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.

7891. And there shall be to you in the first day a holy convocation. That this signifies that in the beginning all shall be together, is evident from the signification of “the first day,” as being the beginning, namely, of liberation from those who have infested, and thus from damnation; and from the signification of “a holy convocation,” as being that all shall be together. Convocations took place in order that the whole assemblage of Israel might be together, and might thus represent heaven; for they were then all distinguished into tribes, and the tribes into families, and the families into houses. (That heaven along with the societies there was represented by the tribes, the families, and the houses of the sons of Israel, see n. 7836.) Therefore those convocations were called holy, and took place at every feast (Leviticus 23:27, 36; Numbers 28:26; 29:1, 7, 12). From this the feasts themselves were called “holy convocations,” for it was commanded that all the males should be present at them. That the feasts were called “holy convocations” is evident in Moses:

These are the set feasts of Jehovah, which ye shall call holy convocations, to offer a fire-offering unto Jehovah (Leviticus 23:37).

That at such times all males were to be present, in the same:

Three times in a year shall every male of thine appear together before Jehovah thy God, in the place which He shall choose; in the feast of unleavened things, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles (Deuteronomy 16:16).

5774. And laded everyone his ass, and returned to the city. That this signifies that truths were brought back from things of sense into memory-knowledges, is evident from the signification of an “ass,” as being memory-knowledge (see n. 5492) that “lading the ass” means bringing back from things of sense, is because by “making their bags come down to the earth” is signified bringing what was in the natural down to things of sense (n. 5767); and raising it from them is therefore here meant by “lading;” and from the signification of a “city,” as being doctrinal truth (n. 402, 2449, 2943, 3216).

[2] What it is to bring back truths from things of sense into memory-knowledges must be briefly explained. Things of sense are one thing, memory-knowledges another, and truths another. They succeed one another in turn; for memory-knowledges come forth from things of sense, and truths from memory-knowledges; for the things which enter by the senses are laid up in the memory, and from them the man concludes memory-knowledge, or perceives from them memory-knowledge which he learns; from the memory-knowledges he then concludes truths, or perceives from them truth which he learns. Every man so progresses as he grows up from childhood. When he is a child he thinks and apprehends things from things of sense; when older he thinks and apprehends things from memory-knowledges; and afterward from truths. This is the way to the judgment into which man grows with age.

[3] From this it may be seen that things of sense, memory-knowledges, and truths, are distinct, and even remain distinct-so much so that a man is sometimes in things of sense, as when he thinks only of what meets the senses; sometimes in memory-knowledges, as when he elevates his mind out of things of sense, and thinks interiorly; and sometimes in truths which have been concluded from memory-knowledges, as in the case when he thinks more interiorly. Everyone who reflects upon it can know these things from himself. Man can also bring truths down into memory-knowledges, and see them in these, and he can also bring memory-knowledges down into things of sense, and contemplate them therein; as well as the converse. From this it is now plain what is meant by bringing what is in the natural down to things of sense, and by bringing truths back from things of sense into memory-knowledges.