10698. And afterward all the sons of Israel came near. That this signifies all who were in external things without what is internal and yet represented internal things, is evident from the representation of the sons of Israel, as being those who are in external things without what is internal (of whic h just above, n. 10692). That it also signifies those who represented internal things, is because Moses obtained permission for the church to be represented among that nation, although they were of such a character that no church could be instituted among them. For there can be no church among those who are in external things without what is internal, because the church is in the internal of man, and not in the external without this; for man’s communication with heaven and with the Lord is through the internal. When there is no internal, that is, when it has been closed, there is then communication with hell. But although the sons of Israel were of such a character that no communication of heaven with them was possible through the internal, nevertheless they could represent such things as were of the church and of heaven, which is effected solely by means of external things to which internal things correspond, and for this reason they were received. (That with that nation there was not a church, but only the representative of a church, may be seen at the places cited in n. 9320, 10396; and that communication with heaven was effected by means of external things that represented internal things, may be seen at the places cited in n. 9320, 10396; also n. 10492, 10500, 10549-10551, 10570, 10575, 10602, 10629.)

10492. And there fell of the people that day up to three thousand men. That this signifies a full and complete closing of the internal, is evident from the signification of “falling” or being slain, as being to be closed (of which above, n. 10490); and from the signification of “three thousand,” as being what is full and complete; for by “three” is signified what is full and complete (n. 2788, 4495, 7715, 8347, 9198, 9488, 9489), in like manner by “three thousand,” because the larger numbers signify the like as the smaller numbers from which they arise by multiplication (n. 5291, 5335, 5708, 7973). That all numbers in the Word signify real things, see the places cited in n. 9488, and n. 10127, 10217, 10253).

[2] As the closing of the internal with the Israelitish and Jewish nation has here been treated of, something further may be said about the closing of the internal. Evils and falsities are what close the internal man, or what is the same thing, worldly, earthly, and bodily loves, when they prevail, for all evils and falsities are from this source. The reason why the internal is closed by these loves, is that they are opposed to heavenly loves, or what is the same thing, evils and falsities are opposed to goods and truths; and when things that are opposed act against each other, that which is injured contracts almost as does a fiber when it is pricked, and as in other circumstances every part of man will shrink when in pain. It is well known that an injury, and also a troubled state of mind, will cause the face to wrinkle; and will also cause the abdomen, together with the lungs and their respiration, to contract. Such also is the case with the internal man, when evils and falsities enter into the thought and into the will. That there is then an aversion, and from this a contraction, is perceived, and is also apparent.

[3] This is the general reason why the internal is closed; but the special reason is to prevent goods and truths from entering from heaven through the internal man into the external man, and there being defiled and profaned; and therefore in order to prevent this with the Israelitish nation, with whom was the Word together with the holy things of the church, the internal was with them fully and completely closed. That it was fully and completely closed is evident from the fact that although they live among Christians, and although the Lord is plainly treated of in the prophecies, they nevertheless do not at all acknowledge Him; nay, they are of such a nature that they cannot even think anything which is confirmatory; such is the interior repugnance and aversion.

[4] Be it known moreover that in the Christian world also the internal is closed with those who know the truths of faith from the Word and do not live according to them, for it is precisely a life in accordance with these truths that opens the internal man; for otherwise the truths reside merely in the memory of the external man. But in very deed with those who deny these truths the internal is completely closed; and, wonderful as it may seem, the internal is closed in more of the intelligent than of the simple. The reason is that the intelligent are in the cupidities of attaining to eminence and to wealth, and consequently are in the loves of self and of the world, more than are the simple; and are also able to confirm, by means of memory-knowledges, in which the intelligent excel the simple, the evils and falsities which are from these loves. An additional reason is that most of the intelligent think of the soul from some hypothesis that prevails in the learned world, from which they conceive no other idea of the soul than as of breath or of wind in which perchance there is a living principle; while on the other hand the simple do not think from such an idea, but only from the idea that the soul is the man who lives after death. From this it is that with the latter the internal is opened; but with the former it is closed. Whether you say that the internal is opened or closed, or whether you say that heaven is so, is the same.