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Arcana Coelestia #9371

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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.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for the permission to use this translation.

The Bible

 

Matthew 3:1

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1 In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea,

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #2160

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2160. Verse 4 Let now a little water be taken, and [all of you] wash your feet, and recline under the tree.

'Let now a little water be taken' means that they were to draw near and bring themselves down from Divine things nearer to His intellectual concepts. 'And wash your feet' means that they were to take on something natural so that during the state He was then passing through His perception might be improved. 'And recline under the tree' means towards the perception of the state through which He was passing, 'tree' meaning perception.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.