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.

9341. And from the wilderness even unto the river. That this signifies from the delight of what is sensuous even to the good and truth of the rational, is evident from the signification of “setting a border,” as being extension (as just above, n. 9340); from the signification of “a wilderness,” as being a place uninhabited and not cultivated; thus in application to the spiritual things of faith and to the celestial things of love, “a wilderness” denotes where there is no good and no truth, as is the case with what is sensuous (that the sensuous of man is of this character, see n. 9331). As the sensuous has no celestial good and no spiritual truth, but has delight and pleasure from the body and the world, therefore by “a wilderness” is signified this outermost in the man of the church. And from the signification of “the Euphrates,” which is here “the river,” as being the good and truth of the rational. That “the Euphrates” has this signification is because Assyria was there, and by “Assyria,” or “Asshur,” is signified the rational (n. 119, 1186).

[2] This is meant by “the Euphrates” where it is said, “from the wilderness to the Euphrates,” and “from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates;” as in Joshua:

From the wilderness, and Lebanon, even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, the whole land of the Hittites, and even unto the great sea toward the setting of the sun, shall be your border (Josh. 1:4).

To thy seed will I give this land, from the river of Egypt even unto the great river, the river Euphrates (Genesis 15:18).

Thou madest a vine to journey out of Egypt. Thou hast sent out its shoots even unto the sea, and its twigs unto the river (Psalms 80:8, 11);

“a vine out of Egypt” denotes the spiritual church represented by the sons of Israel; “unto the sea,” and “unto the river,” denote to interior truths and goods. In like manner in Micah:

They shall come unto thee from Assyria and from the cities of Egypt, and thence from Egypt even unto the river, and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain (Micah 7:12).

[3] But something else is signified by “the Euphrates” when it is looked at from the middle of the land of Canaan as its extreme limit on one side, or as what closes it in on one side; in this case by that river is signified that which is the ultimate of the Lord’s kingdom, that is, which is the ultimate of heaven and the church, in respect to rational good and truth. (That the borders of the land of Canaan, which were rivers and seas, signified the ultimates in the Lord’s kingdom, see n. 1585, 1866, 4116, 4240, 6516.) “The Euphrates” therefore signified such truths and such goods as belong to the sensuous mind, and correspond to the truths and goods of the rational. But as the sensuous of man stands forth nearest to the world and the earth, and receives its objects therefrom (n. 9331), it therefore acknowledges nothing else as good than that which delights the body; and nothing else as truth than that which favors this delight. By “the river Euphrates” therefore in this sense is signified the pleasure arising from the loves of self and of the world; and the falsity which confirms it by reasonings from the fallacies of the senses.

[4] This is what is meant by “the river Euphrates” in Revelation:

A voice said to the sixth angel, Loose the four angels which are bound at the great river Euphrates. They were loosed, and they killed the third part of men (Revelation 9:14-15);

“the angels bound at the Euphrates” denote the falsities originating through reasonings from the fallacies of the senses, which falsities favor the delights of the loves of self and of the world. Again:

The sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings who are from the sun rising might be prepared (Revelation 16:12);

“the Euphrates” here denotes falsities from a like origin; “the water dried up” denotes these falsities removed by the Lord; “the way of the kings from the east” denotes that then the truths of faith are seen by and revealed to those who are in love to the Lord. (That “waters” denote truths, and in the opposite sense falsities, see n. 705, 739, 756, 790, 839, 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, 7307, 8137, 8138, 8568, 9323; that “a way” denotes truth seen and revealed, n. 627, 2333, 3477; that “kings” denote those who are in truths, n. 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 4575, 4581, 4966, 5044, 5068, 6148; that “the east” denotes the Lord, and also love from Him and to Him, n. 101, 1250, 3708; and in like manner “the sun,” n. 1529, 1530, 2441, 2495, 3636, 3643, 4060, 4696, 5377, 7078, 7083, 7171, 7173, 8644, 8812)

[5] In Jeremiah:

Thou hast forsaken Jehovah thy God, when He led thee into the way. And now what hast thou to do with the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Shihor? Or what hast thou to do with the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river? (Jeremiah 2:17-18);

“to lead into the way” denotes to teach truth; “what hast thou to do with the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Shihor?” denotes what hast thou to do with falsities which have been occasioned by memory-knowledges wrongly applied? “What hast thou to do with the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river?” denotes what hast thou to do with the falsities which have arisen through reasonings from the fallacies of the senses in favor of the delights of the loves of self and of the world?

[6] In the same:

Jehovah said unto the prophet, Take the girdle that thou hast bought, which is upon thy loins, and arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole of the rock. So I went and hid it at the Euphrates. Afterward it came to pass at the end of many days, that Jehovah said, Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take the girdle from thence. Wherefore he went to the Euphrates, and digged, and took the girdle from the place where he had hidden it; but behold the girdle was marred, it was profitable for nothing (Jeremiah 13:3-7);

“the girdle of the loins” denotes the external bond containing all things of love and thence of faith; “to be hidden in a hole of the rock by the Euphrates” denotes where faith is in obscurity and has become no faith, through falsities from reasonings; “the girdle marred so that it was profitable for nothing” denotes that all things of love and of faith are then dissolved and dispersed.

[7] That Jeremiah was to tie a stone to the book written by him, and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates (Jeremiah 51:63); signified that the prophetic Word would perish through like things. In the same:

Let not the swift flee away, nor the strong one escape; toward the north near the shore of the river Euphrates they have stumbled and fallen. But Jehovah Zebaoth taketh vengeance on His adversaries. The Lord Jehovih Zebaoth hath a sacrifice in the land of the north by the river Euphrates (Jeremiah 46:6, 10); where also “the river Euphrates” denotes truths falsified, and goods adulterated, through reasonings from fallacies and the derivative memory-knowledges which favor the loves of self and of the world.

6516. In my sepulchre which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. That this signifies that the church was to be resuscitated where a former church had been, is evident from the signification of a “sepulcher,” and of “burying,” as being resuscitation (see n. 5551); and from the signification of the “land of Canaan,” as being the Lord’s kingdom and church (n. 1413, 1437, 1607, 1866, 3038, 3481, 3705, 4240, 4447). The reason why Jacob desired to be buried in the land of Canaan, where Abraham and Isaac were buried, and not elsewhere, was that his descendants were to possess that land, and he would lie among his own. In the internal sense however, not this, but something else was signified, namely, regeneration and resurrection, because therein is the church; for in the internal sense by “burial” is signified regeneration and resurrection (n. 2916, 2917, 4621, 5551); and by the “land of Canaan” is signified the church, as is evident from the passages cited just above; and by “Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” is signified the Lord as to the Divine Itself and the Divine Human, and in the relative sense the Lord’s kingdom as to its internal and external (n. 1965, 1989, 2011, 3245, 3305, 4615, 6098, 6185, 6276). Such then is the signification in the internal sense of their burial there; and hence with the Jews who believe in a resurrection the opinion still survives that although they may be buried elsewhere, they will rise again there.

[2] The reason why it is said that the church will be revived “where the former church had been,” is that from the most ancient times the Lord’s church had been in the land of Canaan (n. 3686, 4447, 4454, 4516, 4517, 5136). It was for this reason that Abraham was ordered to go there, and that the descendants of Jacob were brought into it; and this not because that land was more holy than all other lands, but because from the most ancient times all the places there-provinces, and cities, and mountains, and rivers-had been representative of such things as belong to the Lord’s kingdom; and the very names that were given them involved such things. For every name given from heaven to any place, and also to any person, involves what is celestial and spiritual; and when it has been given from heaven, it is perceived there; and it was the Most Ancient Church, which was celestial and had communication with heaven, that gave the names. The reason therefore why the church was to be there again, was that the Word was to be given, in which all things were to be representative and significative of things spiritual and celestial, and thus the Word might be understood in heaven as well as on earth; which could not possibly have been done unless the names of places and of persons were significative. For this reason the descendants of Jacob were brought in there; and prophets were there raised up by whom the Word was written; and for this reason also the representative of a church was instituted among the descendants of Jacob. Hence it is plain why it is said that a church was to be resuscitated where the former church had been.

[3] That the names which are in the Word signify things, may be seen above, n. 1224, 1264, 1876, 1888, 4442, 5225, and in many other places where the signification of names is explained; but that the names in the Word are perceived in heaven as to their signification, and this without instruction, is a secret which no one has hitherto known, and therefore it must be told. When the Word is being read, the Lord flows in and teaches; and wonderful to say there are writings in the spiritual world also, which I have sometimes seen, and have been able to read, but not to understand; yet they are clearly understood by good spirits and angels, because they are in accord with their universal language; and it has been given me to know that every word therein, down to the very syllables, involves such things as belong to that world, thus spiritual things; and that they are there perceived from the breathing, and from the affection resulting from their utterance, thus from a softer or harsher modifying forth; but this perhaps scarcely anyone will believe. This has been disclosed in order that it may be known that the names in the Word, having been written in heaven, are at once perceived there in respect to their signification.