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.

9420. 'And Moses went up into the mountain of God' means in the direction of heaven. This is clear from the meaning of Mount Sinai, to which 'the mountain of God' refers here, as the law or Divine Truth which comes from the Lord, thus the Word as it exists in heaven, and therefore also heaven itself, dealt with in 8399, 8753, 8793, 8805. The reason why the revelation took place on a mountain and why that mountain is called 'the mountain of God' is that 'the mountain' means the heavenly attribute of love, which is good, and consequently means heaven, and in the highest sense the Lord, 795, 796, 2722, 4210, 6435, 8327, and 'the mountain of God' means Divine Truth springing from the Divine Good of the Lord's Divine Love, 8758. For the Lord is called 'God' in the Word by virtue of Divine Truth, and 'Jehovah' by virtue of Divine Good, 2769, 2807, 2822, 3921(end), 4295, 4402, 7010, 7268, 8192, 8301, 8988, 9167. This is why the words the mountain of God are used.

[2] The fact that 'Mount Sinai' means the law or Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good, and so means the Word, and in the highest sense the Lord, is clear in David,

The earth trembled, the heavens also dropped [rain] before God. This Sinai [trembled] before God, the God of Israel. The chariots of God are myriad on myriad, ¹ thousands of peacemakers; the Lord is within them, Sinai is within the sanctuary. Psalms 68:8, 17.

'The earth' and 'the heavens' are the external and the internal dimensions of the Church, see 1733, 2117, 2118 (end), 3355, 4535, and 'a chariot' is doctrinal teachings, 2760, 5321, 8146, 8148, 8215, so that 'the chariots of God' are matters of doctrine or God's truths as they exist in heaven. From all this it is evident that 'this Sinai before God, the God of Israel' and 'Sinai within the sanctuary' mean the law or Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good, and in the highest sense the Lord in heaven. In the Book of Judges,

O Jehovah, when You went forth from Seir, when You set out from the field of Edom, the earth trembled, the heavens also dropped, the clouds indeed dropped water, the mountains flowed down before Jehovah, this Sinai before Jehovah. Judges 5:4-5.

'This Sinai' again stands for Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good. Similarly in Moses,

Jehovah came from Sinai, and dawned from Seir upon them; He shone from Mount Paran, and came out of myriads of holiness. From His right hand came a fiery law for them. Deuteronomy 33:2.

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