9373. Come up unto Jehovah. That this signifies conjunction with the Lord, is evident from the signification of “coming up,” as being to be raised toward interior things (see n. 3084, 4539, 4969, 5406, 5817, 6007), consequently also to be conjoined (n. 8760). That it denotes conjunction with the Lord, is because by “Jehovah” in the Word is meant the the Lord, (n. 1343, 1736, 1793, 2004, 2005, 2018, 2025, 2921, 3023, 3035, 5663, 6280, 6303, 6905, 8274, 8864, 9315). A secret which also lies hidden in the internal sense of these words, is that the sons of Jacob, over whom Moses was the head, were not called and chosen; but they themselves insisted that Divine worship should be instituted among them (according to wh at has been said in n. 4290, 4293); and therefore it is here said, “and He said unto Moses, Come up unto Jehovah,” as if not Jehovah, but another, had said that he should come up. For the same reason in what follows it is said that “the people should not go up” (verse 2); and that “Jehovah sent not His hand unto the sons of Israel who were set apart” (verse 11); and that “the appearance of the glory of Jehovah was like devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the sons of Israel” (verse 17); and lastly that Moses, being called the seventh day, “entered into the midst of the cloud.” For by “the cloud” is meant the Word in the letter (n. 5922, 6343, 6752, 6832, 8106, 8443, 8781); and with the sons of Jacob the Word was separated from its internal sense, because they were in external worship without internal, as can be clearly seen from the fact that now, as before, they said, “all the words which Jehovah hath spoken we will do” (verse 3); and yet scarcely forty days afterward they worshiped a golden calf instead of Jehovah; which shows that this was hidden in their hearts while they were saying with their lips that they would serve Jehovah alone. But nevertheless those who are meant by “the called and the chosen” are those who are in internal worship, and who from internal worship are in external; that is, those who are in love to and faith in the Lord, and from this in love toward the neighbor.

9379. 'And they shall not come near' means no separate joining together or presence. This is clear from the representation of Aaron, his sons Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders, who are the ones here who 'shall not come near', as the Word in its outward sense, religious teachings, and the Church's leading truths, dealt with above in 9374-9376; and from the meaning of 'coming near' as the Lord's togetherness with and presence among people, dealt with immediately above in 9378, in this instance as no such togetherness or presence, since it says that Moses alone and not they themselves shall come near. The reason why no separate joining together or presence is meant is that Moses at this point represents the Word in general or the Word in its entirety, 9372, as well as the Word in its inward sense, 9374, whereas Aaron, his sons, and the seventy elders represent the Word in its outward sense and the things derived from it. Since there can be no separate joining of these to the Lord, because the Lord is the Word in its entirety, the words of explanation are 'no such joining or any separate presence'.