10375. 'And He gave to Moses, when He had finished talking to him from Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the Testimony' means a joining of the Lord to a person by means of the Word. This is clear from the representation of 'Moses' as the Word, dealt with in the places referred to in 9372; from the meaning of 'when He had finished talking to him' as after all things had been instituted, for what Jehovah talked about to Moses on Mount Sinai was the things to be instituted among the children of Israel, thus things of the Church; from the meaning of 'Mount Sinai' as heaven, where Divine Truth comes from, dealt with in 8805, 9420; from the meaning of 'the two tablets' as the law in its entirety, thus the Word, dealt with in 9416; and from the meaning of 'the Testimony' as the Lord in respect of Divine Truth, dealt with in 8535, 9503. The joining to a person by means of the Word is meant by the fact that the tablets were two in number and were joined together as if by a covenant, see 9416. 'Two' furthermore means a joining together, 5194, 8423. From all this it is evident that 'Jehovah gave to Moses, when He had finished talking to him from Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the Testimony' means that after the Church has been established a joining of the Lord to a person is accomplished by means of the Word sent down from Him out of heaven.

The Word is the means by which the Lord flows in with a person, talks to him, and is joined to him, see 1775, 2310, 2899, 3476, 3735, 3982(end), 4217, 9212(end), 9216(end), 9357, 9380, 9396, 9400, 9401, 10290.

8535. 'So Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept' means that it was in the presence of the Divine. This is clear from the meaning of 'laying up to be kept' as to preserve the memory of it, as above in 8526 (end), 8533; and from the meaning of 'before the Testimony' as in the presence of the Divine. The fact that 'the Testimony' means the Divine is evident from what comes before, where Moses tells Aaron to lay it up before Jehovah, 8532, that is, before the Divine. The reason why 'the Testimony' means the Divine is that in the universal sense 'the Testimony' is used to mean the Word, and the Word is Divine truth, thus the Lord. That He is the Word is evident in John,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. John 1:1, 14

The fact that 'the Testimony' is the Lord in respect of Divine Truth is clear from the ark containing the law delivered from Sinai, which is called the Testimony. From it the tabernacle derived all the holiness it possessed, and the Testimony was God's holiness itself. This is evident from the consideration that above it there was the Mercy Seat with the cherubim; immediately outside the veil there, there stood the tables of gold with the loaves and the lamps; Aaron performed the holiest act of worship there and also Jehovah afterwards spoke to Moses there, above the Mercy Seat between the two cherubs, thus from the Testimony. For these details, see Exodus 22:16, 21, 22; 40:20.