9414. 'And Jehovah said to Moses' means instructions from the Lord for those restricted to the outward sense. This is clear from the meaning of 'saying' as instructions, when it includes the things stated after it that make up the instructions, as also in 7186, 7241, 7267, 7304, 7380, 7517, 7769, 7793, 7825, 8041 (the instructions come from the Lord because 'Jehovah' is used in the Word to mean the Lord, 1343, 1736, 1793, 2004, 2005, 2018, 2025, 2921, 3023, 3035, 5663, 6280, 6281, 6303, 6905, 8274, 8864, 9315); and from the representation of 'Moses' as that which acts as the intermediary between the Lord and the people, thus the Word in respect of its outward holiness since this acts as an intermediary. The fact that 'Moses' begins now to represent this intermediary is clear from the train of thought in all that follows. For that people was restricted to the external level of the Word, and as a consequence their worship was external, separated from anything internal, see 9380. Those who are like this cannot have any holy contact at all with the Lord, let alone be joined to Him, except through an intermediary. This matter will be explained more fully below in 9419.

[2] The fact that this people was restricted to the outward sense of the Word, separated from the inward, and that as a consequence their worship was similarly external, is plainly evident from events that followed. After forty days they fell completely away, worshipping the golden calf instead of Jehovah. Also, because of this Moses at that time threw the tablets from his hand and smashed them; and afterwards he was commanded to hew some other tablets on which the same words would be written. The meaning of this was that this people were altogether unwilling to accept any teaching at all from the inward sense of the Word as it exists in heaven, only from its outward sense separated from the inward, as the Word exists with them in the world even at the present day. This also explains why that people were no longer called Jehovah's people but Moses' people, as in Chapter Exodus 32 further on,

Jehovah spoke to Moses, Go! go down; for your people whom you caused to come up from the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. Exodus 32:7.

Also in Chapter 33,

Jehovah spoke to Moses, Go! go up from here, you and the people whom you have caused to come up from the land of Egypt. Exodus 33:1.

For this reason also they were subsequently removed from the mountain. And in Chapter 34,

No man shall come up with you, and also no man shall be seen on all the mountain. Also no flock or herd shall feed before this mountain. Exodus 34:3.

For 'Mount Sinai' means the Law or Divine Truth and the Word as it exists in heaven, and so heaven as well, 8399, 8753, 8793, 8805. The reason why Moses previously represented the Word in general, that is, in respect both of its inward sense and of its outward sense, was that there the subject was the declaring of the Law, by which the revelation of Divine Truth in general was meant. This was the beginning of the revelation, for all else in the Word was written later.

2751. Bunched together - up above, in front of my left eye - there were spirits such as during their lifetime had in secret and with much cunning plotted against others. They were adulterers who, having arrived there only recently, were still in the world of spirits. It was their custom to send out from their bunch, in this direction and in that, some of their number, so that they might plot not only against conjugial love, but also against what is good and true, and most of all against the Lord. Those sent out come back to them and report what they have heard; and in this way they all take counsel. Thinking I was a spirit, because I spoke using the language of spirits, they also sent one to me. When this emissary spoke he said things that were completely scandalous, mostly against the Lord, so that he himself consisted so to speak of nothing but scandals. Aware of which bunch and what scum he was from I replied that he should refrain from uttering such things. As regards the Lord, I said, I knew without any shadow of doubt that He was one with the Father; that the whole of heaven was His; that all innocence, peace, love, charity, mercy, and also all conjugial love were derived from Him, as well as everything good and true; all of which things were Divine. And I knew that Moses and the Prophets, that is, every single detail of the Word in its internal sense, had reference to Him, and that all the religious observances of the Jewish Church were representative of Him. Since I was so certain of these matters as to have no doubt at all, what more could he want? On hearing all this, with shame he went away. He was told these things in order that he might report them to the adulterers who constituted that wicked bunch from which he had been sent.