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.

3143. And there is room for the camels. That this signifies a state for all things that would be serviceable to Him, is evident from the signification of “room,” as being state (see above, n. 1273-1277, 1376-1381, 2625); and from the signification of “camels,” as being general memory-knowledges (see n. 3048, 3071). That these are things for service may be seen above (n. 1486, 3019, 3020); for all things that belong to the natural man are for no other use than to serve the spiritual; wherefore also menservants, maidservants, camels, and asses, in the internal sense chiefly signify the things which belong to the natural man.

8717. 'And it shall be, every great matter let them bring to you' means that everything exists from the truth going forth directly from God. This is clear from the representation of Moses as the truth going forth directly from God, dealt with in 7010, 7382, the existence of everything from that truth being meant by 'let them bring every great matter' to him. From the sense of the letter it seems as though everything was to be brought to Divine Truth; but since everything comes from the Lord through the truth going forth from Him, for life derives wholly from Him, the meaning in the internal sense is not to that truth but from it. This is like what has been shown with regard to influx, in 3721, 5119, 5259, 5779, 6322. There it has been shown that the direction in which influx goes is not from outward things to inward ones, but from inward to outward. The reason for this is that outward things are all formed to serve inward ones, just as instrumental causes serve their principal causes, without which the instrumental are dead causes. It should be recognized that in the internal sense things are presented according to their true nature, not according to the nature of them as seen in the sense of the letter.

[2] The true nature of the matter here is that the Lord governs all things, even the most specific, through the truth that goes forth from Himself, not in the way a king governs in the world, but in the way God does so in heaven and over all creation. A king in the world takes only overall care of a country, while his chief ministers and officials take care of matters in particular. It is otherwise with God. God sees all things, knows all things from eternity, provides all things into eternity, and from Himself maintains all things in their order; from which it is clear that the Lord takes not only overall care but also particular and individual care of all things, unlike a king in the world. His regulation of things is achieved directly by means of God's truth that is going forth from Himself and also indirectly by means of heaven. Yet the indirect regulation by means of heaven is also tantamount to direct regulation by Him; for what comes from heaven comes by way of heaven from Him. This the angels in heaven not merely know to be so; they also perceive it within themselves. Regarding the Lord's Divine regulation of things or His providence, that it operates in all things generally and specifically, indeed in the most specific of all, however different from this it may seem to a person to be, see 4329, 5122 (end), 5904 (end), 6058, 6481-6487, 6490, 6491.

[3] But it is difficult for this subject to find a place in any person's way of thinking, least of all in that of those who trust in their own prudence; for they attribute to themselves all things that turn out beneficially for themselves, and ascribe everything else to luck or chance. Few ascribe them to God's providence. Accordingly they attribute things which happen to dead causes, not to a living cause. When things go well they do, it is true, say that this has been done by God, also that there is nothing which is not done by Him; but few, scarcely any, believe it in their hearts. Much the same is done by those who suppose that complete happiness lies in worldly and bodily acquisitions, that is to say, in important positions and wealth; they believe that these alone are Divine blessings. When therefore they see that very many of those who are bad possess these things in abundance, and not so the good, they cast away from their hearts and deny the existence of God's providence in anything specific. They are not prepared to think that being blessed by God means being made happy into eternity, and that the Lord regards what is by nature transient - which worldly things are, relatively - only as a means to what is eternal. Therefore also the Lord provides the good, who accept His mercy during their time in the world, with such things as contribute to the happiness of their eternal life. He confers wealth and important positions on those to whom they can do no harm, and withholds wealth and important positions from those to whom they can do harm. To the latter nevertheless, during their time in the world, He imparts the ability to be glad with a few things instead of important positions and wealth, and to be more content than those who have wealth and important positions.