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.

491. The same things are signified by “sons” and “daughters” in this chapter (verses 4, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19, 26, 30), but such as is the church, such are the “sons and daughters” that is, such are the goods and truths; the truths and goods here spoken of are such as were distinctly perceived, because they are predicated of the Most Ancient Church, the principal and parent of all the other and succeeding churches.

4673. 'Was with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's womenfolk' means that he was cast away from them. This is clear from the meaning of 'the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah' as exterior or lower affections for truth that serve as means, dealt with in 3849, 3931. Thus 'with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah' means that Divine Truth, represented by 'Joseph', was cast away among lower things which, compared with higher, are ones that serve. Divine Truth is said to be cast away among lower things when faith is placed before charity, that is, is made first in people's hearts, and charity is placed behind faith and made secondary in their hearts. For all Divine Truth exists from Divine Good and proceeds from it; and if the same is not so with man he is not 'in the Lord'. This Divine Truth is the holiness of the spirit which proceeds from the Lord and is called the Paraclete and the Spirit of truth in John 14:16-17.