9411. 'And they saw God' means faith. This is clear from the meaning of 'seeing God' as being endowed with intelligence and faith. 'Seeing' in the internal sense means seeing in a spiritual manner, and seeing in a spiritual manner implies seeing with the gift of faith; this is why 'seeing' in the Word means having faith, 2325, 3863, 3869, 4403-4421, 5400, 6805, 9128. The reason why they saw the God of Israel, that is, the Lord, is that in a broad sense the laws declared from Mount Sinai mean the Word in its entirety, and the Word is Divine Truth from the Lord, which deals in its highest sense with the Lord alone. All this being so, those who receive enlightenment when they read the Word see the Lord; they do so because of the faith and the love they have. They see Him solely in the Word and in no other writing whatever. From this it is evident why Moses, Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders saw Him. The fact that these saw Him and not the children of Israel who had been set apart is evident from the preceding verses 9 and 10, which say, 'Moses and Aaron went up, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. And they saw the God of Israel', and the present verse says, 'And on the children of Israel who had been set apart He did not lay a hand'. The reason why the former saw God and not the latter was that 'Moses and Aaron' represented the Word in respect of its inward and outward senses, 9374, 'Nadab and Abihu' teachings derived from both senses, 9375, and 'the seventy elders' all who are governed by good which results from truths received from there, 9376, 9404, whereas 'the children of Israel who had been set apart' represented those who are restricted to the outward sense of the Word, separated from the inward.

7318. 'And the fish that are in the river will die' means that factual knowledge of truth will be destroyed. This is clear from the meaning of 'fish' as factual knowledge, dealt with in 40, 991, at this point factual knowledge of truth since it says that the fish are going to die because the water they are in has been turned into blood, meaning that such knowledge will be destroyed through falsification; and from the meaning of 'dying' as being destroyed. A number of examples will show what the falsification of truth is. Truth is falsified when on the basis of false reasonings people deduce and declare that because no one can do good all by himself good contributes nothing to salvation. Truth is also falsified when they declare that whatever good a person does has self in view and is done for the sake of reward, and this being so, that the works of charity do not need to be performed. Truth is falsified when people declare that because all good has its origin in the Lord a person should not perform anything good at all but should wait for inspiration. Truth is falsified when they declare that truth can exist with a person without the good of charity, thus faith without charity. Truth is falsified when people declare that nobody can enter heaven except him who is wretched and poor, and also when they declare that no one can enter unless he gives all his goods to the poor and reduces himself to a state of wretchedness.

[2] Truth is falsified when people declare that everyone, irrespective of the kind of life he has been leading, can by mercy be admitted into heaven. Truth is falsified further still when they declare that someone has been given the power to admit whomever he chooses into heaven. Truth is falsified when people declare that sins are altogether purged, and washed away like dirt by water. And truth is falsified further still when they declare that somebody has the power to forgive sins, and that when they have been forgiven those sins are altogether purged, making the person pure. Truth is falsified when people declare that the Lord has taken onto Himself and so bears all sins, so that a person can be saved no matter what kind of life he leads. Truth is falsified when they declare that no one is saved except him who is within the Church. The reasonings by means of which falsification is effected are contained in the notion that those who are within the Church have been baptized, possess the Word, know about the Lord, resurrection, eternal life, heaven, and hell, and accordingly know what the faith that enables them to be justified is. Reasonings like these are countless, for not one single truth exists that is incapable of being falsified, and there is no falsification that cannot be substantiated by means of reasonings based on illusions.

9375. 'Nadab and Abihu' means teachings derived from both senses. This is clear from the fact that they were Aaron's sons; therefore when the Word is meant by 'Aaron', teachings are meant by 'his sons', teachings derived from the inward sense of the Word being meant by the older son, and teachings derived from the outward sense of it by the younger. Teachings derived from the inward sense of the Word and teachings derived from the outward sense of the Word make one with each other; for people alert to what lies on an inward level are aware also of what lies on an outward level. The Lord's Church exists everywhere on an inward level and on an outward level. The Church on an inward level resides in the heart, the Church on an outward level resides on the lips; that is, the inward Church resides in the will, the outward in action. When the inward level in a person makes one with the outward what resides in the heart then lies also on the lips, or what resides in the will then lies in action. Or what amounts to the same thing, what lies on the lips is then the heart speaking, and what lies in action is then the will acting, without any disagreement between the inward and the outward. Thus it is also faith speaking and love or charity acting, that is, it is the Lord, who is the Source of faith and charity, speaking and acting.

[2] Since Nadab and Abihu, Aaron's sons, represented teachings derived from the Word, they were therefore killed when they introduced worship based on teachings different from those derived from the Word. This was represented by the following incident involving them, recorded in Moses,

Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu each took his censer and put fire in it, onto which they placed incense, and in so doing offered to Jehovah foreign ¹ fire, which He had not commanded them. Therefore fire went out from before Jehovah and devoured them, so that they died before Jehovah. And Moses said to Aaron, This is what Jehovah spoke, saying, In those who are near Me ² I will be sanctified. Leviticus 10:1-3.

'Foreign fire in the censer' means teachings derived from a source other than the Word. For 'fire' means the good of love and 'incense' the truth of faith rising from it, and the good of love and the truth of faith are the realities which go to make teachings derived from the Word. From this it is evident why they were devoured by fire 'from before Jehovah'. 'Being sanctified through those who are near' means with those who are joined to the Lord through the good of love and the truth of faith derived from the Word. For the meaning of 'fire' as the good of heavenly love, see 934, 4906, 5071 (end), 5215, 6314, 6832, 6834, 6849, 7324, 7852, 9055; and the meaning of 'incense' as faith rising from the good of love will be shown elsewhere.

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