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.

2242. That 'I will go down now, and I will see' means visitation becomes clear from the meaning of 'going down to see' as judgement, dealt with in Volume One, in 1311, and consequently as visitation. The final period of the Church in general and of the individual in particular is called visitation in the Word. It occurs prior to judgement, so that visitation is nothing else than an investigation into what such are like, that is, into the nature of the Church in general or of the individual in particular. Such investigation is expressed in the sense of the letter as Jehovah coming down and seeing.

[2] From this the nature of the sense of the letter is made clear, for Jehovah does not go down; indeed one cannot speak of the Lord going down because He always dwells in highest things. Nor does Jehovah look and see whether a thing is so; for one cannot speak of the Lord looking to see whether a thing is so because every single thing is known to Him from eternity. Yet the sense of the letter speaks of Jehovah going down to see because to man that is what He does appear to do. For man dwells among lowest things and when anything presents itself there he does not think about, nor does he even know, what the situation is with higher things and so does not know about how these flow in. He has no knowledge of these things because his thought does not extend beyond what is immediately about him, and therefore he cannot perceive what the Lord does as anything other than some such going down to see; and that perception is even more limited when he imagines that no one knows what he himself is thinking. Besides this, he has no other idea than that an actual coming down from on high is meant, and when said of God, from the highest. But it is not in fact a coming down from the highest but from the inmost.

[3] From this one may see what the sense of the letter is like, namely that it is shaped according to appearances, and that if it were not, nobody would understand and acknowledge the Word, nor thus accept it. But angels are not limited by appearances in the way that man is, and therefore since the Word as to the letter is for man, it is as to the internal sense for angels, and also for those men who in the Lord's Divine mercy have been allowed during their lifetime in the world to be as the angels.

[4] Visitation is mentioned in various places in the Word, where it either means the vastation of the Church or of the individual, or else deliverance, and thus the investigation into the nature of persons or things. It stands for vastation in Isaiah,

What will you do on the day of visitation? It will come from afar. To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your glory? Isaiah 10:3.

In the same prophet,

The stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light. The sun will be darkened in its going out, and the moon will not shed its light. And I will visit the world for evil, and the wicked for their iniquity. Isaiah 13:10-11.

'The stars and the constellations which will not give their light, and the sun which will be darkened, and the moon which will not shed its light' means that no love and no charity will exist, see 2120. And since this is vastation it is 'the day of visitation'.

[5] In Jeremiah,

They will fall among those who fall, and in the time of their visitation they will stumble. Jeremiah 8:12.

This stands for the time when they have been vastated, that is, when no charity and faith exist. In Ezekiel,

The visitations of the city have drawn near, and each man has his weapon of destruction in his hand. Ezekiel 9:1.

This too is a reference to vastation; consequently 'each man has a weapon of destruction'. In Hosea,

The days of visitation have come, the days of recompense have come. Hosea 9:7.

Here the meaning is similar. In Micah,

The day of your watchmen, your visitation, has come; now will be their confusion. Micah 7:4.

Here also it stands for charity that has been laid waste. In Moses, On the day of My visiting, I will visit them with their sin. Exodus 32:34.

This refers to the people in the wilderness after they had made themselves the golden calf. That visitation also means deliverance is evident from the following places, Exodus 3:16; 4:31; Jeremiah 27:22; 29:10; Luke 1:68, 78; 19:41-42.

9139. When a man shall desolate a field, or a vineyard. That this signifies the deprivation of the good and the truth of the church through cupidities, is evident from the signification of “to desolate,” as being to deprive through cupidities (see n. 9141); from the signification of “a field,” as being the church as to good (n. 2791, 3766, 4982, 7502), thus the good of the church; and from the signification of “a vineyard,” as being the church as to truth, thus the truth of the church. That “a field” denotes the church as to good, is because the things of a field, such as wheat and barley, signify internal and external goods of the church (n. 3941, 7602, 7605); and that “a vineyard” denotes the church as to truth, is because “wine,” which belongs to a vineyard, signifies the truth of good (n. 1071, 6377).

[2] That “field” and “vineyard” have this signification has its origin from the representatives in the spiritual world. For fields full of wheat and barley appear before spirits when the angels in a heaven above them are conversing about an assemblage of those who are in good; and there appear vineyards full of grapes, with winepresses, when the angels are conversing about an assemblage of those who are in the truth of good. These representatives are not from the fact that there are such things upon earth; but from the correspondences, in that wheat and barley, or the bread made therefrom, nourish the body, as the good of love and of charity nourishes the soul; and in that wine, as drink, acts in like manner. From this it is that in the Word the goods of love and the truths of faith are called “meats and drinks;” in this sense also they are heavenly meats and drinks (see n. 56-58, 680, 681, 1973, 1974, 4459, 4792, 5147, 5293, 5576, 5579, 5915, 8562).

[3] That a “vineyard” denotes the church as to the good and the truth of faith, which church is called the spiritual church, is evident from the passages in the Word where a “vineyard” is mentioned; as in Jeremiah:

Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard, they have trodden under foot My field, they have made My field of desire into a desert of solitude; he has made it [the vineyard] into a solitude (Jeremiah 12:10-11); where “vineyard” and “field” manifestly denote the church; and as the church is the church from the truth and good of faith and of charity, it is clear that the “vineyard” here denotes the church as to truth, and the “field,” the church as to good.

In Isaiah:

Jehovah cometh into judgment with the elders of His people, and the princes thereof; ye have set on fire the vineyard (Isaiah 3:14);

here also “the vineyard” plainly denotes the church in respect to the good and truth of faith; for “the elders with whom Jehovah will come into judgment,” denote the goods of the church (see n. 6524, 6525); and “the princes,” its truths (n. 5044).

[4] Again:

I will sing to my beloved a song of my friend touching His vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard in a horn of the son of oil; and he enclosed it, and planted it with a noble vine (Isaiah 5:1-2

this is said of the Lord, who is the “beloved” and the “friend;” the “vineyard” denotes His spiritual church; a “noble vine” denotes the good of faith of this church; and a “horn of the son of oil,” the good of the faith of that church from the good of love. He who knows nothing of the internal sense of the Word, cannot possibly know what is signified by “a vineyard in a horn of the son of oil.” Yet in these words there lies hidden a secret that cannot be expressed in words. By these words is fully described the conjunction of the Lord’s spiritual kingdom with His celestial kingdom; that is, the conjunction of the second heaven with the third; consequently the conjunction of the good of faith in the Lord, which is of the spiritual kingdom, with the good of love to the Lord, which is of the celestial kingdom. The “vineyard” denotes the spiritual kingdom; “in a horn” denotes in power, thus in this kingdom; and “the son of oil” denotes the external good of love of the celestial kingdom. The celestial kingdom, which is the inmost heaven of the Lord, is called an “olive-tree” or an “olive-yard,” because “oil” denotes the good of celestial love (n. 886, 4582, 4638). Be it known that the kingdom of the Lord on earth is the church. (That there are two kingdoms, the celestial kingdom and the spiritual kingdom, and that the spiritual kingdom constitutes the second heaven, and the celestial kingdom the third heaven, see n. 3887, 4138, 4279, 4286; of the conjunction of these, see n. 6435

[5] Again:

In that day a vineyard of pure wine, answer ye to it; I Jehovah do keep it; I will water it every moment (Isaiah 27:2-3); where “a vineyard of pure wine” [merum] denotes the spiritual church.

In Amos:

In all vineyards shall be wailing; I will pass through thee. Woe unto you that desire the day of Jehovah! What to you is the day of Jehovah? It is of darkness and not of light (Amos 5:17-18);

this is said of the last time of the church, when there is no longer any good and truth of faith, which time is “the day of Jehovah, a day of darkness and not of light;” whence it is said, “in all vineyards shall be wailing.”

In John in Revelation:

The angel put forth His sickle into the earth, and vintaged the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great Winepress of the wrath of God (Revelation 14:19);

“to vintage the vine of the earth” denotes to consume the truth and good of the church; “the earth” here being the church. From all this it can be seen why the Lord so often likened the kingdom of the heavens to a “vineyard” (as in Matthew 20:1, and the following verses; 21:28-29, 33-41; Mark 12:1-12); and why the Lord called Himself “the vine,” in John:

As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; so neither can ye, except ye abide in Me. I am the vine, ye are the branches. Without Me ye can do nothing (John 15:4-6);

“the vine” denotes faith in the Lord, consequently the Lord as to faith; for the Lord is faith, because faith is from Him; for no faith is faith save that which is from Him. Hence also “the vine” denotes the faith which is directed to Him.