10629. 'And pardon our iniquity and our sin' means being so in order that things on an interior level in them, which teem with falsities and evils, may be shifted away. This is clear from the meaning of 'pardoning iniquity and sin', when this refers to the outward form that worship, the Church, and the Word took among the people, as being so in order that things on an interior level in them may be shifted away, because those things teem with falsities and evils. This meaning of these words follows from the train of thought in the internal sense, in which the Church to be established among those people is the subject. A Church cannot be established among any people unless their interiors are open, through which contact with heaven is effected; and those interiors are not open except in the case of those who are guided by truths of faith grounded in goodness of life, derived from the Lord. But the interiors of these people could not be opened up because they thought of the worship of Jehovah as nothing more than a means to obtain pre-eminence over others and to become richer than others, so that they had in mind nothing except themselves and the world. And these interests are what close the interiors in the direction of heaven and open them in the direction of hell. The fact that the interiors of that nation were like this, and that they were closed when they engaged in worship, see 10575. These then are the things that are meant here.

10575. 'And He said, I will cause all My goodness to pass by your face' means causing everything Divine which composes heaven and the Church to pass by the external separated from the internal as it existed with Moses and the nation he headed. This is clear from the meaning of 'causing to pass by his face' as doing so to the external separated from the internal as it existed with Moses and the nation he headed, for 'your face' means the outward form that worship, the Church, and the Word take, which has an inner substance, while 'causing to pass' means making it pass by this; and from the meaning of 'all the goodness of Jehovah' as everything Divine composing heaven and the Church. The implications of all this may be recognized from what has been stated and shown above regarding Moses and the nation he headed. There it has been shown that their interest lay in external things separated from what was internal, by which is meant that when engaged in worship they performed outwardly holy acts without thought of anything internal. And since an inner holiness was nevertheless present, though it did not enter into that nation's outward holiness, it is evident what the meaning is of Jehovah's declaration that He would cause all His goodness to pass by his face. That nation did have, it is true, an internal level of mind, but this was foul, full of uncleanness as a result of self-love and love of the world. It was closed however when they engaged in worship, to prevent the defilement of what was within, belonging to heaven, the Church, and the Word. For if this had been defiled by their internal level of mind that which was external with them would not have had any connection at all with heaven when they engaged in worship and read the Word. See what has been stated and shown previously regarding these matters, in 10454-10457, 10462-10466, 10492, 10498, 10500, 10533, 10549-10551, 10570, where they have been explained fully.