); in this case the first conjunction, because a closer conjunction is treated of in what follows. 6502. And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians. That this signifies preservation from the evils which hindered conjunction, is evident from the signification of "commanding," as being to flow in (see n. 5732); from the representation of Joseph, as being the internal, of which above (n. 6499); and from the signification of the "physicians," as being preservation from evils. That it denotes from the evils which hindered conjunction (of which just above, n. 6501), is apparent from the connection. Hence it is evident that by "Joseph commanded his servants the physicians" is signified influx from the internal with respect to preservation from the evils which hindered conjunction. That "physicians" signify preservation from evils is because in the spiritual world diseases are evils and falsities, spiritual diseases being nothing else; for evils and falsities take away health from the internal man, and induce sicknesses on the mind, and at last pains; nor is anything else signified in the Word by "diseases." [2] That "physicians," the "medical art," and "medicines" in the Word signify preservations from evils and falsities, is evident from the passages where they are named; as in Mose