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.

3145. And loosed the camels. That this signifies freedom for those things which were to serve, is evident from the signification of “loosing,” as being to make free; and from the signification of “camels,” as being general memory-knowledges, and thus the things which were to serve (as just above, n. 3143). The real case herein is this: Without freedom no production of truth in the natural man is possible, nor any calling forth therefrom into the rational, and conjunction with good there. All these things take place in a free state; for it is the affection of truth from good which produces freedom. Unless truth is learned from affection, thus in freedom, it is not implanted; still less is it exalted toward the interiors and there made faith. That all reformation is effected in freedom, and that all freedom is of affection, and that the Lord keeps man in freedom, so that he may from himself and from what is his own be affected with truth and good and thereby be regenerated, may be seen above (n. 2870-2893). This is what is signified by “loosing the camels;” for if they were not significative of such things, these particulars would be too trifling to be recorded.

5337. 'And Joseph came out from before Pharaoh' means when the natural in general belonged to it. This is clear from the meaning of 'coming out' as belonging to it, dealt with below; from the representation of 'Joseph' as the celestial of the spiritual, and of 'Pharaoh' as the natural, both dealt with above. As regards the meaning of 'coming out' as belonging to it, or being its own, this is evident from what is said before and after this. It is also evident from the spiritual sense of the expression, for in that sense 'coming out' or going forth is making oneself present before another in a form suited to this other. Thus one is still the same person; only the form in which one appears is different. The expression 'coming out' is used in this sense in reference to the Lord, in John,

Jesus said regarding Himself, From God I came out and now come. John 8:42.

The Father loves you because you have loved Me and have believed that I came out from God. I came out from the Father and have come into the world; again I am leaving the world and going to the Father. The disciples said, We believe that You came out from God. John 16:27-28, 30.

They have received and know in truth that I came out from You. ¹ John 17:8.

[2] To show what is meant by 'coming out' or going forth let some examples be used. Truth is said to come out or go forth from good when truth is the form that good possesses, that is, when truth is good existing in a form intelligible to the understanding. The understanding too may be said to come out or go forth from the will when the understanding is the form that the will possesses, that is, when the will exists in a form discernible to a person's inner sight. Thought which is the activity of the understanding may in a similar way be said to come out or go forth when it is transformed into speech, and so may the will when this is transformed into action. Thought takes on a different form when it is transferred into speech; yet it is still thought which comes out or goes forth within such speech, for the words and sounds which are chosen are no more than adjuncts to thought which serve to present it in such a way that it can be discerned. The will in a similar way takes on a different form when it is transferred into action; yet it is still the will which is present in that different form. The gestures and movements which it adopts are no more than adjuncts to the will which serve to reveal this in a suitable way that enables it to be known. The external man may likewise be said to come out or go forth from the internal man, and to do so as that which manifests the substance, for the external man is nothing else than the form given to the internal man [or the substance], enabling it to function in a proper way in the world in which it exists. From all these examples one may see what is meant in the spiritual sense by 'coming out' or going forth, namely that when used in reference to the Lord, 'coming out' or going forth means the Divine existing within a human form, thus in a form suited to believers' perception. For these two [the Divine and the human form] exist as one.

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