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.

1119. I have been shown by actually observing it how the internal breathing of the most ancient people flowed in a non-audible manner into a kind of external, and thus non-verbal, speech, which was perceived by another person in his interior man. They said that that breathing with them changed according to their state of love and faith in the Lord. They also stated the reason, namely that because they had had communication with heaven, it could not be otherwise. In fact they and the angels who accompanied them were breathing in unison. Angels have breathing to which internal breathing corresponds, and which with them changes in a similar way. Indeed when they encounter anything contrary to love and faith in the Lord their breathing is laboured, but when they are experiencing the happiness that accompanies love and faith, their breathing is full and free. Something similar to this also exists with every human being but in this case everything depends on the bodily and worldly loves and on a person's basic assumptions. When anything goes against these he experiences laboured breathing, but when it is in keeping with them his breathing is full and free. These observations however apply to external breathing. The subject of angels and their breathing will in the Lord's Divine mercy be dealt with later on.