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.

5975. Love was then spoken of, but most of them did not know what love is, it was asked whether they knew, and because there were some of them who declared a belief in faith alone, certain did not wish to hear, saying that they did not care to know, since faith alone saves. Therefore it was said to them that love is spoken of many times in the Word, and indeed by the Lord, that it is to keep the commandments, for He said that he who keeps my words loves Me; he who does not, does not love [John 14:23-24]; and in Paul, that if there is the greatest faith and there is not love, it is still nothing [1 Cor. 13:2]. But they did not at all understand this, because they did not wish to understand. The nature of the church at the present day is evident from this.

488. That “days” signify states in general, and “years” states in special, appears from the Word, as in Ezekiel:

Thou hast caused thy days to draw near, and art come even unto thy years (Ezekiel 22:4),

speaking of those who commit abominations, and fill up the measure of their sins, of whose state in general are predicated “days” and in special “years.”

So in David:

Thou shalt add days to the days of the king, and his years as of generation and generation (Psalms 61:6),

speaking of the Lord and of His kingdom, where also “days” and “years” signify the state of His kingdom. Again:

I have considered the days of old, the years of the ages (Psalms 77:5),

where “days of old” signify states of the Most Ancient Church, and “years of the ages” states of the Ancient Church.

In Isaiah:

The day of vengeance is in My heart, and the year of My redeemed is come (Isaiah 63:4),

speaking of the last times, where the “day of vengeance” signifies a state of damnation, and the “year of the redeemed” a state of blessedness. Again:

To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn (Isaiah 61:2),

where both “days” and “years” signify states.

In Jeremiah: Renew our days as of old (Lamentations 5:21),

where state is plainly meant.

[2] In Joel:

The day of Jehovah cometh, for it is nigh at hand, a day of darkness and of thick darkness, a day of cloud and of obscurity; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be after it, even to the years of generation and generation (Joel 2:1-2), where “day” signifies a state of darkness and of thick darkness, of cloud and of obscurity, with each one in particular, and with all in general.

In Zechariah: I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day; in that day shall ye cry a man to his companion under the vine, and under the fig tree (Zechariah 3:9-10).

And in another place:

It shall be one day which is known to Jehovah, not day nor night, and it shall come to pass that at evening time it shall be light (Zechariah 14:7),

where it is plain that state is meant, for it is said that there shall be a day that is “neither day nor night, at evening time it shall be light.” The same appears from expressions in the Decalogue:

Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may be well with thee upon the ground (Deuteronomy 5:16; 25:15),

where to have the “days prolonged” does not signify length of life, but a happy state.

[3] In the literal sense it must needs appear as if “day” signifies time, but in the internal sense it signifies state. The angels, who are in the internal sense, do not know what time is, for they have no sun and moon that distinguish times; consequently they do not know what days, and years are, but only what states are and the changes thereof; and therefore before the angels, who are in the internal sense, everything relating to matter, space, and time disappears, as in the literal sense of this passage in Ezekiel:

The day is near, even the day of Jehovah is near, a day of cloud; it shall be the time of the nations (Ezekiel 30:3),

and of this in Joel:

Alas for the day! for the day of Jehovah is at hand, and as vastation shall it come (Joel 1:15),

where a “day of cloud” signifies a cloud, or falsity; the “day of the nations” signifies the nations, or wickedness; the “day of Jehovah” signifies vastation. When the notion of time is removed, there remains the notion of the state of the things which existed at that time. The case is the same with regard to the “days” and “years” that are so often mentioned in this chapter.