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.

6304. And shall bring you back unto the land of your fathers. That this signifies to the state of both Ancient Churches, is evident from the signification of “land,” as being the church (see n. 566, 662, 1066, 1067, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 3355, 4535, 4447, 5577); and from the signification of “fathers,” as being the men of the Ancient and Most Ancient Churches (n. 6075). It is said “to the state of both Ancient Churches,” because the sons of Israel and their descendants, like those who belonged to the Ancient Churches, in every particular represented the Lord’s kingdom, celestial and spiritual. The representative itself was also instituted; with the Jewish nation that of the celestial kingdom, and with the Israelitish that of the spiritual kingdom; but with that generation nothing but a mere representative could be instituted, and not anything of the church or kingdom of the Lord; for they desired to see and acknowledge in the representatives absolutely nothing but what was external, and not anything internal. Nevertheless in order that there might exist a representative, and thereby some communication with heaven, and through heaven with the Lord, they were kept in externals; and it was then provided by the Lord that communication should exist by means of a mere external representative without an internal. This was the state to which the descendants of Jacob could be brought back; nevertheless in their external representatives there lay inwardly hidden Divine things; in the highest sense such as regarded the Lord’s Divine Human; and in the relative sense such as regarded the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens, and the church. This state of both Ancient Churches is signified by the words, “God shall bring you back unto the land of your fathers.”

566. That by the “faces of the ground” is signified all that region where the church was, is evident from the signification of “ground;” for in the Word there is an accurate distinction made between “ground” and “earth;” by “ground” is everywhere signified the church, or something belonging to the church; and from this comes the name of “man” or “Adam” which is “ground;” by “earth” in various places is meant where there is no church, or anything belonging to the church, as in the first chapter, where “earth” only is named, because as yet there was no church, or regenerate man. The “ground” is first spoken of in the second chapter, because then there was a church. In like manner it is said here, and in the following chapter (Genesis 7:4, 23), that “every substance should be destroyed from off the faces of the ground” signifying in the region where the church was; but in Genesis 7:3, speaking of a church about to be created, it is said, “to keep seed alive on the faces of the ground.” “Ground” has the same signification everywhere in the Word; as in Isaiah:

Jehovah will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and will set them upon their own ground, and the peoples shall take them, and shall bring them to their place, and the house of Israel shall inherit them on the ground of Jehovah (Isaiah 14:1-2),

speaking of the church that has been made; whereas where there is no church it is in the same chapter called “earth” (Isaiah 14:9, 12, 16, 20-21, 25-26).

[2] Again:

And the ground of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt; in that day there shall be five cities in the land of Egypt speaking with the lip of Canaan (Isaiah 19:17-18),

where “ground” signifies the church, and “land” where there is no church. In the same:

The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard; Jehovah shall visit upon the army of the height in the height, and upon the kings of the ground on the ground (Isaiah 24:20-21).

In Jeremiah:

Because of the ground that is worn, because there was no rain on the earth, the husbandmen were ashamed, they covered their heads, yea, the hind also calved in the field (Jeremiah 14:4-5),

where “earth” is that which contains the “ground” and “ground” that which contains the “field.”

[3] In the same:

He brought the seed of the house of Israel from the northern land, from all the lands whither I have driven them, and they shall dwell on their own ground (Jeremiah 23:8),

where “land” and “lands” are where there are no churches; “ground” where there is a church or true worship. Again: I will give the remains of Jerusalem, them that are left in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt, and I will deliver them to commotion, for evil to all the kings of the earth, and I will send the sword, the famine, and pestilence among them, till they be consumed from off the ground which I gave to them and to their fathers (Jeremiah 24:8-10),

where “ground” signifies doctrine and the worship thence derived; and in like manner in the same Prophet, chapter 5.

[4] In Ezekiel:

I will gather you out of the lands wherein ye have been scattered, and ye shall know that I am Jehovah when I shall bring you again into the ground of Israel, into the land for which I lifted up My hand to give it to your fathers (Ezekiel 20:41-42),

where “ground” signifies internal worship; it is called “land” when there is no internal worship.

In Malachi:

I will rebuke him that consumeth for your sakes, and he shall not corrupt for you the fruit of the ground, nor shall the vine be bereaved for you in the field; and all nations shall call you blessed, because ye shall be a delightsome land (Malachi 3:11-12),

where “land” denotes the containant, and therefore it plainly denotes man, who is called “land” when “ground” denotes the church, or doctrine.

[5] In Moses:

Sing, O ye nations, His people, He will make expiation for His ground, His people (Deuteronomy 32:43),

evidently signifying the Church of the Gentiles, which is called “ground.”

In Isaiah:

Before the child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the ground shall be forsaken, which thou abhorrest in presence of both her kings (Isaiah 7:16),

speaking of the advent of the Lord; that the “ground will be forsaken” denotes the church, or the true doctrine of faith. That “ground” and “field” are so called from being sown with seed, is evident; as in Isaiah:

Then shall he give rain of thy seed wherewith thou shalt sow the ground; the oxen also and the young asses that labor on the ground (Isaiah 30:23-24).

And in Joel:

The field is laid waste, and the ground hath mourned, because the corn is laid waste (Joel 1:10).

Hence then it is evident that “man” who in the Hebrew tongue is called “Adam” from “ground” signifies the church.