Genesis 45:25

What is the land of Canaan? A land that was faltering. Is it not clear that the time of the apostles is being described? They entered the faltering synagogues of the Jews and preached the power of the Lord Jesus, as we find in the Acts of the Apostles, when Peter says, "This Jesus God has raised up, and we are all witnesses of it. Therefore, exalted by the right hand of God and receiving from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured forth this gift which you see."

We who read the holy Scriptures must observe how in each and every place "going up" and "going down" are set down. For if we consider more carefully, we shall find that scarcely ever is anyone said to have gone down into a holy place, nor is anyone recorded to have gone up to a blameworthy one. These observations show that the divine Scripture is not, as it seems to very many, composed in an untutored and rustic manner of speech, but is fashioned according to the discipline of divine learning, serving not so much historical narratives as mystical realities and meanings. You will find, then, that it is written that those who are born from the seed of Abraham went down into Egypt, and again that the sons of Israel went up out of Egypt. Then, too, concerning Abraham himself it is said thus: "And Abraham went up out of Egypt, he and his wife, and all that was his, and Lot with him, into the desert." And then also concerning Isaac it is said that "the Lord appeared to him and said to him: do not go down into Egypt." But even the Ishmaelites, who were carrying incense and resin and myrrh, who themselves also came from the seed of Abraham, are reported to have gone down into Egypt, and with them Joseph too is said to have gone down into Egypt. And after these things also: "Jacob," it says, "seeing that there was a trade of grain in Egypt, said to his sons: why are you idle? Behold, I hear that there is grain in Egypt; go down there and buy us food, that we may live and not die." And a little later: "the brothers of Joseph," it says, "went down into Egypt to buy grain." Indeed, when Simeon had been detained in Egypt and his nine brothers were sent back and returning to their father, it is not written that they went up out of Egypt, but: "loading," it says, "the grain upon their asses, they departed." For they could not worthily be said to go up, whose brother was held bound in Egypt, with whom they too, anxious in mind and heart, were tormented, held fast as it were by certain bonds of love. But when, their brother received back and Joseph recognized, and Benjamin too set before his eyes, they return with joy, then it is said that "they went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan to Jacob their father." That is when they also say to their father that: "Joseph your son is alive, and he himself holds the rule over the whole land of Egypt." For necessarily…