9371. THE INTERNAL SENSE.

Verses 1-2. And He said unto Moses, Come up unto Jehovah, thou and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and bow yourselves afar off; and Moses, he alone, shall come near unto Jehovah; and they shall not come near; and the people shall not come up with him. “And He said unto Moses,” signifies that which concerns the Word in general; “come up unto Jehovah,” signifies conjunction with the Lord; “thou and Aaron,” signifies the Word in the internal sense and the external sense; “Nadab and Abihu,” signifies doctrine from both senses; “and seventy of the elders of Israel,” signifies the chief truths of the church which are of the Word, or of doctrine, and which agree with good; “and bow yourselves afar off,” signifies humiliation and adoration from the heart, and then the influx of the Lord; “and Moses, he alone, shall come near unto Jehovah,” signifies the conjunction and presence of the Lord through the Word in general; “and they shall not come near,” signifies no separate conjunction and presence; “and the people shall not come up with him,” signifies no conjunction whatever with the external apart from the internal.

At the inmost level, the story of Moses -- like all of the Bible -- is about the Lord and his spiritual development during his human life as Jesus. Moses's role represents establishing forms of worship and to make the people obedient. As such, his primary representation is "the Law of God," the rules God gave the people of Israel to follow in order to represent spiritual things. This can be interpreted narrowly as the Ten Commandments, more broadly as the books of Moses, or most broadly as the entire Bible. Fittingly, his spiritual meaning is complex and important, and evolves throughout the course of his life. To understand it, it helps to understand the meaning of the events in which he was involved. At a more basic level, Moses's story deals with the establishment of the third church to serve as a container of knowledge of the Lord. The first such church -- the Most Ancient Church, represented by Adam and centered on love of the Lord -- had fallen prey to human pride and was destroyed. The second -- the Ancient Church, represented by Noah and the generations that followed him -- was centered on love of the neighbor, wisdom from the Lord and knowledge of the correspondences between natural and spiritual things. It fell prey to the pride of intelligence, however -- represented by the Tower of Babel -- and at the time of Moses was in scattered pockets that were sliding into idolatry. On an external level, of course, Moses led the people of Israel out of Egypt through 40 years in the wilderness to the border of the homeland God had promised them. Along the way, he established and codified their religious system, and oversaw the creation of its most holy objects. Those rules and the forms of worship they created were given as containers for deeper ideas about the Lord, deeper truth, and at some points -- especially when he was first leading his people away from Egypt, a time before the rules had been written down -- Moses takes on the deeper representation of Divine Truth itself, truth from the Lord. At other times -- especially after Mount Sinai -- he has a less exalted meaning, representing the people of Israel themselves due to his position as their leader. Through Moses the Lord established a third church, one more external than its predecessors but one that could preserve knowledge of the Lord and could, through worship that represented spiritual things, make it possible for the Bible to be written and passed to future generations.

2534. For he is a prophet. That this signifies that thus it would be taught, is evident from the signification of a “prophet.” In the Word we frequently read of a “prophet;” and in the sense of the letter “prophet” signifies those to whom revelation is made, also abstractedly, revelation itself; but in the internal sense a “prophet” signifies one who teaches, and also abstractedly doctrine itself; and as the Lord (as before said) is doctrine itself, that is, the Word which teaches, He is called a “Prophet,” as in Moses:

A Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me, will Jehovah thy God raise up; unto Him shall ye be obedient (Deuteronomy 18:15, 18).

It is said “like unto me,” because the Lord was represented by Moses, as well as by Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, and many more; and because they expected Him it is said in John:

The men, seeing the sign which Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that Prophet that should come into the world (John 6:14).

[2] It is because the Lord is the “Prophet” in the highest sense, and that “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Revelation 19:10), that in the internal sense of the Word a “prophet” signifies one who teaches, and also abstractedly, doctrine; which is plainly evident from the following passages.

In Luke:

Thou child shalt be called the prophet of the Highest (Luke 1:76).

This was said by Zacharias of his son John the Baptist, who himself said that he was not the prophet, but one preparing the way by teaching and preaching concerning the Lord’s coming:

They asked him, What art thou? Art thou Elias? But he said, I am not. Art thou that prophet? he answered, No. They said therefore unto him, Who art thou? he said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord (John 1:21-23).

[3] In Matthew:

Many will say in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied by Thy name? (Matthew 7:22),

where it is manifest that to “prophesy” is to teach.

In John:

Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings (Revelation 10:11);

to “prophesy” denotes to teach; and what “peoples, nations, tongues, and kings” mean, has been stated and shown before. In the same:

The nations shall trample the holy city forty-two months; but I will give to My two witnesses that they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and sixty days clothed in sackcloth (Revelation 11:2-3); where also to “prophesy” denotes to teach.

In Moses:

Jehovah said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet (Exodus 7:1); where “prophet” denotes the one who should teach or speak what Moses would say.

In Joel:

I will pour out My spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy (Joel 2:28);

“shall prophesy” denotes shall teach.

[4] In Isaiah:

Jehovah hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes; the prophets and your heads, the seers, hath He covered; the vision of all hath become like the words of a sealed book, which they give to him that knoweth letters, saying, Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I cannot, for it is sealed (Isaiah 29:10-11); where by “prophets” are meant those who teach truth; and by “seers” those who see truth; who are said to be “covered” when they know and see nothing of the truth. As in ancient times those who taught were called “prophets,” they were therefore called also “seers,” because to “see” signifies to understand (n. 2150, 2325; that they were called “seers” may be seen 1 Samuel 9:9; 2 Samuel 24:11). They were also called “men of God,” from the signification of “man” (n. 158, 265, 749, 915, 1007, 2517 they were called “men of God,” 2 Kings 1:9-16; 4:7, 9, 16, 21-22, 25, 27, 40, 42; 5:8, 14, 20; 13:19; 23:16-17).

[5] That in the internal sense by “prophets” are signified those who teach, is evident in Jeremiah in the whole of chapter 23, and in Ezekiel in the whole of chapter 13, where “prophets” are specifically treated of; as also in many other places where they are mentioned. Hence also by “false prophets” are signified those who teach falsities; as in Matthew:

In the consummation of the age many false prophets shall arise, and shall mislead many. There shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs, and shall mislead if possible even the elect (Matthew 24:11, 24); where by “false prophets” no others are signified. In like manner by the “false prophet” in Revelation 16:13; 19:20; 20:10.

[6] This shows how greatly the internal sense of the Word is obscured by the ideas that have been formed from the representatives of the Jewish Church; for whenever a “prophet” is mentioned in the Word, there at once occurs the idea of prophets such as they were at that time; which idea is a great obstacle to perceiving what is signified by them. Yet the wiser anyone is, the more easily is the idea gathered from those representatives removed; as for example where the “temple” is mentioned, they who think more wisely do not perceive the temple at Jerusalem, but the Temple of the Lord; where “Mount Zion,” or “Zion,” is mentioned, they do not perceive that mountain at Jerusalem, but the Lord’s kingdom; and where “Jerusalem” is mentioned, they do not perceive the city that was in the tribes of Benjamin and Judah, but the holy and heavenly Jerusalem.