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.

711. Cried out, travailing, and in pain to bring forth.- That this signifies non-reception by those in the church who are natural and sensual, and their resistance is evident from the signification of crying out, travailing, and being in pain to bring forth, when said of the nascent doctrine of truth from celestial love, which is meant by the male child which the woman brought forth, as denoting non-reception thereof, and also resistance; and this is from those in the church who are natural and sensual, because such are meant by the dragon treated of in what follows. That to travail and to bring forth denote to travail in birth and bring forth such things as pertain to the church, in this case, those which pertain to the doctrine of truth and good, is evident from what has been shown in the preceding article concerning the womb, the opening of it, and concerning birth, and also from the rest of this chapter, where the expression to bring forth is used. In the meantime it is sufficient here to observe only, that by the male, which the woman brought forth, is meant the doctrine of the New Jerusalem, which has been given by the Lord out of heaven. That the dragons then stood around and opposed vehemently, and with all their might, and this even to the crying out and torment of those who were in favour of that doctrine, I can bear witness; thence it is evident that those who are like them in the world will also oppose the reception of that doctrine. Who these are shall be stated in what follows, where the dragon and the beasts are treated of. But what is specifically signified, in other parts of the Word, by crying out, travailing in birth, and being in pain to bring forth, may be seen below (n. 721), where the signification of travailing in birth and of bringing forth is explained.