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.

9092. Then they shall sell the living ox. That this signifies that the affection of the one which has injured the affection of the other shall be alienated, is evident from the signification of “selling,” as being to alienate (see n. 4098, 4752, 4758, 5886); and from the signification of “the living ox,” as being the affection of truth which had injured the affection of truth of another (of which above, n. 9090).

6865. And do thou bring forth My people the sons of Israel out of Egypt. That this signifies the consequent liberation of those who are of the spiritual church from infesting falsities is evident from the signification of “bringing forth” as being liberation; from the signification of the “sons of Israel” as being those of the spiritual church (see n. 6637); and from the signification of “Egypt” as being the false memory-knowledge which is against the truths of the church; thus infesting falsity (see n. 6692).

[2] It is false memory-knowledge which chiefly infests those of the spiritual church; because they have no perception of truth from good, but only the memory-knowledge of truth from doctrine; they who are such are very much infested by memory-knowledges. For memory-knowledges are the most general vessels, which sometimes appear contrary to truths, until truths being let into them make them transparent, and thus not to be noticed. Moreover, memory-knowledges are full of the fallacies of the senses, which cannot be dispelled by those who are in mere knowledges from doctrine, and not in the perception of truth from good; mainly because the light of the world predominates with them, which light appears clear so long as the light of heaven does not flow into it, but as soon as the light of heaven flows in, instead of light it becomes obscurity. Hence it is that these persons are enlightened and clever in the things of the world, but obscured and dull in the things of heaven.

[3] These believe themselves enlightened when they have confirmed in themselves the doctrinal things of the church, but it is a sensuous light from the light of the world which then deceives them; for doctrinal things of every kind can be confirmed, as Jewish doctrinal things by the Jews, enthusiastic ones by enthusiasts, Socinian ones by the Socinians, and heresies by heretics of every sort; and when they have been confirmed, they appear to them in the sensuous light as very truths. But they who are in the light of heaven are in enlightenment from the Lord; and before confirmations, by looking into the memory-knowledges which are beneath and are there arranged in order, they discern whether it is a truth that may be confirmed or not. Hence it is evident that these latter have an interior view, which is above the memory-knowledges, and thus is distinct; whereas the former have a lower view, which is within the memory-knowledges, and thus is an entangled one (see n. 2831).