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.

2971. The field and the cave that was therein. That this signifies as to the good and the truth of faith, is evident from the signification of “field” as being the church, also the good itself of the church. The celestial, or good, which is of love to the Lord and of charity toward the neighbor, is compared to “ground,” and also to “field;” it is also called “ground” and “field;” because the celestial or good is that which receives the truths of faith, which are compared to seeds and are also called “seeds.” The same is evident also from the signification of a “cave,” as being the truth of faith which is in obscurity (see n. 2935); it is said to be in obscurity because it is with the spiritual (see n. 1043, 2708, 2715).

5157. And the bird shall eat thy flesh from upon thee. That this signifies that the falsity of evil will consume what is of these sensuous things, is evident from the signification of “eating,” as being to consume (of which above, n. 5149); and from the signification of “bird,” as being falsity (of which also above, n. 5149); and from the signification of “flesh,” as being good (see n. 3812, 3813), and hence in the opposite sense evil; for most of the expressions in the Word have also an opposite sense, which is known from their signification in the genuine sense; and from the signification of “from upon thee,” as being from the sensuous things subject to the will part, for these are represented by the baker (n. 5078, 5082). That these were evil, and therefore to be rejected, is evident from what goes before.

[2] How the case is in regard to this-that the sensuous things subject to the intellectual part, which are represented by the butler, were retained, and that the sensuous things subject to the will part, which are represented by the baker, were rejected-is a secret that without enlightenment cannot be comprehended, but what follows may help to throw light upon it. By sensuous things are meant those memory-knowledges and those delights which have been instilled through the five external or bodily senses into man’s memory and into his desires, and which together constitute the exterior natural, from which a man is called a sensuous man. These memory-knowledges are subject to the intellectual part, but the delights are subject to the will part; the memory-knowledges also bear relation to the truths which are of the understanding, and the delights to the goods which are of the will; the former are what are represented by the butler and were retained, and the latter are what are represented by the baker and were rejected.

[3] The reason why the former were retained is that for a time they could agree with intellectual things; and the reason why the latter were rejected is that they could not possibly agree. For the will part in the Lord (who is the subject here treated of in the supreme internal sense) was Divine from conception, and was the Divine good itself; but the will part that He had by birth from the mother was evil; and therefore this was to be rejected, and in its place a new one was to be procured from the Divine will part by means of the intellectual, or from the Divine good by means of the Divine truth, thus from His own power. This is the secret that is here described in the internal sense.