3084. 'And went up' means a raising up. This is clear from the meaning of 'going up' as being raised up. The expression 'raised up' is used to describe from what is lower to what is higher, and because it is used to describe this it is also used to describe from what is exterior to what is interior, for the two are one and the same. Indeed what is lower and higher in human thought is exterior and interior in angelic thought, as with the idea of heaven. By men heaven is seen as that which is higher, but by angels as that which is interior. It is similarly so with the natural with man. In relation to his spiritual it is exterior, while the spiritual in turn is exterior in relation to the celestial. Or what amounts to the same, factual knowledge which belongs to the natural man is exterior in relation to truth, while truth is exterior in relation to good. Therefore also factual knowledge in relation to truth is called a covering as well as a garment, and so in a similar way is truth in relation to good.

[2] This explains why the expressions 'going up' to Jerusalem, but 'coming down' from Jerusalem are used; also 'going up' from Jerusalem to Zion, and 'coming down' from Zion to Jerusalem; for the parts surrounding Jerusalem mean the exterior features of the Church, Jerusalem meaning the more interior features and Zion the inmost. Since in the internal sense this verse describes the initial stage in the raising up of truth from the natural man to the rational man, therefore it is first of all said here that the affection for truth represented by Rebekah 'went down to the spring' and shortly after that 'went up'. For as stated above in 3074, Divine love flows into the affection for good, and from there into the affection for truth, and in so doing brings life and light to the things that are in the natural man, and at the same time orders them. This is the meaning of 'going down'. In this way truths are raised up from the natural man into the rational man where they are joined to good. This is the meaning of 'going up'.

8623. 'And Moses built an altar' means for the holiness of worship and of remembrance. This is clear from the meaning of 'an altar' as the chief representative of the Lord, dealt with in 2777, 2811, 4489, and consequently the holiness of worship, 4541. The reason why it is also for remembrance is that in ancient times heaps were erected to serve as a witness and memorial that something was to stand firm and be remembered; and later on altars were erected too, 4192. Moses' altar was built for the remembrance of something, which was that because Amalek's hand was against the throne of Jah the war of Jehovah would be against him from generation to generation. The fact that altars too were erected to serve as a witness and memorial is clear from the altar which the Reubenites, Gadites, and half tribe of Manasseh built by the Jordan. They told the children of Israel who wished to go to war against them that they had built it to be a witness to the fact that they were to worship Jehovah, not with burnt offerings and sacrifices on that altar but on the altar before the tabernacle. ¹ Therefore they called the former,

A witness between us and you that Jehovah is God. Joshua 22:10-34.

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