9370. EXODUS 24

1. 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.

2. And Moses, he alone, shall come near unto Jehovah; and they shall not come near; and the people shall not come up with him.

3. And Moses came and reported to the people all the words of Jehovah, and all the judgments; and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words that Jehovah hath spoken we will do.

4. And Moses wrote all the words of Jehovah, and rose up early in the morning, and built an altar under the mountain, and twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel.

5. And he sent youths of the sons of Israel, and they offered burnt-offerings, and sacrificed peace sacrifices of bullocks to Jehovah.

6. And Moses took half of the blood, and put it into basins; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.

7. And he took the book of the covenant, and read it in the ears of the people; and they said, All things that Jehovah hath spoken we will do and hear.

8. And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant that Jehovah hath made with you upon all these words.

9. And there went up Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel.

10. And they saw the God of Israel; and there was under His feet as a work of sapphire stone, and as the substance of heaven in respect to cleanness.

11. And unto the sons of Israel who were set apart He sent not His hand: and they saw God, and did eat and drink.

12. And Jehovah said unto Moses, Come up to Me into the mountain, and be thou there; and I will give thee the tables of stone, and the law, and the commandment, which I will write to teach them.

13. And Moses rose up, and Joshua his minister; and Moses went up unto the mountain of God.

14. And he said unto the elders, Sit ye here for us, until we return unto you; and behold Aaron and Hur are with you; whosoever hath words, let him come near unto them.

15. And Moses went up unto the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain.

16. And the glory of Jehovah tarried upon Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days; and on the seventh day He called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud.

17. And the aspect of the glory of Jehovah was like devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the sons of Israel.

18. And Moses entered into the midst of the cloud, and went up unto the mountain; and Moses was in the mountain forty days and forty nights.

THE CONTENTS.

The subject treated of in the internal sense is the Word given by the Lord through heaven; what is the nature of it; that it is Divine in both senses, the internal and the external; and that through it there is conjunction of the Lord with man.

3607. The days of mourning for my father draw near, and I will kill Jacob my brother. That this signifies the inversion and privation of the self-derived life of truth, is evident from the signification of “days of mourning,” as being the inversion of the state; and from the signification of “killing Jacob his brother,” as being to deprive truth of self-derived life. The case herein is similar to what was just now said concerning the signification of “hatred” in the internal sense, namely, that it is not hatred; and the same may be seen from what is continually taking place in the other life, where all the good that flows down from heaven to those who are in evil is turned into evil, and with the infernals into the opposite; in like manner truth into falsity (see n. 2123); and therefore on the other hand the evil and falsity that is with such spirits is in heaven good and truth; and in order that it may become good there are spirits in the way who reject the ideas of evil and falsity, so that the idea of good and truth may be presented (concerning which rejection see above, n. 1393, 1875). And moreover when that which is evil and false approaches those who are in good and truth, it does not appear as evil and falsity, but under another form in accordance with the nature and state of their goodness.

[2] From this it is evident that in the internal sense to “kill Jacob the brother” is not to kill, but is a privation of that life which is not compatible with truth; for truth has no life of itself, but from good, inasmuch as truth is only a vessel recipient of good (see n. 1496, 1832, 1900, 2063, 2261, 2269, 2697, 3049, 3068, 3128, 3146, 3318, 3387); and that in good there is life, but not in truth, except that which is from good (see n. 1589, and frequently elsewhere). Wherefore the privation of the self-derived life of truth is not the extinction of truth, but its vivification; for when truth appears to itself to have life from itself, then it has no life, except such life as in itself is not life; but when it is deprived of this, it is then gifted with real life, namely, through good from the Lord, who is life itself.

[3] This plainly appears from those who are in the other life. With such as are in truth alone, the ideas appear closed, so that those things which are of heaven cannot flow in, except only in a manner so general that the influx is scarcely known to be from heaven; whereas with such as are at the same time in good, their ideas appear open, so that the things which are of heaven flow in as into a heaven in miniature, or as into an image of themselves; for they flow in by means of the good that is in them through truths (see n. 1869, 2425). That truth is deprived of self-derived life when good begins to be in the prior place, or to have the dominion, may be seen from what has been said and shown above concerning the apparent priority of truth at first, and concerning the subsequent priority of good; this privation of the self-derived life of truth is what is here signified. The reason why these things are called the “mourning for a father,” is that days of mourning signify inversion of state, which inversion of state was signified above by the exceeding great shuddering with which Isaac shuddered (verse 33, n. 3593), and by the great and exceeding bitter cry with which Esau cried out (verse 34, n. 3597).