9422. Sit ye here for us. That this signifies that they should remain in it, is evident from the signification of “sitting here,” namely, in this place, or under the mountain, as being to remain in the external sense. “To sit” in a place denotes to remain in one’s state, and “under the mountain” denotes in the external sense of the Word; for by “sitting” is signified remaining, as will be evident from what follows. By “place” is signified state, and by “Mount Sinai” is signified the Law, or Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, thus the Word (see n. 9420); by its summit, where Jehovah or the Lord was (Exodus 19:20) is signified the highest or inmost of the Law, that is, of the Word (see n. 8827); by all the rest of the mountain that was below the summit is signified the internal of the Law or of the Word, such as it is in heaven; and by what was beneath the mountain, where were the elders and the people, is signified the external of the Law or of the Word, which is its external sense. Thus are represented in the Word the inmost, the interior, and the exterior, of the things signified by “the mountain;” here the inmost, the interior, and the exterior things of the Law or of the Word, for “Mount Sinai” signifies the Law, or the Word (n. 9420). From this it is plain that by “Sit ye here for us,” is signified that they should remain in the external sense.

[2] That it is said “sit” is because “sitting” signifies remaining in a state; for movements from place to place signify changes of state of the interiors, as can be seen from what has been already shown (n. 2837, 3356, 3387, 4321, 4882, 5605, 7381). Consequently “sitting” signifies a permanent abiding in the state of the interiors. Because “sitting” has such a signification, therefore to sit was one of the rituals received among the sons of Israel when they represented a permanent state of the interiors; as in the book of Judges:

The sons of Israel came unto Bethel, and wept, and sat there before Jehovah, and fasted that day until the evening (Judg. 20:26).

The people came to Bethel, and sat there till even before God, and lifted up their voice, and wept with a great weeping (Judg. 21:2).

Here by “sitting” is signified permanence in a state of grief.

[3] From this it can be seen why “sitting” is spoken of, and what it infolds in the following passages, in David:

Jehovah, Thou hast known my downsitting and mine uprising; Thou hast understood my thought afar off (Psalms 139:2).

Thou shalt not go into the house of feasting to sit with them (Jeremiah 16:8).

Then he shall stand and shall feed in the strength of Jehovah his God; and they shall sit (Micah 5:4).

Come down, and sit on the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the earth. Sit thou in silence, and enter into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; she saith in her heart, I shall not sit a widow (Isaiah 47:1, 5, 8).

In like manner in other passages: as “sitting in darkness” (Isaiah 42:7); “sitting in the assembly,” and “sitting alone” (Jeremiah 15:17); “sitting on the right hand and on the left” (Matthew 20:21), denoting to remain in a state of power over others; and “sitting on the right hand of the power of God” (Matthew 26:63-64; Mark 14:62; 16:19), speaking of the Lord, and denoting that the Divine omnipotence shall endure forever.

5605. And we will arise and go, and we will live, and not die. That this signifies spiritual life according to degrees, is evident from the signification of “arising,” as being elevation to higher or interior things, consequently to the things of spiritual life (see n. 2401, 2785, 2912, 2927, 3171, 4103, 4881); from the signification of “going,” as being to live (n. 3335, 3690, 4882, 5493), and as the words follow “and we will live,” “going” signifies the first spiritual life; from the signification of “living,” as being spiritual life, for no other life is meant in the internal sense of the Word; and from the signification of “not dying,” as being no longer to be damned, that is, to be out of a state of damnation, for in the internal sense of the Word no other than spiritual death is meant, which is damnation. From this it is plain that by “we will arise and go, and we will live and not die” is signified life according to degrees; namely, introduction into life by “arising,” the first of life by “going,” life itself by “living,” and being led out from the things of no life by “not dying.”

[2] That “to go” in the internal sense is to live, seems strange to him who knows nothing about spiritual life; but it is like “journeying,” which denotes the order of life and what is successive of life (n. 1293, 4375, 4554, 4585), and like “sojourning,” which denotes to be instructed and to live accordingly (n. 1463, 2025, 3672). The reason why “going,” “journeying,” and “sojourning” have these significations might indeed be told, but the reason is of such a nature as could scarcely be accepted by those who are ignorant of the nature of movements in the other life. Movements and progressions there are nothing else-because from no other source-than changes of the state of life. These changes appear in externals exactly like progressions from place to place. That this is so can be confirmed by much experience in the other life; for I have walked there in spirit with them and among them, through many of their abodes, and this though in body I remained in the same place. I have also talked with them as to how this could be, and have been informed that it is the changes of the state of life that make progressions in the spiritual world.

[3] This was also confirmed by the fact that by means of changes induced on their states, spirits can appear on high, and then in a moment beneath, or now far to the west, and in a moment to the east, and so on. But as before said this cannot but seem strange to him who knows nothing about life in the spiritual world; for there are no spaces or times there, but states of life instead. These states produce in externals a most living appearance of progressions and motions. The appearance is as living and real as that life itself is in us and therefore our own, when yet life flows in from the Lord, who is the fountain of all life (see n. 2021, 2658, 2706, 2886-2888, 3001, 3318, 3337-3338, 3484, 3619, 3741-3743, 4151, 4249, 4318-4320, 4417, 4523, 4524, 4882). As “going” and “moving” signify living, it was therefore said by the ancients, that “in God we move, live, and have our being” [Acts 17:28; and by “moving” they meant the external of life, by “living” its internal, and by “being” its inmost.