6630. But in course of time this ancient wisdom decreased; for in so far as the human race removed itself from the good of love to the Lord and of charity toward the neighbor, so far it also removed itself from wisdom, because so far it removed itself from heaven. From this it is that man from internal became external, and this successively.

6631. And when man became external, he also became worldly and corporeal; and when he is of this character he no longer cares for the things of heaven; for they have been so far removed as not to be believed to exist; because the delights of earthly loves, and with these all evils which from these loves are delightful to him, then take complete possession of the whole man; and then all that he hears about the life after death, about heaven, and about hell, is like chaff in the wind, which flies away as fast as it is seen.

6632. From this also it is that the Doctrine of Charity, which was so precious among the ancients, is at this day one of the lost things; for who at this day knows what in the genuine sense charity is, and what in the genuine sense the neighbor is? when yet this doctrine abounds in arcana so many and so great that it cannot be described as to a thousandth part. The whole Sacred Scripture is nothing else than the doctrine of love and of charity, as the Lord also teaches, saying, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God from all thy heart, and in all thy soul, and in all thy mind; this is the first and great commandment: the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself; on these two commandments hang the law and the prophets" (Matt. xxii. 37-40). "The law and the prophets" are the Word in all and each of its parts.

6633. As the doctrine of charity is at this day one of the lost things, and as the doctrine of faith is consequently much alienated from the truth, this doctrine may of the Lord's Divine mercy be delivered before the several chapters of the Book of Exodus, and thus be restored to the church.

CHAPTER I.

1. And these are the names of the sons of Israel that came into Egypt with Jacob; a man and his house they came. 2. Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; 3. Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin; 4. Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.

5. And all the souls that came out of the thigh of Jacob were seventy souls: and Joseph was in Egypt.

6. And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation.

7. And the sons of Israel were fruitful, and were productive, and multiplied, and become very exceeding numerous; and the land was filled with them.

8. And there arose a new king over Egypt, who knew not Joseph.

9. And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are many and numerous more than we.

10. Come, let us use prudence with it,* peradventure it will be multiplied, and it will be that wars will happen, and it will also join itself to our enemies, and fight against us, and go up out of the land.

11. And they set over it princes of tributes, in order to afflict it with burdens. And it built cities of storehouses for Pharaoh, Pithom and Raamses.

12. And as they afflicted it, so it was multiplied, and so it was increased. And they were moved with loathing because of the sons of Israel.

13. And the Egyptians made the sons of Israel to serve with cruelty:

14. And they rendered their life bitter with grievous service, in clay, and in bricks, and in all service in the field, with all their service wherein they made them serve with cruelty.

15. And the king of Egypt said to the midwives of the Hebrew women, of whom the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah:

16. And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son,

See Note 1 at the end of this volume.

then ye shall kill him; and if it be a daughter, then she shall live.

17. And the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt spake to them, and they kept the boys alive.

18. And the king of Egypt called the midwives, and said to them, Wherefore do ye this word, and keep the boys alive?

19. And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are living, and have brought forth before the midwife comes unto them.

20. And God did well to the midwives; and the people was multiplied and became very numerous.

21. And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that He made them houses.

22. And Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, Every son that is born, ye shall cast him forth into the river, and every daughter ye shall keep alive.

THE CONTENTS.

6634. In the first chapter, in the internal sense, the subject treated of is the state of the renewed church, when good acts the first part, and is made fruitful by the multiplication of the truths of faith.

6635. Afterward the infestation of these truths by falsities and evils in the natural is treated of, and that through this infestation the good would be made still more fruitful by means of truths. Down to the end the chapter continues to treat of this infestation and its increase in the series in which it takes place, and of the consequent implantation and confirmation of truth from good.

THE INTERNAL SENSE.

6636. Verses 1-5. And these are the names of the sons of Israel that came into Egypt with Jacob; a man and his house they came. Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah. Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin. Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. And

all the soul that came out of the thigh of Jacob were seventy souls: and Joseph was in Egypt. "And these are the names of the sons of Israel," signifies the quality of the church; "that came into Egypt with Jacob," signifies after truths had been initiated into memory-knowledges; "a man and his house they came," signifies as to truth and as to good; "Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin; Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher," signify this process from beginning to end; "and all the soul that came out of the thigh of Jacob," signifies all things that were from general truth; "were seventy souls," signifies what is full; "and Joseph was in Egypt," sig nifies that the internal celestial was in the natural.

6637. And these are the names of the sons of Israel. That this signifies the quality of the church, is evident from the signification of "name," as being the quality (see n. 144, 145, 1754, 1896, 2009, 2628, 2724, 3006, 3421); from the representation of the sons of Israel, as being spiritual truths (n. 5414, 5879, 5951); and from the representation of Israel, as being the good of truth, or spiritual good (n. 3654, 4598, 5803, 5806, 5812, 5817, 5819, 5826, 5833). As Israel represents the good of truth, or spiritual good, and his sons spiritual truths in the natural, therefore the sons of Israel represent the church; for the church is the church from spiritual good and from the derivative truths. He who is not in spiritual good, that is, in the good of charity, and in spiritual truths, that is, in the truths of faith, is not of the church, in spite of his having been born within it. For the whole heavenly kingdom of the Lord is in the good of love and of faith; and unless the church is in the like, it cannot be the church, because it is not conjoined with heaven, for the church is the Lord's kingdom on earth. [2] Its being called the church is not from the fact that the Word is there, and that there are doctrinal things therefrom, nor from the fact that the Lord is known there, and that the sacraments are there; but it is the church from the fact that men live according to the Word, or according to doctrine from the Word, and so that the doctrine is the rule of life. They who are not of this character are not of the church, but are outside of it; and they who live in evil, thus they who live contrary to doctrine, are further outside the church than the Gen

tiles who know nothing whatever of the Word, of the Lord, and of the sacraments; for the former, because they know the goods and truths of the Church, extinguish the church in themselves, which the Gentiles cannot do, because they do not know them. Be it further known that every one who lives in the good of charity and of faith is a church and kingdom of the Lord, and from this is called a temple, and also a house, of God. The church in general is constituted of those who are churches in particular, however far apart they may be. This then is the church which is meant here and in what follows by the "sons of Israel."

6638. That came into Egypt with Jacob. That this signifies after truths had been initiated into memory-knowledges, is evident from the signification of " Egypt," as being memory-knowledges (n. 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462, 4749, 4964, 4966, 5700, 5702, 6004, 6015, 6125); and from the representation of Jacob, as being truth, and also good, in the natural, or the natural as to truth and good (n. 3305, 3509, 3525, 3546, 3576, 3599, 3659, 3669, 3677, 3775, 3829, 4009, 4234, 4286, 4337, 4538, 5306, 5533, 5535, 6001, 6236). That to "come into Egypt" is to be initiated into memory-knowledges, can be seen from the explications of the things in those chapters which treat of the journeying of the sons of Jacob to Egypt to buy corn, and afterward of their coming thither with Jacob. (How the case is with the initiation of the truths of the church into memoryknowledges, see n. 6004, 6023, 6052, 6071, 6077.) From all this it is evident that by the sons of Israel coming into Egypt are signified truths initiated into memory-knowledges.

6639. A man and his house they came. That this signifies as to truth and as to good, is evident from the signification of a "man (vir)," as being truth (see n. 3134, 3459); and from the signification of a "house," as being good (n. 3720, 4982). As in those chapters in Genesis which treat of the coming of the sons of Jacob, and of Jacob himself, into Egypt to Joseph, the subject treated of in the internal sense was the initiation of the truths of the church into memory-knowledges, and as the church has not been set up anew until this initiation has taken place, here therefore, according to the series of things in the internal sense, the renewed church is treated of, and how it is