8928. 'And Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was' means a joining even of the truth of spiritual good to God's truth. This is clear from the representation of 'Moses' as God's truth below heaven joined to God's truth in heaven, consequently an intermediary kind of truth - dealt with in 8760, 8787, 8805 - thus the truth of spiritual good (for such truth is God's truth below heaven, which exists with the spiritual Church represented by the children of Israel; and Moses as the head of that Church represents this truth, 7014); from the meaning of 'drawing near' as a joining together, for drawing near the Divine is being joined to Him; and from the meaning of 'the thick darkness' as God's truth as it exists with those who belong to the spiritual Church, and also as it existed with that people whom Moses was set over as leader. The reason why God's truth is 'thick darkness' to both these is that neither of them is in any light as regards God's truths.

[2] Let those who belong to the spiritual Church be dealt with first. Those who belong to it believe that they are in the light. Yet they are in obscurity, indeed in thick darkness, so far as God's truth is concerned, as is clear from the consideration that they have no inner perception enabling them to see whether what the Church says is indeed the truth; they know it to be such only because the Church says it. What the Church says they firmly accept, whether it is false or true. And anyone devoid of any inner perception to see God's truth is in thick darkness, or what amounts to the same thing, Divine Truth is for him thick darkness. Members of the spiritual Church do not know for example, and have no wish to know, of the existence of an internal sense in the Word; and if they do perhaps come to believe in its existence there, it will not be because they perceive it for themselves but because of some other influence inducing them to believe it.

[3] Members of the spiritual Church, to take another example, say that faith is the one and only means of salvation, even without charity and the good deeds of charity. They believe this because the Church says it. They do not arrive at that light of perception in which they may see for themselves that faith does not exist except where charity does, or that the one belongs to the other as one person does to another in marriage, and therefore that charity is the essential element of the Church, because of its coherence with good. This also shows what obscurity or thick darkness the spiritual Church is in. And being in such darkness they divide the Church into many different Churches, as many as the variant doctrines presenting the truths of faith, a situation which would never arise if they were in the light. For one who is in the light never doubts, skill less denies that love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour are the essential elements of the Church, or that all the truths which the Word contains, consequently all the truths of faith, are founded on them. He likewise never doubts any of the other truths which hang on this law and are called the truths of faith. But these matters have been shown more plainly in 2708, 2715, 2831, 2849, 2935, 2937, 3241, 3246, 6289, 6427, 6865, 6945, 7233. Those who belong to the spiritual Church do not arrive at even the outermost threshold of the wisdom or of the light in which those are who belong to the celestial Church, 2718, 3833, 6500.

[4] The second reason why it says that Moses entered thick darkness when he drew near God is that as their leader 'Moses' represented the Israelite and Jewish people, who were in darkness regarding internal truths, so thick that they were totally ignorant of them; for they considered all of worship and everything Divine to consist in external things. This is why the Divine was for them thick darkness; for as everyone well knows, the Divine never dwells in thick darkness but in light, since the Divine is light itself. When therefore the Divine is called 'thick darkness', it describes what He is so far as those who do not dwell in any light are concerned; for Divine Truths which compose the light of heaven do not appear to them to be anything else than such darkness, because they do not believe them, indeed they deny them. How the Divine appears to anyone is determined by the essential nature of the person's life and faith. Consequently He appears as light to those who are in the light, and as thick darkness to those who are in thick darkness. The fact that the Israelite and Jewish people were such, see 3479, 3769, 4281, 4293, 4307, 4314, 4316, 4433, 4680, 4825, 4832, 4844, 4847, 4865, 4903, 6304, and that the Lord on Mount Sinai appeared to them in smoke, cloud, and thick darkness, in keeping with the essential nature of that people, 1861 (end), 6832, 8814, 8819.

7233. 'It was this Aaron and Moses' means that it was from these that the teachings and the law of God among those people sprang. This is clear from the representation of 'Aaron' as the teachings of the Church, dealt with in 6998, 7009, 7089; and from the representation of 'Moses' as the law of God, dealt with in 6723, 6752. These two - the law of God and doctrinal teachings - among those who belong to the spiritual Church have their origin chiefly in the Word; they are however concerned primarily with faith and charity, the things of chief importance to the founders of that Church. The words from these have been used, yet they do not mean from Aaron and Moses but from charity and faith, which are represented by Levi, Simeon, and Reuben, who are spoken of in the verses immediately above.

[2] To go further into these matters, it should be recognized that the teachings of the spiritual Church do not consist of God's truth itself. The reason for this is that those who belong to the spiritual Church do not possess any perception of God's truth, as those who belong to the celestial Church do. Instead of that perception they possess conscience, which is formed out of the truth and goodness, whatever these may be like, which they have adopted within their own Church. For the fact that those who belong to the spiritual Church are in comparative obscurity so far as the truths of faith are concerned, see 86, 2708, 2715, 2716, 2718, 2831, 2935, 2937, 3241, 3246, 3833, 6289, 6500, 6865, 6945. This explains why all within the spiritual Church accept as the truth of faith that which their founders have declared and do not go further to search the Word to see whether it really is the truth. And if they did make this search they would not find that truth unless they had been regenerated and then received specific enlightenment. The reason for this is that although the understanding part of their minds can receive enlightenment, the new will part cannot be aroused except by one kind of good, namely that formed by connection with the truths accepted within the Church. For the will that is properly their own has been corrupted and a new will has been formed within the understanding, see 863, 875, 1023, 1043, 1044, 1555, 2256, 4328, 5113. And since the will that is properly their own is separated from the new will within the understanding, the light there is feeble, like the light from the moon and stars at night when compared with the light from the sun during the daytime. This also explains why 'the moon' is used in the internal sense of the Word to mean the good of spiritual love, and 'the sun' to mean the good of celestial love, 30-38, 1529-1531, 2495, 4060.

[3] Since this is the situation in the spiritual Church it is no wonder that for the majority faith is the essential element of the Church, not charity, and that teachings about charity are of no importance to them. The fact that the things they teach are derived from the Word does not mean that those things are Divine truths; for one can hatch any kind of teaching out of the literal sense of the Word, and seize on any such argument as may lend support to wicked desires, thus on falsity instead of truth. This is what the things taught by Jews, Socinians, and many others are like. It is different however if the teaching that is given is based on the internal sense. The internal sense is not only the sense that lies concealed within the external sense, as has been shown up to now, but is also the sense which emerges from a large number of places in the literal sense when they are correctly compared with one another. And it is the sense discerned by those in whom the understanding part of their mind has been enlightened by the Lord. For when enlightened the understanding distinguishes apparent truths from real truths, and in particular falsities from truths, though it does not form any judgements with respect to real truths in themselves. But the understanding part cannot be enlightened unless a person believes that love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour are the chief and essential qualities of the Church. And provided that he is governed by these once he has recognized them he can go on to see countless truths; indeed he can see very many hidden things that have been disclosed to him. He does so with an inward recognition of them, insofar as he is enlightened by the Lord.