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.

7313. That they may serve Me in the wilderness. That this signifies worship in what is obscure, is evident from the signification of “serving Jehovah,” as being worship; and from the signification of a “wilderness,” as being that which is not inhabited and cultivated (see n. 2708, 3900); in the spiritual sense that which is obscure in respect to the good and truth of faith. That “wilderness” here denotes such obscurity is because in general they of the spiritual church, who are represented by the sons of Israel, are in obscurity in respect to the truths of faith (n. 2715, 2716, 2718, 2831, 2849, 2935, 2937, 3833, 4402, 6289, 6500, 6865, 6945, 7233); specifically because they are in obscurity when they emerge from a state of infestations and temptations. For they who are in infestations are surrounded by falsities, and are shaken like a reed by the wind, thus from doubt to affirmative, and from affirmative to doubt; and therefore when they newly ascend out of this state they are in obscurity, but this obscurity is then gradually enlightened. As there is such a state with those who are being infested, therefore the sons of Israel were brought into the wilderness in order that they might represent this state, in which were those of the spiritual church before the Lord’s coming; and also the state in which they who are of that church are at this day, and are being vastated in respect to falsities.

7233. This is the Aaron and Moses. That this signifies that from them is doctrine and the law Divine with that church, is evident from the representation of Aaron, as being the doctrine of the church (see n. 6998, 7009, 7089); and from the representation of Moses, as being the law Divine (see n. 6723, 6752). These, namely, the law Divine and doctrine, with those of the spiritual church, arise chiefly from the Word, but still with reference to the faith and charity that had existed with its founders. It is said “from them,” but it is not meant from Aaron and Moses, but from the charity and faith which are represented by Levi, Simeon, and Reuben (of whom just above).

[2] In respect to this matter, be it known further that the doctrine of the spiritual church is not that of truth Divine itself, because those who are of the spiritual church have no perception of truth Divine, as have those who are of the celestial church; but instead of this perception they have conscience, which is formed from the truth and good which they have acknowledged within their own church, of whatever kind these may be. (That those who are of the spiritual church are relatively in obscurity in respect to the truths of faith, see n. 86, 2708, 2715, 2716, 2718, 2831, 2935, 2937, 3241, 3246, 3833, 6289, 6500, 6865, 6945.) Hence it is that everyone within the spiritual church acknowledges as the truth of faith that which its founders have dictated, nor do they search further from the Word whether it be the very truth; and moreover if they did search they would not find it unless they had been regenerated and at the same time enlightened in an especial manner; and this for the reason that their intellectual can indeed be enlightened, but the new will cannot be affected with any other good than that which has been formed by means of conjunction with the truth received within the church. For their own will has been destroyed, and a new will has been formed in the intellectual part (see n. 863, 875, 1023, 1043, 1044, 1555, 2256, 4328, 5113); and when their own will has been separated from the new will which is in the intellectual part, the light in this is feeble, such as is the nocturnal light from the moon and stars compared with the diurnal light from the sun. Hence also it is that by the “moon” in the Word, in the internal sense, is meant the good of spiritual love, and by the “sun” the good of celestial love (n. 30-38, 1529-1531, 2495, 4060).

[3] The case being so with the spiritual church, it is not to be wondered at that with most persons faith is the essential of the church, and not charity, and also that they have no doctrine of charity. Their doctrinal things being from the Word does not make them Divine truths, for from the sense of the letter of the Word any doctrinal thing whatever can be hatched, and that which favors the concupiscences can be readily learned; thus also what is false can be taken for what is true, as is the case with the doctrinal things of the Jews, of the Socinians, and of many others; but not so if doctrine is formed from the internal sense. The internal sense is not only that sense which lies concealed in the external sense, as has heretofore been shown, but is also that which results from a number of passages of the sense of the letter rightly collated, and which is discerned by those who are enlightened by the Lord in respect to their intellectual. For the enlightened intellectual discriminates between apparent truths and real truths, especially between falsities and truths, although it does not judge about real truths in themselves. But the intellectual cannot be enlightened unless it is believed that love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor are the principal and essential things of the church. He who proceeds from the acknowledgment of these, provided he himself is in them, sees innumerable truths; nay, he sees very many secrets disclosed to him, and this from interior acknowledgment, according to the degree of the enlightenment from the Lord.