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.

5248. And changed his garments. That this signifies as to what is of the interior natural, by putting on what is suitable, is evident from the signification of “changing,” as being to remove and reject; and from the signification of “garments,” as being what is of the interior natural (of which presently); hence it follows that what was suitable (signified by the new “garments”) was put on. “Garments” are often mentioned in the Word, and thereby are meant things beneath or without, and that cover things above or within; and therefore by “garments” are signified man’s external, consequently his natural, because this covers his internal and spiritual. Specifically by “garments” are signified truths that are of faith, because these cover the goods that are of charity. This signification has its origin from the garments in which spirits and angels appear clothed. Spirits appear in garments devoid of brightness, but angels in garments that are bright and are as it were made of brightness, for the very brightness around them appears as a garment, as appeared the raiment of the Lord when He was transfigured, which was “as the light” (Matthew 17:2), and was “white and flashing” (Luke 9:29). From their garments also the quality of spirits and angels can be known in respect to the truths of faith, because these are represented by garments, but truths of faith such as they are in the natural; for such as they are in the rational appears from the face and its beauty. The brightness of their garments comes from the good of love and of charity, which by shining through causes the brightness. From all this it is evident what is represented in the spiritual world by the garments, and consequently what is meant by “garments” in the spiritual sense. But the garments that Joseph changed, that is, put off, were the garments of the pit or prison, and by these are signified things fallacious and false, which in a state of temptations are excited by evil genii and spirits; and therefore by his “changing his garments” is signified rejection and change in respect to what is of the interior natural, and the garments he put on denoted such things as would be suitable, and therefore the putting on of things suitable is signified. See what has before been said and shown concerning garments: that what is celestial is not clothed, but what is spiritual and natural (n. 297); that “garments” denote truths relatively lower (n. 1073, 2576); that changing the garments was a representative of holy truths being put on, whence also came the changes of garments (n. 4545); that rending the garments was representative of mourning over truth lost and destroyed (see n. 4763 and what is signified by him that came in, not having on a wedding garment (n. 2132).

4252. Verses 9-12. And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Jehovah, who says to me, Return to your land, and to the place of your nativity, and I will deal well with you; I am not worthy of all the mercies and of all the truth which You have shown to Your servant, for with just my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he comes and smites me, the mother with the children. ¹ And You have said, I will certainly deal well with you and I will make your seed like the sand of the sea which cannot be counted for multitude.

'Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Jehovah' means the holiness of preparation and arrangement. 'Who says to me, Return to your land, and to the place of your nativity, and I will deal well with you' means to become joined to Divine Good and Truth. 'I am not worthy of all the mercies and of all the truth which You have shown to Your servant' means an expression, in that state, of humbleness before good and before truth. 'For with just my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I have become two camps' means that from having little He now had much. 'Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him' means the state of truth in relation to good, in which truth has made itself first. 'Lest he comes and smites me, the mother with the children' means that it is about to perish. 'And You have said, I will certainly deal well with you' means that it would nevertheless obtain life then. 'And I will make your seed like the sand of the sea which cannot be counted for multitude' means the fruitfulness and multiplication then.

4252[a]. '[Jacob] said, O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Jehovah' means the holiness of preparation and arrange meet. This is clear from the meaning of 'the God of my father Abraham' as the Lord's Divine itself, dealt with in 3439, and from the meaning of 'the God of my father Isaac' as His Divine Human, dealt with in 3704, 4180. And because each of these is 'Jehovah', the words used are 'O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Jehovah'. Here however the holiness is meant which proceeds from the Divine, for all holiness begins there. The reason why holiness is meant is that all this was within the natural, represented by 'Jacob', and good, represented by 'Esau', had not yet been joined in the natural to truth. For the subject now is the state when good is received, at this point the state of preparation and arrangement to receive it. Jacob's prayer does not embody anything else, and therefore the words he used mean the holiness of preparation and arrangement.

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