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.

2812. And he laid the wood in order. That this signifies the righteousness which was adjoined to it, is evident from the signification of the “wood of a burnt-offering,” as being the merit of righteousness (see above, n. 2784, 2798); and from the signification of “laying the wood in order upon the altar,” as being to adjoin that righteousness to the Human Divine. The merit of righteousness is adjoined when it is there, and when there is confidence from truth that it belongs to Him.

5692. 'Towards his brother' means towards the internal going forth from himself. This is clear from the representation of Benjamin, to whom 'brother' refers here, as the intermediary, and so also the internal, dealt with in 5469; and because he goes forth, as the intermediary and the internal, from the celestial of the spiritual, which is 'Joseph', the words of explanation are 'towards the internal going forth from himself'. Anyone who receives anything of a Divine nature from the Lord, whom 'Joseph' represents here in the highest sense - for example, someone who receives any good of charity from Him - is called 'brother' by the Lord as well as 'son'.