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.

3129. And Rebekah had a brother. That this signifies the affection of good in the natural man, is evident from the signification of a “brother” and a “sister” in the Word, namely, that a “brother” is the affection of good, and a “sister” is the affection of truth (see n. 367, 2360, 2508, 2524); for in the natural man, as in the rational, there are relationships by both blood and marriage of all the things therein (see n. 2556, 2739). And it also is from this that the mind, both the rational and the natural, is called a “house” (or family), where parents, brothers, sisters, kinsmen, and other relatives exist in order.

2508. She is my sister. That this signifies rational truth, is evident from the signification of a “sister,” as being rational intellectual truth (see n. 1495). That rational truth is a “sister,” can be seen only from the heavenly marriage; for the things which descend from this have kinships among themselves like the relationships and connections on earth (concerning which see n. 685, 917); and this with indefinite variety. The heavenly marriage itself exists solely between the Divine good and the Divine truth. From this there are conceived in man the intellectual, the rational, and the faculty of knowing; for without conception from the heavenly marriage man cannot possibly be imbued with understanding, with reason, or with knowledge, and consequently cannot be man. In proportion therefore as he receives from the heavenly marriage, in the same proportion is he man. The heavenly marriage is in the Lord Himself, thus the Lord is this marriage itself, for He is the Divine good itself and at the same time the Divine truth. Angels and men are in the heavenly marriage insofar as they are in love to the Lord and in charity toward the neighbor, and insofar as they are thence in faith; that is, insofar as they are in the Lord’s good, and thence in truth; and they are then called “daughters and sons,” and in their relation to one another “sisters and brothers;” but this with differences. The reason why rational truth is called a “sister” is that it is conceived from the influx of the Divine good into the affection of rational truths; the good which is thence in the rational is called a “brother,” and the truth which is thence, a “sister.” But this will be better seen from what is said by Abraham in verse 12 of this chapter: “and moreover truly she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.”