9371. THE INTERNAL SENSE.

Verses 1-2. And He said unto Moses, Come up unto Jehovah, thou and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and bow yourselves afar off; and Moses, he alone, shall come near unto Jehovah; and they shall not come near; and the people shall not come up with him. “And He said unto Moses,” signifies that which concerns the Word in general; “come up unto Jehovah,” signifies conjunction with the Lord; “thou and Aaron,” signifies the Word in the internal sense and the external sense; “Nadab and Abihu,” signifies doctrine from both senses; “and seventy of the elders of Israel,” signifies the chief truths of the church which are of the Word, or of doctrine, and which agree with good; “and bow yourselves afar off,” signifies humiliation and adoration from the heart, and then the influx of the Lord; “and Moses, he alone, shall come near unto Jehovah,” signifies the conjunction and presence of the Lord through the Word in general; “and they shall not come near,” signifies no separate conjunction and presence; “and the people shall not come up with him,” signifies no conjunction whatever with the external apart from the internal.

82. Verse 18. And the Living One, signifies who is from eternity. This is evident from this, that He who is from eternity is the only Living One, and that all others, who are not from eternity, have been created by Him, and thus made recipients of life from Him. Therefore He only who is from eternity has life in Himself, and no one besides Him. That the Lord, in respect both to the Divine and to the Human, has life in Himself, is evident from what is said in John:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt in us (John 1:2-4, 14).

That the Lord is here meant by the "Word" is clear, for it is said, "the Word became flesh, and dwelt in us." In the same:

As the Father hath life in Himself, even so gave He to the Son to have life in Himself (John 5:26).

In the same:

Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life (John 11:25).

And in the same:

Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6).

It is believed in the world that man has life implanted in him, and that it does not therefore flow in unceasingly from Him who alone has life in Himself, and who thus alone is Life. But this belief is a belief in what is false (See in the work on Heaven and Hell 9).

7089. And afterward Moses and Aaron came. That this signifies the Divine law and the doctrine thence derived, is evident from the representation of Moses, as being the Lord as to the Divine law (see n. 6752); and from the representation of Aaron, as being the doctrine of good and truth (n. 6998). By the Divine law which Moses represents is meant the Word such as it is in its internal sense, thus such as it is in the heavens; but by doctrine is meant the Word such as it is in its literal sense, thus as it is on the earth; how much these differ, can be seen from what has been thus far unfolded in respect to the internal sense of the Word. Take as an illustration the ten commandments, which specifically are called the “Law.” The literal sense of these is that parents are to be honored, that murder is not to be committed, nor adultery, nor theft, and so on; but the internal sense is that the Lord is to be worshiped; that hatred must not be felt; that truth must not be falsified; and that we must not claim for ourselves that which belongs to the Lord. So are these four commandments of the Decalogue understood in heaven, and the rest also in their own way. For in the heavens they know no other Father than the Lord; therefore by that parents are to be honored, they understand that the Lord is to be worshiped: neither do they know in the heavens what killing is, for they live to eternity; but instead of killing they understand feeling hatred, and injuring the spiritual life of anyone; neither do they know in the heavens what it is to commit adultery, and therefore instead thereof they perceive that which corresponds, namely, not to falsify truth; and instead of stealing they perceive not to take anything away from the Lord, and claim it to themselves, as for instance good and truth.

[2] Such is this law, and the whole Word too, in the heavens; thus such it is in the internal sense; nay, it is still deeper, for most things that are thought and said in the heavens do not fall into words of human speech, because in the heavens is a spiritual world and not a natural; and the things of the spiritual world transcend those of the natural world, as immaterial things transcend those which are material. Yet as material things correspond to immaterial, the latter can be set forth by means of material things, thus by natural speech, but not by spiritual speech. For spiritual speech is not a speech of material words, but of spiritual words, which are ideas modified into words in the spiritual aura, and represented by variegations of heavenly light, which light in itself is nothing but Divine intelligence and wisdom proceeding from the Lord. From all this it can be seen what is meant in its genuine sense by the Divine law which Moses represents, and what by the doctrine thence derived, which Aaron represents.