7452. 'And said, Go, sacrifice to your God in the land' means that they would not stand in the way of their worshipping their God, provided that they did so in a place near them. This is clear from the meaning of 'said, Go' as their not standing in the way; from the meaning of 'sacrificing' as worshipping, dealt with above in 7393; and from the meaning of 'in the land' - the land of Egypt - as in a place nearby. The meaning of 'in the land' as in a place nearby is evident from verses 21-24, from Moses' reply that it would be ill-advised for them to do so, for they would be sacrificing the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, but that they should go a three days' journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to Jehovah their God; and also from Pharaoh's reply that they should certainly not go far away. Thus 'the land' is used to mean in the internal sense the place where those steeped in falsities and engaging in molestation are, regarding whose nearness, see 7090.

7393. 'And I will send the people away to sacrifice to Jehovah' means that they would then leave those who belonged to the spiritual Church, so that they could worship their God. This is clear from the meaning of 'sending away' as leaving, as in 7311, 7349, 7350; from the representation of 'the children of Israel' as those belonging to the spiritual Church, as in 6426, 6637, 6862, 6868, 7035, 7062, 7198, 7201, 7215, 7123; and from the meaning of 'sacrificing to Jehovah' as worshipping their God. Sacrifices were signs of all worship as a general whole, see 6905, thus worship is mean thereby 'sacrificing'.