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.

2547. That thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin. That this signifies that thereby the doctrine of faith and all doctrinal things would be in danger, is evident from the signification of “Abimelech,” here meant by “me,” as being the doctrine of faith; and from the signification of “kingdom,” as being the truth of doctrine or that which is doctrinal. That in the internal sense “kingdom” signifies the truths of doctrine; and in the opposite sense, falsities of doctrine, is evident from the Word; as in Jeremiah:

He is the Former of all things, and the scepter of His inheritance Jehovah Zebaoth is His name. Thou art My hammer, weapons of war; and I will scatter nations in thee, and destroy kingdoms in thee (Jeremiah 51:19-20),

where the Lord is treated of, who evidently will not scatter nations nor destroy kingdoms, but will scatter and destroy the things signified by nations and kingdoms, namely, the evils and falsities of doctrine.

[2] In Ezekiel:

Behold, I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations whither they be gone, and will gather them from every side, and bring them into their own land; I will make them one nation in the land in the mountains of Israel, and one king shall be king to them all; and they shall no more be two nations, neither shall they any more be divided into two kingdoms (Ezekiel 37:21-22);

here “Israel” denotes the spiritual church; and “nation” the good of that church or of doctrine. (That “nations” denote goods may be seen above, n. 1259, 1260, 1416, 1849.) “Kingdom” denotes its truths. It is evident that something else than nations and kingdoms is here meant by “nations and kingdoms,” for it is said of the sons of Israel or of the Israelites that they are to be “gathered and brought back into the land,” the fact being that when dispersed among the nations they were transformed into Gentiles.

[3] In Isaiah:

I will confound Egypt with Egypt, and they shall fight every man against his brother, and every man against his companion, city against city, kingdom against kingdom (Isaiah 19:2),

where “Egypt” denotes reasonings from memory-knowledges concerning the truths of faith (n. 1164, 1165, 1186); “city” denotes doctrine, here one that is heretical (n. 402, 2268, 2449); “kingdom” denotes the falsity of doctrine; so that “city against city, and kingdom against kingdom” denotes that heresies and falsities will fight among themselves; in like manner as is denoted by what the Lord said in regard to the consummation of the age, in Matthew:

Nation shall rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom (Matthew 24:7);

denoting evils against evils, and falsities against falsities.

[4] That which Daniel prophesied in regard to the four kingdoms (Daniel 2:37-46; 7:17); and concerning the kingdoms of Media and Persia (Daniel 8:20); and concerning the kingdoms of the king of the south and the king of the north (Daniel 11:1 and that which John prophesied in the Revelation concerning kings and kingdoms, have no other signification: “kingdoms” there merely mean the states of the church in respect to truths and falsities. States of monarchs and of the kingdoms of the earth in the sense of the letter, are in the internal sense states of the church and of the Lord’s kingdom; in which sense there are none other than spiritual and celestial things; for regarded in itself the Lord’s Word is solely spiritual and celestial; but in order that it may be read and apprehended by every man whatever, the things of heaven are set forth by such things as are on earth.