9422. Sit ye here for us. That this signifies that they should remain in it, is evident from the signification of “sitting here,” namely, in this place, or under the mountain, as being to remain in the external sense. “To sit” in a place denotes to remain in one’s state, and “under the mountain” denotes in the external sense of the Word; for by “sitting” is signified remaining, as will be evident from what follows. By “place” is signified state, and by “Mount Sinai” is signified the Law, or Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, thus the Word (see n. 9420); by its summit, where Jehovah or the Lord was (Exodus 19:20) is signified the highest or inmost of the Law, that is, of the Word (see n. 8827); by all the rest of the mountain that was below the summit is signified the internal of the Law or of the Word, such as it is in heaven; and by what was beneath the mountain, where were the elders and the people, is signified the external of the Law or of the Word, which is its external sense. Thus are represented in the Word the inmost, the interior, and the exterior, of the things signified by “the mountain;” here the inmost, the interior, and the exterior things of the Law or of the Word, for “Mount Sinai” signifies the Law, or the Word (n. 9420). From this it is plain that by “Sit ye here for us,” is signified that they should remain in the external sense.

[2] That it is said “sit” is because “sitting” signifies remaining in a state; for movements from place to place signify changes of state of the interiors, as can be seen from what has been already shown (n. 2837, 3356, 3387, 4321, 4882, 5605, 7381). Consequently “sitting” signifies a permanent abiding in the state of the interiors. Because “sitting” has such a signification, therefore to sit was one of the rituals received among the sons of Israel when they represented a permanent state of the interiors; as in the book of Judges:

The sons of Israel came unto Bethel, and wept, and sat there before Jehovah, and fasted that day until the evening (Judg. 20:26).

The people came to Bethel, and sat there till even before God, and lifted up their voice, and wept with a great weeping (Judg. 21:2).

Here by “sitting” is signified permanence in a state of grief.

[3] From this it can be seen why “sitting” is spoken of, and what it infolds in the following passages, in David:

Jehovah, Thou hast known my downsitting and mine uprising; Thou hast understood my thought afar off (Psalms 139:2).

Thou shalt not go into the house of feasting to sit with them (Jeremiah 16:8).

Then he shall stand and shall feed in the strength of Jehovah his God; and they shall sit (Micah 5:4).

Come down, and sit on the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the earth. Sit thou in silence, and enter into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; she saith in her heart, I shall not sit a widow (Isaiah 47:1, 5, 8).

In like manner in other passages: as “sitting in darkness” (Isaiah 42:7); “sitting in the assembly,” and “sitting alone” (Jeremiah 15:17); “sitting on the right hand and on the left” (Matthew 20:21), denoting to remain in a state of power over others; and “sitting on the right hand of the power of God” (Matthew 26:63-64; Mark 14:62; 16:19), speaking of the Lord, and denoting that the Divine omnipotence shall endure forever.

8827. To the head of the mountain. That this signifies in the inmost heaven, is evident from the signification of “the mountain,” as being heaven (see just above, n. 8826); that “the head of the mountain,” denotes the inmost heaven, is because the head of the mountain is the highest of it, and “the highest” signifies the inmost (n. 1735, 2148, 4210, 4599, 8153). There are three heavens, namely, the lowest, which is called the first; the middle, which is called the second; and the inmost, which is called the third. In this heaven is the Divine more than in the two lower heavens, for in this they are under the immediate view of the Lord, because they who are there are in love to the Lord, and hence in peace and innocence above the rest. The angels who are there are called “celestial angels,” and the angels in the second heaven are called “spiritual angels;” consequently the Divine in the one heaven is called “the Divine celestial,” and the Divine in the other heaven “the Divine spiritual.” From all this it can be seen what is signified by “Jehovah came down upon the head of the mountain.”

7381. Say unto Aaron. That this signifies the influx of the internal law into the external law, is evident from the representation of Moses, as being the law Divine (see n. 6723, 6752); and from the representation of Aaron, as being the doctrine of good and truth (n. 6998, 7089); the doctrine of good and truth which Aaron represents is nothing else than the external law coming forth from the internal law, that is, through the internal law from the Divine; and from the signification of “saying,” as being influx (n. 6152, 6291, 7291). That “to say” here denotes influx is because Moses was to say to Aaron, and Moses is the internal law, and Aaron the external, and influx from the Divine takes place through the internal into the external. The internal law is the truth Divine itself such as it is in heaven, and the external law is the truth Divine such as it is on earth; thus the internal law is truth accommodated to angels, and the external law is truth accommodated to men.

[2] As the internal law which Moses represents is truth accommodated to angels, and the external law which Aaron represents is truth accommodated to men, I may here say something about them. Truth accommodated to angels is for the most part incomprehensible to men, as is evident from the fact that things are seen and said in heaven such as eye has never seen, nor ear has ever heard. The reason is that the things said among the angels are spiritual things which have been abstracted from natural things, and consequently are remote from the ideas and expressions of human speech; for man has formed his ideas from the things in nature, and indeed in grosser nature, that is, from those which he has seen in the world and upon the earth, and has touched by sense, which things are material. The ideas of interior thought with man, although they are above material things, nevertheless terminate in material things, and where they terminate, there they appear to be, and from this he perceives that which he is thinking. Hence it is evident how the case is with that truth of faith, and what is its quality, which falls into the thought of man, and is called the external law, and is represented by Aaron.

[3] To illustrate this by an example: man cannot possibly think without the idea of time and space, which idea adheres to almost everything which he thinks; if idea from time and space were taken away from man, he would not know what he is thinking; and scarcely whether he is thinking. But in the ideas of the angels there is nothing from time and space, but instead of these there are states, and this because the natural world is distinguished from the spiritual world by time and space. The reason why there are time and space in the natural world, and instead of these there are states in the spiritual world, is that in the natural world the sun seems by apparent revolutions to make days and years, and to divide the days into four times, night, morning, noon, and evening; and the years also into four times, winter, spring, summer, and autumn; and also to do this by means of variations of light and shade, and of heat and cold. From this come the ideas of time and of its variations. The ideas of space arise from measuring by times, and therefore where the one is, there is the other.

[4] But in the spiritual world, the sun of heaven, whence come spiritual light and spiritual heat, does not make apparent rotations and revolutions, and thus induce ideas of time and space. The light which is from that sun is truth Divine; and the heat which is from that sun is good Divine. From these arise with the angels ideas of states; states of intelligence and faith from truth Divine; and states of wisdom and love from good Divine. To the variations of these states with the angels correspond the states of light and shade in the world, and also states of heat and cold, which are from the sun when it makes times and measures spaces. From this example it may to a certain extent appear what is the quality of that internal truth, or truth accommodated to angels, which is called the “internal law;” and also what is the quality of that external truth, or truth accommodated to men, which is called the “external law;” also whence it is that the things which the angels speak among themselves are to man incomprehensible, and also unutterable.