7052. Verses 27-31 And Jehovah said to Aaron, Go to meet Moses, to the wilderness. And he went, and he came to meet him in the mountain of God, and kissed him. And Moses told Aaron all Jehovah's words with which He had sent him, and all the signs which He had commanded him. And Moses and Aaron went, and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel. And Aaron spoke all the words which Jehovah had spoken to Moses, and did the signs before the eyes of the people. And the people believed, and heard that Jehovah had visited the children of Israel, and that He had seen their affliction; and they bowed, and bowed down.

'And Jehovah said to Aaron' means the truth presented by doctrinal teachings and perception from the Divine within it. 'Go to meet Moses' means that it was to be joined to truth going forth directly from the Divine. 'To the wilderness' means a situation prior to that in which no such thing exists. 'And he went, and he came to meet him in the mountain of God' means a joining together within the good of love there. 'And kissed him' means the affection belonging to the joining together. 'And Moses told Aaron all Jehovah's words' means an influx of truth going forth directly from the Lord's Divine into truth that goes forth in an indirect way, and instruction in specific doctrinal teachings. 'With which He had sent him' means which go forth. 'And all the signs which He had commanded him' means enlightenment together with corroboration as a result of that enlightenment. 'And Moses and Aaron went' means the life of both when joined together. 'And gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel' means the chief characteristics of wisdom that the spiritual Church possessed. 'And Aaron spoke all the words which Jehovah had spoken to Moses' means doctrinal teachings received thereby from the Divine. 'And did the signs before the eyes of the people' means a corroboration suited to the ability to grasp things. 'And the people believed, and heard' means faith and hope. 'That Jehovah had visited the children of Israel' means those who belonged to the spiritual Church - [their faith and hope] that they would be delivered and saved by the Lord's Coming. 'And that He had seen their affliction' means after such great temptations. 'And they bowed, and bowed down' means humility.

3479. The Jews who lived before the Lord's Coming, as also those who have lived since then, had no other notion regarding the religious observances of their Church than that Divine worship consisted solely in things that were external. They were quite unconcerned about what those observances represented and meant. Indeed they neither knew nor wished to know that there was any internal element in worship or in the Word, nor thus that there was any life after death, nor consequently that there was any heaven; for they were entirely sensory- and bodily-minded. Now because they were engrossed in external things separated from internal, worship in their case was nothing but idolatrous, and for this reason they were very much inclined to worship any gods at all, provided they were convinced that those gods could enable them to prosper.

[2] Yet because a sense of holiness within external things could exist with that nation, so that they were able to regard as holy the religious observances by which the heavenly things of the Lord's kingdom were represented; and because they were able to venerate Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, also Moses and Aaron, and after these David, all of whom represented the Lord; and above all because they were able to have a deep and holy respect for the Word in which every single thing was representative and a meaningful sign of Divine things, the representative Church was therefore established among that nation. But if that nation had known of internal things to the extent that they acknowledged them they would have rendered them profane and in so doing would have possessed simultaneously external holiness and internal unholiness, so that there could not have been any communication at all of representatives with heaven by means of that nation. This is why interior things were not disclosed to them, not even the truth that the Lord would come to save their souls.

[3] Because this was the case with the tribe of Judah more than with all the other tribes, and because today as in former times they regard as holy the religious observances which can be performed outside Jerusalem; because also they venerate their patriarchs, and above all have a deep and holy respect for the Old Testament Word; and because it was foreseen that Christians would virtually reject the Old Testament and also would befoul their own internals with things that are unholy, that nation has been preserved up to the present day, in accordance with the Lord's words in Matthew 24:34. With Christians it was to be different, as they were to have knowledge of internal things and were also to live as internally-minded people. If Christians had in fact done so, the Jewish nation would like others have been annihilated before many centuries had gone by. With that nation however the situation is that their external holiness, or holiness of worship, can have no affect on them internally, for internally they are defiled from filthy self-love and filthy love of the world, and also from the idolatry in which they worship external things devoid of internal. And because accordingly they have nothing of heaven within themselves, they are not able to take anything heavenly with them into the next life, with the exception of the few who are governed by mutual love and so do not live in contempt of others compared with themselves.