7296. 'And Pharaoh also called the wise men and sorcerers' means a misuse of Divine order. This is clear from the meaning of 'the wise men' as those with a knowledge of spiritual realities and of their correspondence with natural things; (since these things were of a mystical nature those who studied and taught them were called 'the wise' among them. And because the Egyptians devoted themselves to such things they called themselves 'a son of the wise' and 'a son of the kings of old', as is evident in Isaiah,

How do you say to Pharaoh, I am a son of the wise, a son of the kings of old?

The Egyptians called a body of knowledge about spiritual realities wisdom, as did the Chaldeans also, Jeremiah 50:35;) and from the meaning of 'sorcerers' as those who pervert Divine order, thus those who pervert the laws of order. The fact that sorcery and magic have no other meaning than this may be recognized from sorcerers and magicians in the next life, where there are large numbers of them. For people who during their lifetime have used guile and devised many tricks to cheat others, and being successful have at length attributed all things to their own prudence, acquire a knowledge in the next life of magical practices. These are nothing but misuses of Divine order, especially of correspondences; for Divine order requires that every single thing should possess some correspondence. Hands, arms, and shoulders, for example, correspond to power, and therefore a rod does so too; and knowing this they fashion rods for themselves and also, in representative form, produce shoulders, arms, and hands, and then use them to exercise magical power. They can do the same with thousands of other things. A misuse of order and of correspondences exists when things that belong to order are not applied to good ends but to evil ones, for example to exercising control over others and bringing about their destruction; for salvation, thus the doing of good to all, is the end that order holds in view. From this one may see what one is to understand by a misuse of order, meant by 'the sorcerers'.

9422. 'Sit for us in this [place]' means that they are to remain with this sense. This is clear from the meaning of 'sitting in this' - that is to say, in this place, or below the mountain - as remaining with the outward sense. 'Sitting in a place' means remaining with one's state, and 'below the mountain' means restricted to the outward sense of the Word. For 'sitting' means remaining, as will be clear from what follows below; 'place' means state; and 'Mount Sinai' means the law or Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, and so means the Word, 9420. The peak of the mountain, where Jehovah or the Lord was, Exodus 19:20, means the highest or inmost level of the law or the Word, 8827; the rest of the mountain beneath the peak means the inner level of the law or the Word as it exists in heaven; and the parts beneath the mountain, where the elders and the people were, means the outward level of the law or the Word, which is its outward sense. Thus in the Word the inmost, the inward, and the outward levels of things meant by 'the mountain' are represented, at this point the inmost, the inward, and the outward levels of the law or the Word, because 'Mount Sinai' means the law or the Word, 9420. From all this it is evident that 'Sit for us in this [place]' means that they are to remain with the outward sense.

[2] The word 'sit' is used because 'sitting' means remaining in a state; for movement from one place to another means changes of state involving the interiors, as becomes clear from what has been shown in 2837, 3356, 3387, 4321, 4882, 5605, 7381, and therefore sitting down means remaining in a state involving the interiors. Because 'sitting' has this meaning it was an accepted religious custom among the children of Israel to sit whenever they represented a state of the interiors that was permanent, as in the Book of Judges,

The children of Israel came to Bethlehem and wept; and they sat there before Jehovah and fasted that day until evening. Judges 20:26.

And elsewhere,

The people came to Bethlehem and sat there before God until evening; and they lifted up their voice and wept with great weeping. Judges 21:2.

In these verses 'sitting' means remaining long in a state of grief.

[3] This makes clear why the word 'sit' is used and what it implies in the following places: In David,

O Jehovah, You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. Psalms 139:2.

In Jeremiah,

You shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them. Jeremiah 16:8.

In Micah,

Then He will stand and feed [His flock] in the strength of Jehovah, in the excellence of the name of Jehovah his God; and they will sit down. Micah 5:4.

In Isaiah,

Come down and sit on the dust, O virgin daughter of Babel; sit on the ground. Sit in silence, and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans. She says in her heart, A widow I shall not sit. Isaiah 47:1, 5, 8.

Similar uses of the word occur elsewhere, such as sitting in darkness, Isaiah 42:7; sitting in council and sitting alone, Jeremiah 15:7; sitting on the right hand and on the left, Matthew 20:21, which stands for remaining in a state of power over others; and sitting on the right hand of God's power, Matthew 26:63-64; Mark 16:19, which refers to the Lord and stands for Divine almighty power that will remain forever.