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.

Up until now, this parable has advocated gleaning true ideas from evil sources. This, the final verse of the parable, warns that we have to make sure we take only the ideas, and not the evil they inspire in others. Ultimately they have to fit in as part of knowledge from the Lord, not knowledge from the world.

A "servant" here represents exterior things – our actual actions. They are controlled by a "master," or a system of ideas.

There are two potential masters here. "God" represents truth from the Lord; "mammon" represents truth from other sources, without any connected desire for good. Ultimately, we can only use one to guide our external actions. If we choose to follow the Lord (by "loving the one") we will feel an aversion to ("hate") the jumble of disconnected ideas represented by mammon. If we decide to trust ourselves to figure what's good (being "loyal to one"), we will lose touch with real truth and see little value there ("despise the other).

So we might benefit from mammon in the short run, but God has to be the ultimate master.

(References: Apocalypse Explained 847 [3]; Arcana Coelestia 3875 [3], 9093 [2], 9210 [3]; True Christian Religion 437)

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.