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.

491. The same things are signified by “sons” and “daughters” in this chapter (verses 4, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19, 26, 30), but such as is the church, such are the “sons and daughters” that is, such are the goods and truths; the truths and goods here spoken of are such as were distinctly perceived, because they are predicated of the Most Ancient Church, the principal and parent of all the other and succeeding churches.

10547. 'And called it the tent of meeting' means the external aspect of worship, the Church, and the Word, which holds internal things within it. This is clear from the meaning of 'the tent of meeting' as the external aspect of worship, the Church, and the Word, which holds internal things within it; for 'the tent' means the holiness of worship, the Church, and the Word, 10545, and 'meeting' means where internal things are, since all internal things exist together within external ones, see 6451, 9216, 9828, 9836. In the sense of the letter 'meeting' describes a coming together of the children of Israel, but in the internal sense it means a coming together of the Church's truths and forms of good, since the Church's truths and forms of good in their entirety are meant in the good sense by 'the children of Israel', see 5414, 5879, 5951, 7957, and in like manner by 'the congregation and assembly of the children of Israel', 7830, 7843. Furthermore the truths and forms of good that reside in the Word, the Church, and worship do so on an internal level, for internally the Word, the Church, and worship contain celestial and spiritual realities, but externally they consist of natural and worldly images. Yet all the celestial and spiritual realities pass into the natural and worldly images; they terminate in them, give shape to them, and compose them. This explains why the external aspect is meant by 'meeting'. Such is the situation with the external or outward sense of the Word, called its literal sense; such also is the situation with the external things of the Church and worship, for they come from the Word.