9373. Come up unto Jehovah. That this signifies conjunction with the Lord, is evident from the signification of “coming up,” as being to be raised toward interior things (see n. 3084, 4539, 4969, 5406, 5817, 6007), consequently also to be conjoined (n. 8760). That it denotes conjunction with the Lord, is because by “Jehovah” in the Word is meant the the Lord, (n. 1343, 1736, 1793, 2004, 2005, 2018, 2025, 2921, 3023, 3035, 5663, 6280, 6303, 6905, 8274, 8864, 9315). A secret which also lies hidden in the internal sense of these words, is that the sons of Jacob, over whom Moses was the head, were not called and chosen; but they themselves insisted that Divine worship should be instituted among them (according to wh at has been said in n. 4290, 4293); and therefore it is here said, “and He said unto Moses, Come up unto Jehovah,” as if not Jehovah, but another, had said that he should come up. For the same reason in what follows it is said that “the people should not go up” (verse 2); and that “Jehovah sent not His hand unto the sons of Israel who were set apart” (verse 11); and that “the appearance of the glory of Jehovah was like devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the sons of Israel” (verse 17); and lastly that Moses, being called the seventh day, “entered into the midst of the cloud.” For by “the cloud” is meant the Word in the letter (n. 5922, 6343, 6752, 6832, 8106, 8443, 8781); and with the sons of Jacob the Word was separated from its internal sense, because they were in external worship without internal, as can be clearly seen from the fact that now, as before, they said, “all the words which Jehovah hath spoken we will do” (verse 3); and yet scarcely forty days afterward they worshiped a golden calf instead of Jehovah; which shows that this was hidden in their hearts while they were saying with their lips that they would serve Jehovah alone. But nevertheless those who are meant by “the called and the chosen” are those who are in internal worship, and who from internal worship are in external; that is, those who are in love to and faith in the Lord, and from this in love toward the neighbor.

883. "And He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. And He Himself will be with them their God." This symbolizes their conjunction with the Lord, which is of such a nature that the people are in Him and He in them.

His dwelling with them symbolizes a conjunction of the Lord with them, as we will see below. The people's being His people, and His being with them their God, symbolically means that they are the Lord's, and that He is their Lord. Moreover, because dwelling with them symbolizes conjunction, it symbolically means that they will be in the Lord and have the Lord in them. Otherwise there is no conjunction. That this is the nature of the conjunction is clearly apparent from the Lord's words in John:

Abide in Me, and I in you... I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. (John 15:4-5)

And elsewhere:

At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. (John 14:20)

He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. (John 6:56)

[2] The Lord's assuming a humanity and uniting it with the Divinity He had in Him from birth, which is called the Father, had as its goal a conjunction with people, as is apparent also in John:

For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified in the truth..., that they may be one as We are one: I in them, and You in Me. (John 17:19, 21-23, 26)

It follows from this that the conjunction is formed with the Lord's Divine humanity, that it is a reciprocal one, and that this is the only means of conjunction with the Divine called the Father.

[3] The Lord also teaches that the conjunction is formed by the Word's truths and by living in accordance with them (John 14:20-24; 15:7).

This, then, is what is meant by the Lord's dwelling with them and their being His people, and His being with them their God. So, too, elsewhere where the same words occur: Jeremiah 7:23; 11:4; Ezekiel 14:11; Jeremiah 24:7; 30:22; Ezekiel 11:20; 36:28; 37:23, 27; Zechariah 8:8; Exodus 29:45.

[4] To dwell with them symbolizes a conjunction with them because to dwell symbolizes conjunction out of love, as may be seen from many passages in the Word. It may be seen also from the abodes of angels in heaven. Heaven is distinguished into countless societies, all of them different from each other in accordance with the differences in their love's affections, in general and in particular. Each society embodies one particular variety of affection, and the people in it have dwellings distinct from each other, depending on how close or akin they are within that variety of affection, and those who are the most closely related dwell together in the same house. Dwelling together, therefore, when said of married partners, symbolizes in the spiritual sense conjunction by love.

It should be known that conjunction with the Lord is not the same as His presence. Conjunction with the Lord is possible only with people who turn to Him directly, His presence with everyone else.

8753. They came into the wilderness of Sinai. That this signifies a state of good in which truths of faith were to be implanted, is evident from the signification of “the wilderness of Sinai,” as being a state of good in which truths of faith are to be implanted. “The wilderness” here denotes good in which truths have not yet been implanted; and “Sinai” denotes the truths themselves. For a “wilderness” has several significations (see n. 3900); in general it signifies what is uninhabited and uncultivated, thus in the spiritual sense, good in which as yet there are no truths, for good without truths is spiritually uncultivated; consequently a “wilderness” signifies a new will that as yet has not been formed by means of the truths of faith (n. 8457).

[2] As regards “Mount Sinai,” it signifies in the supreme sense Divine truth from Divine good; “mountain,” Divine good; and “Sinai,” Divine truth. In the internal sense it signifies the truth of faith from good, here the truth of faith that is to be implanted in good, because the law had not yet been promulgated from it. “Mount Sinai” has these significations because the law was promulgated by the Lord from thence, and “the law” denotes Divine truth from Divine good, and also the truth of faith from good (n. 6752, 7463, 8695). For this reason it was that the sons of Israel encamped in the wilderness near that mountain, for from it were promulgated not only the ten commandments, which are “the law” in a close sense, but also all the statutes of the church, which contained in themselves, because they represented, the spiritual and celestial truths and goods of the Lord’s kingdom. That the law was promulgated from thence, is evident from the following chapter, and that so also were the statutes of the church, from the succeeding chapters, and also from Leviticus 7:37-38; 27:34. The same is signified by “Sinai” in David:

O God, when Thou wentest forth before Thy people, when Thou didst march in the wilderness; the earth trembled, the heavens also dripped before God; this Sinai before God, the God of Israel. Thou, O God, makest to drip the rain of Thy benevolences (Psalms 68:7-9).

Here “Sinai” denotes the truth that is from good, for such is the signification of “the heavens dripping before God,” and of “God making to drip the rain of His benevolences.”

[3] In the book of Judges:

Jehovah, when Thou wentest forth out of Seir, when Thou camedst forth out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, the heavens also dripped, the clouds also dripped waters, the mountains flowed down before Jehovah, Sinai itself before Jehovah the God of Israel. In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the ways ceased, and they that walked in paths went through crooked ways, the roads ceased in Israel; they ceased until I Deborah arose, until I arose a mother in Israel (Judg. 5:4-7).

Here also “Sinai” denotes the law or Divine truth from Divine good, by virtue of which the truths of faith were implanted in its good, which things are also signified by “the heavens dripped,” and “the clouds dripped waters;” that the truths of faith were lacking and were perverted, is signified by “the ways ceased, and they that walked in paths went through crooked ways” (that “ways,” “paths,” and “roads” denote truths, see n. 627, 2333, 3123, 3477); for the subject treated of in this prophetic song, which is the song of Deborah and Barak, is the perversion of the truth of the church, and its restitution.

[4] In Moses:

Jehovah came from Sinai, He rose up from Seir to them; He shone forth from Mount Paran, and He came from the ten thousands of holiness, from His right hand was the fire of the law to them (Deuteronomy 33:2).

in this chapter the sons of Jacob are blessed by Moses before his death, who begins the prophetic utterance of his blessing with “Jehovah came from Sinai,” and by “Sinai” are here signified the truths of faith in the complex. That he begins in this way is because by “the sons of Jacob” are signified all the truths and goods of faith (n. 3858, 3862, 3926, 3939, 6335); and in like manner by “the sons of Israel” (n. 5414, 5951, 5879).