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.

7848. 'On the houses' means the desires composing a will that seeks what is good. This is clear from the meaning of 'house' as a person, dealt with in 3128, and as the human mind, 3538, 4973, 5023, 7353, consequently that which composes the will, at this point that which composes a will seeking what is good. The reason why 'house' also means the will is that a person is meant by it, and a person is a person primarily by virtue of what he wills. Furthermore, whether you say a person or his mind it amounts to the same thing. For a person is not a person by virtue of his physical body but by virtue of his mind; and what his mind is like - that is, what his understanding and will are like, primarily what his will is like - determine what kind of person he is.