10684. Verses 28-end And he was there with Jehovah forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread and he did not drink water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten words. And so it was, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the Testimony were in Moses' hand when he came down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face gleamed while he talked to Him. And Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face gleamed; and they were afraid to approach him. And Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the princes in the assembly turned back to him, and Moses talked to them. And afterwards all the children of Israel approached, and he commanded them all the things that Jehovah had told him on Mount Sinai. And Moses finished talking to them, and he put a veil over his face. And whenever Moses went in before Jehovah to talk to Him he took the veil off until he was going to come out; and he came out and told the children of Israel what had been commanded. And the children of Israel saw Moses' face, that the skin of Moses' face was gleaming, and Moses drew the veil back over his face, until he went in to talk to Him.

'And he was with Jehovah forty days and forty nights' means temptations before the Church, worship, and the Word exist on an internal level. 'He did not eat bread and he did not drink water' means during which the good of love and the truth of faith do not become a person's own. 'And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant' means the Word, through which heaven is joined to a person. 'The ten words' means all God's truths within it. 'And so it was, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai' means the flow of what is inward into the outward form that the Word, the Church, and worship take. 'And the two tablets of the Testimony were in Moses' hand' means a representative sign of the Word. 'That Moses did not know that the skin of his face gleamed while he talked to Him' means the inward level or aspect of the Word within the outward, shining forth without any perception of it by the outward. 'And Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses' means what is discerned by those whose interest lies in things of the Church, worship, and the Word on an outward level devoid of those on the inward level. 'And behold, the skin of his face gleamed' means that what is inward shines forth through what is outward. 'And they were afraid to approach him' means that they could not bear an outward form of the Church, worship, and the Word such as this. 'And Moses called to them' means the approach of that nation to the outward form. 'And Aaron and all the princes in the assembly turned back to him' means the chief ones among those who, although their interest lay in things on an outward level devoid of those on an inward level, would nevertheless represent those on an inward level. 'And Moses talked to them' means instruction. 'And afterwards all the children of Israel approached' means all who, although their interest lay in things on an outward level devoid of what was inward, would nevertheless represent those things on an inward level. 'And he commanded them all the things that Jehovah had told him on Mount Sinai' means a decree relating to the primary truths revealed from heaven that were to be represented. 'And Moses finished talking to them' means after the instructions regarding the primary truths which were to be represented in outward forms had been delivered. 'And he put a veil over his face' means that the inward form which the Church, worship, and the Word take was not visible to the Israelite nation, only the outward without the inward. 'And whenever Moses went in before Jehovah to talk to Him' means the state of what was outward when what was inward from the Lord flowed into it and it received instructions. 'He took the veil off until he was going to come out' means a state of enlightenment then. 'And he came out and told the children of Israel what had been commanded' means communicating to those whose interest lies in things on an outward level devoid of what is inward, regarding instructions which he had received through what was inward. 'And the children of Israel saw Moses' face, that the skin of Moses' face was gleaming' means that the Israelite nation did, it is true, acknowledge the presence in the Word of something inward, but that they had no wish to know the nature of it. 'And Moses drew the veil back over his face' means that therefore inward things were closed off from them. 'Until he went in to talk to Him' means even though they were receiving instructions.