9414. And Jehovah said unto Moses. That this signifies instruction from the Lord for those who are in the external sense, is evident from the signification of “saying,” as being instruction, when it involves the things which follow and give instruction (see also n. 7186, 7241, 7267, 7304, 7380, 7517, 7769, 7793, 7825, 8041); that it is from the Lord is because by “Jehovah” in the Word is meant the Lord (see n. 1343, 1736, 1793, 2004, 2005, 2018, 2025, 2921, 3023, 3035, 5663, 6280, 6281, 6303, 6905, 8274, 8864, 9315); and from the representation of Moses, as being that which mediates between the Lord and the people, thus the Word in respect to its holy external, for this is what mediates. That Moses now begins to have this representation, is evident from the series of what follows. For that people was in the external of the Word, and from this in the external of worship separate from what is internal (n. 9380). They who are of such a character cannot possibly have holy communication with the Lord, still less conjunction, except through an intermediate. How the case is in regard to this, will be unfolded more fully below (n. 9419).

[2] That this people was in the external sense of the Word separate from the internal, and consequently in the like worship, is very manifest from what follows. For after forty days they fell back altogether and worshiped a golden calf instead of Jehovah. Wherefore also Moses then cast away the tables out of his hand, and broke them; and afterward he was commanded to hew out other tables, upon which the same words should be written. By this was signified that this people was by no means willing to acknowledge any doctrinal thing from the internal sense of the Word, such as there is in heaven; but only from its external sense separate from the internal, such as is even at this day among them. Wherefore also that people was no longer called the “people of Jehovah,” but the “people of Moses,” as in the following passages:

Jehovah spoke unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou madest to come up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves (Exodus 32:7).

Jehovah spoke unto Moses, Depart, go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast made to come up out of the land of Egypt (Exodus 33:1).

On this account also they were afterward removed from the mountain: “No man shall come up with thee, and also no man shall be seen in the whole mountain; and no flock or herd shall feed over against this mountain” (Exodus 34:3); for by “Mount Sinai” is signified the law, or Divine truth, and the Word, such as it is in heaven; thus also heaven (n. 8399, 8753, 8793, 8805). The reason why Moses previously represented the Word in general, that is, both as to its internal sense and as to its external sense, was that the subject there treated of was the promulgation of the law, which signified the revelation of Divine truth in general; for it was the beginning of revelation, seeing that everything else in the Word was written afterward.

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).