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.

3538. 'Which were with her in the house' means which come from Divine Good by way of the Divine Truth of the Divine Rational. This is clear from the representation of Rebekah, to whom the pronoun 'her' refers here, as the Divine Truth of the Divine Rational, dealt with already, and from the meaning of 'the house' as Divine Good in this instance because it has reference to the Lord. As regards 'house' meaning good, see 710, 2233, 2234, 2559, 3128. The reason why these considerations are meant by the words 'which were with her in the house' is that 'the house' means the rational both as regards good and as regards truth, or what amounts to the same, as regards both the will part of the mind, the dwelling-place of good, and the understanding part, the dwelling-place of truth. When the rational functions from the will or from good, by way of the understanding or of truth, the rational mind in that case is called 'one house'. This also is why heaven itself is called 'the house of God', for heaven consists of nothing else than good and truth, with good functioning through truth united or joined to itself. This is also represented in marriages in which husband and wife constitute one house, the reason being that conjugial love originates in the Divine marriage of good and truth, 2728, 2729, 3132, and forms the will of the two of them by virtue of good. There is a difference however, which is like the relationship of good to its own truth. Consequently 'husband' also means good and 'wife' truth. For when the house is one, good is in that case the all in it, and truth, being wedded to good, is good as well. The reason why the phrase 'with her in the house' is used, and not with him or with them, is that the subject is the state of conjunction of truth and good, that is, the state prior to their being fully united or joined together. This state is dealt with next.