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.

3143. And there is room for the camels. That this signifies a state for all things that would be serviceable to Him, is evident from the signification of “room,” as being state (see above, n. 1273-1277, 1376-1381, 2625); and from the signification of “camels,” as being general memory-knowledges (see n. 3048, 3071). That these are things for service may be seen above (n. 1486, 3019, 3020); for all things that belong to the natural man are for no other use than to serve the spiritual; wherefore also menservants, maidservants, camels, and asses, in the internal sense chiefly signify the things which belong to the natural man.

3145. 'And he ungirded the camels' means freedom for the things that were to be subservient. This is clear from the meaning of 'ungirding' as freeing, and from the meaning of 'the camels' as general facts, and so things that were to be subservient, as dealt with just above in 3143. The situation is that without freedom no production of truth ever takes place in the natural man, nor summoning of it from there into the rational man, where it becomes joined to good. It is in a state of freedom that all these things come about, for it is the affection for truth springing from good that sets them free. Unless truth is learned with an affection for it, and so in freedom, it is not even implanted in the mind, let alone raised up towards the interior parts of the mind to become faith there. For all reformation is effected in freedom; all freedom goes together with affection, and the Lord keeps man in freedom so that he can - as if of himself and from what is his own - have an affection for what is true and good and so be regenerated, see 2870-2893. These are the things meant by 'he ungirded the camels'; and unless those things were meant, the details recorded here would have been too trivial to mention.