7343. 'And all the Egyptians dug round about the river for water to drink' means searching out truth which they could apply to falsities. This is clear from the meaning of 'digging' as searching out, dealt with below; from the meaning of 'water round about the river' as truths (the reason why 'water round about the river' is truths is that this water was outside the river and had not become blood; for the meaning of 'water' as truths, see 739, 790, 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, 5668); and from the meaning of 'drinking' as applying to falsities. For the meaning of 'drinking' as applying, see 5709; for anyone who drinks something applies it to himself. But it should be recognized that the nature of the application when it takes place is determined by the character and state of the one who applies that thing to himself. A person with an affection for truth applies truths to himself in accordance with the state and character of this affection; but a person with an affection for falsity perverts and falsifies truths when he applies them to himself. This may be seen from the consideration that Divine Truth flows into everyone, yet is varied with each individual according to the state and character of his life. Those in hell therefore turn it into falsities, just as they turn Divine Good into evil, heavenly forms of love into devilish ones, mercy into hatred and cruelty, conjugial love into adultery. Thus they turn things into their opposites, which they do because of the opposite character and state of their life. This now explains why 'all the Egyptians dug round about the river for water [to drink]' means searching out truths which they could apply to falsities.
[2] The fact that among those steeped in falsities and evils truth is turned into falsity and good into evil, and also vice versa, is evident from the proverbial saying that to the pure all things are pure, and to the impure all things are impure. This may also be illustrated by natural phenomena, for instance by the light coming from the sun. The light is white, but the objects it flows into convert it into colours. It is made beautiful by objects that are beautiful, and ugly by those that are ugly. The same proverb may also be illustrated by the grafting of branches into trees. A branch grafted into the trunk bears its own fruit, and therefore the sap of the tree, as soon as it passes into the engrafted branch, Is varied. It now becomes the branch's sap, suited to the production of its leaves and fruit. The situation is similar with the things that enter a human being.
[3] The reason why 'digging' means searching out is that 'water', 'spring', and 'well' which are dug out mean truths, which are not dug out but searched out. This is why in the original language this same word, when it is used in connection with truths, also means to search for. In prophetical statements however either 'water' or 'spring' is used instead of truth, and 'digging' instead of searching for; for this is what prophetic language is like, as is evident in Moses, where the spring at Beer is referred to, about which Israel sang this song,
Rise up, O spring! Answer over it! The well* which the princes dug, which the chiefs of the people dug out, as directed by the lawgiver, with their staves. Num. 21:16-18.
Here 'spring' means teachings presenting God's truth, 'digging' means searching for it. * lit. spring