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.

6918. And garments. That this signifies lower memory-knowledges corresponding thereto, is evident from the signification of “garments,” as being lower memory-knowledges (see n. 2576, 5248). “Garments” have this signification because they clothe interior things.

10146. 'Before Jehovah' means from the Lord. This is clear from the consideration that 'Jehovah' in the Word is the Lord, see the places referred to in 9373. From the Lord is meant by 'before Jehovah' because 'before' means presence, and the Lord is present to the extent that good which belongs to love and truth which belongs to faith are received from Him. Consequently before the Lord means from the Lord. The Lord, it is true, is present with every individual person, yet the way in which He is present with the good is different from the way in which He is present with the evil. In the case of the good He is present in every detail of their thought springing from the truths of faith and in every detail of their desires springing from the good of love. He is present in such a way that He Himself constitutes their faith and He Himself constitutes their love. Therefore He is so to speak a resident within them, in keeping with the Lord's own words in John,

The Spirit of truth will remain with you and will be in you. And you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and does them, he it is who loves Me. We will come to him and make Our home with him. John 14:17-18, 20-21, 23.

[2] But in the case of those who are evil the Lord is not present in every detail, because they have no faith or charity. He is present in a general way, and this presence gives them the ability to think and will, and also to receive faith and charity so far as they refrain from evils. But so far as they do not refrain from them He seems to be absent. How far absent He seems to be depends on how far the truth and good of faith and love are absent. So it is that those in heaven experience His presence, and those in hell experience His absence.

[3] But the reality of the situation is not that the Lord is absent from man, rather that man is absent from the Lord. For a person ruled by evils looks backwards, away from Him, and the things then before his eyes are present within him according to their affinity with the evils that rule him. For in the next life space does not exist, only the appearance of space that accords with the network of thoughts and affections in a person. The situation in all this is just like that of the presence of the worldly sun so far as light and heat are concerned. The sun is equally present during every time and season; but when the planet turns away from the sun, the light fades and darkness descends, first the darkness of evening, then the darkness of night. And when the earth is not directly in line with the sun but at an angle, as happens in wintertime, the heat departs and cold sets in, as a consequence of which all things in the ground become inactive and die off. This too is called an absence of the sun, when in fact it is an absence of the planet from the sun, not spatially but so far as the conditions of light and heat are concerned. These phenomena have been mentioned to help to illustrate the matter.