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.

3127. The damsel ran. That this signifies the desire [animus] of that affection, is evident from the signification of “running,” as meaning that which is of the inclination or of the desire; and from the signification of a “damsel,” as being an affection in which is innocence (see above, n. 3067, 3110).

2775. 'And get you to the land of Moriah' means a place and state of temptation. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'the land of Moriah'. It is evident that 'the land of Moriah' means a place of temptation from the fact that Abraham was commanded to go there and to offer his son there as a burnt offering, and in doing this to undergo the utmost degree of temptation. The fact that Jerusalem where the Lord Himself bore the utmost degree of temptation was situated in the land of Moriah becomes clear from the consideration that David built an altar, and subsequently Solomon the Temple, on Mount Moriah, as is evident from the Book of Chronicles,

Solomon began to build the house of Jehovah in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, which had been shown to David his father in the place which David had prepared at the threshing-floor of Ornan (Araunah) the Jebusite. 2 Chronicles 3:1. (Compare 1 Chronicles 21:16-28 with 2 Samuel 24:16-25.)

From this it may become quite clear that these details which are stated regarding the sacrifice of Isaac are representative of the Lord, otherwise everything could have taken place where Abraham was staying at the time and he would not have been commanded to make a journey from there lasting nearly three days.