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.

In most cases, "needy" in the Bible refers to people who lack true knowledge of the Lord and his teachings, but have a desire to learn. Often, especially in the New Testament, it relates to the Gentiles. In some cases, the Bible speaks of "the poor and needy" together; in these cases "poor" means those lacking the desire to be good and "needy" those lacking knowledge. Due to translation issues, though, "poor" and "needy" are often used interchangeably, and the term "beggar" is sometimes used as well.

1155. And the sons of Javan. That by these are signified still others with whom there was external worship, derived from the worship which prevailed in the nation Javan, can in the same way be seen in the Prophets, where they are named in connection with the actual things [res] themselves, and therein signify nothing different from them. The reason why the sons of Gomer and the sons of Javan only are mentioned, and not the sons of the others mentioned in Genesis 10:—where there are seven-is that the sons of the one relate to the class of spiritual things, and the sons of the other to the class of celestial things. It is evident that the sons of Gomer relate to the class of spiritual things, from the passages in the Prophets cited just above; and that the sons of Javan relate to the class of celestial things, will appear from what follows. The class of spiritual things is distinguished from the class of celestial things by this, that the former relate to truths of faith, and the latter to goods of faith, which are those of charity. Although these distinctions are entirely unknown in the world, yet they are most perfectly known in heaven, not merely as to the generic differences, but as to the specific differences also; for in heaven there is not the least difference that is not distinguished according to the most perfect order. In the world no more is known than that there are varieties of worship, and that in externals-for nothing beyond these is known-they differ from each other. But in heaven the differences, which are innumerable, themselves appear to the life, and indeed such as they are in internals.