10602. And Jehovah said unto Moses. That this signifies the conclusion about the Israelitish nation, is evident from the signification of “said,” when by Jehovah unto Moses, as being the answer, but here the conclusion, because “said” involves the things which follow, for they are the things He said, or that are said; here therefore by “said” is signified the conclusion about the Israelitish nation, which has been treated of in the two preceding chapters. The conclusion is that a church might indeed be instituted among them, and the Word be written among them, but that they would be merely in external things, and not at all in what is internal. To be in external things and not in what is internal is to worship external things as holy without any acknowledgment of the Lord, and without love to God for the sake of God, but for the sake of self; which is to love self and not God; nay, it is to turn one’s self away from God, and not to turn one’s self toward God. But as they could be in a holy external for the sake of self, and this could be miraculously converted by the spirits with them into a holy external for the sake of God, and as it could be received from these spirits by the angels, and thus be raised into a holy internal, therefore that nation was nevertheless received (as may be seen in n. 10500, 10570). This is the conclusion contained in this chapter, thus which is signified by “Jehovah said unto Moses.”