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.

2232. That “sons” are those who are in truths, is evident from the signification of a “son” in the Word as being truth (see n. 489, 491, 533, 1147). By “sons” in the abstract sense are signified truths; but as applied to man, “sons” denote all those who are in truths.

374. That the “voice of bloods” signifies that violence had been done to charity, is evident from many passages in the Word, in which “voice” denotes anything that accuses, and “blood” any kind of sin, and especially hatred; for whosoever bears hatred toward his brother, kills him in his heart; as the Lord teaches:

Ye have heard that it was said to them of old, Thou shalt not kill, and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment; but I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother rashly shall be in danger of the judgment; and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council; but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of the hell of fire (Matthew 5:21-22),

by which words are meant the degrees of hatred. Hatred is contrary to charity, and kills in whatever way it can, if not with the hand, yet in spirit, and is withheld only by external restraints from the deed of the hand. Therefore all hatred is “blood” as in Jeremiah:

Why makest thou thy way good to seek love? Even in thy skirts are found the bloods of the souls of the needy innocent ones (Jeremiah 2:33-34).

[2] And as hatred is denoted by “blood” so likewise is every kind of iniquity, for hatred is the fountain of all iniquities. As in Hosea:

Swearing falsely, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they rob, and bloods, in bloods have they touched; therefore shall the land mourn, and everyone that dwelleth therein shall languish (Hosea 4:2-3).

And in Ezekiel, speaking of unmercifulness:

Wilt thou judge the city of bloods, and make known to her all her abominations? a city that sheddeth bloods in the midst of it. Thou art become guilty through thy blood that thou hast shed (Ezekiel 22:2-4; 22:4, 6, 9).

In the same:

The land is full of the judgment of bloods, and the city is full of violence (Ezekiel 7:23).

And in Jeremiah:

For the sins of the prophets of Jerusalem, and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the righteous in the midst of her, they wander blind in the streets, they have been polluted with blood (Lamentations 4:13-14).

In Isaiah:

When the Lord shall wash away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the bloods of Jerusalem from the midst, with the spirit of judgment, and with the spirit of burning (Isaiah 4:4).

And again:

Your palms are defiled in blood, and your fingers in iniquity (Isaiah 59:3).

In Ezekiel, speaking of the abominations of Jerusalem, which are called “bloods:”

I passed by thee, and saw thee trampled in thine own bloods, and I said unto thee, Live in thy bloods, yea, I said unto thee, Live in thy bloods (Ezekiel 16:6, 22).

[3] The unmercifulness and hatred of the last times are also described by “blood” in the Revelation 16:3-4. “Bloods” are mentioned in the plural, because all unjust and abominable things gush forth from hatred, as all good and holy ones do from love. Therefore he who feels hatred toward his neighbor would murder him if he could, and indeed does murder him in any way he can; and this is to do violence to him, which is here properly signified by the “voice of bloods.”