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.

'A son,' as in Genesis 5:28, signifies the rise of a new church. 'A son,'

In Genesis 24:3, this signifies the Lord's rationality regarding good.

In Genesis 30:7, this signifies a general truth.

In Genesis 38:4, this signifies evil and something idolatrous.

"Sons" are individual "truths," or concepts of how to do specific good things. This general representation is colored in by context. For instance, since Abraham represents the Lord's own desire for good when he lived as the human Jesus, and Sarah represents the truth that describes that desire for good, their son Isaac represents the specific ideas springing from that union called the Divine Rational. As with all things, "son" can also be used in the negative, meaning falsity that springs from evil.

352. That the “firstlings of the flock” signify that which is of the Lord alone, is evident from the firstlings or firstborn in the representative church, which were all holy, because they had relation to the Lord, who alone is the “firstborn.” Love and the faith thence derived are the “firstborn.” All love is of the Lord, and not one whit of it is of man, therefore the Lord alone is the “firstborn.” This was represented in the ancient churches by the firstborn of man and of beast being sacred to Jehovah (Exodus 13:2, 12, 15); and by the tribe of Levi, which in the internal sense signifies love-though Leviticus was born after Reuben and Simeon who in the internal sense signify faith-being accepted instead of all the firstborn, and constituting the priesthood (Numbers 3:40-45; 8:14-20). Of the Lord as the firstborn of all, with respect to His human essence, it is thus written in David:

He shall call Me, My Father, My God, and the rock of My salvation. I will also make Him My firstborn, high above the kings of the earth (Psalms 89:26-27).And in John:

Jesus Christ the firstborn of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth (Revelation 1:5).

Observe that the firstborn of worship signify the Lord, and the firstborn of the church, faith.