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.

1672. And the kings that were with him. That this signifies the apparent truth which is of that good, is evident from the signification of “kings” in the Word. “Kings,” “kingdoms,” and “peoples,” in the historical and the prophetical parts of the Word, signify truths and the things which are of truths, as may be abundantly confirmed. In the Word an accurate distinction is made between a “people” and a “nation;” by a “people” are signified truths, and by a “nation” goods, as before shown (n. 1259, 1260). “Kings” are predicated of peoples, but not so much of nations. Before the sons of Israel sought for kings, they were a nation, and represented good, or the celestial; but after they desired a king, and received one, they became a people, and did not represent good or the celestial, but truth or the spiritual; which was the reason why this was imputed to them as a fault (see 1 Samuel 8:7-22, concerning which subject, of the Lord’s Divine mercy elsewhere). As Chedorlaomer is named here, and it is added, “the kings that were with him,” both good and truth are signified; by “Chedorlaomer,” good, and by “the kings,” truth. But what was the quality of the good and truth at the beginning of the Lord’s temptations has already been stated.

This verse and the two that follow have long puzzled scholars. The Lord has just told Moses to go to Egypt, and Moses is going, and the Lord shows up to kill him. Why?

The answer lies in the relationship between the Lord and the Children of Israel, and in a brief change in Moses’ spiritual meaning.

Prior to this verse - and again starting with Verse 27 - Moses represented the Lord’s law that would govern the Israeli Church. Here. However, the Writings tell us that he represents the Israeli people as their soon-to-be ruler.

As for those Israeli people, the Writings tell us they were as hard and external as all the people around them in the world at the time. They were one of the vestiges of the Ancient Church, but had none of the spiritual knowledge and internal worship that church had once had. This external nature shows in the fact that this happened at an encampment, also translated as an inn or a lodging-place - a place where thoughts and ideas can come and go without real meaning and without being questioned.

The fact that the Lord - translated as "Jehovah" in some versions - came to meet Moses and kill him shows that the external nature of the people of Israel stood in opposition to the Lord’s intent, which was to use them to create a church that could contain spiritual ideas.

(References: Arcana Coelestia 7041, 7042, 7043)