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.

4444. As they heard it, and the men were grieved, and they were very angry. That this signifies that they were in evil against the truth of the Church among the Ancients, is evident from the signification of being “grieved and very angry,” as being to be in evil. That this was against the truth of the Church among the Ancients, follows, because it was against Shechem the son of Hamor, by whom is signified the truth among the ancients, as before said (n. 4430, 4431). That they were in evil is evident from what follows, in that they spoke with fraud (verse 13), and then, after Shechem and Hamor had complied with their demands, they slew them (verses 26-29). Thus by being “grieved and very angry” is here signified that they were in evil. It appears as if these words signify zeal because he lay with their sister, according to the words which presently follow: “Because he had wrought folly in Israel in lying with Jacob’s daughter, and so it ought not to be done;” and at the end of the chapter: “They said, Shall he make our sister as a harlot?” (verse 31); but it was not zeal, for zeal is impossible with anyone who is in evil, being possible only with him who is in good, because zeal has good within it (n. 4164).

[2] It is true that the religiosity which existed with their posterity had good within it, for each and all things of it represented the celestial and spiritual things of the Lord’s kingdom; but as regards those who were in that religiosity it had no good within it, for they were in mere externals without internals, as shown above. The case herein is the same as it is with the religiosity of that nation as now prevalent among them: they acknowledge Moses and the prophets, thus the Word, which in itself is holy, but as regards them it is not holy, for in everything therein they regard themselves, and thus make the Word worldly, nay, earthly, for that there is anything heavenly in it they do not know and neither do they care. They who are in such a state cannot be in good when in their religiosity, but in evil, for nothing heavenly flows in, because they extinguish it in themselves.

[3] Moreover, it was according to a law known in the Ancient Church that he who forced a virgin should give a dowry and take her for his wife, as thus stated in Moses:

If a man persuade a virgin who is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall endow her with a dowry to be his wife. If refusing her father refuse to give her unto him, he shall pay silver, as much as is the dowry of virgins (Exodus 27:15-16).

And elsewhere:

If a man find a damsel who is a virgin, who has not been betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be caught, the man who lay with her shall give the damsel’s father fifty pieces of silver, and she shall be his wife, because he forced her, and he may not put her away all his days (Deuteronomy 22:28-29).

That this same law was known to the ancients is very evident from the words of Shechem to the damsel’s father and brothers: “Shechem said unto her father and unto her brethren, Let me find grace in your eyes, and what ye say unto me I will give. Multiply upon me exceedingly dowry and gift, and I will give according as ye shall say unto me, and give me the damsel for a woman” (verses 11-12). And as Shechem desired to fulfill this law, and Dinah’s brothers gave their consent provided that he would become as they were by circumcising every male, according to the words which follow: “Nevertheless in this will we consent unto you, if ye will be as we are, that every male with you be circumcised, we will both give our daughters to you, and will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will be one people” (verses 15-16), it is evident that Dinah’s brothers did not act from the law (thus not from good), but contrary to the law, and consequently from evil.

[4] It was indeed according to their law that they should not enter into marriages with the nations, as stated in Moses: “Lest thou take of their daughters for thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods” (Exodus 34:16); and again: “Thou shalt not contract kinship with the nations, thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, and his daughter thou shalt not take unto thy son, because he will turn aside thy son from following Me, that they may serve other gods” (Deuteronomy 7:3-4); but this law was given in regard to idolatrous nations, lest by marriages with them the sons of Israel should turn aside from truly representative worship to idolatrous worship; for when they became idolaters they could no longer represent the celestial and spiritual things of the Lord’s kingdom, but the opposites, which are infernal, for they then called forth from hell a certain devil whom they worshiped, and to whom they applied the Divine representatives, and therefore it is said, “Lest they go a whoring after their gods.” This law was given for the additional reason that by the “nations” were signified the evils and falsities with which the goods and truths represented by the sons of Israel were not to be commingled, consequently not diabolical and infernal things with heavenly and spiritual things (see n. 3024 at the end).

[5] But they were never forbidden to intermarry with the nations who accepted their worship, and who after being circumcised acknowledged Jehovah. These they called “sojourners sojourning with them,” who are thus spoken of in Moses:

If a sojourner shall sojourn with thee, and be willing to keep the passover to Jehovah, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it, and he shall be as an inhabitant of the land; there shall be one law for the inhabitant and for the sojourner that sojourneth in the midst of you (Exodus 12:48-49).

And again:

When a sojourner shall sojourn with you, he shall keep the passover unto Jehovah; according to the statute of the passover, and according to the statutes thereof, so shall he do; one statute shall there be for you, both for the sojourner and for the native of the land (Numbers 9:14).

The reason why they were called “sojourners sojourning in the midst of them” and “with them” was that “to sojourn” signified to be instructed; and therefore a “sojourner” signified those who suffered themselves to be instructed in the statutes and doctrinal things. (That “to sojourn” and a “sojourner” have this signification may be seen above, n. 1463, 2025, 3672) In the same:

If a sojourner shall sojourn with you who shall have made a fire-offering of an odor of rest unto Jehovah, as ye do, so he shall do: as to the assembly, there is one statute for you and for the sojourner that sojourneth, a statute of eternity for your generations; as ye are, so is the sojourner before Jehovah; one law and one judgment shall be for you and for the sojourner that sojourneth with you (Numbers 15:14-16).

As the native of you shall be the sojourner that sojourneth with you (Leviticus 19:34).

One judgment shall there be for you, such as is for the sojourner, such shall be for the native (Leviticus 24:22).

[6] That this statute was known not only to Jacob and his sons, but also to Shechem and Hamor, is evident from their words; for the statutes, judgments, and laws that were given to the Israelitish and Jewish nation were not new, but such as had previously existed in the Ancient Church and in the second Ancient Church which was called Hebrew from Eber, as has been shown. That consequently this law was known is evident from the words, “The sons of Jacob said to Hamor and Shechem, We cannot do this word, to give our sister to a man who has a foreskin, for this is a reproach to us; nevertheless in this will we consent to you, if ye will be as we, to circumcise for you every male, we will both give our daughters to you, and will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you and will be for one people” (verses); and the same is evident from the words of Hamor and Shechem, in that they not only consented, but also caused themselves and every male of their city to be circumcised (verses 18-24).

[7] Hence it is evident that Shechem became a sojourner such as is spoken of in the law, and thus could take the daughter of Jacob for a woman; so that to kill them was a wicked deed, as Jacob also testified before his death (Genesis 49:5-7). That not only Judah, but also Moses, and also the kings of the Jews and of the Israelites, and also many of the people, took wives from the nations, is evident from the historicals of the Word; and that these wives received their statutes, judgments, and laws, and were acknowledged as sojourners, is not to be doubted.

9643. 'And forty bases of silver' means complete support received through truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'forty' as completeness, dealt with in 9437; from the meaning of 'bases' as support, since bases serve as supports; and from the meaning of 'silver' as truth, dealt with in 1551, 2954, 5658, 6112, 6914, 6917, 7999. The bases were made from silver and the boards overlaid with gold because good is meant by 'the boards', 9634, and truth by 'the bases', and good possesses power and on this account lends support through truth. As regards good, that it possesses power through truth, see 6344, 6423, 9327, 9410, and that 'gold' means good and 'silver' truth, 113, 1551, 1552, 5658, 6914, 6917, 8932, 9490, 9510. Good possesses power through truth because truth gives shape to good, which means that good also possesses specific quality; for outward shape exists where specific quality does so. The good can then be a real influence among things, in one way or another. So it is that the ability resides potentially in good, but that this cannot be exercised except through truth. Ability so exercised is actual power, consequently power that provides support.

[2] Bases also correspond to a person's feet and soles of the feet; in general they correspond to the bones, which lend support to all the fleshy parts in the body. By the feet and likewise the bones truth that provides support is meant, and by the fleshy parts in the body good which supports itself by means of truth.

All things on the natural level resemble the human form, and carry the same meaning as the parts of it they resemble, see 9496.

'Flesh' means good, 3813, 6968, 7850, 9127.

'Feet' means the natural, thus truth that has power from good within it, 5327, 5328.

'Body' means good, 6135.

'Bones' means truth that provides support, 3812 (end), 8005.

[3] So it is also that by 'foundations', which are a general base, the truth of faith and faith itself are meant, as becomes clear from places in the Word where 'foundations' are mentioned, for example in Isaiah,

Do you not know, do you not hear, do you not understand the foundations of the earth? Isaiah 40:21.

A person unacquainted with what 'the foundations' and what 'the earth' mean inevitably takes 'the foundations of the earth' here to denote the inner depths of the planet, even though he may realize, if he stops to think about it, that something other than them is meant; for what meaning can knowing, hearing, and understanding the foundations of the earth have? From this it becomes clear that by 'the foundations of the earth' such things as have to do with the Church are meant. The fact that 'the earth' in the Word means the Church is plainly evident from places in the Word where 'the earth' is mentioned, see those quoted in 9325. And the fact that its foundations are the truths of faith, for these truths serve the Church as foundations, becomes clearer still from the following places: In David,

They do not acknowledge, neither do they understand; they walk in darkness. All the foundations of the earth are unstable. Psalms 82:5.

It is not the foundations of the earth that are unstable but, as is self-evident, it is the truths of the Church with those who neither acknowledge nor understand them and walk in darkness. In the same author,

The earth quaked and trembled, and the foundations of the mountains shook and quaked. Psalms 18:7.

'The mountains' are forms of the good of love, 795, 4210, 6435, 8327, their 'foundations' are the truths of faith. In Isaiah,

The floodgates from on high have been opened, and the foundations of the earth have been shaken. Isaiah 24:18.

Since 'the foundations' means the truth of faith, and 'city' doctrine based on it, therefore also the Word speaks of 'the foundations of the city' when the truth of doctrine is meant. For the meaning of 'city' as doctrinal teachings based on truth, see 402, 2449, 2943, 3216, 4492, 4493.

[4] This goes to show what the meaning is of 'the foundations of the city, the holy Jerusalem' in John,

The wall of the city, the holy Jerusalem, had twelve foundations, and on them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of precious stone. Revelation 21:14, 19-20.

A person unacquainted with what 'the holy Jerusalem', 'the city', 'the wall', 'the foundations', and 'the twelve apostles' mean cannot see any arcanum at all that lies within this description. Nevertheless 'the holy Jerusalem' means the Lord's New Church which will take the place of the one that is ours at the present day; ¹ 'the city' doctrinal teachings; 'the wall' the truth protecting and defending, and 'its foundations' the truths of faith; and 'the twelve apostles' all forms of the good of love and the truths of faith in their entirety. From this it becomes clear why it says that there will be twelve foundations, adorned with every kind of precious stone; for 'precious stone' means the truth of faith springing from the good of love, 114, 3858, 6640, 9476, and 'the twelve apostles' all aspects of love and faith in their entirety, 3488, 3858 (end), 6397.

[5] From all this it is evident what is meant by 'the foundations' in those verses in John and also by 'the foundations' in Isaiah,

Behold, I am arranging your stones with antimony, and will lay your foundations in sapphires. Isaiah 54:11.

'Sapphires' are interior truths, 9407. In the same prophet,

Jehovah will strike Asshur with a rod. At that time every stroke ² will be that of the rod of the foundation on which Jehovah will cause [him] to rest. Isaiah 30:31-32.

'The rod of the foundation' is the power of truth. For the meaning of 'the rod' as power, see 4013, 4015, 4876, 4936, 6947, 7011, 7026. And in Jeremiah,

They shall not take from you a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations. Jeremiah 51:26.

'A stone for foundations' stands for the truths of faith.

[6] In Job,

Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. ³ Who determined the measures of it, if you know? Onto what [were] its bases [fastened]? Or who laid its corner-stone, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God bellowed? Job 38:4-7.

A person unacquainted with what 'the earth', 'its measures', and 'its bases' mean in the internal sense, and also what 'corner-stone', 'morning stars', and 'the sons of God' mean, sees no arcanum at all in this description. He will suppose that the actual earth, and also the foundations, measures, bases, and corner-stone of it are what is meant. Nor will he have any idea at all of what is meant by 'the morning stars sang' and 'the sons of God bellowed'. But a person will pass from darkness to light if he knows that 'the earth' is the Church, 'its foundations' are the truth of faith, 'its measures' the state of good and truth, 'its bases' the actual truths that provide support, 'the corner-stone' the power of truth, 'the morning stars' cognitions or knowledge of good and of truth springing from good, and 'the sons of God' God's truths. These sons are said 'to bellow' when they come into existence, those stars 'to sing' when they rise.

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