9371. THE INTERNAL SENSE.

Verses 1-2. And He said unto Moses, Come up unto Jehovah, thou and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and bow yourselves afar off; and Moses, he alone, shall come near unto Jehovah; and they shall not come near; and the people shall not come up with him. “And He said unto Moses,” signifies that which concerns the Word in general; “come up unto Jehovah,” signifies conjunction with the Lord; “thou and Aaron,” signifies the Word in the internal sense and the external sense; “Nadab and Abihu,” signifies doctrine from both senses; “and seventy of the elders of Israel,” signifies the chief truths of the church which are of the Word, or of doctrine, and which agree with good; “and bow yourselves afar off,” signifies humiliation and adoration from the heart, and then the influx of the Lord; “and Moses, he alone, shall come near unto Jehovah,” signifies the conjunction and presence of the Lord through the Word in general; “and they shall not come near,” signifies no separate conjunction and presence; “and the people shall not come up with him,” signifies no conjunction whatever with the external apart from the internal.

Since the sun's light represents the Lord's Divine Truth, “shade” represents a spiritual state in which that light is partly blocked. The theological works of Swedenborg often use the word “obscurity” for this -- a state in ideas about the Lord and life can only be understood in a vague and general way, with little in the way of color or detail. It's also interesting to note that if you're in the sunlight, a shaded area appears very dark, and it may be impossible to see objects in that shade. That's what the light of hell is like -- a dim light to people who live there, but complete darkness when viewed in the light of heaven.

In the opposite sense, shade can represent protection from the glare of falsity.

'The shadow is good' of the oak, poplar and elm, means complacency.