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.

2233. That a “house” denotes those who are in goods, is evident from the signification of a “house,” as being good (see n. 710, 1708, 2048). By a “house,” or those born in the house, in the abstract sense goods are in like manner signified, but as applied to man they denote all who are in good.

10480. 'For Aaron had caused them to become so undisciplined' means that the external things which they loved were the cause of this. This is clear from the meaning of 'causing to become undisciplined' as turning away from what is internal, and so from what is Divine, as immediately above in 10479; and from the representation of 'Aaron' as the external, also dealt with above, in 10468. Which they loved is meant because those whose interest lies in external things separated from what is internal, love external things alone. The reason why 'causing to become undisciplined' here means turning away and not causing to turn away is that Aaron is not meant in the internal sense by 'Aaron' but the external, and so it is meant without reference to that person, in accord with what has been stated above in 10469.