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.

3048. The servant took ten camels, of the camels of his lord, and departed. That this signifies general memory-knowledges in the natural man, is evident from the signification here of “servant,” as being the natural man (see above, n. 3019, 3020) and from the signification of “ten,” as being remains (that these are goods and truths with man stored up by the Lord, may be seen above, n. 468, 530, 560, 561, 660, 661, 1050, 1906, 2284; and that “ten,” or remains, when predicated of the Lord, are the Divine things which the Lord acquired for Himself, n. 1738, 1906); and also from the signification of “camels,” as being general memory-knowledges; and because these were Divine, or acquired by the Lord, it is said that they were “ten,” and then it is said that they were “camels, of the camels of his lord.” That he “departed,” signifies the initiation thereby which is treated of in this chapter.

[2] The subject here is the process of the conjunction of truth with good in the Lord’s Divine rational; first, the process of initiation (n. 3012-3013), the nature of which is described in a series; here, that the Lord separated in the natural man the things which were from Himself, that is, which were Divine, from those which were of the maternal. The things which were from Himself, or which were Divine, are the things by which the initiation was effected; and they are here the “ten camels, of the camels of his lord.” And hence it is that in the following verses much mention is made of “camels” as that he made the camels fall on their knees without the city (verse 11); that Rebekah also gave drink to the camels (verses 14, 19-20); that they were brought into the house, and that straw and provender were given them (verses 31-32); and further, that Rebekah and her girls rode upon the camels (verse 61); and that Isaac saw the camels coming; and when Rebekah saw Isaac, that she alighted off her camel (verses 63-64). Camels are mentioned so often because of the internal sense, in which they signify the general memory-knowledges in the natural man, from which comes the affection of truth which is to be initiated into the affection of good in the rational, and this in the usual way, as shown above; for the rational as to truth cannot possibly be born and perfected without memory-knowledges and knowledges.

[3] That “camels” signify general memory-knowledges is evident from other passages in the Word where they are mentioned, as in Isaiah:

The prophecy of the beasts of the south: In the land of straitness and distress; from whence come the young lion and the old lion, the viper and the flying fire serpent; they carry their riches upon the shoulder of young asses, and their treasures upon the hump of camels, to a people that shall not profit; for Egypt shall help in vain and to no purpose (Isaiah 30:6-7).

The “beasts of the south” denote those who are in the light of knowledges, or in knowledges, but in a life of evil; “carrying their riches upon the shoulder of young asses” denotes the knowledges pertaining to their rational (that a “young ass” is rational truth may be seen above, n. 2781); “their treasures upon the hump of camels,” denotes the knowledges pertaining to their natural; the camels’ “hump” is what is natural; the “camels” themselves signify the general memory-knowledges which are there; the “treasures” are the knowledges which they hold as precious; that “Egypt shall help in vain and to no purpose” denotes that memory-knowledges are of no use to them; that “Egypt” is memory-knowledge may be seen above (n. 1164-1165, 1186, 1462, 2588 the end). That “camels” here are not camels is plain; for it is said “the young lion and the old lion carry their treasures upon the hump of camels”; and anyone can see that some arcanum of the church is hereby signified.

[4] Again:

The prophecy of the wilderness of the sea: Thus hath the Lord said, Go, set a watchman; let him declare what he seeth: and he saw a chariot, a pair of horsemen, a chariot of an ass, a chariot of a camel, and he hearkened diligently. And he answered and said, Babel is fallen, is fallen (Isaiah 21:1, 6-7, 9).

The “wilderness of the sea” here denotes the emptiness of memory-knowledges that are not for use; a “chariot of an ass,” a collection of particular memory-knowledges; a “chariot of a camel,” a collection of general memory-knowledges in the natural man. It is the empty reasonings with those signified by “Babel” which are thus described.

[5] Again:

Thy heart shall be enlarged because the multitude of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the wealth of the nations shall come unto thee. The abundance of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come; they shall bring gold and incense, and they shall proclaim the praises of Jehovah (Isaiah 60:5-6).

This is concerning the Lord, and concerning the Divine celestial and spiritual things in His natural: the “multitude of the sea” denotes the immense supply of natural truth; the “wealth of the nations,” the immense supply of natural good; the “abundance of camels,” the abundant supply of general memory-knowledges; “gold and frankincense,” goods and truths, which are the “praises of Jehovah;” “from Sheba” is from the celestial things of love and faith (see n. 113, 117, 1171). That:

The queen of Sheba came to Solomon to Jerusalem with exceeding great riches, with camels that bare spices, and very much gold, and precious stones (1 Kings 10:1-2)

represented the wisdom and intelligence which came to the Lord, who in the internal sense here is “Solomon.” The “camels bearing spices, gold, and precious stones” are the things of wisdom and intelligence in the natural man.

[6] In Jeremiah:

To Arabia, and to the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel smote: Arise ye, go up to Arabia, and lay waste the sons of the East. Their tents shall they take, and they shall carry away for themselves their curtains, and all their vessels, and their camels. And their camels shall be a booty, and I will scatter them to every wind (Jeremiah 49:28-29, 32).

Here “Arabia and the kingdoms of Hazor,” in the opposite sense, denote those who are in knowledges of celestial and spiritual things, but for the end of no other use than that they may be esteemed wise and intelligent by themselves and the world; the “camels which should be taken away from them, and should be for a booty, and should be scattered to every wind,” are in general the memory-knowledges and the knowledges of good and truth which are also taken away from them in the life of the body by their believing contrary things, and in the other life wholly.

[7] In Zechariah:

And this shall be the plague wherewith Jehovah will smite all the peoples that shall fight against Jerusalem; thus shall be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass, and of every beast (Zech. 14:12, 15).

Here the “plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass,” denotes the privation of intellectual things, which thus succeed in order from rational things to natural things (what is meant by the “horse,” may be seen above, n. 2761, 2762; what by the “mule” n. 2781; and what by the “ass,” n. 2781); “camels” denote the general memory-knowledges in the natural man. The like was signified by the murrain in Egypt, which was “Upon the cattle in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels,cupon herd and upon flock” (Exodus 9:2-3).

[8] From these passages it is evident that by “camels” in the internal sense of the Word are signified the general memory-knowledges of the natural man. General memory-knowledges are those which include in themselves many particulars, and these singulars; and they form in general the natural man as to the intellectual part of it.

4104. 'And set his sons and his womenfolk on camels' means a raising up of truths and of affections for these, and the arrangement of them within things that are general. This is clear from the meaning of 'sons' as truths, dealt with in 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623; from the meaning of 'womenfolk', who in this case are Rachel and Leah, and also their servant-girls, as affections for truth, for cognitions, and for facts, dealt with already; and from the meaning of 'camels' as general facts within the natural, dealt with in 3048, 3071, 3143, 3145.

[2] Anyone who does not have some knowledge of representations and correspondences is incapable of believing that the words 'he set his sons and his womenfolk on camels' mean such things. To him they seem too remote to incorporate and contain within them that which is spiritual; for he thinks about sons, womenfolk, and camels. But the angels, who see and perceive all such things in a spiritual manner, do not think of sons but of truths when 'sons' are mentioned; they do not think of womenfolk but of affections for truth, cognitions, and facts when 'womenfolk' are mentioned; nor do they think of camels but of things that are general within the natural when these are mentioned. For such is the correspondence between the one thing and the other, and such is the way in which angels think. And what is remarkable, it is also the way in which the internal spiritual man thinks while living in the body, though the external man is totally unaware of it. For the same reason when a person who has been regenerated dies he enters into a similar manner of thinking and is able to think with and talk to angels. And this he does without being taught to do so, something that would never have been possible if his interior thought had not been such. The fact that it is such is due to the correspondence of natural things with spiritual. From this it may be seen that although the literal sense of the Word is natural it nevertheless contains spiritual things within it, and in every single part, that is, it contains the kind of things that belong to thought and therefore to interior or spiritual language, such as angels employ.

[3] With regard to the raising up of truths and of the affections for these, and the arrangement of them within things that are general, truths and affections are raised up when the things of eternal life and of the Lord's kingdom are thought to be more important than those of life in the body and of the kingdom of this world. When a person acknowledges the former to be first and foremost, and the latter to be secondary and subordinate, the truths he knows and his affections for them are raised up. For as is his acknowledgement so in the same measure is that person conveyed into the light of heaven, which light holds intelligence and wisdom within it, and so also in the same measure do things belonging to the light of this world become for him images and so to speak mirrors in which he sees the things belonging to the light of heaven. The contrary takes place when he thinks the things of the life of the body and of the kingdom of this world to be more important than those of eternal life and of the Lord's kingdom. He does this when he believes that the latter do not exist because he does not see them and because nobody has come from there and given an account of them - or if he does believe that they may exist, nothing worse will happen to him than to others - and in so believing confirms himself in these ideas, leads a worldly life, and despises charity and faith altogether. With such a person truths and the affections for them are not raised up but are either smothered, or rejected, or perverted. For he dwells in natural light into which no heavenly light at all flows in. This shows what is meant by a raising up of truths and of affections for them.

[4] As for the arrangement of these truths and affections within things that are general, this is the inevitable consequence; for insofar as a person thinks heavenly things are more important than worldly ones, things within his natural are arranged into an order in keeping with the state of heaven. As a result they are seen in the natural, as has been stated, as images and mirrors of heavenly things, for they are representatives that correspond. It is the ends in view which effect the arranging, that is, the Lord effects it by means of the ends which the person has in view. For there are three things which follow in order ends, causes, and effects. Ends bring about causes, and by means of causes bring about effects. As is the nature of the ends therefore so is that of the emanating causes, and from these that of the effects. Ends constitute the inmost things with man; causes constitute the intermediate things and are called the intermediate ends; and effects constitute the ultimate things and are called the ultimate ends. Effects also constitute the things which are termed general. From this one may see what is meant by an arrangement within things that are general, namely this: When anyone has the things of eternal life and of the Lord's kingdom as his end in view, then all intermediate ends, which are causes, and all ultimate ends, which are effects, are arranged in accordance with the end itself. And this is situated within the natural because that is where effects reside, or what amounts to the same, where things that are general reside.

[5] Every adult person possessing any judgement at all can recognize, if he gives the matter any consideration, that he is living in two kingdoms, the spiritual kingdom and the natural one. He can recognize that the spiritual kingdom is interior and the natural exterior, and consequently that he is able to think one more important than the other, that is, to have one rather than the other in view, and therefore that with him the one which he has as his end in view or makes more important is predominant. If therefore he has the spiritual kingdom, that is, the things which constitute that kingdom, as his end and thinks the spiritual kingdom more important than the natural one, then he acknowledges as being first and foremost love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour, and consequently all ideas that reinforce love and charity, and are called the truths of faith; for these belong to that kingdom. When this is the situation in a person, everything within his natural is distributed and arranged in keeping with the things of that kingdom so as to be subservient and obedient. But when he has the natural kingdom, that is, the things that exist there, as his end in view, and makes that more important, he annihilates all love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour, and all faith. Indeed he goes so far as to set no value at all on these things, but makes love of the world and self-love, and the things which go with these, all important. When this is the case everything within his natural is arranged in keeping with those ends, and so is entirely at odds with the things of heaven. In this way he brings about hell within himself. Having something as the end in view consists in loving it, for every end exists as the object of a person's love because that which he loves he has as his end in view.