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.

4280. That in the internal historical sense, by his “touching the hollow of Jacob’s thigh,” is signified where conjugial love is conjoined with natural good, is evident from the signification of the “hollow of the thigh,” as being where there is the conjunction of conjugial love (see above, n. 4277). That conjunction there with natural good is signified, is because the thigh is there conjoined to the feet. In the internal sense the “feet” signify natural good, as may be seen above (n. 2162, 3147, 3761, 3986).

[2] That the “thigh” denotes conjugial love, and the “feet” natural good, is among the things that are now obsolete and lost. The Ancient Church, which was in representatives and significatives, knew these things very well. The knowledge of such things was their intelligence and wisdom, and this not only of those who were of the church, but also of those who were out of the church, as is evident from the oldest books of the Gentiles, and from the things which at this day are called fables; for significatives and representatives were derived to them from the Ancient Church. With them also the thighs and the loins signified what is conjugial, and the feet what is natural. The thighs and the feet have this signification from the correspondences of all man’s members, organs, and viscera with the Grand Man, which correspondences are now being treated of at the end of the chapters. Of the correspondences with the thigh and the feet more will be said in what follows, where it will be confirmed by living experience that such is their signification.

[3] At the present day these things cannot but appear paradoxical, because, as before said, this knowledge is altogether obsolete and lost. And yet how much this knowledge surpasses other knowledges, may be seen from the fact that without it the Word cannot possibly be known as to its internal sense; and because the angels who are with man perceive the Word according to this sense; and also because by means of this knowledge communication is given to man with heaven. And (what is incredible) the internal man itself thinks in no other way; for when the external man apprehends the Word according to the letter, the internal man apprehends it at the same time according to the internal sense, although the man while living in the body is not aware of this. Especially may this be seen from the fact that when a man comes into the other life and becomes an angel, he knows the internal sense as of himself without instruction.

[4] What conjugial love is, which is signified by the thighs and also by the loins, may be seen above (n. 995, 1123, 2727-2759); and that conjugial love is the fundamental of all loves (n. 686, 3021); and hence it is that those who are in genuine conjugial love are also in celestial love (that is, in love to the Lord), and in spiritual love (that is, in charity toward the neighbor); and therefore by conjugial love not only is this love itself meant, but also all celestial and spiritual love. These loves are said to be conjoined with natural good when the internal man is conjoined with the external, or the spiritual man with the natural. This conjunction is that which is signified by the “hollow of the thigh.” That with Jacob and his posterity in general there was no such conjunction, will appear from what follows; for this is the subject here treated of in the internal historical sense.

6779. 'And the shepherds came and drove them away' means that teachers steeped in evils set themselves against them. This is clear from the meaning of 'the shepherds' as those who teach and lead to the good of charity, dealt with in 343, 3795, 6044, here those who teach but, being steeped in evils, do not lead to the good of charity, dealt with below; from the meaning of 'driving away' as setting themselves against; and from the meaning of the daughters, the ones whom they drove away, as things belonging to the Church, dealt with above in 6775. Here 'shepherds' does indeed mean those who teach, but they are those who do not lead to the good of charity because they are steeped in evils. For those steeped in evils never acknowledge that charity and its works contribute to salvation, because they are incapable of acknowledging things contrary to the life they lead. To do so would be to go against themselves. Being steeped in evils they are not even aware of what charity is, or thus of what the works of charity are. Faith is what they teach, saying that faith is what makes people righteous and what holds the promise of heaven. These are the ones who set themselves against the teachings about charity drawn from the Word, and therefore against people guided by the truth that goes with simple good - the people meant by the daughters of the priest of Midian who, after they had drawn water and filled the troughs to water the flock, were driven away by the shepherds from the well.