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.

8562. And there was no water for the people to drink. That this signifies a lack of truth and of the consequent refreshment, is evident from the signification of “water,” as being the truth of faith (see n. 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, 5668); and from the signification of “drinking,” as being to be instructed in the truths of faith and to receive them (n. 3069, 3772, 4017, 4018), here, to be refreshed; for as water and drink refresh the natural life, so truths and the knowledges of truth refresh the spiritual life. For he who is in spiritual life longs for the sustenance thereof from such things as are called heavenly food and drink, which are the goods and truths of faith; in like manner as he who is in natural life longs for sustenance from such things as are natural food and drink.

[2] That temptation as to truth is now treated of, is because temptation as to good was treated of just before, after which temptation they received the manna, by which is signified good. For when man is endowed with good by the Lord, he comes into a longing for truth, and this longing is kindled according to the lack of truth, because good continually strives after truth. All the genuine affection of truth is from good. The case herein is like food, which without drink cannot nourish the natural life; and it is also like it in that food longs for drink, with which it may be conjoined so as to serve for use. This then is the reason why temptation as to truth follows immediately after temptation as to good. Temptation attacks that which a man loves and longs for (n. 4274, 4299).

3478. There was also represented before certain spirits the tabernacle with the ark; for they who during their abode in the world have been greatly delighted with the Word, have such things actually presented to view. Such was the case with the tabernacle, together with all its appurtenances, its courts, its curtains round about, its veils within, the golden altar, or altar of incense, the table with the loaves upon it, the lampstand, the mercy-seat with the cherubim. At the same time it was given to the well-disposed spirits to perceive what each thing signified: that the three heavens were represented by the tabernacle, and the Lord Himself by the Testimony in the ark on which was the mercy-seat; and in proportion as their sight was opened, they saw therein things more and more heavenly and Divine, of which they had no knowledge in the life of the body; and wonderful to say there was not the smallest thing there that was not representative, even to the hooks and rings.

[2] For instance, the bread that was on the table-in this as in a representative and symbol they perceived that food by which angels live, thus celestial and spiritual love together with their joys and felicities; and in these loves and joys they perceived the Lord Himself, as the bread or manna from heaven; besides many particulars from the form, position, and number of the loaves; and from the gold encompassing the table, and from the lampstand, by which these things when illuminated exhibited still further representations of things unspeakable; and the same with everything else; from all which it might also appear that the rituals or representatives of the Jewish Church contained within them all the arcana of the Christian Church; and likewise that they to whom the representatives and significatives of the Word of the Old Testament are opened may know and perceive the arcana of the Lord’s Church on earth while they live in the world; and the arcana of arcana which are in the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens when they come into the other life.