10691. 'That Moses did not know that the skin of his face gleamed while he talked to Him' means the inward level or aspect of the Word within the outward, shining forth without any perception of it by the outward. This is clear from the representation of 'Moses' as the outward form of the Word containing what is inward, dealt with in 10563, 10571, 10607, 10614; from the meaning of 'not knowing' as not perceiving; from the meaning of 'gleaming' as shining forth, for the gleaming of the skin of Moses' face is a shining forth from what is inward; from the meaning of 'the skin' as the outward level of truth and good, dealt with in 3540, 5554, 8980; from the meaning of 'face' as interior things, dealt with in the places referred to 9546, so that 'the gleaming of the skin of the face' means a shining forth of the interior things within what is external or outward, at this point within the outward form the Word takes, which is its literal sense, since Moses represents the outward form of the Word containing what is inward; and from the meaning of 'talking' as influx, for 'talking', when it has regard to Jehovah, means influx, see 2951, 5743, 5797, 7270, 8128, 8660. From all this it is evident that 'Moses did not know that the skin of his face gleamed while he talked to Him' means the inward level of the Word within the outward, shining forth without any perception of it by the outward. It should be recognized that by a shining forth of the interiors of the Word within what is outward the internal sense within the external should be understood. The internal sense shines forth unceasingly and gleams within the external, yet it is discerned only by those whose affection is for inward things. It is not discerned by those whose affection is for the outward that contains what is inward, that is, by those people who are called members of the external Church. Nevertheless that sense is present with them, without their awareness, and exerts an influence on them. Who exactly they are whose affection is for the inward level or aspect of the Word, the Church, and worship, and who exactly they are whose affection is for the outward level or aspect of them that has the inward within it, see above in 10683. But when people's interest lies in the outward level devoid of the inward, as was so with the Israelite nation, they cannot at all abide the inward level of them or the light from them within the outward. This explains why in the verses that follow it says that they were afraid to approach Moses and that when Moses talked to them he put a veil over his face. The reason why the internal sense shines forth is that Divine Truth as it exists in the heavens resides in that sense, and Divine Truth emanating from the Lord appears to angels as light and also constitutes the light of heaven. For this matter, see in the places referred to in 9548, 9684.

6500. 'And wept on him' means sorrow. This is clear without explanation. The sorrow meant in the internal sense here by 'weeping' is not because of death, as the external sense implies, but sorrow because the good of the spiritual Church is not able to be raised above the natural. For the Lord, who is flowing in constantly by way of the internal, wishes to make that good more perfect and draw it closer to Himself; but in spite of this that good cannot be raised to the prime degree of good, which is that of the celestial Church, 3833. This is because the member of sorrow the spiritual Church dwells in obscurity, compared with one who belongs to the celestial Church. He engages in reasoning about truths to establish whether they are truths; or he goes about substantiating what is called doctrine, an activity he engages in without any perception of whether what he substantiates is true or not. And once he has substantiated something for himself he fully believes it to be true, even though it may be false. For nothing is incapable of being substantiated, since that kind of activity is the work of cleverness, not of intelligence, let alone wisdom. Falsity can be substantiated more readily than truth, because it encourages evil desires and accords with the illusions of the senses. Since the member of the spiritual Church is like this he cannot possibly be raised above the natural. This then is the reason for the sorrow meant by 'Joseph wept on him'.