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.

1823. Take a heifer of three years, and a she-goat of three years, and a ram of three years. That this signifies the representatives of the celestial things of the church, is evident from the signification of the same animals in the sacrifices. No one who thinks sanely can believe that the various animals which were sacrificed signified nothing but sacrifices; or that an ox and a bullock or a calf signified the same as a sheep, a kid, and a she-goat, and these the same as a lamb; and that a turtledove signified the same as young pigeons; the fact being that every animal had its own special signification. This may be sufficiently evident from the fact that in no case was one offered instead of another; and that those are expressly named which were to be used in the daily burnt-offerings and sacrifices, those on the Sabbaths and festivals, those used in free-will offerings, vows, and peace-offerings, those in expiation of guilt and sin, and those in purifications; which would never have been so unless something special had been represented and signified by each animal.

[2] But what was signified by each particular kind would be too tedious to explain here; it is sufficient to know now that celestial things were signified by the animals, and spiritual things by the birds; and by each kind, some special celestial or spiritual thing. The Jewish Church itself, and all things relating to it, were representative of such things as are of the Lord’s kingdom, where there is nothing but what is celestial and spiritual, that is, nothing but what is of love and of faith; as may also be sufficiently evident from the signification of the clean and useful beasts, explained above (n. 45, 46, 142, 143, 246, 714, 715, 776). As in the Most Ancient Churches these were significative of heavenly goods, they afterwards became representative in the church, when worship merely external, which was also representative, was valued and acknowledged.

[3] As the state of the church is here treated of, and it is foretold what that state is to be, this was shown to Abram by similar representatives, exactly as is here related; but still such things are signified in the internal sense, as indeed everyone may know and think; for what would be the need of taking a heifer three years old, a she-goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon, of dividing them into two parts, and placing them so, unless everything had been significative? But what these things signified may be seen from what follows.