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.

7188. For by a strong hand shall he let them go. That this signifies that with all force and power they shall flee from them, is evident from the signification of a “strong hand,” as being all force and power (that “hand” denotes power, see n. 878, 3387, 4931, 5327, 5328, 6947, 7011); and from the signification of “letting them go,” as being to flee from them. The case herein is this. When the infernals are deterred by punishments from doing evils, they at last abstain from infestation, and desire to leave those who are being infested, and to flee away; but as it is the sole delight of their life to do evil and to infest, they therefore cannot abstain unless they employ all force and power to remove themselves; for as the delight of anyone’s life is of his love, it is of his life, and carries him away, nor can it be resisted unless the undelight of punishment prevails over the delight of doing evil; hence come the punishments of the evil in the other life.