6132. 'And said to him, We will not hide from [my] lord' means that it is well known to the internal. This is clear from the meaning of 'saying' as perception, dealt with above in 6063; from the representation of Joseph, to whom 'lord' refers here, as the internal, dealt with already; and from the meaning of 'not concealing from him' as being well known. The reason why 'not concealing' in the internal sense means being well known is that everything that exists and happens in the natural is well known to the internal; for the natural derives all that it is from the internal, from which therefore nothing can be hidden. Yet even so, the external sense, especially where it is historical, uses the kind of words that appear here. It is like when the Lord speaks to a person He first asks him about what is going on even though it is fully known to Him, as when the angel of Jehovah spoke to Hagar, Gen 16:7, 8; to Abraham, Gen 18:9; and to Moses, Exod 4:2. Nor can the external otherwise be content, for unless it declares something it does not think it can be known.