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.

4281. That by “the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint in his wrestling with him,” is signified that this conjunction was wholly injured and displaced in Jacob’s posterity, is evident from the signification of being “out of joint” in the sense in question, as being to be displaced, and thus to be injured. That the “hollow of the thigh” denotes conjunction, is manifest from what was said above (n. 4280); and because in the Word “Jacob” denotes not only Jacob, but also all his posterity, as is evident from many passages in the Word (Numbers 23:7, 10, 21, 2 23:23; 24:5, 1 24:17, 19; Deuteronomy 33:10; Isaiah 40:27; 43:1, 22; 44:1-2, 21; 48:12; 59:20; Jeremiah 10:16, 25; 30:7, 10, 18; 31:7, 11; 46:27-28; Hosea 10:11 Amos 7:2; Micah 2:12; 3:8; Psalms 14:7; 24:6; 59:13; 78:5; 99:4 and elsewhere).

[2] That Jacob and his posterity were of such a character that with them celestial and spiritual love could not be conjoined with natural good (that is, the internal or spiritual man with the external or natural man), is manifest from everything which is related of that nation in the Word; for they did not know, nor were they willing to know, what the internal or spiritual man is, and therefore this was not revealed to them; for they believed that nothing exists in man except that which is external and natural. In all their worship they had regard to nothing else, insomuch that Divine worship was to them no otherwise than idolatrous; for when internal worship is separated from external, it is merely idolatrous. The church that was instituted with them was not a church, but only the representative of a church; for which reason that church is called a representative church. That a representative of a church is possible with such people may be seen above (n. 1361, 3670, 4208).

[3] For in representations the person is not reflected upon, but the thing which is represented; and therefore Divine, celestial, and spiritual things were represented not only by persons, but also by inanimate things, as by Aaron’s garments, the ark, the altar, the oxen and sheep that were sacrificed, the lampstand with its lamps, the bread of arrangement upon the golden table, the oil with which they were anointed, the frankincense, and other like things. Hence it was that their kings, the evil as well as the good, represented the Lord’s royalty; and the high priests, the evil as well as the good, represented the things that belong to the Lord’s Divine priesthood, when they discharged their office in an outward form according to the statutes and precepts. In order therefore that the representative of a church might come forth among them, such statutes and laws were given them by manifest revelation as were altogether representative; and therefore so long as they were in them and observed them strictly, so long they were able to represent; but when they turned aside from them, as to the statutes and laws of other nations, and especially to the worship of another god, they then deprived themselves of the faculty of representing. For this reason they were driven by outward means, such as captivities, disasters, threats, and miracles, to laws and statutes truly representative; but not by internal means, as are those who have internal worship in external. These things are signified by the “hollow of Jacob’s thigh being out of joint,” taken in the internal historical sense, which regards Jacob and his posterity.

9603. 'All the curtains shall have one measure' means that the state of affairs shall be the same [with each one]. This is clear from the meaning of 'measure' as the state of affairs as regards truth, dealt with in 3104, so that 'all the curtains shall have one measure' means that the state of affairs shall be the same with every truth. The expression 'the same state of affairs', when applied to the truths of faith in the spiritual kingdom, means that they all look towards good, and through good towards the Lord, the Source of it. Truths which do not look in this direction are not the truths of faith, nor consequently are they truths of the Church or of heaven. Truths which look in some other direction may indeed to outward appearance seem like truths, but they are not truths because they are devoid of life. For the life of truth is good, and good comes from the Lord, who Alone is life. Truths that look in any other direction are like members of a body without a soul, which are not the members of any body because they are devoid of life and so are useless.

[2] The fact that 'measure' means the state of affairs as regards truth, and also the state of affairs as regards good, is evident from the places in the Word where the measures of the new Jerusalem, and also those of the new temple, are the subject. The new or holy Jerusalem means the Lord's New Church, as does the new temple; therefore by their measures states of affairs as regards truth and as regards good are meant, as in John,

The angel had a gold reed to measure the holy Jerusalem, and its gates, and its wall. And he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. He measured its wall, a hundred and forty-four cubits, which is the measure of a man (homo), that is, of an angel. Revelation 21:15-17.

The measures stated here, it is plainly evident, mean states as regards good and truth, for 'the holy Jerusalem' is the Lord's New Church, 'its gates and wall' being the protective truths of faith. 'Twelve thousand' means all the truths and forms of good in their entirety; and 'a hundred and forty-four' has a similar meaning, 7973, for this number is similar in meaning to the number twelve because it is the product of twelve multiplied by twelve, and 'twelve' means all truths and forms of good in their entirety, see 577, 2089, 2129 (end), 2130 (end), 3272, 3858, 3913. 'The measure of a man, that is, of an angel' means that this is what the state of the Church and of heaven is like as regards forms of the good of love and truths of faith; for 'a man' is the Church and 'an angel' is heaven. Without knowledge of what is meant by 'the holy Jerusalem', by 'its gates and wall', by the number 'twelve thousand furlongs', and by the measure of the wall being 'a hundred and forty-four [cubits]', and also what is meant by 'the measure', 'a man', and 'an angel', would anyone ever know [the real meaning of the description] that the measure of the city was twelve thousand furlongs, or that the measure of a wall of 144 cubits was the measure of a man, that is, of an angel?

[3] Much the same is meant by the measuring in Zechariah,

I raised my eyes and saw, and behold, a man (vir) who had a measuring line in his hand. I said, Where are you going? And he said, To measure Jerusalem to see how broad it is and how long it is. Zechariah 2:1-2.

Also in Chapters 40-42 of Ezekiel, which speak about the man with a measuring rod, who measured the houses of the new city, and also the temple - the walls, gates, footings, thresholds, windows, and steps. Unless the measurements in these places had meant the states of the thing as regards truth and good, such details would never have been mentioned. 'Measuring' generally means the state of the truth and good: In Jeremiah,

Thus said Jehovah, If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth beneath searched out, behold, I will nevertheless reject the seed of Israel on account of all that they have done. Behold, the days are coming in which the city for Jehovah will be built. And the measuring line will again go out over the hill of Gareb, and around towards Goah. Jeremiah 31:37-39.

And also in Isaiah,

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, marked off ¹ the heavens with His span, and gathered the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in a balance, and the hills on the scales? Isaiah 40:12.

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