7043. And sought to kill him. That this signifies that a representative church could not be instituted with that posterity, is evident from the signification of “seeking to kill,” as being not to receive (see n. 3387, 3395); here therefore not to receive or choose that nation, in order that a representative church might be instituted with it. That in these three verses that nation is constantly meant by “Moses,” who was about to be its leader and head, may be seen above (n. 7041); and that that nation was not chosen, but that it obstinately insisted upon being a church (n. 4290, 4293); and also that no church, but only the representative of a church, was instituted with it (n. 4281, 4288, 6304); and that those things which are of the church, and are holy, can be represented even by the evil, because representation does not regard the person but the thing (n. 3670, 4208, 4281). The same is meant in the internal sense by its being said that Jehovah willed wholly to destroy that nation, and in its stead to raise up another nation from Moses (Numbers 14:12); and also that Jehovah repented of bringing in that nation, and of having brought them into the land of Canaan.