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.

5902. 'And He has established me as father to Pharaoh' means that now the natural was dependent on him. This is clear from the representation of 'Pharaoh' as the natural in general, dealt with in 5160, 5799. Dependence on him is meant by the words 'established as father', for sons are dependent on their father. In the proper sense 'father' means good, 2803, 3703, 3704, 5581; and since everything both in the internal man and in the external is dependent on good, God's establishing him as father to Pharaoh accordingly means that the natural was dependent on him, on good. For 'Joseph' represents the internal celestial, which is internal good, 5805, 5826, 5827, 5869, 5877. This good flows in and brings order to all things in the natural, and at length causes the natural to be dependent on it.