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.

1672. And the kings that were with him. That this signifies the apparent truth which is of that good, is evident from the signification of “kings” in the Word. “Kings,” “kingdoms,” and “peoples,” in the historical and the prophetical parts of the Word, signify truths and the things which are of truths, as may be abundantly confirmed. In the Word an accurate distinction is made between a “people” and a “nation;” by a “people” are signified truths, and by a “nation” goods, as before shown (n. 1259, 1260). “Kings” are predicated of peoples, but not so much of nations. Before the sons of Israel sought for kings, they were a nation, and represented good, or the celestial; but after they desired a king, and received one, they became a people, and did not represent good or the celestial, but truth or the spiritual; which was the reason why this was imputed to them as a fault (see 1 Samuel 8:7-22, concerning which subject, of the Lord’s Divine mercy elsewhere). As Chedorlaomer is named here, and it is added, “the kings that were with him,” both good and truth are signified; by “Chedorlaomer,” good, and by “the kings,” truth. But what was the quality of the good and truth at the beginning of the Lord’s temptations has already been stated.

8762. 'Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel' means the salvation of those belonging to the spiritual Church, external and internal. This is clear from the meaning of 'saying' and 'telling' here as salvation, for what Jehovah now says and tells them through Moses is all about salvation; and from the meaning of 'the house of Jacob' and 'the children of Israel' as the external Church and the internal Church, dealt with in 3305, 4286. What the external Church and the internal Church are has been stated before in several places, where it was shown that the external aspect of the Ancient Church involved everything representing the internal, while the internal aspect of the Church was that which external things represented. People for example who considered Divine worship to consist in sacrifices, and in religious ceremonies and rules, which represented the spiritual and celestial realities of the Lord's kingdom, were concerned with external things, whereas those who considered Divine worship to consist at the same time in the celestial and spiritual realities that were represented were concerned with internal things. It is similar at the present day. Some people consider Divine worship to consist in going to church, listening to sermons, attending the Holy Supper, and doing these things in a devout manner, yet do not think of them except as duties to be done regularly because they have been instituted and commanded. Those people belong to the external Church. Others however likewise believe that such duties should be attended to, but that nevertheless the essential element of worship is the life of faith, which is charity towards the neighbour and love to the Lord. These people belong to the internal Church. Consequently those also belong to the external Church who do good to the neighbour and worship the Lord, but solely in a spirit of obedience born of faith, whereas those belong to the internal Church who do good to the neighbour and worship the Lord out of love. And so on with all else exemplifying those two aspects of the Church.

[2] But with every member of the Church both aspects must be present, the external and the internal. Unless both are present spiritual life does not exist with him; for the internal is so to speak the soul, and the external so to speak the body housing the soul. Those however who belong to the external Church are plainly concerned with external things of the Church and only vaguely with internal ones, whereas those belonging to the internal Church are plainly concerned with internal things and vaguely with external ones. But those concerned only with external things and not at the same time with internal do not belong to the Church. A concern for both exists with all who lead a good life in accordance with the teachings of their Church. But a concern for external things alone without internal exists with those who engage in acts of worship yet do not at the same time lead a good life in accordance with the teachings of their Church. There are few who know this; and the reason why few know it is that people consider worship and therefore salvation to consist wholly in faith, and not at all in charity. So it is also that those who think about eternal salvation consider it to consist in the religious life and not at all in the life of charity, regarding which kinds of life see 8252-8257.