9421. And he said unto the elders. That this signifies those who are in the external sense alone, is evident from the signification of “the elders,” as being those who are in the external sense alone. That the elders of the Israelitish people here represent these, is because they were the heads of the people, and, so represented the whole people. That these were in the external sense of the Word without the internal, has been often shown above. For when Moses went up to the mountain, he represented the holy external of the Word, which is intermediate, or a medium, between its holy internal and the representative which is of the external sense (see n. 9414, 9419). Hence it follows that the elders who were seated beneath the mountain, and thus separated from Moses, represented the external sense alone; for Moses said unto them, “Sit ye here for us, until we return unto you.”

8793. Upon Mount Sinai. That this signifies in the good in which truth is to be implanted, is evident from the signification of “Mount Sinai,” as being the good in which the truths of faith are to be implanted (see n. 8753); the truth which is to be implanted in good is treated of in the following chapter. The ten commandments at that time promulgated from Mount Sinai are internal truths; and the laws and statutes, which are commanded in the following chapters, are external truths; by both of these are signified the truths which are to be implanted in good.