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.

490. In the Word “daughters” frequently denote goods; as in David:

Kings’ daughters were among thy precious ones; at thy right hand doth stand the queen in the best gold of Ophir; the daughter of Tyre with a gift; the king’s daughter is all glorious within; of eyelet work of gold is her raiment; instead of thy fathers shall be thy sons (Psalms 45:10-17), where the good and beauty of love and faith are described by the “daughter.” Hence churches are called “daughters” by virtue of goods, as the “daughter of Zion” and the “daughter of Jerusalem” (Isaiah 37:22, and in many other places); they are also called “daughters of My people” (Isaiah 22:4), the “daughter of Tarshish” (Isaiah 23:10), the “daughter of Sidon” (verse 12), and “daughters in the field” (Ezekiel 26:6, 8).

4541. 'And make there an altar to the God who appeared to you' means that which is holy there. This is clear from the meaning of 'an altar' as the chief representative of the Lord, dealt with in 921, 2777, 2811, 4489. This being so, the holiness of worship is meant by 'making an altar to God'.