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.

9341. And from the wilderness even unto the river. That this signifies from the delight of what is sensuous even to the good and truth of the rational, is evident from the signification of “setting a border,” as being extension (as just above, n. 9340); from the signification of “a wilderness,” as being a place uninhabited and not cultivated; thus in application to the spiritual things of faith and to the celestial things of love, “a wilderness” denotes where there is no good and no truth, as is the case with what is sensuous (that the sensuous of man is of this character, see n. 9331). As the sensuous has no celestial good and no spiritual truth, but has delight and pleasure from the body and the world, therefore by “a wilderness” is signified this outermost in the man of the church. And from the signification of “the Euphrates,” which is here “the river,” as being the good and truth of the rational. That “the Euphrates” has this signification is because Assyria was there, and by “Assyria,” or “Asshur,” is signified the rational (n. 119, 1186).

[2] This is meant by “the Euphrates” where it is said, “from the wilderness to the Euphrates,” and “from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates;” as in Joshua:

From the wilderness, and Lebanon, even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, the whole land of the Hittites, and even unto the great sea toward the setting of the sun, shall be your border (Josh. 1:4).

To thy seed will I give this land, from the river of Egypt even unto the great river, the river Euphrates (Genesis 15:18).

Thou madest a vine to journey out of Egypt. Thou hast sent out its shoots even unto the sea, and its twigs unto the river (Psalms 80:8, 11);

“a vine out of Egypt” denotes the spiritual church represented by the sons of Israel; “unto the sea,” and “unto the river,” denote to interior truths and goods. In like manner in Micah:

They shall come unto thee from Assyria and from the cities of Egypt, and thence from Egypt even unto the river, and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain (Micah 7:12).

[3] But something else is signified by “the Euphrates” when it is looked at from the middle of the land of Canaan as its extreme limit on one side, or as what closes it in on one side; in this case by that river is signified that which is the ultimate of the Lord’s kingdom, that is, which is the ultimate of heaven and the church, in respect to rational good and truth. (That the borders of the land of Canaan, which were rivers and seas, signified the ultimates in the Lord’s kingdom, see n. 1585, 1866, 4116, 4240, 6516.) “The Euphrates” therefore signified such truths and such goods as belong to the sensuous mind, and correspond to the truths and goods of the rational. But as the sensuous of man stands forth nearest to the world and the earth, and receives its objects therefrom (n. 9331), it therefore acknowledges nothing else as good than that which delights the body; and nothing else as truth than that which favors this delight. By “the river Euphrates” therefore in this sense is signified the pleasure arising from the loves of self and of the world; and the falsity which confirms it by reasonings from the fallacies of the senses.

[4] This is what is meant by “the river Euphrates” in Revelation:

A voice said to the sixth angel, Loose the four angels which are bound at the great river Euphrates. They were loosed, and they killed the third part of men (Revelation 9:14-15);

“the angels bound at the Euphrates” denote the falsities originating through reasonings from the fallacies of the senses, which falsities favor the delights of the loves of self and of the world. Again:

The sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings who are from the sun rising might be prepared (Revelation 16:12);

“the Euphrates” here denotes falsities from a like origin; “the water dried up” denotes these falsities removed by the Lord; “the way of the kings from the east” denotes that then the truths of faith are seen by and revealed to those who are in love to the Lord. (That “waters” denote truths, and in the opposite sense falsities, see n. 705, 739, 756, 790, 839, 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, 7307, 8137, 8138, 8568, 9323; that “a way” denotes truth seen and revealed, n. 627, 2333, 3477; that “kings” denote those who are in truths, n. 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 4575, 4581, 4966, 5044, 5068, 6148; that “the east” denotes the Lord, and also love from Him and to Him, n. 101, 1250, 3708; and in like manner “the sun,” n. 1529, 1530, 2441, 2495, 3636, 3643, 4060, 4696, 5377, 7078, 7083, 7171, 7173, 8644, 8812)

[5] In Jeremiah:

Thou hast forsaken Jehovah thy God, when He led thee into the way. And now what hast thou to do with the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Shihor? Or what hast thou to do with the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river? (Jeremiah 2:17-18);

“to lead into the way” denotes to teach truth; “what hast thou to do with the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Shihor?” denotes what hast thou to do with falsities which have been occasioned by memory-knowledges wrongly applied? “What hast thou to do with the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river?” denotes what hast thou to do with the falsities which have arisen through reasonings from the fallacies of the senses in favor of the delights of the loves of self and of the world?

[6] In the same:

Jehovah said unto the prophet, Take the girdle that thou hast bought, which is upon thy loins, and arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole of the rock. So I went and hid it at the Euphrates. Afterward it came to pass at the end of many days, that Jehovah said, Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take the girdle from thence. Wherefore he went to the Euphrates, and digged, and took the girdle from the place where he had hidden it; but behold the girdle was marred, it was profitable for nothing (Jeremiah 13:3-7);

“the girdle of the loins” denotes the external bond containing all things of love and thence of faith; “to be hidden in a hole of the rock by the Euphrates” denotes where faith is in obscurity and has become no faith, through falsities from reasonings; “the girdle marred so that it was profitable for nothing” denotes that all things of love and of faith are then dissolved and dispersed.

[7] That Jeremiah was to tie a stone to the book written by him, and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates (Jeremiah 51:63); signified that the prophetic Word would perish through like things. In the same:

Let not the swift flee away, nor the strong one escape; toward the north near the shore of the river Euphrates they have stumbled and fallen. But Jehovah Zebaoth taketh vengeance on His adversaries. The Lord Jehovih Zebaoth hath a sacrifice in the land of the north by the river Euphrates (Jeremiah 46:6, 10); where also “the river Euphrates” denotes truths falsified, and goods adulterated, through reasonings from fallacies and the derivative memory-knowledges which favor the loves of self and of the world.

4290. In the internal historical sense, by “he said, I will not let thee go unless thou bless me,” is signified that they insisted upon being representative; for their insisting is signified by “I will not let thee go,” and representing a church by being “blessed.” In regard to this subject—that the posterity of Jacob insisted upon being representative of a church, and that they were chosen above all other nations—this cannot indeed be made so evident from the historicals of the Word in the sense of the letter, for the reason that the historicals of the Word in the sense of the letter enfold within them deep secrets of heaven, and therefore these so follow in the series; and also because the names themselves signify things; many names indeed in their supreme sense signify the Lord Himself, such as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That these in the supreme sense signify the Lord, has been shown many times in what precedes (see n. 1965, 1989, 2011, 3245, 3305, 3439).

[2] That the posterity of Jacob were not chosen, but insisted that a church should be among them, may be seen from many passages of the Word, from its internal historical sense, and openly in the following.

In Moses:

Jehovah spoke unto Moses, Go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast made to go up out of the land of Egypt, into the land of which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it; I will not go up in the midst of thee, for thou art a stiffnecked people; lest I consume thee in the way. And when the people heard this evil word, they mourned, and put off everyone his ornament from upon him. And Moses took the tent, and pitched it for himself without the camp, in removing far from the camp. And Moses said unto Jehovah, See, Thou sayest unto me, Make this people go up, and Thou hast not made known to me whom Thou wilt send with me. Now therefore I pray if I have found grace in Thine eyes, make known to me I pray Thy way, that I may know concerning Thee, that I have found grace in Thine eyes; behold also that this nation is Thy people. He said therefore, My faces shall go until I give thee rest (Exodus 33:1-7, 12-14).

It is here said that Moses made the people go up out of the land of Egypt, and then that they put off their ornament and mourned, and that Moses pitched his tent without the camp, and that thereby Jehovah assented; thus plainly showing that they themselves insisted.

[3] In the same:

Jehovah said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke Me, and how long will they not believe in Me, for all the signs which I have wrought in the midst of them? I will smite them with the pestilence, and will extinguish them, and will make of thee a nation greater and mightier than they. But Moses supplicated, and Jehovah being entreated said, I will be gracious according to thy word: nevertheless, I live, and the whole earth shall be filled with the glory of Jehovah; for as to all those men who have seen My glory, and My signs which I wrought in Egypt, and in the wilderness, yet have tempted Me these ten times, and have not obeyed my voice, surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked Me see it. Your bodies shall fall in this wilderness; but your little children will I bring in (Numbers 14:11-12, 20-23, 29, 31).

From these words it is also manifest that Jehovah willed to extinguish them, and consequently not to set up a church among them, but that they insisted and it was therefore done—besides many other times also, when Jehovah willed to utterly destroy that nation so often rebellious, but as often suffered Himself to be entreated by their supplications.

[4] The like is also involved in Balaam’s not being permitted to curse that people (Numbers 22,23, 24); and in other places also, where it is said that Jehovah repented that He had brought in that people; also that Jehovah was entreated; and also that He so often made a new covenant with them. Such things are signified in the internal historical sense by the words “I will not let thee go, unless thou bless me.” The same is also signified by Jacob’s taking away the birthright from Esau, and also by his taking the blessing from him by fraud (Genesis 25 and 27).