Generally speaking, people who are at lower levels of an organization serve those at higher levels. Bosses boss and their employees serve; coaches devise strategy and players do what the coach tells them to do; engineers design car parts and workers assemble them according to the engineers' instructions. Ideally, of course, it's a two-way street: A good boss knows he is really there to help his employees succeed; a good coach creates strategies based on his players' strengths. Even there, though, the boss and coach are really working in service of a higher goal, seeking organizational success. The same is true in the spiritual sense of the Bible. When someone serves another, they are in a lower state, serving a higher state (or a deeper evil, if they are being enslaved by people who represent evil). This can take many different forms, depending on the circumstances. In many cases, this creates a connection between "service" and intellectual things. This is because who we are is determined by what we love; our loves are the deepest part of us. What we think, our reasoning and intellect and the things we learn about, come from those loves and serve those loves.

8758. 'And Israel encamped beside the mountain' means an arrangement effected by Divine heavenly good among those belonging to the spiritual Church. This is clear from the meaning of 'encamping' as an arrangement, as above in 8757; from the representation of 'Israel' as those who belong to the spiritual Church, also dealt with above, in 8751; and from the meaning of 'the mountain' as the good of heavenly love, dealt with in 4210, 6435, 8327. The words 'Divine heavenly good' are used to mean good from God as it exists in heaven; for that good as it exists in itself is far above heaven.