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.

9093. And they shall divide the silver of it. That this signifies that the truth thereof shall be dissipated, is evident from the signification of “dividing,” as being to banish and dissipate (see n. 6360, 6361); and from the signification of “silver,” as being truth (n. 1551, 2048, 5658, 6112, 6914, 6917, 7999). That “to divide” denotes to dissipate, is because if those things which have been associated together are divided, they are also scattered, as he who divides his mind destroys it. For the mind of man is an association of two parts, one part being called the understanding, the other the will. He who divides these two parts scatters the things which belong to one part, for one part must live from the other; consequently the other also perishes. It is the same with him who divides truth from good, or what is the same, faith from charity. He who does this destroys both. In a word, all things which ought to be united in a one, if divided perish.

[2] This division is meant by the Lord’s words in Luke:

No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will prefer the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon (Luke 16:13).

That is, by faith serve the Lord, and by love the world; thus acknowledge truth, and do evil. He who does this has a divided mind, from which comes its destruction. From all this it is evident whence it is that “to divide” denotes to dissipate; as is also evident in Matthew:

The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he expecteth not, and in an hour when he knoweth not, and shall divide him, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites (Matthew 24:50-51); where “to divide” denotes to separate and remove from goods and truths (n. 4424), thus to dissipate.

[3] In Moses:

Cursed be their anger, for it was vehement; and their wrath, for it was hard. I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel (Genesis 49:7); where Israel speaks prophetically of Simeon and Levi. By Simeon and Leviticus are there represented those who are in faith separate from charity (n. 6352), by Jacob and Israel the church external and internal, and also the external and internal man (n. 4286, 4598, 5973, 6360, 6361). “To divide them in Jacob” denotes to expel them from the external church; and “to scatter them in Israel” denotes from the internal church; thus to dissipate the goods and the truths of the church appertaining to them.

[4] That “dividing” has this signification is also plain from the words written on the wall when Belshazzar king of Babel, together with his lords, his wives, and his concubines, drank wine from the vessels of gold and of silver which belonged to the temple that was at Jerusalem. The writing was:

Numbered, numbered, weighed, and divided (Daniel 5:2-4, 25-28); where “divided” means separated from the kingdom. In this passage it is plain how all things were at that time representative. In it is described the profanation of good and truth, which is signified by “Babel” (that Babel” denotes profanation, see n. 1182, 1283, 1295, 1304-1308, 1321, 1322, 1326); “vessels of gold and of silver” denote the goods of love and the truths of faith from the the Lord, (n. 1551, 1552, 5658, 6914, 6917). Profanation is signified by “drinking therefrom, and at the same time praising the gods of gold, of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone,” as we read in the fourth verse of the chapter, which denote evils and falsities in a series (n. 4402, 4544, 7873, 8941). By the “temple at Jerusalem” from which the vessels came, is signified in the supreme sense the Lord, in the representative sense His kingdom and church (n. 3720). The kingdom of Belshazzar being “divided” signified the dissipation of good and truth, and he himself being “slain that night” signified the loss of the life of truth and good, thus damnation; for “to be divided” denotes to be dissipated; “a king” denotes the truth of good (n. 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 3670, 4575, 4581, 4966, 5044, 5068, 6148); the like is signified by “kingdom” (n. 1672, 2547, 4691); “to be slain” denotes to be deprived of the life of truth and good (n. 3607, 6767, 8902); and the “night” in which he was slain denotes a state of evil and falsity (n. 2353, 7776, 7851, 7870, 7947). From this it is plain that all things there were representative.

[5] It says in David:

They divided My garments among them, and upon My vesture did they cast a lot (Psalms 22:18).

They divided His garments, casting a lot; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet (Matthew 27:35).

The soldiers took His garments, and made four parts; and the tunic, the tunic was without seam, woven from the top throughout. They said therefore, Let us not divide it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be; that the Scripture might be fulfilled (John 19:23-24).

He who reads these words and knows nothing of the internal sense of the Word, is not aware that anything secret lies hidden in them, when yet in each word there is a Divine secret. The secret was that Divine truths had been dissipated by the Jews, for the Lord was the Divine truth; and hence He is called “the Word” (John 1). “The Word” denotes Divine truth; His garments represented truths in the external form; and His tunic, truths in the internal form; the division of the garments represented the dissipation of the truths of faith by the Jews. (That “garments” denote truths in the external form, see n. 2576, 5248, 5954, 6918; also that “a tunic” denotes truth in the internal form, n. 4677.) Truths in the external form are such as are those of the Word in the literal sense; but truths in the internal form are such as are those of the Word in the spiritual sense. The division of the garments into four parts signified total dissipation, in like manner as the division in Zechariah 14:4, and in other passages; likewise the division into two parts, as we read of the veil of the temple (Matthew 27:51; Mark 15:38). The rending of the rocks also at that time (Matthew 27:51) represented the dissipation of all things of faith, for a “rock” denotes the Lord as to faith, consequently it denotes faith from the Lord.

4966. Prince of the guards. That this signifies those which are primary for interpretation, is evident from the signification of “prince of the guards,” as being things primary for interpretation (n. 4790): things primary for interpretation are those which primarily conduce to the interpretation of the Word, and thus to the understanding of the doctrinal things of love to God and of charity toward the neighbor, which are from the Word. Be it known that the memory-knowledges of the ancients were altogether different from those of the present day. As before said the memory-knowledges of the ancients treated of the correspondence of things in the natural world with things in the spiritual world. The memory-knowledges which are now called philosophy, such as that of Aristotle and others like him, were unknown to them. This is evident also from the books of the ancient writers, most of which were written in language that signified, represented, and corresponded to interior things, as is evident from the following instances, not to mention others.

[2] They located Helicon on a mountain, and by it they meant heaven; they gave to Parnassus a place below on a hill, by which they meant memory-knowledges, where they said that a flying horse, called Pegasus, broke open a fountain with his hoof; the sciences they called virgins, with other such traditions. For they knew from correspondences and representatives that a mountain denotes heaven; a hill, that heaven which is beneath, or which is with man; a horse, the understanding; the wings with which he flew, spiritual things; a hoof, the natural mind; a fountain, intelligence; the three virgins who were called the Graces, affections of good; and the virgins who were called the Muses, affections of truth. So also they assigned to the sun horses, the food of which they called ambrosia, and their drink, nectar; for they knew that the sun signified celestial love, horses the intellectual things therefrom; and that food signifies celestial things, and drink spiritual things.

[3] From the ancients also there still survives the custom for kings at their coronation to sit upon a silver throne, to be clothed with a crimson robe, to be anointed with oil, to wear a crown on the head, and to carry a scepter, sword, and keys in their hands, to ride in royal pomp upon a white horse whose hoofs are shod with silver, and to be waited on at table by the chiefs of the kingdom, with other ceremonies; for they knew that a king represented Divine truth which is from Divine good, and hence they knew what is signified by a silver throne, a crimson robe, anointing oil, a crown, a scepter, a sword, keys, a white horse, hoofs shod with silver, and being waited on by chief men. Who at this day knows these significations, and where are the knowledges that teach them? Men call such things emblems, not knowing anything whatever about correspondence and representation. From all this it is evident of what nature were the knowledges of the ancients, and that they brought them into a knowledge of spiritual and heavenly things which at this day are scarcely known to exist.

[4] The knowledges which succeeded those of the ancients, and are properly called philosophy, rather draw away the mind from the knowledge of such things, because they can also be applied to the confirmation of falsities; and moreover when truths are confirmed by means of them, they plunge the mind into darkness, because they are for the most part bare expressions, whereby confirmations are effected which are comprehended by few, and regarding which even these few are not agreed. From this it is evident how far mankind has receded from the erudition of the ancients, which led to wisdom. The Gentiles received those knowledges from the Ancient Church, the external worship of which consisted in representatives and significatives, and the internal in those things which were represented and signified. These were the knowledges which, in the genuine sense, are signified by “Egypt.”