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.

1167. In the Word 'Canaan' or the Canaanite means forms of ritual or external worship separated from internal. This is clear from very many places, especially in historical sections. This being the character of the Canaanites at the time that the sons of Jacob were brought into the land, permission was given to wipe them out. But in the internal sense of the Word Canaanites are used to mean all people whose worship is external separated from internal. And because this was pre-eminently true of the Jews and Israelites, they specifically are meant in the prophetic Word, as becomes clear from the following two places alone: In David,

They poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; and the land was profaned with blood. ¹ They became unclean by their acts, and committed whoredom in their doings. Psalms 106:38-39.

Here 'pouring out the blood of sons and daughters' means in the internal sense that they destroyed every truth of faith and good of charity. 'Sacrificing sons and daughters to the idols of Canaan' means profaning matters of faith and charity by means of external worship separated from internal, which is nothing else than idolatrous worship. So 'they became unclean by their acts and committed whoredom in their doings'. In Ezekiel,

Thus said the Lord Jehovih to Jerusalem, Your tracings and your nativity are of the land of Canaan. Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. Ezekiel 16:3.

Here it is stated explicitly that they belonged to the land of Canaan. As regards 'Canaan' meaning external worship separated from internal, see what has appeared already in 1078, 1094.

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