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.

4792. As food and nourishment correspond to spiritual food and nourishment, therefore taste corresponds to the perception and affection of this food. Spiritual food is knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom, for from these, spirits and angels live and are nourished, and they desire and have appetite for them just as men who are hungry desire and have appetite for food. Hence appetite corresponds to this desire. And wonderful to say, from this food they grow to maturity; for little children who die appear in the other life no otherwise than as little children, and also are such as to understanding; but as they increase in intelligence and wisdom, they appear not as little children, but as advancing in age, and at last as adults. I have conversed with some who had died in infancy, and were seen by me as young men, because they were then intelligent. From this it is evident what spiritual food and nourishment are.

7270. 'You Shall speak all that I command you, [and Aaron your brother shall speak to Pharaoh,] means the reception of Divine influx, and communication. This is clear from the representation of 'Moses', who is to speak, as Divine Truth, and from the representation of 'Aaron as teachings derived from it, both dealt with in 7089; from the meaning of 'speaking' as influx and the reception of it, dealt with in 5797; and from the meaning of 'commanding' too as influx, dealt with in 5486, 5732, here the reception of influx. From all this it is evident that 'speaking' means the influx of Divine Truth in an indirect way into doctrinal teachings, that is, with the teacher, (for it is implied that Moses, representing Divine Truth, was to speak what Jehovah commanded to Aaron, who represents doctrinal teachings or the teacher, thus to him who was to communicate it) and that 'commanding' means a direct Divine influx into the Divine Law, which 'Moses' represents.

[2] How these matters are to be understood may be seen from what has been stated already in 7009, 7010, Where it is shown that 'Moses' represents truth that comes forth directly from the Divine, and that 'Aaron' represents the truth that comes forth in an indirect way. Anyone unacquainted with the nature of order consisting in consecutive degrees cannot be acquainted with the nature of influx either. Therefore let a brief statement be made on this subject. Since truth which comes forth directly from the Lord is from the Infinite and Divine Being Himself, it cannot be received at all by any living, finite substance, thus not by any angel. This being so, the Lord created degrees consecutively descending to serve as the means by which Divine Truth coming forth directly from Him could be communicated. But the first degree away from Him is still too full of the Divine to enable that Truth to be received by any living, finite substance, and so by any angel. On account of this the Lord created a further degree down, by which Divine Truth coming forth directly from Him was to some extent able to be received. This degree is God's truth which exists in heaven. These first two degrees are above the heavens; they are like belts, made radiant by a fiery source, which surround the Sun, which is the Lord. This is the nature of the consecutive degrees of order down to the heaven nearest to the Lord, which is the third heaven where the innocent and wise live. From there consecutive degrees continue down to the lowest heaven, and from the lowest heaven down to the degree of the senses and the body in man, the last in the series to receive influx.

[3] From all this it is clear that degrees one after another continue from Him who is the First, that is, the Lord, right down to the last and lowest present with man, indeed right down to the last and lowest present in the natural order. The last and lowest degrees present with man, like those in the natural order, are relatively unresponsive and consequently frigid; they are also relatively general and consequently obscure. From this it is also evident that through those consecutive degrees all things exist in a continuous chain linked to the First Being (Esse). And it is in accordance with those degrees that influx takes place; for Divine Truth coming forth directly from Divine Good flows into one degree after another. On the way down or with each new degree it becomes more general, and so grosser and more obscure, and becomes more sluggish, and so more unresponsive and frigid. All this clarifies the nature of Divine Order consisting of consecutive degrees and consequently of the nature of influx.

[4] But it should be fully recognized that God's truth, which flows into the third heaven nearest to the Lord, at the same time flows right down into the last and lowest degrees of order as well, without undergoing consecutive degrees of formation. Every single thing at that level is also directly governed and provided by Him who is the First. In this way the consecutive degrees are held together in their proper order and connection. The truth of this may also be recognized to some extent from the law not unknown to the learned in the world that there is only one substance which really is substance. Everything else is a formation from it, and that one and only substance reigns not solely as the form but as that too which is not the form, for instance, as that which gave rise to them. If this were not so, what has been formed could not remain in being and operate. But these matters are stated for him who may be able to understand them.