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.

242. The second living creature like a calf. This symbolizes the Divine truth of the Word in respect to its affection.

Beasts of the earth symbolize various natural affections. They are also embodiments of them. And a calf symbolizes an affection for knowing. This affection is represented by a calf in the spiritual world, and in the Word it is consequently also symbolized by a calf, as in Hosea,

...we repay (to Jehovah) the calves of our lips. (Hosea 14:2)

"Calves of the lips" are confessions from an affection for truth.

In Malachi:

To you who fear My name the sun of righteousness shall arise with healing in its wings... that you may grow fat like fattened calves. (Malachi 4:2)

A comparison is made with fattened calves because they symbolize people who are filled with concepts of truth and goodness owing to an affection for knowing them.

In the book of Psalms:

The voice of Jehovah... makes (the cedars of Lebanon) dance like a calf... (Psalms 29:5, 6)

The cedars of Lebanon symbolize concepts of truth. That is why the passage says that the voice of Jehovah makes them dance like a calf. The voice of Jehovah is Divine truth, in the process here of affecting.

[2] Since the Egyptians loved knowledge, they therefore made themselves calves as a sign of their affection for it. But after they began to worship the calves as deities, then calves in the Word symbolized affections for knowing falsities, as in Jeremiah 46:20-21). Therefore we are told in Hosea:

...they have made for themselves a molten image... of their silver... Sacrificing a human being, they kiss the calves. (Hosea 13:2)

To make for oneself a molten image of silver means, symbolically, to falsify truth. To sacrifice a human being means, symbolically, to destroy wisdom. And to kiss calves means, symbolically, to accept falsities out of an affection for them.

In Isaiah:

There the calf will feed; there it will lie down and consume its branches. (Isaiah 27:10)

The same is symbolically meant by the calf in Jeremiah 34:18-20.

[3] Since all Divine worship springs from affections for truth and goodness and so for concepts of them, therefore the sacrifices in which the worship of the church primarily consisted among the children of Israel used various animals, such as lambs, she-goats, kids, sheep, he-goats, calves, and oxen; and calves were used because they symbolized an affection for knowing truths and goods, which is the first natural affection. This affection was symbolically meant by the sacrifices of calves in Exodus 29:11-12, ¹ 1 Samuel 1:25; 16:2, 1 Kings 18:23-26, 33.

The second living creature looked like a calf because the Divine truth of the Word, which it symbolizes, affects hearts, and so teaches and instills.

Fußnoten:

8805. And Moses went down from the mountain unto the people. That this signifies application and preparation through truth from the Divine for receiving truths in good, is evident from the signification of “going down,” when said of Moses, by whom is represented truth from the Divine, as being application, and also preparation, through it; from the representation of Moses, as being truth from the Divine (see n. 8760, 8787), and also as being what mediates (n. 8787), thus likewise what prepares and applies; from the signification of “the mountain,” as being the Divine in heaven, thus heaven; and from the representation of the sons of Israel, as being those who are of the spiritual church, thus those who are in truth through which is good, and in good from which is truth, here in the good in which truths are to be received. It is important to know what is specifically signified by “Mount Sinai;” and also what is represented by the people Israel, and likewise what by Moses in this chapter and in the following chapters of the book of Exodus.

[2] By “MOUNT SINAI” is specifically signified heaven, out of which truths flow in from the Lord; therefore by “the coming down of Jehovah upon that mountain” is signified His presence in heaven. And as heaven, in which Jehovah is, that is, the Lord, is signified by “Mount Sinai,” by it is also signified Divine good united to Divine truth there, for from this heaven is heaven.

[3] But by the “PEOPLE ISRAEL” near this mountain is represented the spiritual church as to the good in which the truths of faith are to be implanted; for it has been already shown that they who are of the spiritual church have two states; the former when they are led through truths to good, the latter when they are in good and from good in truths; in the present case, when they are in the good in which truths are to be implanted, which state is a middle state between the former and the latter. The truths which are implanted in good are contained in those things which were promulgated from Mount Sinai by the Lord, and were communicated by Moses to the people.

[4] By “MOSES” in this chapter and in the following chapters is represented truth from the Divine beneath heaven conjoined with truth Divine in heaven, and consequently mediating between the Divine in heaven and the good in which truths are to be implanted which belongs to the spiritual church, thus mediating between the Lord and the people. It is important to know these things for the sake of understanding what follows in the book of Exodus. From all this it can also be seen that by “Moses went down from the mountain unto the people” is signified application and preparation by means of truth from the Divine for receiving truths in good.