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.

1671. Came Chedorlaomer. That this signifies the apparent good in the external man, is evident from the signification of “Chedorlaomer,” explained in the preceding verse, as being apparent good and truth, here good only, because it is said also, “and the kings that were with him,” and by “the kings” is signified the truth.

7524. 'Sores breaking out into pustules' means resulting filthiness together with blasphemy. This is clear from the meaning of 'sore places' as filthiness resulting from evils; and from the meaning of 'pustules' as blasphemy resulting from evils. Sores on a person's body correspond to filthiness resulting from evils, and pustules to blasphemy. What is more, they would be present on every evil person if he were not being kept, all the time he is in the world, in the kind of state that allows him to receive the goodness and truth of faith. For the sake of that state the Lord prevents his evils from erupting into such ailments.

[2] The meaning of 'sores' as filthiness together with blasphemy is also evident in John,

The first angel poured out his bowl onto the earth, and evil and hurtful sores were produced on the people who had the mark of the beast. The fifth angel poured out his bowl onto the throne of the beast, and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their distress and because of their sores. Revelation 16:2, 10-11.

And in Moses,

Jehovah will strike you with the sores of Egypt, and with haemorrhoids, and the scab, and the itch, so that you cannot be healed; for you will be made mad by what your eyes will see. ¹ Jehovah will strike you with evil sores on the knees and on the thighs, from which you cannot be healed. Jehovah will lead you away, and your king whom you set over you, to a nation which you have not known. Deuteronomy 28:17, 34-36.

'The sores of Egypt' stands for filthiness together with blasphemy. And since blasphemy too is meant it says that they will be made mad by what their eyes see; for one who blasphemes God is unhealthy or insane.

[3] Different kinds of sores are called haemorrhoids, the scab, and the itch; and these mean just so many different kinds of falsities arising from evils. Sores on the knees and thighs have almost the same meaning. And since falsities are meant by them there follows immediately the statement that the king whom they set over themselves would be led away; for 'king' means truth and in the contrary sense falsity, 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 4581, 4966, 5044, 6148. Leprous sores, such as swellings, abscesses, pimples, inflammations, scurfy patches (porrigo), reddish-white sores (vitiligo), that are referred to in Leviticus 13:1-end, are also of the same kind, for 'leprosy' in the spiritual sense is the profanation of truth, 6963.

[4] 'Wounds' too have the same kind of meaning, as is evident in Isaiah,

From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it, [but] wounds, bruises, and recent blows. They are not pressed out, nor bound up, nor softened with oil. Isaiah 1:6.

And in David,

My iniquities have gone over my head. My wounds have become putrid, they have rotted away because of my foolishness. Psalms 38:4-5.

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