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.

5530. 'That behold, each man's bundle of silver' means truths in ordered groups freely given. This is clear from the meaning of 'bundle' as an ordered group, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'silver' as truth, dealt with in 1551, 2954 - 'each man's in his sack' meaning that the ordered groups were freely given. The reason why 'bundle' means an ordered group is that the truths present with a person are arranged and ordered into sequences. The truths most in harmony with his loves lie in the middle; ones less in harmony with his loves lie immediately around those in the middle, while truths that are not at all in harmony with his loves lie pushed back to the peripheries. And lying outside that whole sequence are those which are contrary to his loves. The truths in the middle are therefore called kindred ones since love is the creator of kinship; those that are more remote are called associated ones, extending to and ending with associates that are on the fringes. All the truths present with a person are arranged into sequences like this and are meant by 'bundles'.

[2] From this one may see quite clearly what the situation is with those governed by self-love and love of the world and what it is with those governed by love to God and towards their neighbour. With people governed by self-love and love of the world the kinds of truths that lend support to these loves are in the middle, while those giving them little support are on the peripheries, and those contrary to them, such as truths to do with loving God and loving their neighbour, are cast to the outside. Such is the state of those in hell. This also explains why sometimes a band of light is seen around them; but inside this band where they themselves are, there exists a dark, gruesome, and horrible centre. With angels however there is a radiance at the centre, fuelled by the good of celestial and spiritual love, with a band of light or shining whiteness clothing it round about. Those who appear like this are likenesses of the Lord, for when He Himself revealed His Divinity to Peter, James, and John, He shone with His face like the sun, and His garments became like the light, Matthew 17:2. The fact that angels, who are likenesses of Him, are seen in a radiance with a surrounding whiteness is evident from the angel who came down from heaven and rolled the stone away from the door of the tomb,

His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. Matthew 28:3.

4982. Was upon all that he had in the house and in the field. That this signifies in life and in doctrine, is evident from the signification of “house,” as being good (n. 2048, 2233, 2559, 3128, 3652, 3720), and because it signifies good, it signifies also life, for all good is of life; and from the signification of “field,” as being the truth of the church (n. 368, 3508, 3766, 4440, 4443), and because it signifies the truth of the church, it signifies also doctrine, for all truth is of doctrine. “House” and “field” are occasionally mentioned in other parts of the Word, and when the subject treated of is the celestial man, by “house” is signified celestial good, and by “field” spiritual good. Celestial good is the good of love to the Lord, and spiritual good is the good of charity toward the neighbor. But when the spiritual man is treated of, by “house” is signified the celestial that is in him, which is the good of charity toward the neighbor; and by “field,” the spiritual that is in him, which is the truth of faith. Both the one and the other are signified in Matthew:

Let him that is upon the housetop not go down to take anything that is in his house, and let him that is in the field not return back to take his garment (Matthew 24:17-18; see n. 3652).