5399. Verses 1-5. And Jacob saw that there was produce in Egypt, and Jacob said to his sons, Why do ye look at one another? And he said, Behold I have heard that there is produce in Egypt; get you down thither, and buy for us from thence; and we shall live, and not die. And Joseph's ten brethren went down to buy corn from Egypt. And Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren; for he said, Peradventure mischief may befall him. And the sons of Israel came to buy in the midst of those that came; for the famine was in the land of Canaan. "And Jacob saw," signifies the things which are of faith ("Jacob" signifies the natural as to the truth which is of the church); "that there was produce in Egypt," signifies a disposition to procure truths by means of memory-knowledges, which are "Egypt;" "and Jacob said to his sons," signifies perception regarding truths in general; "Why do ye look at one another?" signifies why did they hesitate; "and he said, Behold I have heard that there is produce in Egypt," signifies that truths can be procured by means of memory-knowledges; "get you down thither, and buy for us from thence," signifies appropriation by means of them; "and we shall live, and not die," signifies spiritual life thereby; "and they went down," signifies endeavor and act; "Joseph's ten brethren," signifies such truths of the church as corresponded; "to buy corn from Egypt," signifies to appropriate to themselves the good of truth by means 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 without this intermediate; "for he said, Peradventure mischief may befall him," signifies that without the celestial of the spiritual, which is "Joseph," it would perish; "and the sons of Israel came to buy in the midst of those that came," signifies that it desired that spiritual truths, like all others, should be procured by means of memory-knowledges; "for the famine was in the land of Canaan," signifies that there was desolation as to the things of the church in the natural.
