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.

Food in the Bible represents the desire for good, and water and other drinks represent the understanding and true ideas we need to recognize what good is and how to bring it into being – or simple "truth," as Swedenborg puts it. When people (or animals) in the Bible drink, then, it represents learning true things and internalizing them so they can be used. In the contrary sense it can mean taking in false ideas instead, and allowing them to pollute the mind. When a person drinks clean water, it represents getting simple, external ideas from the Bible. Drinking good wine represents learning the deeper spiritual ideas that lie within the stories of the Bible. This is why Jesus said to the Samaritan woman that the water He gave would be a "well springing up to everlasting life" (John 4:14). The details of the instruction can also vary depending on who or what is drinking. When Rebekah gives water to the camels of Abraham's servant (Genesis 24) this means instruction about known facts from the Bible to the external part of the mind. When Jacob waters Laban's flock of sheep (Genesis 29), this means instruction from doctrine about loving what is good.

7313. That they may serve Me in the wilderness. That this signifies worship in what is obscure, is evident from the signification of “serving Jehovah,” as being worship; and from the signification of a “wilderness,” as being that which is not inhabited and cultivated (see n. 2708, 3900); in the spiritual sense that which is obscure in respect to the good and truth of faith. That “wilderness” here denotes such obscurity is because in general they of the spiritual church, who are represented by the sons of Israel, are in obscurity in respect to the truths of faith (n. 2715, 2716, 2718, 2831, 2849, 2935, 2937, 3833, 4402, 6289, 6500, 6865, 6945, 7233); specifically because they are in obscurity when they emerge from a state of infestations and temptations. For they who are in infestations are surrounded by falsities, and are shaken like a reed by the wind, thus from doubt to affirmative, and from affirmative to doubt; and therefore when they newly ascend out of this state they are in obscurity, but this obscurity is then gradually enlightened. As there is such a state with those who are being infested, therefore the sons of Israel were brought into the wilderness in order that they might represent this state, in which were those of the spiritual church before the Lord’s coming; and also the state in which they who are of that church are at this day, and are being vastated in respect to falsities.