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5209. Verses 5-7. And he slept and dreamed a second time, and behold seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk, fat and good. And behold seven ears thin and parched with the east wind sprung up after them. And the thin ears swallowed up the seven fat and full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and behold it was a dream. "And he slept," signifies an obscure state; "and dreamed a second time," signifies what was provided; "and behold seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk," signifies the memory-knowledges of the natural joined together; "fat and good," signifies into which the things of faith and charity could be applied; "and behold seven ears, thin," signifies memory-knowledges of no use; "and parched with the east wind," signifies full of cupidities; "sprung up after them," signifies appeared near; "and the thin ears swallowed up the seven fat and full ears," signifies that the memory-knowledges of no use banished the good memory- knowledges; "and Pharaoh awoke," signifies a general state of enlightenment; "and behold it was a dream," signifies in that obscurity.

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5210. And he slept. That this signifies an obscure state, is evident from the signification of "sleeping," as being an obscure state. Moreover, in the spiritual sense "sleep" is nothing else, just as "wakefulness" is nothing else than a clear state; for there is spiritual sleep when truths are in obscurity, and spiritual wakefulness when truths are in clearness. Moreover, in the degree of this clearness are spirits awake, and in the degree of the obscurity are they asleep. From this it is plain that "sleeping" means an obscure state.

5211. And dreamed a second time. That this signifies what was provided, is evident from the signification of "dreaming," as being what is provided (see n. 5195).

5212. And behold seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk. That this signifies memory-knowledges of the natural joined together, is evident from the signification of "ears," or spikes, of corn, as being memory-knowledges belonging to the natural (of which in what follows); and from the signification of "upon one stalk," as being joined together; for in respect to their origin things on one stalk are joined together. The reason why "ears" or spikes of corn signify memory-knowledges, is that "corn" signifies the good of the natural (see n. 3580), because memory-knowledges are the containants of the good of the natural, as the ears are of the corn; for in general all truths are vessels of good, and so also are memory-knowledges, for these are lowest truths.

Lowest truths, or truths of the exterior natural, are called memory-knowledges, because they are in man's natural or external memory, and because they partake for the most part of the light of the world, and hence can be presented and represented to others by forms of words, or by ideas formed into words by means of such things as are of the world and its light. The things in the inner memory, however, insofar as they partake of the light of heaven, are not called memory-knowledges, but truths; nor can they be understood except by means of this light, or expressed except by forms of words, or ideas formed into words, by means of such things as are of heaven and its light. The memory-knowledges here signified by "ears," or spikes, are memory-knowledges of the church, in regard to which see above (n. 4749, 4844, 4964, 4965).

[2] The reason why there were two dreams, one of the seven kine and the other of the seven ears of corn, is that in the internal sense both naturals, the interior and the exterior, are treated of, and in what follows, the rebirth of both. By the "seven kine" are signified the things of the interior natural called truths of the natural (see n. 5198); and by the "seven ears of corn," the truths of the exterior natural called memory-knowledges.