10559. And Moses said unto Jehovah. That this signifies indignation that the Divine was not with them, thus not the church itself, is evident from the signification of “saying,” as here being indignation, for “saying” involves the things which follow, because these are what he said, and the things which follow are things of indignation on this account, that the Divine would not be with them, thus that the church would not be with them, whereby they might be rendered pre-eminent to all that were upon the face of the earth, as is plain from verse sixteen which follows. The reason why the words of Moses to Jehovah were words of indignation on that account, was that Moses here bears relation to the head of the Israelitish nation (see above, n. 10556); wherefore he speaks for himself and for that nation, for he says, “I and the people” (verse 16). And because he here bears relation to that nation as its head, therefore by “Moses said unto Jehovah” is signified indignation; for a man who is such as was that nation, is indignant against God if he does not obtain his desires.

[2] This is done by all those who are in external things without what is internal, for if they reverence and adore God, and as it were love Him, it is not for His own sake, but for the sake of themselves, because they desire nothing else than eminence above others and wealth beyond others, this being the fire which excites their reverence and adoration, and as it were their love. But if they do not obtain what they desire, they forsake God. That that nation was of such a character is very evident from the historicals of the Word. The like is signified by the words of Jacob:

Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way wherein I walk, and will give me bread to eat, and a garment to put on, and I return in peace to my father’s house, then Jehovah shall be to me for God (Genesis 28:20-21).

These words mean that if he should receive these things, he would acknowledge Jehovah for his God; but if he should not receive them, he would not acknowledge Him. Such also was the nation descended from him. From this it is that that nation so often fell away, and worshiped other gods, until at last they were for this reason cast out from the land of Canaan, first the Israelitish nation, and afterward the Jewish. It is evident that the cause of the indignation above spoken of was that if Jehovah did not go with them they would not become preeminent to all in the whole world.

[3] That it was also a cause of indignation that the church itself was not with them, follows from the fact that to be brought by Jehovah into the land of Canaan denotes to become the church. The reason of this is that the church had been in the land of Canaan from the most ancient times, and that the Word could not have been written elsewhere, thus except with the nation which possessed that land; and where the Word is, there is the church. That the Word could not have been written anywhere else was because all the places that were in the whole of that land, and that were round about it, such as the mountains, the valleys, the rivers, the forests, and all the rest, had become representative of celestial and spiritual things; and it was necessary that the sense of the letter of the Word, in both the historical and the prophetical parts, should consist of such things, because the interior things of the Word, which are celestial and spiritual, must close in such things, and as it were stand on them like a house upon its foundation; for unless the Word in respect to the sense of the letter, which is its ultimate, stood upon such things, it would be like a house without a foundation. That this is so is evident from the Word, in that mention is so often made of the places of that land, all of which, having become representative, signify the things of heaven and of the church.

[4] From this it is that to be brought into the land of Canaan signifies the setting up of the church, and that the indignation of Moses involves this also, although he did not think of it. (That the church was in the land of Canaan from the most ancient times, and that consequently all the places therein became representative, see n. 3686, 4447, 454, 4516, 4517, 5136, 6306, 6516, 8317, 9320, 9325; and that from this “the land of Canaan” in the Word signifies the church, see the places cited in n. 9325)

4612. And Jacob came unto Isaac his father. That this signifies now the Divine rational with which it was conjoined, is evident from the representation of Jacob, as being the Divine natural in the state treated of just above (see n. 4604-4610); and from the representation of Isaac, as being the Divine rational (see n. 1893, 2066, 2072, 2083, 2630, 3012, 3194, 3210). Conjunction is signified by his coming to him. In what follows, down to the end of the chapter, the subject treated of is the conjunction of the natural with the rational; and therefore in what immediately precedes, the quality of the natural has been described, in that it contained within it all things of good and truth, and this quality of the natural is signified by the twelve sons of Jacob, for as we have seen, each one of them represents some general of truth and good.

[2] As regards the conjunction of the natural and the rational treated of in the following verses, be it known that the rational receives truths and goods sooner and more easily than the natural (n. 3286, 3288, 3321, 3368, 3498, 3513). For the rational is purer and more perfect than the natural, because it is interior or higher, and viewed in itself it is in the light of heaven, to which it is adapted. This is the reason why the rational receives the things of this light (namely, truths and goods, or what is the same, the things of intelligence and wisdom), sooner and more easily than the natural. But the natural is grosser and more imperfect, because it is exterior or lower, and viewed in itself it is in the light of the world; which light has nothing of intelligence and wisdom within it except insofar as it receives it through the rational from the light of heaven. The influx of which the learned of the present day speak, is nothing else.

[3] But with the natural the case is this: From the earliest infancy and childhood the natural receives its quality from the things which flow in from the world through the external senses, and by and from these the man acquires an intellectual. But as he is then in the delights of the love of self and of the world, and consequently in cupidities, both from inheritance and from actual life, the intellectual which he then acquires is filled with such things, and whatever favors his delights he then regards as goods and truths, and the result is that the order of the goods and truths in the natural is inverted, or is opposite to heavenly order. When the man is in this state, the light of heaven does indeed flow in through the rational, for it is from this that he has the ability to think, to reason, to speak, and to act becomingly and as a good citizen in the outward form; but still the things which are of light, and that conduce to his eternal happiness, are not in the natural, because the delights which rule there are repugnant to them, for the delights of the love of self and of the world are in themselves diametrically opposite to the delights of the love of the neighbor, and consequently to those of love to the Lord. The man may indeed know the things of light or of heaven, but he cannot be affected with them, except insofar as they conduce to his winning honors and gaining wealth, and thus except insofar as they favor the delights of the love of self and of the world.

[4] From this it may appear that the order in the natural is wholly inverted, or opposite to heavenly order, and therefore when the light of heaven flows in through the rational into the natural, it must needs be either reflected back, or suffocated, or perverted. Hence then it is that the natural must be regenerated before it can be conjoined with the rational. For when the natural has been regenerated, the things which flow in from the Lord through heaven, thus through the rational into the natural, are received, because they agree. For the natural is nothing else than a receptacle of good and truth from the rational, or through the rational from the Lord. By the natural is meant the external man, which is also called the natural man, and by the rational is meant the internal man. These things have been premised in order that it may be known how the case is with what follows, in which the subject treated of is the conjunction of the natural with the rational.