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.

10090. 'And it shall be the portion for you' means transmission to those who are governed by God's truths. This is clear from the representation of Moses, whose portion the breast was to be, as the Lord in respect of Divine Truth, thus Divine Truth which comes from the Lord, dealt with in 6752, 7010, 7014, 9372; and from the meaning of 'being the portion for' as transmission, since those parts of sacrifices that were given to Moses, Aaron, his sons, and the people were signs of the transmission of what was Divine and holy with them. And all transmission takes place in accord with the character of the recipient, thus in accord with the character of the representation among those who were the recipients.

[2] The reason why the breast was apportioned to Moses and the flank, spoken of a little further on, to Aaron was that the subject at present is the transmission of Divine Truth and Divine Good from the Lord in heaven and in the Church, and their making that Truth and Good their own. These two - Divine Truth and Divine Good, both of which come from the Lord - are what are received there, Divine Truth by those in the Lord's spiritual kingdom and Divine Good by those in the celestial kingdom, see the places referred to in 9277, 9684. This explains why the breast was apportioned to Moses and the flank to Aaron, for 'the breast' means Divine Truth in the Lord's spiritual kingdom, 10087, while 'the flank' means Divine Good in the celestial kingdom, 10075, as also does 'the bread in the basket', which too was assigned to Aaron, 10077.

[3] As was shown just above, Moses represented the Lord in respect of Divine Truth; and Aaron, when consecrated to the priesthood, represented the Lord in respect of Divine Good, see 9806. The fact that the breast was assigned to Moses as his portion is clear in Leviticus, where again the consecration of Aaron and his sons to the priesthood is the subject,

Moses took the breast and waved it as a wave offering before Jehovah, from the ram of fillings [of the hand]; and it was Moses' portion, as Jehovah had commanded Moses. Leviticus 8:29.