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.

5576. And the famine became grievous. That this signifies desolation from the want of spiritual things, is evident from the signification of “famine,” as being a lack of the knowledges of good and truth (see n. 3364, 5277, 5279, 5281, 5300), and hence desolation (n. 5360, 5376, 5415); and because desolation comes from a scarcity and consequent want of spiritual things, this also is signified by “famine.”

[2] Hunger in the spiritual world or in heaven is not hunger for food, because the angels do not feed upon material food, which is for the body that man carries about in the world; but it is hunger for such food as nourishes their minds. This food, which is called spiritual food, is to understand truth and be wise in good; and wonderful to say the angels are nourished by this food; which has been made evident to me from the fact that after little children who die have been instructed in heaven in the truths of intelligence and the goods of wisdom, they no longer appear as little children, but as adults, and this according to their increase in good and truth; and also from the fact that the angels continually long for the things of intelligence and wisdom, and that when they are in the evening, that is, in a state in which these things fail, they are so far in what is relatively not happiness, and they then hunger and long for nothing more than that the morning may dawn for them afresh, and that they may return into their life of happiness, which is of intelligence and wisdom.

[3] That to understand truth and to will good is spiritual food, may also appear to everyone who reflects that when anyone is enjoying material food for the nourishment of the body, his food is more nourishing if he is at the same time in cheerful spirits and conversing on agreeable topics, which is a sign that there is a correspondence between spiritual food for the soul and material food for the body. And the same is further evident from the fact that when one who longs to imbue his mind with the things of knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom is kept from them, he begins to be saddened and distressed, and like one who is famished longs to return to his spiritual food, and thereby to the nourishment of his soul.

[4] That there is spiritual food which nourishes the soul as material food nourishes the body may also be seen from the Word, as in Moses:

Man doth not live by bread only; but by every utterance of the mouth of Jehovah doth man live (Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:4).

The “utterance of the mouth of Jehovah” is in general the Divine truth which proceeds from the Lord, thus all truth of wisdom, specifically the Word, in which and from which are the things of wisdom. And in John:

Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you (John 6:27).

That this meat is the truth of wisdom which proceeds from the Lord is evident.

[5] From this too it may be known what is meant by these words of the Lord in the same chapter:

My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed (John 6:55);

namely, that the Lord’s “flesh” is Divine good (n. 3813), and His “blood” Divine truth (n. 4735); for when the Lord made His whole Human Divine, then His flesh was nothing else than Divine good, and His blood Divine truth. It is evident that in the Divine nothing material is to be understood; and therefore “food” in the supreme sense, that is, when predicated of the Lord, is the good of the Divine love for saving the human race. This food is what is meant by the Lord’s words in John:

Jesus said to the disciples, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to perfect His work (John 4:32, 34);

“to do the will of Him that sent Him, and to perfect His work” is to save the human race; the Divine from which this is done is the Divine love. From all this it is now plain what is meant in the spiritual sense by “famine.”

4293. In the internal historical sense, by “for as a prince hast thou contended with God and with men, and hast prevailed,” is signified on account of the contumacy which was in their phantasies and cupidities, as is evident from the signification of “God” and from the signification of “men” as being truths and goods (see n. 4287). These same words have here an opposite sense, because in this sense they are said of the posterity of Jacob, among whom (as shown above) there were interiorly no truths and goods, but falsities and evils. Falsities are phantasies because they are of phantasies, and evils are cupidities because they are of cupidities.

[2] That this nation insisted on being representative, that is, they insisted that they should be the church above all nations in the whole world, may be seen above (n. 4290). That this was also permitted on account of the contumacy that was in their phantasies and cupidities, is here meant. The nature of their phantasies and their cupidities no one can know who has not had some interaction with them in the other life; and in order that I might know it, this has been granted me, so that I have occasionally spoken with them there. More than all others they love themselves and they love the wealth of the world; and more than all others they fear the loss of this honor, and also the loss of gain; and therefore also at this day, as of old, they despise all others in comparison with themselves, and likewise seek wealth for themselves with the most intense application, and moreover are timid. As this nation had been of this character from ancient times, they could more than others be kept in a holy external without any holy internal, and thus could represent in external form the things of the church. It is these phantasies and these cupidities that have produced such contumacy.

[3] The same also appears from many things related of them in the historicals of the Word. After being punished they could be in such external humiliation as could no other people, for they could lie prostrate on the ground for entire days and wallow in the dust, not getting up until the third day; they could wail for many days, go in sackcloth, in rent garments, with ashes or dust sprinkled upon their heads; they could fast continuously for several days, and meanwhile burst forth into bitter weeping. But these things they did solely from bodily and earthly love, and from the fear of the loss of preeminence and worldly wealth; for it was not anything internal that affected them, because they knew not at all and did not even want to know what anything internal is, such as that there is a life after death, and that there is an eternal salvation.

[4] From this it is evident that, being of such a nature, they must needs be deprived of all holy internal, for this in no wise agrees with such a holy external, because the two things are utterly contrary to each other; and also that they could, better than others, serve as the representative of the church, that is, could represent holy things in an external form without any holy internal; and thus that by means of this nation something of communication with the heavens could be possible (see n. 4288).