9373. Come up unto Jehovah. That this signifies conjunction with the Lord, is evident from the signification of “coming up,” as being to be raised toward interior things (see n. 3084, 4539, 4969, 5406, 5817, 6007), consequently also to be conjoined (n. 8760). That it denotes conjunction with the Lord, is because by “Jehovah” in the Word is meant the the Lord, (n. 1343, 1736, 1793, 2004, 2005, 2018, 2025, 2921, 3023, 3035, 5663, 6280, 6303, 6905, 8274, 8864, 9315). A secret which also lies hidden in the internal sense of these words, is that the sons of Jacob, over whom Moses was the head, were not called and chosen; but they themselves insisted that Divine worship should be instituted among them (according to wh at has been said in n. 4290, 4293); and therefore it is here said, “and He said unto Moses, Come up unto Jehovah,” as if not Jehovah, but another, had said that he should come up. For the same reason in what follows it is said that “the people should not go up” (verse 2); and that “Jehovah sent not His hand unto the sons of Israel who were set apart” (verse 11); and that “the appearance of the glory of Jehovah was like devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the sons of Israel” (verse 17); and lastly that Moses, being called the seventh day, “entered into the midst of the cloud.” For by “the cloud” is meant the Word in the letter (n. 5922, 6343, 6752, 6832, 8106, 8443, 8781); and with the sons of Jacob the Word was separated from its internal sense, because they were in external worship without internal, as can be clearly seen from the fact that now, as before, they said, “all the words which Jehovah hath spoken we will do” (verse 3); and yet scarcely forty days afterward they worshiped a golden calf instead of Jehovah; which shows that this was hidden in their hearts while they were saying with their lips that they would serve Jehovah alone. But nevertheless those who are meant by “the called and the chosen” are those who are in internal worship, and who from internal worship are in external; that is, those who are in love to and faith in the Lord, and from this in love toward the neighbor.
Genesis 18
1
And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day;
2
And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground,
3
And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant:
4
Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree:
5
And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said.
6
And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth.
7
And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetcht a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hasted to dress it.
8
And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat.
9
And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent.
10
And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him.
11
Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.
12
Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?
13
And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old?
14
Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.
15
Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And he said, Nay; but thou didst laugh.
16
And the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way.
17
And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do;
18
Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?
19
For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.
20
And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;
21
I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.
22
And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD.
23
And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
24
Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?
25
That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?
26
And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.
27
And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes:
28
Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it.
29
And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for forty's sake.
30
And he said unto him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there.
31
And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty's sake.
32
And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake.
33
And the LORD went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place.
Arcana Coelestia #4290
4290. In the internal historical sense, by “he said, I will not let thee go unless thou bless me,” is signified that they insisted upon being representative; for their insisting is signified by “I will not let thee go,” and representing a church by being “blessed.” In regard to this subject—that the posterity of Jacob insisted upon being representative of a church, and that they were chosen above all other nations—this cannot indeed be made so evident from the historicals of the Word in the sense of the letter, for the reason that the historicals of the Word in the sense of the letter enfold within them deep secrets of heaven, and therefore these so follow in the series; and also because the names themselves signify things; many names indeed in their supreme sense signify the Lord Himself, such as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That these in the supreme sense signify the Lord, has been shown many times in what precedes (see n. 1965, 1989, 2011, 3245, 3305, 3439).
[2] That the posterity of Jacob were not chosen, but insisted that a church should be among them, may be seen from many passages of the Word, from its internal historical sense, and openly in the following.
In Moses:
Jehovah spoke unto Moses, Go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast made to go up out of the land of Egypt, into the land of which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it; I will not go up in the midst of thee, for thou art a stiffnecked people; lest I consume thee in the way. And when the people heard this evil word, they mourned, and put off everyone his ornament from upon him. And Moses took the tent, and pitched it for himself without the camp, in removing far from the camp. And Moses said unto Jehovah, See, Thou sayest unto me, Make this people go up, and Thou hast not made known to me whom Thou wilt send with me. Now therefore I pray if I have found grace in Thine eyes, make known to me I pray Thy way, that I may know concerning Thee, that I have found grace in Thine eyes; behold also that this nation is Thy people. He said therefore, My faces shall go until I give thee rest (Exodus 33:1-7, 12-14).
It is here said that Moses made the people go up out of the land of Egypt, and then that they put off their ornament and mourned, and that Moses pitched his tent without the camp, and that thereby Jehovah assented; thus plainly showing that they themselves insisted.
[3] In the same:
Jehovah said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke Me, and how long will they not believe in Me, for all the signs which I have wrought in the midst of them? I will smite them with the pestilence, and will extinguish them, and will make of thee a nation greater and mightier than they. But Moses supplicated, and Jehovah being entreated said, I will be gracious according to thy word: nevertheless, I live, and the whole earth shall be filled with the glory of Jehovah; for as to all those men who have seen My glory, and My signs which I wrought in Egypt, and in the wilderness, yet have tempted Me these ten times, and have not obeyed my voice, surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked Me see it. Your bodies shall fall in this wilderness; but your little children will I bring in (Numbers 14:11-12, 20-23, 29, 31).
From these words it is also manifest that Jehovah willed to extinguish them, and consequently not to set up a church among them, but that they insisted and it was therefore done—besides many other times also, when Jehovah willed to utterly destroy that nation so often rebellious, but as often suffered Himself to be entreated by their supplications.
[4] The like is also involved in Balaam’s not being permitted to curse that people (Numbers 22,23, 24); and in other places also, where it is said that Jehovah repented that He had brought in that people; also that Jehovah was entreated; and also that He so often made a new covenant with them. Such things are signified in the internal historical sense by the words “I will not let thee go, unless thou bless me.” The same is also signified by Jacob’s taking away the birthright from Esau, and also by his taking the blessing from him by fraud (Genesis 25 and 27).
