9371. THE INTERNAL SENSE

Verses 1-2 And He said to Moses, Come up to Jehovah, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and you are to bow down from afar. And Moses alone shall come near Jehovah; and they shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him.

'And He said to Moses' means something concerning the Word in general. 'Come up to Jehovah' means being joined to the Lord. 'You and Aaron' means the Word in its inward and outward senses. 'Nadab and Abihu' means teachings derived from both senses. 'And seventy of the elders of Israel' means the Church's leading truths which belong to the Word or religious teachings and are in tune with good. 'And you are to bow down from afar' means humility and adoration coming from the heart, and at the same time the inflow of the Lord. 'And Moses alone shall come near Jehovah' means the Lord's togetherness with and presence among people achieved through the Word in general. 'And they shall not come near' means no separate joining together or presence. 'And the people shall not come up with him' means no joining whatever to the outward without the inward.

7997. The Passover supper represented the groups of angels in heaven living in association with one another according to their forms of good and truths, see above in 7836, 7996. And since it represented those groups it was decreed not only that each household should be together by itself to eat it on that occasion but also that none should be associated with them except those who could represent togetherness in love characteristic of heavenly communities. All others were to be set apart. Those to be set apart were 'foreigners', for these meant people who were not in possession of the Church's goodness and truth. Those to be set apart also 'strangers' and 'hired servants', since these represented people prompted by natural inclination alone and people seeking material gain who would make a show of doing what was good and true. None of these can be integrated among the angels in heaven. But they are allowed to wander around during the initial period after their arrival in the next life, before they undergo the stages of vastation of good and truth. When during that initial period they approach any heavenly community and sense the sphere of holiness emanating from the truth belonging to the good of innocence, meant by 'the blood of the Passover lamb', 7846, 7877, they can go no further but in fear and loathing make a hasty retreat.