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.

1486. 'And [he had] flocks and herds, and asses and menservants, and maidservants and she-asses, and camels' means all things in general which constitute factual knowledge. This is clear from the meaning of all of these in the Word. But what each one means specifically would take far too long to show, that is, to show what is meant by flocks and herds, what by asses and menservants, what by maidservants and she-asses, and what by camels. Each has its own particular meaning, but in general they mean all the things constituting the knowledge that is comprised of cognitions and all those constituting factual knowledge. Regarded in themselves facts are 'asses and menservants'; the pleasures that go with them are 'maidservants and she-asses'; 'camels' are general things of service; 'flocks and herds' are possessions. This applies throughout the Word. All things whatever residing with the external man are nothing else than a body of servants, that is, they exist to serve the internal man. This is how it is with all facts, which belong solely to the external man; for these are acquired from earthly and worldly things by means of sensory impressions so that they might serve the interior or rational man; and that this interior man might serve the spiritual man, the spiritual man the celestial man, and the celestial man the Lord. Thus these exist in subordination to one another as things that are exterior beneath those that are interior; and thus also every single thing exists subordinate to the Lord. Facts therefore are the ultimate and outermost things, in which in their order interior things are inclosed; and because facts are ultimate and outermost things, these more than all other things must be things of service. Anyone may recognize what it is that facts are able to serve if he reflects or asks himself the question, What is their use? When he reflects in this way on the use they serve he may also apprehend the nature of the use. Every fact must exist for the sake of a use, and this is its service.

[1486a] Verse 17 And Jehovah struck Pharaoh with great plagues, and his house, because of Sarai, ¹ Abram's wife.

'Jehovah struck Pharaoh with great plagues' means that facts were destroyed. 'And his house' means which He had gathered together. 'Because of Sarai, ¹ Abram's wife' means because of the truth that was to be allied to the celestial.

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