9373. Come up unto Jehovah. That this signifies conjunction with the Lord, is evident from the signification of “coming up,” as being to be raised toward interior things (see n. 3084, 4539, 4969, 5406, 5817, 6007), consequently also to be conjoined (n. 8760). That it denotes conjunction with the Lord, is because by “Jehovah” in the Word is meant the the Lord, (n. 1343, 1736, 1793, 2004, 2005, 2018, 2025, 2921, 3023, 3035, 5663, 6280, 6303, 6905, 8274, 8864, 9315). A secret which also lies hidden in the internal sense of these words, is that the sons of Jacob, over whom Moses was the head, were not called and chosen; but they themselves insisted that Divine worship should be instituted among them (according to wh at has been said in n. 4290, 4293); and therefore it is here said, “and He said unto Moses, Come up unto Jehovah,” as if not Jehovah, but another, had said that he should come up. For the same reason in what follows it is said that “the people should not go up” (verse 2); and that “Jehovah sent not His hand unto the sons of Israel who were set apart” (verse 11); and that “the appearance of the glory of Jehovah was like devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the sons of Israel” (verse 17); and lastly that Moses, being called the seventh day, “entered into the midst of the cloud.” For by “the cloud” is meant the Word in the letter (n. 5922, 6343, 6752, 6832, 8106, 8443, 8781); and with the sons of Jacob the Word was separated from its internal sense, because they were in external worship without internal, as can be clearly seen from the fact that now, as before, they said, “all the words which Jehovah hath spoken we will do” (verse 3); and yet scarcely forty days afterward they worshiped a golden calf instead of Jehovah; which shows that this was hidden in their hearts while they were saying with their lips that they would serve Jehovah alone. But nevertheless those who are meant by “the called and the chosen” are those who are in internal worship, and who from internal worship are in external; that is, those who are in love to and faith in the Lord, and from this in love toward the neighbor.

6304. And shall bring you back unto the land of your fathers. That this signifies to the state of both Ancient Churches, is evident from the signification of “land,” as being the church (see n. 566, 662, 1066, 1067, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 3355, 4535, 4447, 5577); and from the signification of “fathers,” as being the men of the Ancient and Most Ancient Churches (n. 6075). It is said “to the state of both Ancient Churches,” because the sons of Israel and their descendants, like those who belonged to the Ancient Churches, in every particular represented the Lord’s kingdom, celestial and spiritual. The representative itself was also instituted; with the Jewish nation that of the celestial kingdom, and with the Israelitish that of the spiritual kingdom; but with that generation nothing but a mere representative could be instituted, and not anything of the church or kingdom of the Lord; for they desired to see and acknowledge in the representatives absolutely nothing but what was external, and not anything internal. Nevertheless in order that there might exist a representative, and thereby some communication with heaven, and through heaven with the Lord, they were kept in externals; and it was then provided by the Lord that communication should exist by means of a mere external representative without an internal. This was the state to which the descendants of Jacob could be brought back; nevertheless in their external representatives there lay inwardly hidden Divine things; in the highest sense such as regarded the Lord’s Divine Human; and in the relative sense such as regarded the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens, and the church. This state of both Ancient Churches is signified by the words, “God shall bring you back unto the land of your fathers.”

3686. And Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan were evil in the eyes of Isaac his father. That this signifies the Lord’s foresight and providence, that the affections of that truth with which natural good had been heretofore conjoined would not conduce to conjunction, is evident from the signification here of “seeing,” as being foresight and providence (see n. 2837, 2839); and from the representation of Esau, as being the Lord in respect to the Divine good of the natural (concerning which see above); from the signification of the “daughters of Canaan,” here the daughters of Heth, as being the affections of truth from a ground not genuine (n. 3470, 3620-3621, 3622); and from the signification of “being evil in the eyes of Isaac his father,” as being not to conduce to conjunction, namely, through the good of the natural, which is “Esau,” with the good of the rational, which is “Isaac.” From all this it is evident that by these words is signified the Lord’s foresight and providence, that the affections of that truth, because not from a genuine ground, would not conduce to conjunction. How the case herein is, may be seen from the explication at chapter 26, verses 34-35, where the daughters of Heth are treated of whom Esau had taken to himself for women; and at chapter, 27 verse 46, where it is said of Jacob that he should not take to himself a woman of the daughters of Canaan [Heth]. That by the “daughters of Canaan” are here signified the affections of truth from a ground not genuine, and above by the “daughters of Canaan,” the affections of falsity and evil (n. 3662, 3683), is because the Hittites were of the Church of the Gentiles in the land of Canaan, and were not so much in falsity and evil as were the other nations there-the Canaanites, Amorites, and Perizzites. Hence also by the Hittites there was represented the Lord’s spiritual church among the Gentiles (n. 2913, 2986).

[2] That the Most Ancient Church, which was celestial and existed before the flood, was in the land of Canaan, may be seen above (n. 567); and that the Ancient Church, which was after the flood, was also in that land, and moreover in a number of other kingdoms, see above (n. 1238, 2385). From this it came to pass that all the nations in that land, and likewise all the regions and all the rivers thereof, became representative; for the most ancient people, who were celestial men, by means of all the objects which they saw, perceived such things as are of the Lord’s kingdom (n. 920, 1409, 2896, 2897, 2995); thus also by means of the regions and rivers of that land. After their times these representatives remained in the Ancient Church, thus also the representatives of the places in that land. The Word in the Ancient Church (n. 2897-2899), also had thence the names of places representative, as had also the Word after their time which is called “Moses and the Prophets;” and because this was so, Abraham was commanded to go thither, and a promise was made him that his posterity should possess that land; and this not because of their being better than other nations, for they were among the worst of all (n. 1167, 3373), but in order that by them a representative church might be instituted, in which no attention should be paid to person or to place, but to the things that were represented (n. 3670); and that thereby also the names used in the Most Ancient and the Ancient Church might be retained.