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.

Food in the Bible represents the desire for good, and water and other drinks represent the understanding and true ideas we need to recognize what good is and how to bring it into being – or simple "truth," as Swedenborg puts it. When people (or animals) in the Bible drink, then, it represents learning true things and internalizing them so they can be used. In the contrary sense it can mean taking in false ideas instead, and allowing them to pollute the mind. When a person drinks clean water, it represents getting simple, external ideas from the Bible. Drinking good wine represents learning the deeper spiritual ideas that lie within the stories of the Bible. This is why Jesus said to the Samaritan woman that the water He gave would be a "well springing up to everlasting life" (John 4:14). The details of the instruction can also vary depending on who or what is drinking. When Rebekah gives water to the camels of Abraham's servant (Genesis 24) this means instruction about known facts from the Bible to the external part of the mind. When Jacob waters Laban's flock of sheep (Genesis 29), this means instruction from doctrine about loving what is good.

10415. 'And the people sat down to eat and drink' means making those things their own. This is clear from the meaning of 'eating and drinking' as making their own, 'eating' making evil their own and 'drinking' making falsity their own.

'Eating' means making good one's own, see 3168, 3513(end), 3596, 3832, 9412, so that in the contrary sense it means making evil one's own, 4745.

'Drinking' means making truth one's own, and in the contrary sense making falsity one's own, 3069, 3168, 3832, 8562, 9412.