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.

3540. And the skins of the kids of the she-goats she caused to be put. That this signifies the external truths of domestic good, is evident from the signification of “skins,” as being external things (concerning which below); and from the signification of the “kids of the she-goats,” because from a home flock, as being the truths of domestic good (concerning which n. 3518, 3519, where also it appears what domestic good is, and what the truths thence derived). Every good has its own truths, and every truth has its own good, which must be conjoined together in order for them to be anything. That “skins” signify things external is because skins are the outermosts of the animal in which its interiors are terminated, in like manner as is the case with the skin or cuticles in man. This signification is derived from the representation in the other life, there being those there who belong to the province of the skin, concerning whom of the Lord’s Divine mercy something will be said when we speak concerning the Grand Man at the end of the following chapters. They are such as are only in external good and its truths. Hence the “skin” of man, and also of beasts, signifies what is external; which is also manifest from the Word, as in Jeremiah:

For the multitude of thine iniquity are thy skirts uncovered, and thy heels suffer violence. Can the Ethiopian change his skin, and the leopard his spots? Then can ye also do good that are taught to do evil (Jeremiah 13:22-23); where “skirts” are external truths; “heels,” outermost goods (that the “heel,” and “shoes,” are the lowest natural things may be seen above, n. 259, 1748); and because these truths and goods are from evil, as here said, they are compared to an “Ethiopian,” or a black, and his “skin,” and also to a “leopard” and his “spots.”

[2] In Moses:

If in pledging thou shalt have pledged thy neighbor’s garment, thou shalt restore it unto Him before the sun goes down; for that is his only covering; it is his garment for his skin wherein he shall lie down (Exodus 22:26-27).

As all the laws in the Word, even those which are civic and forensic, have a correspondence with the laws of good and truth in heaven, and were thence enacted, such is the case with this law also; otherwise it would be impossible to discover why a pledged garment should be restored before the sun went down; and why it is said that his garment is for his skin wherein he shall lie down. But from the internal sense the correspondence is manifest, being that our companions are not to be defrauded of external truths, which are the doctrinal things according to which they live, and rituals (that a “garment” signifies such truths, may be seen above, n. 297, 1073, 2576); but the “sun” is the good of love or of life which is therefrom (n. 1529, 1530, 2441, 2495); that this should not perish, is signified by the garment being restored before the sun went down; and because these external truths are the externals of the interior things, or their termination, it is said that “his garment is for his skin wherein he shall lie down.”

[3] As “skins” signified external things, it was commanded that the covering of the Tent should be of the skins of red rams, and over these the skins of badgers (Exodus 26:14); for the Tent was representative of the three heavens, thus of the celestial and spiritual things of the Lord’s kingdom. The curtains which were round about represented natural things that are external (n. 3478), which are the “skins of rams and of badgers,” and as external things are those which cover internal ones, or in other words natural things are those which cover spiritual and celestial ones, just as the body covers its soul, therefore this was commanded; and in like manner that when the camp set forward Aaron and his sons should cover the ark of the testimony with the veil of covering, and should put over this covering the skin of a badger; and that upon the table and the things which were upon it they should spread a cloth of scarlet double-dyed, and should cover it with badger’s skin as a covering; likewise that they should put the lampstand and all its vessels under a covering of badger’s skin; and should put all the vessels wherewith they ministered under a cloth of blue, and should cover them with a covering of badger’s skin (Numbers 4:5-12). Whoever thinks of the Word holily may know that Divine things are represented by all these things: by the ark, the table, the lampstand, and the vessels wherewith they ministered; also by the coverings of scarlet double-dyed and blue; and also by the coverings of badgers’ skins; and that by all these things are represented the Divine things that are within the external ones.

[4] Inasmuch as the prophets represented those who teach, and hence the teaching of good and truth from the Word (n. 2534), and Elijah the Word itself (n. 2762), in like manner John, who for this reason is called the Elias that was to come (Matthew 17:10-13); therefore in order that they might represent the Word as it is in its external form, that is, in the letter, Elijah was girded with a girdle of skin about his loins (2 Kings 1:8); and John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a girdle of skin about his loins (Matthew 3:4). And inasmuch as the skin of man and beast signified external things, which are natural things in their relation to spiritual and celestial ones; and as in the Ancient Church it was customary to speak and write by significatives, therefore also in Job, which is a book of the Ancient Church, “skin” has the same signification, as may be seen from several passages in that book, and also from this:

I know my Redeemer, He liveth, and at the last He will arise above the dust, and afterward these shall be encompassed with my skin, and from my flesh I shall see God (Job 19:25-26).

To be “encompassed with skin” denotes by the natural, such as man has with him after death (see n. 3539); “from the flesh to see God” is to do so from what is our own, vivified (that this is “flesh” may be seen above, n. 148, 149, 780). That the book of Job is a book of the Ancient Church is evident as before said from its representative and significative style; but it is not of those books which are called the Law and the Prophets, because it has not an internal sense which treats solely of the Lord and of His kingdom; for this is the one thing that makes a book of the genuine Word.

5247. And he shaved. That this signifies rejection and change as to what is of the exterior natural, is evident from the signification of “shaving the head and the beard,” as being to reject such things as are of the exterior natural; for the “hair” that was shaved off signifies this natural (see n. 3301). The hair both of the head and of the beard corresponds in the Grand Man to the exterior natural; and therefore sensuous men (that is, they who have believed nothing but what is natural, and have not been willing to understand that there is anything more interior or purer than what they could apprehend by the senses) in the other life when in the light of heaven, they appear hairy, so much so that the face is scarcely anything but beard. Such hairy faces have often been seen by me. But they who have been rational, that is, spiritual men, in whom the natural has been rightly subordinated, appear becomingly furnished with hair. Nay, from the hair in the other life may be known the quality of spirits in respect to the natural. The reason why spirits appear with hair is that in the other life spirits appear altogether as do men on earth. Hence it is that the angels spoken of in the Word as being seen are sometimes described even in respect to their hair.

[2] From what has now been said it is evident what is signified by “shaving,” as in Ezekiel:

The priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok, shall put off their garments wherein they minister and lay them in the bedchambers of holiness, and they shall put on other garments, neither shall they sanctify the people in their garments, and they shall not shave their heads and let down their hair, in polling they shall poll their heads (Ezekiel 44:19-20);

this is said of the new temple and the new priesthood, that is, of the new church; and the “putting on of other garments” signifies holy truths; their “not shaving their heads nor letting down their hair, but in polling to poll their heads” signifies not rejecting the natural, but accommodating it so that it may be in accord, thus making it subordinate. Everyone who believes the Word to be holy can see that these and the rest of the things said in the prophet about the new earth, the new city, the new temple, and new priesthood, will not be at all as is stated in the letter there; as that the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, will minister therein, and will then put off the garments of their ministry and put on other garments, and will poll their heads; but that all and everyone of these things signify such things as belong to a new church.

[3] Neither would the statutes have been commanded in regard to the high priest, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, in the following passages from Moses, if they had not contained holy things within:

The priest chief of his brethren, upon whose head the anointing oil has been poured, and he hath filled his hand to put on the garments, shall not shave his head, and shall not tear his garments (Leviticus 21:10).

The sons of Aaron shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave the corner of their beard; they shall be holy to their God, and not profane the name of their God (Leviticus 21:5-6).

Thus shalt thou purify the Levites. Sprinkle the waters of expiation upon them, and they shall make to pass a razor over their flesh, and they shall wash their garments; and they shall be pure (Numbers 8:7).

What is there that is holy or that is of the church in these things-that the high priest should not shave his head nor tear his garments; that the sons of Aaron should not make baldness upon their head nor shave the corner of their beard, and that the Levites when being purified should be shaved with a razor upon their flesh? But to have the external or natural man subordinate to the internal or spiritual, and thus to have both subordinate to the Divine, this is a holy thing, and is what the angels perceive when these passages of the Word are being read by man.

[4] So also it was with the Nazirite, who was holy unto Jehovah:

If any man should by chance die very suddenly beside him, and he hath defiled the head of his Naziriteship; then he shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing, on the seventh day shall he shave it. And when the days of his Naziriteship are fulfilled, the Nazirite shall shave the head of his Naziriteship at the door of the tent of meeting; and shall take the hair of his head and put it on the fire that is under the sacrifice of peace-offerings (Numbers 6:9, 13, 18);

what the Nazirite was, and what holiness he represented, may be seen above (n. 3301). That holiness should abide in his hair can never be comprehended unless it is known what “hair” is by correspondence, thus to what holiness the hair of the Nazirite corresponded. In like manner it cannot be comprehended how Samson had strength from his hair, of which he speaks thus to Delilah:

There hath not come up a razor upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite of God from my mother’s womb; if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man. And Delilah called a man, who shaved off the seven locks of his head and his strength went from upon him. And afterward when the hair of his head began to grow after it was shaved off, strength returned to him (Judges 16:17, 19, 22);

who without knowledge derived from correspondence can know that the Lord as to the Divine natural was represented by the Nazirite, and that the Naziriteship had no other meaning, and that Samson’s strength was from this representative?

[5] One who does not know, and especially who does not believe, that there is an internal sense in the Word, and that the sense of the letter is representative of the things in the internal sense, will scarcely acknowledge that there is anything holy in these things; when yet that which is most holy is in them. If a man does not know, and especially if he does not believe that the Word possesses an internal sense which is holy, neither can he know what the following passages bear in their bosom, as in Jeremiah:

Truth is perished and is cut off from their mouth. Cut off the hair of thy Naziriteship, and cast it away (Jeremiah 7:28-29).

In Isaiah:

In that day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired in the passages of the river, through the king of Assyria, the head, and the hair of the feet; and shall also consume the beard (Isaiah 7:20).

In Micah:

Make thee bald, and shave thee on account of the sons of thy deliciousnesses, enlarge thy baldness as the eagle, because they have migrated from thee (Micah 1:16).

Nor can he know what holiness is involved in that which is related of Elijah, in that he was a hairy man, and girt with a girdle of skin about his loins (2 Kings 1:8); nor why the children who called Elisha bald were torn by she-bears out of the wood (2 Kings 2:23-24).

[6] By Elijah and by Elisha was represented the Lord as to the Word, thus by them was represented the Word, specifically the prophetic Word, as may be seen in what is prefaced to the eighteenth chapter of Genesis and at n. 2762. The “hairiness” and the “girdle of skin” signified the literal sense, a “hairy man” this sense in respect to truths, and a “girdle of skin” about the loins this sense in respect to goods. For the literal sense of the Word is its natural sense, because it is from the things in the world; and the internal sense is the spiritual sense, because it is from the things in heaven. These two senses are circumstanced as are the internal and external of man; and because there is no internal without an external, for the external is the ultimate of order in which the internal subsists, therefore it was a reproach against the Word to call Elisha bald, implying that it is devoid of an external, thus that the Word has no sense that is adapted to the apprehension of man.

[7] From all this it is evident that all the details of the Word are holy; but the holiness therein is not apparent to the understanding, except that of one who knows its internal sense; nevertheless by influx from heaven it comes to the perception of him who believes the Word to be holy. This influx is effected through the internal sense in which the angels are; and although this sense is not understood by the man, still it affects him, because the affection of the angels who are in it is communicated. From this it is plain also that the Word has been given to man in order that he may have communication with heaven, and that the Divine truth which is in heaven may affect him by means of the influx.