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.

8806. And sanctified the people. That this signifies the veiling over of the interiors that they may appear to be in the holiness of faith, is evident from what was unfolded above (n. 8788); but it was there set forth what was the sanctification with the Israelitish people, namely, that it was a veiling over of the interiors, so that as to their externals they might appear to be in what was holy when they were in representative worship; and that unless their interiors had then been veiled over, they would not only have defiled the holiness of worship by foul thoughts and evil affections, but would also have totally destroyed it, so that nothing celestial and spiritual which was represented in the external things would have been perceived therefrom in heaven.

[2] But as by “the sons of Israel” are here meant those who are of the spiritual church, it shall be briefly told what is meant by “sanctification” with these. They who are of the spiritual church and live a life of truth and from this a life of good, are withheld from evils and are kept in good by the Lord. The good which is from the Lord is holy with them. Consequently insofar as they receive good from the Lord, so far they are holy; and they receive so much of good from the Lord, that is, are so far holy, as they live a life of good according to the genuine truths of faith, and at the same time believe that all the good which they then think and do is from the Lord. Then, too, evils with them are separated so as not to appear at all, especially those which they have derived hereditarily from parents, and which are filthy, because they have been successively accumulated with the parents for many ages back, and thus amassed in the offspring. These are the interiors which with those who are of the spiritual church are hid away and as it were veiled over (n. 966, 1667, 2307, 2308, 3701, 4317, 8550). Hence it is that all the will they possess hereditarily is destroyed. For this cause a new will is formed with them in the intellectual part by means of truths of faith from the Lord. This is the reason why, when they are being regenerated, they are led by means of truths to good; and afterward when they have been regenerated, from good into the truths of good. Hence it is evident how a new will is created in them by the Lord. (That this is formed in the intellectual part with those who are of the spiritual church, see n. 863, 875, 895, 927, 1023, 1043, 1044, 1555, 2256, 4328, 4493, 5113, 6125)

90. The angelic spirits talked with me about how the inhabitants of their world lived. They are not, they said, subjects of kingdoms, but divided into larger and smaller communities, in which they associate those of like character with themselves. They know this instantly from their faces and their speech, and rarely make any mistake about it; so they become friends at once. They also said that they take great pleasure in their meetings, at which they discuss what goes on in their communities; and especially what goes on in heaven, for many of them enjoy open communication with the angels of heaven.

[2] Any in their communities who begin to have wrong thoughts, leading to evil intentions, are banished from them. They leave them by themselves, so that they live pitifully outside their community, among rocks or elsewhere, being no longer looked after by it. Some communities try various methods of bringing them to their senses; but when these attempts prove vain they break off contact with them. By such means they take precautions to prevent the desire to rule or to gain wealth sneaking in; that is to say, they make sure that no one out of a desire to rule gets control of one community, and then many more, and that no one out of a desire for wealth steals their property from others. Each individual there lives content with his own property, and with his own good name, a reputation for being fair and loving his neighbour. This pleasure and peace of mind would be destroyed, if those who think and intend evil were not ejected, and if they did not prudently and severely confront self-love and the love of the world in their earliest stages. It is these loves which are the motives behind empires and kingdoms. In these there are few who do not want to rule and possess other people's property, for there are few who behave justly and fairly from a love of justice and fairness, even fewer who do good out of charity rather than through fear of the law or being deprived of their lives, of wealth, or of good name and reputation for that reason.