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.

8806. And sanctified the people. That this signifies the veiling over of the interiors that they may appear to be in the holiness of faith, is evident from what was unfolded above (n. 8788); but it was there set forth what was the sanctification with the Israelitish people, namely, that it was a veiling over of the interiors, so that as to their externals they might appear to be in what was holy when they were in representative worship; and that unless their interiors had then been veiled over, they would not only have defiled the holiness of worship by foul thoughts and evil affections, but would also have totally destroyed it, so that nothing celestial and spiritual which was represented in the external things would have been perceived therefrom in heaven.

[2] But as by “the sons of Israel” are here meant those who are of the spiritual church, it shall be briefly told what is meant by “sanctification” with these. They who are of the spiritual church and live a life of truth and from this a life of good, are withheld from evils and are kept in good by the Lord. The good which is from the Lord is holy with them. Consequently insofar as they receive good from the Lord, so far they are holy; and they receive so much of good from the Lord, that is, are so far holy, as they live a life of good according to the genuine truths of faith, and at the same time believe that all the good which they then think and do is from the Lord. Then, too, evils with them are separated so as not to appear at all, especially those which they have derived hereditarily from parents, and which are filthy, because they have been successively accumulated with the parents for many ages back, and thus amassed in the offspring. These are the interiors which with those who are of the spiritual church are hid away and as it were veiled over (n. 966, 1667, 2307, 2308, 3701, 4317, 8550). Hence it is that all the will they possess hereditarily is destroyed. For this cause a new will is formed with them in the intellectual part by means of truths of faith from the Lord. This is the reason why, when they are being regenerated, they are led by means of truths to good; and afterward when they have been regenerated, from good into the truths of good. Hence it is evident how a new will is created in them by the Lord. (That this is formed in the intellectual part with those who are of the spiritual church, see n. 863, 875, 895, 927, 1023, 1043, 1044, 1555, 2256, 4328, 4493, 5113, 6125)

520. And the third part [of the waters] became wormwood, signifies that every truth in the understanding and in doctrine became such. This is evident from the signification of "the third part," as being all, here every truth in the understanding and in doctrine, because it is predicated of "the rivers" and "the fountains of waters," which signify the understanding of truth, and doctrine from the Word (that "the third part" signifies all, see above, n. 506; also from the signification of "wormwood," as being truth mixed with the falsity of evil (as was explained in the preceding article). This makes evident that "the third part became wormwood" signifies that every truth in the understanding and in doctrine was mixed with the falsity of evil. Truth is mixed with the falsity of evil when evils of life, which are adulteries, whoredoms, murders, hatreds of various kinds, enmities, injustices for the sake of gain, artful and clandestine thefts and robberies, cunning, deceit, and other like evils are confirmed by the sense of the letter of the Word, so, too, when falsities of religion are upheld by such means by those who are in the love of self, and thus in the pride of self-intelligence. Truths are then mixed with the falsities of evil, because all things of the Word are truths, but when they are applied and wrested to confirm evils of life and false principles of religion, the truths of the Word are mingled with the falsities of evil, and in this way truths themselves come to be no longer truths, but truths falsified, and these in themselves are falsities. The truths of the sense of the letter of the Word, that they may remain truths, must be applied to the confirmation of goods of life and true principles of religion; if they are drawn aside and diverted from this application as their end they are no longer truths, since there is no perception of truth in them. The perception of truth comes from good, not from evil.

[2] For in every part of the Word there is a marriage of good and truth; consequently if good is not in the truths of the Word, as they are perceived, truths are without their consort, and may be applied to any evil cupidities and to any false principles whatsoever, and thus become the falsities of evil. In this way the truths of the Word are falsified by all those who from self-love are in the pride of self-intelligence; for inwardly, evils of every kind from love of self, and thence falsities of every kind from the pride of self-intelligence, have rule, while outwardly, in speech and in preaching, there are truths from the Word which sound like truths to those who are in simple good, but within with the one speaking or preaching these swarm with falsities of every kind. With such the truth of the Word is like a vessel pure and shining, in which are filthy waters that are not seen through the vessel by those who are in simple good, but are plainly seen by the angels of heaven.