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.

7439. Let My people go, that they may serve Me. That this signifies that they should release those who are of the spiritual church in order that they may worship their God in freedom, is evident from the signification of “letting go,” as being to release; from the representation of the sons of Israel, here “My people,” as being those who are of the spiritual church (n. 6426, 6637, 6862, 6868, 7035, 7062, 7198, 7201, 7215, 7223); and from the signification of “serving Jehovah,” as being to worship. That they should worship in freedom is plain from what follows (verses 21-23), and also from the fact that all worship which is truly worship must be in freedom.

[2] The sons of Israel being called “the people of Jehovah” was not because they were better than other nations, but because they represented the people of Jehovah, that is, those who are of the Lord’s spiritual kingdom. That they were not better than other nations is plain from their life in the wilderness, in that they did not at all believe in Jehovah, but in their hearts believed in the gods of the Egyptians, as is evident from the golden calf which they made for themselves, and which they called their gods who had brought them forth out of the land of Egypt (Exodus 32:8). The same is evident also from their subsequent life in the land of Canaan, as described in the historicals of the Word, and from what was said of them by the prophets, and finally from what was said of them by the Lord.

[3] For this reason also few of them are in heaven, for they have received their lot in the other life according to their life. Therefore do not believe that they were elected to heaven in preference to others; for whoever so believes, does not believe that everyone’s life remains with him after death, nor that man must be prepared for heaven by his whole life in the world, and that this is done of the Lord’s mercy, and that none are admitted into heaven from mercy alone, regardless of how they have lived in the world. Such an opinion about heaven and the Lord’s mercy is induced by the doctrine of faith alone, and of salvation by faith alone without good works; for those who hold this doctrine have no concern about the life, and so believe that evils can be washed away like dirt by water, and thus that man can in a moment pass into the life of good, and consequently be admitted into heaven. For they do not know that if the life of evil were taken away from the evil, they would have no life whatever, and that if they who are in a life of evil were admitted into heaven, they would feel hell in themselves, and this the more grievously, the more interiorly they were admitted into heaven.

[4] From all this it can now be seen that the Israelites and Jews were by no means elected, but only accepted to represent the things that belong to heaven; and that this must needs be done in the land of Canaan, because the Lord’s church had been there from the most ancient times, and from this all the places there became representative of heavenly and Divine things. In this way also the Word could be written, and the names in it could signify such things as belong to the Lord and His kingdom.

41. (Verse 8) I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. That this signifies that He rules all things from primaries by means of ultimates, and consequently all things of heaven to eternity, is evident from the signification of the Alpha and the Omega, as denoting the first and the last, or in primaries and in ultimates; and he who is in primaries and in ultimates also rules the intermediates; thus all things. These things are said concerning the Divine Human of the Lord, because they are said concerning Jesus Christ, by which names is meant His Divine Human (as shown above, n. 26). By means of this the Lord is in primaries and in ultimates. But that He rules all things from primaries by means of ultimates is a mystery not hitherto perceived by man. For man knows nothing concerning the successive degrees into which the heavens are distinguished, and into which also the interiors of man are distinguished; and little concerning the fact that man, as to his flesh and bones, is in ultimates. Neither does he perceive how intermediates are ruled from primaries by means of ultimates, when nevertheless the Lord came into the world that He might put on a Human and glorify it, that is, make it Divine, even to ultimates, that is, even to flesh and bones, in order that He might thus rule all things. That the Lord put on such a Human, and took it with Him into heaven, is known in the church from the fact that He left nothing of His body in the sepulchre; and also from His words to His disciples:

"Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; [handle me] and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have" (Luke 24:39).

It is by means of this, therefore, that the Lord is in ultimates; and because He made these things also Divine, He thus entered into the Divine power of ruling all things from primaries by means of ultimates. If the Lord had not done this, the human race on this earth would have perished in eternal death. But this mystery cannot here be further enlarged on, because many things must be known in order that an idea may be formed and obtained concerning the Divine government from primaries by means of ultimates. (Some light, however, may be obtained on the subject from the following things shown in Arcana Coelestia:- That interior things flow successively into external things, even into what is outermost or ultimate, and that they also exist or subsist there, n. Arcana Coelestia 634, 6239, 6465, 9216, 9217. Concerning the order of influx, that internal things not only flow in successively, but also form what is simultaneous in the ultimate, n. 5897, 6451, 8603, 10099. That therefore all interior things are held together in connection, from what is primary by means of the ultimate, n. 9828, and in the work, Heaven and Hell 297. That consequently in ultimates there is strength and power, n. Arcana Coelestia 9836; that hence also the ultimate is more holy than interior things, n. 9824; that consequently the first and the last signify all things, n. 10044, 10329, 10335. Concerning the successive degrees into which the heavens are distinguished, and into which also the interiors of man are distinguished, see the work, Heaven and Hell 38.) It is said also, that the Lord is the beginning and the end, by which is meant that He is from eternity to eternity; but this cannot be more fully explained than has been done above (n. 23, which see).