8686. 'And the people stood before Moses' means obedience at that time to God's truth. This is clear from the representation of 'Moses' as God's truth, as immediately above in 8685, so that 'standing before him' means consulting God's truth and awaiting the reply from it, and then acting in accordance with it, that is, obeying it. These words in the internal sense describe the first state, in which the Lord leads a person who is being regenerated by means of truth. The truth by which He leads him is the Word, since this is God's truth.

5672. 'Until Joseph's coming at midday' means up to when the internal would be present with light. This is clear from the meaning of 'until his coming' as up to when it was present; from the representation of 'Joseph' as the internal, dealt with in 5648; and from the meaning of 'midday' as a state of light, 1458, 3195, 3708. ¹ The reason 'midday' means a state of light is that the times of day, such as morning, midday, and evening, correspond to states of light in the next life; and states of light there are states of intelligence and wisdom, for the reason that the light of heaven holds intelligence and wisdom within it. The changing states of light there are like those times of day on earth - morning, midday, and evening. The states of shade akin to evening do not however have anything to do with the sun there, which is the Lord who is constantly shedding His light, but with the selfhood that is essentially the angels' own. For insofar as this selfhood takes over in their lives they pass into a state of shade or evening; but insofar as this selfhood gives way to the heavenly selfhood they move into a state of light. From this one may see where the correspondence of midday to a state of light has its origin.

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