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.

5915. And I will sustain thee there. That this signifies continuous influx of spiritual life from the internal celestial, is evident from the signification of “sustaining,” when it is said by Joseph, by whom is represented the internal celestial, as being the influx of spiritual life from the internal celestial; sustenance in the spiritual sense being nothing else than the influx of good and of truth through heaven from the Lord. From this are the angels sustained, and from this is the soul of man (that is, his internal man) sustained. To this sustenance corresponds the sustenance of the external man by food and drink; and therefore by “food” is signified good, and by “drink,” truth. Such also is the correspondence, that when a man is partaking of food, the angels with him are in the idea of good and truth, and wonderful to say with a difference according to the species of the food. Thus when a man in the Holy Supper receives the bread and the wine, the angels with him are in the idea of the good of love and the good of faith (n. 3464, 3735), for the reason that bread corresponds to the good of love, and wine to the good of faith; and because they correspond, they also signify the same in the Word.

[2] That man’s soul (that is, the internal man) is sustained by spiritual food and drink, that is, by good and truth, is evident from the Lord’s words 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 the good and the truth which proceed from Him.

In John:

Labor not for the food which perisheth, but for the food which remaineth into eternal life, which the Son of man will give you (John 6:27).

Again:

The disciples besought Jesus, saying, Master, eat. He said to them, I have food to eat that ye know not (John 4:31-32).

And concerning drink, in the same:

Jesus said, If anyone thirst, let him come unto me and drink; whosoever believeth in Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow streams of living water (John 7:37-38).

4038. 'And camels and asses' means the rather external and the fully external truths of good. This is clear from the meaning of 'camels' as general facts belonging to the natural man, dealt with in 3048, 3071, 3143, 3145 - general facts being lower or rather external truths of good; and from the meaning of 'asses' as still lower or fully external truths of natural good, dealt with in 2781. What interior goods and truths are, also what intermediate ones are, as well as what the rather external and the fully external are, may be seen from what has been stated in 4009. With man three general areas exist - the bodily, the natural, and the rational. The bodily is outermost, the natural is intermediate, and the rational is interior. Insofar as one of these reigns over another in someone he is called either bodily-minded, or natural, or rational. These three parts of man's mind intercommunicate in a wonderful way - the bodily part with the natural, and the natural with the rational.

[2] When a person is first born only the immature bodily part exists; but this has within it the capacity to become fully developed. Subsequently he becomes natural, and at length rational. From this one may see that communication takes place between one part and another. The bodily part communicates with the natural by means of the senses, doing so through the senses belonging to the understanding in a distinct and separate way from its communication through those belonging to the will; for both understanding and will have to become fully developed in a person if he is to become and is to be fully human. The perceptions of the senses of sight and hearing serve in particular to develop fully his understanding, while the other three senses have regard in particular to his will. The bodily part of man's mind communicates with his natural - which, as has been stated, is the intermediate part - by means of the senses. For the things that enter through sensory experience accommodate themselves within the natural as a kind of receptacle for them. This receptacle is the memory. The delight, pleasure, and desire there belong to the will and are called natural goods, but the facts there belong to the understanding and are called natural truths.

[3] By means of these things just mentioned the natural part of man's mind communicates with his rational which, as has been stated, is the interior part. The things which rise up from the natural to the rational accommodate themselves in the rational likewise as in a kind of receptacle. This receptacle is the interior memory, dealt with in 2469-2480. The blessing and happiness there belong to the will and are forms of rational good, while the interior insights into things, and the perceptions of these, belong to the understanding, the objects of those insights and perceptions being called rational truths. These three - the bodily, the natural, and the rational - are what constitute a human being. Means of communication exist between these three, the external senses being the means by which the bodily part of a person's mind communicates with his natural, and the interior senses those by which the natural part of his mind communicates with his rational. Therefore it is those things which are present in the natural part of a person's mind, and which have been derived from the external senses that belong properly to the body, that are called the rather external and the fully external truths of good. But those which have been derived from the interior senses, which belong properly to his spirit and communicate with the rational, are the ones which are called interior goods and truths. And those which come in between and partake of both are the ones which are called intermediate goods and truths. These three groups of truths, starting in order with interior, are what are meant in the internal sense by 'flocks', by 'servant-girls and slaves', and by 'camels and asses'.