241. Verse 18. I counsel thee, signifies the means of reformation of those who are in the doctrine of faith alone. This is evident from what now follows, for the reformation of those who are in that doctrine is now treated of; therefore "I counsel thee" implies precepts as to how such must live that they may be reformed and thus saved.

8778. 'And Moses brought back the people's words to Jehovah' means correspondence and being joined together. This is clear from the meaning of 'bringing words back to Jehovah' as correspondence and consequently being joined together. For the subject is the covenant that is to be made with the people; and since covenants are made through agreement on both sides, something that resembles the making of a covenant takes place here. That is to say, Jehovah proposes and the people respond, at this point through Moses, who represents the truth from God when it has been joined to Divine Truth as it exists in heaven, 8760, which is intermediary. But the only way that the covenant is made with mankind is through being receptive of the influx of truth from the Divine, and through correspondence at that time; for when higher things flow into lower they are not received in any other way.

[2] What correspondence and receptivity through correspondence are becomes clear from what has been shown at the ends of quite a number of chapters regarding the correspondence of all things present in the human being with the things that exist in heaven. It has also been shown in those places that all joining of natural things to spiritual ones, and in general of lower things to higher ones, is accomplished through correspondence. Such correspondence does not exist unless the lower things are placed in subordinate positions and made subject to the higher ones; and when the lower have been made subject, the higher ones act on them altogether as a cause does on its effect. From all this one may see what reciprocity on man's side is when the Divine flows in, and what the consequent joining together is, which is described in the sense of the letter here by the method used to make covenants, which is that Jehovah speaks to the people through a messenger, and the messenger brings their reply back to Jehovah. For this is how a person can grasp the concept of being joined to the Divine.