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.

2709. And he became a shooter of the bow. That this signifies the man of the spiritual church, is evident from the signification of a “shaft,” “dart,” or “arrow,” as being truth; and from the signification of a “bow,” as being doctrine (see above, n. 2686). The man of the spiritual church was formerly called a “shooter of the bow,” because he defended himself by truths, and disputed about truths; differently from the man of the celestial church, who is secure by means of good, and does not dispute about truths (see above, n. 2708). The truths by which the man of the spiritual church defends himself, and respecting which he disputes, are from the doctrine which he acknowledges.

[2] That the spiritual man was in old time called a “shooter” and an “archer,” and that doctrine was called a “bow” and a “quiver,” and that the truths of doctrine, or rather doctrinal matters, were called “darts,” “shafts,” and “arrows,” is further evident in David:

The sons of Ephraim, being armed, shooters of the bow, turned back in the day of battle (Psalms 78:9).

“Ephraim” denotes the intellectual of the church. In the book of Judges:

Consider, ye that ride on white asses, ye that sit upon carpets, and ye that walk by the way; because of the voice of archers among them that draw water, there shall they rehearse the righteousnesses of Jehovah, the righteousnesses toward His villages in Israel (Judg. 5:10-11).

In Isaiah:

Jehovah hath called me from the womb, from the bowels of my mother hath He made mention of my name, and He hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of His hand hath He hid me, and He hath made me a polished arrow, in His quiver hath He hid me; and He said unto me, Thou art My servant; Israel, in whom I will be glorified ¹ (Isaiah 49:1-3).

“Israel” denotes the spiritual church.

[3] In David:

As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so are the children of the youth; happy is the man that hath filled his quiver with them (Psalms 127:4);

a “quiver” denotes the doctrine of good and truth.

In Habakkuk:

The sun and moon stood still in their seat; at the light of Thine arrows shall they go, at the shining of the lightning of Thy spear (Hab. 3:11).

That Joash king of Israel shot an arrow from a bow through the window, at the command of Elisha, while Elisha said, “The arrow of the salvation of Jehovah, the arrow of the salvation of Jehovah against the Syrian” (2 Kings 13:16 to 18), signifies arcana concerning the doctrine of good and truth.

[4] As most of the things in the Word have also an opposite sense, so likewise have “shafts,” “darts,” “arrows,” “bows,” and a “shooter;” and they signify falsities, the doctrine of falsity, and those who are in falsity. Thus in Moses:

Joseph is the son of a fruitful one, the son of a fruitful one by a fountain, of a daughter, she marcheth upon the wall; they grieved him, and shot at him, and the archers hated him (Genesis 49:22-23).

In Jeremiah:

They have shot out their tongue, their bow is a lie, and not for truth; their tongue is a lengthened arrow, it speaketh deceit (Jeremiah 9:3, 8).

In David:

They have sharpened their tongue like a sword, they have aimed their arrow, a bitter word, to shoot in secret places at the perfect; suddenly will they shoot at him, and will not fear. They will make strong for themselves an evil word, they will tell of the hiding of snares (Psalms 64:4-6).

In the same:

Lo, the wicked bend the bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, to shoot in the darkness at the upright in heart (Psalms 11:2).

In the same:

His truth is a shield and buckler; thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, for the arrow that flieth by day (Psalms 91:4-5).

Footnotes:

9094. 'And they shall also divide the dead one' means that the injuring affection as well will be dispersed. This is clear from the meaning of 'that which is dead' as evil and falsity, dealt with above in 9008, so that 'a dead ox' means an affection for evil and falsity in the natural, thus an injuring affection since evil causes injury by means of falsity; and from the meaning of 'dividing' as dispersing, as above in 9093. It is not easy to explain in a way that can be understood the nature of the matters contained in the internal sense of this verse. They are such as can be comprehended by angels, but only to some extent by men. For angels see the arcana of the Word in light that flows from the Lord; and in that light countless things are made visible which cannot be put into words, or even into mental pictures that a person could assimilate while living in the body. The reason for this is that with people in the world the light of heaven flows into the light of the world and so into such things there as either eliminate, reject, or darken and thereby weaken the light of heaven, such things being worldly and bodily cares, especially those that flow from self-love and love of the world. This is the reason why the perceptions belonging to angelic wisdom are for the most part beyond description and also beyond comprehension.

[2] However, a person enters into such wisdom after the body has been cast aside, that is, after death, but only the person who, when in the world, received the life of faith and charity from the Lord. The ability to receive that wisdom is held within the good of faith and charity. Much experience too has allowed me to know that the things which angels see and think about in the light of heaven are beyond description. When I have been raised into that light I have seemed to myself to understand everything the angels spoke there. But when I was brought down from there to the light of the external or natural man and in that light wished to recall the things I had heard there, I could not put them into words or even find ideas in my mind to embrace them, except for a few, and even these few in a dim manner. From all this it is evident that the things seen and heard in heaven are such as eye has never seen or ear heard.

[3] This is what the things that lie concealed inmostly in the internal sense of the Word are like. The situation is similar with the contents of the internal sense in this verse and the next. The things there which are capable of being explained and understood are these: All the truths present with a person possess life from affections belonging to some love or other. Truth without life from that source is like a sound emitted by the mouth without an idea behind it, or like a sound made by a mechanical man. From this it is evident that the life of a person's understanding comes from the life of his will, consequently the life of truth from the life of good, since truth occupies the understanding and good the will. If therefore two truths exist which do not receive their life from the same general affection but from dissimilar affections, they are inevitably dispersed since they clash with each other. And when truths are dispersed, the affections they belong to are dispersed as well. For there is a general affection, which brings all the truths present with a person together under it; and that general affection is good. These are the things that are capable of being stated regarding what is meant in the internal sense by two men's oxen, one of which inflicts a blow on the other ox, which as a result dies, and now by the stipulation that the living ox shall be sold, the silver shall be divided, and the dead ox too.

[4] Is there anyone belonging to the Church who does not know that every detail of the Word is Divine? But can anyone see anything Divine in these laws regarding oxen and asses falling into a pit, and regarding oxen striking with their horn, if they are considered and explained only on the level of the sense of the letter? Yet those laws are Divine, even on this level, if at the same time they are considered and explained on the level of the internal sense, because on this level every detail of the Word refers to the Lord, His kingdom and Church, thus to things that are Divine. For if anything is to be Divine and holy it must refer to Divine and holy subjects; the subject to which it refers makes it such. The worldly and civil regulations, such as the judgements, statutes, and laws declared by the Lord from Mount Sinai and contained in this chapter of Exodus and those that follow, are Divine and holy through inspiration. But inspiration is not dictation; rather it is influx from the Divine. What flows in from the Divine passes through heaven, where it is celestial and spiritual. But when it enters the world it becomes worldly, yet holds within itself what is celestial and spiritual. From this it is evident where the Divinity of the Word springs from and where it resides in the Word, and what inspiration is.