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.

4280. That in the internal historical sense, by his “touching the hollow of Jacob’s thigh,” is signified where conjugial love is conjoined with natural good, is evident from the signification of the “hollow of the thigh,” as being where there is the conjunction of conjugial love (see above, n. 4277). That conjunction there with natural good is signified, is because the thigh is there conjoined to the feet. In the internal sense the “feet” signify natural good, as may be seen above (n. 2162, 3147, 3761, 3986).

[2] That the “thigh” denotes conjugial love, and the “feet” natural good, is among the things that are now obsolete and lost. The Ancient Church, which was in representatives and significatives, knew these things very well. The knowledge of such things was their intelligence and wisdom, and this not only of those who were of the church, but also of those who were out of the church, as is evident from the oldest books of the Gentiles, and from the things which at this day are called fables; for significatives and representatives were derived to them from the Ancient Church. With them also the thighs and the loins signified what is conjugial, and the feet what is natural. The thighs and the feet have this signification from the correspondences of all man’s members, organs, and viscera with the Grand Man, which correspondences are now being treated of at the end of the chapters. Of the correspondences with the thigh and the feet more will be said in what follows, where it will be confirmed by living experience that such is their signification.

[3] At the present day these things cannot but appear paradoxical, because, as before said, this knowledge is altogether obsolete and lost. And yet how much this knowledge surpasses other knowledges, may be seen from the fact that without it the Word cannot possibly be known as to its internal sense; and because the angels who are with man perceive the Word according to this sense; and also because by means of this knowledge communication is given to man with heaven. And (what is incredible) the internal man itself thinks in no other way; for when the external man apprehends the Word according to the letter, the internal man apprehends it at the same time according to the internal sense, although the man while living in the body is not aware of this. Especially may this be seen from the fact that when a man comes into the other life and becomes an angel, he knows the internal sense as of himself without instruction.

[4] What conjugial love is, which is signified by the thighs and also by the loins, may be seen above (n. 995, 1123, 2727-2759); and that conjugial love is the fundamental of all loves (n. 686, 3021); and hence it is that those who are in genuine conjugial love are also in celestial love (that is, in love to the Lord), and in spiritual love (that is, in charity toward the neighbor); and therefore by conjugial love not only is this love itself meant, but also all celestial and spiritual love. These loves are said to be conjoined with natural good when the internal man is conjoined with the external, or the spiritual man with the natural. This conjunction is that which is signified by the “hollow of the thigh.” That with Jacob and his posterity in general there was no such conjunction, will appear from what follows; for this is the subject here treated of in the internal historical sense.

10400. 'For this Moses, that man who caused us to come up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him' means a total unawareness of what other Divine Truth exists in the Word that raises a person from an external to an internal level and makes him an embodiment of the Church. This is clear from the representation of 'Moses' as the Word, thus Divine Truth, dealt with in the places referred to in 9372, so that an attitude of mind that doubts and denies the existence of any Divine Truth other than that which presents itself in the sense of the letter is meant by 'this Moses, that man, we do not know what has become of him' (the word 'man' is used here because in the Word 'man' means truth, see 3134, 3309, 3459, 7716, 9007); and from the meaning of 'causing the children of Israel to go up out of the land of Egypt' as a raising from the natural or external man to the internal or spiritual man, so that the person may be made an embodiment of the Church. For 'the land of Egypt' means the natural or external level of the Church, 'causing to come up' raising, and 'the children of Israel' the Church.

'The land of Egypt' means the natural or external level of the Church, see in the places referred to in 9391.

'Causing to come up' means raising from an external to an internal level, 3084, 4539, 4969, 5406, 5817, 6007, and so from the natural man to the spiritual man.

'The children of Israel' means the Church, see in the places referred to in 9340.

[2] From all this it is evident that 'this Moses, that man who caused us to come up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him' means a total unawareness of what Divine Truth exists in the Word to raise a person from an external to an internal level and to make him an embodiment of the Church other than that which presents itself in the sense of the letter. This also is what all who are restricted to external things devoid of anything internal think and say; and all are restricted to external things devoid of anything internal who are ruled by self-love and love of the world. With these people the internal man is closed and only the external man lies open; and what is seen by the external man without the internal when they read the Word is seen in thick darkness. This is so because in spiritual things natural illumination without light from heaven is complete darkness; and the light from heaven enters and illuminates the external man by way of the internal. This explains why so many heresies have arisen, why some call the Word a book of heresies, why people do not know at all that something internal is present within the Word, and why those who think that something is present there do not know exactly where. Such people are meant in Revelation 12 by the dragon which used its tail to draw from heaven a third part of the stars and cast them down to the earth, as will in the Lord's Divine mercy be shown elsewhere ¹ .

[3] Let those who wish contemplate whether anyone at the present day has any other idea than that the actual Divine Truth of the Word resides in its literal sense. But let them also consider whether anyone can know the Divine Truths of the Word contained in that sense except with the aid of teachings drawn from that sense, and that if a person does not possess such teachings to serve as a lamp he is carried off into errors, in whatever direction the obscurity of his understanding and the delight of his will lead and take him. The teachings that must serve as a lamp are those that the internal sense provides, so that they constitute the actual internal sense. This sense is to some extent open to every person who, though he may not know what the internal sense is, has his external subject to his internal, that is, has his internal man lying open. For heaven, which is in possession of the internal sense of the Word, flows into that person when he reads the Word, brings him light, gives him discernment, and in this way teaches him. Indeed, if you are willing to believe it, a person's internal man is of itself in possession of the internal sense of the Word since the internal man constitutes heaven in the smallest form it takes, and when that internal man lies open the person is consequently present with angels in heaven, and therefore also possesses discernment similar to theirs. This becomes additionally clear from the consideration that the interior concepts within a person's understanding are not like his natural ones, though they are in agreement with these. What they are like however a person does not know as long as he lives in the body; but when he enters the next life he knows them automatically because they have been implanted within him, and by means of them he lives instantly in company with angels. From this it is evident that the person in whom the internal level lies open is in possession of the internal sense of the Word, though he does not know he is, and as a consequence has enlightenment when he reads the Word. But this depends on how much light he can receive by means of the cognitions or knowledge residing with him. Who exactly those people are however, see 9025, 9382, 9409, 9410, 9424, 9430, 10105, 10324.

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