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.

3766. In the field. That this signifies for the churches, is evident from the signification of a “field,” as being the church as to good (n. 2971). In the Word the church is signified by “land,” “ground,” and “field,” but with a difference. The reason why “field” signifies the church, is that the church as a field receives the seeds of good and truth; for the church has the Word, from which come these seeds; and this is the reason why everything in a field signifies that which is of the church, such as sowing, reaping, standing corn, wheat, barley, and other things, and this also with a difference.

9744. 'From fine twined linen' means coming out of the understanding. This is clear from the meaning of 'fine linen' as truth from a celestial origin, dealt with in 5319, 9469. Consequently 'fine twined linen' means the understanding since this consists of and has been so to speak twined out of truths from a celestial origin. For there are two realities with which everything in the whole of creation has connection, truth and good. This is why a person has two mental powers, one dedicated to the reception of truth, the other to the reception of good. The power dedicated to the reception of truth is called the understanding, and the power dedicated to the reception of good is called the will. To the extent therefore that the understanding has been formed from real truths it excels and is 'fine twined linen'; for 'fine linen' is truth from the Divine, 5319. As regards 'fine twined linen', that it therefore means the understanding, see also 9596.