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.

9946. 'And for Aaron's sons' means Divine Truths emanating in the heavens from the Lord's Divine Good. This is clear from the representation of 'Aaron's sons' as Divine Truths emanating from the Lord's Divine Good, dealt with in 9807, in the heavens being meant because that which is Divine and the Lord's in the heavens is what the priestly office of Aaron and his sons represents. Divine Good in the heavens is represented by Aaron's priestly office, and Divine Truth from Divine Good there by that of his sons. The words 'in the heavens' are used because the Lord Himself, being the Sun of heaven, is above the heavens, yet has a presence within the heavens, which is such that it seems as though He Himself were there. The Lord as He is in the heavens - that is, His Divine Good and Divine Truth there - is able to be represented, but not that which is Divine and His above the heavens, because this cannot fall within the range of what human minds or even angelic minds can grasp, since it is infinite. But what is Divine and emanates from it into the heavens is suited to reception there.