10504. 'And now, if You forgive their sin' means, nevertheless this turning away from the Divine will not be an impediment. This is clear from the meaning of 'sin' as a turning away from the Divine, as above in 10498, 10502; and from the meaning of 'forgiving it' as its not being an impediment to raising the internal things of the Word, the Church, and worship from their external things, nor thus to establishing contact with the heavens. For when these things are nonetheless accomplished no attention is paid to the turning away; and that to which no attention is paid is said to have been forgiven.

10498. 'That Moses said to the people, You have committed a great sin' means a total alienation and turning away. This is clear from the meaning of 'sin' as a turning away and alienation from the Divine, dealt with in 5229, 5474, 5841, 7589, 9346, at this point a total turning away and alienation, since the expression 'a great sin' is used. A total turning away and alienation from the Divine is the situation when no truth or good at all from heaven is received any longer, for truth and good from heaven constitute the Divine with a person. The fact that there was no reception of truth and good from heaven by that nation and that a total turning away from the Divine was consequently the situation with them is described by the following words in Isaiah,

Say to this people, Hearing, hear - but do not understand; and seeing, see - but do not comprehend. Make the heart of this people fat and their ears heavy, and plaster over their eyes, lest perhaps they see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and their heart understands, and they turn again, so that they are healed. Isaiah 6:9-10; John 12:37-40.

The words 'lest they turn again, so that they are healed' are used to mean that if they had an understanding of the internal things of the Word, the Church, and worship they would render them profane, in accord with what has been stated above in 10490.