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.

2233. That a “house” denotes those who are in goods, is evident from the signification of a “house,” as being good (see n. 710, 1708, 2048). By a “house,” or those born in the house, in the abstract sense goods are in like manner signified, but as applied to man they denote all who are in good.

6107. 'According to the mouth of a young child' means each one in keeping with the essential nature of the good of innocence. This is clear from the meaning of 'according to the mouth' as each one and in keeping with the essential nature; and from the meaning of 'a young child' as the good of innocence, dealt with in 430, 2126, 3183, 5608. What the description 'influx from the internal celestial into spiritual good and the Church's truths within the natural in keeping with the essential nature of the good of innocence' really means is this: Innocence is what gives all the good of charity and love its essential nature from deep within. For the Lord flows by means of innocence into charity; and the amount of innocence present determines the amount of charity received, since innocence is the very essence of charity, 2780, 3111, 3183, 3994, 4797, 6013.

[2] What innocence is like is mirrored by young children. That is to say, one can see what it is like in the way they love their parents and trust only them, also in their lack of all concern except to please their parents, so that food and clothing are to them not only something they need but also a source of delight. Because they love their parents they do with affection and delight whatever their parents approve of, thus not only what their parents command but also what they think they wish to command. In addition they have no regard for themselves, besides having many other characteristics. But it should be recognized that the innocence of young children is not really innocence, only a semblance of it. Real innocence resides solely in wisdom, see 2305, 2306, 3494, 4797; and wisdom consists in behaving towards the Lord in the ways, as have just been described, that young children do towards their parents, yet with the good of love and faith as the motivation.