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.

5319. And clothed him in garments of fine linen. That this signifies an external significative of the celestial of the spiritual, and that “garments of fine linen” denote truths from the Divine, is manifest from the signification of “garments” as being truths (see n. 1073, 2576, 4545, 4763, 5248). That “garments of fine linen” are truths from the Divine, is because a garment made of fine linen was of purest white and lustrous; and truth from the Divine is represented by garments of such whiteness and luster. The reason is, that the shining whiteness and luster of heaven is from the light that is from the Lord, and this light is the Divine truth itself (n. 1053, 1521-1533, 1619-1632, 2776, 3195, 3222, 3339, 3485, 3636, 3643, 3862, 4415, 4419, 4526, 5219); and therefore when the Lord was transfigured before Peter, James, and John, His garments appeared “as the light” (Matthew 17:2); “shining, exceeding white as snow, so as no fuller on earth can whiten them” (Mark 9:3); and “glistening” (Luke 9:29). It was the Divine truth itself that is from the Lord’s Divine Human that was thus represented. Yet it is exterior truths that are represented by the white radiance of garments in the heavens, and interior truths by the brightness and resplendence of the face. Hence it is that to be “clothed in garments of fine linen” is here an external significative of the truth proceeding from the celestial of the spiritual; for it was in this that the Divine of the Lord then was.

[2] By “fine linen” and “garments of fine linen” in other parts of the Word also is signified truth from the Divine, as in Ezekiel:

I clothed thee with broidered work, and shod thee with badger, and I girded thee with fine linen, and covered thee with silk; thus wast thou decked with gold and silver, and thy garments were of fine linen and silk and broidered work (Ezekiel 16:10, 13);

speaking of Jerusalem, by which in these verses is meant the Ancient Church. The truths of that church are described by “garments of broidered work, fine linen, and silk,” and by being “decked with gold and silver.” By “broidered work” are signified truths that are a matter of memory-knowledge; by “fine linen,” natural truths; and by “silk,” spiritual truths.

[3] Again:

Of fine linen in broidered work from Egypt was thy sail, that it might be to thee for an ensign; blue and crimson from the Isles of Elishah was thy covering (Ezekiel 27:7);

speaking of Tyre, by which also is meant the Ancient Church, but as to knowledges of good and truth; and by “fine linen in broidered work from Egypt of which was her sail,” is signified truth from memory-knowledges, as a sign or external significative of that church.

[4] In Revelation:

The merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over Babylon, for no man buyeth their merchandise any more; merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stone, and pearl, and fine linen, and crimson, and silk, and every vessel of ivory, and every vessel of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble (Revelation 18:11-12);

in this passage all and each of the expressions signify such things as are of the church, thus such as are of truth and good; but here in the opposite sense, because spoken of Babylon. Everyone can see that such things would never have been enumerated in the Word which came down from heaven, unless there was something heavenly in each one; for why should mention be made of worldly wares in treating of Babylon, by which is signified the profane church?

[5] Again in the same:

Woe, woe, the great city, she that was clothed in fine linen, and crimson, and scarlet, and gilded with gold, and precious stone, and pearls (Revelation 18:16).

That every detail here signifies some heavenly Divine thing is obvious in the same book, where it is said of fine linen that it is the “righteousness of the saints”:

The time of the wedding of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready. Then to her was granted that she should be clothed in fine linen, clean and bright; for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints (Revelation 19:7-8)

that “fine linen is the righteousness of the saints” is because all who are in truth from the Divine put on the Lord’s righteousness; for their garments are white and shining from the light that is from the Lord, and therefore truth itself is represented in heaven by what is shining white (n. 3301, 3993, 4007). It is for this reason also that they who are taken up into heaven out of a state of vastation appear clad in shining white, because they then put off that which is of their own righteousness, and put on that which is of the Lord’s righteousness.

[6] In order that truth from the Divine might be represented in the Jewish Church, it was commanded that there should be fine linen in the garments of Aaron, and also in the curtains about the ark, as we read in Moses:

For Aaron thou shalt weave the tunic in checker work of fine linen, and thou shalt make a miter of fine linen (Exodus 28:39).

They made the tunics of fine linen the work of the weaver for Aaron, and for his sons (Exodus 39:27).

Thou shalt make the habitation with ten curtains; of fine twined linen, and blue, and crimson, and scarlet double-dyed (Exodus 26:1; 36:8).

Thou shalt make the court of the habitation, there shall be hangings for the court of fine twined linen (Exodus 27:9, 18; 38:9).

The veil for the gate of the court was the work of the embroiderer, of blue, and crimson, and scarlet double-dyed, and fine twined linen (Exodus 37:18).

Fine linen was to be used because all things in the ark and about it, and also all things upon Aaron’s garments, were representative of spiritual and celestial things. This shows how little the Word is understood when it is not known what things like these represent, and that it is scarcely understood at all when it is believed that there is no other holiness in the Word than that which appears in the letter.

[7] That angels who are in truth from the Divine appear clothed as in fine linen, that is, in what is white and shining, appears from Revelation in connection with the “white horse”:

He that sat upon the white horse was clothed in a vesture dipped in blood; and His name is called the Word. His armies in heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean (Revelation 19:13-14).

From all this it is very evident that fine linen is an outward thing significative of truth from the Divine; for He that sat upon the white horse is the Lord as to the Word, as is there openly said, and the “Word” is truth itself from the Divine. That the “white horse” is the internal sense of the Word may be seen above (n. 2760-2762); hence “white horses” are truths from the Divine, for all things of the internal sense of the Word are truths from the Divine, and therefore His armies were seen upon white horses, and were clothed in fine linen white and clean.

2069. Kings of peoples shall be from her. That this signifies truths from the conjoined truths and goods, which are the “kings of peoples,” is evident from the signification of “kings,” as being in general all truths (see above, n. 2015); and from the signification of “peoples,” as also being truths, and in general all things spiritual; for “kings” are predicated of peoples, and not of nations except when nations signify evils (see n. 1259, 1260). In the prophetic Word there is frequent mention of “kings” and “peoples;” but by these are never meant kings and peoples; for in the very Word itself, which is the internal sense, kings and peoples are not treated of at all, but the celestial and spiritual things which belong to the Lord’s kingdom, thus goods and truths. The sense of the letter simply furnishes objective forms (as is done by human words) for causing its meaning to be understood.

[2] As it is here said of Sarah that “kings of peoples shall be from her,” and as by “Sarah” is signified the Divine truth which the Lord had, it is evident that by “kings of peoples” are signified truths from the conjoined truths and goods, which are all truths of the internal church, or the interior truths of faith. These truths, being from the Lord, are called “kings” in various passages of the Word, and also “king’s sons,” as shown above (n. 2015).

[3] Everyone can see that some internal Divine thing lies hidden in the words that “kings of peoples shall be from her”— for in this verse Isaac is treated of, and in reference to him it is said, “I will bless her and she shall be for nations;” but of Sarah, that “kings and peoples shall be from her”—and also in nearly the same thing being said of Abraham (verse 6), in that “kings should come forth” from him; but it is not said of him as of Sarah, that “kings of peoples” should be from him. The arcanum that is herein lies too deeply hidden to be unfolded and described in a few words. From the representation and signification of Abraham as being the Divine Good, and from the representation and signification of Sarah as being the Divine Truth, the arcanum is in some measure evident to the effect that all celestial truth will go forth and will be from the Lord’s Divine Good, meant by “Abraham;” and that all spiritual truth will go forth and will be from the Lord’s Divine Truth, meant by “Sarah.” Celestial truth is that which is with the celestial angels, and spiritual truth is that which is with the spiritual angels; or what is the same thing, celestial truth is that which was with the men of the Most Ancient Church, which was before the flood, and which was a celestial church; and spiritual truth is that which was with the men of the Ancient Church, which was after the flood, and which was a spiritual church. For angels, as well as men of the church, are distinguished into the celestial and the spiritual. The celestial are distinguished from the spiritual by love to the Lord; and the spiritual are distinguished from the celestial by love toward the neighbor.

[4] But concerning celestial truth and spiritual truth no more can be said until it is known what the distinction is between the celestial and the spiritual, or what is the same, between the celestial church and the spiritual church (concerning which see Part First, n. 202, 337, 1577; also what was the quality of the Most Ancient Church, and what that of the Ancient Church, n. 597, 607, 640, 765, 1114-1125, and in many other places; and that to have love to the Lord is celestial, and to have love toward the neighbor is spiritual, n. 2023).

[5] These considerations will suffice to open the arcanum that by the “kings” who should go forth from Abraham, spoken of in the sixth verse, are signified the celestial truths that inflow from the Lord’s Divine Good; and that by the “kings of peoples” who should be from Sarah, spoken of in the present verse, are signified the spiritual truths that inflow from the Lord’s Divine Truth. For the Lord’s Divine good cannot inflow except with the celestial man, because it inflows into the will part, as it did in the case of the Most Ancient Church; but the Lord’s Divine truth inflows with the spiritual man, because it inflows solely into his intellectual part, which in him has been separated from his will part (see n. 2053, at the end); or what is the same, celestial good inflows with the celestial man, and spiritual good with the spiritual man; and on this account the Lord appears to the celestial angels as a Sun, but to the spiritual as a Moon (see n. 1529, 1530).