8814. 'And a heavy cloud on the mountain' means the Divine state in relation to those about to receive. This is clear from the meaning of 'a cloud' as truth adjusted for those about to receive, that is, the Word in the letter, dealt with in 8443, 8781, at this point God's truth adjusted for the people descended from Jacob. Because they were in great darkness so far as God's truths were concerned, 'a heavy cloud' is spoken of here, 'in the thickness of a cloud' above in verse 9, and the smoke of the fire 'like the smoke of a furnace' in verse 18 below. How much darkness they were in may be recognized from what has been mentioned above regarding that nation in 8788, and also from the consideration that things involving the internal man were not revealed to them, only those involving the external. For they did not apprehend or have any wish to apprehend internal things, because these were contrary to their kinds of love, which were that they should be highest of all in the world and also richest of all, and that all nations elsewhere should be as nothing in comparison with themselves. Where these kinds of love prevail heavenly kinds cannot be received, for the former snuff out and smother the latter. This is the reason why Jehovah, that is, the Lord, appeared to them in a dense and heavy cloud. A similar situation exists in the next life, where those steeped in falsities arising from evil are surrounded by a dense, black cloud, how dense and black being determined by the nature and amount of the falsities. This sight appears before the eyes of everyone there; even so, the sun there is shining constantly. Regarding these matters, see what has been stated already in 6832, 8137, 8138. Ordinarily the Divine appears in the next life to everyone according to the nature of their faith and love.

7932. 'And it shall be, when you come to the land which Jehovah will give you' means when they reach heaven, given them by the Lord. This is clear from the meaning of 'the land', at this point the land of Canaan, which they will 'come to' as the Lord's kingdom, which is heaven, dealt with in 1607, 1866, 3078, 3481, 3705, 4116, 4240, 4447, 5757. The Children of Israel represented those belonging to the spiritual Church who lived in the world before the Lord's Coming, but could not be saved except by the Lord, on account of which they were preserved and held back on the lower earth, where they were in the meantime molested by the hells which were round about them. When therefore the Lord came into the world and made the Human within Him Divine, He then - when He rose again - delivered those who had been preserved and held back there. And after they had undergone temptations He raised them to heaven. These matters are what the internal sense of the second Book of Moses or Exodus contains. By 'the Egyptians' those who molested are meant; by 'being led away from them' deliverance is meant; by 'living forty years in the wilderness' temptations are meant; and by 'being led into the land of Canaan' being raised into heaven is meant. For what has been mentioned already about these meanings, see 6854, 6914, 7091 (end), 7828. From all this it is evident that 'when you come into the land' means when they reach heaven, given them by the Lord. ¹

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