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.

7313. That they may serve Me in the wilderness. That this signifies worship in what is obscure, is evident from the signification of “serving Jehovah,” as being worship; and from the signification of a “wilderness,” as being that which is not inhabited and cultivated (see n. 2708, 3900); in the spiritual sense that which is obscure in respect to the good and truth of faith. That “wilderness” here denotes such obscurity is because in general they of the spiritual church, who are represented by the sons of Israel, are in obscurity in respect to the truths of faith (n. 2715, 2716, 2718, 2831, 2849, 2935, 2937, 3833, 4402, 6289, 6500, 6865, 6945, 7233); specifically because they are in obscurity when they emerge from a state of infestations and temptations. For they who are in infestations are surrounded by falsities, and are shaken like a reed by the wind, thus from doubt to affirmative, and from affirmative to doubt; and therefore when they newly ascend out of this state they are in obscurity, but this obscurity is then gradually enlightened. As there is such a state with those who are being infested, therefore the sons of Israel were brought into the wilderness in order that they might represent this state, in which were those of the spiritual church before the Lord’s coming; and also the state in which they who are of that church are at this day, and are being vastated in respect to falsities.

2005. That “father” signifies that it would be from the Lord Himself, is evident from the signification of “father,” as just explained, namely, that whatever was from the Father was from Him, because they were one. Every man’s internal is from his father, and his external from his mother; or what is the same thing, the soul itself is from the father, and the body with which the soul is clothed is from the mother. The soul together with the body, although two, make a one; for the soul is the body’s, and the body is the soul’s; and therefore they are inseparable. The Lord’s internal was from the Father, and therefore was the Father Himself, and hence it is that the Lord says that “the Father is in Him;” also, “I am in the Father and the Father in Me;” also, “He that seeth Me seeth the Father; I and the Father are one;” as may be seen in the passages cited above. In the Word of the Old Testament also the Lord is called “the Father,” as in Isaiah:

Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, God, Hero, the Father of Eternity, the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6).

It is evident to everyone that the “Child” born to us and the “Son” given to us is the Lord, who is called the “Father of Eternity.” Again in Isaiah:

Thou art our Father, for Abraham knoweth us not, and Israel doth not acknowledge us. Thou, O Jehovah, art our Father, our Redeemer, from eternity is Thy name (Isaiah 63:16); where also it is the Lord who is called “Jehovah our Father,” for there is no other “Redeemer.”

In Malachi:

Have we not all one Father? Hath not one God created us? (Malachi 2:10).

To “create” denotes to regenerate (as shown in Part First, n. 16, 88, 472). Besides that everywhere in the Word of the Old Testament, by “Jehovah” is meant the Lord, because all the rites of the church represented Him; and in the internal sense all things in the Word regard Him.