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.

6304. And shall bring you back unto the land of your fathers. That this signifies to the state of both Ancient Churches, is evident from the signification of “land,” as being the church (see n. 566, 662, 1066, 1067, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 3355, 4535, 4447, 5577); and from the signification of “fathers,” as being the men of the Ancient and Most Ancient Churches (n. 6075). It is said “to the state of both Ancient Churches,” because the sons of Israel and their descendants, like those who belonged to the Ancient Churches, in every particular represented the Lord’s kingdom, celestial and spiritual. The representative itself was also instituted; with the Jewish nation that of the celestial kingdom, and with the Israelitish that of the spiritual kingdom; but with that generation nothing but a mere representative could be instituted, and not anything of the church or kingdom of the Lord; for they desired to see and acknowledge in the representatives absolutely nothing but what was external, and not anything internal. Nevertheless in order that there might exist a representative, and thereby some communication with heaven, and through heaven with the Lord, they were kept in externals; and it was then provided by the Lord that communication should exist by means of a mere external representative without an internal. This was the state to which the descendants of Jacob could be brought back; nevertheless in their external representatives there lay inwardly hidden Divine things; in the highest sense such as regarded the Lord’s Divine Human; and in the relative sense such as regarded the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens, and the church. This state of both Ancient Churches is signified by the words, “God shall bring you back unto the land of your fathers.”

10090. 'And it shall be the portion for you' means transmission to those who are governed by God's truths. This is clear from the representation of Moses, whose portion the breast was to be, as the Lord in respect of Divine Truth, thus Divine Truth which comes from the Lord, dealt with in 6752, 7010, 7014, 9372; and from the meaning of 'being the portion for' as transmission, since those parts of sacrifices that were given to Moses, Aaron, his sons, and the people were signs of the transmission of what was Divine and holy with them. And all transmission takes place in accord with the character of the recipient, thus in accord with the character of the representation among those who were the recipients.

[2] The reason why the breast was apportioned to Moses and the flank, spoken of a little further on, to Aaron was that the subject at present is the transmission of Divine Truth and Divine Good from the Lord in heaven and in the Church, and their making that Truth and Good their own. These two - Divine Truth and Divine Good, both of which come from the Lord - are what are received there, Divine Truth by those in the Lord's spiritual kingdom and Divine Good by those in the celestial kingdom, see the places referred to in 9277, 9684. This explains why the breast was apportioned to Moses and the flank to Aaron, for 'the breast' means Divine Truth in the Lord's spiritual kingdom, 10087, while 'the flank' means Divine Good in the celestial kingdom, 10075, as also does 'the bread in the basket', which too was assigned to Aaron, 10077.

[3] As was shown just above, Moses represented the Lord in respect of Divine Truth; and Aaron, when consecrated to the priesthood, represented the Lord in respect of Divine Good, see 9806. The fact that the breast was assigned to Moses as his portion is clear in Leviticus, where again the consecration of Aaron and his sons to the priesthood is the subject,

Moses took the breast and waved it as a wave offering before Jehovah, from the ram of fillings [of the hand]; and it was Moses' portion, as Jehovah had commanded Moses. Leviticus 8:29.