5040. Verses 21-23. And Jehovah was with Joseph, and inclined mercy unto him, and gave him grace in the eyes of the prince of the prison house. And the prince of the prison house gave into Joseph's hand all the bound ones that were in the prison house; and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer. The prince of the prison house saw naught of anything that was in his hand, because Jehovah was with him; and that which he did, Jehovah made it to prosper. "And Jehovah was with Joseph," signifies that the Divine was in Him; "and inclined mercy unto him," signifies the Divine love in everything; "and gave him grace in the eyes of the prince of the prison house," signifies relief in consequence; "and the prince of the prison house," signifies truth governing in a state of temptations; "gave into Joseph's hand all the bound ones that were in the prison house," signifies from Himself over all falsities; "and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer," signifies absolute power; "the prince of the prison house saw naught of anything that was in his hand," signifies that He Himself governed truth; "because Jehovah was with him," signifies from the Divine which was in Him; "and that which he did, Jehovah made it to prosper," signifies that the Divine providence was from Himself.

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5041. And Jehovah was with Joseph. That this signifies that the Divine was in Him, that is, in the Lord (who in the supreme sense is represented by Joseph), here the Divine in temptations, which are here treated of, is evident; for the Divine Itself is Jehovah; and that He was in the Lord, or within Him, is signified by "Jehovah was with Joseph." As in the sense of the letter Joseph is treated of, it is said with him; but in the internal sense, where the Lord is treated of, it is in Him. That the Divine was in Him, may be seen by everyone within the church from the fact that He was conceived of Jehovah, for which reason He so frequently calls Him His "Father." The very being of a man, and hence the inmost of his life, is from the father; the clothings or exteriors are from the mother; therefore the Lord's being, and hence the inmost of His life, was Divine, because it was Jehovah Himself; and the clothings or exteriors made the human which He took from the mother by birth. This human was such that it could be tempted, for it was polluted with hereditary evil from the mother; but because the inmost was Divine, He was able by His own power to cast out that evil heredity from the mother; which was done successively by means of temptations, and finally by the last, that of the cross, when He fully glorified His Human, that is, made it Divine. From this it may be seen what is meant by the statement that the Divine was in Him.

5042. And inclined mercy unto him. That this signifies the Divine love in everything, is evident from the signification of "mercy," as being in the supreme sense the Divine love (see n. 1735, 3063, 3073, 3120, 3875). The Divine being itself, understood in the supreme sense, is love utterly incomprehensible to man; and from this love through truth all things come forth and subsist, both those which have life and those which have not. This Divine love from the very being through the inmost of life in the Lord, flowed into everything He did from the human taken from the mother, and directed all to ends, and these ends to the ultimate end that mankind might be saved. And because the Lord, from the Divine Itself in Him, saw the nature of His human, that it was hereditarily in evil, therefore it is said that "Jehovah inclined mercy unto him;" and by this in the supreme sense is meant the Divine love in everything. For the Divine mercy is nothing else than the Divine love toward those who are immersed in miseries (n. 1049, 3063, 3875), that is, toward those who are in temptations; for these are in miseries, and are chiefly meant in the Word by the "miserable."

5043.