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.

6913. Verses 21-22. And I will give this people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians; and it shall be that when ye go, ye shall not go empty; and every woman shall ask of her neighbor, and of her that sojourneth in her house, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and garments, and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters, and ye shall spoil the Egyptians. “And I will give this people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians,” signifies the fear of those who are in falsities before those who are of the spiritual church, by reason of the plagues; “and it shall be that when ye go, ye shall not go empty,” signifies life no longer in need in respect to the things of the natural mind; “but every woman shall ask of her neighbor, and of her that sojourneth in her house,” signifies that everyone’s good shall be enriched with such things as are helpful; “vessels of silver,” signifies memory-knowledges of truth; “and vessels of gold,” signifies memory-knowledges of good; “and garments,” signifies lower memory-knowledges corresponding thereto; “and ye shall put them upon your sons,” signifies applying them to their truths; “and upon your daughters,” signifies applying them to goods; “and ye shall spoil the Egyptians,” signifies that such things are to be taken away from those who are in falsities and the derivative evils.

89. Verse 4. These are the nativities of the heavens and of the earth, when He created them, in the day in which Jehovah God made the earth and the heavens. The “nativities of the heavens and of the earth” are the formations of the celestial man. That his formation is here treated of is very evident from all the particulars which follow, as that no herb was as yet growing; that there was no man to till the ground, as well as that Jehovah God formed man, and afterwards, that He made every beast and bird of the heavens, notwithstanding that the formation of these had been treated of in the foregoing chapter; from all which it is manifest that another man is here treated of. This however is still more evident from the fact, that now for the first time the Lord is called “Jehovah God” whereas in the preceding passages, which treat of the spiritual man, He is called simply “God;” and, further, that now “ground” and “field” are mentioned, while in the preceding passages only “earth” is mentioned. In this verse also “heaven” is first mentioned before “earth” and afterwards “earth” before “heaven;” the reason of which is that “earth” signifies the external man, and “heaven” the internal, and in the spiritual man reformation begins from “earth” that is, from the external man, while in the celestial man, who is here treated of, it begins from the internal man, or from “heaven.”