9402. Verses 9-11 And Moses and Aaron went up, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. And they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there was so to speak a work of sapphire stone, and it was like the substance of the sky for clearness. And on the children of Israel who had been set apart He did not lay a hand; ¹ and they saw God, and ate and drank.

'And Moses and Aaron went up, Nadab and Abihu' means the Word in its inward and outward senses, and teachings derived from both senses. 'And seventy of the elders of Israel' means all who are governed by good which results from truths. 'And they saw the God of Israel' means the Lord's coming and presence in the Word. 'And under His feet' means the lowest level of meaning, which is that of the letter itself. 'There was so to speak a work of sapphire stone' means that it is translucent with inner truths on that level, and that all things in it are translucent from the Lord. 'And it was like the substance of the sky for clearness' means the translucence of the angelic heaven. 'And on the children of Israel who had been set apart' means those restricted to the outward sense, separated from the inward. 'He did not lay a hand' means that truth in its power is not present there. 'And they saw God' means faith. 'And ate and drank' means being told about the good and truth of worship.

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9375. 'Nadab and Abihu' means teachings derived from both senses. This is clear from the fact that they were Aaron's sons; therefore when the Word is meant by 'Aaron', teachings are meant by 'his sons', teachings derived from the inward sense of the Word being meant by the older son, and teachings derived from the outward sense of it by the younger. Teachings derived from the inward sense of the Word and teachings derived from the outward sense of the Word make one with each other; for people alert to what lies on an inward level are aware also of what lies on an outward level. The Lord's Church exists everywhere on an inward level and on an outward level. The Church on an inward level resides in the heart, the Church on an outward level resides on the lips; that is, the inward Church resides in the will, the outward in action. When the inward level in a person makes one with the outward what resides in the heart then lies also on the lips, or what resides in the will then lies in action. Or what amounts to the same thing, what lies on the lips is then the heart speaking, and what lies in action is then the will acting, without any disagreement between the inward and the outward. Thus it is also faith speaking and love or charity acting, that is, it is the Lord, who is the Source of faith and charity, speaking and acting.

[2] Since Nadab and Abihu, Aaron's sons, represented teachings derived from the Word, they were therefore killed when they introduced worship based on teachings different from those derived from the Word. This was represented by the following incident involving them, recorded in Moses,

Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu each took his censer and put fire in it, onto which they placed incense, and in so doing offered to Jehovah foreign ¹ fire, which He had not commanded them. Therefore fire went out from before Jehovah and devoured them, so that they died before Jehovah. And Moses said to Aaron, This is what Jehovah spoke, saying, In those who are near Me ² I will be sanctified. Leviticus 10:1-3.

'Foreign fire in the censer' means teachings derived from a source other than the Word. For 'fire' means the good of love and 'incense' the truth of faith rising from it, and the good of love and the truth of faith are the realities which go to make teachings derived from the Word. From this it is evident why they were devoured by fire 'from before Jehovah'. 'Being sanctified through those who are near' means with those who are joined to the Lord through the good of love and the truth of faith derived from the Word. For the meaning of 'fire' as the good of heavenly love, see 934, 4906, 5071 (end), 5215, 6314, 6832, 6834, 6849, 7324, 7852, 9055; and the meaning of 'incense' as faith rising from the good of love will be shown elsewhere.

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