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.

3145. And loosed the camels. That this signifies freedom for those things which were to serve, is evident from the signification of “loosing,” as being to make free; and from the signification of “camels,” as being general memory-knowledges, and thus the things which were to serve (as just above, n. 3143). The real case herein is this: Without freedom no production of truth in the natural man is possible, nor any calling forth therefrom into the rational, and conjunction with good there. All these things take place in a free state; for it is the affection of truth from good which produces freedom. Unless truth is learned from affection, thus in freedom, it is not implanted; still less is it exalted toward the interiors and there made faith. That all reformation is effected in freedom, and that all freedom is of affection, and that the Lord keeps man in freedom, so that he may from himself and from what is his own be affected with truth and good and thereby be regenerated, may be seen above (n. 2870-2893). This is what is signified by “loosing the camels;” for if they were not significative of such things, these particulars would be too trifling to be recorded.