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.

382. 'Being a wanderer and a fugitive in the land' means not knowing what truth and good are. This is clear from the meaning in the Word of 'wandering' and of 'fleeing', as in Jeremiah,

Prophets and priests wander blind in the streets; they are defiled with blood. Things which have no power they touch with their garments. Lamentations 4:13-14.

Here 'prophets' stands for those who teach, 'priests' for those who live according to what is taught. 'Wandering blind in the streets' means not knowing what good and truth are.

[2] In Amos,

Part of one field had rain, and part of the field on which it did not rain dried up. So two or three cities will wander to one city to drink water, and they will not be satisfied. Amos 4:7-8.

Here 'the part of the field on which rain fell' is the doctrine of faith that derives from charity, while 'the part or section of the field on which it did not rain' is the doctrine of faith devoid of charity. 'Wandering to drink water' similarly means searching for truth.

[3] In Hosea,

Ephraim has been stricken, their root has dried up, they will bear no fruit. My God will cast them away because they have not hearkened to Him, and they will be wanderers among the nations. Hosea 9:16-17.

'Ephraim' stands for an understanding of truth, that is, for faith, since he was Joseph' s firstborn. 'A root which had dried up' stands for charity that is incapable of bearing fruit. 'Wanderers among the nations' means that they have no knowledge of truth and good.

[4] In Jeremiah,

Go up against Arabia and lay waste the sons of the east. Flee, wander far away; the inhabitants of Hazer have plunged into the depths to dwell there. Jeremiah 49:28, 30.

'Arabia' and 'the sons of the east' stand for the possession of celestial riches, or things of love, which when laid waste are also spoken of as 'fleeing and wandering', or fugitives and wanderers, when they achieve nothing good at all. And 'the inhabitants of Hazer', or those who possess spiritual riches, which are things of faith, are spoken of as 'plunging into the depths', which means perishing.

In Isaiah,

All your chief men are wandering about together, on account of the bow they have been put in chains. They have fled from far away. Isaiah 12:3.

This refers to 'the valley of vision', which is the delusion that faith can exist without charity. This explains why verse 14 below speaks of 'a wanderer and a fugitive', that is, a person who, confessing faith in isolation from charity, has no knowledge at all of truth and good.

4430. And Shechem saw her. That this signifies truth, is evident from the representation of Shechem as being truth, here the truth of the church from ancient time. That this is represented by Shechem is because there still were remains of the church with that nation to which Shechem belonged. That this was one of the well-disposed nations is manifest from the sincerity with which Hamor and Shechem spoke to Jacob and his sons (verses 8-12), and from the condescension that Shechem might take Dinah for a wife (verses 18-24); for which reason the truth of the church was represented by them. And besides, the city Shechem was Abram’s first station when he came from Syria into the land of Canaan (Genesis 12:6); and was now also Jacob’s first station in coming from Syria, in which he spread his tent, made booths, and erected an altar (Genesis 33:17-20). That by the journeys or sojournings of Abraham and Jacob were represented progressions into the truths of faith and goods of love which in the supreme sense relate to the Lord and in the relative sense to the man who is being regenerated by the Lord, has been repeatedly shown. Hence by the “city Shechem” was signified the first of light (n. 1440, 1441), consequently interior truth, for this is the first of light.

[2] But in this chapter in the internal sense the descendants of Jacob are treated of—how they extinguished in themselves this first of light, or interior truth. In this sense, which is the internal historical sense, the sons of Jacob signify all his descendants; for in the internal sense of the Word the things of the Lord’s kingdom are exclusively treated of, thus the things of His church. The sons of Jacob themselves did not constitute any church, but their descendants, and this only after they had gone out of Egypt, and in actuality only after they came into the land of Canaan.

[3] Moreover as regards this city named from Shechem, it was anciently called “Shalem,” as is evident in the foregoing chapter:

Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan (Genesis 33:18).

That by “Shalem” is signified tranquillity, and by the “city of Shechem” the interior truths of faith, and that when a man comes to these truths he comes into a tranquil state, may be seen above (n. 4393). But the same city was afterwards called “Shechem,” as may be seen in Joshua:

The bones of Joseph, which the sons of Israel caused to go up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in the portion of the field which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred kesitah (Josh. 24:32).

And in the book of Judges:

Gaal the son of Ebed said to the citizens of Shechem, Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Is not he the son of Jerubbaal, and Zebul is his officer? Serve ye the men of Hamor the father of Shechem, and why should we serve this man? (Judg. 9:28).

[4] The same city was afterwards called “Sychar,” as is evident in John:

Jesus came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near to the field which Jacob gave to his son Joseph; and Jacob’s spring was there (John 4:5-6).

That by this city is signified interior truth, is evident from these passages, and also from others where it is named, as in Hosea:

Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity, it has been befouled with blood; and as troops wait for a man, a companionship of priests, on the way to Shechem they kill, because they have wrought wickedness; in the house of Israel I have seen a foul thing (Hos. 6:8-10); where “on the way to Shechem they kill” signifies that they extinguish truths even to those which are interior, thus all external truths. The extinction of interior truth is also signified by Abimelech’s destroying that city and sowing it with salt (Judges 9:45).