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.

883. "And He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. And He Himself will be with them their God." This symbolizes their conjunction with the Lord, which is of such a nature that the people are in Him and He in them.

His dwelling with them symbolizes a conjunction of the Lord with them, as we will see below. The people's being His people, and His being with them their God, symbolically means that they are the Lord's, and that He is their Lord. Moreover, because dwelling with them symbolizes conjunction, it symbolically means that they will be in the Lord and have the Lord in them. Otherwise there is no conjunction. That this is the nature of the conjunction is clearly apparent from the Lord's words in John:

Abide in Me, and I in you... I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. (John 15:4-5)

And elsewhere:

At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. (John 14:20)

He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. (John 6:56)

[2] The Lord's assuming a humanity and uniting it with the Divinity He had in Him from birth, which is called the Father, had as its goal a conjunction with people, as is apparent also in John:

For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified in the truth..., that they may be one as We are one: I in them, and You in Me. (John 17:19, 21-23, 26)

It follows from this that the conjunction is formed with the Lord's Divine humanity, that it is a reciprocal one, and that this is the only means of conjunction with the Divine called the Father.

[3] The Lord also teaches that the conjunction is formed by the Word's truths and by living in accordance with them (John 14:20-24; 15:7).

This, then, is what is meant by the Lord's dwelling with them and their being His people, and His being with them their God. So, too, elsewhere where the same words occur: Jeremiah 7:23; 11:4; Ezekiel 14:11; Jeremiah 24:7; 30:22; Ezekiel 11:20; 36:28; 37:23, 27; Zechariah 8:8; Exodus 29:45.

[4] To dwell with them symbolizes a conjunction with them because to dwell symbolizes conjunction out of love, as may be seen from many passages in the Word. It may be seen also from the abodes of angels in heaven. Heaven is distinguished into countless societies, all of them different from each other in accordance with the differences in their love's affections, in general and in particular. Each society embodies one particular variety of affection, and the people in it have dwellings distinct from each other, depending on how close or akin they are within that variety of affection, and those who are the most closely related dwell together in the same house. Dwelling together, therefore, when said of married partners, symbolizes in the spiritual sense conjunction by love.

It should be known that conjunction with the Lord is not the same as His presence. Conjunction with the Lord is possible only with people who turn to Him directly, His presence with everyone else.

6343. Thou art my strength. That this signifies power in good by means of faith, is evident from the representation of Reuben, who here is “thou,” as being faith in the understanding (see n. 6342); and from the signification of “strength,” as being the power that is in good. As regards power, namely, the power of thinking and willing, of perceiving, of doing what is good, of believing, and of dissipating falsities and evils, it is all from good through truth; good is the principal, and truth is only the instrumental (see n. 3563, 4931, 5623). That there is signified the power that is in good, is because “strength” signifies this power, whereas “forces” signify the power of truth; hence it is that by “the beginning of my forces,” as presently follows, is signified the first power in truth; for the word by which “forces” are expressed in the original, is in the Word predicated of truth; but the word by which “strength” is expressed, is predicated of good.

[2] That the Word is holy, and in its interiors most holy, is very evident from the fact that in every detail of the Word there is the heavenly marriage, that is, the marriage of good and truth, thus heaven; and that in every detail of the inmost sense there is the marriage of the Lord’s Divine Human with His kingdom and church; nay, in the supreme sense there is the union of the Divine Itself and the Divine Human in the Lord. These most holy things are in every detail of the Word-a manifest proof that the Word has descended from the Divine. That this is so may be seen from the fact that where mention is made of good, mention is made of truth also; and where the internal is spoken of, the external also is spoken of. There are also words which constantly signify good, and words which constantly signify truth, and words which signify both good and truth; and if they do not signify them, still they are predicated of them, or involve them. From the predication and signification of these words it is plain that, as before said, in every detail there is the marriage of good and truth, that is, the heavenly marriage, and in the inmost and supreme sense the Divine marriage which is in the Lord, thus the Lord Himself.

[3] This appears everywhere, but not evidently except in passages where there are repetitions of the same thing, with only a change of words, as in this chapter, where it is said of Reuben, “Thou art my strength, and the beginning of my forces;” also, “excellent in eminence, and excellent in power.” Here “strength” relates to good, and “forces” to truth; and “excellent in eminence” to truth, and “excellent in power” to good. So in the following verse, of Reuben: “Thou wentest up on thy father’s bed; then thou profanedst it; he went up on my couch.” So in what follows with respect to Simeon and Levi: “Cursed be their anger, for it was vehement, and their wrath, for it was hard; I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel” (verse 7); where “anger” signifies a turning away from good, and “wrath” a turning away from truth; and “Jacob” is the external of the church, and “Israel” is its internal. Also with respect to Judah: “Thy brethren shall celebrate thee; thy father’s sons shall bow down to thee” (verse 8). Again: “He binds his young ass unto the vine, and his ass’s colt unto the choice vine; he washes his clothing in wine, and his covering in the blood of grapes” (verse 11). With respect to Zebulun: “He shall dwell at the haven of the seas, and he shall be at the haven of ships” (verse 13). With respect to Dan: “He shall be a serpent upon the way, an arrow-snake upon the path” (verse 17).

[4] Like things frequently occur in the Psalms and in the prophets, as in Isaiah:

Babel shall not be inhabited to eternity, neither shall it be inhabited even to generation and generation. Her time is near, and it shall come, and her days shall not be prolonged” (Isaiah 13:20, 22).

Seek ye from above in the book of Jehovah, and read ye; no one of these shall be missing, the one shall not long for the other; for with the mouth He hath commanded, and His spirit it hath gathered them. And the same hath cast the lot for them, and the hand hath distributed to them by rule. They shall possess it even eternally, to generation and generation shall they dwell therein” (Isaiah 34:16-17);

and so in a thousand other passages. He who does not know that the expressions in the Word are significative of spiritual and celestial things, and that some are said of good, and some of truth, cannot but believe that such expressions are mere repetitions, said merely to fill up, and therefore in themselves useless; and from this it is that they who think wrongly about the Word, regard such expressions as ground for contempt; when yet the veriest Divine things are stored therein, namely, the heavenly marriage, which is heaven itself; and the Divine marriage, which is the Lord Himself. This sense is the “glory” in which the Lord is, and the literal sense is the “cloud” in which is this glory (Matthew 24:30; Luke 21:27 nesis 18, and also n. 5922)