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.

Since we are beings experiencing life as our very own, doubt about spiritual realities such as eternal life, the loving kindness of God, or even that God exists, may sometimes arise. Swedenborg suggests that having such doubts is a normal and important part of our regeneration cycles.

There are two kinds of doubt: affirmative and negative. Affirmative doubt might be expressed something like this: "I don't understand this, but I would like to, and will try to live rightly and seek more understanding". Negative doubt might be more like, "I don't understand this, so I'm going to reject it."

In "A Guide for the Perplexed", by E.F. Schumacher, there's a scene right at the beginning of the book where the author is in Moscow on a tour of the city. He sees a beautiful church ahead of him. He consults his map, and it's not marked there. He consults his Soviet tour guide, who says that the church is not on the map because it's still an active church - not a monument or museum. Schumacher is struck by this -- and extends the thought to be that our maps of knowledge often leave out the important living unanswered questions.

(References: Arcana Coelestia 4099, 5044 [1-13])

3009. As to the second point - that Messiah, Anointed, or King is the same as Divine Truth - this is clear from very many places in the Word, and has been shown frequently in explanations; as in 1672, 1728, 2015, 2069. The Lord Himself also teaches the same in John,

Pilate said to Jesus, Are you not then a king? Jesus answered, You say it, because I am a King. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice. John 18:37.

From this it is clear that the Divine Truth itself is at the root of the Lord's being called 'the King'. The reason why kings were anointed and consequently called the anointed was that 'the oil' with which they were anointed meant good, 886, 2832. Also the truth, meant by 'king', was derived from good and was accordingly truth grounded in good, so that the kingly office with them represented the Lord as regards Divine Truth which is derived from Divine Good, and so represented the Divine marriage of good within truth, whereas the priestly function represented the Divine marriage of truth within good. The latter is meant by Jesus, the former by Christ.