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.

'A reed shaken with the wind,' as in Matthew 11:7, signifies the Word when explained at pleasure, because 'a reed' in the internal sense is truth in the extreme, like the Word is in the letter.

(References: Arcana Coelestia 9372; Matthew 11:8)

3987. 'And now, when shall I, even I, provide for my own house?' means that now its own good will be made fruitful from this. This is clear from the meaning of 'house' as good, dealt with in 2231, 2233, 3128, 3652, in this case 'my own house' as the good meant by Jacob. 'Providing for his own house' means that the good from this is to be made fruitful, as is evident from the fact that the fruitfulness of good and the multiplication of truth is the subject now because the joining of the interior man to the external has taken place; for 'Joseph', the one born last, means that fruitfulness, 3965, 3969, 3971, and 'the flock' which Jacob acquired to himself by means of Laban's flock, dealt with below, describes that fruitfulness. As regards good not being made fruitful nor truth being multiplied until the external man has been joined to the internal, this becomes clear from the consideration that the desire that another shall have what is good, and consequently the thought of good, belong to the interior man, whereas doing good and consequently making known what is good belong to the external man. Unless doing good has been joined to the desire for what is good, and making good known to the thought of good, a person possesses no good at all. For the wicked can desire what is evil and yet do good, and also think evil and yet declare what is good, as anyone can well know. Hypocrites and unholy persons are more bent on this and better at it than others, so much so indeed that they are able to pass themselves off as angels of light, when in fact they are devils within. This proves that good cannot be made fruitful with anyone unless doing what is good has been joined to the desire for good, and making good known to the thought of it; that is, unless the external man has been joined to the internal.