10632. And He said, Behold I make a covenant. That this signifies the primary things whereby there is the conjunction of the Lord with the human race by means of the Word, is evident from the signification of a “covenant,” as being conjunction (see n. 665, 666, 1023, 1038, 1864, 1996, 2003, 2021, 6804, 8767, 8778), here the conjunction of Jehovah, that is, of the Lord, with the human race by means of the Word; for this conjunction is the subject treated of in what now follows. That this is the case is also evident from the connection of the things in the internal sense. The subject treated of in what precedes was the law that was delivered and promulgated from Mount Sinai, by which law in an extended sense is signified the Word (n. 6752, 7463). Moreover, this law was the beginning of the Word, for the Word was promulgated afterward, first through Moses, and then through all the others. The subject next treated of was the Israelitish nation, in that it was not such that the Word could be written among them as it would otherwise have been written, because a church could not be instituted among them; and where the church is, there is the Word. (Concerning these things see what has been said and shown in chapters 32 and 33, and thus far in this chapter.)

[2] But because Moses insisted that Jehovah should be in the midst of that people, and that they should be received as an inheritance, and should thus be brought into the land of Canaan; by all which things in the internal sense is signified that the church was to be instituted among that people, and thus that the Word would be written there; and because this was now granted for the reason that Moses insisted upon it, therefore now the primary precepts, which were altogether to be observed in order that this might be effected, are treated of. These primary precepts were, that the Lord alone is to be worshiped, and no other, and that acknowledgment must be made that all good and truth are from Him; besides many other things in what presently follows. It is said that they are treated of in what presently follows, but be it known that these precepts are contained in the internal sense. In the external sense, however, which is the sense of the letter, are contained such things as represent these precepts, thus which signify them, as can be seen from the explication of what follows.

[3] It is said that by this covenant which Jehovah made with Moses, is signified the conjunction of the Lord with the human race by means of the Word, and therefore it shall be here told how the case is in regard to this conjunction. In the most ancient times there was not the Word, but immediate revelation before the man of the church, and thereby conjunction. For when there is immediate revelation, there is the conjunction of heaven with man. The conjunction of heaven with man is the conjunction of the Lord with him, because the Divine of the Lord with the angels makes heaven.

[4] When this immediate revelation ceased, as was the case when man turned away from the good in which he had been, then another revelation succeeded, which was by means of representatives, whereby the man of the church then knew what is true and good. Hence this church was called a representative church. In this church there was also a Word, but one that was of service to this church only. But when this church also was vastated, as was the case when they began to worship idolatrously the things by means of which there was at that time the conjunction of the church with heaven; and when in some lands they began to turn them into magic, it was then provided by the Lord that a Word should be written which should be Divine in each and all things, down to every syllable; and which should consist of pure correspondences; and that in this way it might be accommodated to the perception of the angels in all the heavens, and at the same time to men; to the end that thereby there might be the conjunction of the Lord with the human race; for without conjunction by means of such a Word, heaven would have completely departed from man, and so man would have perished.

[5] In what follows therefore the subject treated of is conjunction by means of the Word, and the primary precepts are disclosed which must be observed, in order that a man may be in this conjunction by means of the Word. (That the most ancient people had immediate revelation, see n. 2895, 3432; concerning the representative church that afterward succeeded, and its Word, n. 2686, 2897, 3432, 10355; and that the conjunction of the Lord with the human race is by means of the Word, at the places cited in n. 10375, 10452)

2897. From this source was the Word in the Ancient Church which was after the flood. As the man of this church was spiritual and not celestial, he knew but did not perceive what the representatives and significatives involved; and as they involved Divine things, they came to be in use among those men, and were employed in their Divine worship; and this in order that they might have communication with heaven; for as before said, all things in the world represent and signify such things as are in heaven. They also had a written Word, which consisted of Histories and Prophecies, like the Word of the Old Testament; but in process of time that Word was lost. The Histories were called “Wars of Jehovah,” and the Prophecies were called “Enunciations,” as is evident in Moses (see Numbers 21:14, 27), where they are quoted. Their histories were written in the prophetic style, and were for the most part made up histories, like those in the first eleven chapters of Genesis; as is plain from the quotations from them in Moses, where are these words:

Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of Jehovah, Vaheb in Suphah, and the rivers of Arnon, and the slope of the rivers that inclineth toward the dwelling of Ar, and leaneth upon the border of Moab (Numbers 21:14-15).

[2] Their prophecies were written like the prophecies of the Old Testament, as is likewise plain from the quotations made from them also in Moses, where are these words:

Wherefore the Enunciations (or the Prophetic Enunciators) say, Come ye to Heshbon, let the city of Sihon be built and established; for a fire is gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon; it hath devoured Ar of Moab, the lords of the high places of Arnon. Woe to thee, Moab; thou hast perished, O people of Chemosh; he hath given his sons as escapers, and his daughters into captivity, unto Sihon king of the Amorite. And we have shot at them; Heshbon is perished even unto Dibon, and we have laid waste even unto Nophah, which reacheth unto Medeba (Numbers 21:27-30).

That these prophecies involve heavenly arcana, as do the prophecies of the Old Testament, is clearly manifest not only from their having been transcribed by Moses and applied to the state of things of which he was then writing, but also from the fact that nearly the same words are found in Jeremiah, inserted in the prophecies of that book; in which it is evident, from what has been said about the internal sense of the Word, that there are as many heavenly arcana as there are words. The words in Jeremiah are:

A fire is gone forth out of Heshbon, and a flame from among Sihon, and hath devoured the corner of Moab, and the crown of the head of the sons of tumult. Woe unto thee, O Moab, the people of Chemosh has perished, for thy sons are taken into captivity, and thy daughters into captivity (Jeremiah 48:45-46).

From this also it is plain that that Word also had an internal sense. (Concerning the Ancient Church which was after the flood, see above, n. 640, 641, 765, 1238, 1327, 2385)