5399. Verses 1-5 And Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt; and Jacob said to his sons, Why do you look at one another? And he said, Behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt; go down there, and buy for us from there, and let us live and not die. And Joseph's ten brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. And Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob did not send with his brothers, for he said, Perhaps harm may come to him. And the sons of Israel came to buy in the midst of others who came; for the famine was in the land of Canaan.
'And [Jacob] saw' means the things that constitute faith. 'Jacob' means the natural so far as truth known to the Church is concerned. 'That there was corn in Egypt' means the intention to acquire truths to itself through factual knowledge, which is 'Egypt'. 'And Jacob said to his sons' means perception regarding truths as a general whole. 'Why do You look at one another?' means, Why did they fix their attention on these? 'And he said, Behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt' means that truths can be acquired through factual knowledge. 'Go down there, and buy for us from there' means making them its own through that knowledge. 'And let us live and not die' means spiritual life received from this. 'And Joseph's ten brothers] went down' means an aim and endeavour. 'Joseph's ten brothers' means such truths known to the Church as were in agreement with one another. 'To buy grain from Egypt' means to make the good of truth its own through factual knowledge. 'And Benjamin, Joseph's brother' means the spiritual of the celestial, which is the intermediary. 'Jacob did not send with his brothers' means without that intermediary. 'For he said, Perhaps harm may come to him' means that without the celestial of the spiritual, which is 'Joseph', that intermediary will perish. 'And the sons of Israel came to buy in the midst of others who came' means the wish to acquire spiritual truths, like all other truths, through factual knowledge. 'For the famine was in the land of Canaan' means that desolation existed so far as things of the Church in the natural were concerned.