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.

4314. In the internal historical sense 'he was limping on his thigh' means that with those descendants goods and truths had been destroyed completely. This is clear from the representation of Jacob, to whom 'he' refers here, as his descendants, dealt with in 4281, and from the meaning of 'limping on the thigh' as those who are without any good or consequently any truth, dealt with in 4302. Here therefore 'he was limping on his thigh' means that with those descendants goods and truths had been destroyed completely.

[2] The nature of that nation is made very plain by many things which the Lord Himself spoke in parables and which in the internal historical sense were said of that nation, as in the following,

In the parable about a certain king who was settling the account with the servant who showed no mercy towards another. Matthew 18:23-end.

In the parable about the householder who let his vineyard out to vine-dressers and went abroad; and the vine-dressers seized the servants he sent, beating one with rods, killing another, and stoning another. At length he sent his son whom they cast out of the vineyard and killed. When the scribes and Pharisees heard this parable they realized that He was speaking about themselves. Matthew 21:33-45; Mark 12:1-9; Luke 20:9 and following verses.

In the parable about the man who gave talents to his servants and how the servant who received one talent went and hid it in the ground. Matthew 25:14-30; Luke 19:12-27.

In the parable about those who came upon the man who had been wounded by the robbers. Luke 10:30-37.

In the parable about those who were invited to the great supper and all of whom made excuses, and of whom the master said, I tell you, none of those men who were invited will taste my supper. Luke 14:16-24.

In the parable about the rich man and Lazarus. Luke 16:19-end.

In the parable about those who despised others compared with themselves. Luke 18:10-14

In the parable about the two sons, one of whom said, I will go off into the vineyard, but did not go, and in which Jesus said, Truly I say to you, Tax collectors and prostitutes will go into the kingdom of heaven before you. Matthew 21:28-32.

[3] The Lord states plainly what that nation was like in Matthew 23:13 onwards, towards the end of which passage He says,

You witness against yourselves that you are the sons of those who slew the prophets; and you are filling up the measure of your fathers. Matthew 23:31-33.

In Mark,

Jesus said to them, Rightly did Isaiah prophesy concerning you, This people honours Me with their lips, but their heart is very far away from Me. In vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men, forsaking the commandment of God. Mark 7:6-13.

In John,

The Jews answered Jesus that they were the seed of Abraham. But Jesus said to them, You are from your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and did not take a stand on the truth because the truth is not in him. When he speaks a lie he speaks from the things that are his own, for he is the teller of a lie and the father of it. John 8:33, 44.

Because their nature was such they are also called 'a wicked and adulterous generation', Matthew 12:39, as well as 'a brood of vipers', Matthew 3:7; 23:33; Luke 3:7; and in Matthew,

O brood of vipers, how can you speak good things when you are evil? Matthew 12:34.

[4] The fact that with that nation not even any natural good was left is meant by the fig tree referred to in Matthew,

Jesus seeing a fig tree by the wayside went to it but found nothing on it but leaves only, therefore He said to it, Let no fruit from now on ever be born from you! Therefore the fig tree withered at once. Matthew 21:19.

'A fig tree' means natural good, see 217. From all these places it may be seen that with that nation goods and truths had been destroyed completely.

[5] Goods and truths are said to have been destroyed when none exist interiorly. Goods and truths which are visible externally derive their being and their life from those that are internal. The nature of internal goods and truths therefore determines that of external ones, however these present themselves to human eyes. There are some people whom I knew during their lifetime and who during that period were to outward appearance zealous for the Lord, for the Church, for their country and the common good, and for what was right and fair; and yet in the next life these same people are among those in hell. Indeed I have been astonished to find them among the most evil ones there. The reason why they were there was that interiorly they had been filthy and profane, and that they had pretended to be zealous for the sake of reputation, so as to gain important positions and also to acquire wealth. Thus they had been zealous for selfish reasons and not for the things which they professed with their lips. Consequently when those external things are laid aside, as happens when people die, internals are laid bare and one sees what those people have been like inwardly; for during their lifetime they had concealed their internals from the eyes of the world. These are the considerations that are meant by the statement that goods and truths have been destroyed completely.

4728. And cast him into one of the pits. That this signifies among falsities, is evident from the signification of “pits,” as being falsities. That “pits” are falsities, is because men who have been in principles of falsity are after death kept awhile under the lower earth, until falsities have been removed from them, and as it were rejected to the sides. These places are called “pits,” and those who go into them are such as must be in vastation (n. 1106-1113, 2699, 2701, 2704). It is for this reason that by “pits” in the abstract sense, are signified falsities. The lower earth is next under the feet and the region round about for a short distance. Here are most persons after death, before they are taken up into heaven. This earth is also frequently mentioned in the Word. Beneath it are the places of vastation, which are called “pits,” and below them and round about for a considerable extent, are hells.

[2] From this it is in some measure plain what is meant by “hell,” what by the “lower earth,” and what by a “pit,” when mentioned in the Word, as in Isaiah:

Thou hast been brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. Thou hast been cast forth out of thy grave like an abominable shoot, the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with the sword, that go down to the stones of the pit (Isaiah 14:15, 19);

speaking of the king of Babylon, by whom is represented the profanation of truth; for a “king” is truth (n. 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 4581), and “Babylon” profanation (n. 1182, 1326). “Hell” is where the damned are, and their damnation is compared to an abominable shoot, and to the raiment of those that are slain and thrust through with the sword, that go down to the stones of the pit. The “raiment of those that are slain” is truth profaned; “those thrust through with the sword” are they in whom truth has been extinguished; the “pit” is falsity which must be vastated; “stones” are the borders, whence also they are called the “sides,” for round about the pits are hells. (That “raiment” is truth, see above, n. 2576; that the “raiment of those that are slain” is truth profaned, for the “blood” by which it is stained is what is profane, n. 1003; and that “those thrust through with a sword” are they in whom truth has been extinguished, n. 4503). From this it is also plain that without the internal sense it could not possibly be known what is here meant.

[3] So too in Ezekiel:

When I shall bring thee down with them that descend into the pit, to the people of an age, and shall make thee to dwell in the earth of the lower regions, in desolations from an age, that thou dwell not with them that go down into the pit; then will I set adornment in the land of the living (Ezekiel 26:20);

“they that descend into the pit” denote those who are sent into vastation; “not to dwell with them that go down into the pit” means to be delivered from falsities.

[4] Again:

That none of all the trees of the waters exalt themselves for their stature, neither send their branch among the tangled boughs, nor stand over them for their height, all that drink water; they shall all be delivered unto death, to the lower earth in the midst of the sons of men, to them that go down into the pit. I will make the nations to shake at the sound of his ruin, when I make him go down into hell with them that go down into the pit; and all the trees of Eden, the choice and chief of Lebanon, all that drink waters, shall be comforted in the lower earth (Ezekiel 31:14, 16);

this is said of Egypt, by which is signified the knowledge that of itself enters into the mysteries of faith, that is, those who so enter (n. 1164, 1165, 1186). From what has been said above it is clear what is signified by “hell,” by the “pit,” and by the “lower earth,” which are here mentioned by the prophet; nor does it appear except from the internal sense what is signified by the “trees of the waters,” the “trees of Eden,” the “branch sent among the tangled boughs,” the “choice and chief of Lebanon,” and “all that drink waters.”

[5] Again:

Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and cause her to go down, even her, and the daughters of the august nations, unto the earth of the lower regions, with them that go down into the pit. Asshur is there, whose graves are set in the sides of the pit, all slain by the sword (Ezekiel 32:18, 22-23).

The signification of which may be seen from what has been explained above.

In David:

O Jehovah, Thou hast brought up my soul from hell; Thou hast kept me alive, from among them that go down into the pit (Psalms 30:3).

Again:

I am accounted with them that go down into the pit; I am accounted as a man that hath no strength. Thou hast set me in a pit of the lower regions, in darkness, in the depths (Psalms 88:4, 6).

In Jonah:

I went down to the cuttings off of the mountains; the bars of the earth were upon me forever; yet hast Thou brought up my life from the pit (Jonah 2:6); where the subject treated of is the Lord’s temptations, and deliverance from them. The “cuttings off of the mountains” are where the most damned are, the dark clouds which appear about them being the “mountains.”

[6] That a “pit” is the vastation of falsity, and in the abstract sense falsity, is still more evident in Isaiah:

They shall be gathered with a gathering as the bound to the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison; yet after a multitude of days shall they be visited (Isaiah 24:22).

Again:

Where is the anger of him that causeth straitness? He that leadeth forth shall hasten to open; and he shall not die at the pit, neither shall bread fail (Isaiah 51:13-14).

In Ezekiel:

Behold I bring strangers upon thee, the violent of the nations, who shall draw their swords upon the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall profane thy brightness. They shall bring thee down into the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are pierced in the heart of the seas (Ezekiel 28:7-8);

speaking of the prince of Tyre, by whom are signified those who are in principles of falsity.

[7] In Zechariah:

Exult greatly, O daughter of Zion; sound, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold thy King cometh unto thee; He is just, wretched, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of she-asses. By the blood of thy covenant I will send forth thy bound out of the pit wherein is no water (Zech. 9:9, 11); where the “pit wherein is no water” denotes falsity in which there is nothing true; as also in what follows it is said that they cast Joseph into the pit, and the pit was empty, there was no water in it (Genesis 37:24).

In David:

Unto thee O Jehovah will I cry, my Rock be not Thou silent unto me, lest if Thou be silent unto me I seem like them that go down into the pit (Psalms 28:1).

Again:

Jehovah brought me up also out of a pit of vastation, out of the miry clay; and He set my feet upon a rock (Psalms 40:2).

Let not the billow of waters overwhelm me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me (Psalms 69:15).

[8] Again:

He sent His word, and healed them, and rescued them from their pits (Psalms 107:20);

“from their pits” denoting from falsities. Again:

Make haste, answer me, O Jehovah; my spirit is consumed, hide not Thy faces from me, lest I become like them that go down into the pit (Psalms 143:7).

As a “pit” signifies falsity, and the “blind” signify those who are in falsities (n. 2383), the Lord therefore says,

Let them alone; they are blind leaders of the blind, for if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into a pit (Matthew 15:14; Luke 6:39).

Something similar to what was represented by Joseph was also represented by Jeremiah the prophet, concerning which he says:

They took Jeremiah, and cast him into the pit that was in the court of the guard; and they let down Jeremiah with cords, into the pit where was no water (Jeremiah 38:6).

That is, they rejected Divine truths among falsities in which was nothing of truth.