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.

2232. That “sons” are those who are in truths, is evident from the signification of a “son” in the Word as being truth (see n. 489, 491, 533, 1147). By “sons” in the abstract sense are signified truths; but as applied to man, “sons” denote all those who are in truths.

4066. And Jacob saw the faces of Laban. That this signifies a change of state with that good when the good meant by “Jacob” receded, is evident from the representation of Jacob, as being the good of the natural, and from the representation of Laban, as being mediate good (concerning which frequently above); and from the signification of “faces,” as being the interiors (n. 358, 1999, 2434, 3527, 3573), here, changes of the interiors, or what is the same, changes of state; for it is said, “he saw his faces, and behold he was not at all with him as yesterday and the day before.” The reason why in the Word the interiors are signified by “face,” is that the interiors shine forth from the face, and present themselves in the face as in a mirror, or in an image; and hence the faces or countenance signifies states of the thoughts and states of the affections.