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.

491. The same things are signified by “sons” and “daughters” in this chapter (verses 4, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19, 26, 30), but such as is the church, such are the “sons and daughters” that is, such are the goods and truths; the truths and goods here spoken of are such as were distinctly perceived, because they are predicated of the Most Ancient Church, the principal and parent of all the other and succeeding churches.

8787. Go unto the people. That this signifies conjunction, is evident from the representation of Moses at this time, as being truth from the Divine which is beneath heaven (see above n. 8760); and from the representation of the sons of Israel, who are here “the people” to whom he was to go, as being those who are of the spiritual church (of which frequently above). That “to go unto the people,” when said by Jehovah, denotes conjunction, is because truth from the Divine, which is represented by Moses, is that of the Divine which mediates with those who are of the church; for in order that conjunction may be effected, which is here represented by the covenant between Jehovah and the people, there must be mediation; therefore also by Moses is represented truth from the Divine beneath heaven conjoined with truth Divine in heaven (n. 8760), and this for the sake of mediation.