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.

2623. A son. That this signifies the Divine rational is evident from the signification of a “son.” In the internal sense of the Word a “son” signifies truth (n. 489, 491, 533); and as truth is the chief thing in the rational (n. 2072, 2189), the rational is also signified by a “son;” but here the Divine rational, in which principally there is good, which Isaac, who is the “son,” also represents (concerning which hereafter).

8561. And they encamped in Rephidim. That this signifies the setting in order of the interiors for undergoing temptation as to truth, the nature of which is signified by “Rephidim,” is evident from the signification of “encamping,” as being the setting in order of truth and good for undergoing temptations (see n. 8130, 8131, 8155), here for undergoing temptation as to truth, which is represented by their “having no water” (of which in what follows). It is said “the setting in order of the interiors,” because truth and good constitute the interiors of the man of the church. That “Rephidim” signifies the nature of this temptation, is because the names of places signify the quality of the state of the thing, here the quality of the state of the temptation as to truth, because this is what is here treated of.