9378. 'And Moses alone shall come near Jehovah' means the Lord's togetherness with and presence among people achieved through the Word in general. This is clear from the meaning of 'coming near' as the Lord's togetherness with and presence among people, dealt with below; and from the representation of 'Moses' as the Word in general, dealt with above in 9372. The reason why 'Moses shall come near' means the Lord's togetherness with and presence among people achieved through the Word is that 'coming near' in the spiritual sense means being joined together through love; for those who love each other are joined together, love being spiritual togetherness. It is universally so in the next life that all are joined together according to their love of goodness and truth received from the Lord. Consequently the whole of heaven consists in such togetherness. The situation is similar with coming near or being joined to the Lord. Those who love the Lord are joined to Him, so intimately that they are said to be 'in Him' when they are in heaven. And all those people love the Lord, and are consequently joined to Him through their love, who lead a good life based on the truths of faith, since the good based on those truths emanates from the Lord, indeed is the Lord, John 14:20-21.

[2] But it should be recognized that a person is unable of himself to come near the Lord and be joined to Him; rather the Lord has to come near the person and be joined to him. Yet since the Lord draws a person towards Himself, John 6:44; 12:32, the appearance is that the person does of himself come near and join himself. This happens when the person refrains from evils, for refraining from evils is left to a person's own decision or free will. At this time good from the Lord is flowing in; and it is never lacking, for it is present within the very life a person has from the Lord. But the good accompanying that life is received only in the measure that evils have been removed. The reason why the Word is the means by which the Lord's togetherness with and presence among people is achieved is that the Word unites a person to heaven and through heaven to the Lord. For the Word is Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, and therefore those who adhere to that truth in doctrine and life, or in faith and love, adhere to what is Divine emanating from the Lord, and in so doing are joined to Him.

[3] From all this it is evident that 'Moses alone shall come near Jehovah' means the Lord's togetherness with and presence among people achieved through the Word. The reason why 'coming near' means togetherness and presence is that in the next life distances between one person and another are determined altogether by the dissimilarity and diversity of the interior things which belong to thought and affection, see 1273-1277, 1376-1381, 9104. Also every moving away from the Lord or coming near Him is determined altogether by the good of love and consequently of faith received from Him and shown towards Him. So it is that every heaven's nearness to the Lord is determined by its good and conversely every hell's remoteness from Him by its evil. From all this it is evident why it is that 'being near' and 'coming near' in the spiritual sense mean being joined together, as also in the following places: In David,

Jehovah is near to all calling on Him, who call on Him in truth. Psalms 145:18.

'Near' stands for present and joined together with. In the same author,

Blessed is [anyone] whom You choose and cause to come near; he will dwell in Your courts. Psalms 65:4.

'Causing to come near' stands for being joined together with.

[4] In the same author,

O Jehovah, come near my soul; deliver me. Psalms 69:18.

In the same author,

Jehovah is near to those broken in heart. Psalms 34:18.

In Jeremiah,

Let them cause My people to hear My words, and let them bring them back from their evil way, from the wickedness of their deeds. Am I a God near at hand, and not a God afar off? Jeremiah 23:22-23.

The words 'a God near at hand' apply, it is evident, to those who refrain from evils, and the words 'a God afar off' to those who are immersed in evils. In Moses,

Moses said to Aaron, This is what Jehovah spoke, In those who are near Me ¹ I will be sanctified. Leviticus 10:3.

'Being sanctified in those who are near' means with those who have been joined to the Lord through the good of love and the truth of faith derived from the Word. In Jeremiah,

At that time their Magnificent One will be one of themselves, and their Ruler will come from their midst; and I will cause Him to come near, and He will come near Me. For who is This [who] has pledged His heart to come near Me? Jeremiah 30:21.

This refers to the Lord, who is 'the Magnificent One' and 'the Ruler'. 'Coming near Jehovah' is being united to Him, for the coming near of [Him who is] Divine to Divine [Being Itself] is nothing other than union.

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1097. 'Canaan will be a slave to him' means that such people as make worship consist solely in external things are among those who are able to perform inferior services to members of the Church. This becomes clear especially from the representatives in the Jewish Church. In the Jewish Church the internal Church was represented by Judah and Israel - the celestial Church by Judah, the spiritual by Israel - and the external Church by Jacob. People however who made worship consist solely in external things were represented by 'the gentiles' whom they called foreigners. The latter were to be 'their slaves' and were to perform inferior services in the Church, as in Isaiah,

Aliens will stand and pasture your flock, and sons of the foreigner will be your field-workers and your vine-dressers; and you will be called the priests of Jehovah, you will be spoken of as the ministers of our God. You will eat the wealth of the gentiles, and in their glory will you glory. Isaiah 61:5-6.

Here celestial people are called 'the priests of Jehovah', spiritual people 'the ministers of God', while those who made worship consist solely in external things are called 'sons of the foreigner' who were to serve in their fields and vineyards.

[2] In the same prophet,

The sons of the foreigner will build up your walls, and their kings will minister to you. Isaiah 60:10.

Here similar reference is made to the service they were to render. In reference to the Gibeonites the following is said in Joshua,

You are cursed, and some of you will always be slaves, ¹ both hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God. Joshua made them on that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation, especially for the altar of Jehovah. Joshua 9:23, 27.

It may be seen elsewhere whom the Gibeonites represented because of the covenant made with them, even though they belonged among those who were to be servants in the Church. Regarding foreigners, the law was laid down that if they would accept peace and open their gates they would become tributary and serve, ² Deuteronomy 20:11; 1 Kings 9:21-22. Every single detail written down in the Word concerning the Jewish Church was representative of the Lord's kingdom. The Lord's kingdom is such that everyone, no matter who or what kind of person, must perform a use. In His kingdom the Lord looks to nothing else than use. Even those in hell have to perform a use, though the uses they do perform are the lowest of all. Among those performing inferior uses are people in the next life whose worship has been wholly external, separated from internal.

[3] Furthermore representatives in the Jewish Church were such that no attention was paid to the person who represented, but to that which was represented by him. The Jews, for example, who were anything but celestial people, nevertheless represented these, while Israel, anything but a spiritual man, nevertheless represented that man; and it was similar with Jacob and the rest. The same applied to kings and priests; they nevertheless represented the Kingship and Holiness of the Lord. This matter becomes clearer still from the fact that even inanimate objects were representative, such as Aaron's garments, the altar itself, the tables with the leaves on them, the lamps, bread and wine; as well as oxen, calves, goats, sheep, kids, lambs, doves, and pigeons. And because the sons of Judah and Israel did no more than represent the internal and the external worship of the Lord's Church, and yet more than anybody else made all worship consist merely in external things, it is therefore they, more than all others, who may be called 'Canaan' according to his meaning here.

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