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.

9213. Even at the going in of the sun thou shalt restore it to him. That this signifies that it must be restored before there is a state of shade from the delights of external loves, is evident from the signification of the “going in,” or setting, “of the sun,” as being a state of shade from the delights of external loves. The case herein is this. In heaven there are alternations of heat in respect to those things which are of the good of love; and there are alternations of light in respect to those things which are of the truth of faith; thus there are alternations of love and of faith. In hell also there are alternations, but such as are opposite to those in heaven, because there they are alternations of the love of evil and of the faith of falsity. These alternations correspond to the changes of the seasons on the earth, which are spring, summer, autumn, and winter, and again spring; and so on. But in the spiritual world instead of times there are states; for there are no changes of heat and light there, but of love and faith. But be it known that these alternations are not the same with one as with another, but differ with each person according to the state of life acquired by him in the world. Sunset in heaven corresponds to a state of shade as to the truths of faith, and to a state of cold as to the good of love to the Lord and toward the neighbor; for those who are there then come into the delights of external loves, which are attended with shade as to faith. For when an angel or spirit is in external things, he is also in shade; but when he is in internal things, he is in the delights and blessednesses of heavenly loves, and at the same time is in the pleasant things of faith, that is, in the light of truth. These are the states to which correspond the spring and summer seasons on the earth. From all this then it can now be seen why the “going in,” or setting, “of the sun,” signifies a state of shade from the delights of external loves. (Concerning these alternations see (5097) what has been shown above, n. 5097, 5672, 5962, 6110, 7083, 8426, 8615, 8644, 8812.)

[2] From what has been said above it can be seen what is meant by saying that the memory-truths which have been separated through fallacies derived from the things of sense must be restored before there is a state of shade from the delights of external loves, which is signified by the words, “if thou take thy companion’s garment in pledge, even at the going in of the sun thou shalt restore it to him.” For hereby is meant that truths taken away through fallacies must be restored while the man is still in the light of truth; for he is then able to recover them, and also to dispel the falsities induced by fallacies; but this he cannot do when he is in a state of shade arising from the delights of external loves, because these delights reject those truths; and the shade does not receive them; and thus the fallacies cling to the man, and are appropriated by him. The reason why external delights, that is, those of the external man, are of such a nature, is that they are closely connected with the world, and are also excited and as it were vivified by its heat. It is otherwise with internal delights and blessednesses, or those of the internal man. These are closely connected with heaven, and are also excited and vivified by its heat, which is love from the Lord.

[3] This judgment, or law, is thus delivered in another passage in Moses:

Thou shalt not take in pledge the mill or millstone; for he taketh the soul in pledge (Deuteronomy 24:6);

by “a mill” are signified such things as serve for procuring faith, and afterward charity (n. 7780); and by “the soul” is signified the life of faith from charity (n. 9050). From this it is evident what is meant by “not taking in pledge a mill, for he taketh the soul in pledge.” Again:

Thou shalt not turn back the right of the sojourner and the orphan; nor shalt thou take a widow’s garment in pledge (Deuteronomy 24:17);

“to take a widow’s garment in pledge” denotes to take away in any manner the truths that long for good; for a “garment” denotes truth (see n. 9212); and “a widow,” one who is in good and longs for truths, or in the abstract sense, good longing for truths (n. 9198); for if truth is taken away, good perishes together with its longing.

[4] And again:

If thou lend thy companion anything, thou shalt not enter into his house to take a pledge. Thou shalt stand outside, and the man to whom thou hast lent shall bring forth the pledge outside. And if he be a needy man, thou shalt not lie down in his pledge; restoring thou shalt restore to him the pledge at the setting of the sun, that he may lie in his garment, and may bless thee; and it shall be righteousness before thy God (Deuteronomy 24:10-13).

That the creditor should “stand outside, and the pledge be brought forth to him,” signifies how the communicated truths are to be responded to; for by “lending” is signified the communication of truth, and by “taking a pledge,” the response. No one can know that these things are signified except from what happens in the other life; thus unless he knows what is meant by “entering into the house,” and what by “standing outside,” thus what is meant by “bringing forth outside.”

[5] In the other life those who enter the house of another, and converse together in one room, so communicate their thoughts with all who are there, that the latter absolutely know no otherwise than that they themselves are thinking these thoughts from themselves. But if they stand outside, the thoughts are indeed perceived, but as coming from another, and not from themselves. This happens every day in the other life; and therefore those who are of one opinion, or of one sentiment, appear together in one house; and this is still more the case if they appear in one room of the house; and when these same persons disagree, those who do so disappear. In the other life such appearances are everywhere, and are continually happening. The reason is that parity of thoughts conjoins and causes presence, for thought is internal sight, and distances of places there, are not as in the world.

[6] From this it is plain what is meant by “not entering into the house, but standing outside and taking a pledge,” namely, that one should not bind or incite another to confirm one’s own truths, but should hear him and take his answers as they are in himself. For he who binds and incites another to confirm his own truths, causes the other not to think and speak from himself, but from him. And when anyone thinks and speaks from another, the truths he has are thrown into disorder, and yet he is not amended, except in the case of one who is as yet ignorant of these truths. From all this it is again clear that in every detail of the Word there are things which correspond to such as are in the spiritual world.

2069. Kings of peoples shall be from her. That this signifies truths from the conjoined truths and goods, which are the “kings of peoples,” is evident from the signification of “kings,” as being in general all truths (see above, n. 2015); and from the signification of “peoples,” as also being truths, and in general all things spiritual; for “kings” are predicated of peoples, and not of nations except when nations signify evils (see n. 1259, 1260). In the prophetic Word there is frequent mention of “kings” and “peoples;” but by these are never meant kings and peoples; for in the very Word itself, which is the internal sense, kings and peoples are not treated of at all, but the celestial and spiritual things which belong to the Lord’s kingdom, thus goods and truths. The sense of the letter simply furnishes objective forms (as is done by human words) for causing its meaning to be understood.

[2] As it is here said of Sarah that “kings of peoples shall be from her,” and as by “Sarah” is signified the Divine truth which the Lord had, it is evident that by “kings of peoples” are signified truths from the conjoined truths and goods, which are all truths of the internal church, or the interior truths of faith. These truths, being from the Lord, are called “kings” in various passages of the Word, and also “king’s sons,” as shown above (n. 2015).

[3] Everyone can see that some internal Divine thing lies hidden in the words that “kings of peoples shall be from her”— for in this verse Isaac is treated of, and in reference to him it is said, “I will bless her and she shall be for nations;” but of Sarah, that “kings and peoples shall be from her”—and also in nearly the same thing being said of Abraham (verse 6), in that “kings should come forth” from him; but it is not said of him as of Sarah, that “kings of peoples” should be from him. The arcanum that is herein lies too deeply hidden to be unfolded and described in a few words. From the representation and signification of Abraham as being the Divine Good, and from the representation and signification of Sarah as being the Divine Truth, the arcanum is in some measure evident to the effect that all celestial truth will go forth and will be from the Lord’s Divine Good, meant by “Abraham;” and that all spiritual truth will go forth and will be from the Lord’s Divine Truth, meant by “Sarah.” Celestial truth is that which is with the celestial angels, and spiritual truth is that which is with the spiritual angels; or what is the same thing, celestial truth is that which was with the men of the Most Ancient Church, which was before the flood, and which was a celestial church; and spiritual truth is that which was with the men of the Ancient Church, which was after the flood, and which was a spiritual church. For angels, as well as men of the church, are distinguished into the celestial and the spiritual. The celestial are distinguished from the spiritual by love to the Lord; and the spiritual are distinguished from the celestial by love toward the neighbor.

[4] But concerning celestial truth and spiritual truth no more can be said until it is known what the distinction is between the celestial and the spiritual, or what is the same, between the celestial church and the spiritual church (concerning which see Part First, n. 202, 337, 1577; also what was the quality of the Most Ancient Church, and what that of the Ancient Church, n. 597, 607, 640, 765, 1114-1125, and in many other places; and that to have love to the Lord is celestial, and to have love toward the neighbor is spiritual, n. 2023).

[5] These considerations will suffice to open the arcanum that by the “kings” who should go forth from Abraham, spoken of in the sixth verse, are signified the celestial truths that inflow from the Lord’s Divine Good; and that by the “kings of peoples” who should be from Sarah, spoken of in the present verse, are signified the spiritual truths that inflow from the Lord’s Divine Truth. For the Lord’s Divine good cannot inflow except with the celestial man, because it inflows into the will part, as it did in the case of the Most Ancient Church; but the Lord’s Divine truth inflows with the spiritual man, because it inflows solely into his intellectual part, which in him has been separated from his will part (see n. 2053, at the end); or what is the same, celestial good inflows with the celestial man, and spiritual good with the spiritual man; and on this account the Lord appears to the celestial angels as a Sun, but to the spiritual as a Moon (see n. 1529, 1530).