2542. 'And spoke all these words in their ears' means an exhortation made to confirmations from this source, even until they should become obedient. This becomes clear from the train of thought in the internal sense, and also from the meaning of 'ears'.

From the train of thought: There are many matters of a confirmatory nature that lend support to whatever the rational acknowledges; indeed its acknowledgement is due entirely to those confirmatory matters. This is why, when rational concepts are brought into a condition of obedience, an exhortation is made to things that confirm, for these are for ever at hand and so to speak rising up.

From the meaning of 'ears': 'Ears' in the internal sense of the Word means obedience because of the correspondence that exists between hearing and obeying. Furthermore, this correspondence lies hidden within the very word 'hearing', more so in 'hearkening'. This correspondence has its origin in the next life where those who are obedient and willing belong to the province of the ear. Indeed they correspond to the faculty of hearing itself, an arcanum unknown as yet. But these matters will be seen more easily when correspondence will be dealt with in the Lord's Divine mercy later on. The fact that 'ears' has this meaning becomes clear from very many places in the Word; but for the time being let only the following in Isaiah be quoted,

Make the heart of this people fat and their ears heavy, and plaster over their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and their heart understands. Isaiah 6:10.

Here 'seeing with the eyes' means understanding, and 'hearing with the ears' means perceiving with affection and therefore means obeying. And nothing else is meant when the Lord says,

He who has an ear to hear, let him hear. Matthew 11:15; 13:9, 43; Luke 8:8; 14:35.

To “dwell” somewhere, then, is significant – it’s much more than just visiting – but is less permanent than living there. And indeed, to dwell somewhere in the Bible represents entering that spiritual state and engaging it, but not necessary permanently. A “dwelling,” meanwhile, represents the various loves that inspire the person who inhabits it, from the most evil – “those dwelling in the shadow of death” in Isaiah 9, for example – to the exalted state of the tabernacle itself, which was built as a dwelling-place for the Lord and represents heaven in all its details. Many people were nomadic in Biblical times, especially the times of the Old Testament, and lived in tents that could be struck, moved and raised quickly. Others, of course, lived in houses, generally made of stone and wood and quite permanent. In between the two were larger, more elaborate tent-style structures called tabernacles or dwellings; the tabernacle Moses built for the Ark of the Covenant is on this model.