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.

142. The SECOND difference is that to the angels the east is always facing them, the west behind, the south to the right and the north to the left. But since this can scarcely be comprehended in the world, because man turns his face to every quarter, it will, therefore, be explained. The entire heaven turns to the Lord as to its common centre, thus all the angels turn to Him. It is known that also on the earth there is a directing of all things towards a common centre. But there is this difference between the directing in the world and in heaven, that in heaven the front parts are turned to their common centre, but in the world the lower parts. In the world this directing is called centripetal force and also gravitation. The interiors of the angels are indeed actually turned forwards; and since the interiors manifest themselves in the face, therefore it is the face that determines the quarters. ¹

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