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.

4282. Verses 26-28. And he said, Let me go, for the dawn ariseth. And he said, I will not let thee go unless thou bless me. And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel; for as a prince hast thou contended with God and with men, and hast prevailed. “And he said, Let me go, for the dawn ariseth,” signifies that temptation ceased when conjunction was at hand; “and he said, I will not let thee go, unless thou bless me,” signifies that conjunction was to be effected; “and he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob” signifies the quality of good from truth; “and he said, Thy name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel,” signifies the Divine celestial spiritual now; “Israel” is the celestial spiritual man which is in the natural, and thus is natural; the celestial spiritual man itself, which is rational, is “Joseph;” “for as a prince hast thou contended with God and with men, and hast prevailed,” signifies continual victories in combats as to truths and goods.

[2] In the internal historical sense, in which Jacob and his posterity are treated of, by the same words are signified the things which follow; by “Let me go, for the dawn ariseth,” is signified that what was representative before they came into representatives of the land of Canaan should depart from the posterity of Jacob; by “and he said, I will not let thee go unless thou bless me,” is signified that they would insist upon being representative; by “and he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob,” is signified that they were the posterity of Jacob with their quality; by “and he said, Thy name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel,” is signified that they could not represent as Jacob, but as from a new quality given them; by “for as a prince hast thou contended with God and with men, and hast prevailed,” is signified because of the contumacy which was in their cupidities and phantasies.