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.

1671. Came Chedorlaomer. That this signifies the apparent good in the external man, is evident from the signification of “Chedorlaomer,” explained in the preceding verse, as being apparent good and truth, here good only, because it is said also, “and the kings that were with him,” and by “the kings” is signified the truth.

1514. Spheres are also made perceptible to the senses by means of odors, which spirits smell far more keenly than men do; for, remarkably, odors correspond to spheres. With people who have given themselves up to the practice of deceit and have as a consequence acquired a deceitful disposition, there is a stink of vomit when their sphere is converted into an odor. With those who have studied how to speak eloquently so that it may all lead to self-admiration, their sphere when converted into something odoriferous is like the smell of burnt bread. With those who have given themselves up to the pursuit of mere pleasure and with whom no charity or faith has existed, the odor of their sphere is that of excrement. It is similar in the case of those who have gone through life committing adultery, whose odor is even more obnoxious. With those who have led lives of intense hatred, of revenge, and of practicing cruelty their sphere, when converted into odors, is the stench of a corpse. From those who have been disgustingly avaricious the stench of mice is given off, and the stench of house-lice or bugs comes from those who persecute the innocent. These odors cannot be detected by anyone unless his interior senses have been opened in such a way that he is at the same time in the company of spirits.