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.

7892. And in the seventh day a holy convocation. That this signifies so at the end of the state, is evident from the signification of “the seventh day,” which was the last of the feast, as being its end. (What is signified by “a holy convocation,” see just above, n. 7891)

1363. That Abram, Nahor, and Haran were sons of Terah, and that they were also nations named from them as their fathers, and that by them idolatrous worships are here signified, is evident from the explanations given above; and also from the fact that idolatry is signified by Terah, whose sons they were. But what idolatrous worships are here signified by the three sons of Terah, and afterwards by Lot the son of Haran, may be seen if idolatrous worships are examined according to their kinds. There are in general four idolatrous worships, one more interior than another. The three more interior ones are as the sons of one parent; the fourth is as the son of the third. Idolatrous worships are internal and external; the internal are those which condemn man; the external not so much. The more interior the idolatrous worship is, the more it condemns; but the more exterior, the less. Internal idolaters do not acknowledge God, but adore themselves and the world, and make idols of all their cupidities; whereas external idolaters are able to acknowledge God, although they do not know who is the God of the universe. Internal idolaters are known from the life they have acquired; and in proportion as this life departs from the life of charity, in the same proportion are they more interior idolaters. External idolaters are known solely from their worship; and, although idolaters, they can still have the life of charity. Internal idolaters can profane holy things, but external idolaters cannot; and therefore external idolatry is tolerated, in order to prevent the profanation of holy things; as may be seen from what has been said before n. 571, 582; and at verse 9, n. 1327).