Arcana Coelestia # 7048
7048. 'And He ceased from him' means that they were allowed to be representative. This is clear from the meaning of 'ceasing from him', that is to say, from killing him, as their being allowed to be representative. For the statement that Jehovah sought to kill him meant that a representative Church could not be established among that nation, 7043, and therefore when it says here that 'He ceased from him' the meaning is that they were allowed to be representative, that is, a representative of the Church, but no actual Church was allowed to be established among that nation. It is one thing to represent a Church, and another to be an actual Church, as is evident from the fact that even those who are wicked can represent a Church, but only the good can actually be a Church; for representing a Church is something entirely external, see 3670, 4208, 4281.
Arcana Coelestia # 7043
7043. 'And sought to kill him' means that a representative Church could not be established among those descendants. This is clear from the meaning of 'seeking to kill' as not receiving, dealt with in 3387, 3395, here therefore as not receiving or choosing that nation in order that a representative Church might be established among them. That nation is what Moses their future leader and head is consistently used to mean in these three verses, see above in 7041.
That nation was not chosen, yet it stubbornly insisted that it should be the Church, see 4290, 4293.
No Church, only a representative of the Church was established among that nation, 4281, 4288, 6304.
Holy things of the Church can be represented even by wicked people, for in a representation no attention is paid to the person who represents, only to the thing represented by him, 3670, 4208, 4281.
Something similar to what is meant here in the internal sense is contained in Numbers 14:12, where it says that Jehovah wished to destroy that nation completely and in their place raise up from Moses another nation, and also where it says that Jehovah regretted that He was going to lead, or that He had led that people into the land of Canaan.
