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.

99. This union is reciprocal, as is clearly established by the following passages in the Word:

Philip, do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? Believe me, I am in the Father and the Father is in me, John 14:10-11 That you may know and believe, that the Father is in me and I in the Father, John 10:36, 38, That all may be one, as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, John 17:21.

Father, all that is mine is yours, and all that is yours is mine, John 17:10.

The union is reciprocal, because no union or link is possible between two people unless each approaches the other. Every link throughout heaven, throughout the world and in the whole human personality, is entirely due to the reciprocal approach of each to the other, leading to a mutual identity of will. This produces similarity and sympathy, unanimity and agreement in every detail on each side.

[2] Such is the reciprocal link between soul and body in each individual; such is the link between a person's spirit and the sensory and motor organs of his body; such is the link between the heart and the lungs; such is the link between the will and the understanding; such is the link between all the members and viscera of the human body in themselves and with each other; such is the link between the minds of all who love each other deeply, for it is engraved upon every form of love and friendship, since love wants to love and be loved. There is a reciprocal link between all the things in the world which are indissolubly joined. There is a similar link between the heat of the sun and the heat of wood or stone, between the vital heat and the heat of all the fibres of living creatures. There is a similar link between the ground ¹ and the root, and through the root with the tree, and through the tree with the fruit; there is a similar link between the magnet and the iron, and so on. If the link were not produced by a reciprocal and mutual approach of one to the other, it would be merely an outward and not an inward linking; and this in time falls apart of itself, sometimes so that the partners no longer recognise each other.

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